Great Britain 2022 Trip – July 20 – Bath to London
This morning we attempted to leave our cottage in Bradford on Avon early because we knew we had a full day ahead of us – Stonehenge, Salisbury and it’s Cathedral, dropping our car off at Heathrow, and finding transportation into London, an hour’s drive from the airport. I say attempted because 40 minutes into our drive to Stonehenge, I realized I had left my cell phone at the cottage back in Bradford on Avon.
I share this little mishap because as everyone who has ever traveled in close quarters with family members knows, irritability usually ensues. And as my wife and close friends know, my three sons can sometimes tease me and criticize me unmercifully. And this was obviously a golden opportunity for them to do so. They chose not to. Maybe it was because they could already sense how upset I was. Whatever the reason, it was gracious of them not to pile on. That 40 minute drive back to recover my phone was the quietest 40 minutes in the car during the entire trip.
After retrieving my phone back at Bradford on Avon, we proceeded into the “Salisbury Plain” and to Stonehenge, or at least the parking area and entrance to the “Stonehenge Park”. We quickly realized that this national treasure had become a tourist trap. Elizabeth had warned me about this. When she visited the site years ago while in college, she could actually walk up to within several yards of the stones. When she visited it again recently with a friend, there were so many people and you could only see the Stones from afar. But because we were driving within 5 miles of the site on the way to Salisbury, we wanted to give it a go. However, the long lines convinced us not to stick around. So, we headed to Salisbury.
When the Normans invaded England in 1066, they built a castle and a cathedral at the nearby famous Iron Age Fort of Old Sarum. But because the site was terrible, the old cathedral was abandoned and the current Salisbury Cathedral was built in the early 1200’s. And this Cathedral became the epicenter of what is now modern Salisbury.
The National best selling novel SARUM is based on this area. An overview of English history, it begins with the ice age and the earliest settling of the Salisbury Plain by primitive hunters and farmers. As civilization occurs and the story in the novel develops, Stonehenge is created, Christianity comes and with it, the Salisbury Cathedral, with the novel evolving into a saga of five families who help shape British history. This is one of the books I bought several years ago and never read. I cannot wait to read this book now that I have been to the Salisbury Plain.
When we got to Salisbury the city and the Cathedral did not disappoint. A surprise for me was seeing the best preserved copy of the Magna Carta, which is kept at the Salisbury Cathedral. It is believed that of the 40 original copies made in 1215, each of which took approximately 10 hours to write, only four have survived. Written as a contract between King John and parliament to curb the King’s powers, its importance to the development of democracy is important because of its emphases on personal freedoms, an individual’s rights, and societal justice. It was truly a groundbreaking document.
We also experienced some modern culture while in Salisbury. As an Anglophile, Carter also follows modern English culture, which is why he and Jack wanted to eat a meal at Nando’s, a popular fast food chain in England, known for its peri-peri spicy chicken. Well, we found one in Salisbury. And I have to admit, the grilled chicken was delicious. Based on Portuguese recipes, they also serve Natas, one of my favorite pastries! So, I loved it. Look up this worldwide food chain. The website indicated only four locations in the United States – Chicago, D.C., Maryland and northern Virginia. I intend to find one of these the next time I am in D.C.
After Salisbury, we headed to Heathrow Airport to drop off our rental car. I had forgotten how big London is. I looked up its size and was surprised that the top 10 metropolitan service areas (MSAs) in the world are all in Asia with Tokyo ranked first at 35 million and Seoul, South Korea ranked 6th at 25 million. NYC has 20 million people and London is tied with Paris at 15 million. To put this in perspective, no other American city is larger than 10 million. So, London is a big city, and like Paris, it is really spread out.
After dropping off our rental at Heathrow and taking an Uber into London, we settled in and had dinner at our hotel. Afterwards the boys walked along the Thames and soaked up the atmosphere of London while I, because of the 5-hour time difference, made several business calls and attended a zoom board meeting. While out, the boys went to a pub to watch the England women’s soccer team beat Spain in a Euro Cup quarterfinal match. I watched the match in my room. England would not only win that match, but as the host nation would go on to win the entire tournament, beating Germany in a historic match in London a week later at iconic Wembley stadium.
