Getting through the to-Europe travel day is often an exercise in sleepwalking. We are typically up for twenty-four (or even more) hours by the time we arrive and can check in to our local B and B. So it was today – we landed at Gatwick Airport on time, but then had to wait for about an hour for our luggage to come along. We got our small rental car, but because of Covid and staffing concerns, the company had closed the Terminal 2 desk, and we had to catch the tram to Terminal 1. About two hours later, we arrived at Salisbury, where our B and B was; it was about twenty-five hours since we had gotten up at home.

But, as foggy as I was at that point, I was grateful. I hadn’t slept well Friday night or Saturday night, and didn’t take any naps, so I was so exhausted I actually got three or four hours’ sleep on the seven-hour flight (in fitful sleeping spurts). That carried me through, especially on the drive to the B and B. Here, I am indebted to my brother a bit – he had mentioned always getting an automatic transmission car, which I have never done in Europe because they are always more expensive. This time, I checked it out when I was making the reservation, and it was less than two dollars per day more to get the automatic. I can drive a manual transmission car in England, but one less thing to mess with was appreciated. I spent the extra twenty dollars or so.

We took our usual jet-lag busting three(ish)-hour nap, and then showered. That was a good thing for me. Besides the shower’s eliminating any reminders of the ardors of travel, I had awakened Sunday morning to discover I had somehow gotten poison ivy on my left hand, the left side of my face, my right ankle, and a few other areas. Not great timing. My red nose looks as if I have been at the bottle some. But the shower helped calm down the itching quite a bit.

We went to a nearby pub for supper. I love English pubs – they are cozy and tend to be made up of multiple smaller rooms and different seating configurations. This pub was gorgeous, with woodwork and interesting nooks. And it wasn’t serving food. Ah. Mer had left our Rick Steves guidebook behind (silly girl), so she wanted to go back to the room to get it, but by a different route. But, without a map, we ended up taking a four-block detour that required retracing our steps, but did allow us to find a gelato place where we would later have dessert. Serendipity.

Rearmed with our guidebook, we went to another pub that was serving food, so supper was a success. After a dessert for which we managed to spend as much money on ice cream as we had on our entire supper, we wandered the center of town, just to see it. Salisbury has a huge cathedral and a large walled “close” area, which is where our B and B is located (it is a theological institute and school of music sometimes). In fact, since the close is still owned by the church, the entire close areas gets locked at 11:00 pm every night. Happily, we aren’t post-11:00 kind of people most days.

Salisbury is a cute and walkable town, at least in the center (centre?). The pub at which we ate was the “New Inn,” which was in a building built in the fifteenth century. The cathedral is from 1250 or so. And it houses one of four copies of the Magna Carta (from 1215). We ran across ten or more historical markers just wandering around town tonight. It’s an interesting place, and the evening was cool and delightful.

After circling the cathedral by accidently leaving the close and going the long way around, we got back to the church and admired it floodlit in the twilight. It is a beautiful sight. Not a bad way to end a first day, when any sightseeing is largely bonus. (As an aside, when I commented that there was one statue by itself near the top of a spire, even though there were bases for other statues, Meredith commented, “It’s lonely at the top.”)

And after such a great evening walk, sleep.