Mario Universalis

Introduction

This year, we traveled in England with Mr. Poinat, Mr. Raymond and Mr. Trollet.

We met in front of the lycée Gustave Eiffel Monday at 9 pm. We were very excited and, when the coach arrived, we said bye to our parents, took our suitcases and got in the bus. We reserved our seats inside, and the driver turned on the motor.

We went through a lot of French towns : Saintes, Niort, Poitiers, Tours, Le Mans, Alençon and Caen. The travel in the bus was really exhausting because we couldn’t sleep well. At the beginning of the night, most of us were playing, reading, or just chatting. But soon, almost everyone tried to rest. The most lucky ones could sleep extended on two seats. Others had to stay straight, the legs benumbed, the head on the seat. Besides, there were many breaks. The positive side is that we could buy food if we were hungry, go to the toilets and drink. But the side effect was that it woke up a lot of people.

We finally arrived in Ouistreham early, but we had to wait a long time, so we were actually late. We got on the ferry, and we ate. The food was really delicious, especially at midday. I spent all my time reading and playing cards with the others. Some found this part of the journey boring, but for me the time went by very quickly. At the end, we could see the English coasts. Portsmouth over there !

We got on the bus again and went to Salisbury in order to see its cathedral, at around 2.30 pm, tuesday.

Salisbury

The Salisbury Cathedral is a beautiful and historic Anglican cathedral located in Salisbury, in England, and is one of the leading example of early English architecture.
It was built in 38 years (1220-1258) in gothic style and is considered as the Britain’s finest 13th Gothic Cathedral. The tower and the spire were added 50 years later.
It is also a living church and a place of prayer. It is a centre of pilgrimage for hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.
It has the best preserved of the 4 surviving original Magna Carta.
There was a dispute between the barons, the bishops and the King John over his poor government, heavy war taxes and quarrels with the Pope. <- Tu devrais trouver mieux parce que là ça fait comme si ça s'était passé sous tes yeux
In 1214, weakened by his defeat against the French and in order to avoid a civil war, the King John met the barons at Runnymede in 1215 and agreed terms on a charter, the Magna Carta.
The Magna Carta contains 60 clauses in latin, but only 3 of them are still law today.
Finally, it is a symbol of the rule of law in England.

It was the first religious monument we visited and it was a really imposing cathedral. It was beautiful and interesting. We took a lot of photos of everything, except the Magna Carta because it was forbidden. Some of us went to the shop, and then we left to go to Bath and meet our families.

The family

I was supposed to be with Mrs. Cleary with Flavien, but there was an error (or a changement ?) and we were with another family.

Our family was composed of a mother and her son, whose girlfriend who came sometimes at home. They (!) were nice, but they (Pas besoin de répéter l'article) didn’t talk very much, and excepted when we entered in the house and for dinner, we didn’t see them at all ! Therefore we remained just in our chamber, reading, playing cards or watching a film on the TV.

The food, as we expected, was not very tasteful. The first day, we had undercooked French fries, insipid beans and what I call a “pain-zza”, a pizza which had actually the taste of bread. Fortunately, the following days, she cooked better and we finally had decent meals !

We had also a problem with the toilet flushing, but we finally understood how it worked : you had to push sharply, sometimes several times.

If we had wanted it, we could have slept when we wanted because they didn’t tell us when we had to switch off the lights. Anyway, we were reasonable, and we went to bed early. The door couldn’t be closed, so when we tried to sleep, there was the light of the living room which still illuminated the room. Fortunately, that was not a problem and we slept well during all the trip.

Bath

That’s when the serious things began.

Wednesday, at 9.30 am, the bus took us to the meeting point where we saw our guide. She got on the coach, and then we started the guided tour of Bath.

She said a lot of things that we already had learned in English because of the research (Research est un indénmbrable, retiens le bien car c'est une erreur classique) we had to do. Nethertheless, we learned other interesting facts, and we could see the monuments, so it wasn’t that useless (Ca passe sans le that, mais ça fait mieux). The only disappointing thing (Disappinting point sonne comme répétition) is that while she spoke, she gave orders to the driver, in French, so it was like “And here is the Jane Austen Centre, prenez la prochaine à droite”, and that was a bit strange.

