Last Day of Salisbury Sights

So, my time here in Salisbury UK has come to a close. On to London tommorrow and from there to France! Here are some final photos of what we saw on our last day (mind you most of this last day was spend doing laundry and cleaning so there was not so much sight seeing).

 

 

 

 

I will put some captions on these in a little bit, but the interwebs are acting up something and so I just wanted to get those pictures here.

London

So, we blitzkreiged London. My co-worker is leaving this trip before I am and as such we only had the one day to hit the highlights of London. I will be returning to the big city with my wife (she is coming over for our anniversary) in a few weeks.  So here is some highlights from out lightning tour.

 So here is Waterloo Station where we entered. We took the train. Only about an hour and a half, so really not too bad. Slept through most of the trip actually.

Here is the omnipresent London Eye, we didn't go up it, but it is something else to see a Ferris wheel that is that huge!

Look Kids Big Ben! There was a bicycle race going on the day we were there. It was a race against Prostate cancer. Made the initial figure out how to do things and get around phase difficult, but we quickly improvised, adapted, and overcame (straight to coffee as it were).

Westminster Abbey. We did not go in, as it is extremely expensive, but it was really cool to just walk around the grounds and realize again, that this building is older than our country. I am looking forward to when the wife comes, because i think we will be going inside this, I want to see some of the tombs and monuments, I think that stuff is righteously cool.

So, Buckingham Palace. Yeah, we got ripped off, because the guards with the funny hats were not there. The 7th Logistics Regiment was pulling guard duty, and there was not a changing of the guard ceremony that day either, so little bit disappointed. Also we had thought that Buckingham was going to be different looking. It really just looks like a big building, we thought something grander, more gold filligre that sort of thing, still cool. The monument in the foreground is the Monument to Victoria. That was pretty cool, also the traffic circle right in front there is a suicide dream, easiest place ever to get killed.

Wellington Arch. This was pretty cool. Hard to see in the picture there, but the arch is huge. There are some other memorials around this garden area, and it was neat just to see everything.

Tower Bridge. Now everyone thinks of this bridge as the London Bridge, which is incorrect. This bridge was started in 1886 and completed by 1894. Its really cool, highly recommended to spend the money and go through the exhibit. Expect quite a workout though as the steps are probably the spawn of the Devil.

Well that is it for now. I think I will throw a part II up in a little bit.

Night Out with the Boys (AKA Thursday)

First off, going to say sorry no pics from the G1, it was too dark and nothing came out (as the camera does not have a flash, but i have stolen some pics from the two places we went.
Cactus Jack's

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mr_rich/ / CC BY-NC 2.0 
rhaleuk of flickr does not endorse this blog (if it wasn't mine, I wouldn't endorse it either)

Started off decently enough, we got a bus to take all of us into town so that no one had to drive and it was a good time winding through the English Countryside. For dinner we went to Cactus Jacks's, a Mexican restaraunt. I was concerned about going to a Mexican restaraunt in England, but it turned out pretty well. Had a few beers (San Migeul, I know, I know, definitely not English beer) and ate some chicken fajitas. They were tasty, but the place itself was a bit fancy by my standards, we were all in casual, but if I had known I would have dressed up a little bit more I think. So anyway, we had a good time there laughing and carrying on when it was decided to move forward with the evening. The lightweights got out of the way and it was onto the serious side of things.

 

The Moloko Bar: Salisbury 

Enter this place. The Moloko Bar. A Russian vodka bar. Luckily since the group I was with was all dudes, most of whom are younger than me and single, the one girl who was in the bar quickly vacated the premises. Had a couple of Blavod and OJ's, hung out, shot the shit as they say and all in all a real good night out. I did not know what kind of place it was before going in, and was pleasently suprised with the laid back attitude. Aparently it gets a little crazy on event nights in the other parts of the bar and stuff, but it was mostly just our group so nothing over the top happened.

Then a walk back to bus and back home for a good nights rest before the next day.

