"Bring the noise!"

This past weekend I was delighted to go on a trip across country to the lovely county of Somerset. Five of us girls packed ourselves onto no less than four trains to get there. On the last train we literally sat in the baggage compartment because there wasn't any room for us. How is that for student travel?

Some facts I've gathered about this place called Somerset:
-There is absolutely nothing like a home cooked meal. Whether it be a real English breakfast or a fantastic lamb roast, there is nothing as lovely and comforting as a meal cooked in a real English home when all you've been living on for the past two months is soggy chips and the occasional sandwich.
-This county hosts some of the most picturesque views in England. Rolling hills and farm pastures and many sheep. When driving through the countryside and the small towns and villages this is what a person pictures when they think of England.
-Hot Fuzz was filmed here. Do not be confused by the fact that it is supposed to be set in Gloucestershire, it's definitely Somerset. While we didn't get to visit the little town of Wells, the birthplace of director Edgar Wright himself, just being there was something like a mini-pilgrimage. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost were here! I just got chills again.
-That country accent? It's real.
-Thatched houses are cool. Literally. They are cute but apparently extremely cold.
-London fog has nothing on the kind of fog some country lanes can get in the middle of the night.
-Have I mentioned the roast dinners?

Stonehenge:
Normally I wouldn't accuse the English of sucking the magic and fun out of anything, that's a job for the French, but unfortunately they succeeded with flying colors to drain all the magic and mystery of the site that is Stonehenge. Firstly, I love Stonehenge. I've been wanting to go there since I was old enough to read the word, but getting there and having to pay £5.90 to walk around a rope meters away sucks all the fun out of it. The only people who can get near it are the people who work there and the Druids on the solstices, and if I wanted to see a whole bunch of people dressed as Dumbledore I'd go to a midnight showing of Harry Potter. Unfortunately, because they built a visitor center and roped off the site, essentially ruining my childhood dreams, they managed to make it nothing more than "a bunch of stones."

Bath:
This city is exceptionally beautiful. An old Roman town where you can see the actual, old, Roman buildings and baths that gave this city its name. Pretty much everything about this city is beautiful. The architecture, the cute little shops, the way they displayed the river, the little hills that make up and surround the city... But don't get me wrong. This place is touristic and as every traveler knows, touristic places are made to look as appealing as possible. So really you won't see a city untouched by the hand of consumerism, but you will find a city that has managed to balance it quite well.