Saturday, November 21, 2009

There Was Enough Stone, But A Bit Light On The Henge

Hiya everyone! I have some new pictures and a special surprise for you all today (at the end). The pictures are of some obscure rock formation called Stonehenge that's located in southern England. Almost no one knows about it, but I thought it was pretty cool.

We (meaning Sam, Laura, Kayla and I) left from Waterloo Station on a train for Salisbury. The weather was already looking dire, but we thought that we could walk to Stonehenge if it was only a mile or two away from the town. Um, no. It's actually about 10 miles away from town, so we had to fork over money for the bus tour that ran from the station to the site. We got to eat lunch in Salisbury at a sandwich shop run by two girls who weren't too good at making sandwiches (or asking for money in return; Kayla got her sandwich for free). Then we talked to the bus driver, who cleverly discerned we were American and had us list our home towns so that he could tell us the associated American football teams. He was very knowledgeable.

On the bus, a recorded tour told us some things about Salisbury that I don't really remember, but as we approached the site (as the weather steadily worsened) they debunked some myths about Stonehenge, principally that it was built by Druids. It turns out it was not built by Druids, but some people called (excuse my spelling) the Beakers. Of course, I immediately pictures this:

Not just a scientist after all

Then we arrived at the site, and I took some pictures. There is a rope preventing you from going among the stones, so that's why I had to stay back. Also, it was raining in a most unpleasant way at this point, so some of the pictures may suffer. Captions above.

Here they are. Henge refers to the placing of a horizontal stone on top of two vertical ones. So I suppose they were aptly named.
I believe this is called the Hill Stone.




Here is my excuse for not getting closer pictures. They don't want people walking among the stones since it would wear away the ground over time.
And finally, here is my Thanksgiving present to you. A video of Stonehenge in action. I know, I know, you're thinking it makes no sense to take a video of objects that are best known for not moving for thousands of years. Well...here's the video, so there. I pan the camera, at least! (Also, I didn't know the camera recorded sound, so there's no noise except the wind. Also, when I turn to the right to show the landscape I'm turning into the wind, so that's why it gets shakier. Any additional shakiness is due to my hands being very cold.)

And that was that. One bus ride, train ride and underground ride later we arrived in Leicester Square and had dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Then back to an appreciably warm and dry flat. I don't know what I'll be doing next week, but if I don't talk to you then happy Turkey Day! Or if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, happy uneventful fourthThursday in November! Bye.

3 comments:

  1. ...and a fine bit of horizontal rock stacking I might add...

    In your vid I noticed Patrick again walking away from the camera with a disdainful glance back. Check out his home page, you have earned your own tab..."My Amerikan Stalker". Persevere and you may get his autograph yet.

    This just in - its no secret anymore...all Santas are exposed as capitalistic lackys. Good for the recession maybe but very confusing for the children.

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  2. Joe - if a henge is an object placed horizontally on two verticle objects, why do the britsh call that little wooden thing they "throw" the ball at a wicket?

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  3. I'm not sure; I gave up trying to understand the British long ago. They are a strange, sarcastic people who enjoy tea and altogether too much football.

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