After a grueling week of high-stakes diplomacy, during which he addressed the crisis in Ukraine and the threat posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, President Barack Obama found time to relax at Stonehenge, seeming enthralled by the stone monument.
According to reporters traveling with Obama, the president walked around the standing ring of stones for about 20 minutes, taking pictures, and chatting with the tour guide.
"How cool is this!" he said, becoming possibly the first person to utter those words at the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Asked if this was a place he had always wanted to visit, the president answered, flashing a wide smile: "Knocked it off the bucket list!"
"It's spectacular; it's spectacular," he told the accompanying reporters, as he walked back from the site. "It's a special place."
The White House released a video of the Stonehenge visit, in which Obama says he'd come there every day if he could. "There's something elemental about it," he said.
"It's spectacular." —President Obama at Stonehenge, his last stop on a trip to Estonia & the NATO Summit in the UK. pic.twitter.com/6CbmkJ09cf— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 5, 2014
He took a moment to shake hands with a local family in a nearby field. "He waved to us!" the mother apparently tweeted before posting a picture of her family with Obama.
pic.twitter.com/QoADeRReMd— bee (@BeesRun) September 5, 2014
The president then caught Air Force One from a Royal Air Force Station in Gloucestershire, jogging up the stairs in a seemingly buoyant mood.