Day Trip to Salisbury and Stonehenge

Two weekends ago, I took the opportunity to go on a day trip to Salisbury and Stonehenge with the international students services. They arrange a different excursion about once a month, and when I heard that they were going to Stonehenge, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity! It was a drizzly and chilly day, but I’m glad I went.

We first visited the small city of Salisbury to see the Salisbury Cathedral. This Cathedral was built in 38 years from 1220 and is unique in being almost entirely in one architectural style, Early English Gothic. It boasts Britain’s tallest spire, at 123 meters (404 ft), Europe’s oldest working clock dating to 1386, the earliest surviving complete set of choir stalls in Britain and amazingly, is the home of one of the four surviving original Magna Carta (1215)!

After touring the cathedral, I took off on my own to see the charming town of Salisbury. I took a short walk to the city market, wandered around the stalls and bought a homemade cake for Jason and I to enjoy before heading back to the bus.

We then continued a short while to Stonehenge, which amazingly is perched atop a wide clearing and appears out of nowhere without any pomp or circumstance. There is a small ticket area and gift shop on the other side of the road – and that’s it! This is one of the things I love about England! Americans would have built a huge complex and made the entire area into a marketing and consumerism madhouse. Anyhow, there is a lot I could say about the history of Stonehenge and the theories about who built it and how, but instead of writing it all here, you can go to the Stonehenge Wikipedia site and read about it yourself.It was a good experience, but unfortunately, the cold and wind minimized my enthusiasm. I did get some decent shots, from different angles, which you can see by going to the photos pages. Enjoy!