Stonehenge and Salisbury

(my photos are being difficult, and refuse to load anyomre. so yes, for now we have: stonehenger, salisbury cathedral's "garth" - the green area inside the cloisters; laura and i at salisbury cathedral; and view of the cloisters/garth)
So Saturday, the parents left, and I went off on a trip to Stonehenge (which is in fact 2 and half hours away, not one a half). I started off the day watching the Eddie Izzard’s skit on Stonehenge, which I then proceeded to recite for the rest of the day, either on command or for my own amusement. It was interesting as we drove, because we kept seeing signs for Stonehenge with a symbol next to it. Now I am entirely sure, but I think this is an official “henge” symbol… at least I would like to think it is.

We drive up in our bus of tourists , look outside the window, and there it is. Stonehenge. “The greatest henge in the world.” It was surreal. I hopped out of the bus and ran to go see the sheep across from the parking lot because I was being impatient while people used the loo. That an I have never seen sheep before. Oh wait, I work on a farm. They looked very peaceful and sheepish. (That oh-so-clever play on words was for Ray Molski). Finally everone was armed with cameras and ready to go to the henge. We had to pass through a turnstile, and go up a ramp, which I must say took away from things a bit. It would have been a greater experience if you were dropped off a mile away and had to hike there, but I do understand why it’s necessary to have all this other stuff.

You cannot go right up to the rocks anymore, as you may know, because of hooligans and ruffians who thought it clever to graffiti the stones and chip pieces off. Well done lads. Talk about ruining it for everyone. It was still incredible, though. Quite mystical as well, actually. We began the circle around it and immediately started taking pictures. Stonehenge was not, in fact, built by the Druids, as many people are led to believe. The stones were put up a significant number of years before Druids existed, so it is still very strange and intriguing. The Druids do use it occasionally for solstice rituals, and they are the only people still allowed to go in among the stones on special occasions. Apparently there are many other henges around the area, and it is also the area where the most crop circles appear each year (hundreds apparently). I had no idea crop circles occurred so frequently, but it is a bit creepy. Make of it what you will. I am afraid I don’t buy into the aliens idea, though.

Originally on the site was a wooden henge, but when that began to rot , it was replaced by large stones brought in from Wales, perhaps rolled over on logs. Large holes were dug in the ground for the upright stones, and they may have made a sort of ramp to slide it into the hole, then prop it up and repack the soil. The lintel (top) has two indentations carve out which allow the two stubs of rock on top of the posts to slide in, thus securing the structure as well as one can. Some stones have fallen, and some have been replaced due to damage.

As we walked around and made comments and jokes the sky started to darken significantly. We heard a low rumble of thunder and saw a flash of lightening off in the distance, and a slow drizzle started. In a matter of minutes the sky opened up and it began pouring. Not a nice English shower. No, this is monsoon weather. Wind whipped, umbrellas inverted, people scattered, I laughed.

I shall be honest, it was a bit odd. Very Stonehenge-esque., Very “ah – uh – ah –oh- ah.” ( that was mystical music)

So we protected the cameras, took a few more photos, then got onto the bus soaked to the bone right as it was time to go.This provided a pleasant ride to Salisbury, where it stopped raining in a bout 5minutes. Interesting…

We passed a nice outdoor market, where I bought some handmade English moccasins for four pounds. What a fantastic buy; I am happy I treated myself. Then we went in search of food, finally choosing a rather crowded Italian restaurant, where I sat in my more than damp jeans and ate delicious minestrone soup and bruschetta. We passed on dessert and went to Salisbury Cathedral down the street.

Now i am sure i learned about this at some point in my career as an art history major, but seeing as i am terrible person, i don't remember any of it. I think it has something to do with Salisbury Cathedral having the highest spire of any English church, and also the vast amount of sculpture. yeeahh. that sounds about right. Well anyway, it was lovely and magnificent, but has been undergoing construction since 1986. And will continue until 2015. That's some slow repairing, but i am sure it needs it. It is quite big and old.

We left that in time to grab some chocolate from a chocolate shop and get back onto the bus, still wet, but overall happy. at least i was. I put on moccasins and slept for most of the ride home. When we got back, Laura and i ordered chinese food (which was actually quite tasty) and watched a couple episodes of A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry's sketch show from back in the day. it was quite hilarious, and i reccommend it to all of you.

my favourite new quote from it is when Stephen Fry was bored and began to say increasingly sarcastic comments, until finally, he just paused after one sentence and yelled " OH THATS INTERESTING!" that is my new thing to do now. so beware