For many years now, when traveling by air, I have played in my head the overture to Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro". This is probably my favorite piece of music and very appropriate for take off. There is a short, quiet, introduction then some superb Mozart fireworks when the pilot opens up the throttle and runs full bore down the runway. By the time the first aria begins (where Figaro is measuring up the space for the marriage bed outside his masters room), we are cruising serenely through the clouds near the airport. Mozart in general, and Figaro in particular, are a great way to start a journey. There are many recordings available on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp6UAGN_Ir4
OC Transpo provided a convoy of three no. 97 buses for us. Check in was quick but security was slow. The London flight leaves late at night and was delayed by almost two hours while Air Canada found another plane.
Heathrow is a lot of walking but it is fairly simple to find your way around. This time we went to the bus station and bought bus - rail tickets to Salisbury via Woking. Both bus and train were fairly uneventful although the three car train was crowded. It was running ten minute late which was good as we arrived at the station with just five minutes to catch it.
The spring blossom is in its height: rhododendron, sweet and horse chestnuts, hawthorne or May. There were vast fields of bright yellow rapeseed.
The spire of Salisbury cathedral heralded the approach to our destination and the apartment hotel is within a couple of minutes walk of the station. It is very well appointed with lots of wall plugs and an excellent breakfast starter kit.
This evening the weather was beautiful with good light from the west. We walked along a path through the water meadow which gave us exceptional views of the cathedral. The problem was choosing the best shots.
We found a pub "The Old Mill" which had good beer and an interesting garden - we could hear the water rushing past to the accompaniment of blackbirds and robins. Several dogs were paddling in the water.
We walked back past the cathedral and had a night cap (Wells Bombardier) at a railway pub very close to the apartment. We had a packet of crisps with roasted ox flavor.
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