Eb in England--Historical Trust Sites #1

[hamster8 at hotmail.com]

We *do* adore your posts anyway, Eb.  Keep em coming.

Stonehenge;

It is overrated, as far as I'm concerned.  The experience of so many 
tourist hotspots in the UK is completely ruined by crass 
commercialism, and I'm afraid to say I feel the same way about 
Salisbury Cathedral.  Now Lincoln or Durham or St Davids don't cash 
in on their cathedral status, and nor do they hustle you for money 
all the time.  St Pauls maintains little more than a tasteful gift 
shop in the crypt.  Westminster Abbey forces you to pay for 
practically everything, which I've always felt is rather tacky and 
sad for what is, after all, a working church.  I understand they need 
the money for upkeep (Lincoln alone costs several million a year to 
maintain) ... but surely there must be better ways.

"And then one of my Indian friends who was walking alongside me drew 
back, horrified.

'We're stepping on people's graves!'

I looked down... and that was the end of me.  From that point on, it 
was like I was transported into some weird emotional experience.  I 
read the gravestones, gasped over the tombs (some of the names of the 
dignitaries interred there I recognized from literature and history 
studies), and did some other personal spiritual-related things there 
that I won't share."

I can guess it would seem weird to you.  I've never considered it an 
aspect.  My local parish church has several local dignitaries buried 
inside the church, and having been dragged round the vast majority of 
France and Italy's medieval cathedrals during my life, I don't 
consider that a very unusual thing.  Odd how we pick up on different 
things.

What I can't remember is whether Salisbury Cathedral has a maze built 
into the floor or not.  The maze pops up in a lot of cathedrals here, 
and represents a pilgrimage to Jerusalem (with Jerusalem being in the 
centre) ... there's one in Amiens (northern France that takes about 
twenty five minutes to walk if you follow the paths scrupulously)  
Worth checking out if you happen across one.

Classical music.  I have to agree with you ... there are times when 
it's just more fitting.  If you can, try to get hold of a copy of 
Rutter's Requiem (I *know* it's funeral music, but it's heart-
rendingly beautiful stuff, and I, shameless freeloader that I am, use 
it to write HP fanfiction to ... tch).  Of course, it's ten to one 
you'll read this before tomorrow, so I'll tell you again then :-).

Desperately looking forward to it already.
Nice to hear from you, Eb

Al