column and you have the vertebral arteries and if you look at the picture you can see that these blood vessels actually go through little holes in the spine and then the two sets meet together to go up to the brain stem so the carotid arteries are going up to the hemispheres of the brain the vertebral arteries are going in the back towards the brainstem now these two sets of blood vessels come together with what's called the Circle of Willis so you see this circle here it links the two together and it's very nice if you're