A visit to Ely Cathedral and then on to Bury St. Edmunds

Our incredible journey in this amazing country continued Friday last when we hopped a train bound for Ely, in Cambridgeshire. We have seen many beautiful churches and cathedrals in Norwich and many other places, but we'd read that the Norman Cathedral at Ely was so magnificent that it was simply not to be missed. Fortunately for us, Ely is an easy 55 minute train ride from Norwich.

Princess Etheldreda, daughter of the King of East Anglia (the region where Norwich is located) was a newly converted Christian in the 7th Century. She founded an Abbey in this location in 673 AD and the city of Ely grew up around this Abbey. The original Abbey no longer exists, and the Norman cathedral that now stands here was started by William the Conqueror in 1070 (or so) and took 300 years to build. It really is a stunning cathedral and has the most beautiful stained glass that we'd yet to see. The colors in this glass are amazing. The cathedral also boasts a beautifully painted ceiling and incredible stonework. It does not have a spire but instead has a square 'lantern' tower made of wood. We had a terrific tour. One of the interesting things we learned was that the church was at one time heated with coal burning furnaces (there is a picture of the black chunky looking thing), located all around the church. These furnaces spewed soot for decades and covered the walls and ceilings and completely obscured the paintings and many of the windows. Our guide (who was in her 70's) says she remembers attending church as a girl and everything being dark and sooty). The heaters were converted to gas and the church was restored to its former glory in the last 10 years. We then wandered around on our own and got some great photos. We walked around Ely, which is a charming place, not very large at all. We lunched in the cathedral refectory and it was a fun experience as all the food was homemade by church volunteers who were quite friendly and talkative. Yummy lemon drizzle cake.

After lunch we took a magnificent walk through a very large green area with horses and magnificent trees and flowers still in bloom! Sophia got to get close to the ponies and even petted one on the nose. We then headed back to the train station and rode a half an hour up the track to the town of Bury St. Edmunds.

Bury St. Edmunds is famous for its Abbey ruins. The Abbey that once stood here was one of the largest and richest Abbeys in England's history. Built in the 10th and 11th centuries it flourished until the 16th century when the Dissolution of the monasteries took all of its relics and wealth. The Abbey fell in to ruin. By the time we entered the area of the Abbey ruins, it had gotten quite dark, so our pictures didn't really turn out. It was light enough, though, for us to walk around and be stunned and amazed at the size and the elaborate layout of what once was the Abbey.

Just outside the gates of the Abbey park, we lucked into a crowded Christmas Fayre in full swing with rides, local vendors selling crafts and goodies, and a French market with stalls full of food, wine, cheese, sausages and sweets of all kinds - such fun! Best of all for Sophia, though, were the animals. I think they were planning a live Nativity at some point in the Fayre, but for now they just had the animals in the stable. There were fuzzy donkeys, a very woolly ram and some absolutely beautiful cocoa brown alpacas that seemed so gentle and sweet. Sophia loooved it.

!! Breaking News!!! Debby gets to a yard sale in Norwich :)

As you who know me well can imagine, I was thrilled to learn that a church just near to where we are staying, the parish church St. Helen, was today having what they call a 'Christmas Fayre', and that included in the Fayre activities was a 'jumble sale'!!! Steve learned of the Fayre a few days ago and was excited, too, because this church is on the grounds of what is known as the "Great Hospital at Bishopgate", and we have wanted to get a look around there for a while. Since it is open to the public quite infrequently, we'd never been able to time it right.

The Great Hospital is an Almshouse founded in 1249. It has cared for the ill and indigent, and in some cases, elderly clergy who had no wives or family, in Norwich for over 750 years. 'Alms' are defined as "monies or services donated to support the poor and indigent. In the Middle Ages, the majority of European hospitals functioned as Almshouses". At the time when this particular Great Hospital was established, it had funds enough to house 16 residents and then to feed 13 more who would come to their door in need.

The group of buildings within the gated community includes a church (where the 'wards' for the ill are connected to the church building), a cloister (small but very beautiful), a medieval refectory, and a Victorian hall. It is an attractive group of buildings which is currently used as a village of homes for the elderly.

The church is still open and providing services. We met two very nice members readying the church for Advent who were kind enough to give us a bit of the hospital and church history, and also a tour. We learned that part of the care provided by the Great Hospital in the preceding centuries was to provide bread and a measure of weak beer for anyone who came to the church doors in need. It is hard to imagine, but weak beer was drunk by everyone, including children, as the water simply wasn't safe to drink. The church was still acting as a 'ward' for indigents well into the 1960's.

