It’s time to trade urban for rural and see some green! We checked out of our posh American digs and wandered down the street with all our luggage to Paddington Station to catch the Heathrow Express to the airport. There we picked up our rental car: a 2007 Saab 93 station wagon with less than 1000 miles on it! It’s way nicer and bigger than we expected (or paid for!) which is good since we’ll have it for about 3 weeks.
After Frank remembered how to drive on the other side of the road, we headed south west for Salisbury. It didn’t take long to get there but it did take forever to figure out how to get around. Salisbury is a lovely cathedral town which is easy to walk around but impossible to drive around. We eventually got to our B&B (not without a few cross words though!) and from there things improved. We’ve got two rooms next door to each other and our room is about as big as the one the 4 of us shared in London. (And let me tell you about the bath tub!)
First on the agenda, some lunch since we essentially missed breakfast (a cup of tea at the motorway services doesn’t count) so we wandered down to the market square where the market was on. A lovely pub lunch and few pints later we were wandering around the market purchasing the local wares. We wandered around the shops some more before heading to the main sight: the cathedral.
This was my idea. I love history and especially British history so a gothic cathedral from the 13th century was too much to pass up. And I was not dissappointed! The cathedral is beautiful, historical and still actively used for services – although I couldn’t convince my family to stay for evensong! I lit another candle for my mom (keep score – that’s 2!) and then wandered into the Chapter House where we found a pleasant surprise: a copy of the Magna Carta! Apparently there are 4 copies remaining but the Salisbury copy is the best preserved. I was thrilled since I really didn’t know that we’d get to see this but my know-it-all son pointed out that we’ve already seen a copy at the British Museum last time we were in London so he didn’t see what the big deal was. (Sound of raspberries!)
We took a short break then decided to head out to the other big attraction around here: Stonehenge! It’s about 10 miles northwest of Salisbury so we took a drive around dinner time to see what we could see. And the answer is: nothing! Because Stongehenge was *closed*! I confess I was gobsmacked! Giant stone slabs in the middle of the countryside have a closing time? Apparently, yes. So we ogled from afar and determined to come back first thing in the morning – once we find out what time it “opens”!
A light dinner at a local Chinese restaurant – where we swear there was no soy sauce in any of the dishes! – and a soak in the enormous bath tub and I’m ready for an early night.
/san/
[Pedometer: 15,512 or about 7 miles. Apparently the car has an effect!]
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