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Birthday weekend adventures

I spent this weekend doing lots of fun touristy things because…when will I be back in England for my birthday?! The big thing was that I took a tour to Windsor, Stonehenge, and Oxford on Saturday. I did not tour Windsor Castle because I had already been there and, quite frankly, I was more interested in walking around the town. But I got some cool shots of the Castle from afar on this particular road called the Long Walk. And the town is just lovely as well!


Windsor Castle and town pics






Stonehenge


Stonehenge was awesome! It’s one of those places that you don’t need to go more than once, but you should go there once. I feel like I need to understand more about it, honestly, even still. But, regardless, it’s an amazing human feat to behold. And it was a lovely day to visit. Sunny but very cold. I highly recommend going if you are able to take a day trip from London.


For those wanting to know more about what it is, after I visited, I still had to do some research on it. This is a summary from the English Heritage website: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/history-and-stories/history/significance/


Stonehenge is a unique prehistoric monument, lying at the centre of an outstandingly rich archaeological landscape. An extraordinary source for the study of prehistory, it holds a pivotal place in the development of archaeology. Many different theories have been put forward about who built it, when, and why.


In 2016 Stonehenge celebrated its 30th year as a World Heritage site – in 1986, it was one of the very first sites in the UK to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Stonehenge is the most architecturally sophisticated prehistoric stone circle in the world.


The significance of Stonehenge itself can be summarised as follows:

  • Stonehenge is the most architecturally sophisticated and only surviving lintelled stone circle in the world.

  • The earliest stage of the monument is one of the largest cremations cemeteries known in Neolithic Britain.

  • The stones were brought from long distances – the bluestones from the Preseli Hills, over 150 miles (250km) away, and the sarsens from West Woods, 15 miles (25km) north of Stonehenge.

  • The stones were dressed using sophisticated techniques and erected using precisely interlocking joints, unseen at any other prehistoric monument.

Containing more than 350 burial mounds and major prehistoric monuments, this landscape is a vast source of information about the ceremonial and funerary practices of Neolithic and Bronze Age people.


It can also help our understanding of regional and international contacts from the 4th to 2nd millennia BC, and shed light on how prehistoric society was organised.


Stonehenge has often been at the forefront of the development of archaeology.


It has also perhaps been the focus of more theories about its origin and purpose than any other prehistoric monument. These have included a coronation place for Danish king, a Druid temple, an astronomical computer for predicting eclipses and solar events, a place where ancestors were worshipped, or a cult centre for healing.


Today, the interpretation of Stonehenge which is most generally accepted is that of a prehistoric temple aligned with the movements of the sun.





Oxford


The last part of our trip was a visit to Oxford. Or Tour Guide, Dolly, has a at least one degree or maybe two from there. She studied history and Russian. She explained that Oxford is not one university but a collection of different colleges. Bill Clinton was there while she was there. And also she said she got to meet amazing people like Stephen Hawking, and several amazing writers like Lewis Carrol, who wrote Alice in Wonderland as well as J. K. Rowling. Dolly was probably one of the best Tour Guide I’ve ever had because she has been around so long (she’s 78 years old) and she knows so much stuff. She also worked as a language interpreter for Queen Elizabeth for a lot of her life. I think probably my favorite part this whole day was seeing Oxford and being able to better understand what it is. We also saw Oxford University Press! And the very first Bodleian library. What a great day, and a great way to spend my birthday!




Borough Market


This weekend I also visited Borough Market in downtown London. It’s an international market, so they have lots of different things like vegetables, fish, meat, cheese, olive oil, spices. They also have a place it’s called the kitchen where you can get lots of really interesting types of street food to eat as you walk around. It was such a great time to walk around there and explore. I had several vegetarian option things, including a spinach and ricotta, empanada, as well as a dosa chaat (filled with masala potatoes, chutney, onions, coriander and sev) with chana chaat (chickpeas cooked in masala sauce, topped with yoghurt, chutney, sev, coriander, and pomegranate) on the side (What is sev, you ask? A popular Indian snack food consisting of small pieces of crunchy noodles made from chickpea flour paste). I was also able to get a glass of wine or two and walk around with it as I explored. To finish my time there I found this awesome little restaurant called Boro Bistro where I had a birthday beer and just enjoyed being. I am thoroughly enjoying my time in London!!






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