Day 2 we had an excursion scheduled but not until noon so Ryan and I got up and went for a run in Hyde Park. Then we got ready and headed to our meeting spot for our tour to Stonehenge! It was much more than just Stonehenge though...
First stop is Avebury. Avebury is "a Neolithic henge monument in Wiltshire, England, featuring the largest megalithic stone circle in the world." It was fun to see the English countryside complete with these cottages with thatch roofs (I think that's what they're called?) and goats.
There are tons of these stones and they are placed in a large circle. These have been here since 2850-2200 BC. Not really as impressive as Stonehenge itself but still cool.
Next stop, the cutest little town called Lacock. Parts of Harry Potter were filmed here and I loved it so much!! We had dinner at a little pub here and then walked around a little.
Professor Slughorn's house in the movie
Harry's parents house in the movie
Last stop, Stonehenge. When I was booking Stonehenge I realized there were specific tours that you could do after hours and you could go in the "inner circle". Otherwise you have to stay quite a ways back and the stones are roped off. Bonus is you got to go during sunrise or sunset to see the inner circle which is prime time for photos. But during the week we would be there, there weren't any of those tours available. I think they limit the number of those to keep the area from being overwhelmed with people stomping on the grass and touching the stones. But we were going to be there during the summer solstice! And there were tours for that. We were told we could go in the inner circle. Silly me thought it would be a smaller group like the other tours I had read about. That was not the case. It was a free for all with all the freaks from near and far. We knew there would be some pagan ceremonies or something like that but I underestimated what we were dealing with. We had to park 1.5 miles away and walk because the crowd was so bad. Can you see the long line of people in this picture?
If I had to do it again I would much rather be in one of the smaller inner circle groups. But hey, it was an experience. I guess the sun lines up perfectly between some of the stones on the solstice? We got some cool pictures.
There were some weirdos out here. Lots of people dressed like witches or fairies. Lots of capes being worn. Some guy dressed in robes acting like he was some spiritual leader. And then weird things like this.
There was a full moon too. Apparently these people party all night there and watch the sunrise too. As we were walking back there were more people headed towards it and we were like, they missed the sunset, what is the point. To each their own.
It was a long drive back so it was late when we got back to London but we all thought it was a cool adventure and we were happy we did it.
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