THE STONE AGED 3100 BC

Im so addicted in watching Discovery Travel and Living, National Geographic and Discovery Channel. I've always been interested to historical places and the secrets beyond. Ive seen couple of shows and documentaries about the rock formation and finally, I've seen it for real!

The weather was so good to us despite of the wintry atmosphere, the sun still set not to mention the chilly wind that we needed to endure. Tourists from around the globe were enthusiastic to see this wonder. I, too was very excited to finally take a glimpse of this mysterious rocks.
The admission prices were affordable so need to worry. There are loads of travel agencies that offer tours to this place and the like.

It has an audio guide so u can walk along the paths at your own pace and simply enjoying the view.
GRACE WAS HERE! What a delight to my face! :)
Of course, this trip would not be complete without my keychains, guide book and mini model souveneir :)

Nice to know about STONEHENGE--

• Stonehenge was built between 3100 – 1100 BCE.
• The circle was aligned with the midsummer sunrise, the midwinter sunset, and the most southerly rising and northerly setting of the moon.
• The ground plan and structural engineering of Stonehenge incorporate sophisticated mathematical and geometrical understandings on the part of its builders.
• There were two types of stones used in its construction: the ‘bluestones’ (weighing as much as four tons and brought from 240 miles away) and the Sarsen stones (averaging eighteen feet in height and twenty-five tons in weight).
• It has been estimated that the construction of Stonehenge required more than thirty million hours of labor.
• More than nine hundred stone rings exist in the British Isles. Of these, Stonehenge is the most well known.
• The megalithic monuments of Britain and Europe predate those of the eastern Mediterranean, Egyptian, Mycenaean and Greek cultures.
• The Druids had nothing to do with the construction of the stone rings. Druids are known to have conducted their ritual activities mostly in sacred forest groves.

Stonehenge Purposes

• Prior to the 1950’s most archaeologists believed that Stonehenge’s use had been limited to the ritual activities of different Neolithic chiefdoms. However, it is now known that Stonehenge had another equally important function, which was its use as an astronomical observatory.
• In the 1950s and 1960s, the Oxford University engineer Professor Alexander Thom and the astronomer Gerald Hawkins pioneered the new field of archaeoastronomy - the study of the astronomies of ancient civilizations. Conducting surveys at Stonehenge and other megalithic structures, Thom and Hawkins discovered many significant astronomical alignments among the stones. This evidence indicates that Stonehenge and other stone rings were used as astronomical observatories.
• Stonehenge was simultaneously used for both astronomical observation and ritual function. By gathering data regarding the movement of celestial bodies, the Stonehenge observations were used to indicate appropriate periods in the annual ritual cycle. During those periods, among them being the solstices, equinoxes and different lunar days, festivals and ceremonies were held.

Stonehenge Legends

• Myths and legends of Stonehenge shed light on the nature of the activities and ceremonies performed at the festivals. For example, the legendary Merlin tells King Aurelius:
  
  Laugh not so lightly, King, for not lightly are these words spoken. For in these stones is a mystery, and a healing virtue against many ailments. Giants of old did carry them from the furthest ends of Africa and did set them up in Ireland what time they did inhabit therein. And unto this end they did it, that they might make them baths therein whensoever they ailed of any malady, for they did wash the stones and pour forth the water into the baths, whereby they that were sick were made whole. Moreover they did mix confections of herbs with the water, whereby they that were wounded had healing, for not a stone is there that lacketh in virtue of leechcraft.
• And Layamon, a 13th century British poet, also speaks of the healing quality of Stonehenge.
  
  The stones are great
  And magic power they have
  Men that are sick
  Fare to that stone
  And they wash that stone
  And with that water bathe away their sickness

LONDON DAYTRIPPER

Nothing to do? Why not go day tripping...

Lunch Buffet at a Chinese Buffet Restaurant for £6.60 plus 30pence unlimited water
(The best things in life aren't FREE anymore)


WIMBLEDON
We took the train via district line to Southfields station then a 10 minutes walk to the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Club. I'm pretty sure my father would love to see this personally.

Since the first Championships in 1877, Wimbledon has grown from its roots as a garden-party tournament to a Grand Slam tournament with a following of millions around the world.

