Glastonbury and Wells

It was great to visit that place that was once called Avalon.  We stayed on the slopes with the Tor above us looking out at what was once the sea of Avalon!  There is so much historical and spiritual significance to the town of Glastonbury it begs the question; why so much in such a little place? It is beautiful and peaceful!

Lets start with the legend of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere. They are reputedly buried at Glastonbury Abbey. Legend has it that the king and queen were brought to the Island of Avalon by boat after Arthur was mortally wounded in battle.  In the late 1100s there was a fire at the abbey and during the rebuilding two skeletons were apparently uncovered by builders. 

A plaque now marks this spot.

Jospeh of Arimathea, the uncle of Jesus, is said to have travelled to Avalon with his nephew and here they built a place of worship made from wattle and daub.  This was the first church built on the site of Glastonbury Abbey.  Whatever the real history of this site, it is beautiful and peaceful.  And even though Henry VIII destroyed the abbey during the reformation it still seems apropriate to walk around the ruins as if in a holy church.

Later, Joseph was given the Holy Grail, the mystical vessel which had been used to celebrate the Last Supper and which caught some of the blood of the crucified Christ as he hung upon the cross. After the Resurrection, Joseph returned to Britain with the cup.  Apparently for safe keeping, Joseph buried the Holy Grail just below the Tor at the entrance to the Underworld. Shortly after he had done this, a spring, now known as Chalice Well, flowed forth and the water that emerged brought eternal youth to anyone that would drink it.  Both Pauline and I drank from this well and the results are amazing!!

BEFORE



AFTER

Continuing the legend of Joseph, it is claimed that when he landed on the island of Avalon, he set foot on Wearyall Hill - just below the Tor. Exhausted, he thrust his staff into the ground, and rested. By morning, his staff had taken root - leaving a strange mediteranean thorn bush now called the sacred Glastonbury Thorn.  A descendent of this original bush has grown upon this hill ever since and also in the Chalice Gardens.  A cutting from this Holy Thorn Tree is sent to the queen every year for the royal dinner table. 

There you have it - Jesus, Joseph, King Arthur and Henry VIII!! And all in a small town that doesn't even have a supermarket!

As we left Glastonbury we paid a visit to Wells cathedral because everyone kept telling us we have to - Wells is the smallest city in England. The cathedral is beautiful, it contains a 600 year old clock and unique arches called scissor arches.  It was the first ever Gothic style building in England, so consequently it has amazing sculptures on the front facade.

From Avalon to Wells to Wales - stay tuned for further adventures!

ADP - another damn palace.

I have decided that you can't move around London without tripping over a palace - and pubs. They all have their own magnificance and their own stories and so do the palaces!!  Hampton Court Palace is the last of the palaces on our list of 'must sees', we have enough now, and we saved the best till last.  This one offered us a double whammy; the old tudor palace of King Henry VIII fame and a newer Georgian palace for joint sovereigns William and Mary.  And if that wasn't enough it has fantastic gardens including the infamous maze.
We started in King Henry's section with a tour of his kitchens complete with smells and fake meat - yuk! But it had the required effect of taking us back in time. The tour of the kitchens included a wine cellar which once held ale, cider and wine - 600 people twice a day ate and drank in this palace!!! The remainder of the Tudor Palace was a bit bland to look at, but the atmosphere and the history made up for this. I walked along a corridor that King Henry VIII would have walked along - wow!!

In contrast the Georgian Palace was magnificent with painted ceilings and amazing art work. There were two main apartments to see here -William III apartments and Mary II apartments - both amazingly colourful. Both apartments had a series of rooms and the more important the visitor the further into the seris of rooms you would be allowed to enter.

We finished the day with a stroll around the magnificent gardens!! I really enjoyed that modern day families were joyously running around the gardens of a 500 year old palace.  Amazing! This place was definitely haunted and we have some amazing orb photos - but you will have to read all about that in my other Blog - From the Diary of a Medium!

A Day in the Tower

But they let us out!!!
We picked a wild and wet day for our trip around the Tower of London, but every sniff, sneeze, runny nose and broken umbrella were worth it. What an amazing place. We started as we meant to continue - in the armoury restaurant having a bite of something and a cup of tea. We then met up with a very stern Yeoman for a guided tour, you wouldn't want to be arguing with them. First interesting site was the spot were King Henry VIII waited for the arrival of his beloved Anne Boleyn when she was to become his Queen, the next interesting site was Traitors Gate.  This gate is where prisoners accused of treason arrived at the tower and this is where Anne Boleyn made her final entrance to the Tower. And they call Somerset House "Hatch, Match and Dispatch"!!
There are way too many fascinating tales around the Tower to be able to do justice to them in this blog; so I'll just share a few of our favourite parts of the day.  The number one attraction has to be the Crown Jewels kept deep in the heart of Waterloo Barracks since 1967.  They left us both quite speechless, not only because of the beauty and opulence of the jewels, but also because of the historical significance woven around every gem. We did spend some time wondering which crown William will wear when he becomes King.  I had two personal favourites (only because I watch the Tudors starring the gorgeous Jonathon Rhys Meyers) King Henry VIIIs armour and  the Duke of Suffolks jousting lance.  Here is an interesting fact - the space suit invented by NASA was modelled from Henry's armour they even visited the Tower of London!

Another joint favourite was the Bloody Tower built in 1220 where Edward IV's two young sons were incarcerated and never seen again. The skeletons of two young boys were found in 1674 hidden under a staircase and in 1933 they were forensically examined and it was concluded the skeletons belonged to two young boys about the same age as when the princes' disappeared.