Stonehenge and Salisbury

So touristy, but still very cool. We felt like we couldn't spend 5 months in England and not see Stonehenge. It was the coldest we have ever been so we circled the henge and then took off. Seriously so cold.

Lots of family photos this trip- we brought one of our housemates.

Getting warm in the museum

Truman was unimpressed by the big rocks

But sheep nearby? Loved those guys. He kept saying "baaa baaa"

The front. Looks powerful, yeah? All those dark specks on the right are people. I can't imagine what this place is like in the spring/summer.

 Overall Stonehenge was definitely worth the trip. Our favorite part was driving there and coming over a hill and then bam! there it is. It looked really spectacular. It was still worth paying the umpteen pounds to go up close though and to look around the museum. It is so much bigger than I had imagined, even looking at these pictures it doesn't quite capture it. But it's just really big, okay? I remember looking at pictures and thinking building it without modern technology would certainly be hard but not impossible. However seeing it in person made me realize why people think aliens built it. That is almost just as likely of a theory as all the others. We also learned some interesting bits and pieces. Like, the huge stones were not all local, some of them were brought over from Wales (how? Aliens!). Also, surrounding the stones were sixty-something holes filled with dead peoples' remains. Kinda morbid.

After Stonehenge we went to nearby Salisbury to see its Cathedral. It has the tallest spire in Great Britain. Of course, very similar to others we have seen! But it was still a good place to look around. Unfortunately the spire was closed to visitors and they usually have an original Magna Carta there- but it was in London for some special occasion. Phooey!

The spire- a perfect view from the parking garage.

The courtyards are always so pretty

Can you guess what this is? A CLOCK. The oldest working clock from the 1300s. No face- it would just strike the hour on the bell. Such a complicated invention that I remember learning about in school. The clock revolutionized how we organize our time. Now we schedule our days to the minute- that wouldn't be possible without the clock! 

Pretty impressive as always. You can't really tell, but the columns on the sides are actually bending from the weight of the spire!

A cornish pasty for the way home.