Monday, January 20, 2014

SALISBURY CATHEDRAL


Our last stop for the day was Salisbury Cathedral...Britain's finest 13th Century Cathedral.  Here are a few facts about this beautiful cathedral with pictures to follow.  This cathedral has Britain's tallest spire (405 ft.).  It has the world's oldest mechanical working clock (1386).  The medieval Cloisters are Britain's largest.  And....one of only four surviving original Magna Carta copies (1215) is stored and displayed there.

Salisbury Cathedral from a distance.
Walking Madona

Salisbury Cathedral

Inside the cathedral was a modern structure...the baptismal font.  This was most impressive.  This pool of water drains from four sides into holes in the floor.  The amazing part is that the top of the water looks like glass...there are no ripples showing water flow...and it reflects the beautiful stained glass windows.

Baptismal font with reflection of stained glass windows.

Baptismal font showing water flowing into holes
 There were lots of intricate figures carved outside and inside .  There one of a monkey hurling a nut at people entering the Vestry.  We did not get to find it....just not enough time.  There is a cat carved (called medieval graffiti) on the plinth in the Cloisters opposite the restaurant entrance.  I found a picture of the cat on line as I did not see it either.


Outside the cathedral
Here is the medieval cat carving.





Beautiful Stained Glass

More Stained Glass

Courtyard in Cloisters at Salisbury Cathedral


Hallway in Cloisters


We saw the Magna Carta, but pictures were not allowed.  From the pamphlet: "the Chapter House, with its beautiful ribbed vault, is home to the best preserved of four surviving original Magna Carta sealed by King John in 1215.  Written in abbreviated medieval Latin on vellum, the document set down for the first time the relationship between the King and his subjects and their rights.  The Magna Carta's significance in the democratic world endures today, inspiring documents from the United States Constitution to the Universal Declaration of Human rights."

I was keeping an eye on our time as I did not want us to be late.  I had set the timer on my phone to notify me when we had 10 minutes left so that we would have time to walk back to the bus.  While we were sauntering back I received a text message from Stephanie wondering where we were.  Everyone was on the bus waiting for us!  How could that be!  We did our fast sprint of a walk and boarded the bus with heads hanging...well, not that bad...but we were quite embarrassed.  It seems I had set the timer wrong.  I think we were more upset than any of our fellow travelers...but I was determined NOT to let that happen again.

We rode back to the hotel for a quiet evening.  We were driving to Shakespeare's Stratford the next day...with a few stops before getting there...so I wanted to be rested and packed.

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