What an amazing day I had yesterday! First off, we made a brief stop in the town of Salisbury to see the cathedral, as well as the English Magna Carta that is kept there, so that was really cool. The cloister (below) was gorgeous, and I had a moment of imagining scenes from Beauty and the Beast taking place on these rooftops. Inside the cathedral, I was struck by how sacred the place was. I've never been inside a cathedral before with the early morning sunlight shining through the windows, but I could feel the spirit there as I walked around in that cathedral.
Next, we visited a town called Winchester (Lyssa, I know you'll appreciate this, haha). We had a tour of the cathedral where (I didn't learn until after we had left) Jane Austen is buried! (Also for Lyssa, there are a lot of ghost stories associated with this cathedral! But sadly I didn't have any salt with me at the time).
This was by far my favorite cathedral I've seen so far on this trip. The architecture and art were so different from everything I've ever seen before, and I think my favorite part had to be the choir (there's a different spelling for "choir", but I can't remember it right now).
There's just something about midnight blue and stars that this moonchild has a weakness for. Afterward we walked through the town and went up to see the famous replica of King Arthur's round table (which you will see in the video). I ended up hanging out with Tyler and a girl named Ashlin for the rest of the time we were in Winchester, and Tyler found a fruit stand selling bowls of delicious tangerines for only £1, so we ended up buying a couple of bowls. Fruit is SO expensive over here, so that was an absolute steal.
After Winchester, we rode for about an hour to a little town called Chawton, Where we visited Jane Austen's house! SO cool! One thing I learned there was that she used to wear a turquoise ring.
I also happen to wear a turquoise ring. Therefore, I am awesome. Just when I thought there was no way touring Jane Austen's house could get any more awesome, my professor, Dr. C, beckoned me over when I first entered the house and showed me that there was a little 19th century piano in the corner, and told me that we were allowed to play it if we wanted to. HOLY CRAP. Do you realize how awesome that is? I got to play on a piano in Jane Austen's house! I only took two or three pictures in there, most of what I took was film, which you will see in the video.
This quote was on a table in the front parlor of the house. I'm the kind of person who loves planning ahead and being prepared before I do anything, but I really liked this quote because it reminded me that you will miss precious moments if you always spend time preparing instead of jumping right in.
The song in this video has started to become the theme of this whole trip for me. There are so many moments I wish I could just freeze and never move on from. Moments I treasure because I know I'll never experience anything like them again, and moments where I feel the whole world finds balance and nothing is missing. Moments filled with breathless excitement and wonder, and moments overflowing with happiness. So much lately, I wish I could just freeze.
We got home super early last night - like around 5:30 or so. So, after doing a little homework, a big group in flat 2 set up a game night, where we all played Mafia until late. I feel kind of bad, because I wanted to stay up and chat and hang out with people longer, but I was so drop-dead tired that I went straight to bed right after the last game was over. Today I hope to be able to take a very long nap and maybe read a little of Pride and Prejudice (which I found a very nice copy of at Jane Austen's house for super cheap!) before taking a walk in search of some postage stamps somewhere.
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