We stopped at the Royal Crescent, where we took photos and heard the guide compliment us about how good our English is. We quickly saw the Pump Room, and then we went to the Roman Baths.

The Roman baths is a site of historical interest in the English city of Bath and is very well preserved. It is composed of 4 main zones : the Sacred Spring, the Roman Temple, the Roman Bath House and the Museum holding finds. It is a major tourist attraction which attracts more than 1 million visitors a year.
It was first built by the Celts, who dedicated it to their goddess Sulis, and continued to be used after the Roman invasion. But after their withdrawal, the caldarium, the tepidarium and the frigidarium fell into disrepair. The baths were then destroyed in the 6th century, but it has been reconstructed and modified on several occasions. The Spring was housed in 18th century buildings. The Grand Pump Room, begun in 1789, was finished in 1799. The structure above the modern street level is also more recent. It is also important to notice that more than 12000 Roman currency coins were found in the Sacred Spring, as offerings to their goddess. She was indeed really venerated.

It was interesting, but as we studied it in English before we didn't actually learnt anything. However the baths were beautiful and really hot, so I was very happy to be here. We also saw the coins – that was really amazing ! A man sculpting something in the stone even tried to spoke to us in French. At the end of the visit, a young ginger girl asked a hug to Thibaud (he didn’t refuse of course). I find it strange to approach people by this way, but it’s always nice !

During our free time, we visited the many shops of Bath. We found a confectionery which made candies and chocolates. I bought some of them, and there were delicious ! I also bought a book, “The very bloody history of Britain”, who was awesome ! When we returned at the meeting point, we saw Ludovic and other classmates. They said us that he had made them run all around to go in New Look in order to buy… something that had nothing to do with clothes. Well done, Ludo !

Afterwards, we visited the Fashion Museum, at 2 pm.

The Fashion Museum is a place housed in the Assembly Rooms in Bath showing a collection of fashionable dress from the late 16th century and nowadays.
The 18th Assembly Rooms opened in 1771 and were known as the New or Upper Rooms. They were designed by John Wood the Younger.
There, the guests danced, drinked tea, played cards or listened to music. There were four rooms : the Ball Room, the Tea Room, the Octagon Room and the Card Room.
The Assembly Rooms were damaged in 1942, but were then rebuilt in 1963.
There are 4 exhibitions : past displays, current displays, future display and sport and fashion.

I found the Fashion Museum a little boring, but the exhibitions were nice. There was a place with ancient clothes that we could wear. The girls tried corsets and enormous skirts, with more or less difficulty, and there were hats for the boys. We took photos, and even the teachers participated ! (well, just a little)

Then, at 3.20 pm, we visited the Jane Austen Centre.

The Jane Austen Centre is a place located in the Queen Square in Bath celebrating a famous resident of Bath, Jane Austen, and retracing its life there through its collection.
Actually, the exhibition was created thanks to the members of the Jane Austen Society.
It is not only informative but also exciting with a great atmosphere : it tells the story of Jane’s experience in the city between 1801 and 1806 and how it influenced her.
Jane Austen was a famous English novelist of romantic fiction of the early XIXth century. She was really appreciated for her sense of humour.

It was short, but not boring. We have learnt a lot of things about Jane Austen. An old man with a strange beard made us enter and we just sat down and listened to a woman. It was in English –of course !- but we understood very well because she spoke quite slowly. At the end, we took photos with the strange man. He was really nice to let us do that.

We then came back to our home, at 6 pm, very satisfied of our visit.

Glastonbury

As Wednesday, we woke up at 8.30 am.

We went to Glastonbury in order to visit the abbey. We arrived at 10 am.

The Glastonbury Abbey is one of the most ancient abbey in the world, located in Glastonbury and is the source of many legends.
In the 7th century, the Saxons conquered Somerset and their king, Ine of Wessex, ordered the construction of the abbey in 712.
It was then enlarged in the 10th century by St Dunstan, the abbot of Glastonbury.
After the Norman invasion in 1066, the Normans helped in the construction and it became the richest monastery in the country.
It was destroyed by fire in 1184 but the discover of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere bodies found in the cemetery attracted people.
In 1541, all the monks and nuns had been dispersed.

