After spending the morning viewing the ruins of Stonehenge, we pressed on to Salisbury, where we looked around the incredibly preserved Cathedral. My brother-in-law, Mike, mentioned the place while we were coming up with our itinerary and I'm so glad he did- the Cathedral is stunning. To me, it's incredible that it was completed within 38 years. Thirteenth century builders and they managed to carry out the work within 38 years. The mind boggles.
Gargoyles and sculptures of early Bishops and Saints line the exterior walls of the Cathedral; some heavily eroded, some pristine despite their 750 years of age, and, as the Cathedral was home to an art exhibition during our visit, some of the sculptures simply took us by surprise.
The Cloisters (which may, or may not be familiar to Harry Potter fans) were added to the Cathedral later, along with the Chapter House where we were able to see preserved pages of the Magna Carta. Charlotte's push chair wasn't really conducive to a tour of the Cathedral's tower, but we did take a tour of the rest of the cathedral and it was a really interesting afternoon. Charlotte was on her best behavior and the people on the tour were enjoying looking at her just as much as the medieval clock that our guide pointed out. Pictures will never do the place justice; it is stunning. All I know is that if I were among the worshippers back in 1280 I'd find it really hard to pay attention to anything that the clergy had to say, I'd simply be staring off at one beautiful thing or another.
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