Stonehenge (through the fence) & Salisbury

So today I decided to take a day trip and head over to Stonehenge. I got up early to head over to Waterloo Station and hopped onto the train bound for Salisbury. By the way, this was AFTER I spilled my latte on myself at Starbuck's in the station like a spaz...moving on though. :-)

I arrived in the town of Salisbury about an hour and a half later, knowing that Stonehenge was about 10 miles outside of the city and you had to take a bus to get there. I was bummed to find out that when I arrived at the station, I had to wait 45 minutes for the next bus since they only leave once an hour. I walked around the area close to the station checking out the town for a bit before boarding the bus. I didn't realize that Stonehenge really IS out in the middle of nowhere. After about 20 minutes of driving along nothing but farmland, I thought I was on the wrong bus! But then out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the unmistakable sight of a bunch of random stones in a field and breathed a sigh of relief!

Then came the confusing and disappointing part. Tasha had warned me before that you can't actually walk up to the stones or anything, but I saw these people with headsets walking along this path that circled the stones and it put you pretty close to them. However, I was staring at Stonehenge through a chain link fence. I asked a man how you got inside the fence and he pointed to a HUGE long line near the visitor's center. Apparently if you pay £5, you can get inside the fence to walk along the path near the stones and listen to the guided tour. BUT, what the ticket office neglected to tell me is that if you don't catch the first bus after you're dropped off (which is 40 minutes after you arrive), you then must wait another TWO HOURS for the next one. Now that would all be fine and dandy if there was something other than just the stones to see during that time, but they're out in the middle of nowhere with nothing around them!!!

The line would have taken AT LEAST 30-35 minutes according to the guide to get through, only leaving me about 5 minutes (if that!) to "RUN" along the path around the stones like a lunatic and THEN make it back to the bus station, so I opted to see Stonehenge "through the fence." It was still really cool though when you think about how long the stones have been there and HOW they got there so the trip wasn't a waste at all! I took some good shots with my camera through the links in the fence and even had a crazy German woman take my picture. I told the bus driver when I got back on the bus though that they needed to plan the arrival and departure times a little more carefully so tourists can actually see the stones from the other side of the fence and not have to wait 2 hours for the next bus for doing so!

Anyway, after I hopped back on the bus I headed back into Salisbury to do some exploring. I had read some cool stuff about the town in my Rough Guide and the main attraction is the Salisbury Cathedral. It's a 13th century cathedral with Britain's tallest spire (over 400 feet!), which slightly leans a bit, strangely enough. REALLY beautiful though and I also got to see the finest of only four surviving original copies of the Magna Carta (written in 1215!) which was pretty cool as well. I *thought* about sneaking a picture in, (like I did in the Sistene Chapel against the rules), but then thought otherwise b/c the guards looked mean and there weren't as many people around...


The tour guide was REALLY great though (and those of you that know me well know that I don't ever like tours usually and am the first to opt out of taking one!) and she had a ton of interesting information to share. I even saw some graffiti on one of the columns that was from the year 1620! (See pic below) And I saw the world's oldest medieval clock which has no face and just looks like a bunch of things that turn around and are on pulleys - VERY interesting (see pic).


I then walked around the high street in Salisbury and saw as much as I could (and took as many pics as possible) before I had to hop back on the train to London. It was a REALLY great trip though, even though I had to see Stonehenge through a chain link fence! :-(

After I got back to London I high tailed it over to Jo's flat for a DELICIOUS dinner (Shepherd's Pie!) - she's a FANTASTIC cook, even though she doesn't own up to it! We had a wonderful evening and it was the perfect end to a great day of adventure and exploring! :-)

By the way, Dad, I know you're going to ask this question so I already have the answer for you. Salisbury steak has NO CONNECTION with Salisbury, England other than it was named after an Engligh physician by that name. Here's more info: http://www.answerbag.com/c_view.php/1656#3130