Mucking About at Stonehenge (Literally)

     For a nation with such a huge history, England is quite a small country; geographically speaking, England is comparable to New England.  Today was a day trip to Salisbury which is southwest of London, almost to Bath.  Once we fought our way out of London traffic it took us two hours to get there.  A fairly quick trip for going over half way across the country.  The town of Salisbury is what I’d call quaint, with really lovely countryside and houses.  Because of the magnificent Salisbury Cathedral (which houses the best preserved Magna Carta exemplar) and the proximity of Stonehenge it does attract many tourists, though not as many as Oxford, as far as I could see.  The Cathedral, first of all, is the best example of gothic architecture in the country.  It is a truly impressive building.

   Our guide, Patrick, took us around and we learned some fascinating bits of history attached to the town and church.  For example, the flag (or “colours”) that was carried at the fore of the English soldiers who burned down the White House during the War of 1812 is at this cathedral.  It is rather worse for wear, though.

It's the one on the left that you can see through.

  After a bit of lunch around the town we were off to Stonehenge.  I’ve been before, but last time I didn’t have Patrick.  Patrick started our tour by marching us away from the ancient stone structure into a field of sheep.  We had to mind our step carefully due to the sheep’s leavings; this is where the "mucking" from the post title comes in.  From this direction we not only had a tremendous view but learned about how the ancient people who constructed Stonehenge would have approached this ceremonial ground and then we took the same trail they would have 4,000 years ago.  What an experience!  Plus, the lambs were darling.

   Stonehenge really is a fascinating place, all the more so because despite the amount of research and archaeological work that has gone into this site, we still have very vague ideas about not only the why of Stonehenge, but also the when!

  Our photo assignment for the day was the trickiest yet: a story in five pictures.  As we all learned, this takes some planning, but the results can be quite fun.  I chose to look at the entire day, from leaving in the morning- all excited, to the cathedral, to taking a peek at a famous singer's house, to Stonehenge, and ending with everyone’s exhausted faces at the end of the day.  Thanks to the lovely weather and Patrick’s great guiding, this may have been my favorite trip so far!