7/29 (Wednesday) – Salisbury

After a lovely breakfast and farewells all around, we headed to the car park and caught a taxi to Salisbury.  Mike, the driver, was a lot of fun and very informative.  He drove us by Stonehenge so we could get a quick view as we drove by. 

Once we got to Salisbury Mike gave us a free scenic tour of the town (meaning, we didn’t have an address for the hotel and he couldn’t find it…so we wandered around until we were able to get directions). The hotel is right on the River Nadder and we could see bits of the Avon River in the background and the steeple and towers of Salisbury Cathedral.

Our Hotel

Looking across to the spire of Salisbury Cathedral.

The first order of business was to pick up the car.  After much discussion with the front desk and the taxi company as to the location of the rental company, Paul and Jim headed out to pick it up.  Apparently the company did not have the car we had reserved so gave us a hulking huge 8-seater van, with stick shift.  It was quickly dubbed the Great Black Beast. 

Since we arrived early afternoon we headed out in occasional light misty rain to downtown for lunch (we are missing David's gourmet meals already).

Many of the buildings looked to be several hundred years old.  Very quaint.

There were pubs everywhere, often with lovely flower baskets to dress up the front.

We also found a lovely park with a pretty lake.

Then it was back to the Cathedral.  The Cathedral had an expansive yard around it, making it easy to see the entire building and get a good sense of its size. 

The nave was awesome with a spectacular ceiling...

beautiful wood carvings...

and more wonderful stained glass windows.

The baptismal font is very new, very large and ultra-modern looking, and it gives the most incredible mirrored reflections of the Cathedral from all angles.

The Baptismal Font

View of Stained Glass windows from the Baptismal Font.

The next stop was the Cloisters area of the Cathedral Grounds. 

After a tour of the Cathedral proper we stopped at the Chapter house in the Cathedral complex to view the Cathedral’s copy of the original Magna Carta.  It is apparently the best preserved of the four known copies of the document.  There was also a translation of the entire document.  Some of the elements included were not what we American's might expect, such as a widows rights to inheritance and to not be forced to re-wed; details for repayment of debts owed to Jews upon the death of the borrower; and the return of various hostages from Scotland and Wales.

We weren't allowed to take pictures of the document but we could take photos of the Chapter House.  It was a very interesting room with another spectacular ceiling and stained glass windows.  Mary has discovered that the panorama feature on her iPhone is great for photographing ceilings.  And the Chapter House had a good ceiling to practice on.