Monday, Stonehenge-Salisbury-Bath

What a wonderful day we had today.  We left London at 8:00, so no traffic.  The air was cool and the skies were blue, life was good. I hope the next hotel will be as pleasant as the one we're leaving with its little special touches and a towel warmer.

We drove through rolling meadows of patchwork fields, alternating golden beige fields of baled wheat and green fields of potatoes and sugar beets.  Lots of green trees in many varieties, and they look like France – as if someone had just gone through and pruned them into perfect shapes and removed the dead limbs.  Some roadside bushes had clusters of red berries, which our tour guide identified as elderberries.

Cows of all colors, sheep, and goats grazed the hillsides and white morning glories ran along their green vines on the hedgerows, much like white musical notes on a green scale.

Our first stop was Stonehenge; “Stone” for obvious reasons, and “henge” because some stones were actually hinged.  It’s still anyone’s guess why it was erected.  I tend to lean toward the “astronomy” explanation.  This is farm country and I’m sure there would have been a need to “read” the seasons. 

The stones are roped off now, mostly due to vandalism, and you view the structure from quite a distance.  We had talking “wands” to explain and comment as we walked. 

More beautiful hills and a few villages.  I even saw a couple of thatched roofs.

We stopped in Salisbury to see the cathedral and one of the four remaining copies of the Magna Carta.  This church is being repaired, extensive scaffolding.  I’m sure repairs are very costly, but this church knows how to make money.  They charge an admission to view the cathedral; they have a gift shop; their restaurant is a delight which even has a cold bar of poached salmon (beautifully garnished), all kinds of homemade salads, (egg, pasta, tuna, chicken, etc.) and cold vegetables like tomatoes, beets, corn, etc.  And if you’ve resisted all these temptations, they make one last effort at parting you from your money with a big white tent on the lawn with white chairs and tables where you can buy cold drinks, hot drinks, and desserts.  I got a hot tea to go.  Had time permitted, I’d have had lunch.

A pleasant walk to the cathedral

A built-in boot scraper?

The cathedral in all its glory

I didn't want to leave this picturesque little town. Notice the stag on top of the building.

On to Bath (or Bawth if you’re a Brit).  I love this place.  I’m always a sucker for A-River-Runs-Through-It towns, but this one is really special.  Built on hills around the valley with the rivers, it looks as if it’s always been here and always will be.  Everything is built of stone.  I’ve never seen so many gorgeous flowers.  They’re in beds, window boxes, flower boxes over doorways, baskets hanging everywhere – from eaves, from poles, from trees.  Boats take tourists up and down the river (which I mistakenly called a canal at dinner and a waiter teasingly corrected me).  It’s the Canal Boat Ride from Disneyland, except full size.  We had some free time for lunch and shopping.  The streets wander around through the shopping area (with the Roman baths and a massive church right in the middle) and you could easily get lost.  It’s very large - even a couple of department stores.  There are big open piazzas with benches and street musicians of all talent levels (from a wonderful pan flute group to a young girl playing a French horn very badly).  One open space is almost as large as a city block with lots of benches on the perimeter, all facing inward.  Many people buy lunch and eat here (including myself with my Rueben sandwich) so, of course, the inevitable pigeons.  They know a soft touch when they see one and graciously helped me cut down on my calories.  Every once in awhile, something startled them, and they all took off flying in one direction, wheeling in a large circle a few times, and then returning in a group to resume their begging.

No, I didn't go in to taste the water. If Samantha Brown won't drink it, neither will I.

We met for our tour through the baths, again with sound wands, instead of tour guides.  I was so grateful because I couldn’t handle the close, steamy air and lines of people.  I probably heard only ten percent of the commentary because I hurried through, snapping pictures, and excusing myself as I overlapped people standing at the rails listening intently as their wands explained another pool of water or pile of rocks.  The temperature outside was a nice 70 degrees or thereabouts and I felt as if I’d escaped from prison when I finally got out of there.

I had plenty of time before we were to meet our guide, so I went to BHS Department Store and had tea.  My scone was nice and crumbly with lots of raisins.  I finally know why all the hoopla about clotted cream, and my raspberry jam was not too sweet.  So I’d really feel British, I put milk in my tea.  Much better than Roman bath ruins. And the perfect ending; a book store where I bought two cookbooks.

So happy some things are still different country to country.

Back on the bus and a driving tour of this beautiful city with trees and parks and more wonderful flowers.  I can’t explain these flowers.  They seem to burst with color, as if someone plucks the stray dead blossom or leaf the moment it isn’t absolutely perfect anymore.

My hotel room at the Hilton is absolute perfection.  I have a window overlooking the river with the town spreading up the hills beyond.  An absolute fairy tale town.  Natural air conditioning.  I opened the window and the cool breeze caused the white sheers to billow softly – just like in the movies. Life was still good.

I did my rubber band leg exercises and regrouped, used the pants presser for my next-day clothes, brushed my teeth, touched up my hair and makeup and off to dinner.  I was watching a WWII war movie while I did my exercises and I really hated to leave while the Nazis were pounding the Brits.  I wanted to wait until the tide had turned but, I know how it ended, so I joined the group.

We had a wonderful buffet dinner (known here as a carvery).  Onion soup and a salad bar to start.  I had baby greens with fresh cooked beets, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, creamy Italian dressing, and a small piece of watermelon and a slice of kiwi.  The mushrooms were strange – as if they’d been boiled and then chilled.  The hot foods were wonderful.  I had a sampler plate: my slice of roast pork with gravy was a normal portion, but then I had only a taste-size portion of turkey medallion with risotto, spaghetti with pesto sauce, boiled baby potato (unpeeled and fresh from the garden), steamed carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower.  I passed on the red snapper and the cubed lamb in tomato-coriander sauce.  Everything was excellent but I thought flavoring the risotto with dill to go with turkey a little strange.  Also, I loved the comments from people who scooped up a big spoonful of capers from the bowl on the salad bar.  The most common was, “What are these?  I thought they were peas!”  Lots of surprised looks.  I chose apricot tart with fresh cream for dessert.  My arteries are probably shrinking in horror today.  I had a nice walk after dinner.  All the shops were closed, of course, but I could window shop, and hear the sounds and smells coming from the pubs and restaurants.  One little shopping mall had a veranda overlooking the river and (these smart people!) a library branch right in the mall.  I just missed seeing the supermarket, which closed at 8:00 p.m.

I watched the lights winking on in the houses across the canal (excuse me - river), and just knew I'd landed in a fairy tale for sure. I had a hot bath in the wonderful deep tub and fell asleep in the blessed quiet with the breeze off the river.  I started my journal but couldn’t keep my eyes open.

If you're wondering why no pictures of meals yet, so am I. Guess I hadn't become a foodie yet.

To be continued. . . . . .

And I leave you with this: Surrender to what is. . . . .let go of what was. . . . .have faith in what will be. Unknown