Saturday in Southampton

Stonehenge, Stonehenge, King Arthur’s Roundtable

Saturday morning found us in Southampton with a nice day ahead of us. We had breakfast in the cabin and then proceeded to go ashore to meet the other people for a tour of Stonehenge, Stirling and Winchester.
Arriving at Stonehenge we purchased our tickets and picked up our audio handsets and took off for the stones. There is a circular ditch and bank (a henge) which dates from 3050 BC. Around 2600 BC a wooded structure was constructed at the center. The Stone monument was constructed, arranged and re-arranged over a 1,000 year period. That was 2500 – 1500 BC.
The larger are Sarsen stones, brought from Marlborough Downs 19 miles away. The smaller stones, known as the Bluestones are from the mystical Preseli Mountains in Wales, 240 miles away. The guide said that the Bluestones are warm to the touch no matter what the air temperature. We were able to touch the Bluestones and they are warm.
There are burial mounds in the distance all around the site. Stonehenge is located in the middle of nowhere with herds of sheep all around.
From Stonehenge we drove in to Stirling and visited the Cathedral and had lunch at the New Inn pub. We sat outside; where we had a nice view of the Cathedral but it got chilly and a spot of rain forced us back inside. The New Inn was not new and was a typical English pub. We all had fish and chips of course. While the rest went to get a closer look at the Cathedral, we took the opportunity to visit a couple of shops.
We all met at the car park and headed for Winchester. All but Judi and I headed for the Winchester Cathedral, for which a song was written, but we headed for the Winchester Castle to see King Arthur’s Round Table, or so they claimed. It is a massive table which is hung on the wall of the Great Hall. The Great Hall is about all that is left of the old castle. The rest joined us and said that we had made the best decision. The Cathedral was closed.
We then headed back to the boat and got ready for dinner. We have new table mates for this part of the cruise. A couple from Southern California was there tonight, but the other couple was not.
After dinner we headed back to our suite. We are enjoying it so much that we don’t wander the ship much. We sailed away from Southampton for a day at sea and then Norway Monday morning. Tomorrow we will be having a meet and greet in the Skywalker lounge where we will meet the people we have been communicating with on Cruise Critic.