Salisbury, Stonehenge, and the Isle of Wight

Pre-New Year Resolution: Finish blogging about study abroad before the end of the year.

Salisbury was one of those cities that I wished we could have stayed for just a few weeks more in order to see all that there was to see.

The day after my birthday (remember that time that I had a birthday in England?!), we ventured out of our hostel in the rain (as always) to tour Salisbury Cathedral. This trip was cathedral after cathedral, but I do not think I ever tired of it. The special thing about Salisbury Cathedral was the fact that we got to take a tour of the tower, and our tour guide--who was most suitably named Alastair Lack--was a wonderful fellow. The tower was properly equipped with cobwebs and gigantic spiders (I suppose no one thinks to routinely clean the tower) and ironwork and wooden beams that have been in place for hundreds and hundreds of years. I tried to count the number of stairs and ladders we climbed, but I eventually lost track after several stories up. If there was ever a good place for a bout of vertigo, this was definitely the spot. Despite my usual fear of falling from great heights, being able to look out from the tower over the city of Salisbury was absolutely thrilling. It was magnificent.

Following our tour of the tower, we proceeded to the chapter house of the cathedral and had the honor of looking at one of the original copies of the Magna Carta. "Surreal" does not even begin to describe the feeling I had while looking at the document. Hundreds of years have passed and that piece of paper is still intact. It was amazing.

One of our fearless leaders, Dan, then led us to the outskirts of town to the quaint chapel of Saint Andrew's at Bemerton where George Herbert spent the last few years of his life. We spent a good hour sitting in the pews and reading Herbert's religious poems. To me, that small little church where Herbert devoted his life was more sacred than any of the grand cathedrals we had seen (including Salisbury). Hence, I did not take one picture of the church, so I hope I never forget how lovely it really was.

We left the church behind and were left to our own devices to roam about Salisbury, but my curiosity to see the town was greatly overshadowed by the fact that we were going to Stonehenge that evening. Stonehenge. I still can't believe that I was there. Every twist and turn in the road brought about a new wave of anxiety as I anticipated seeing those monstrous stones. It seemed to be ages. As fate would have it, we were the last group to tour the site, so the guards allowed us walk amongst the stones rather than to simply view them from the surrounding path. They repeatedly warned us to NEVER touch the stones, but of course none of us could help ourselves and I am sure every one of us secretly caressed a stone or two.

A video of poor quality from my time at Stonehenge:

Our time in Salisbury was like I said, much too short, and our time spent on the ferry towards the Isle of Wight only made me want to go back as soon as possible as I experienced my very first bout of seasickness (though a mild bout). I left the ferry like a drunken sailor, queasy and not having had acquired my "sea-legs." There was no time to recover although as we rushed off through town (I rushed in a much less direct course) to make our appointment to tour Osbourne, the seaside "home" of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. My excitement overwhelmed my seasickness and everyone had to put up with me babbling about Victoria and Albert for the hours we were there. But Osbourne was a magnificent as one might expect of the home of royalty.

Me and Hannah Wing enjoying the sun on Victoria & Albert's personal beach

 As rushing is what our group did best, we left Osbourne and rushed to Carisbrooke Castle. Unfortunately, I think we had seen our fair share of castle ruins to properly appreciate Carisbrooke. We walked around a bit and then sat on the lawn to catch the rare warmth of the sun.

We took over yet another hostel with our numbers and bothered the owners to no end. Then that night, several of the girls and myself decided that as the Isle of Wight would be our last stay by the sea, we should take advantage of the opportunity to skinny dip. So skinny dip we did. We had to slink out of the hostel and through the quiet town (where we sighted a hedgehog we only momentarily thought was a giant rat), but it was well worth it.

The next day, we had church with the local ward, and they were just wonderful (like all other wards we had been to in England). At sunset we took a short optional hike up to Tennyson Down, which I am ashamed to say I almost skipped. Thanks to coercion, I joined in and got to read some of my favorite Tennyson poetry atop a cliff overlooking the seemingly never ending English Channel. It was a perfect way to bid farewell to the Isle of Wight and to the ocean which I came to love.

Next stop: London Town