Stonehenge

We had visitors this week. Thursday was our downstairs neighbor Troy's birthday and Lori made a cake for the occasion. Troy (his boys are Matthew's playmates) and his family are from Darboy and they started their two year expatriate assignment last February. Troy and Alissa have been a huge help to us by sharing their experiences so we can learn from them. We had coffee (tea for Troy) and sang happy birthday before enjoying Lori's chocolate creation. Since the ingredients here are a little different and the oven is gas and convection, the cake was a little more dense than it would have been at home but still delicious! The conversation was good: we like having company (hint, hint).

At point 1 of the audio tour. The temperature was 80 degrees today so many other people were visiting, too.

Today we drove the 1 hour and 20 minutes to Stonehenge. The drive was easy; dual-carriageway almost the entire trip. We joined English Heritage for 15 months so our admission was free and we now have access to all of the English Heritage castles and sites.

One third of each vertical stone is underground to keep them upright. The pathway runs around the stones so this is as close as you can get.

The Stonehenge site is huge. The two rock circles are just the center of what is believed to be an ancient calendar, clock, and cemetery. One third of each stone is underground to keep the stones upright. The ends of the stones are connected with tongue and grove construction to keep them together. Some of the stones were transported over 140 miles! The hills surrounding the stone circles are topped with barrows (burial mounds).

Matthew is listening to the audio tour.

First, we walked the path around the stones listening to the portable audio tour. The alignment of the stones to the sun is so accurate that the rays shine through a different opening each month. There is even a stone that points to the sunrise on the shortest day of the year and another that points at the sunrise on the longest day. While heading back to the car park to retrieve our picnic from the car we passed through the souvenir shop and looked at the trinkets, all which said, "Stonehenge Rocks!"

I included this photo to prove that I was there too.

Next to the car park is a gate that leads to Stonehenge Down, where many people were picnicking or just laying in the sun. We planned to eat and then continue through the down to visit a group of barrows on the other side. Once through the gate, we quickly realized that the down is actually a cow pasture and we had to be very careful about where we stepped and additionally careful when placing the blanket.

Lori and Matthew preparing our picnic with a barrow (burial mound) in the background. I am detecting a trend of multi-use land in the U.K. We walked through a sheep pasture at Blenheim Palace and a cow pasture here.

Lunch was good; sandwiches, crisps, strawberry juice, grapes from Spain, a baguette, and Yorkshire Wensleydale cheese with cranberries.

The well-fed tourists. Note the hats (Go, Pack, go!).

The view from the top of the barrows was amazing. From this vantage point, we could see that the rings of stones are on top of a lower hill surrounded by a ring of higher hills, two of which contain the funeral barrows.

Our heroes on top of a barrow with Stonehenge in the background.

The view of the stones from the top of the barrow with the visitor centre in the foreground.

After playing tourist, we needed refreshments but there were no local cafes or pubs. Using the SatNav in the car, we discovered the the city of Winchester was only 23 miles away in the general direction of Oxford.

Tea at Maison Blanc in Winchester. A nice way to end the day.