Saturday, February 14, 2009

Look at this sky we woke up to this morning!

Breakfast at hostel- assorted croissants, toast, cheese, ham, sausages, bacon, hard boiled eggs, beans, grapefruit and stewed prunes, tomatoes (Traditional English breakfast) juice, tea and coffee. They also had some assorted cold cereals. Thank goodness. All of that pork really grossed me out!

Into the van for a short ride.LL1 was able to ride in our van because all of the luggage was at the hostel and we had an extra row of seats available. It was nice for her to be with her kids. LJ was counting sheep in the fields we drove by. I'm not sure how she kept track of them.

We went to Stonehenge.

Wow, what a place! I must re-read The Mists of Avalon when we return. We were not able to get close enough to the formation to touch it. I understand the only time you can do that is at the Summer Solstice. The crows were onto something about that place. They all stayed perched atop the rock formation. I could have easily sat there at that windy site for hours. The mystery of its origins are as immense as the stones that make it up.

I was fascinated by the rock that has the cutout that looked like a person could fit into it. (see lower left corner)

To one one side of the formation were tons of sheep grazing on the plain. And they were the quietest, most peaceful sheep I've ever encountered. Not a sound came from them. They were just happy to be there, nibbling the grass, soaking up the sunshine and the power of the ancient site. So many questions abound about this place, and after being there, I understand why. It was truly magic.

Somehow I managed to have LL1 help me snag a pic with DD. She was hard to catch! I'm really not scowling, the sun was so bright! It never occurred to me to bring sunglasses to the UK.

LJ and DD got little stuffed sheep for souveniers. I bought a peweter keychain and wool picnic blanket. I didn't plan on buying much on this trip and made mindful purchases, knowing full well we'd have to be carting stuff home.

Then onto Old Sarum.

The ruins of old sarum were made of flint. The variation of colors in the stone was fascinating.

It's hard to believe that archaeological findings there go back to 3000BC. The views of the hillside around us were breathtaking. The world felt like a very large place there. Everything was so open and vast.

One of my favorite memories of the place was seeing JR go rolling down a hill inside the ruins.

The privy as it may have looked then

and how it looks now

Little did I know before coming on this trip how fascinating medieval toilets would be! Just wait!

Because of the very hilly and often steep terrain, they used sheep to keep the grass short, as it would be logistically difficult, maybe impossible to actually use mowers there.

We went back to the hostel to park, then walked in to the town of Salisbury. The area we were in was very, very busy and crowded. We walked along Butcher Row and got fresh fruit from a vendor in the square and had a small snack before lunch. Our group for lunch was AW1 and EW; SO and EO; AW2, MW and JAW; DD and LJ. We ate outside, at the West Cornwall Pasty Company. DD and LJ had vegetarian pizza and I savored a chicken and veggie pasty. The pasty was very, very hot and delicious. Quite peppery (black pepper). AW1 and I stopped at a wireless store to buy an air card for our laptops to get online. The purchase did not work for us, unfortunately, even when we were back in London. This was frustrating to AW1 and I, as wereally wanted to do regular updates for parents on the school's blog.

It was so busy and crowded that I was feeling very stressed out. I don't do crowds of people well at all and this was too much for me. So much so I forgot to take pictures! I was very, very happy to leave the crowds behind. We had a couple of hours to check things out on our own, but I had a hard time enjoying myself during that time because it was so unfamiliar and crowded.

Later in the afternoon we went to Salisbury Cathedral.

We had a tour with a guide named Allison. Coincidentally, both of the groups had guides named Allison. Our group was the same as those who were in our van, including LL1.

The heights outside (both day and night)

were as dizzying as they were inside.

and the stained glass impressive.

While we were allowed to photograph most parts of the inside, I did not want to use my flash. Pardon the fuzzyness of the blue window. But oh, how beautiful it was to see.

We saw probably the oldest clock in existence. MB, being the clock-keeper here in town, found it fascinating. We all did, but she was quite impressed.

We were hoping to go see the Magna Carta, but arrived at the building it was housed in just as it was closing for the day.

We looked around the courtyard a bit

and I discovered this little carving in the rock. I have no idea of its age, but I loved it.

After touring the Cathedral we went for tea. Unfortunately by the time some of us got there they were out of cream tea (scones, clotted cream and jam) so we shared a muffin and lemon bar with a pot of chamomile. After tea we attended the Evensong performance, with a guest choir from the Netherlands.

When Evensong was done we walked to Stoby's Fish and Chips for dinner.

The Sprite there was made with natural sugar and not corn syrup and tastes very different than the American version.

Goodnight Salisbury- I loved the picture of this goat in a store window. It was a Sound of Music themed display.

We spent a 2^nd night at the hostel. A few of us adults met in the dining room for drinks while other parents stayed with the kids in the rooms. It was our 3rd day, and GB said that the third one is usually the hardest. All of the hostels served alcohol- mostly ales- Old Speckled Hen was a favorite by GB. They also served a small assortment of hard liquors.

I really felt stressed for part of the day, and had 2 screwdrivers in less than 10 minutes! I just felt emotionally spent. I don't like beer and anything goes with vodka! The only juice available at the shop was OJ. Daley, the host laughed when I returned for my 2nd one in short order. I guess I should have just made it a double the first time around!

The hostel was not large and we could have all easily met, but I think some parents preferred sticking close by to the kids, just in case. LL2 and DL were very good about keeping an eye on the kids, though, many nights they would play uno or other games in the rooms with them.

We could check out MB's pictures of the day when we met in the evenings.She put on a slideshow of her daily pictures.

Clear skies most of the day and cool. No complaints about the weather so far!