Time for another factoid Friday - on Sunday. I guess that just goes to show you that I'm really living the life of a freelancer. I have hardly any time to keep up with my fun weekly blog post... that I started last week. So here's this week's interesting fact about me:
I visited Stonehenge back in 2005 when I was in Europe with the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus. We had one free day on the trip and my wonderful mother (happy Mother's Day Mom) gave me a day-tour pass as a gift. The tour took me to Castle Windsor, Bath and of course, Stonehenge.
It was quite an interesting day with long stretches of bus ride. The tour guide had quite a personality and shared all kinds of information about the destinations with us as we drove. I was fascinated by Stonehenge and the many interesting theories surrounding its creation. Apparently, many people believe the stones were placed there by magical or alien forces.
My first impression of Stonehenge was that it was not as big as I assumed. It was still rather large and impressive, but all those screen savers and posters had led me to believe I would be looking at a skyscraper sized monument. Standing up against the ropes, it was still an imposing construction. It is hard to imagine how those giant stones were erected before the advent of modern technology.
I also found it somewhat disappointing that we couldn't get close to Stonehenge. Apparently it used to be open for people to walk around the stones, but after tourists started defacing it and causing major erosion, they decided to rope it off. Now the only times tourists can walk amongst the stones are on the solstices and equinoxes, or on a private tour.
It was definitely quite an experience anyway, and I highly recommend visiting. I also recommend the book Sarum by Edward Rutherferd. It is a wonderful work of historical fiction that takes the reader from the earliest inhabitants of Sarum to modern day Salisbury. I purchased it at Stonehenge and enjoyed reading it on the subsequent bus ride and plane ride home.
So that's it for factoid Friday (Sunday). I hope you'll check out the book, and maybe even travel to see Stonehenge for yourself someday!
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