Thursday, April 29, 2010

Oxford & Stonehenge, UK (22nd-25th April 2010) - IV

Flight No: CX253/CX254 (HKG-LHR-HKG)
Date: 22nd - 25th April 2010
Flying Hours: 13 hours
(GMT +0100)


Oxford is a city, and the county town of Oxfordshire, in South East England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000 with 151,000 living within the district boundary. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through Oxford and meet south of the city centre. For a distance of some 10 miles (16km) along the river, in the vicinity of Oxford, the Thames is known as The Isis.
Buildings in Oxford demonstrate an example of every British architectural period since the arrival of the Saxons, including the iconic, mid-18th century Radcliffe Camera. Oxford is known as the "city of dreaming spires", a term coined by poet Matthew Arnold in reference to the harmonious architecture of Oxford's university buildings. The University of Oxford is the oldest university in the English-speaking world.

Renting a rowing boat is at GBP16 per hour

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about 3.2 km west of Amesbury and 13 km north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of earthworks surrounding a circular setting of large standing stones. It is at the centre of the most densse complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred burial mounds.
Achaeologists had believed that the iconic stone monument was erected around 2500BC, as described in the chronology below. One recent theory, however, has suggested that the first stones were not erected until 2400-2200BC, whilst another suggests that bluestones may have been erected at the site as early as 3000BC. The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100BC. The site and its surroundings were added to the UNESCO's list of Wolrd Heritage Sites in 1986 in a co-listing with Avebuty Henge Monument. It is a national legally protected Scheduled Ancient Monument. Stonehenge is owned by the Crown and managed by English Heritage, while surrounding land is owned by the National Trust.
Archaeological evidence found by the Stonehenge Riverside Project in 2008 indicates that Stonehenge served as a burial ground from its earlist beginnings. The dating of cremated remains found on the site indicate burials from as early as 3000BC, when the initial ditch and bank were first dug. Burials continued at Stonehenge for at least another 500 years.
One of my closed friends Renee drove me to Stonehenge, this was the 2nd time I met her in UK
Flying over the Himalayas, I was astonished when I looked at the view