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.

While here we were able to reconnect with Layla, Caroline, and Claire… three friends who shared our “no running water, no electricity, and bucket shower” days in the Mexican jungle. The 5 of us did a 10 week GVI volunteer coral reef research project together in Pez Maya just over 7 months ago…has it been THAT long??

It was so great to see them all! We met up at the London Eye, a spectacular Ferris wheel with amazing views all over the city.

They were our self-appointed tour guides and a mere 10 hours later, we saw them off at their Tube station until the next visit. During our whirlwind tour of London, we saw Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, St. James Park, Buckingham Palace (of course we had the obligatory pic taken of us with the guard!), Trafalgar Square, Convent Gardens, Museum of Natural History, Hyde Park, and finally, whew…Little Venice for a fantastic canal-front dining experience!

The weather so far? Fantastic! We had mostly blue skies, cool temps, and more laughs than we’ve had in a long time. Re-connecting with friends who live far away and you’ve met while while traveling is one of the special perks of this trip and London is a wonderful place to do it!! Cheers to London!

If you’re planning your own visit, you can book your own hotels in London quite easily for many locations around the city. Consider staying in one of the Convent Garden Hotels that offer up beautiful facilities in the perfect location!

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Photo credit:
Buckingham Palace – Sean MacEntee