London, Pt. 5 (Being the Part That is Not Really London)

Hey all,

So, the last day of the adventures in London/England has come to a close. Sad really... But bittersweet.

The day started off with us taking the Tube to the Knightsbridge station on the Picadilly line. We grabbed more Starbucks and were waiting outside Harrod's when a most unusual thing happened.

I'd been trying to get several pictures of myself in front of Underground signs, historic places in London, and the like. I did this using my phone, which I had out this morning, snapping a pic of me in front of said Underground sign. Just then, a fellow walked up to me.
"Hello," he said.
"Hi, there..." was my reply.
"You're coming with us, then?"
"Um... I'm sorry... You are?"
Now, we'd been waiting for a shuttle to come and get us to take us to Avebury (the first stop today, which I'll get to later) but this fellow was on foot.
"We spoke just a minute ago. You're with George?" the British chap asked.
"Um..."
I was getting a little wary at this point. I clutched my phone tighter and got ready to swing on the fellow, if need be. Now I don't condone violence, but I was taken a little off guard and thought he was trying something shady. (Any of you who've known me any length of time know my penchant for paranoia.)
I stood there looking at him.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I haven't just phoned you?"
"No."
He put his hands up on his head and said, "Sorry, sorry."
He then walked off.
In retrospect, it's funny and a bit odd...

Anyway, the shuttle DID eventually show up and we were greeted by a pleasant fellow named David as we stepped on the small bus. He ushered us in and stopped off to pick up a couple more travellers for the day.

We drove and drove. The first stop was a place called Avebury. Now for those of you who don't know (and I hadn't even heard of the place before we got there this morning), Avebury is located between the towns of Marlborough and Calne. It is a megalithic stone circle both older and more vast (though somehow less famous) than Stonehenge (which I'll get to later).

Also, let's stop here and get to the explanation of what a "henge" is. It's a sort of built up mound with a ditch dug around it, presumably to fortify it.

Avebury has a vast circle of stones around the outer edge and a sort of gateway into it with two large marker stones acting as a probable gate. There are several smaller stone circles within the larger one and some patterns of stones arranged in a "Z" (or "zed", as they call it here) shape.

The whole thing was simply remarkable. I'll get to more on henges later when I discuss the more famous one.

The Glastonbury Tor was the next stop, or rather, the base of the Tor. A tor is a conical shaped hill and this one is believed to be the Avalon of Arthurian legend (if, in fact, Arthur existed). There is a large building on the top of the tor that we did not, regrettably, get to visit for threat of impending rain. The building is a church built in the 1360's and is where the last Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, Richard Whiting, was drawn and quartered, along with two of his monks. The church is said to be at the intersection of two ley lines, which are paths of extreme energy. One is supposed to be able to feel this energy coursing through them upon standing in the midst of the church, but I guess you'll have to get my confirmation or denial of that on my next visit.

The Chalice Well was up next on today's tour. The well is near Glastonbury and has many legendary stories tied to it. Legends involving Christ, King Arthur, and many pagan tales are associated with the well. It is believed to have been in use for nearly 2000 years.

The exciting part about the well for me? Well, you knew it was coming, but yet another reference to "The Invisbles", which is a comic book series I've commented on often on this blog and the social networking sites I use.

The lid of the well has a shape of interlocking circles on it known as the vesica pisces. Now (and I'll come to a point, I promise), the vesica pisces is, as I've said, two interlocking circles. When displayed as it is on the lid of the Chalice Well, with a sword or spear running through it, it can be a symbol of King Arthur. Now, if you take the "Jesus fish" symbol that most of us are familiar with and extend the lines of both parts of the fish, you get the two interlocking circles. This was used in "The Invisbles" as a diagram for the true nature of the universe. One circle is Universe A, the other Universe B and the part where they overlap each other would be the space that you and I inhabit. Right there, you've got your King Arthur, Christ, and pagan references. Amazing.

I even saw those who I assumed to be doing pagan rituals laying small crystals on chains into the flow of the water and leaving them there for some reason.

