Smith Family Adventures: Salisbury

With a full weekday available to us to go touring, we decided to head south to the Salisbury plain and see the tallest church spire in England. We bypassed Stonehenge, knowing we would have another crack at it sometime soon.

We arrived on a market day and perused the main square. It was filled with vendors selling everyday items as well as food. We bought a pasty for the first time - a meat and potato filled pastry, very filling!

We then wandered the streets towards the cathedral. The tourist information hub had informed us that there were a hundred teddy bears spread out in many of the shop windows, each having a number and name. The kids had a fun time spotting the bears and Laura wrote each name down that we found.

We made it to the gigantic cathedral around lunch time and found a nice spot in the grassy close to eat our picnic and pasties. The view wasn't half bad.

It is difficult to see from the pictures just how huge the church is. The bottom row of windows is probably 30-40 feet tall.

After our leisurely lunch, we made our way inside the church. The inside of the cathedral was one of the most intriguing tours we'd taken in quite a while.

Salisbury Cathedral is unique in that it was built in a mere 38 years, compared to some cathedrals that stretched centuries! It was completed in 1258 and is in a completely uniform style (also unique because many cathedrals spanned several different en vogue architectural styles).

Besides the typical symmetry and beauty of a cathedral, there were various art exhibitions inside that broke up the grey stone monotony.

There was a small diorama as we walked in that explained how the cathedral was built so quickly 800 years ago. The kids spent about 10 minutes staring at the model asking questions. Sprinkled around the nave were also several tombs of knights in near pristine condition.

Claire did her best impression of the knights.

At the center of the church, the main pillars were bowed from the weight of the enormous bell tower that was added after the church was originally built. We were assured there was no danger...the bigger bell tower has been there for a several hundred years now.

In the back of the church the pillars and ceiling were painted in the golds, reds and greens much like they were in medieval times. In my opinion, it looks much better.

After our circuit around the church, we entered the cloister and went into a side chamber with an original copy of the Magna Carta.

By this point, Claire was in full missed nap meltdown mode so we decided to start heading home. We enjoyed the studying the front of the church with all of the statues and the high façade.