The 'jumble sale' was held in the hall of the church and was just like a church sale would be in the states: tables full of books and trinkets and crafts and dishes. No clothing, but I did notice a few pairs of shoes. As you can see from the photos, I managed to buy these 3 cute kittens for Sophia, who adores them, for a mere 20 pence (about .30 cents) and these 2 cd's for Steve for just 1 pound (about $1.50). Also, we paid a 1 pound entrance fee (not common in the U.S.) which included a cup of coffee and a slice of homemade mince pie. Steve had the coffees and he and Sophia split the mince pie since I am not a fan. So they were both quite happy with how the morning went, as was I.

Sophia Dresses for the Weather

Yes, it was only 2 inches of snow, but Sophia is dressed and ready for a Binghamton blizzard!! :)

Snowy Sunday in Norwich

While we were outside playing in the 2 inches of snow that Norwich received today, a young woman from Australia passed by who said she'd not seen this much snow ever, and she happily snapped several pictures of the cute little snow people that Steve and Sophia had made.  

We had planned a brunch with a couple who live on the other side of the city.  They had to cancel because the roads were a dangerous mess and of course Norwich has no road clearing equipment.  But, as luck would have it, we struck up a conversation with a family who lives a few doors down while we were all out enjoying the snow.  We'd never met before and they were just so very nice, that we spontaneously invited them over for brunch, since we had already prepared so much food.

  They accepted our invitation and we had a really great time, talking and laughing, tucking in and easily pasting off  all of the food.  Another enjoyable day in Norwich!

Day Trippers: London, November 16, 2008

London. Wow. I read that it has recently been named the hippest city in the world. It's easy to believe that to be true. It has such a bustling, busy, cool ambiance. We hopped a train at the Norwich station and 1 hour and 55 minutes later arrived at Liverpool Street Station, London. How awesome is that?! There is an entrance to the Underground right in the station, so we got on a 'tube' that took us to the 'Tower Stop', which is where you get off to visit the Tower of London. There's a picture above of me coming up out of the tube and looking across the River Thames at the Tower if London. The view of it is spectacular and you just can't believe how big of a complex it is. The various pictures show buildings and grounds inside the complex. There is one building inside called the "White Palace" which is what is literally the Tower of London. It was built around 1080 by William the Conqueror and over the centuries was home to rulers, kings and queens. It is still considered to belong to the Queen and she has a residence on the grounds (which our guide said was never used). Over time, so many buildings have been built around the White Palace that the whole complex is now colloquially called the Tower of London. It's reputation includes famous tales of its use as a prison for all those many centuries, and we heard grim stories of torture and conditions for the prisoners that were beyond horrible. They have an entrance labeled 'traitors gate' and the story is once you've passed through that gate, your next exit from the Tower is to the gallows or the chopping block. And that's literally what happened: criminals found guilty of various crimes would lay their head on a block and have it chopped off by an axeman. The hope was that he was skilled and it would only take one blow. Afterwards, the heads were displayed on spikes as a deterrent to other would-be criminals. But this is just one aspect of the Tower complex. It also houses the crown jewels which are guarded by soldiers from the Queen's Royal Army. The jewels include crowns from various monarchs and include the crown worn by the current Queen Elizabeth. Also included are sceptors, royal signet rings, broaches and dozens of solid gold challices, urns and basins for baptism and other royal ceremonies. It really is a magnificent display. Touring the Tower complex took us into early afternoon. Our sweet Sophia took a great nap in the stroller (oh, that magnificent stroller) as we bumped along the cobblestones taking in the sights.

The Tower of London is located on the River Thames and so when you exit on the side of the river, your view is of Tower Bridge, shown above in one of the photos. It is quite a sight. Built in the late 1800's, it is Victorian in style.

We walked the wharf a bit and then caught another tube to Westminster Abbey. Like so much of what we have seen on this journey, it is hard to describe the Abbey. It is so large, and so imposing that it is hard to imagine it was built in the 1040's and still stands so grandly and solidly before you. We couldn't go inside because a special ceremony was being held (we never did find out what it was), but it was exciting nonetheless because as we walked around the Abbey and nearby buildings of Parliament, and ooohhed and aahhed at Big Ben (the clock-tower above), the bells of the Abbey were chiming the entire time. And I mean chiming - loud and glorious and non-stop for an hour and a half. Because it was dark, we felt ourselves transported back in time - it was a surreal experience.

