Mummies and Tombs and Towers, oh my!

Whew! I think I say this about every week, but what a week! I already wrote about my walk on Tuesday, so I won't revisit that. Monday I went to the British Library. What a place. I saw Shakespeare's first folio, a Gutenburg Bible, two of the surviving four copies of the Magna Carta, DaVinci's notebook, letters from Darwin, Jane Austen, Captain James Cook, and others, original handwritten scores by Mozart, Beethoven, Rachmaninov, Bach, Handel, Chopin, and others, handwritten and illuminated manuscripts and books of scripture from many, many different religions and cultures, among other things. There was a really neat exhibit of the Ramayana, the Indian epic. If anyone has seen A Little Princess, its the story that Sarah tells the other girls at the boarding school. One of my favorite movies ever, by the way. This really was an amazing place. And I only saw two rooms! I didn't even get to the part where you can pull books off the shelf. On Wednesday, I went to the British Museum. There I saw artifacts from ancient Egypt, Assyria, Nubia (major memories from Aida were brought back), Greece, Rome, Europe, and just about everywhere else. I saw mummies, which were absolutely fascinating and maybe my favorite part. The Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon were pretty hard to beat, though. I saw artifacts from Sutton Hoo. I saw the Rosetta Stone. Um...I saw a lot. On Thursday, I went to Westminster Abbey. Oh my heck, it was beautiful. I was stunned from the second I stepped inside to the moment I left. It was one of the most spectacular buildings I have ever been in. I mean, this is the place where England's kings and queens have been given their first communion, been married, been coronated, been buried. I saw the tombs of so many of them. I loved Poet's Corner, where there are tombs and memorials to famous writers and poets, like Shakespeare, Chaucer, Lewis Carrol, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Thomas Moore, and so many others. SO many. I mean, the walls and floors are absolutely covered, in the whole building, with memorials and tombs. It felt more like a cemetary than a church. It is well deserving of its fame. It was one of my favorite things I've done so far. However, I must say that what I did on Saturday is probably my absolute favorite so far. Maybe. I'm not entirely sure. Anyway, the family went for a weekend getaway Saturday morning and got back this evening, which is Sunday. So, that meant that I had all day Saturday to do whatever I wanted; I whole day off. So, I hopped on the tube over to Waterloo Station where I bought a ticket to Salisbury. I got on the train, prayed it was the right train, and headed off. The countryside is so beautiful here. I'm hoping to plan a whole weekend off where I can get a room in a little bed and breakfast somewhere small and quiet. Anyway, when I got to Salisbury, the first thing I did was buy a map. I have a tendency to get distracted and wander and get myself lost. Which I ended up doing later in the day, so the map came in handy. Anyway, the cathedral, which was the reason I chose Salisbury, was hard to miss. I wandered around the town in the general direction of the towering steeple and eventually made it there. It just so happens that this year marks the 750th anniversary of Salisbury Cathedral. In the states, a centennial anniversary of anything is a big, big deal! I never really understood just how young our country is. Yes, the 750th anniversary. Anyway, I was allowed to take pictures inside of Salisbury, except inside the chapter house, where one of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carta is (that makes 3 out of 4 that I've seen...I may have to go find the fourth). So, I have lots and lots and LOTS of pictures of Salisbury! Far too many to post on the blog, I'm afraid. Anyway, this place wasn't quite as packed with tombs and memorials and decoration as Westminster, but it was absolutely beautiful nonetheless. The volunteers that worked there were all older people, and were so, so sweet. One man saw me taking pictures of the stained glass windows and said, "If you want a really good window, my favorite is just down the way." He and two other elderly volunteers proceeded to give me an entire history of the windows of Salisbury Cathedral, which was very much appreciated. I love things like that, especially when I get to hear it from such lovely and pleasant people as those. I think a lot of the time we get so settled into where we live and the people that we are around that we forget that people that don't think or believe like we do are just as wonderful as those that do. Anyway, there's more to that, but I'll try not to go off on another spiel as I've done in earlier posts. I wandered around the cathedral for a couple of hours before catching a tour that went up into the tower of the cathedral. This was absolutely brilliant. I walked across the roof of the nave and climbed a million stairs to the inside of the tower. I stood under the belfry for the strike of the hour, then went up into the actual belfry. While there, the quarter hour struck, quite resoundingly. Then, we climbed above the belfry and I stood directly under the steeple. I could see straight up inside of it, all the way to the very top. There were doors to the outside of the tower, and I got to look out on the town and countryside of Salisbury. It was so beautiful. I felt like Quasimodo, and started for the first time to envy him rather than pity him. It was so peaceful up there, removed from the hustle and bustle of life. I could have stayed there for hours, but unfortunately there was another tour coming and we had to go back down. After that, I finally left the cathedral, after having been there for almost four hours. I could have spent more time there, but I wanted to see some of the city, and I wasn't sure when the last train to London left. I wandered around, just seeing what there was to see in town. I didn't see the whole thing, of course, but I did see a good amount. I walked through some markets, which were mostly closing up. I bought a few things, and didn't buy a few things that now I wish I would have. I ended up losing track of which way I was going and got fairly lost. Fortunately, I had the map! After following sidewalks that weren't actually sidewalks and trying to follow street signs (signs in England have gotten me lost more than they have gotten me unlost) and eventually made it back to the train station with a good twenty minutes to spare before my train, the last one for some time, came. Oh yes, I failed to mention that I ended my excursion in Salisbury by getting dinner at Dominos. I find it so strange the things you find in these little towns. Tourist catering, I suppose. Anyway, it wasn't quite like American Dominos, but I was craving pizza, even if it cost almost ten dollars for a little personal pizza. Sigh. Anyway, Salisbury has been my most expensive day so far, with the train ticket, shopping, and such, but I'm of the mindset that I have no idea if or when I'll be back to England, so I'm going to do all I can while I'm here! It was a positively lovely outing, I must say.