Sept 11, 2007
Salisbury Cathedral is a medieval marvel. (See photo in sidebar). Built over 700 years ago on veritable marshland using materials found hundreds of miles away, it is amazing to stand inside and gaze at the incredible architecture, stained glass artwork and mechanical equipment that could hardly be duplicated today. Our tour guide, Margaret, so old that she was probably on hand when the cathedral was being built, gave us a Reader’s Digest condensed tour for forty-five minutes of what usually takes 2 hours. She was knowledgeable and funny, and had a real passion for sharing insider stories that took place over the years. To finish off, we had lunch in the cathedral restaurant, a true English eating establishment in which the nine of us Americans totally created havoc. “What’s this? How do you pronounce this? How do you eat this?” You get the picture. Finally we settled down, ate lunch, walked through the gift shop, conveniently placed, as they all are, with the exit door just past the cash register checkout. Disney must have created a Universal Gift Shop placement plan.
Onto Marlborough. By now we were all tired and anxious to get to our hamlet hangout for the evening. Marlborough, or Mar-brah as the locals called it, is another (so what isn’t in England?) medieval village, flanked by two spire-topped churches at either end of the main street. Our hotel, the Castle and Ball, was right there on the main drag, looking rather like a Disney-themed resort than a 700 year old coaching inn. Of the nine of us, 7 loved it and two did not. Apparently they preferred an American establishment complete with elevators and doormen. This did not have either. You see, elevators were not invented in the 1300’s and doormen were, well, replaced by the reception woman at the front desk and the hotel owner. Nine people and 34 pieces of luggage were finally in their rightful rooms. However, the stairs, narrow and off-kilter, led most of the group to the third floor. One thing about English hotels…the bathtubs are huge by American standards. All you need is a Styrofoam noodle and you could spend all day in there. Needless to say, I drew myself a hot bath right after dinner, before I tackled the computer and my long-awaited free wi-fi. I didn’t mention dinner. It was wonderful. Fish and chips all around, plus oxtail soup, sharing bread, Guinness, and bread pudding for dessert. Afterwards, we said goodnight, some went to walk outside past the quaint storefronts and pubs whilst I decided to call it a night.
I’ve spent
nine days to get to England and I wanted to rest up to enjoy the next four
days.
Comments