Stonehenge and Salisbury

Topic of the moment: USC's paid (but freezing cold) trip to Salisbury and Stonehenge. As usual, the complete album will be posted at the end of the post; below are some choice photos with additional commentary.

It's amazing these things are still standing after so long. The amount of energy and thought behind dragging these slabs 200 miles WITHOUT the invention of the wheel is simply amazing. The fact that they got the stones to sand upright and then peg them together is even more astonishing.

As with the Churchill museum, admission included an audio tour, given by the device seen hanging 'round my neck. I enjoyed the first few bits, but it soon became too cold for me to worry about anything than staying warm while marveling at engineering before me.

This simple boulder is called the Heel Stone (for reasons unknown to me). It accomplishes an amazing feat every year: on Midsummer's Day, the Heel Stone blocks the rays of the sun as it first rises. When the sun finally peaks the stone, the rays fall in the dead center of Stonehenge. Again, the engineering behind this place is just amazing when you consider it was done thousands of years ago, without a calculator or a computer.


And as you see, it got cold enough that I had to improvise some head gear. It wasn't this cold in London when we left! Aren't things supposed to get warmer as the day goes on?



Then onwards we went to Salisbury, about ten miles from Stonehenge. Its biggest attraction is Salisbury Cathedral, built during the thirteenth century. As you can see, it's currently undergoing some refurbishment.

It's absolutely massive inside, and every wall has stained class windows. There used to be a screen of sorts dividing the church in two so you couldn't see from one end to the other, but a architect a few hundred years ago decided to take it out, so now you have this view.


The tomb of Lady Catherine Grey is here. Her sister, Lady Jane Grey, was put on the throne of England for 9 days by her father-in-law. after the death of Edward VI, but Queen Mary Tudor raised an army and overthrew her and had her executed for treason. Lady Catherine was always viewed with suspicion, especially during the reign of Elizabeth, because she was Catholic and potentially in line for the crown upon Elizabeth's death.


Caitlin in the courtyard of the church.


The cathedral cat, "Wolfie." The cathedral sells magnets and photos of him in their gift shop. I fully expected Wolfie to be skittish, but he merely sat in the doorway of the giftshop, barely flinching when people walked by. As you can see, he has no collar, so he most likely wanders around the cathedral as he pleases.


We stopped at an Italian restaurant for a late lunch. Since I had eaten a rather large Cornish pasty at Stonehenge, I skipped right to the desert portion of the menu, and had a rather amazing chocolate pudding with vanilla ice cream. Imagine if you will a small warm cake with a hot fudge center, topped with vanilla ice cream. Simply heaven.

Full album of the trip here.

Cheers!