A visit to prehistoric Stonehenge in the British Isles on the Salisbury plain turned out to be great day trip from London – AND gave us a chance to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city for a while.

Stonehenge, at the center of one of the world’s earliest cultures, was thought to be a map of the course of the sun and moon. Pretty amazing considering that over 5,050 years ago (3050 BC), the first phase of the circular disk and bank (henge) was constructed.

The configuration of rocks we know today were brought in 4,500 to 3,500 years ago from two areas, the large Sarsen stones from Marlborough Downs (19 miles away) and the smaller Bluestones from the mystical Preseli Mountains in Wales (240 miles away).

On the 21st of June and 21st of December, the sun makes it’s alignment with the center stone in the perfect circle. The circle is in the middle of a huge area of sheep pastures, making it a bit surreal standing out there.

An enormous calendar? Lunar observation station? Interesting stories abound of how it got there and why. It was a great place to spend a quiet morning, contemplating the mystery of the early civilizations and their part in the world as whole.