Doing the Tourist Thing
Mar. 10th, 2007 09:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pensnestWell, I have a ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ninjetti75. He's currently fast asleep, as well he might be after the *extended* day he had yesterday.
I recommend to all that you try hanging around in a busy airport wearing a tiara. It's a mix of 'eep-i-feel-stupid' and 'hee!' It was useful, however, since Josh spotted its pink-and-sparkly presence and thus, we connected.
Thence down the M3 to Stonehenge. Happily, the weather was fine, though the wind was a bit much for my fragile English sensibilities, though not a major problem for a Chicago-hardened visitor. Stonehenge, I am happy to report, remains impressive. After that we found the Park & Ride just outside Salisbury with ease, and got ourselves into the city and round to the Cathedral.
Apparently, the view from one of the fields immediately next to the cathedral has been described as 'the finest view in England', and though I think it has competition, there is some basis for that. It really is a fabulous cathedral, standing in a nice open field, extremely impressive even when one side is covered with scaffolding. (It looks as though the whole thing is being cleaned, as the un-scaffolded bits are pale yellow and very pretty. Had I remembered to put my camera in my handbag, you would be offered pictures at this point.) The views from the top of the tower section (but not the top of the spire, which would have involved a lot of ladders or else doing it the medieval way and climbing up the *outside*) were spectacular, and so pretty.
We had some lunch, then did the Tower Tour, which I recommend to anyone fit enough to manage 320 steps up spiral staircases, some of which are just adequate to accommodate me, and very tightly coiled. The bishop who set it all going wanted, naturally, a bigger, better cathedral than his neighbours at Winchester and Wells. And not many years after it was 'finished', it was felt necessary to add a nice big tower on top of the rather squat tower... and then, an imposing spire on top of that. And *then*, quite a lot of bracing and reinforcement of the stonework which was bowing severely under the added weight... Possibly the most amazing thing about the entire place, though, is that it rests on foundations four feet deep. Beneath which is a sturdy layer of well-packed shingle - which is fine so long as it stays wettish. In drought, the water board has to do something clever with the river, to ensure that the whole edifice doesn't come wobbling down. The whole thing seems very English, somehow - not for us the ruthless efficiency of taking it down and building it again* only properly, we add bits on and pin it together with string and sawn-in-half ships's mast and lots of metalwork, and somehow, it all stays up.
Anyway. A good day for Josh to observe quite a lot of things English/British, from cathedral underpinnings to road signs and the prices that *include tax*. At some point today, we'll head into London to cram him with More!
* To be fair, this is the third Salisbury cathedral, the first two having been built on the site now known as Old Sarum, which was inconvenient and besides, they just weren't Big Enough.
ninjetti75. He's currently fast asleep, as well he might be after the *extended* day he had yesterday.I recommend to all that you try hanging around in a busy airport wearing a tiara. It's a mix of 'eep-i-feel-stupid' and 'hee!' It was useful, however, since Josh spotted its pink-and-sparkly presence and thus, we connected.
Thence down the M3 to Stonehenge. Happily, the weather was fine, though the wind was a bit much for my fragile English sensibilities, though not a major problem for a Chicago-hardened visitor. Stonehenge, I am happy to report, remains impressive. After that we found the Park & Ride just outside Salisbury with ease, and got ourselves into the city and round to the Cathedral.
Apparently, the view from one of the fields immediately next to the cathedral has been described as 'the finest view in England', and though I think it has competition, there is some basis for that. It really is a fabulous cathedral, standing in a nice open field, extremely impressive even when one side is covered with scaffolding. (It looks as though the whole thing is being cleaned, as the un-scaffolded bits are pale yellow and very pretty. Had I remembered to put my camera in my handbag, you would be offered pictures at this point.) The views from the top of the tower section (but not the top of the spire, which would have involved a lot of ladders or else doing it the medieval way and climbing up the *outside*) were spectacular, and so pretty.
We had some lunch, then did the Tower Tour, which I recommend to anyone fit enough to manage 320 steps up spiral staircases, some of which are just adequate to accommodate me, and very tightly coiled. The bishop who set it all going wanted, naturally, a bigger, better cathedral than his neighbours at Winchester and Wells. And not many years after it was 'finished', it was felt necessary to add a nice big tower on top of the rather squat tower... and then, an imposing spire on top of that. And *then*, quite a lot of bracing and reinforcement of the stonework which was bowing severely under the added weight... Possibly the most amazing thing about the entire place, though, is that it rests on foundations four feet deep. Beneath which is a sturdy layer of well-packed shingle - which is fine so long as it stays wettish. In drought, the water board has to do something clever with the river, to ensure that the whole edifice doesn't come wobbling down. The whole thing seems very English, somehow - not for us the ruthless efficiency of taking it down and building it again* only properly, we add bits on and pin it together with string and sawn-in-half ships's mast and lots of metalwork, and somehow, it all stays up.
Anyway. A good day for Josh to observe quite a lot of things English/British, from cathedral underpinnings to road signs and the prices that *include tax*. At some point today, we'll head into London to cram him with More!
* To be fair, this is the third Salisbury cathedral, the first two having been built on the site now known as Old Sarum, which was inconvenient and besides, they just weren't Big Enough.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-03-10 02:28 pm (UTC)Anyway, when Josh wakes up tell him I said hi, and have a wonderful time in London.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-11 12:23 am (UTC)*giggle*
no subject
Date: 2007-03-11 07:53 am (UTC)We did well yesterday in London, I think!
no subject
Date: 2007-03-10 08:39 pm (UTC)*giggle*
I've been to Stonehenge but never to Salisbury. I really must visit it sometime, the cathedral looks fantastic in pics.
Have lots of fun both of you!
no subject
Date: 2007-03-11 07:56 am (UTC)I think Josh is going to have his head *stuffed* full of Interesting Facts, assorted, by the time he leaves!
no subject
Date: 2007-03-13 12:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-13 07:40 am (UTC)