So last weekend, we set off from London Saturday morning and headed to Stonehenge. Last semester I took a course called Astronomy and Culture and we studied Stonehenge a fair amount. On certain days of the year, the sun and moon rise over some of the stones when viewed from other stones. Most notably, the sun rises over the heel stone, which is a huge stone set apart from the rest, on the summer solstice. At the end of the term, my professor gave us an "Astronomy and Culture Bucket List" that included going to Stonehenge. Check.
On a related note, I emailed my astronomy professor before heading out to Stonehenge to update him on my bucket list progress. He answered with congratulations and post script saying that I could use my super hero cape (yeah, bitches, I have a super hero cape that I wear around, often to classes when I have exams) to fly across the ocean to the Inca Trial to get that check on my bucket list done too. I'm getting quite the reputation apparently.
As you might be able to tell from the above picture, it was cold, wet, and blustery at Stonehenge, so it was a relief to pile back on the bus and head to Salisbury even if it did mean I could not go try to frolic with the sheep in a nearby field. I was not sure why we were going to Salisbury, except that I supposed it was a town close enough to Stonehenge that we would not have spent hours on a bus just to turn around and go back.
We arrived in Salisbury and were instructed that after lunch, we would be going to the Salisbury Cathedral. I was less than enthused. I have lost count of how many different incarnations of churches I have been in. They all meld together after a while. And though there are occasionally stained glass depictions of Jesus being circumcised with what appears to be a banana, I have acquired so many pictures of vaulted ceilings I could wall paper my room with them.
But there we were, being handed brochures about the cathedral. Underneath the map of the cathedral printed on the inside of the brochure, the words "A monkey, cricket, and cat?" appeared in boldfaced print. Reading further, I discovered that in various places of the cathedral the figures of those animals were hidden. There were brief hints in the brochure, so I set out on my own "I Spy: Salisbury Edition."
The monkey was by far the hardest to find, because as you can tell from this picture, it's just a weird little ball. From the brochure, I was expecting to find a full sized monkey statue peering down at me. Alas! The disappointing monkey was not enough to dissuade me from looking for the cricket, though.
The cricket was much less unsatisfactory. This regal creature adorned the armrest at one end of some fancy pews. While most of the other armrests had pictures of dragons and dogs with angry faces, this slightly crazed cricket stole the show. I like to imagine that if I were a cricket, I would look as cool as this one.
Yeah, that's the cat. It's apparently graffiti that was carved into the stone a few centuries ago by someone that didn't know what cats look like. The cricket still won.
After finding the cat, I learned that Salisbury Cathedral is home to one of the four copies of the Magna Carta that England has kicking around, so I went to admire that before we finished up at the cathedral, got some ice cream, and headed back home to London. As I was getting off the bus, my professor told me she was sorry I didn't get to meet any sheep. Like I said, I'm getting quite the reputation.
"Someday," I answered wistfully. "Someday."
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