Friday, November 21st, 2014

I went to England for 10 glorious days back in June 2014. I took probably too many photos, but I couldn't help myself, I found myself in a foreign country for the first time, so I figured why not? Given that I took so many photos I am going to have to break up the trip into different posts because I really can't narrow down the photos into just one posts worth. 

England-Part 1

Being at Stonehenge on the summer solstice is something I am never going to forget. We arrived at midnight and stayed up to watch the sunrise with thousands of other people. There were police everywhere but they didn't give off the same oppressive feeling that you get in the states sometimes. They were just there to make sure that we were safe. When we were walking up to the stones they had a security check point and instead of patting you down and going through your bags they just asked you if you had drugs on you, that's all! It's like night and day. They had a banner with a drug sniffing dog at the gates and later we saw that very same dog walking around with a police officer. There people not only touching the stones but climbing them. For some reason the police didn't have a ladder so there were people dancing on top of the lintels! All night you heard drums in the background in addition to random other musical instruments. In the middle of the stones there was a drum circle and the area was densely packed with people. I feel like some of the night photos below that have motion blur convey the energy of the place.

This is my travel buddy, Vanessa and I in our bohemian garb.

This is a nice couple that we sat next for a good portion of the night. They are actually from Indiana and traveling across Europe for a few weeks. It was kind of funny that out of everyone we could have sat next to we sat next to Americans. We did end up chatting with a few locals here and there. One of the locals I spoke with has been going to Stonehenge on the summer solstice for 10 years and this was the first time that the sky was clear enough to actually see the sunrise.

This is the crowd leaving Stonehenge after the sunrise, We had to walk through lots of open fields and I picked a bouquet of wild flowers to take back to the cottage with me. The flowers lasted for a good portion of the week and it was a nicely homely touch to have while on vacation.