Thursday, October 05, 2006
Cathedral Week - Tues 3/10 - Thurs 5/10
I've been a busy girl on the trains this week, leaving Edinburgh Tues morning and travelling south back in to England - this time on the East - to Durham. It is OFFICIALLY COLD now. Edinburgh was pretty cold Monday but this morning was wet, windy and cold! Time to head south...Bloody hell, Durham is the same...Oh well the beautiful weather has held through September and we are well and truely into October so can't expect much more.
Unfortunately I had to lug the pack at Durham so kept the walking tour of town short and sweet - and as it was raining as well...The Cathedral itself was great. In fact concentrating four churches into four days has been good. It's let me compare them without forgetting. In fact without reading back I can't remember other cathedrals I visited other than St Pauls in London.
Between Rosslyn (yes, I know not a Cathedral), Durham, York and Canterbury; Rosslyn and Durham are in the poorest condition and obviously get less funds from government and church to maintain themselves. We've talked about Rosslyn.
Durham is made of a particularly soft sanstone and is weathering on the exterior badly. The interior is in good condition but certainly not as good as the two 'big guys'. Oliver Cromwell and Henry viii have a lot to answer for!! Most of the statues and intricate work of Durham were destroyed including ALL the stained glass; and they PAINTED OVER all the beautiful freizes on all the walls and ceilings (which they did everywhere else too). In the Galilee Chapel (the only part of the church the women could worship in until the mid 1800's) some of the beautiful freize work has survived.
You get to York and immediately you can tell this is an important location in the church heirarchy. Which of course it is. For those not in the know, York Minister and Canterbury Cathedral are arch enemies and competitors. They are the two most powerful seats of the church in England. Their archbishops are like Tony Mooney and KB in Townsville and Cairns.
York is beautiful and has had mega millions spent on it - as it should. They have had two major fires to rebuild from and had to completely re-foundation the central tower - now this tower is big enough to build an 18 storey building inside. So you can imagine the scale of the re-foundation. Anyway I spent a facsinating few hours exploring the crypts under the church where they have uncovered and presented what they discovered when they went to stabilise the massive tower in the 1970s. There is a Roman Citadel, a bit of Saxon Church (timber) and the foundations of the later Norman Cathedral, since ursuped by the 1200s edition. It's all still under there and presented brilliantly. I was very lucky also to be down there during a choir practise which meant I was right under the quior while the choir was singing. Amazing acouistics! I was so impressed I went back to listen to evensong. The restoration of the Minster is ongoing and constant.
Wednesday morning I climbed York's bell tower. All 325 spiral steps. And coming down I passed a man of 86 going up!!! He hadn't been up since he was in his 40s and he wanted to see the different view.
Also while in York (very pretty place) I visited the Merchant Adventurers House; York Castle Museum (which concentrated on presenting Yorkshire from mid 1800's to 1950's - quite nostalgic - especially the display on cleaning you and your home); and I withstood the urge to shop (oohh I found this lovely 35+ occassions wear shop but the exchange rate killed it and I smacked my hand and moved on).
I was supposed to go to Cambridge tonight but the train ran late, I missed my connection and it was getting late (and cold, wet and dark) and I decided to cut my losses and move straight onto Canterbury. Still didn't get in til 8pm as I had to catch a tube across London to link my two long distance trains. Knackered.
Had the whole day in Canterbury today, mucked around this morning and wandered around town, did jobs and the boring stuff. Then TREATED myself to a 'posh' lunch at the seaside. Well it was wet, windy and freezing (yes we've officially passed just cold) - even the radio announcer said it was freezing. Just as I imagine the English seaside should be...Anyway, caught the bus out to Whitstable (Dan Beans home town - I have photos Dan so will email them on my return), explored this until recently tradional fishing village and found a great local produce restaurant above the fish market. I say until recently because Britain has had the same reduction in their fishing fleet as us - to try and overcome over fishing. It is still a fishing town and smells like it. The resturant was called the Crab and Winkle - they have great names over here. I had Beetroot and Goat's Cheese Salad and Tapinade Crusted Fillet of Grey Mullet. All washed down with an Argentinian Chardonay. 1st quality meal for weeks. Proper napkin and tablecloth, and a view over the fishing fleet and out to sea. All behind glass out of the wind and weather. Perfect!
Interestingly on the horizon was an off-shore oil rig and a wind farm (mounted in the ocean!). After lunch I walked along the sea shore and past all the bathing boxes. Some painted but many not. And visited Dan's 'local'. Another 'fascinating' place. It is a funny crusty old pub, The Old Neptune, right on the beach. It is sinking into the sand and it is like the house built on the rock in the bible story - nothing is moving it. There are photos in the bar of the storms bashing across it with waves as high as it (2 stories). And others of the sea frozen up to three feet thick all around it in Feb 1947 - must have been a record cold winter that one!
Then, this afternoon I finished my Cathedral expo, visiting Canterbury Cathedral. Wow! even bigger than York and grander. I actually attended the evensong service just to absorb the place. The choir was an all boys choir with predominantly boy sopranos. BEAUTIFUL voices and mixed with the venue, acouistics, ceremony and atmosphere PURE MAGIC. I can understand how people are moved to discover god, to have visions and callings. To worship any god in such surroundings really does heighten the experience and emotion. I am not religious but I was moved to tears by the music and overall experience.
Hunter and MacLean - the boys in the choir were all your ages - from about 8 to12. Dressed in purple cassocks with white neck ruffs and white over capes. They sang like birds. Imagine you could do something like that if you were in this world.
See you all in France tomorrow.
