Stonehenge
Part 3
Back on the bus, we headed to the Stonehenge site. I was really anxious because we had 10 minutes until the souvenir shop closes and I REALLY wanted to get some items that I saw in the online gift shop. So I kind of hurried up the tour person, but it turned out that I didn’t need to. They kept the gift shop open for us.
There was some Mead and Strawberry Wine that I really wanted to get and Stonehenge cookie cutters. We ended up getting those plus an Elderberry Wine, which entitled us a free wine tote bag. This bag was extremely helpful in carrying the bottles around. We had fun shopping for some other things and then we had to go out of the gift shop since it was, finally, closing.
There were some exhibits outside that we visited shortly while waiting for the rest of the group. They are meant to be the type of dwellings that you would have found around Stonehenge at the time of erection.
There was also a stone slab representing how the people could have moved the giant stones. They are crazy heavy. Many men had to pull on the same rope to move them. The stones were quarried from much farther away then where they were found.
Rich posing with the heavy stone
I told him that pose was not adequate, he had to really PULL!
Pull Richard, pull!
We had noticed our water canteens were low, so we tried to find a drinking fountain to fill them up, but there wasn’t any at the visitor’s center (where we were). The guide told us that the cafe will fill them up for us (for free!). And yup, they did. It was quite nice of them.
So, if you need water and have your own drinking container, the cafe at the Stonehenge Visitor Center will fill them up for you.
The way that it works now is that the visitor’s center is a good bit away from the henge, so taking the internal shuttle bus is the fastest way. Of course, you can walk it and there were a few people walking back.
On the shuttle bus, looking back at the visitor center
Next to the henge is a huge sheep field and the sheep were gathered in the area closer to where visitors walked. We had security guards escorting us because the Stonehenge site is closed at this point. The tour allows us entry into the henge after hours (or before, depending what tour your schedule).
One of the sheep actually made a bid for escape when it found out the fence wasn’t electrified. Lol so we had a fun show of the guards corralling the escaped sheep. When the sneaky bugger finally was put back on the other side of the fence, he just started bleeting in protest lol
Once the sheep was where he belonged, 3 security guards escorted our group off the normal path and towards the stones. Everyone went straight for the inner area of the circle. There was really only one rule: No Touching the Stones.
We made it. We are at the inner circle of Stonehenge.
How does this selfie thing work again?
There we go!
Some graffiti on one of the stones
Then, I really had to do some Jane Hat photos, they were, of course, priority!
JANE HAT ALERT
There are multiple because, well, you really only get to go to the center of Stonehenge once in your life.
I decided that I needed to just soak up the energies of the center, so I laid on the ground to soak in the energies and connect to the Earth. Since we couldn’t touch the stones, this was the best way I could think of doing so.
Rich found it amusing
Then I got him to lay down on the ground with me
It turned out to be a wonderful angle to get a full, close up, view of the more central stones.
It was around this time when a member of our group, which happened to also be part of a social media group for the cruise, said something that I found pretty hilarious.
He said to me” Excuse me, could you move your shadow?” HAHA!! Once Rich and I stood up from laying down, our shadows were cast on one of the stones because of the setting sun. This man was being a pretty awesome dad and was documenting his daughter, who also ended up sitting down, enjoying the energies and spiritual aspect of this site. I thought it was really sweet, he was doing his dad best to encourage and support her, it was pretty awesome. That question is just something you don’t really hear that often lol. After more photos, ended up joking with him about Peter Pan and shadows. It was all in good fun.
We took MANY photos while we were here, enjoy …
Behind the scenes look at everyone looking at the stones.
Rich was suspicious of my intentions and wanted a ‘good photo’
A ‘good’ photo. It is rather nice.
Not touching the stone, but dang close
At least my shadow can touch the stones …
This photo shows how the stones are made to interlock on top, see the notch at the top of the stone on the left?
They’re basically like old legos. Old, heavy legos.
There is a road that goes right past Stonehenge
~ Continued in next
post ~