So we started yesterday by getting on a bus at around 9. It was a relatively short ride to Salisbury, only about an hour and a half... maybe less. We got to Salisbury and immediately I notice how green everything is. There are pastures everywhere. I guess it makes sense because it's more or less in the countryside, but I never imagined that England would look this way.
Anyway, our first stop in the town was the St. Thomas... Church? I can't remember what it's full name was, but i'm fairly certain it wasn't a cathedral. The church was built in the late 1200s and house the largest "Doom Painting" in Britain. The doom painting was a painting over the main archway of the church depicting the apocalypse. It looked unbelievably medieval, almost like it was staged. It was difficult to believe that things like that actually existed.
The rest of the Church was fantastic as well. There were old tombs and monuments all around the place, an old weaving that they had put in a glass case for protection which was absolutely marvelous, and an organ that was given to the church by the same King George we fought in the revolution! St. Thomas was such a great warm up
After St. Thomas, we broke for an hour for lunch. Me, Kat, and Ashely wandered around Salisbury and got to see what I believe was the true flavor of the town. It's such a quaint little place. It's great that places like that still exist in the world. In our wanderings we found a blue marker (The equivalent to our brown marker signs in America that mark places of historical significance) outside a school where the winner of a nobel prize and author of The Princess Bride was once a schoolmaster!
We soon came upon a fun little local restaurant and found, to our surprise, the rest of our group had decided to eat there, as well. I had the fish and chips which was fantastic, and a Carlsburg beer. The restaurant had such a fun atmosphere and we had a wonderful time.
We then made our way to the Cathedral, and I have to say that as soon as we walked through those stone gates and the full view of the cathedral came into view our jaws dropped. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. Kat said that it looked like it was CG and couldn't be real, and I agreed with her. The architecture was so amazingly beautiful that I couldn't believe that it had existed for well over 800 years! Not to mention how BIG it was. There were sculptures all over the building and the outside of the main entrance was covered with the sculptures of literally EVERYONE of the important figures from the bible! From Daniel, to Paul, to Moses, to Job. There were even a number of Saints! It was amazingly impressive.
But the inside of the cathedral was just as fantastic. You walk in and immediately you are struck by how LARGE the room is, and the beautiful arching on the roof. Every single one of the windows was covered in beautiful mosaics. To save battery on my camera, I only took pictures of the ones I thought were the most impressive. The sides of the seating area were littered with tombs and memorials as well that dated back to the original cathedral in the 1100s!! I couldn't believe the dates I would see as I walked around! Bishop X 1266-1302, Bishop Y 1244-1298, Parish Z 1304-1366. And at the very center of the room was a fountain of Holy Water. The main part of this fountain looked like glass because the water was so calm.
After we finished gawking at the main cathedral, they took us into the Magna Carta room. Where unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures. But inside this room was one of the 4 remaining original scripts of the Magna Carta! A thin sheet of glass alone separated me from the oldest active constitution in the WORLD!! This was definitely one of the major highlights of the tour.
We then made our was back to the bus and headed for Old Sarum, believed to be the oldest settlement in the UK. We didn't stay long because of time and it was FREEZING, but we did get to walk around the ruins which were very neat, and probably my favorite part about Old Sarum was the fact that it had an actual moat that you had to cross on a bridge! No water of course, but it was still a moat! I thought that was so funny. It's one of those things you always read about or see in movies, but it was neat to see one for real.
The bus ride to Stonehenge was very short, and the road led almost right up to the stones themselves. They're on a hill and clearly visible from a large distance away. It was very cold so we walked around relatively quickly, but I did get the audio tour and learned a lot about what little they really know about the rocks. They know that they are over 5000 years old, and that the stones can be used as a calender, but other then that they know very little. Still, It was fantastic to see one of the most famous land marks in the world!
After our tour we got on the bus and went home. I've been feeling a little under the weather sense then, so not much else has happened, but I start classes on tues so that should be fun. I hope everyone is good back in the states and i LOOVE hearing from you in my guestbook or with emails, so tell me how you're doing!!
Hope you're well,
Ande
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