Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Panultimate

TODAY WAS A BLAST!!! We got up in time to meet Dr. Storm at the British Museum for travelling to the station to meet the Stonehenge and Salisbury tour guide. We got there about 20 minutes early, so we bummed around Waterloo Station until our guide showed up. Her name was Chris (or something that sounded like Chris). Elysa and I both felt that the guide reminded us of Emma Thompson the actress from Nanny McPhee, Love Actually, and Much Ado About Nothing. The train ride to Salisbury was very pretty, and we saw lots of rape fields (rape = flower of canola plant, used for making canola oil). The flower is bright yellow and dreadful for one's allergies, as we found out once we actually got to the stones. Salisbury is the *cutest* little town I've ever seen in my life. The cathedral at Salisbury was very quaint but also very large, and is home to the largest steeple in all of the UK. (something like really freaking tall, and definitely crooked). The cathedral did not have any of the Medieval stained glass because some jerk decided it was extraneous or something, so all the stained glass in the chapel is more modern than that, and some of the larger windows have only regular panes of glass in them instead of anything colorful, or are partially boarded up. It was pretty sad.

The inside of the cathedral was absolutely beautiful, and they even let us take as many pictures as we wanted! So I have a lot of the interior. I was so glad to be there. At 1 pm they have all of the visitors stand in silence to show respect for those who are worshipping there. We even recited the Lord's Prayer as we stood respectfully, and it was a touching moment. I was very glad that I got this chance to pray in a legitimate cathedral.

We walked through the town and found a quaint little shop to have lunch in, and as we were ordering, Chris (from our school group, not the guide) told me and Tina to look outside. When we hesitated he said that we needed to look outside right now! So we peeped out the door, and we saw a man playing a portable piano. Its difficult to explain it without being able to show you pictures at the same time, but it was pretty much the *coolest* thing i've probably ever seen in my life. It was just the sort of thing that would have made Grandpa Willie crack up with laughter and take an insane amount of pictures. I've also had quite a bit of fish and chips since i've been over here, and the dish i had today was by far the best I've had, so I dedicated my meal to Grandpa and hoped that he could tell just how awesome it was as i sat and watched the man with his portable piano.

After lunch we walked through the Salisbury market and i bought a cute necklace for 3 pounds. I wish i had more time to lounge around the market, because it was a pretty day and there were some interesting goods for sale.

The bus ride to Stonehenge was also full of sights, but most of them were successfully blocked by trees, so I don't have a whole lot of decent pictures from that. When we actually got to the stones, I wasn't as impressed as i thought i would be, but after we got off the bus and crossed under the road, i was more impressed with it the closer i got to it. I got a whole bunch of awesome pictures of Stonehenge, and tried to get pictures of the burial mounds (there is a term for these but I forget what it is at this moment) but the mounds were harder to get because it just looks like pictures of grass. lol.

We got back to Salisbury from the bus and loaded right onto the train. We didn't spend any time visiting after the return bus ride, but I was tired so that was okay. On the train ride back I slept pretty much the whole way just because I was so tired. I was on the wrong side of the train and facing the wrong way anyway, so i wasn't able to get any good photos of the landscape, as it were.

We got back to Waterloo, took the tube to Holborn, went to the hostel and were lazy bums until it was time to meet for our "farewell" dinner at the Founder's Arms. I had a cheeseburger, and while it was good, it definitely didn't taste like beef. Or lamb. Interesting to say the least. After dinner we took the tube back to the hostel but I got some ice cream at a small grocery store and at it in the room. The others went to a Baskin Robbins (I didn't want to walk the few extra blocks because my shin splints were bothering me) and they returned as I was in the shower after eating my ice cream. Since then we've been hanging out and chatting as we usually do.

Tomorrow *for sure* Tina and I are going to the Tower of London, and in the evening we're going to see Avenue Q (a musical parody of The Muppets). Packing and getting ready for the big fly day on Thursday is also in order. I can't believe tomorrow is the last day we'll be here. Its kind of crazy. In any case I've had a wonderful time so far, and while part of me doesn't want to leave (pretty much ever), there is another part of me that is very excited to be back home with everyone. It will be so good to rest once I am back home though, that is for sure.

3 comments:

  1. so the title of this post is supposed to be "Penultimate" not "Panultimate". My bad.

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  2. sounds like an awesome time, see all you can see --pac

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  3. You've been gone so long; I guess someone should bring you up to date on what's been going on in your absence...

    Spring left with you, and the a/c's have been brought back to life; you can count on mid-80s on your return.

    Those darn Brits are attacking us again, this time from the gulf. Obama was forced to resign over not being able to tell a well from a hole in the ground.

    You won't believe it, but Sarah Palin is President now, you know, being from Alaska and all. She admitted she couldn't really see Russia from her house, but that she could see the Exxon Valdez 20 years ago and watched them clean that up, so she'd, you know, just jump right in there and get the gulf cleaned up.

    Well, we have about 2 billion Mr. Clean Magic Erasers floating around with the oil now. Oprah had Mr. Clean on her show, and he admitted that he's so embarrassed he's started using Rogaine. At her press conference, Palin said it would have worked if there wasn't so much oil in the way for the water to activate the magic, so tomorrow they're starting massive Dawn drops. She wishes she had gone with her gut, instead of calling her psychic friend, and gone with the quicker picker upper...Bounty has been pulled from the market.

    Oh, and speaking of not tasting like beef, Sarah heard a news report about another mad cow outbreak. She didn't catch on that they were talking about her, or why it was such a big deal since hamburger came from pigs. Someone got her straightened out, but she's shipped all the cattle to Afghanistan, and imported moose into every state. The uproar had almost died down, until the networks aired a Rocky & Bullwinkle marathon.

    Anyway, we're headed for Canada as soon as we pick you up, so keep your passport handy. See ya soon, eh? --J

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