City break (aka "weekend getaway")

Salisbury is a small town in south England.  With Stonehenge about 20 minutes away and home to a 13th Century Gothic Cathedral, this seemed like a great place for a weekend getaway.  We arrived in this quaint town and immediately made our way toward tourist information where we bought our tickets to see the sites.  Considering it was 11:30am and the scones and clotted cream from breakfast had long since vanished, we began the search for food.  May it be known to all who were unaware, if you'd like to eat before 12pm, you're choices will be McDonalds, Burger King, or another scone.

Guess where we ate??!!

After we satisfied our appetites, we wandered through the local market.

Fudge and nuts

Fresh produce

Olives, Feta, and tomatoes
I wish I could capture the smell.
It was wonderful!

I was momentarily reminded of the
Public Market in Seattle
I won't mention the smell...

I was surprised by all that could be found in those tents!  Anything from fresh produce and fish to clothing and games.  We didn't, however, spend a lot of time perusing as we needed to make our way to Stonehenge.

Stonehenge, according to wikipedia, is a stone monument thought to be erected in several phases with the earliest phase in 3100 BC and the final phase (including the transport of 50 ton rocks 25 miles) around 2600 BC.  Its carefully placed stones mark the shortest and longest days of the year.  Sun shining through the columns marks each passing month.  Despite the hesitancy of the British to identify this as a place of secular worship, much evidence supports this conclusion.

burial mound

"heel" stone - sunrise can
be viewed from over this stone
during summer solstice

Our tour transported us from the 50 ton rocks arranged in a horseshoe to a 6500 ton spire tilted ever so slightly to the southwest.  Yes, the 404 foot spire on top of the Salisbury Cathedral weights 6500 tons and is leaning 30 inches.  It was because of this cathedral that Salisbury was not bombed during World War II as the German pilots used it as a marker to orient themselves.  Believe it or not, this cathedral was built in 38 years and has a foundation of only 5-6 feet.

Mary and the baby Jesus
carved above the door

Courtyard

The cathedral also houses an original copy of the Magna Carta.  It was neat to see a part of not only English history, but American history as well.  I must admit that after all of the exploring and learning, I was quite tired.  It was nice to rest in a wonderful B&B and be treated to a full English breakfast.

Fried egg, tomato, mushrooms,
ham, and sausage!!