Kylajane37's travel blogs:
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"No on knew who the were or what they were doing."
Entry 31 of 35 | show all | print this entry |
I think today qualified as the tensest day of the trip, although it started out in a mellow way. We decided to take some more major routes south through the Cotwolds and head to Stonehenge. I hadn't been there yet and, as mom said, it seems a requirement for any visit to England. We heard a lot of negative reviews from guide books about how crowded it was and how close to the highway.
We were pleasantly surprised. It's actually really strange to be driving down the highway and to crest over a hill to look down at the famous figure of Stonehenge, just sitting out there in the English countryside. It could have a been a little early in the season, but we didn't find there to be too many tourists, and although the highway was nearby and audible, there wasn't another building in sight...only fields and other burial mounds.
We listened attentively to the audioguide and walked around the ancient stones. We learned basically what is known about it which is that no ones know exactly why its there. (Hence the title of this entry, which is quote from one of Pierce's favorite movies, Spinal Tap) There are all kinds of theories and they have been able to recreate when the stones were place there and other circles and henges that preceded it. We heard all about the its nature as a calendar and the burial areas that surround it. All in all, it was a very interesting experience. More so than anywhere else I have been, you are struck by the truly ancient feel of the place and left in awe of how anyone could have constructed something like this...lugging stone from Wales...that long ago.
The rest of the afternoon is where things went a little haywire. We went to Salisbury, a nearby town, for lunch and to look at its awesome cathedral...the talked spire in England. Then we made the ill-advised decision to head to Avebury, which didn't look that far away on the map, before driving to Gatwick to catch our flight to Dublin. It took a little longer than we thought to get there. We found Avebury interesting, but it is off set by the fact that a village has been planted right in the middle of the stone circle. It is quieter and older than Stonehenge though.
Not much needs to be said about our mad dash to Gatwick from the other side of England during rush hour on a Thursday afternoon with almost nothing in the gas tank. Needless to say there were some tense moments on the round-abouts. In the end we made it just in the nick of time...another legendary moment in the lore of Robinson Family Vacations.
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