Visit Britain 2011: The Stonehenge Sojourn

I wanted to do something special for my 40th birthday, so I decided to see some rocks. Well, it's a bit more serious than that; I went to visit Stonehenge *cue the Twilight Zone theme*. A tad unusual for a birthday outing, but hey, I'm quite the history buff, you know. I've seen all the Indiana Jones films, like, plenty of times... : )

For those not quite into history (and/or Harrison Ford flicks), here's a short intro taken from Wikipedia:

"Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about 2.0 miles (3.2 km) west of Amesbury and 8 miles (13 km) north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks. It is at the centre of the most dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred burial mounds." 

See? How can you NOT go and see what the fuss is all about yourself? And so, I called up the hotel concierge to book a tour HERE. Then I made a boo boo. We had initially wanted to do the Stonehenge and Bath tour, but I ended up booking Stonehenge with Fish & Chips. I tried to change it but was told that there was no tour to Bath on the 8th. Haiya.

Anyway, we got over the disappointment and got all geared up for Stonehenge. The bus was already waiting near the Victoria Station when we got there, and soon enough we were well on our way, accompanied by a "live" and humourous commentary. (Although it wasn't funny when we were told there was no eating on the bus when we were actually starving like mad).

The journey would take two hours and as the bus snaked through the streets of London, we did get to see parts of the city we've never seen before. Quite cool, really.

Then it was time to hit the highway.

An hour plus later, we came across some burial mounds, before catching our first glimpse of Stonehenge itself. Waaahhh...

The driver then got down to get our tickets, after which he told us we had exactly an hour to roam about and do our thing. With the ticket we were also given an audio guide that spewed. out all the info we needed to fully appreciate Stonehenge.

Unlike a couple of decades ago, you can't come close or touch the stones now. There's a barrier you can't breach, but the feeling was no less magical.

And it was a tad of a challenge to snap photos and enjoy our cup of hot tea with the wind blowing strongly the entire time.

After the hour was up, we were back on the bus and headed back to London.

But that wasn't all that I did on my birthday. Before Stonehenge, we actually went to the awesome Westfield mall near Shepherd's Bush where I got a couple of special treats. Hehe.

 Oh yes, what a day it was... : )