The Beginning

The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, which is responsible for staging the world's leading tennis tournament, is a private Club founded in 1868, originally as 'The All England Croquet Club'. Its first ground was situated off Worple Road, Wimbledon.

In 1875 lawn tennis, a game introduced by major Walter Clopton Wingfield a year or so earlier and originally called Sphairistike, was added to the activities of the Club. In the spring of 1877 the Club was re-titled 'The All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club' and signalled its change of name by instituting the first Lawn Tennis Championship. A new code of laws, hitherto administered by the Marylebone Cricket Club, was drawn up for the meeting. These have stood the test of time and today's rules are similar except for details such as the height of the net and posts and the distance of the service line from the net.

PLATFORM 9 3/4
SOUNDS AND LOOKS FAMILIAR?
YES! This is the famous platform where Harry Potter's point of entry to Hogwarts.
This is located in King's Cross St. Pancras train station via Victoria line then transferred to Northern line.

AUTUMN COLLECTION

MY FIRST EUROPEAN AUTUMN
credits to Brian Chavez

Autumn

Autumn or fall is one of the four temperate seasons. Autumn marks the transition from summer into winter usually in March (Southern Hemisphere) or September (Northern Hemisphere) when the arrival of night becomes noticeably earlier.

The equinoxes might be expected to be in the middle of their respective seasons, but temperature lag (caused by the thermal latency of the ground and sea) means that seasons appear later than dates calculated from a purely astronomical perspective. The actual lag varies with region, so some cultures regard the autumnal equinox as "mid-autumn" whilst others with a longer lag treat it as the start of autumn. Meteorologists (and most of the temperate countries in the southern hemisphere) use a definition based on months, with autumn being September, October and November in the northern hemisphere, and March, April and May in the southern hemisphere.

Autumn in the United Kingdom lasts from September to November. The season is notorious for being unsettled—as cool polar air moves southwards following the sun, it meets the warm air of the tropics and produces an area of great disturbance along which the country lies. This combined with the warm ocean due to heating throughout the spring and summer, produces the unsettled weather of autumn. In addition, when the air is particularly cold temperatures on land may be colder than the ocean, resulting in significant amounts of condensation and clouds which bring rain to the country.

Atlantic depressions during this time can become intense and sustained winds of hurricane force (greater than 119 km/h/74 mph) can be recorded. Western areas, being closest to the Atlantic, experience these severe conditions to a significantly greater extent than eastern areas. As such, autumn, particularly the latter part, is often the stormiest time of the year. One particularly intense depression was the Great Storm of 1987.

However, the United Kingdom often experiences an 'Indian Summer', where temperatures particularly by night can be very mild and rarely fall below 10 °C (50 °F). Such events are aided by the surrounding Atlantic Ocean and seas being at their warmest, keeping the country in warm air, despite the relatively weak sun. Examples of this were in 1985, 2005 and 2006, where September, and October even more so, saw above average temperatures which felt more like a continuation of summer than autumn. Autumns since 2000 have been very mild with notable extremes of precipitation; the UK has seen some of its wettest and driest autumns since the millennium.

Coastal areas in the southern half of England have on average the warmest autumns, with mean temperatures of 10.7 to 13.0 °C (51.3 to 55.4 °F). Mountainous areas of Wales and northern England, and almost all of Scotland, experience mean temperatures between 1.7 and 7.5 °C (35.1 and 45.5 °F).

BRIGHTON

It is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove (formed from the previous towns of Brighton, Hove, Portslade and several other villages) in East Sussex on the south coast of Great Britain. For administrative purposes, Brighton and Hove is not part of the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex, but remains part of the ceremonial county of East Sussex.

The ancient settlement of Brighthelmstone dates from before Domesday Book (1086), but it emerged as a health resort featuring sea bathing during the 18th century and became a destination for day-trippers after the arrival of the railway in 1841. Brighton experienced rapid population growth, reaching a peak of over 160,000 by 1961. Modern Brighton forms part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation stretching along the coast, with a population of around 480,000.

