I can't believe this is our last day in England! And again we had gorgeous weather!! Today was sunny from early morning and the humidity was very low so that means my hair wasn't trying to make frizzy ringlets all day! Yay! A good hair day!! (from Reed-I keep telling her I love the curls, especially in her bands, but she's not buying it).
We took off early to drive southwest to Stonehenge. It was about a 2 hour drive. It's way out in the farming country - but when you get close, all of a sudden you can see it from the highway. It's really amazing! English Heritage has built a new visitor center with displays that are very interesting. When you go out to the henge, you ride a tram for 1 1/2 miles and then you get out and walk around a roped perimeter that is about 100 yards away from the stones. The reason for this is because archeologists have said the ground is soft near the stones and millions of people walking around could cause damage. One of the large stones fell over in 1900 and has since been repaired, but since that time, the henge has had to be protected. We actually found out that they have done restoration work, setting some stones back up, straightening others, and pouring concrete in to make sure they don't fall down again. It makes you realize that no matter how man builds something, it's just not going to last as long as the things that God builds..
It was built between 3000 and 2000 BC over a period of about 800 years. so it was not all built at once by an advanced alien race, or by Merlin and his magic!
But, I digress. We enjoyed walking around the circle and taking several pictures - it was a great day for pictures! From Reed-Stonehenge was truly awesome and the weather was fantastic - note the picture of Stonehenge with the clouds and blue sky. We took about 50 pictures as we walked the perimeter. In the English Heritage Center, they had one display in a circular room, which showed how the Stonehenge developed over an 800 year period. What was neat about it was that your perspective was from inside the henge, as though you were in the center. I loved it.
We took off early to drive southwest to Stonehenge. It was about a 2 hour drive. It's way out in the farming country - but when you get close, all of a sudden you can see it from the highway. It's really amazing! English Heritage has built a new visitor center with displays that are very interesting. When you go out to the henge, you ride a tram for 1 1/2 miles and then you get out and walk around a roped perimeter that is about 100 yards away from the stones. The reason for this is because archeologists have said the ground is soft near the stones and millions of people walking around could cause damage. One of the large stones fell over in 1900 and has since been repaired, but since that time, the henge has had to be protected. We actually found out that they have done restoration work, setting some stones back up, straightening others, and pouring concrete in to make sure they don't fall down again. It makes you realize that no matter how man builds something, it's just not going to last as long as the things that God builds..
It was built between 3000 and 2000 BC over a period of about 800 years. so it was not all built at once by an advanced alien race, or by Merlin and his magic!
But, I digress. We enjoyed walking around the circle and taking several pictures - it was a great day for pictures! From Reed-Stonehenge was truly awesome and the weather was fantastic - note the picture of Stonehenge with the clouds and blue sky. We took about 50 pictures as we walked the perimeter. In the English Heritage Center, they had one display in a circular room, which showed how the Stonehenge developed over an 800 year period. What was neat about it was that your perspective was from inside the henge, as though you were in the center. I loved it.
After a couple of hours at Stonehenge, (if the crowds had been any larger, we would have been limited to 30 minutes), we drove about 9 miles to Salisbury Cathedral in the town of Salisbury. The cathedral has the tallest spire in all of Britain - 404 feet tall. The cathedral itself is over 900 years old. (is that a recurring number in this blog? 900 years?). This is a living church, meaning they have had a continuous active congregation even to today. Makes you feel kind of small, doesn't it?
This cathedral is so detailed in the carving of stone. the workmanship on inside and out is amazing! We show a picture of the inside. It had an amazing pipe organ, although we didn't get to hear this one. Reed is lifting his hands in praise. What a mighty God we serve! We drove through Salisbury, another great and quaint town.
These last two pictures show our B&B, The Old Manor House in Brasted, Kent. Kerstin was our gracious host, fixing us breakfast, sometimes full, sometimes continental, sometimes packed in a sack, always working with our daily departure schedule. And her son Rupert gave us rides to the train station when we were going into London. The Manor is 500 years old, so it wasn't exactly designed as handicap accessible. But it worked out well for us. We both give it a strong "recommend" to anyone interested. We thank the Lord for the privilege of this special trip celebrating our 44th wedding anniversary