The newest things we saw today was 753 years old !!!
We started the day early for our bus tour to the west of London with stops at Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral and the city of Bath. After leaving the greater London area, the English countryside turned to beautiful rolling hills with grain fields and pasture lands.
We arrived on the Salisbury plain and Stonehenge at late morning with partly cloudy skies and windy gusts. It’s a simple place and you have all seen pictures, but standing there and seeing it close up was very neat.
We didn’t spend a lot of time, circling the ruin one time with various pictures and a little information on the ancient history and the speculations about how and why it was constructed.
From there, we went on to the small town of Salisbury with a very, very large cathedral with the highest spire in all of England (see picture below). I was completed in 1258, constructed in record time by cathedral standards (38 years). There were dozens of amazing things in the cathedral – the oldest continuously operating clock in the world (run strictly by weights and gears), many dozens of sarcophagi of bishops and royalty dating as far back to 1355, many side chapels and stained glass windows. Of particular note, was the chapel (see picture below) dedicated to “prisoners of conscious” dedicated to all those religious and political prisoners around the world. For that cause, it is has been adopted by Amnesty International as their home church. I could add a zillion pictures here, but will refrain.
Of tremendous significance is that the cathedral houses one of the four original copies of one of the world’s most significant documents – the Magna Carta. I did not realize that it set forth the rights of the individual as superceding the rights of the state/king. It established the standard of a man being judged by a jury of 12 peers (which is still used in most Western countries). It also stated the need for the separatoin of Church and State and the freedom to practice religion. In these areas, it certainly set precedents that we have followed for centuries hence. We got to see it up close and personal, but of course … no pictures. A pretty amazing one page document (albeit in Latin in about 6 point font).
After lunch in The Cloister (a pub across the street), we were back on the bus for a ride to the ancient city of Bath – where the entire city is a World Heritage Site. The city appeared quite lovely, though we did not get to tour much of it due to some rains and because we spent almost all of our time visiting the ancient Romans baths built on top of the natural hot springs there. Centuries of water flowing over the stone channels have left mineral residues where the water originates (see picture below). It was an amazing set of buildings, temples and various pools. There was an intricate set of channels and drains that moved the hot mineral waters through the complex, and the main pool (still functional today) is a greenish hue. The pools constructed from about 45 BC to 65 AD are all still water-tight !
There was a great garden near the baths and behind the Abbey with flowers to William and Kate. We had “the best ice cream in England” according to our guide, but it was nowhere near Graeter’s. We drove past the second homes of Johnny Depp and Matt Damon who apparently love Bath.
On the way home, we saw Wales in the distance, the manor house of Princess Di’s family (which they had to sell for some financial reasons) and more beautiful countryside. When we got back to London, it was another pub that seemed a bit nicer in terms of ambience and food. Of course I had a little exchange with the bartender when I asked if my bangers and mash (traditional English sausage and mashed potatoes) could come without onion. The bartender said, “Chap, this ain’t America. I call the kitchen but they are busy, and you might get it with onions anyway.” The food was great, and we continue to enjoy our walks and rides with Tim and Chris Lawson and Chan and Michele Saysana.
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