Brighton has long been renowned throughout the UK and Europe as gay-friendly, and is home to a very large LGBT population. Eight million tourists a year visit Brighton. The town also has a substantial business conference industry regularly hosting the Liberal Democrats, Labour Party, occasionally the Conservative Party and Trade Union annual Conferences. Brighton has two universities and a medical school.

WINDSOR

Windsor Castle, in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, is the largest inhabited castle in the world and, dating back to the time of William the Conqueror, is the oldest in continuous occupation.The castle's floor area is about 45,000 square metres (480,000 sq ft).[2]

Together with Buckingham Palace in London and Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, it is one of the three principal official residences of the British monarch. Queen Elizabeth II spends many weekends in the year at the castle, using it for both state and private entertaining. Her other two residences, Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle, are the Royal Family's private homes.

Most of the Kings and Queens of England, later Kings and Queens of the United Kingdom, have had a direct influence on the construction and evolution of the castle, which has been their garrison fortress, home, official palace, and sometimes their prison. Chronologically the history of the castle can be traced through the reigns of the monarchs who have occupied it. When the country has been at peace, the castle has been expanded by the addition of large and grand apartments; but when the country has been at war, the castle has been more heavily fortified. This pattern continues to the present day.

CAMBRIDGE

It is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about 50 miles (80 km) north-by-east of London. Cambridge is also at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the city.

Cambridge is well known as the home of the University of Cambridge. The university includes the renowned Cavendish Laboratory, King's College Chapel, and the Cambridge University Library. The Cambridge skyline is dominated by the last two buildings, along with the chimney of Addenbrooke's Hospital in the far south of the city and St John's College Chapel tower in the north.

According to the 2001 United Kingdom census, the city's population was 108,863 (including 22,153 students), and the population of the urban area (which includes parts of South Cambridgeshire district) is estimated to be 130,000. Cambridge is surrounded by many smaller towns and villages.

LONDON FACTS AND FINDS

HERE ARE SOME OF THE FAMOUS SPOTS I'VE VISITED IN LONDON FOR THE PAST COUPLE OF MONTHS

A lot of destinations can be visited and a week is not enough to tour the London area.

1ST LIVERPOOL UNDERGROUND ENCOUNTER
Liverpool Street railway station, also known as London Liverpool Street or simply Liverpool Street,is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London. It is the terminus of two main lines: the busier Great Eastern Main Line (GEML) to Norwich and the West Anglia Main Line to Cambridge. There are also local commuter services to parts of East London and Essex. In addition, it is the terminus of the Stansted Express, a fast link to London Stansted Airport.

It is one of the busiest stations in the United Kingdom, the third busiest in London after Waterloo and Victoria with 123 million visitors each year. Liverpool Street is one of seventeen stations directly managed by Network Rail. The station has exits to Bishopsgate, Liverpool Street and the Broadgate development. The station connects the Central Line, Circle Line, Metropolitan Line, and Hammersmith & City Line. The station is in Travelcard zone 1.

HUSTLE AND BUSTLE LONDON
It is the capital of England and the United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures.London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its founding by the Romans, who called it Londinium.London's ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its square-mile mediaeval boundaries. Since at least the 19th century, the name London has also referred to the metropolis developed around this core.The bulk of this conurbation forms the London region and the Greater London administrative area,governed by the elected Mayor of London and the London Assembly.


LONDON EYE
The Merlin Entertainments London Eye (commonly the London Eye, or Millennium Wheel, formerly the British Airways London Eye) is a giant 135-metre (443 ft) tall Ferris wheel situated on the banks of the River Thames in the British capital.

It is the tallest Ferris wheel in Europe, and the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom, visited by over 3.5 million people annually making it more popular than the Taj Mahal and the Pyramids of Giza.When erected in 1999, it was the tallest Ferris wheel in the world, until surpassed first by the 160 m (520 ft) Star of Nanchang in 2006, and then the 165 m (541 ft) Singapore Flyer in 2008. It is still described by its operators as "the world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel" (as the wheel is supported by an A-frame on one side only, unlike the Nanchang and Singapore wheels).[2]

The London Eye is located at the western end of Jubilee Gardens, on the South Bank of the River Thames in the London Borough of Lambeth in England, between Westminster Bridge and Hungerford Bridge. The site is adjacent to that of the former Dome of Discovery, which was built for the Festival of Britain in 1951.


