Stonehenge

Friday, May 22

We decided to go on our seniors' tickets for the tour of Stonehenge and Old Sarum (the first edition of Salisbury, dating back before the Romans). The bus left in the early morning (well, early for me: 10:00), and we were on it and anxious to start.

Now, you need to understand that buses in England are the same size or larger than those in Canada, but the roads are smaller. There are, in general, no shoulders, and sometimes no centre lines either. This does not slow anyone down, though. We were merrily speeding through the rolling areas around Salisbury on our way to Stonehenge, passing by these petit British cars as if we were on a four-lane road. I was glad not to be driving, and Darlene was ecstatic that we were not in a car. It is dangerous enough just crossing a road, much less driving on one.

We were not prepared for the impact of Stonehenge itself. First, it is bigger than you think it will be. Those suckers are enormous, and how they got the stones there remains a wonder and a mystery. And, second, the way in which they had organized the tourist experience was in my opinion very good, so that you had the time to explore, and question, and learn, about this 5000 year old monument to something....We had a wonderful time, and took about twice the time we had expected to take with it. And the weather, for once, was sunny, although cool. So it was a joy.

Then to the old settlement of Old Sarum, an old castle and town from probably the ninth or tenth century. We walked around and marvelled again at the work done by these people from the pre-oil era. The rocks around that area contain a lot of flint, so the structure was quite different from what we would expect in Canada.

Daniel arrived in the late afternoon, and we met him, then went for a dinner before going to the Salisbury International Arts Festival. I had Boar to eat, and the other two had beef, in another old tavern near the market square.

That evening was the start of the Festival, also in the Market Square. It was due to start at 8 PM, and we go there before that. Not much was happening, just one stall for some indian food, and a couple who were doing a wonderful skit with vegetables (I can explain). But we had been led to believe there would be some acrobatics or circus-type performances, and this was not happening by 9 PM, so we were getting antsy. Then....what felt like suddenly, there were people dressed in whiteface, drumming a hypnotic beat, and dancing together, and among the many people in the square. They moved around, drawing us all into their rhythm. And it was infectious, exotic, exciting, even sensual, to hear them and watch them.

After about 30 minutes of almost non-stop drumming and dancing, there was a pause, and the drummers re-appeared seemingly in mid-air. The had attached themselves to harnesses, and were lifted by a crane into the air—all the time drumming as before. And then one of them began to do trapeze maneuvers in the middle of the other six. Very difficult to explain, but wonderful to view: it was magical to see these performers probably twenty feet in the air, performing their little hearts out. We were so glad we stayed.

A perfect end to a very good day.