A bite of the British life: Salisbury

Compared to my surroundings in New York City, Salisbury doesn’t feel like a real place. There’s something classic, sleepy and magical about it. The town is nestled in the countryside, about a two-hour drive from Brighton. Wait, correction—a scenic drive. The winding roads swim through a sea of grassy fields and farms, dotted with cows and horses along the way. It reminds me so much of the Midwest, of countless road trips as a kid with my mom, dad and sisters, driving to the Carolinas for summer vacation. Only this time, I was an adult, in another country… riding shotgun on the left side of the car. And without revealing too much, I was with a cute friend named Nick, whom I met on Bumble about a year ago 😉

I spent less than 36 hours in Salisbury, so my list of highlights is a bit shorter than the other two cities. However, I still enjoyed every minute and loved everything the town had to offer! Nick is from there, so he put together a great itinerary of places to go and things to do.

The aesthetic of the city centre.

When I had shown the above picture to my best friend Kate, she completely read my mind and said it reminded her of Duloc from the movie “Shrek.” I don’t know if anyone else sees the resemblance (minus the castle, and sadly, no souvenir photo at the end), but here’s the clip if you’d like to compare:

It truly felt like I had stepped into this little old fairytale village filled with modern-day people, retail shops, cafés and all that jazz. It was just beautiful. And don’t get me started on the breathtaking greenery and flowers (peep those hanging baskets).

Nando’s.

 

I didn’t take any pictures of what I ordered (Mango-Lime PERi-PERi Boneless Chicken Breast with PERi Chips—a.k.a. fries—and a Mixed Green Side Salad), but I think the above post accurately sums up how good their food looks (and if IG could convey taste, that too). I actually first heard about Nando’s from an interview Bebe Rexha did, then mentioned it to Nick, and it kind of became an inside joke between us about how much I wanted to try it when I visited. I know Nando’s has some locations here in the states, but my first time had to be in England. I know, I’m weird….

The very majestic Salisbury Cathedral.

With the tallest spire in all of Britain, the Salisbury Cathedral can be seen from miles away. For me, it was kind of like when you were a kid and would see a giant rollercoaster in the distance on the way to an amusement park (miss you, Cedar Point)! It was built between 1310-1330 and houses the Magna Carta. In 2018, someone shattered the display case in an attempt to steal it, but he failed. We spent our time reading about that incident instead of waiting in line to see the manuscript, because us millennials are much more amused by crime than history these days, right?

The pubs.

I know I already mentioned pubs in my post about Brighton, but honestly, they’re going to make the list for every city. I went to three of them in Salisbury: The Bridge Tap, The Bishops Mill, and The Old Ale and Coffee House. I loved all of them, especially The Bishops Mill because the interior was to die for, anddd they had throw pillows (yes, pillows!) at every booth upstairs. Another fun fact: my go-to beer throughout my whole trip in England was an Amstel.

Stonehenge.

Let me start off by saying that I genuinely did want to see Stonehenge. It was also kind of Nick’s idea, but neither of us knew how much it would cost just to take a tram bus out to a field to see these giant stone formations. I think it was £26 for an adult ticket? That’s $32.06! I felt so bad we waited in a lot of traffic to pay overpriced admission to see a bunch of ancient rocks. I don’t mean to complain, it was just… anticlimactic; however, I’m sure other people found it extremely fascinating. Oh well, at least we shared a good laugh about it afterwards!

The expressions!

Hate to break it to you, but the British do not say things like “Cheerio!” or “Ello, Govnah!” Not. At. All. Half the fun of having British friends is getting to learn all of the different words, phrases and expressions they use. Here are a few of my favorites:

• “Stag do” = bachelor party; “hen do” = bachelorette party
• “Jumper” = sweater
• “Back garden” = backyard
• “Vodka lemonade” = vodka Sprite
• “Pavement” = sidewalk
• “Get f***ing battered” = get wasted
• They change the “z” in a lot of words to “s” (i.e. realise, cosy, practise, organise)
• If you say “thank you,” they will often respond with “it’s ok” or “that’s alright”
• They turn statements into questions by raising their tone at the very end. (I don’t know how else to explain it, but Marisa and I picked up on this within a couple days of being in Brighton. We couldn’t stop doing it jokingly to each other… then it became kind of instinctive, and we were like, “we need to stop doing this!”)
• They often say “hey?” instead of “what?” when asking for clarification on what you just said. Nick does it sometimes, and for whatever reason, I find it really cute… probably because it’s often paired with a little smile 🙂

And just one more.

Of course the biggest highlight was getting to see him, but that’s kind of implied.

Keep an eye out for the final post of my mini-series: last but not least, London!

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