avebury, stonehenge, salisbury and the druids
saturday, 2-4-05 april
quite the day of traveling. we boarded our tour coach buses: moorhead bus #1, bsu bus #2. but that was for a good reason. andy browers was giving his presentation on avebury and stonehenge, which he actually changed it to druids - who as dr. chapman told us, did NOT build stonehenge. on friday, at our feildtrip lecture, he was telling us about a tv special he was hosting about stonehenge and he ran into druids at stonehenge. he asked who their leader was and a man shouted, "i am!" chapman asked who he might be. "arfer! king of the druids!" (arfur = arther). the arthur, king of the druids, got in a fight with another druid who apparently thought he was king and chapman, apparently, was not impressed. so - back to andy - he didn't want to give his presentation on the same bus as chapman and we knew he would be on bus 1.
so anyway - andy gives his presentation and we are rolling on the floor of the bus laughing. he mentions facts of the druids: "fact: druids built stonehenge with their magical powers. fact:druics spend their nights playing castle and dungeons (or something like that). fact: druids are highly reachable on their mobile phones." anyways. we're all completly ready to be druids for halloween. except crystal w. who says, and i agree - thye look like they are members of KKK.
we arrive at avebury and pile out of the bus and head into town. we must look like a strange site: dr. chapman with many students following him. kind of like papa duck and his baby ducklings. it must really look like that when he heads across the road to hold the gate open on the other side and we wait (60 of us) on the other side for cars to pass.
avebury is one of those mystery rock places - kind of like easter island. it has this circle - that has been interupted by the town of avebury - that is perfectly a half mile across that is marked by these monsterous stones. then there is a deep ditch which then goes up into a hill. we walked around on the hill for part of the circle, dr. chapman lecturing on the way, mentioning to imagine carrying these boulders for 10 miles with nothing but strength and animal hide rope. and reminded us the huge trenches were made from digging with animal bones - probably the shoulder blades of animals. we then took a million pictures posed next to the rocks - climbing them, pushing them, hiding behind them or just posing. we then went into town and hit up a tourist shop. i bought some post cards, as did most others. louise bought a book we will present to dr.chapman: 'arthur: king of the druids.' it's complete with pictures AND - as we found out later - arthurs signature! we are all going to sign it and present it to him.
after avebury, we grabbed some lunch made special for us from the wycliffe hall cooks - just your ordinary bag lunch. heading on the bus for stonehenge, we have to do a u-turn. a road is blocked due to a car accident. a gasp goes through the bus as we see out of tour picture windows a mangled body of a motercyclist laying ont he street. we all knew that he had passed as no one was around him. the bus was quiet for the detoured trip to stonehenge.
we saw stonehenge before we got their - towering over the horizon. it was kind of surreal - seeing this structure that you never would have thought you swould see in your life. we walked through the gates, under the highway and entered the track that surrounds it. as we walked around, we took more pictures. i think i took about 20 panaramic shots of all the different angles of it. i liked watching the birds fly around it - there was something amazing about watching them fly high over the sky and then land on these huge formations with hordes of people standing everywhere. after we had made the round, we slowly walked back, stoping at the souveneir shp to buy, 'henge,' as we like to call it, shirts, rings and post cards. to our disappointment, no druids are spotted.
back onthe bus we head for salisbury cathedral. we no have dr. chapman on our bus. we look for fox hunters with their red coats, horses and dogs as it is now illegal and chapman wants to see someone disobeying the new law that tony blair signed. chapman calls tony blair a control freak. unfortunatly, no fox hunters today, bur there are lots of sheep, flocks and flocks. i remember on our bus when we very first got here, right outside of london. there were sheep everywhere and a murmur went through the bus, "sheep." at that point it could have been "sleep" though.
salisbury cathedral is huge. not as big as i expected, but big just the same. we could see its spire in the distance before we entered the town. we run to stand next to it, not even readhing where the massive windows start. we run around the other side, picture taking along the way. we enter the cathedral and are amazed by its vastness. the folding chairs int he back are a far ways awaay from the altar, which we can't even see due to its being blocked off for a wedding, which we can still hear. looking down at our feet, every tile is a grave stone, which still freaks me out. we head over to dr. chapman who brings us over to what they belive is the world's oldest clock. it does not have a face to tell time, it was built to ring the bells at the top of the hour and is still doing so today. walking towards the front, we pass more tombs - these ones above ground in huge concrete caskets which are carved and engraved. it was kind of different how the church was so vast with different things to look at scattered all around. they even had different toylaties praying altars there to look at.
on your way out, off to a different room, they had one of the few copies of the magna carta that still exist. it was neat to view it, but nothing all too exciting. just a piece of parchment jam packed with old english quill writing stating the placement of the king and parliament with in the UK. there was so many people i didn't even get a chance to read it.
i felt confused leaving, as if there was supposed to be more to see, but i didn't know where to go. amy was on her way out so we both took off for a walk around the church, meeting everyone at the bus stop. everyone slept on the way home, too tired to do anything else. louise said we missed some great scenery.
that night at supper, we got news of the pope's passing. this was one fo the things that we had on our list of "what if this happens while we're over seas?" we will be in rome in less than a month (scary!) and are not sure of how chaotic it will be there. it does seem like we will be able to get in. i guess it is something to worry about at a later date.
that night, we were all to bed early...we were all tired with all the walking we did.
