Exploring is good, a good map is better! Part II

Next day was the beginning of our first night away from our host in Sutton, so we packed up our bags and planned our time away, going to Stonehenge and Bath (and the following day was Cardiff, Wales). It was an early morning, and our first time out and about with our crazy-heavy backpacks on, but we made it to Salisbury on the train and headed out to the world-famous gathering of giant rocks! When we got to the train station, we had no clue how to get to Stonehenge or Salisbury Cathedral (the other famous attraction they have), so we consulted with our new best-friends: The Information Desk :) They directed us outside and we ended up getting the nicest bus driver ever named Steve. He talked to us about the various options on how to get there and what the prices were. We ended up getting a package ticket that would give us bus transportation to Stonehenge, Old Sarum (a nearby castle ruin) and the Cathedral. 

Stonehenge turned out to be right next to a rather major byway, which was strange, and turned out to be a bit smaller than both Jeanette and I expected. However, our free audio-guides informed us that the largest of the rocks are about 45 tons. Just about as far away from "small" as you can get. We basically learned that no one knows what the setup or standing rocks were used for in ancient times (ancient as in 4000 years ago), all the researchers know is that it was kept up "religiously" for hundreds of years, and may have been used for either astrological and/or religious purposes. Despite the obvious lack of definitive information, the day was misty and overcast, which created a wonderfully moody atmosphere, perfect for photos in a mysterious locale! 

Our first glimpse of Stonehenge from the bus! 

Our next stop was nearby Old Sarum, castle ruins from the relatively recent 1200-1500's. In castle speak, that's newborn. The ruins were neat, but so very ruinous, that it was even difficult to imagine what it looked like or where things were. They had nice little signs up describing certain things, but with only a few feet of foundation walls in most places, it took a lot of imagining to get even close. 

Next stop was Salisbury Cathedral, which sports the world's 4th tallest church spire. Somehow, we managed to lose sight of it in the city and took a bit to find it again! Walking up to the church, we noticed a few funny "characters" around, namely an open-frame room with a guy standing there, a bed with a guy in it, and a floating chair. On the other side of the church building, walking up towards the front door, was a giant woman (probably close to 8 feet tall) strolling up to the church. As we looked around, we only found more of these interesting figures! 

The inside of the church was just incredible! Beautifully ornate, grand, and jaw-dropping. Another neat thing we saw there, was one of the 4 surviving copies of the Magna Carta (there were no photos allowed in that room though)! Jeanette was especially keen on seeing that since she is related to King John, forced signer of the document. 

 Some very old military flags.

 An extremely reflective water feature.

Our next post will be from Jeanette, letting you all know what we did in Bath and Cardiff, Wales :)

-Chelsea

Exploring is good, a good map is better!

As the title might suggest, we did a bit of "unplanned exploration," thanks to an extremely vague map! Our next set of adventures were in Oxford/Headington and Stonehenge the following day.

Our Oxford day started out early because we had an appointment at 11 in nearby Headington at C.S. Lewis' home, The Kilns. We got the trains from Sutton to Oxford easily enough, and that's where the adventure really started :) We happened to find an awesome little book back home full of C.S. Lewis locations in England and Ireland which we had practically memorized. Only problem was the not-so-specific map included in the back of the book which was the only map we happened to bring with us. Problem two was the very typical directional style of most English, constituting basically "Yeah, you just get out in a couple of stops, head up the street a ways and turn right, yeah? Then you keep going on for a bit and make a left which will take you up a ways more then you make another left. Got it mate? Cheers!" Well intentioned, but not the most helpful.

Thankfully we had an hour and a half from the time we got off the train until the tour of the Kilns was to start, and we needed every moment plus a few more. Thanks to the several helpful people who gave us directions along the way, we only got there a few minutes late.

We took a wonderful tour of his house, given by a professor from Tennessee. It was so special to see the room where he wrote the Chronicles of Narnia, spent his time talking with his brother, and the room where he died. It was also sad to hear that all the original pieces of furniture and decorations (except one) in the house were sold at auction shortly after his death. The only remaining original piece in the house is Lewis' brother Warnie's old typewriter, which he used during his time in the war. 

The Living Room

Warnie's typewriter :)

The Dining Room 

The spot where the original desk was that the Chronicles of Narnia were written on. 

The library that has been added onto the house since Lewis' days there, to accommodate students who live there while pursuing upper-level degrees in Oxford.

The extremely friendly cat.

The bench over-looking a very still lake where Lewis and his good friend J.R. Tolkien used to talk frequently.

The house was sold after Lewis' death in 1963, to a family who redid it in the the popular '70s style, including asphalt flooring in the kitchen, over the original tile floors (in the photo above). After a while, the family put the house up for sale and left (before it sold), leaving it to disintegrate. It was abandoned until some American travelers, looking for Lewis' home, found it and saw the "for sale" sign. They decided to go home and raise money with fellow Lewis fans to buy the house and restore it to its original condition. Thankfully for us and every other Lewis fan out there, those Americans were successful! They bought the house, restored it using volunteers only, and it is now restored as closely to its original condition as possible, with all the furniture having been bought using photographs as guides. The house is now used as lodging for upper-level graduates from the Oxford schools, with a full-time guide living there for a certain term. After the tour, we were able to go to the church he attended, just a short walk from the house, Holy Trinity Church. He's also buried there, and has a Narnia-themed window there in his honor (which was very hard to see with the bars in front of it!).

If you look closely, you can see the Narnia figures in the window.

After visiting the church and gravesite, we headed back into Oxford to see the University where Lewis taught- Magdalene College (pronounced "Maudlin")!

The "chapel" inside Magdalene College. Looked more like a small Cathedral.

Addison's Walk- a favorite walking place of Lewis and Tolkien behind Magdalene. It was while walking on this path that Lewis seriously discussed the Christian faith with Tolkien, later producing his own faith.  

We walked around the grounds for a bit, saw the "chapel" and took a few steps down Addison's Walk. When we realized how late it was, and how important seeing The Eagle and Child was to us, we rushed over to see it, a few blocks away. Fully aware of their historical importance, they had a couple of plaques up to designate the meeting area of the Inklings, Lewis' author club, whom his brother Warnie and Tolkien were members of. A list of member's signatures were up on the wall too :)

In part II, I'll talk about our extremely full day in Stonehenge, Old Sarum, Salisbury Cathedral, and Bath.

-Chelsea