Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral

Welcome to England. It's cold, rainy, and if you don't have wool socks on - you are just majorly out of luck!

Wow. I know I didn't post yesterday so let me tell you about the wine tasting. It was interesting and fun, after I got over the feeling that I wasn't posh enough to be present at the event. All I learned is that I can't drink a lot of wine. I got sick - I'm good now though. So - I think I'll just charge on through to today.

Alright. Today was our group trip to Salisbury and Stonehenge.

Let me just say that Stonehenge was a bit of a disappointment. We rode a coach bus for about an hour and a half and we got to a really rainy middle of nowhere place. There were sheep - I suppose that was nice. The grass was also incredibly green which made me happy. But - as our professor warned us - we were not able to get close to the rocks because they have had problems with graffiti.

That made me think about the barrier they had to put up in the Parliament building where the spectators sit and listen in the House of Commons. Apparently back when Mr. Blair was prime minister someone threw flour all over him. What do these barriers and gates say about our societies? Ugh. Makes my head hurt - these philosophical questions.

Anyway - I did enjoy the stones I suppose. They are supposed to be one of the seventh wonders of the world and all that jazz. We walked around it and took a bunch of pictures and then got back on the bus to go to Salisbury. Salisbury is about a fifteen minute drive away from Stonehenge and it's a nice little town. I've discovered that I appreciate the smaller towns in England way more than London. People are actually nice to you.

Kemper and I found this lovely little restaurant called Greencages Tearoom or something like that. We went in there and I had a panini and she had a cheese sandwich and we got a nice lovely pot of peppermint tea for two. It was cute. It made me want a cute little coffee pot for our flat - but alas - we have some water heater thing that I suppose is way faster than a tea pot. However, most of the charm is lost considering that it looks sort of like a toaster.

Anywho - we had a nice little lunch. The lady who was waiting on us was just so nice. Then we made our way over to the Cathedral and on the way we stopped at a second hand shop focused on funding breast cancer research. Have I mentioned that my umbrella broke? Well I got a new cuter, plaid one for cheaper than the first one I got. AND I went ahead and bought a huge old man sweater. It's black and extremely comfortable. I'm really really excited about it. When I wear it it's like being in a tent of cuddly happiness. The weather is just not what I'm used to. :\

We got to the Cathedral and it literally looked like something out of my imagination. It was built sometime in the 1200s...and lo and behold. It's still there. We went on this tour thing that was two hours long and we climbed the spire which had about three hundred or other steps. I didn't like the climbing part because - look at my photos - I'm not sure these people over here know how to build staircases and stairwells. Sheesh.

Or everyone's a dwarf.

Anyway. It was beautiful - the Cathedral on the inside and outside. I loved when we got to the place on the spire where we could go outside. Looking over the little town was amazing and you could see the country side. I loved it so much. That was worth the stupid spindly wavy stairs I suppose. But I've been there, done that, and I have to say - I'm TIRED of climbing stairs. I mean, literally, there was one stair case that had a rope that you were supposed to use as a support. A rope. The roped looked older than me - how reassuring is that?!

Anyway - after that I went to the Gift Shop and got a couple of post cards and a feather plume pen. I couldn't help it! It's purple and amazing...I mean - what else is there in life besides amazing feathery pens?

Let's see- tomorrow I'm off to Northern Ireland. I am really excited. I am currently charging my camera - so I think I'll just upload Ireland pictures and Stonehenge pictures when I get back. I miss you guys.

Cheers.