Came
I've been a busy girl on the trains this week, leaving Edinburgh Tues morning and travelling south back in to England - this time on the East - to Durham. It is OFFICIALLY COLD now. Edinburgh was pretty cold Monday but this morning was wet, windy and cold! Time to head south...Bloody hell, Durham is the same...Oh well the beautiful weather has held through September and we are well and truely into October so can't expect much more.
Unfortunately I had to lug the pack at Durham so kept the walking tour of town short and sweet - and as it was raining as well...The Cathedral itself was great. In fact concentrating four churches into four days has been good. It's let me compare them without forgetting. In fact without reading back I can't remember other cathedrals I visited other than St Pauls in London.
Between Rosslyn (yes, I know not a Cathedral), Durham, York and Canterbury; Rosslyn and Durham are in the poorest condition and obviously get less funds from government and church to maintain themselves. We've talked about Rosslyn.
Durham is made of a particularly soft sanstone and is weathering on the exterior badly. The interior is in good condition but certainly not as good as the two 'big guys'. Oliver Cromwell and Henry viii have a lot to answer for!! Most of the statues and intricate work of Durham were destroyed including ALL the stained glass; and they PAINTED OVER all the beautiful freizes on all the walls and ceilings (which they did everywhere else too). In the Galilee Chapel (the only part of the church the women could worship in until the mid 1800's) some of the beautiful freize work has survived.
You get to York and immediately you can tell this is an important location in the church heirarchy. Which of course it is. For those not in the know, York Minister and Canterbury Cathedral are arch enemies and competitors. They are the two most powerful seats of the church in England. Their archbishops are like Tony Mooney and KB in Townsville and Cairns.
York is beautiful and has had mega millions spent on it - as it should. They have had two major fires to rebuild from and had to completely re-foundation the central tower - now this tower is big enough to build an 18 storey building inside. So you can imagine the scale of the re-foundation. Anyway I spent a facsinating few hours exploring the crypts under the church where they have uncovered and presented what they discovered when they went to stabilise the massive tower in the 1970s. There is a Roman Citadel, a bit of Saxon Church (timber) and the foundations of the later Norman Cathedral, since ursuped by the 1200s edition. It's all still under there and presented brilliantly. I was very lucky also to be down there during a choir practise which meant I was right under the quior while the choir was singing. Amazing acouistics! I was so impressed I went back to listen to evensong. The restoration of the Minster is ongoing and constant.
Wednesday morning I climbed York's bell tower. All 325 spiral steps. And coming down I passed a man of 86 going up!!! He hadn't been up since he was in his 40s and he wanted to see the different view.
Also while in York (very pretty place) I visited the Merchant Adventurers House; York Castle Museum (which concentrated on presenting Yorkshire from mid 1800's to 1950's - quite nostalgic - especially the display on cleaning you and your home); and I withstood the urge to shop (oohh I found this lovely 35+ occassions wear shop but the exchange rate killed it and I smacked my hand and moved on).
I was supposed to go to Cambridge tonight but the train ran late, I missed my connection and it was getting late (and cold, wet and dark) and I decided to cut my losses and move straight onto Canterbury. Still didn't get in til 8pm as I had to catch a tube across London to link my two long distance trains. Knackered.
Had the whole day in Canterbury today, mucked around this morning and wandered around town, did jobs and the boring stuff. Then TREATED myself to a 'posh' lunch at the seaside. Well it was wet, windy and freezing (yes we've officially passed just cold) - even the radio announcer said it was freezing. Just as I imagine the English seaside should be...Anyway, caught the bus out to Whitstable (Dan Beans home town - I have photos Dan so will email them on my return), explored this until recently tradional fishing village and found a great local produce restaurant above the fish market. I say until recently because Britain has had the same reduction in their fishing fleet as us - to try and overcome over fishing. It is still a fishing town and smells like it. The resturant was called the Crab and Winkle - they have great names over here. I had Beetroot and Goat's Cheese Salad and Tapinade Crusted Fillet of Grey Mullet. All washed down with an Argentinian Chardonay. 1st quality meal for weeks. Proper napkin and tablecloth, and a view over the fishing fleet and out to sea. All behind glass out of the wind and weather. Perfect!
Interestingly on the horizon was an off-shore oil rig and a wind farm (mounted in the ocean!). After lunch I walked along the sea shore and past all the bathing boxes. Some painted but many not. And visited Dan's 'local'. Another 'fascinating' place. It is a funny crusty old pub, The Old Neptune, right on the beach. It is sinking into the sand and it is like the house built on the rock in the bible story - nothing is moving it. There are photos in the bar of the storms bashing across it with waves as high as it (2 stories). And others of the sea frozen up to three feet thick all around it in Feb 1947 - must have been a record cold winter that one!
Then, this afternoon I finished my Cathedral expo, visiting Canterbury Cathedral. Wow! even bigger than York and grander. I actually attended the evensong service just to absorb the place. The choir was an all boys choir with predominantly boy sopranos. BEAUTIFUL voices and mixed with the venue, acouistics, ceremony and atmosphere PURE MAGIC. I can understand how people are moved to discover god, to have visions and callings. To worship any god in such surroundings really does heighten the experience and emotion. I am not religious but I was moved to tears by the music and overall experience.
Hunter and MacLean - the boys in the choir were all your ages - from about 8 to12. Dressed in purple cassocks with white neck ruffs and white over capes. They sang like birds. Imagine you could do something like that if you were in this world.
See you all in France tomorrow.
Came
# posted by The Essence of Good Taste @ 4:53 PM 
