Any guesses on what we did today?  If you guessed Salisbury and Stonehenge then you are correct!

I stole the clever subtitle from the kid-version pamphlet for Salisbury Cathedral.

Check out Daniel’s summary video.

Stones

Stonehenge makes it on some lists as one of the wonders of the world. So with being so close to it, it made sense to go see it. If anything, just to say we did it.

We did it. And honestly, I’d probably do it again if given the opportunity. From London, it’s a little less than a 2-hour train ride to Salisbury and then a 30-minute bus ride from there.

Salisbury is a quaint old town. If you enjoy the small town squares found in rural Tennessee, then you would enjoy Salisbury. It has a ton of cute store-fronts similar to what you would find on a small-town square. There are plenty of cafes and local restaurants to eat at. There is a flowing stream, parks, and playgrounds – all walking distance around the town. I could have spent the entire day strolling the streets.

On top of all of that, it has the cathedral and the Magna Carta.

We took a tour bus to Stonehenge. The bus ride was exciting. We rode on the top floor at the front where we faced the windshield. The streets are small, the bus is huge and the pedestrians are everywhere. The bus driver zoomed our double-decker through the town and through the narrow winding roads toward Stonehenge. It was very similar to a roller coaster ride.

I wish I could adequately describe the landscape today. There were rolling hills, cows, horses, sheep and fields of green and yellow. Melanie taught us that all the fields of yellow flowers that we’ve been enjoying are fields of rapeseed, used to make vegetable oils.

Stonehenge is truly located in the middle of nowhere. But it was beautiful getting there.

It was nice to experience Stonehenge in person. When you add it to the rest that Salisbury has to offer, then it is most certainly worth a day-trip.

Spires & Saints

One of my prayers for this trip is that God would reveal himself to us in a new way – through the people and places we visit. That we would leave Europe with a deeper relationship and a richer perspective of the God we serve.

One would expect these sort of revelations to occur within the walls of a cathedral. Yet when I visit them, I often feel out of place. Like the walls and people know I don’t belong simply because I am not Catholic.

Step aside satan.

Making my way across the sanctuary today, I finally recognized that the God that is worshiped here and has been worshiped here for centuries is the same God that I pray to now.

History often depresses the soul. The mass murders. The way executions and torture were part of people’s entertainment. The evil. Yet when I walk into this cathedral, built during dark times, I thought about the hands that built it, the people that supported it and worshiped in it. These were not evil people.

I’m reminded in these beautifully adorned places of worship that only a God as great as ours could inspire such beauty and grandeur. There was light in an age filled with darkness, these cathedrals are proof.

It’s easy to miss some of the details within the cathedral walls. Partly because there is so much detail, partly because you’re watching your children limiting your ability to soak in the details.

Thankfully Melanie and Daniel pointed out small and unique features in the Chapter House, the room that houses the Magna Carta. There are sixty images depicting in chronological order the stories of Genesis and Exodus carved into the stone along the border of where the wall meets the ceiling. I would have easily missed this. These sort of details are everywhere.

Brush up on your middle school history here – Magna Carta

The food!

We decided to have lunch at the Refectory at the Cathedral. It was delightful! One thing that England does far better than the US is the meals at tourist attractions. The food is almost always fresh, made onsite, and incorporates freshly baked bread and homemade jams. Unlike the states where you will find chicken fingers, pizza, and hamburgers -all of which were previously frozen.

Typically I would choose to eat off-site, but the onsite food is above par.

Approaching Salisbury Cathederal

Daniel and the kids walking to the cathedral.

The kids traveling on the bus to Stonehenge.

Cute Kids

The kids did well on this trip. There were the usual complaints of, “I want to go home” and “I’m hungry” But there was also a lot of walking and a lot of green area for running and play. They get so excited for just an open green field and the freedom to do what they want.

Having Aunt Melanie with us helps a lot. An extra set of hands and eyes. The kids love to play with her, and we enjoy her company just as much.

I’m proud of how well the kids have been eating. Miah is my good eater, while Samuel is the picky one. But he’s gotten more on board with having to eat what he is offered or go without. And he is trying absolutely everything. He may not eat more than one bite if he decides he doesn’t like it, but he will at least try it.

Miah has developed a British accent – more likely from watching Peppa Pig and less likely from her time in England. But she’s never used it before. She’s actually quite believable.

Miah’s British Accent – You’ll want to watch it twice

Train

Too tired to do anything else but provide the minimum care necessary for the kids (which is sometimes quite a lot), I stared out the windows with every free minute warranted to me.

We traveled through countryside and at one point, we were surround by high bushes and trees on both sides of the train – like we had entered into a tunnel created from a garden.

It reminded me of driving up Wagner Hill road before it was paved and widened – back when it was gravel and narrow with trees, bushes and curves blocking any visibility past a hundred feet.