We then crossed to the other side of the Thames and walked the famous river walk. It took us past Shakespeare's re-constructed Globe theatre, the Tate Museum of Modern Art and a host of beautiful buildings. The holiday decorations are going up, so we saw a lot of lights and displays that made the walk even more pleasant. And the people! Everywhere, just walking, or jogging, or chatting, or having tea at outdoor cafes (yes, it was warm enough still!). We have loved that about our England experience - all of the people who are out and about walking. We felt very much a part of it as Sophia ran along and gazed at the lights and held our hands and watched all of the people and the excitement of just being in such a lively place. We walked down to the Millennium Bridge. This is a pedestrian bridge that crosses the Thames. The sides are made of glass and it is not much wider than an ordinary sidewalk. For my family, who know how afraid of heights I am, you will understand when I say that this was not a highlight for me.

http://www.earth-photography.com/photos/Countries/England/England_London_MillenniumBridge.jpg

But Steve and Sophia took it in stride and I was ever so happy to reach the other side and come out near the famous St. Paul's Cathedral. The cathedral was built in 1673 by Christopher Wren, a famous architect who's name we have heard many times since arriving in England.

After our tour of St. Paul's, it was time to head back to the train station for our trip home. The day just flew by and so we are hoping to go back again. I'd really like to see Buckingham Palace and a few other sights. Cheers!

The Walled City of York

We arrived in York on another fine day. How lucky we have been with the weather the entire time that we have been here. Some rain, yes, but lots of blue sky, too.

York is a beautiful historic city, located in the north of England in the county of North Yorkshire. It can be a bit overwhelming. There is evidence everywhere of over 2000 years of history and influence from the Romans, Vikings, Normans, and the Georgian and Victorian eras, so the architecture is a mix of all of these influences. (Here is a web site with pictures of all the different types of architecture throughout the city: http://www.york360.co.uk/york-gallery.htm

During Roman times, York was an entirely walled city (a feature common to many cities in England). Very large segments of the original wall have been preserved and/or repaired which makes the York Wall the longest intact medieval wall in all of England. The first thing we did after arriving at our B&B and settling our bags was to go out and climb up on the wall. You can access it by stairwells at several points, and so we scurried up onto the wall and walked our way around the city to York Minster, via the wall. This vantage point provided a great view of the city and a fantastic first view of the York Minster. The site where York Minster now stands was first used for building a church in the 600's. This first church is long gone, and several different versions were built and re-built up until the 1700's. All of the churches saw dramatic changes wrought by fire, invaders, and changes in regime. The cathedral that stands here today is an amalgam of all of these different events and influences. It's a majestic place and we spent our time viewing it with our mouths agape. This cathedral is so immense, the ceilings are vaulted so spectacularly high, there are so many bosses (carvings on the ceiling that tell a story), so much carved wood throughout on the alters and pews, so many statues from different eras, so many tombs, alters, chapels, and side-chapels, that it is very difficult to take it all in at one time. In addition, the undercroft (the 'basement'), is itself an amazing sight to behold with lots of mysterious tunnels and displays and artifacts from throughout the Minster's history. What a treasure.

After spending the morning in the church, we hopped a mini-steam engine trolley, made to look like an old fashioned steam engine, and rode it to the National Railway Museum, which is the world's largest train museum. Sophia loved it since all trains are very exciting to her right now. It had an example of each type of train engine ever used, from the first used in England to the super-fast Bullet train now used in Japan. We had a nice lunch here and then we went back to our B&B so Sophia could take a nap. While Sophia slept, I wrote post cards and read, and Steve took a tour called "The Secret York", where he heard some very gruesome tales.

Steve learned that the Vikings successfully invaded York using hundreds of ships under the cover of mist and fog, floating quietly in on the River Ouse, which runs through all of York. Literally, one morning in 800 A.D, Yorkers woke up to find an entire army of tens of thousands of Vikings in the heart of their city. Much plundering and pillaging followed (the guide gave many details, which I will leave out here), and thousands of the Vikings settled in "Jorvick". To this day, 1 in every 4 persons in York is descended from the Vikings.

Another sad and terrible story that Steve was told, was about a local York woman, Margaret Clitherow, who was a secret Catholic during a time when it was against the law to be Catholic in England (1500's). She also harbored priests who traveled through the town giving mass and communion in secret. There was much religious persecution through the centuries and York was no exception. Margaret was taken into custody by local officials. She was asked to confess her crime but she refused, saying that she had committed no crime for which she needed to be tried. At the time, the penalty for refusing to go to trial was death by crushing with stones. If she had confessed, they might have let her live out her life in jail. But, she also would have lost her claim to the property she owned. If this had happened, her children would have been left homeless and destitute, or they might have been thrown into prison with her (a common, horrible, practice when a woman was put in jail). So, by refusing to go to trial, she lost her life but her children were able to keep their home. According to Steve's tour guide, this punishment of crushing was usually drawn out for days so that the victim suffered greatly. But, the guards carrying out the sentencing were shamed by the fact it was a woman and so they crushed her "mercifully and she died within minutes". In 1970, she was made a saint by Pope Paul VI, who called her the "Pearl of York".

