#1 Rina Explores: Stonehenge! It's not just a pile of rocks! 😜

My first travel blog on Steemit!😀

It was a rainy morning in London. I made the mistake of accidentally taking an Uber from my hotel instead of taking the London tube system (aka subway). We were suppose to meet our tour guide/group for the day outside of the Kensington tube station at 8am and we were running late. The London traffic delayed our Uber and by some miracle, we made it to the meeting point one minute before the tour bus was about to leave.

The itinerary for the day included a 2-3 hour bus ride from London, 2 hours at Stonehenge, bus trip to Bath, England for a few hours, before heading back to London. We were unprepared for the cold rainy London weather. I was wearing a cotton hoodie, long sleeve shirt, and jeans, and didn't have an umbrella. So needless to say, by the end of the day, I was soaked and freezing. But I digress. We boarded the bus and I found a row all to myself. I'm so happy that I booked a smaller tour group (15-20 people) vs the larger tour groups (50+ people). Our awesome tour guide Rosie was a wealth of knowledge and during our tour gave helpful tidbits as we drove by places of interest. She was entertaining and even gave us fun history lessons about London, it's people, and traditions. I now know why they drive on the left side of the road!

This was it. We were on our way to see Stonehenge! I've only seen these "pile of rocks" in history books, internet, and movies. Who can forget the iconic scene from National Lampoon's European Vacation where Clark Griswald renders Stonehenge helpless as it falls to a dramatic domino effect death. It started to rain harder as we drove past the green and picturesque English Countryside. Then in the distance, I see a pile of rocks and it looks like a beautiful piece of art...it was Stonehenge. Here's a short video 👇 (If you want to subscribe to my youtube channel 👉https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVhQrJew00BRMIGRDG5bvaQ)

The bus parked and we had to run in the cold rain without any protection from the parking lot to the visitors center. Once we got to the visitors center, we purchased 2 umbrellas for 16 euros each and 3 cheap plastic ponchos for 4 euros each. So FYI, if it's raining when you go to Stonehenge, try to bring your own umbrella/poncho or try to see if your hotel could lend you one for the day. Even though we spent a small fortune 🤑 minutes upon arriving at Stonehenge, I was still very excited to see this monolithic monument. We put on our brand new ponchos, and opened up our umbrellas and start to trek up that walk way to Stonehenge.

As we get closer my heart swells. I can't describe the feeling. There was electricity in the air. Was it the weather or all the mystic forces that is said to surround this area? It was all just so picturesque; the green English countryside with rolling hills in the background and this structure made of rock in the foreground. Each stone was skillfully placed and engineered that it's hard to believe ancient civilizations had the technology to build something like this.

With my audio guide in hand, we walked around the monument and there were points of interest that were numbered. You type in the number on your audio guide and it will provide you with a short explanation of it's significance. The monument is roped off, and tourists can walk around designated walkways. The purpose is to preserve the monument and the area surrounding. You can see the rope barrier in the picture below along with a numbered point of interest. 👇

As our time ticked away, more and more tour groups came with busloads of tourists. The tour I booked left London an hour earlier than all the bigger tours so we had about an hour of Stonehenge almost to ourselves. It's strange seeing something for years and years in pictures and movies/videos, then one day seeing it with your own eyes. It's an indescribable feeling. You feel the breeze on your face, get a 360 degree view of gorgeous landscape as far as the eyes can see, and smell the freshness in the air. It was a feast for the senses.

I could have stayed there for hours, people watching or exploring the environment. We stayed at the monument for our entire allotted time so we didn't have enough time to see any of the exhibits at the visitor's center. As we were leaving, I turned around to take one last look at Stonehenge to burn the image into my memory. It didn't matter that it was raining. It didn't matter that it was cold. It didn't matter that my clothes were soaking wet. I breathed in that fresh crisp air and said bye to this monolithic monument shrouded by mystery in it's history.