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Stonehenge trip
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Stonehenge trip // Roundtable
Post by JimB // Aug 26, 2008, 9:33pm
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JimB
Total Posts: 341
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Hi all,
Last weekend I finaly made the trip to Stonehenge this was my first visit which is pretty bad considering I am a native Brit and only live about 2 hours drive away.
I dont know what I was expecting from Stonehenge but to me it seemed rather small ,I know that time has severley ravaged the stones but the circle itself was not as large as I thought it would be.I have watched documentaries about Stonehenge and I think this led me to think the circle was a lot larger but it truly diminishes in to the vastness of Salisbury plain.
It is still awsome to think that ancient man had the tenacity and the will to erect those very large stones but I think I now understand why they built as large as they could.
I have uploaded a few photos of Stonehenge on my SkyDrive,they are not as good as I would have liked ,its at times like this I wish I had a better camera and that I was a better photographer. :)
http://cid-4f3a8bf40f6adf6c.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Stonehenge
Jim |
Post by jamesmc // Aug 26, 2008, 10:20pm
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jamesmc
Total Posts: 2566
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Excellent!
Those early 3D modelers had great technique. :D
Looked large to me compared to the size of the people. |
Post by JimB // Aug 26, 2008, 10:46pm
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JimB
Total Posts: 341
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Excellent!
Those early 3D modelers had great technique. :D
Looked large to me compared to the size of the people.
Thanks, yeah they were very advanced did you know they had a carpark ,shop and toilets at least thats what it said in the brochure. :D
When viewing the monument you are constraned to a somewhat rough eliptical route so the people are quite far away,its a perspective thing.
Jim |
Post by TheWickedWitchOfTheWeb // Aug 27, 2008, 2:00am
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TheWickedWitchOfTheWeb
Total Posts: 858
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I remember my first visit as I grew up not too far from there. It was before it had been 'tourist-ified'; the road wasn't as wide as it is now, the large car park that's there now was just a small layby and it wasn't fenced off with a designated path (the the access tunnel under the road from the car park to the monument certainly wasn't there). In other words, it was just 'there'. It was truly magical. I can not explain the strange feeling of awe it had back then which almost seemed to make time stand still as you looked at them in wonder. This was clearly experienced by the other few people who had stopped as we all stood there in the rain not realising just how sodden we were getting!
I went back a few years ago after it had been tourist-ified and, whilst it's good for the protection of the monument, the 'facilities' have removed a large part of the wonder of it and, yes, made it feel smaller. Rather than this amazing thing standing proud and alone it's now a piece of a money making machine. It's sad as people will never again be able to experience the true wonder it used to radiate |
Post by TheLion36 // Aug 27, 2008, 3:15am
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TheLion36
Total Posts: 36
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They probably put that all in after the Griswolds visited StoneHenge (National Lampoons European Vacation), and I can certainly see the use of the carpark :cool::
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DewEKz9TzmM
:banana: |
Post by brotherx // Aug 27, 2008, 5:18am
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brotherx
Total Posts: 538
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I have to say it still looks pretty massive to me. I visited one of the biggest stone-circle sites in sligo, i forget the name, and the dolmen there were only about a metre high...there was like 60 of them though.
