Monday at Salisbury, then London

On Monday morning we packed up our things, said goodbye to Bristol and its blasted seagulls and headed to London via Salisbury Cathedral. 

The Cathedral’s foundation stones were laid in 1220 and the building was consecrated in 1258 – an unbelievably short period of time for a cathedral.  Because of this, its architectural style is fairly pure. 

Its tower and 404’ spire, Britain’s tallest, was added in the years 1310-1330.  Unfortunately, the Cathedral was not built to withstand the 6500 ton addition of weight to the building, and the supporting columns began to bend and the tip of the tower shifted 75 cm out of alignment.  It was said that the pillars creaked and moaned as the tower and spire were built.  Additional support was later added to the building to prevent further damage.

Unbelievably, the cathedral was also built on water!  Several rivers come together in the city of Salisbury, and the building was placed on top of a “foundation” of gravel.  Surprisingly, there has not been a flood since the early 20^th century, as river management has been improved.  The large worry now, of course, is that the water beneath will dry up and cause the “foundation” to become unstable.  The water level is regularly checked through a small opening in the floor of the cathedral at the spire crossing. 

 All that being said, it is indeed a beautiful space.

  

A truly magnificent space!  We had lunch in Salisbury after the tour, then finished our trip to London.  Our guide reminded us that we were entering “a whole new world” – a world of pickpockets, purse snatchers, and generally not-so-nice people.  A simple reminder to be alert as we entered the largest city in Europe – a safe city, but a very FULL city.  Time to put on the City Smarts!

We arrived at our hotel, which was beautiful, then went to dinner at an interestingly decorated restaurant called Salieri.  The food was pretty good, but we had been spoiled by our fare at Bristol.

The best part of the meal was dessert – THE BEST tiramisu ever!  “Made by Mama this morning,” our server told us.  Mama is 86 years old…

After dinner John took us about London a bit to help us get acquainted with the city.  We split into groups – some heading back to the hotel to explore the area there, some staying in the downtown area to explore.  All in all, a great day.  Tomorrow – our last concert at Canterbury Cathedral – so excited!