Today I got up nice and early, had a quick breakfast and checked my email and then headed off to find my way to Stonehenge.
I knew that I could find a train from Waterloo Station to Salisbury, which is 9 miles form Stonehenge but after that I didn’t really know what was up. The trains leave from Waterloo every 20 minutes, so that didn’t take very long and it was only a 2 hour ride there.
Once I got there it was pretty clear there wouldn’t be problems getting to Stonehenge. Lots of busses, bus tours and tourist information. I got a cheap bus fare and had about 45 minutes to blow before I headed out. I was kind of hungry so I wandered down to a pub on the corner to see what I could scrape up.
This pub was like something out of a movie. Everyone in there knew each other and they were all asking about each other’s mums and kids. When someone new walked in the door they were all like “Allo John!” or whatever. Weird.
I had a pint of cask cider, which was tasty, a plate of chips and some talk with the bartender. She asked me if I was going to Stonehenge and I said “How did you guess? Wrong accent?”. She said that everyone that comes into the pub asking what food they can get quickly is going to Stonehenge. Heh!
So I took the bus ride over, and Salisbury is very pretty. Stonehenge is actually in, or very near, Amesbury which is also very pretty.
The entrance to Stonehenge is very touristy, but that’s across the street and a tunnel. Once you actually get on the grounds it’s very nice. No tourist crap, but lots of people. Only problem is you can’t really get near it. There is a rope fence a good 25 yards away from it you can’t go inside. Aparently during the Solstice, next week, they let you in so you can commune with the moon goddess or whatever.
Stonehenge is… well, just like the lady at the bar said, it’s just like the pictures. It doesn’t move about. It was awesome to see it in person though.
On the trip back I fell asleep on the train and almost ended up heading back towards Salisbury. Someone was nice enough to wake me up right before the damn train left again. That sucked.
So that’s it for my tour of Europe! It’s about 5:30pm right now. I am going to find some dinner, and a few beers. Maybe do some laundry so I have something cleanish to wear tomorrow and then pack and hit the sack. I have to be up pretty early tomorrow to find my way to the airport.
So, thanks for reading and thanks for the comments! And don’t forget to check out the last batch of pictures from London yesterday and Stonehenge today!