Yesterday, we decided to leave Bath and make our way to Canterbury. Colleen held up reasonably well during the day, but I think she may have benefited from another day of rest in Bath. While her cold was getting better, she was completely exhausted by the end of our (very long) day. We�ll have to keep a closer eye on that from here on out.
We hopped a train yesterday morning going from Bath to Salisbury. Only about an hour from Bath, Salisbury is best known for its cathedral and the enormous spire that rises over 400 feet above the ground. It is the first recognizable feature upon arrival in Salisbury, and it is the last thing visitors see as they leave. Our plan was to stop in for a few hours and then move on Canterbury.
The day started off badly. About 30 minutes before our train was scheduled to leave, the owners of the B&B we were staying in let us know that their credit card machine had not arrived yet. In order to pay our bill, we would have to go to the nearest ATM and withdraw the money. So I went on a refreshing little run through the streets of Bath to find the machine, took out enough money to cover the bill, ran back, and paid her. Our cab arrived and sped us to the train station across town, where we arrived just in time to hop on our train before it left. Whew!
Salisbury was great. We stowed our luggage at a local hotel and jumped on a tour bus for Stonehenge, just outside the city limits. The tour guide was informative and entertaining, and I think we were both happy to see the ancient site. It really blew me away when I saw it for the first time. It is a strange feeling to see something in person that I have seen in so many photographs for so many years.
Recent scholarship holds that Stonehenge functioned alternately as a large calendar and as a place of worship. It took an immensely long time to construct and forms the center of a massive site of religious importance. Burial mounds ring the hillsides around the site and would have been colored white with chalk when Stonehenge was functioning. Visitors would have felt a sense of awe as they looked around and felt that they were in a special place on the earth. What amazed me the most was that all the stones were brought to the site (they think) before the invention of the wheel. That means they were transported for miles using alternating tree trunks rotating underneath the stones. That took a lot of work and a lot of muscle.
The tour bus dropped up off in downtown Salisbury, leaving us only about 45 minutes to visit the cathedral before we had to catch our train. We hurried through but still managed to take in the grandeur of the thing. The spire rises up in the air completely dwarfing everything else in the city. The inside of the cathedral is no less spectacular, as the pictures I have uploaded will show you. In a side room, the cathedral holds an original copy of the Magna Carta, the first written constraint on royal powers in British history.
We made it to the train in time and, despite a broken-down train just outside London, were able to get to Canterbury around 8:30. Our room here is both cheap (by British standards) and comfortable. A major festival is being held in the city this weekend, so we have much to see.
We hope all is well back in the States. We really miss all of you and are looking forward to the next time we see you. Take care of yourselves.
Paul and Colleen
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