Windsor Castle Tattoo

Well, we've now seen two of the UK Tattoo's - first in Edinburgh and now in Windsor. The tattoo is a marching band concert, but this one was a bit different. It had a lot of 'rah rah' encouraging interest in the British Military. Very picturesque, with Windsor castle rising on the hill behind the performing bands.

They actually simulated military maneuvers a couple of times, including a hovercraft, tanks and gunfire. John loved it!

The funniest part was mid-way when Rebecca and her friend Christine were falling asleep. (see the picture at the top with Christine asleep on Becca's shoulder) They brought out some cannons and fired them. The noise was deafening - that woke them up!

Wells Cathedral

Wells Cathedral is one of the more beautiful cathedrals we've seen, and we've seen a bunch of them. It, like most of them, was started about 1,000 years ago, but this one is in really good condition. Sadly we got there very late and were only allowed a quick look around. But as you can see, the exterior is stunning.

Glastonbury - The Chalice Well

According to scientists the Chalice Well has been in constant use for about 2,000 years. Despite local droughts, it has never failed. The legend is that Joseph of Arimathea brought the cup in which he had collected some of Christ's blood and threw it in the well, hence the name. The water runs a reddish color and is thought to have healing powers. It was named a World Peace Garden in 2001. It is treated as a place of serenity and visitors are requested to behave accordingly.

This is it, note the interesting pattern on the lid and the 'offerings' around the opening of the well. There were also ribbons tied in the tree branches above the well. We saw one lady adding her own. The well has water in it, the water ran in a stream through the entire garden.


On the left you can see cups available to take a drink. We all tasted it, but didn't want a cup full - but I saw one guy who did. On the right you can see a shallow pool that people take their shoes off and walk in.

Glastonbury - The Abbey

Okay, you WILL NOT be able to top the stories / legends / myths that surround Glastonbury. In the modern world, Glastonbury is most famous for the annual Glastonbury rock & roll festival, a three day concert of all the top artists around. It is so famous that it is carried live on television everywhere in the UK. But it's the history - or at least the stories about it - that is so remarkable.

Here's some of the stories:
1. The Glastonbury Abbey says it is the oldest, above ground Christian Church in the world.
2. The original church was built by Joseph of Arimathea who was a trader who traveled to this area.
3. Joseph was actually Jesus' uncle, and brought him to the area on one of his trading voyages.
4. Joseph came back to this area after Christ's death, when he arrived in this area he thrust his staff into the ground and a thorn tree sprouted. It is now referred to as the 'Glastonbury Thorn' or the 'Holy Thorn' and only grows around that area.
5. King Arthur and Lady Guinevere are buried here. (yes, THAT King Arthur) Not only that, but they were dug up and reburied at the Abby in the presence of King Edward I.

Salisbury Cathedral

It is another very famous cathedral - interestingly not really know as 'Salisbury Cathedral' - when you try to find it on the map you discover that it is called the 'Cathedral of St Mary.'
Fact #1 - The spire is 404 feet tall, the tallest in the UK. As you can see, it is huge.
Fact #2 - They have what they describe as "probably the oldest working clock in the world"
Fact #3 - And the most interesting. They have one of the four surviving copies of the original 1215 Magna Carta (I emphasize original, because it was revised a few times), because one of the guys entrusted with distributing the copies after it was signed happened to work for the cathedral. They list the locations of the others, two are in the British National library, one in Lincoln castle. This is the most perfect copy of the original in existence. (no pictures allowed)

Winchester Cathedral

Another magnificent British cathedral. Winchester Cathedral has a bunch of interesting things about it, but most of all it is huge, and magnificent.
Fact #1 - It is overall, the longest church in Europe.
Fact #2 - It was used as the Vatican in the movie, 'The DiVinci Code'
Fact #3 - There was a #1 pop hit called, "Winchester Cathedral" written about it in 1966. Horrible song - with whistling and a singer singing through a megaphone!
Fact #4 - There was another song done by Crosby, Stills and Nash called 'Cathedral' that is so good, I have it on my iPod right now. (not, unfortunately a major hit)
Fact #5 But the most interesting story happened in the early 1900's. The church, the construction of which was begun in 1079, was built on muddy soil and it was at risk of collapsing. So they had to pump out the water around the foundation and reinforce it, but that was likely to collapse the south and east walls of the cathedral. Enter William Walker.
(copied from Wikipedia)

"In his time, William Walker was the most experienced diver of Siebe Gorman Ltd. Working in water up to a depth of 6 m between 1906-1911, he shored up the Cathedral using more than 25,000 bags of concrete, 115,000 concrete blocks and 900,000 bricks.

Prior to his work, the Cathedral had been in imminent danger of collapse as it slowly sank into the ground, which consisted of peat. To enable bricklayers to build supporting walls, the groundwater level had to be lowered. Normally, the removal of the groundwater would have caused the collapse of the building. So to give temporary support to the foundation walls some 235 pits were dug out along the southern and eastern sides of the building, each about six metres deep. Walker went down and shored up the walls by putting concrete underneath them. He had to work six hours a day in complete darkness as the water contained floating sediment and was impenetrable to light.

After Walker finished his work, the groundwater was pumped out and the concrete Walker had put into place bore the foundation walls. Then conventional bricklayers were able to do their work the usual way and restore the damaged walls."
There are pictures of this guy actually doing this. He would work all week in Winchester, and then cycle 150 miles home for the weekends.

The center picture is a statue of William Walker in Winchester Cathedral - 'The Man Who Saved the Cathedral.'

Jane Austen

Road trip to Winchester! We stopped in to see Jane Austen's house one the way, and it turned out that she was the theme for the day. After touring her house (where she finished her novels) we went to Winchester, and ended up parking about a 100 yards from the house where she spent her final days in poor health - we walked by it and saw the plaque ("hey, check that out!!") - and then we toured Winchester Cathedral and her tomb was there.

The writing desk where she did her writing. And a bed similar to the one in which she slept.

This is the house in Winchester where she went for medical care when she became ill.

The back garden of Jane's home, we're relaxing on a bench waiting for the family Jane Austen aficionados. And a spectacular thatched roof a couple of houses down from Jane's house. The only flaw was they just thatched the side you could see from the street. (busted!)