I liked the abbey a lot. When we arrived, a woman said us welcome and she pretended to work here to live. She spoke French, but what she said was quite interesting. She even invited some of us to participate and play a role in her story ! She also made us visit the ruins, still speaking French, and explained us very well the history of the abbey. The place was beautiful and green, and the weather was hot, so it was a real pleasure to listen to her explanations.

Cheddar

At 2 pm, we came to Cheddar in order to visit the Gorge and the Caves.

The Cheddar Caves are caves in the Cheddar Gorge, which is located near Cheddar in Somerset and is made of limestone. It is also where Britain’s oldest complete human skeleton, Cheddar man, has been found.
There are two caves : Gough’s cave and Cox’s Cave.
Gough’s cave is the place where Cheddar Man once lived 9000 years ago. There are secret saves, ancient elders’ meeting chamber , stalagmites and stalagtites.
Cox’s cave is a beautiful sanctuary with colourful calcite sculputes, dancing fountains and mirrorpools.
There are a lot of attractions in the Gorge :
• The bus tour for the view
• The crystal quest, a game based on an ancient legend
• The lookout tower for a 360° view
• The cliff top walk to look the grassland, the goats, newts and bats and many other things
• The museum of prehistory

The gorge was very beautiful, as well as the caves. It was not boring at all, though I don’t really like caves, but I couldn’t hear the audio guide because it was too long ! We climbed on the lookout tower and we also did some hiking. The landscape was just magic ! Some also bought Cheddar (what ? In Cheddar ?! How surprising !).

Bristol

It was already Friday when we visited Bristol.

This time we were going to see a boat, the SS Great Britain, at 10 am.

SS Great Britain is a passenger steamship made by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in order to transport people from Bristol to New York and vice versa.
The ss Great Britain was a world first when she was launched in Bristol in 1843. This uniquely successful ship design brought together new technologies in a way which transformed world travel.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the most daring of the great Victorian engineers, conceived the groundbreaking combination of a screw propeller, an iron hull, and a massive 1000-horsepower steam engine.
She was immediately successful - on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic the ss Great Britain easily broke the previous speed record.
Although effectively a prototype, she continued sailing until 1886, and travelled thirty-two times around the world and nearly one million miles at sea.
She was finally abandoned in the Falkland Islands, in 1937, after more than 40 years use as a floating warehouse.
In 1970 an ambitious salvage effort brought her home to Bristol, where today she is conserved in the dry dock where she was originally built.
Brunel is an English civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway, and a series of steamships.
He was born in Portsmouth the 9th of april in 1806, and died the 15th of September in 1859.

I loved the visit of SS Great Britain because it was really funny to see how it was at the time in this kind of ship. We learned a lot of things on the use of this boat and where he travelled. There was so much to see that we remained a lot of time on the boat. I also enjoyed seeing the difference between the first and the third class.

Before visiting @Bristol, we had time to visit the city. That’s what we did. With others, I went to Bristol’s cathedral. After the one of Salisbury, I found it a little disappointing, but I don’t regret to have followed them. We returned to the meeting point at 2 pm, the time of the visit of the museum.

@Bristol is a public science and technology exploration and education centre and charity in Bristol.
There are a lot of areas :
• “All about us” is about the human body
• “Real Brain” shows a real human brain
• “Animate It” allows to make animated films
• “Flight zone” is about the factors which affect flight and permits to build a flying object
• “All About Our World” is about the world around us
• “The Planetarium” with its shows
• “Tiny Explorers” for the younger ones
• “Investigate” with its mini science experiments
• “Move it” is about forces and flight, and is the larger area
• “Your Amazing Brain” deals in particular with optical illusions and memory
• “Curiosity Zone” deals with sound, light, force, and magnets
• “Space” with an exhibition about space travel
• “Live Science Zone”

It was probably the most interesting and funny place we visited. It mixed science and fun perfectly, and not only we learnt a lot of things, but we also had a very good time. I just loved the place with the green background where we could present the weather or make interviews, for example. I hope I will come back there one of these days !

Wells

Saturday, we visited the cathedral of Wells at 10 am, as usual.