PARLIAMENT HOUSE, BIG BEN AND WESTMINSTER BRIDGE
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly referred to as the British Parliament, the Westminster Parliament or, formerly, the Imperial Parliament) is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. Parliament alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories. At its head is the Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II.

Big Ben is the nickname for the great bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London,and is often extended to refer to the clock or the clock tower as well.It is the largest four-faced chiming clock and the third-tallest free-standing clock tower in the world.It celebrated its 150th anniversary in May 2009,during which celebratory events took place.The clock first ticked on 31 May 1859.

SHAFTESBURY MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN AND EROS
Piccadilly Circus, London W1B - England, UK

The fountain, located on the south west side of Piccadilly Circus, was completed in 1893. The fountain was built as a memorial to the works of Lord Shaftesbury. The fountain is topped by one of the most famous landmarks in London, the ‘Eros’ statue. This winged statue was designed by Alfred Gilbert and is actually called ‘The Angel of Christian Charity. The statue is noted for being one of the first ever statues to be cast in aluminium, and it is the symbol of the Evening Standard newspaper.

RIPLEY'S BELIEVE IT OR NOT

The world's largest Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum opened on August 20, 2008 at the London Pavilion, 1 Piccadilly Circus. It houses over 500 exhibits from educational artifacts to the truly weird and wonderful. It is famed for its large collection of Marilyn Monroe personal belongings and interactive exhibits.


LONDON TROCADERO

The London Trocadero is an entertainment complex in Shaftesbury Avenue, London originally built as a restaurant but most recently used as an exhibition and entertainment space.

The complex incorporates a number of historic London buildings, including the London Pavilion, that have in the past hosted the Palace of Varieties, the New Private Subscription Theatre, the Royal Albion Theatre, the New Queen's Theatre, the Argyll Subscription Rooms, the Trocadero Music Hall, the Royal Trocadero Music Hall, the Eden Theatre and the Trocadero Restaurant.

The name Trocadero indirectly derives from the Battle of Trocadero in 1823, through the Palais du Trocadéro in Paris, named for the French victory.

LONDON IS POPULAR FOR IT'S ENTERTAINMENT





WAPPENBAUM/ SWISS CANTONAL TREE
the Wappenbaum -the Swiss Cantonal Tree, displaying the coats of arms of the Confederation and the 26 cantons, which joined it 14 years later- was placed in the Swiss Court.



LONDON SOHO
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London, the capital of the UK. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable transformation. It now is predominantly a fashionable district of upmarket restaurants and media offices, with only a small remnant of "sex industry" venues in the west. Soho was excessively famous for the first large Cypriot immigrant community until late 19th century


THE NATIONAL GALLERY
The National Gallery in London was founded in 1824 and houses a rich collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900[a] in its home on Trafalgar Square. The gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.Its collection belongs to the public of the United Kingdom and entry to the main collection (though not some special exhibitions) is free of charge.


TRAFALGAR SQUARE
Trafalgar Square is a square in central London, England. With its position in the heart of London, it is a tourist attraction, and one of the most famous squares in the United Kingdom and the world. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. Statues and sculptures are on display in the square, including a fourth plinth displaying changing pieces of contemporary art. The square is also used as a location for political demonstrations and community gatherings, such as the celebration of New Year's Eve in London.

OXFORD STREET, SHOPPING!!
Oxford Street is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster in London, England. There are 548 shops in Oxford Street; it is Europe's busiest shopping street, as well as the most dense.The street was formerly part of the London-Oxford road which began at Newgate, City of London, when it was known as Oxford Road. Today the road forms part of the A40, although, like many roads in central London which are not now intended as through traffic routes, it is not signposted with the road number.

BUCKINGHAM PALACE
Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of the British monarch.
Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality. It has been a rallying point for the British people at times of national rejoicing and crisis.

THE VICTORIA MEMORIAL
The Victoria Memorial was created by sculptor Sir Thomas Brock in 1911 and erected in front of the main gates at Buckingham Palace on a surround constructed by architect Sir Aston Webb.