OBU in London #22 - August 8 (Salisbury & Stonehenge)

Cover your eyes: bedbugs!!!

Open your eyes! Iconic Salisbury Cathedral

July 16 – August 14, 2018 – “The London 15” – OBU Student Abroad in London, England

This summer, I had the privilege of spending a month in England with a group of 15 students from Oklahoma Baptist University.  Dr. Lindsey Panxhi (an English faculty colleague) and myself, along with our respective spouses, conducted a faculty-led Study Abroad that spent four weeks on the ground in London teaching OBU courses to OBU students while being immersed in the culture and history of Great Britain.  These are our stories! 

Wednesday, August 8 – Salisbury & Stonehenge!

Jo: most excellent tour guide

Salisbury Cathedral:
from "2nd floor"

Our hotel fears were justified.  Our room had bedbugs, which I discovered almost immediately after Vanessa went to sleep.  Fortunately, we found them, and were able to quarantine the clothes that came in contact with the bed.  We were given a new room (obviously), and our room cost was reimbursed.  There weren’t just a couple of bedbugs – there were hundreds of them.  Absolutely disgusting and infuriating.  Needless to say, we had an absolutely lousy sleep, even after moving rooms. 

Climbing further!

After the free breakfast at the hotel (which was pretty good), we headed to Salisbury Cathedral.  Unfortunately, construction and multiple accidents delayed us by over an hour – but the Cathedral was very gracious in adjusting to us.  We had booked a guided floor tour at 11:30, followed by tower tours at 12:15 and 1:15.  We made our 12:15 slot, barely, and they moved our floor tour to after our Tower Tours. 

My group’s Tower Tour was awesome!  We climbed, altogether, 330 stairs, ascending 240

Scaffolding continue up
from the end of our climb

feet, and emerged at the top of the bell-tower.  The spire goes up another 180 feet further!!  At our level, we went out on three balconies (3 of the 4 sides) for spectacular views of the Cathedral itself, the Cathedral Close (the community surrounding), the town of Salisbury, and the beautiful surrounding countryside.  The Cathedral was built near the confluence of five small rivers, and the water level is quite high – just 4 feet beneath the surface.  So the Cathedral’s foundation is only 4 feet deep and under that is a densely-packed wet gravel bed that goes another 27 feet down – fascinating! 

Neat things about Salisbury Cathedral:

Highest free-standing spire; oldest working clock in the world; tours all run by volunteers.  Oh!  Salisbury’s Chapter House is also home to the best-preserved original copy of the Magna Carta!  The spiritual atmosphere was alive, and oh – to worship in that Cathedral would be glorious! 

Lunch @ Salisbury Cathedral

We had a decent provided lunch at Salisbury – soup, sandwiches, and tea – and eventually went on our way to …

Salisbury's baptismal font

… Stonehenge!  Only a 15-minute drive, although I managed to get lost (GPS’s fault this time) on the way.  We were VERY late – originally scheduled to arrive at 3:30, we barely made it for 5:30, the latest possible time to check in and get on the last bus from the Visitor Center going to the monument itself.  With how stressful the main drive was today, and how late we were getting to Salisbury, we are really blessed to have made it to everything. 

Last bus to Stonehenge!

Vanessa @ Stonehenge

Stonehenge was a very impressive site on two counts.  First, that over 3000 years ago, people were able to transport the massive rocks hundreds of miles in order to erect them at Stonehenge.  Second, that the ancients had the astronomical knowledge of equinoxes to be able to set up the stones to precisely filter

I'm serious about Stonehenge!

the summer solstice and winter equinox sunrise and sunset (respectively) through the stones.  It’s interesting imagining the lives, beliefs, and communities of the people that constructed Stonehenge.  After wandering around the monument for a good bit, we explored the indoor Exhibition, which provided a lot more background information.  Fantastic stuff! 

Burial mounds surrounding Stonehenge

Allison supporting Stonehenge

We left Stonehenge just before 8PM, and had a 65-minute drive to our hotel in Wells – and we still needed supper!  Stonehenge is in the middle of nowhere, so we needed to find a restaurant on the way.  My van (Emma, Saydi, Sierra, Sydney, Noah, and Casey) found a little pub, The Bell Inn, in a tiny village

called Wylye – so we gave it a shot.  The town had the pub right beside a cute little church, a few houses, and that was it!  The food was great – I had the Big Bell Burger, with a patty, bacon, pulled pork, and cheese – delicious!  Then, a bit over the top, a sticky toffee pudding with ice cream.  We ordered our food at 8:15, and by the time we left at 9:45, it was just us and our waitress.  She was really sweet and helpful – a lovely pub experience.

Supper @ The Old Bell Inn

Vanessa's meat pie supper

The drive to Wells, in the dark on narrow winding roads, was a bit sketchy.  Our hotel, The Wookey Hole Hotel, was not well marked.  But eventually we made it – about 11PM or so.  Settled in for the night, and straight to bed.  No bed bugs.  Yay. 

Another glorious day in God’s creation, enjoying what His people have made over the centuries.  The Salisbury Tower Tour has been one of my favorite moments of the whole month, especially because of our guide’s dry witty humor and evident faith.  Thank you, Lord, for once again redeeming a day which could have gone quite badly.

Sticky Toffee Pudding - Mmmmmm!