The Wells Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in Wells, in Somerset, which is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells.
The wells are the reason of the original settlement of this area. In about 705, King Ine of Wessex gave the permission to build the cathedral.
In 909 the diocese of Sherbone was split and the minster church of St Andrew became the cathedral of the new diocese of Wells.
The cathedral construction began (was begun est une horreur) about 1175. It was the first English cathedral in a new Gothic style.
The Chapter House was finished in 1306 and was the meeting place for cathedral affairs. The cloisters built in the 13th century were remodelled in the 15th.
Then the cathedral was extended, and in 1645 it was closed but reopened in 1660. During the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685, the cathedral was occupied by rebel soldiers.
In the 1740’s, seats were built and then nothing really changed in the following centuries.
I found the cathedral quite boring, after all the religious monuments we had seen. It was smaller and less beautiful than the Salisbury Cathedral, in my opinion. Anyway, it wasn’t so bad. Well, I wouldn’t come there another time, but I understand that some may find this interesting.

At 2 pm, we came to the Wookey Hole Caves.

The Wookey Hole Caves are a show cave and tourist attraction in Wookey Hole, in Somerset. It is famous because of the “Witch of Wookey Hole” and it’s where they were the first cave dives in Britain.
There are many attractions :
• “Life Size Dinosaurs”
• “Wookey Hole Magic Circus”
• “Pirate Island Adventure Golf”
• “Victorian Penny Arcade”
• “Cave-aged cheese”
• “Magical Mirror Maze”
• “Pirates of the River Axe”
• “Hand-made Paper Mill”
• “Fairy Garden”
• “Cave Museum”
• “Wookey Witch”
• “Monster Mill”

I didn’t really enjoy these caves. I found that it was quite boring, and the guide spoke very fast so I didn’t understand very much of what she said. Anyway, I liked the documentaries that they showed us and the dinosaurs and prehistoric men were funny. I had great fun with the casino games, despite I lost a lot.

Stonehenge

This time, we visited Stonehenge, and it was Sunday, the last day of the trip.

Stonehenge is a famous monument located in the English county of Wiltshire. The word comes from “stone” and “henge”, which means “hang”, “the hanged stones”.
Its construction began 5000 years ago. Many suppositions have been made, but its purpose remains a mystery. It was used as a cemetery and was only composed of a circular bank and a ditch. There were also 56 Aubrey Holes. At around 2500 BC, the blue stones were erected. An Avenue was also dug. It was then arranged 4 times over the next 5000 years. In 2000 BC, the old blue stones were reused to form smaller circles and horse-shoe arrangements. 5 thrithons were erected, as well as 30 monoliths.
It was probably achieved in 1600 BC and was part of 400 other important monuments. During the 19th century, there were druidic ceremonies and people thought that it had been built by the Druids. There are several other legends, because of the mystery that surrounds Stonehenge.

I found it very disappointing. We couldn’t touch the rocks, obviously, but to keep us away from them we had to see them from very far. I can understand it, but as a result, that was not really interesting. Besides, we had worked on it in English so there was no point to be there except for taking photos. It’s also maybe that the excitement of the first days had gone, but this week-end wasn’t really fun in my opinion.

Conclusion

We got on the ferry again at 1 pm, which left Portsmouth at 2.45 pm.
It was like the first day, except that we were much more tired because of all the days we just spent in England. I was happy to find delicious food again (yes, I missed it).

At 9.30 pm, we were at Ouistreham, and we got on the bus. I felt less excited than the first day so I slept better, although I was still tired when we arrived in front of the Lycée. I took my suitcase back, I left the coach, and then, accepting the muffin that Mr. Poinat gave me, I joined my father who was waiting for me.

In conclusion, the trip was interesting. There are a lot of things that I enjoyed very much – @Bristol, the Cheddar Caves, SS Great Britain, and many other monuments. The mother and the son of our family were not really present, but they were nice with us. I bought many things, and had a lot of fun. I also liked that we had so much free time to do whatever we wanted in the towns (as far as we didn’t cause problems and went off them, of course). I didn’t really improve my English, but I learned some new words and had to manage if I wanted to ask something.

I hope that I will do plenty of trips like this in the future !