i also like road trips

not only do i enjoy creating things on my days off, i also like going places. alex and i ventured to glastonbury (not the music festival - the actualy town) a while back when we both had time off school. it was wonderful, i love somerset. i think i want to live there when i'm old and make cheese. glastonbury is an interesting mix of myth/legend/paganism/chirstianity/old english/and hippy. you should really read the wiki page.

for such a small town there is really alot to do.

glastonbury abbey is apparently the oldest chiristian church in all the world. joseph of arimathea took a young jesus to visit glastonbury and then returned with the holy grail 60 years after jesus' death and built the first church to house the relic. this is all that stands of the abbey now. after henry VIII and the dissolutionment of the monastries in the 1530's the lead roof was probably scavenged away leaving the wooden under-roof which would have rotted. without a roof the whole abbey was subject to the elements and simply crumbled away. in the above picture you can just see a small sign standing in the grass...that sign reads...

glastonbury was also arthur and guinevere's avalon. so paganism and chiristianity both have strong, old ties to glastonbury. there are pictures of the mists of avalon posted to 23 from my last trip to glastonbury for beltaine a couple years ago.

next to visit would be glastonbury tor. another site with pagan and christian roots. st. michael's tower sits atop the hill. the story goes that the christians built a church on top of the tor but the pagan hill would have none of it and swallowed the church whole leaving only the tower. unfortunately this isn't true. alex and i walked up the hill on a ferociously windy day and almost got blown off the side. that was thrilling.

the holy thorn is another thing to see, again related to joseph of arimathea. he apparently cast his staff into the ground upon reaching glastonbury and a hawthorn sprouted in the place to give all the travellers shade to rest under. this type of hawthorn is only found in glastonbury and the middle east. you can see the tor in the background of the above picture. there are many holy thorns in glastonbury and they all generally bloom at christmas and easter (weather depending).

lastly is my favourite place in the whole world - chalice well. the source of the water is unknown and has been unfailing for thousands of years. people have been coming to the iron rich healing waters for centuries to drink and bathe.

i highly recommend everyone visits glastonbury at least once in their life.