Stonehenge















Recognize those rocks? We decided we couldn't live only an hour and a half from Stonehenge any longer without making a visit to the iconic site. So we up and went this weekend. Honestly, sometimes the fact we're living here sinks in, and getting up one morning and deciding to drive to Stonehenge on a whim was one of those times. Such a good experience for the kids.

Also, Stonehenge was worth it! It surpassed my expectations. I mean, I knew they were old, and that they were mysterious, and that they were hard to move. But being there really is a different experience than just seeing or hearing about them. Those rocks are really, really huge! And so old! When you are standing in their shadow (and I mean that figuratively, because due to the clouds, there were no actual shadows to be seen...) it's hard not to feel awed by them and to feel a sense of their mystery. There are a lot of good guesses about temples, religious ceremonies, and the solstices, but nobody really knows. I kept thinking to myself, what if all of this is way off? What if they were, you know, something totally random like a big barn or something? What if the builders are somewhere looking down on us and all our guesses and chuckling?

Anyway, it poured rain and boomed thunder on our way to the site from the visitor center. This ended up being perfect, because it cleared once we got there, but the weather had scared many people away, so we could walk all the way around with plenty of space to wonder and wander. (Also, we got there early.) The kids loved the audio tour. Eric and I enjoyed the audio tour, too, when the kids would let us listen. Had we known the kids would listen the entire time, we would have gotten four headsets.

In any case, I learned a lot: the stones are over 3000 years old; the tallest are 7 meters high, and are dug 2.5 meters into the ground (that's how they stand up); some of the smaller ones are volcanic rock all the way from southwest Wales (that's far away); the big ones weigh up to 3 tons; most people associate them with druids, but they actually pre-date druids by several hundred years; they found a guy all shot with arrows nearby so they wonder if there were sacrifices (or maybe he was a crazy guy trying to attack them?); there are huge burial mounds all around the site for miles that I didn't know about; the sun sets right smack in the middle of one archway on winter solstice.

There was more, but those are the highlights.

I think we'll be back, since we can go for free, but at least now we can rest well knowing we haven't squandered the opportunity to visit such a place. (Also, don't Eric and I look tall in that picture the kids took? Funny to see a kids' perspective!)


Comments

  1. Anonymous28 May 2018 at 11:19

    Awesome! Glad you all enjoyed it. Yes, so fun to wonder and speculate about old structures and the people who made them.
    Did you know there is a smaller but to scale replica of Stonehenge here in Washington state? Some rich guy had a thing for Stonehenge and had this replica built. Before visiting many years ago I smugly thought this was a silly thing to do, but much to my surprise the ‘vibe’ there among the stones was really strong. It made me wonder if there is something inherently powerful in the pattern of the stone arrangement. In any case, hope to see the Real Thing whenever we come visit you. ��

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rachel29 May 2018 at 00:49

      Interesting. I think you will like the real thing, esp if you can come when it's less crowded. The size of the stones, and thinking of how far they transported some of them, is really stunning!

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