Stonehenge and other tales

Today, I have officially been here a week. I'm thankful that I am not carting my exhausted self through the airport like I was last Monday. I have it significantly easier than last Monday considering I have nothing to do, but a little homework and picking up the rest of my books. I was lucky in my scheduling because I don't have any classes Monday which I'm sure I will be even more grateful for as the semester goes on.

Since I have so much free time I have started on the task of laundry which is quite the task with our little washer and dryer. I put my wash in at about 9:30 and it is now 10:50, it still hasn't finished, and I have to ring out the towel every thirty minutes that sops up the leak at the bottom of the washer. After it is finishes washing I still have another hour twiddle my thumbs waiting for the load to dry. Oh, and did I mention  this is only my pants. I will have to work out a system with this. How the past residents of this house got any laundry done is beyond me.

Now, we come to the title of this particular blog post, Stonehenge.

I took about thirty pictures of these stones as I wondered around the edge. This one I think was the most artistic of the lot minus the half a person on it's edge. I thought this would be better considering the thousands of plain photos that people have seen of Stonehenge. I will post some of the better ones on facebook.

I desperately wanted to wander around in the middle of the stones, but alas there were ropes and signs barring my way. I think if I had been closer it would have been more amazing. To actually understand first hand the height and weight of the stones. To try and comprehend the effort it would have taken to move these stones more than twenty miles on wooden rods. These stones were placed by ropes and the sheer power of men. That concept is hard to understand when you have to stay at least twenty feet away at all times.

Stonehenge was the first stopping point in our trip for the day. My whole program, which consists of 31 students went to Stonehenge, Sailsbury, and Lacock.

Sailsbury was our next visit and it was my favorite. We went to Sailsbury Cathedral which had gorgeous architecture.

The outside was pretty, but my favorite parts were on the inside.

The columns and the pointed arches are beautiful and there were tombs scattered around the cathedral decorated with their own columns and statues. It was all intricate and detailed. I wanted to take a picture of everything.

This was one of the most memorable pieces of the cathedral. It's a fountain with water so smooth it becomes a mirror. I wanted to go back when there was no one around just so I could get a picture reflecting just the cathedral. It's hard to believe it was only install in around sixty years ago for the 750th anniversary of the cathedral. It has a very timeless quality and fits perfectly into the style of the cathedral. I would visit this Cathedral again just so I could wander.

The last place we visited was Lacock Abbey. The first two Harry Potter movies were filmed here.

Lily and James' house is also in Lacock. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of it. This whole village was very quaint with a lot of little cottages. It was a timeless place with such old architecture and modern things.

This is the first of many trips I will be taking while I am in England. Perhaps I will do a tour of Bath blog post. I show the different things I see when I walk around.