There is a place which has a little fountain called "The Lion's Head". The water from this fount and all other fountains streaming out all over the site of the well turns the stones red. Some pagans associate this with the blood of life, some Christians associate this with the blood of Christ, with Christian mythology suggesting that Joseph or Arimathea buried the chalice that caught drops of Christ's blood there. The water is also said to have a healing property and the reason that I mentioned the Lion's Head fountain first is because I drank from it today. We'll see what happens...

After having drunk the water from the Lion's Head, I followed it up with lunch, which was a cheeseburger and chips (again, I know) from Heaphy's Cafe in the heart of Glastonbury. I washed that down with a Lady of the Lake Real Ale, which reminded me of a toned down Victory Hop Devil, if any of you have had that.

The town of Glastonbury is very charged with a spiritual and mystical air. All around there were "new age" book shops, which contained books on King Arthur, Bibles and other Christian studies, and plenty of pagan topics. The people there really revel in the myths and legends surrounding the area, even having speakers come and talk on all sorts of these topics.

After lunch, we took a quick hop through Glastonbury Abbey. The most notable site there was the grave of King Arthur and Guinevere. You see, bones were dug up here in 1191 bearing the inscription Hic jacet sepultus inclitus rex Arthurus in insula Avalonia ("Here lies interred the famous King Arthur on the Isle of Avalon"). Pretty cool, if you take it for being the King Arthur of legend. Don't get too excited, though. If Arthur did indeed exist, his exploits and chivalrous deeds have likely been a bit imbellished for literature's sake. Still... Cool...

From here, off on another approximate 90 minute drive to STONEHENGE. I stood somewhat near it today in a state of awe. After hearing our guide David talk about it for the last half hour of our trip toward it, I couldn't wait to see it, touch the stones, marvel at it... Only one problem. You can't get anywhere near the thing.

Well, I suppose I was near to it, just not nearly as near as I'd hoped. There are ropes all around the thing and people... My God, the people. Stonehenge can, on its best days we were told, pull about 80,000 people to see it. Today, an average day, would bring about 3000 to 4000.

But still... What an awesome sight to behold. My main source of awe at it today, after learning all about it from our very knowlegeable guide, is not the structure itself, but what was done to actually construct it. Remember way back at the beginning of this entry when I talked about Avebury? Well, Avebury's miles away from Stonehenge. So far that we drove and drove from one to the other. Years ago, PEOPLE BROUGHT STONES FROM AVEBURY TO STONEHENGE! Why?! Think about that a moment. All those miles... Those stones weigh tons! Again, why?!

That is just one of the many mysteries of Stonehenge, my friends. It's really open to debate as to what anybody ever used the whole thing for. It IS a center of pagan activity during solstices and equinoxes and such, those folks probably believing in some mystical significance, but this thing was built by a society that left no written word on what it could have been.

Truly, truly mystifying and amazing...

Well friends, I've waxed long-winded on all of this. I will tell you (and make note to myself) that we came swiftly back to the hotel room after the tours today and ordered dinner to the room from a place here near Hounslow (the part of London where we're staying) called Captain Hook's. We were quite exhausted and it was frustrating finding a place to deliver here so I went with my old standby of cheeseburger and chips again.

That will conclude my blogs about being in London and in England. I almost come to tears typing that. (Go ahead, poke your fun.) It's been a great week and I'll have a lot of great memories from it, but it's been such an experience that I don't want it to end. Ah well, I will be relieved to get back across the pond and assure that the house is still standing. Been worrying a bit about leaving it so long this week.

Anyway, if you've enjoyed these blogs, I urge you to keep an eye on this blog and my Facebook and Twitter pages, which I believe link from this site. I might not be talking about something so exciting as London, but there are many things out there I pay homage to on a regular basis that I think deserve our attention.

I'll be Tweeting, blogging, Facebooking soon. I'll look forward to chatting with all of you then. Good night from London and...

Peace...