21 May 2014

Bath - Stonehenge and Salisbury

Stonehenge - the stones are still there, as they have been for about 4,000 years. What has changed is the visitor centre. The old one has been demolished and a new one has been built in a spot not visible from the stones area.

Robyn posed for a photo.

This is as close as a tourist can get to the stones.

We used the very good audio guides while walking around the circle. This guide explained the layout of the site, and its history. Apparently people built it because they wanted to; the experts aren't sure about too much more.

A bus takes visitors from the visitor's centre to the stones, and back again. We could have walked, but there isn't much to see on the way.

Back at the visitor's centre, we saw some exhibits from the site, and the ubitiqitous video presentation. That was pretty good actually. The gift shop was another matter. It had all the usual stuff -T shirts, marmalade, and coffee mugs etc. Then it degenerated into Stonehenge Teddy bears, Stonehenge hip flasks, Stonehenge cuff links, and more. Two of the worst were the snow globe pictured here...

 

 

and a 500 pound ($950 AUD) Stonehenge etched-glass punch bowl. Tacky and a bit grubby.

I resisted the punch bowl, and we headed for Durrington Walls. There is an accepted theory that the people who used Stonehenge just after the stones were erected actually lived at Durrington Walls. There isn't anything to see there - it's just an empty field now.

As there was plenty of daylight left, we headed for Salisbury to look over the cathedral there. It's huge.

Here it is -

Salisbury cathedral can be mistaken for a small town from space.....

They have a copy of the Magna Carta. This is the document which king John sigend under pressure from the Barons in 1215. It marked the infancy of democracy. You know- it means you can vote and elect your government; even if you went to the pub instead on the last election day.

The place has all the usual - dead guys buried in the floor, more stone than Uluru, more windows than all the planes QANTAS owns, a roof higher than the Himalayas, a spire so tall you can see Australia from the top, and a gift shop selling tea towels !

They kicked us out at 5:30, so we drove home. The only excitement there was finding a park when we got back. Parking is restricted to 2 hours (Park and Pay) for non residents. Our host gave us a resident's parking permit so we could park in the street (and not get towed away).

Back to reality... Robyn cooked dinner and we went to bed.

Til tomorrow

Lex and Robyn