Salisbury

I made it in to Salisbury today. Now, for the most part, Salisbury as a city, so not at all cute. Kind of dingy, really. But then there is this uber-giant cathedral. It's kind of a strange contrast.

Not tempted to make any stops, I bee-lined from the train station to said cathedral and hopped on a tour that was just starting. I had taken a tour of the Winchester Cathedral and just wanted things to be even. Both tours involved a retired Englishman telling me and two English people (Winchester it was an older married couple, Salisbury was two older men) much more about the cathedrals than you could possibly ever want to know, while the two English people ask completely random questions I could never have come up with on my own while I smile and nod to show that I am learning. So this cathedral is all open in the middle, which is rare, as most have some sort of screen (the one at Winchester was Victorian and made of carved wood), so you can actually get a full understanding of the size when you walk in. I realize this is not interesting to read, so I'm going to kind of stop and refer you all to the very short album I put up of the place on Picasa that includes some interior photos.

Now for my official cathedral comparison. So, city of Winchester, definitly better than city of Salisbury. Exterior of Salisbury Cathedral definitly better than exterior of Winchester Cathedral, but I have to proclaim the interiors a bit of a toss up, and Winchester has some more interesting stories for the tour. Two other things that I did not mention about Salisbury that earn it additional points: the best preserved original copy of the Magna Carta in existence, and a 700 year old clock, but it doesn't look like a clock because it doesn't have a face.

Before leaving town I walked just a bit down the high street and went to 'Poundland', which is the equivalent of a dollar store. There's some good stuff in there.

Tomorrow is my first day of learning. We'll see how that goes.