In Salisbury we definitely want to visit the Cathedral look at it. Even at the risk of having to pay an entrance fee. Which we don't really like. Churches should be open to everyone, right?
But it comes when Lucky devils travel, yet always different.
We stand in front of the church, marvel at this beautiful building, stroll through the cloisters and ask to be let in. At the entrance, friendly ladies tell us that there are no guided tours of the church today. Until the day of the Queen's funeral next week on Monday, the church is closed to tourists.
Oh, too bad.
However, she then informs us that we are of course going to the Book of condolence (which is available in the church) and participate in a silent prayer.
Yes, all right.
We are led past the ticket booth into the cathedral, where we are sent whispering through the entire church to sign the book of condolence.
The cathedral staff guide us through the church, inform us about this and that (probably they do their job as usual, only otherwise with paying visitors) and a gentleman shows me how I should best photograph the baptismal font for best reflections.
The priest leads us and the very few other visitors, er, condolers, through a short devotion, which we experience standing.
At the end of our "visit", the book is waiting for us, where we are allowed to sit down individually and write a few lines in the book.
Now I am getting into trouble. What do you write there? I think briefly of my mum, who is much sadder about the Queen's death than we are, and I spontaneously think of a few kind words that then find their way into the book of condolence.
As we stroll through the city afterwards, we realise that somehow, although we have never been royal, we have been through a lot of royal things here. At the beginning of our trip in York, the celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the throne, and now even a kind of silent farewell. Gratitude fills us.
Merci for "travelling with us
We are thinking about taking another break from travelling in the summer and visiting our families in Germany and Switzerland. One of the ideas is to organise a Lecture about our long journey to the Persian Gulf to prepare. If you would like to, what would interest you the most? We will also tell stories here that don't find a place here on the blog. We're thinking of the Bern and Berlin area - simply because we have family there. But other places are also conceivable. Feel free to write to us.
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