Wow, it’s a picture of a place I’ve actually been to. I’m pretty stoked.

Stonehenge is widely regarded as one of the most mystical places on the planet. There isn’t a lot of evidence of why the henge was erected, or what it was used for. The stones themselves are quite large, and apparently not from around there. They are arranged in actually three circles. Most people notice the middle-sized circle, and it’s pretty easy to see the smaller circle inside. What people usually don’t know or see (because it’s not easily photographable like the other two) is the large third circle. The stones in the third circle are mostly buried, or just small to begin with.

The source image is in color again this time, and not too hard to find. They could have used any number of images of the site, there are plenty on flickr and even a few in the wikimedia commons. Overall, it’s definitely the most photographed of the places that have been on the list so far. National Geographic even did a thing with Microsoft using Photosynth so you can fly around and explore the site.

Usually when you visit the Stonehenge site, you have to stay reasonably far away from the stones, and you can’t really get that close. Staying on the path is pretty boring, I hear. I’ve been to the site myself, visiting in 2005 when I got the chance to take my first international trip with my now wife. I was lucky enough to be invited with a group of people who got tickets to visit the henge before normal visiting hours. When you go before normal hours, they let you walk around on the grass, within the circles. I got to touch the stones themselves, and they definitely have a quality to them that I can’t exactly describe. Part of it I am sure is that it is an experience that I was treasuring every moment of while it was happening, and part of it was surely the fog that was slowly burning off across the area. By far, it was the thing that I remember most from the trip, the most interesting experience, and the one that I don’t expect to ever be able to repeat again.