Truly Hard Rocks, and Fans of Hard Rock

Ok, I finally have an opportunity to give some historical information about Stonehenge, Silbury Hill, and Avebury Circle. This is what was in the e-mail sent out to the trip participants:

Stonehenge dates back to 3000 BC and no one knows it’s real use. Was it a place of sun worship or sacrifice, an astronomical calculator or a royal palace? The mystical site was the home of Britain’s druids who gather there every year to worship pagan gods.

Silbury Hill. A very short distance away from Avebury is the even more mysterious Silbury Hill (2700 BC), the purpose of which is unknown. This hill, however, is the largest human-made mound in Europe and is older than the Step Pyramid of King Zoser at Saqqara in Egypt (ca. 2600 BC), the first Egyptian pyramid. The Hill is an imposing sight standing 130 feet high (about 40 meters); the base of the mound covers over 5 acres and the flattened top is around 100 feet across.

Avesbury Circle. Less well-known that Stonehenge in Britain but equally impressive and only a short distance away is the Avebury Circle (ca.2600-2100 BC). It is one of the largest henges in Britain, is a World Heritage Site, one of Europe’s largest prehistoric stone circles and is voted the country’s third most spiritual site. Unlike Stonehenge the stones were quarried relatively locally and are not worked.

And, for more information than this, here are some interesting links!
Stonehenge
Silbury Hill
Avebury Circle

In other news, on Sunday I went to the Hard Rock Souvenir Shop, and in the basement they have a permanent "vault" of valuable historical objects pertaining to good 'ole Rock & Roll! Here are the things there:

This is Jimi Hendrix's one and only personalized guitar. He was left-handed, and guitars are made for right-handed people. Hendrix used to play on right-handed guitars by restringing the strings (reversing them, I guess?) before he got this guitar made. It is Hard Rock's most valuable item, and I think the tour guide said 12 million pounds ($24 million!)! Yikes!







On the left is a picture of Jon Bon Jovi's modest guitar before he got famous enough to buy a real snazzy one - and it's purple!









These next few pictures are from one exhibit, the one on John Lennon. It included his jacket, famous round glasses, hand-annotated lyrics for a song called and Instant Karma (We All Shine On) and Imagine. They used to let people try on the jacket, but the buttons all fell off, so there went that!




Other items of note:
Guitar owned by Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones
Kurt Cobain's guitar and snow globe from his wedding cake to Courtney Love (apparently, he showed up to his own wedding party in pajamas!
A garment Elvis wore in China (?)
Jacket owned by Keith Moon of The Who
Jacket worn on stage by one of the members of The Clash