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Wednesday, 28 September 2011 - Set out before dawn to photograph Stonehenge at sunrise, then toured Salisbury Cathedral with its soaring spire and historic Magna Carta, visited the Fishbourne Roman Palace and Gardens with its intricate mosaics, walked through Chichester Cathedral admiring the Norman and Gothic architecture and stained glass, enjoyed exploring Chichester's historic market area, and ended a long day with a train into London and a thrilling Arsenal Champions League match at Emirates Stadium.

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It will be a long day for Cal. Virginia Ann is in conference for the day so Cal set off at 0400 to catch the sun rising over Stonehenge. Thank goodness for the Garmin because of the dark it is tough to navigate using road signs.

Stonehenge officially opens to the public at 0900 so Cal was forced to take pictures from beyond the park fence. So there is a rise blocking the bottom of Stonehenge.
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This is our favorite of the many hundreds of pictures Cal took of Stonehenge.
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A closer picture of the Stonehenge rocks.

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From inside the fence Stonehenge can be seen with one of the Slaughter Stone visible in the foreground. Originally thought to be used for the ritual sacrifice of virgins to welcome the summer solstice, it's now known that it's just an ex-standing stone that once stood as part of the entrance.
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After Stonehenge Cal drove to nearby Salisbury to visit the cathedral.

Salisbury Cathedral, formerly known as the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral and an example of Early English architecture. The main body was completed in only 38 years, from 1220 to 1258.
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Cloister Garth - enclosed plaza.

The Salisbury Cathedral contains the world's oldest working clock (from AD 1386) and has the best surviving of the four original copies of Magna Carta.
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The Magna Carta is in a separate chapel where no photography is allowed. But the inside of the cathedral is simply beautiful.
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View of the Quire towards the West End
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The cathedral has the tallest church spire in the United Kingdom at 404 feet - but you can only climb to the top on the outside.
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Detail of the front of the Salisbury Cathedral
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Shot while walking in the town of Salisbury.
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The roofs of Salisbury were so interesting. The old chimneys and here a beautiful weather vane.
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Detail on a bridge across a road leading to the Salisbury Cathedral.
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From Salisbury Cal drove to Fishbourne Roman Palace and Gardens. This is a photo of one of the 50 or so mosaics uncovered.

Remains at Fishbourne date to the first century when the Romans built a couple of granary stores here soon after the invasion of Britain. Experts found weapons but no evidence of a military camp and were thereby led to believe that Fishbourne was initially a military supply base. This was soon abandoned and a timber structure built on the site would be replaced by a stone palace in 90 AD.
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The Romans built elaborate water systems for running water and baths. Here are the remains of a hot bath - the original floor was on top of the tiles so the air underneath could be heated.
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The discovery of Fishbourne Roman Palace was a fortunate accident discovered in 1960, when a water main was being laid. The find was initiated by a workman who discovered a piece of pottery in the process of digging a trench for the water main.

This picture is of the gash caused by the workman across the mosaic floor of the Fishbourne Roman Palace.
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From Fishbourne Roman Palace it is a short drive into downtown Chichester and a walk to the Chichester Cathedral.

A cross on top of a building along the road to the Chichester Cathedral.
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The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, also called Chichester Cathedral, is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Chichester. It was founded as a cathedral in 1075, when the seat of the bishop was moved from Selsey.
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Chichester Cathedral has fine architecture in both the Norman and the Gothic styles. Chichester has two architectural features that are unique among England's medieval cathedrals, a freestanding medieval bell tower (or campanile) and double aisles.
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Stained glass in the Chichester Cathedral.
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Lady Chapel in the Chichester Cathedral - beautiful light and the red, white, and blue trim on the ceiling is so pretty.
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Tomb in Chichester Cathedral
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The towers at Chichester have had a particularly unfortunate life as they have collapsed over the years, which explains the positioning of the 15th century bell tower at some distance from the cathedral. The south-west tower of the facade collapsed in 1210 and was rebuilt. The north-west tower collapsed in 1635 and was not rebuilt until 1901.
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Chichester Market Cross is beautiful. It is an octagon with a large central column. The building was erected by Bishop Story near the close of the 15th century. There are shields attached to the buttresses, on which his coat of arms is displayed.
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A long drive back to the South Lodge Inn and then a train to London. Then I took the subway to Emirates Stadium where I was invited by Sean Shehan (the same Sean who hosted) Cal and Virginia Ann in Ireland) to attend a football (soccer) game between the home team Arsenal and the visitors from Greece. This was a game in the Champions League.

We were quite a way from the action but I had a long lens and caught a goal by Arsenal. First the Arsenal player (in red) winds up a kick.
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The ball passes by the goalie on the left just making the goal.
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Here the ball is in the goal net
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And the celebrations begin - the goalie still frozen looking the wrong way.

Arsnel won - 2 to 1. The return trip put me in bed around 1:00 in the morning. A long day from 0400 to Stonehenge to 0100 the next day after an exciting football - oops soccer - game.
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