Wednesday morning, we got up and checked out of the airbnb in Bristol. It was a delightful place (other than being on the fourth floor of a walk-up - but everyday is leg day in Europe!) that we didn't want to forget. Here's the view from the rooftop patio:
We packed up our stuff and headed southeast for Salisbury. The roads from Bristol to Salisbury were hilly, narrow, and windy. That, plus driving on the left side of the road made for an exciting trip! S was all nerves the whole way, but we made it safe and sound to Salisbury for lunch.
The town itself is charming and full of shops, churches, and pedestrians. It's the only large town around for miles, so it was both a tourist center AND a social/commercial center for the surrounding villages. It was cute, but honestly, forgettable (we're not church people, so the cathedral was not on our list). We grabbed a quick lunch at a pub, did a bit of shopping, and then drove the ten minutes further to Stonehenge, the reason for our trip.
The Stonehenge visitor center is about a mile's walk from the henge itself, which they did (I'm guessing) because there were other historic sites in the area and because this provided good views of the henge from all directions. The walk took us through a grassy field where we dodged cow pies and could observe the burial barrows (those hills) in the distance:
As we rounded a corner, we could see Stonehenge in the distance, covered in tourists.
As of a few years ago, tourists could no longer wander amongst the stones, but instead had to stay on a path around the stones. Among other things, this made taking lovely photographs easier - I just had to wait for moments where the tourists in the shot were all behind stones!
After seeing the henge, we took the tour bus back to the visitor center and headed back to our airport hotel at Heathrow. This drive was much more pleasant - multi-lane highway, higher speeds, etc. I only made a mistake once, driving through a roundabout and forgetting to chant 'drive on the left.' But other than a few angry drivers, nothing amiss happened. We got back to the hotel, dropped off the car, and settled in for the night.
The next day was our trip back to the states! Up at 5.30, at the airport by 6.30, on the plane by 9, at JFK by noon (local time). Once we were back at JFK, we had a hell of a time getting through customs and making our next flight. We ended up missing our first connection, but we made our second and were in VA by 6.30. H was awake and alert (and a great traveler) for the whole trip except for the last leg to VA, where she finally conked out.
We were at V/P's house by 8ish and got H to bed right away. S was out by 9.30, and I turned off the light at 10.17pm. What a memorable trip!
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