This is the Chalice Well. Legend has it that Joseph of Arimathea hid the Holy Grail here and it is said that the waters run red because of the blood of Christ remaining in the Grail. Nevermind that the water has a high iron content...
Water from the well flows down through a series of pools. You can drink the water or bathe in it to take advantage of its healing powers. This is the last of the pools and part of the gardens. This is a place for quiet prayer and contemplation.
Next, we were off to our final stop, Glastonbury Abbey. Reportedly, the final resting place of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere, it used to be the second most important abbey in England. It was dissolved by Henry VIII when he split from the Catholic Church. This is what is left of the main cathedral.
This is the remains of one of the great front towers. Much of the stone from the Abbey was sold and scavenged for building materials for the town itself.
This is the Lady Chapel, which sits out in front of the main cathedral. It pre-dates the cathedral and is built on the site of the oldest part of the Abbey itself.
Detail from inside of the Lady Chapel The stonework must have been awesomely impressive back in the day.
This is the site of the black marble tomb of Arthur and Guinevere. Originally, they were buried in the cemetery next to the Lady Chapel. In 1191, the monks dug them up and placed them in a tomb on this site. Nobody seems to know what happened to them.
I finally found some gargoyles! I loves me some gargoyles. These two fellows were on the Abbot's Kitchen.
St. John the Baptist Church in Glastonbury. The church tower seems to dominate this town.
We spent about 3.5 hours of free time in Glastonbury and I ended up spending most of it in the Abbey. I kind of wanted to go up to the Tor (http://www.glastonburytor.org.uk), but lost track of time and never made it. Guess I'll have to come back some day.
We had a 3 hour drive back and I'll admit that I snoozed a bit on the way back. We did drive past Stonehenge which, as I mentioned, was easily seen from the road. Bye Stonehenge!
I have to give a shout out to Anderson Tours as this was exactly the kind of day trip for me. The driver was a nice guy who would stop, drop us off with a brief explanation of where we were and what to see, and let us wander on our own with a time to meet back at the minivan. I gave him a very nice tip as I was very happy with the experience.
After I got back, I dropped off my stuff at the flat and thought about dinner. All I'd had to eat all day was toast for breakfast and a piece of buttery shortbread at Stonehenge. I briefly thought about hopping on the tube to one of the recommended places in my guidebook...but I was too tired for that. So, I decided on the Ask Italian place 'round the corner. As expected (every Italian place I've been to in the UK was just OK) the food was nothing special. Thc calamari was a bit rubbery and served with an odd sauce (I'm used to marinara) and my main pasta dish was just weird. Potatoes in my pasta, with some green beans, covered in a creamy pesto. My birthday lemon meringue pie was good (is there such a thing as Italian lemon meringue?) but the meal was made by the cappuchino...mmmmmmmmm. Best cappuchino I've had in years. Oh, the wine I had with dinner was lovely too.
Well, its the next day now and I'm officially 46 years old. It's getting late and I have to get ready to head over to see my friends at HAHR.
Oh, side note....David Tennant is in London right now! He's promoting a new movie AND his Much Ado performance with Catherine Tate. In fact, I'm watching an interview on TV with him as I type this. I believe they are in rehearsals right now. So Heather, what are the chances I'll bump into him?? Hahahaha...
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