Day 6 – I Saw the Stones

“It is a work of art and science, of poetry, astronomy and literature that reflects back to us the centuries that have passed over it.” –Rosemary Hill

I knew I would like Stonehenge, but I loved it far more than I anticipated.  Despite the overwhelming number of excited tourists, it was quite peaceful there.  The temperature was in the low 50’s that day and that plus the rain paired with a strong wind made it extremely cold.  But I thought the weather just added to the charm of the English countryside.  Sadly, frozen fingers make it harder to use a camera but is it really a visit to Stonehenge if it’s not cold and rainy?  I never know what it’s going to be like when I study a monument and then get to ‘meet’ it for the first time.  However, this meeting was exactly how I wanted it to be.  In the words of Sir Richard Colt Hoare describing Stonehenge, “How grand! How wonderful! How incomprehensible!”

“It is indeed immensely picturesque. I can fancy sitting all a summer’s day watching its shadows shorten and lengthen again, and drawing a delicious contrast between the world’s duration and the feeble span of individual experience. There is something in Stonehenge almost reassuring; and if you are disposed to feel that life is rather a superficial matter, and that we soon get to the bottom of things, the immemorial gray pillars may serve to remind you of the enormous background of time.”  -Henry James

The rest of the day was spent in Winchester shopping for tea, exploring hidden gardens, finding more bookstores, and wandering through castle ruins.