Stonehenge tour
One of the most famous historical attractions, here in England, happens to be right down here in the south-east. That is of course Stonehenge, the millenia-old mysterious standing-stones, that lie in the middle of the bleak high plains near Salisbury. Since it was a drizzly Sunday over in Bath (not that it drizzles exclusively on Sundays, naturally) — and since they do tours from Bath to Stonehenge daily, for quite a reasonable price — I decided to hop on a tour bus, and to see this important monument. What can I say: they're very old, and they're very mystifying; but really, they're just rocks.
There was a little bit of confusion on my part, prior to the afternoon's tour commencing. After I'd enjoyed a morning cuppa, and said goodbye to Christina, I went and booked the tour, over at the information office in Bath. They told me that the bus departed at 1:30pm, and that I was to be just outside the cathedral at that time. So I got to the cathedral at about 1:20pm, and I looked around for the bus (no sign of it), and I waited. And I kept waiting. 1:50pm, and still no bus — no sign of other bewildered wheres-my-bus tourists hanging around, either. Most peculiar!
Eventually I gave up, and went over to the office to ask where the bus was. The lady looked at her watch, and said: "well it's only 1 o'clock, dear — I expect it'll be leaving in another half-hour or so".
To which I replied: "er, no — it's 2 o'clock... isn't it?"
And then I realised that last night, Daylight Savings in Europe had ended, and the clocks had gone forward one hour. But nobody told me! Anyway, I adjusted the time on my watch, and I waited another half-hour, and finally the bus did show up, and we were off.
It was in a big, purple van that we journeyed to Stonehenge. There were 9 other people in the tour group: three Aussie girls (working in England semi-permanently); two older couples (American, I think); and two very quiet Korean guys (studying English in London). Our guide was a nice enough guy, although his jokes were a bit lame, and he soon gave up expecting any of us to laugh at them. Poor dude, probably drives his purple van to Stonehenge and back every day — I guess he's gotta do something to make the trip go by.
It was really cold, really drizzly, and really windy when we arrived at Stonehenge. Couldn't have picked a more bleak day to go see it — you're supposed to be able to feel "mystic pulses" coming from the stones; but all we could feel was that we were bloody freezing. Anyway, once we got there, we pretty much stopped being a tourgroup: they gave each of us a little audio guide at the gate; and when we were inside, we were just wandering round with the other hundred tourists or so, looking at the rocks, and listening to the commentary on our headphones.
The rocks at Stonehenge.
The audio tape at Stonehenge is actually quite amusing. The thing is, at the end of the day, nobody really knows anything much about Stonehenge: there are a million theories; but nobody can conclusively say why it was built, what it was used for, or even how it was constructed. I don't think I've ever heard a more frequent occurrence of the words "perhaps", "maybe", and "possibly", than I heard on that Stonehenge audio tape. The guide may as well just admit it: "honestly, dear tourists, they're just a bunch of thousands-of-years-old rocks in the middle of an empty field, and we don't know jack-all else about them".
Standing-stone close up.
And that's basically what I have to say about Stonehenge. Yes, it's impressive that the ancient people of England managed to haul those enormous boulders from many miles away, and to secure them several feet into the ground. Yes, it's impressive that the structure has survived this long (it's estimated to be over 5,000 years old), and still remained largely intact. But seriously: it's just a bunch of rocks! There are other attractions in this world — plenty more just in England, for that matter — that are far more breathtaking. Anyway, it's another one to tick off the list.
The countryside around Stonehenge — the high plains of the Salisbury area — really does add to the whole atmosphere of the place. It's totally flat, totally bleak, and totally sinister. You could wander for days on it, and still not find your way anywhere. Our guide described it as "arid and barren" — although I wouldn't agree with that, as it's quite green and fertile — maybe it's arid by English standards, but by Aussie standards it's quite lush.
Bleak countryside around Stonehenge.
Apparently, the locals around here are just as weird and kooky as their surroundings. The high plains area is famous for having "crop circles": that is, mysterious "signs" that somehow appear carved into random fields, and that form symbols and even words when seen from above. The Salisbury area is, historically, home to more than half of the crop circle sightings ever reported, in the entire world. That's freaky! The local farmers, who "fall victim" to these signs, claim that they were made by aliens, or by beings from a higher dimension. Most non-local people, however, agree that it's more likely the signs are made by farmers who want to have some fun test driving their new ride-on lawn mowers.