There is another in co. clare called pulnabroin or something like that and it's a good bit bigger. The biggest one I've been to is actually new grange near dublin, about 5 years ago when I first visited ireland. it is massive. |
Post by Electric Jim // Aug 27, 2008, 6:06am
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Electric Jim
Total Posts: 98
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Since I was a kid, I've always thought Stonehenge was "cool" (that word being one of the greatest compliments kids can give). :)
I am reminded though, of the great British comedian Eddie Izzard, who explained that before Stonehenge the ancients built Strawhenge and Woodhenge. But a big bad wolf came around, and...uh, nevermind. :D
EDIT: For anyone who saw that I had previously written "Woodhenge and Brickhenge" above, ...uh... just forget you saw that. These aren't the droids you're looking for... |
Post by TomG // Aug 27, 2008, 6:34am
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TomG
Total Posts: 3397
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Cake or death? |
Post by Electric Jim // Aug 27, 2008, 7:10am
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Electric Jim
Total Posts: 98
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Death, please. NO, CAKE! I MEANT CAKE!! :D
I'm glad to see others have taken in Eddie Izzard's stand-up routines, Tom! (I've got "Dress To Kill" on DVD.) :) |
Post by jayr // Aug 27, 2008, 7:19am
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jayr
Total Posts: 1074
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Izzard in Lego, inspired:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=N0onquIv89g
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=rZVjKlBCvhg
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv5iEK-IEzw
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=hYeFcSq7Mxg |
Post by Finis // Aug 27, 2008, 10:31am
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Finis
Total Posts: 386
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JimB: I've wanted to see Stonehenge but that kind of travel is far beyond my income. Photos and descriptions like yours show the reality of a place more than official or professional ones. It is more like being there.
WWW: I know what you mean about it just being there. There was a time when the desert, mountains, the land here was nearly uninhabited and mostly open for exploration. The beauty and power of this place inspired the wonder and awe you wrote about. It was just there. Ranch gate signs read "please close the gate". Families played in the stream in Dog Canyon, braved the heat for a picnic in sand dunes, or camped in the mountain forests. In places far from civilization, with no trace of anyone having been there, I could find something wonderful.
Hordes of people have come here. The land is either destroyed by sprawl or access is limited or it is tourist-ified. Locks and paths and fences and rules to protect everything from the hordes. Dog canyon has an elevated walkway, a visitors center, a fee to get in, and the stream is off limits. More people -- less freedom. |
Post by JimB // Aug 27, 2008, 8:32pm
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JimB
Total Posts: 341
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Thank you Finis I am glad you liked the photos,I think comercialising such monuments do somewhat detract from the ambience and the romance of sites like Stonehenge but in this day and age it does help guard against inevitable vandalism.
Jim |
Post by brotherx // Aug 28, 2008, 2:47am
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brotherx
Total Posts: 538
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I just came across these photos. The Dolmen is about 5000 years old and is in the heart of the burren in Co. Clare. it's been commercialised a little in that there is a trail and a car park but it's pretty hard to find. We (my wife and I) stumbled upon it by accident back in 2003 and have been back 3 times since. Just along the road is a place where there are loads of them and you have to pay to get access.
The second photo has been totally commercialised since I took the photo. That is of the Cliffs of Moher - a pretty spectacular site and the photo does not do it justice. There is a small tower at the top of the cliff, and by small it stands maybe 20-30m high, the cliff to the bottom is well over 200m.
The reason they commercialised it, i think, was that a lot of people kept getting blown over the edge. There have been 3 incidents this year that I am aware of.
I have no photos of new grange - didn't have a digital camera back then but you are not allowed to take photos inside anyway which is the very cool part. The entrance is perfectly aligned to where the sun rises and sets during the summer solstice I think.... |
Post by W!ZARD // Aug 28, 2008, 4:13am
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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It was thirtyone years ago I went to Stonehenge - I too was very surprised at how small it was in reality - totally the opposite to my experience at the Taj Mahal in India which is enormous.
The actual stones of Stonehenge are as big as I'd imagined but the actual circle of the structure wasn't. <Shrugs> No matter to me though as the thing that totally took my breathe away was the age of the place - even with the air-conditioned coach loads of camera waving Japanese tourists there was still a palpable and pervasive sense of great age.
I grew up here in New Zealand which is one of the youngest countries in the world - geologically speaking it's not that long since it rose above sea level Europeans have only been coming here since the mid 1600's and the earliest signs of the Maori people date from around the 8th century.
England by contrast has such a long and varied history. Where I was living in Kent there were (and presumably still are) Neolithic stone circles, hill forts dolmens and what have you, often just sitting beside the road with a sign post and a single chain fence. The sense of age these structures possess was very striking to someone like me coming from a country with such a comparatively shorter human history. |
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