That evening, we went out for the first of what would be many dinners at Indian restaurants. The food was good except for one quirk - it seems the English like their food sweet. So a dish I have ordered dozens of times at other Indian restaurants came out in a thick, sweet sauce. I learned my lesson and ordered more carefully after that (as an aside, I'm reading a book on Shakespeare by Bill Bryson right now, and I just read that in the 1600's the English put sugar on everything - from fish to lamb to vegetables, and added it to their beer and wine. It was a sign of prosperity to afford sugar. They ate so much sugar, in fact, that it was very common for their teeth to turn black. (Queen Elizabeth I had black teeth) Some folks, Bryson writes, intentionally blackened their teeth so as to appear more prosperous.).

After dinner, we explored a very famous area of York known as the "Shambles". There is actually just one street called 'The Shamble' and it is the oldest intact medieval street in Europe. It is a meandering, very narrow street with Elizabethan architecture. The second stories of the houses jut out as much as 35 feet over the 1st floor of the house. Many of the houses also have a dramatic lean, so the effect is of a street that looks as if all the buildings are straining to touch one another. It is now common to call the area around this original street the "Shambles" because so many of these streets are also narrow and meandering and have similarly leaning and packed in buildings. Because these streets are so narrow, traffic is greatly restricted, especially at night, when it gets very dark. So Sophia was able to run pretty freely through this area, and run she did. She seemed to love how close all the buildings were and literally ran around and around these blocks for an hour the first night and again the second night. It was great fun, as Steve and I would take turns being on "Sophia watch", while the other got to peer into shops and buildings and down alleys. It was a bit spooky, I thought, and I rather expected some unsavory character to come 'round the corner cloaked in black at any moment, but nothing of the sort took place, thank goodness.

The next day we walked along the wall some more and visited the York Castle Museum. The York Castle Museum isn't a castle at all. It is called this because this is where the castle once stood. I really enjoyed this museum. It is a look at everyday York (and England) life during much of history, with an emphasis on Victorian times. The Victorian era has always intrigued me, and so I much enjoyed the displays of what a home would look like for the upper classes, middle classes and lower classes, and the fine displays of the clothing worn and food eaten by each. Women were astonishingly small, if one is to judge by the shoes and dresses on display. The bottom floor was a recreated street from the times, with a "chemist" (pharmacist), sweet shop, barber shop, a "gaol" (jail), a notions shop, a butcher, a bakery and a general store, all lit by torches. While you walked through the displays, a recording played the sounds you would have heard: clippety-clopping horses and carriages, voices of street vendors "buy my rosy raspberries" and the like. We thought it was very well done. After the museum, we went to "Betty's"!!!

I've spoken of English 'cream tea' before. Well, we asked around in York for the place to get the best cream tea and we were told without hesitation that it was Betty's. So off we went. There was quite a line to get in, but it moved fairly quickly. It is a lovely, old fashioned tea room with big windows and lots of light. All of the staff are dressed in black uniforms and the women have crisp, white, frilly aprons and caps. We ordered the traditional cream tea. It came with a personal size pot of delicious tea for me and one for Steve, and juice for Sophia. Then they brought out the beautiful silver tiered scone and cream tray. The scones were fresh and scrumptious, the strawberry jam was so rich and tasty and the clotted cream - well, let's just say that it is impossible to describe just how delicious it was and that the 3 of us ate every bit of it, spreading it heavily on our scones. Marvelous.

We went back to our B&B for Sophia to take a nap and Steve stayed in while I roamed around a bit. I found a thrift store (called 'charity shop' here because they are all run by charities - cancer society, save the children, salvation army, etc) and had fun poking around. I found a great pair of 'wellies' (rain boots) for Sophia. We tried a different Indian restaurant that night and had much better luck. Afterward we traipsed through the Shambles again and went up and down streets for hours and took in as much as we could since it was our last night.

We left early the next morning (after one last yummy "full English" breakfast at our B&B, the Dairy House, which was run by ever so lovely people who were very kind to Sophia) to catch a train to Norwich, the city in which we would live for the rest of our time in England.