Stonehenge

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Rick made the comment one day that he wanted to see Stonehenge. Elizabeth, Jen and I all agreed that visiting Stonehenge would be a fun trip. So, about three weekends later, we hopped a ferry to England and started a little adventure. We had an overnight ferry, which is a nice way to travel, and forced you to get up early and get your day started. So at 6:00 AM we and about 15 other people got lost trying to find our cars as we walked up and down stairs and through different levels of the ferry. To say the least, the way to the cars was not well marked. We found our way and we got started. The first day we spent in Bath. We went to this city at the recommendation of others and it was a good stop. We walked around a bit, saw the big sights, went through a cathedral and took a quick look at some steam baths that were built by the Romans when they controlled the area. We paid a few pence to get a glass of the famous hot spring water. It did not taste good, but it was from the King’s Spring so we thought maybe we had elevated our level of sophistication with that action. We continued to walk around the town and each block we walked on was like walking back in time. The whole downtown is in Georgian style of architecture and is very beautiful. The day was sunny and it was not a typical dreary English day that is often written about. Later that day we drove to a B&B. It was in a village and well, it was a small village. The B&B was on a farm and we had a nice area to hike. There were some picturesque scenes and the area around the stream and water mill made the afternoon very tranquil. We walked to the village church that was a couple of hundred year old and met some of the locals. They were very gracious and let us walk around inside the church. The only thing they told us to do was to shut the door when we left. We figured they wanted to keep the animals out. It was nice to be in a place where you don’t have that constant fear that everything has to be locked up all the time. It made me think of home.

A man doing tai chi-we had to stifle our giggles in how serious these people were.
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We went into Salisbury to get some dinner that night. We walked around the Salisbury Cathedral and took a look inside. It was, as with most big cathedrals, magnificent. Lots of famous kings and noblemen were buried in there. The cathedral also houses one of the original drafts of the Magna Carta. Unfortunately we were a tad too late and that part of the Cathedral was closed. We left the cathedral and found a place that sold authentic English cuisine. When ordering I asked the bartender what she suggested I order. She asked me if I had any food issues and I said no. She said the liver is good and she mentioned two or three items that were not on the menu. When I asked for an explanation of what these items were, I could not get an explanation that I could comprehend. I took a chance and let the staff and one of the local patrons order my meal, not knowing exactly what I would get. I was pleasantly surprised by this roast beef (it could have been another meat but beef is what I tell myself) served in a crust with a very tasty sauce. It was good food and a good time just hanging out. Stuffed and tired from a full day we headed back to the B&B.

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That morning was another early rise and shine day. Rick had haggled us some tickets for Stonehenge. Others told us that you had to stay far back and you could not get close to the rocks. However, Rick’s early ticket access not only got us close to Stonehenge, it got us into the center of the rocks. It was really an eerie experience. The morning was very foggy and as we got closer to our destination we parked and went through the entrance gate. As we walked closer we realized that we had just driven by it by maybe a 100 to 150 yards before and didn’t see the stones. As we got closer the fog started to rise.

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It was truly worth the trip to be there. The stones are humungous. We had all read about it and there were recent articles in some magazines about it so I think we thought we were prepared for the sight. Looking back we were not. The structure is sounder that you think. It is not going to fall over like it did when Clark Griswald backed into it in European Vacation. The stones are really set in place.

Many people there were trying to test the healing powers of the stones and we heard a few chants and songs. People were pressing their bodies up against the rocks and trying to absorb the power. We had heard of people doing that, but there was more going on there than I think we expected. It was a different experience and one we were all glad that we did.

Our first glimpse!
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After spending our morning at Stonehenge we went back to the B&B to get our breakfast and then head out. We were driving all the way back to Rotterdam so we needed to catch the quick ferry to France and then drive back from there. Rick did a great job of driving the whole weekend and was able to get us to Dover in plenty of time for us to see the White Cliffs of Dover before the ferry took off. We spent the afternoon checking out the area and the white chalky cliffs were impressive. Again it was a sunny day and we were able to sit back and enjoy the day before the long trip home.