quite the day of traveling. we boarded our tour coach buses: moorhead bus #1, bsu bus #2. but that was for a good reason. andy browers was giving his presentation on avebury and stonehenge, which he actually changed it to druids - who as dr. chapman told us, did NOT build stonehenge. on friday, at our feildtrip lecture, he was telling us about a tv special he was hosting about stonehenge and he ran into druids at stonehenge. he asked who their leader was and a man shouted, "i am!" chapman asked who he might be. "arfer! king of the druids!" (arfur = arther). the arthur, king of the druids, got in a fight with another druid who apparently thought he was king and chapman, apparently, was not impressed. so - back to andy - he didn't want to give his presentation on the same bus as chapman and we knew he would be on bus 1.
so anyway - andy gives his presentation and we are rolling on the floor of the bus laughing. he mentions facts of the druids: "fact: druids built stonehenge with their magical powers. fact:druics spend their nights playing castle and dungeons (or something like that). fact: druids are highly reachable on their mobile phones." anyways. we're all completly ready to be druids for halloween. except crystal w. who says, and i agree - thye look like they are members of KKK.
we arrive at avebury and pile out of the bus and head into town. we must look like a strange site: dr. chapman with many students following him. kind of like papa duck and his baby ducklings. it must really look like that when he heads across the road to hold the gate open on the other side and we wait (60 of us) on the other side for cars to pass.
avebury is one of those mystery rock places - kind of like easter island. it has this circle - that has been interupted by the town of avebury - that is perfectly a half mile across that is marked by these monsterous stones. then there is a deep ditch which then goes up into a hill. we walked around on the hill for part of the circle, dr. chapman lecturing on the way, mentioning to imagine carrying these boulders for 10 miles with nothing but strength and animal hide rope. and reminded us the huge trenches were made from digging with animal bones - probably the shoulder blades of animals. we then took a million pictures posed next to the rocks - climbing them, pushing them, hiding behind them or just posing. we then went into town and hit up a tourist shop. i bought some post cards, as did most others. louise bought a book we will present to dr.chapman: 'arthur: king of the druids.' it's complete with pictures AND - as we found out later - arthurs signature! we are all going to sign it and present it to him.
after avebury, we grabbed some lunch made special for us from the wycliffe hall cooks - just your ordinary bag lunch. heading on the bus for stonehenge, we have to do a u-turn. a road is blocked due to a car accident. a gasp goes through the bus as we see out of tour picture windows a mangled body of a motercyclist laying ont he street. we all knew that he had passed as no one was around him. the bus was quiet for the detoured trip to stonehenge.
we saw stonehenge before we got their - towering over the horizon. it was kind of surreal - seeing this structure that you never would have thought you swould see in your life. we walked through the gates, under the highway and entered the track that surrounds it. as we walked around, we took more pictures. i think i took about 20 panaramic shots of all the different angles of it. i liked watching the birds fly around it - there was something amazing about watching them fly high over the sky and then land on these huge formations with hordes of people standing everywhere. after we had made the round, we slowly walked back, stoping at the souveneir shp to buy, 'henge,' as we like to call it, shirts, rings and post cards. to our disappointment, no druids are spotted.
back onthe bus we head for salisbury cathedral. we no have dr. chapman on our bus. we look for fox hunters with their red coats, horses and dogs as it is now illegal and chapman wants to see someone disobeying the new law that tony blair signed. chapman calls tony blair a control freak. unfortunatly, no fox hunters today, bur there are lots of sheep, flocks and flocks. i remember on our bus when we very first got here, right outside of london. there were sheep everywhere and a murmur went through the bus, "sheep." at that point it could have been "sleep" though.
salisbury cathedral is huge. not as big as i expected, but big just the same. we could see its spire in the distance before we entered the town. we run to stand next to it, not even readhing where the massive windows start. we run around the other side, picture taking along the way. we enter the cathedral and are amazed by its vastness. the folding chairs int he back are a far ways awaay from the altar, which we can't even see due to its being blocked off for a wedding, which we can still hear. looking down at our feet, every tile is a grave stone, which still freaks me out. we head over to dr. chapman who brings us over to what they belive is the world's oldest clock. it does not have a face to tell time, it was built to ring the bells at the top of the hour and is still doing so today. walking towards the front, we pass more tombs - these ones above ground in huge concrete caskets which are carved and engraved. it was kind of different how the church was so vast with different things to look at scattered all around. they even had different toylaties praying altars there to look at.
on your way out, off to a different room, they had one of the few copies of the magna carta that still exist. it was neat to view it, but nothing all too exciting. just a piece of parchment jam packed with old english quill writing stating the placement of the king and parliament with in the UK. there was so many people i didn't even get a chance to read it.
i felt confused leaving, as if there was supposed to be more to see, but i didn't know where to go. amy was on her way out so we both took off for a walk around the church, meeting everyone at the bus stop. everyone slept on the way home, too tired to do anything else. louise said we missed some great scenery.
that night at supper, we got news of the pope's passing. this was one fo the things that we had on our list of "what if this happens while we're over seas?" we will be in rome in less than a month (scary!) and are not sure of how chaotic it will be there. it does seem like we will be able to get in. i guess it is something to worry about at a later date.
that night, we were all to bed early...we were all tired with all the walking we did.
posted by andi at 5:35 AM
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