Salisbury, Stonehenge, and Old Sarum!

Today has officially become my new "favorite day" in the UK. Notice, I don't say London. That's because we escaped the city limits by hopping on a National Rail train to the town of Salisbury, about an hour and a half outside of London.

Once we got off of the train, we immediately hopped on a double decker bus that took us to...STONEHENGE.

I've seen pictures of Stonehenge a million times, but I never thought I would actually end up staring at it in person. It was incredible, and although you can't get too near to the rocks, I was thoroughly impressed with the sight. Here are some pictures :

The beautiful Stonehenge!

Posing as always!

While we were waiting for the bus to come back, four of us climbed up on top of a burial mound that is part of the hundreds that are scattered all over the Salisbury area. From the top of the mound, the view was absolutely incredible. I was literally speechless...all I could do was stand and stare off into the rolling green hills. The pictures I took definitely don't do it justice, but here are a few:

View from around the mound...

Me conquering the mound...

View from the top.

From there, the bus took us to Old Sarum, which are ruins of an old castle on an enormous mound. It took us about an hour to walk up it, and along the way we could see the entire town of Salisbury and the beautiful surroundings as we wound our way up the mound. It was breathtaking. Here are some shots from Old Sarum:

Some outlines of the castle ruins.

View from our walk around the mound.

Loving life with Salisbury in the background.

After that, we took the bus back into town and spent a little time exploring the adorable Salisbury. We went into the cathedral, which was insanely gorgeous, shopped at the little boutiques, and wandered around the parks and winding streets for a couple of hours before catching the train back to London. Here are some pictures of the fantastic Salisbury:

A shot of the outside of the Cathedral...I'll post more of the inside in a slideshow.

Beautiful park we passed.

My future home.

I've decided that if I ever move to England, I would love to live in a town like Salisbury, preferably closer to the city. I would love to have the country and city life at my finger tips, and I realized I find the English countryside completely enchanting. It was a magical day, and I couldn't stop smiling. It was a much-needed break from the city, and I'm so glad I could experience it.

Next weekend: Rome!