From the G1

Now I am extremely pissed. The internet is f-ing around with me, and then the last post I wrote was aparently sent to the wrong planet so, yeah. Oh did I mention the internet is sucking shit right now? I can get to the usage logon screen, but not to the actual internet; even though I have one 24 hour voucher keft. So now I'm straight pissed. Especially since I was legitimately working when the webs used their evil magiks to destroy my paper. Ok going to try to get access now...again

Old Wardour Castle

Next medieval place up on the list is Old Wardour Castle. This castle was originally built in the late 1300 hundreds. It is a shape (hexagonal) which is unique to Britain. It was built that way because aparently (according to the wiki), that was in style on the continent at the time. Piece of advice for any driving to this castle; take it slow on the approach. The brochure warns of 'a narrow carriageway for the approach', lemme tell you this; They shit you not. In our beautifully underpowered (and apparently un-anti-lock braked) Nissan Note just about had a real bad day coming around a corner. Also, be prepared to back up to the 'passing places' because you will have to use them. And as always, left side of the road is the correct side, except for here where there is no side, just the road. But it is a fun little jaunt of a ride. I recommend going from Stonhenge on over to it, its only about 30-45 minutes (probably less, but we got lost as usual). Ok, the pictures: Snap, almost forgot, this is also where Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was filmed. so pretty cool there.

Ahhh, the Nissan Note. Workhorse of the, uh, maybe not. Go figure; I go to the UK just get a Nissan. Still could be worse, although the girls in town were laughing at the two stunningly handsome men driving the fairy car, At least we were listening to um Lady GaGa? Brit radio needs some help.


On approach to the castle, you can see the top of it in the middle of the pic, the wall surronding it would have originally gone the whole way around and all the grass between the castle and the wall would have been cobblestone and/or gardens.

Good side shot of the castle. As you can see the whole top is off it. This apparently happend during the English Civil War when the Parlimentarians had taken control of the castle. Then the Royalists attempted to reclaim it and a tunnel filled with explosives went off prematurely. So a whole big chunk fell off, like maybe 35-40% of the castle.

Those lines are the foundation of where the rest of the castle would have been had it not been destroyed. This picture is from the third floor of the castle.

I just thought this was a cool picture. I am standing in a room taking a picture through the arch, through another room and up the stairs to the windows. Not too shabby, as always, pictures taken with T-Mobile G1, using SnapPhoto. I think I am going to try Photo Zoom soon as well.

The back of the castle. Taken from the little house behind it, which is on the lake. This is the most destroyed part, can't remember which direction this is taken from, but from the sunlight I would assume facing Southeast.

This is the grotto which was built after the parts of the castle fell off. It obviously, has fallen into disuse, pretty cool though, specially for a grotto, beats the only other grotto I have ever seen (except for the one at the Playboy Mansion that is). I had another picture of what the castle would have looked like, but blogger ate it. So I will update that one later.

---UPDATE---
Here is what the castle would have looked like:

Stonhenge

Went to see Stonehenge today. For any who are not familiar with it, I link to the Wikipedia Article here. It was something else. I realize my fascination with paleo-anthropology and prehistoric everything is somewhat over riding in my studies, but to actually see something built 8,000 - 14,000 years ago. I am going to put up some pictures, probably not much in the way of captions but still... Ok here goes.

Looking across the barrows (that little bump) towards the Southeast.

This is looking Southwest with the Heelstone behind and to my right.

'Nother Picture towards the East/Southeast, but this is from the inner walking area, so it is from maybe, 10 meters out from the stones.

The Heel Stone. The road is right there behind it. The whole site is pretty awe-inspiring. I asked my buddy if it was worth paying to see, and his response was, "Absolutely". So there you have it, if you every find yourself in England; see Stonehenge, it will in fact be absolutely worth it.

Salisbury

The UK is a pretty cool place. Definitely different than the States. First off, expensive as shit. And coins here are all different sizes for the amount. I was at the convenience store and the woman was like "Nah, Oi said itwas 2 lbs", and so i was like oh, ok here is the bigger coin...Nope. Not going to happen at all. Its all good though. Went to Salisbury, Wiltshire Uk today. I got some pictures of Salisbury Cathedral to show off. Good stuff all in all i think. I saw the Magna Carta, but of course no picture taking allowed. Even though everyone was taking pictures I didn't think that to be a great idea. Oh yeah, i took these pics with my g1. works pretty well with snapphoto.

This is the street leading to the Cathedreal, currently under construction as you can see. still i like the archway.

This is the new Font they have. It is like and infinity pool or something pretty chill.


This is the tomb of Edward Seymour and Lady Catherine Grey, sis to Lady Jane Grey, Queen of England for nine days before her execution in 1554.


The Church Tower. Tallest one in England.


Finally the outside from the greens. It is a beautiful church and hard to believe it is 750 years old. We looked at some other stuff too. Here are a few other photos i took from inside the Cathedral.


These flags are from various campaigns of the British Army. The one immediately to the left (just outside the pic, sorry) is from the Revolutionary War.

The Tomb of William Longespee. First person buried in the cathedral and half-brother of King John. He was an advisor during the drafting of the Magna Carta. The top of the sepulcher is made of stone, while the actual tomb is made of wood.