Stonehenge

I can now boast that I have seen, photographed, and admired one of the most famous prehistoric monuments in the world—Stonehenge! And to be honest, that’s about all you can do at Stonehenge, brag that you have been there. :P haha, just kidding. No, seeing Stonehenge was a tremendously cool experience.



Stonehenge is composed of two circles of rock, an outer circle and an inner circle. The inner circle is made up of what is referred to as “bluestones.” Here is what makes Stonehenge amazing—these bluestones were more than likely transported over 160 miles from the Preseli Hills in modern-day Whales all the way to the southeast corner of Wiltshire. Oh, and did I mention that each of these stones weighed over 4 tons? Yes, pretty impressive. Considering the technology that they had during the Bronze Age, the feat of constructing Stonehenge would probably be the modern day equivalent of relocating the Rocky Mountains to an unpopulated coast of Figi.
As you walk around Stonehenge, you get to carry a hand-held radio device that tells you all sorts of fun facts about the construction, history, and significance of the stones. Considering the fact that there were people from all over the world, these radios came in a variety of different languages. Of course, I got to listen to the one with the cool British accent. :)
The other cool thing about Stonehenge was its relationship to Tess of the D’Urbervilles. In the novel, there is a scene where Tess and Angel are wandering through the English countryside hiding from the law. (Tess has recently murdered her 2nd husband, Alec D’Urberville). Anyway, Tess and Angel end up at Stonehenge. This, of course, is before the entire area was roped off and turned into a major audio-box tourist attraction. Well, Tess decides that she will rest upon one of the large stones. She falls asleep and awakes to be surrounded by law men. I won’t give the ending away…but I’ll just say that Tess ends up becoming a type of literary sacrifice. Poor girl.
Okay, enough about Tess…
As we were making our 400 meter pilgrimage around the Stonehenge circumference, it started to rain. Actually, it started to pour! Just imagine hundreds of Stonehenge tourists scurrying to the entry tunnel, huddling together, listening to their portable informational radios, and trying not to step on anyone’s toes…yup, that was me. So, regretfully our group did not get to take our “Study at Oxford” group photo, like we had planned. I mean, we were wearing matching Polos and everything!