Day 1 - Salisbury

We woke up this morning with no jet lag! I was asleep last night before 7 - hubby wasn't far behind me - and we slept through until 7 this morning. Hooray!

  Our view at breakfast - the professional cricket field attached to our hotel. Also? Holy crap, they charged us $21 each for the breakfast buffet. There's nothing else around here so it's pay up or go without.

 

Today's journey was to Salisbury, 2 stops - about 40 minutes - north via train. We hiked in the rain from the station - 

 

past this quaintly named pub (love the name - the Slug and Lettuce - but not sure I'd want to eat there . . . )

 

to the tourist information center housed in a guild hall rebuilt in 1795 after a fire destroyed the original 1585 structure.

 

We missed out on the jail cells (darn!) but the gorgeous chandeliers and painted portraits for monarchs and Guild masters,

 

 

silver ceremonial maces 

 

along with the spoon used to baste a whole ox for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebration,

 

and the Oak Court - 

 

used as a Magistrates Court until 2010! -

 

 

 made it well worth the stop. 

 

 

We had lunch a few doors down (Guildhall is on the far left; restaurant is the striped building on the right), 

 

then hiked - still raining - 

 

past Thomas Beckett church

 

and the old mill and clock tower 

 

to Salisbury Cathedral, home to one of only four remaining original copies of the Magna Carta

 

 

and final resting place of William Longspee,

 

illegitimate half-brother of King John and supporter of the Magna Carta. (That must have made for some tense family dinners.)

 

 

The cathedral is incredibly beautiful and inspiring. 

 

 We had our own personal tour guide (there were a lot of guides and not many visitors).

 

 

 

We saw the oldest working clock in the world,

 

incredible stained glass windows,

 

some with their original medieval glass (!!)

 

a fairly new baptismal fount (built around 1970) that gives an amazing reflection of the Cathedral's interior;

 

and so. much. more.  (Additional interior pics are at the end of the text . . . )

 

 

Several museums were across the street but we had time to see only one -

 

Mompesson House, an 18th century townhouse the National Trust inherited when the last owner died in 1975.

 

The interior has been beautifully refurbished - 

  The crocheted bedspread was created in the 1970's from a Victorian pattern. 

 and the furnishings, while not original to the house, are stunning -

 

 

but the garden steals the show. 

 

Glorious flowers 

 

and some of the fattest 

 

bumblebees I've ever seen. 

 

 

 Tomorrow we're headed to Hampton Court Palace. Stay tuned!

 

  The Victorians attempted to restore the medieval circular ceiling motifs. The paint isn't as bright as the original medieval paint on another part of the ceiling. 

 This chapel was the first finished part of the Cathedral. It was used for services while the rest of the building was completed (38 years later) and is still in use today. 

  Hard to see but the stone base of this tomb is curved. So amazing. 

  Ceiling of the annex where the Magna Carta is housed. 

 

 

 This hand-carved prism is one of the most incredible, beautiful, inspiring things I've ever seen.