Study Abroad: Europa: Salisbury, Pembroke, and Stonehenge!

Our first stop today in Salisbury took us to the tallest cathedral in all of England. It is simply called the Salisbury Cathedral. And our tour took us pretty far up. I was a little freaked out, however, when our guide, Tom, a cute old chap, showed us how the a part of the inside under the large tower is bowing because of the huge weight it has to support. What we learned was that the cathedral wasn't actually built with spires, but just simple square towers. The spires were an addition years and years later, and the walls weren't built to hold such structures. So I just tried not to think about that.

Yep, that's it. The tallest spire of all Cathedrals in England.

Lookiing into the courtyard. Beautiful cast shadows as well.

In Pembroke we toured the Wilton House, which is the residence of the Duke of Pembroke (not that you should necessarily know who that is :). The house was built in 1500s and has statues that were collected dating over 2,000 years old- crazy! They were beautiful. Once again, no pictures were allowed inside. But we had quite the treat of touring the Duke's private dining room, an anteroom (used to be used as a waiting room), and even a private bridge over a stream near the house - things not usually included in regular tour. I felt so special when our tour guide took down the rope in front of the bridge's stairs so we could go on it!

This is actually the side, not the front.

Our tour guide leading us to the private bridge!

It was a lovey river.

Stonehenge was amazing. We were able to listen to little audio guides as we walked around the stones which was pretty interesting. I didn't realize the stones were held together with mortise and tenon joints; I always thought they were just stacked on each other because that's how it look at a glance. But nope! I also thought the time of day we went was beautiful for photos. We've been blessed with wonderful weather, thankfully!