Good Tidings of Great Joy
Yay, good things have happened and are happening!
Last saturday I returned from the UK and I had a great time. Last post was about plans for the day but of course it ended up going completely different. B's flight from Bilbao was a bit delayed so he returned only late sunday afternoon. Instead of going to Cambridge we went to Bishop's Stortford and the local videostore. Bart bought some movies (Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels which is hella cool and Doom: The Movie which is worse than hella lame. It is even worse than the D&D movie and actually the worst movie I have ever seen, which says quite a lot).
B was off duty on Monday and Tuesday so we spend Monday doing a lot of driving in my car. We went to the Salisbury Plains which is famous for its neolithic monuments. We visited Stonehenge -of course-, went in search for the famous white horse -which turned out to be a quite some younger white horse version made by a mad doctor of 300 years old instead of its older brother of 3000 years-, visited Avebury which is a tiny hamlet built inside the world's largest stonecircle -quite impressive stonework-. All in all we had fun. On Tuesday we went to Cambridge, a magnificent citycenter dominated by 15-16th century University buildings. Went into St. John's Uni, King's College Uni, visited the Museum of Archeology & Anthropology for about ten minutes -it's free, has a huge collection and was about to close-. That night we ended up seeing Romeo and Julliet at the local Shakespeare festival. I had never been to a Shakespeare play and this was simply amazing. So much fun, so greatly performed, I was truly impressed! All in all I now wish to emigrate to Cambridge were it not for some minor details like mortgage, job and stuff.
So wednesday was next, B. had two flights to Copenhagen and Nice and was home late. My plans were going into London. I love London. London is by far the greatest city I have ever seen. I don't say it will stay that way, I mean I have never visited Rome, Constantinople or Jerusalem... but for now it is. It is also a city in which I am lost upon arrival. I entered through Liverpool Street Station found an exit, looked around and was lost. The only smart thing to do was going back into the station buying a decent map of London and find the underground. I rode the tube for a bit up to St. Paul's Cathedral which was the target for the day. It is an impressive 18th century building designed by the great Wren. Due to its grandeur all piety is lost in imperial power. This is not a cathedral for worship but a place to be worshiped. Hundreds of tablets and tombs remember of British military units, generals, admirals, explorers, scientists etc. Horatio Nelson's grave and the tomb of the Duke of Wellington are among the most elaborate in highlighting 19th century British power. However, the nicest thing about St. Paul's is the roof or actually the dome. If you have the stamina to do the climb, it is in three stages, it is steep and 503 steps. I didn't count, it said so at the start. First stage is the famous whispering alley, the underside of the dome where you are supposed to be able to whisper to the wall and still hear eachother at the other side. This didn't really work since there were a couple of hundred tourists going all whispery. Most of them didn't make it past stage 1 though. Cramped stairs led up to stage 2 a large balcony all around the dome with a beautiful view over London. The third set of stairs leads up to the top of the dome. The view is greater still, but the balcony quite cramped for the dozen or so people who made it that far. After about 4 hours in St. Paul's I made my way across Milennium Bridge and took pictures of Tates. It was already 1730 by then so I didn't go inside.
Thursday, I drove to Canterbury. Which is the seat of the Anglican Church and the origin of the second conversion of Britain. Canterbury is famous for people like St. Augustine, the scholar and archbishop Anselmus and of course Thomas of Beckett. The town itself is very beautiful, medieval and has about half of its walls still standing. I spent about 4 hours in Canterbury Cathedral which has surpassed the York Minster as number one on my list of nicest-cathedrals-anywhere-in-the-world. This is without a doubt the most magnificent medieval building I have ever seen. At the cathedral they told me that you could also visit the remains of the old St. Augustine Abbey. Since I had done some research into Augustine I decided on visiting. This is however only interesting I fear for someone with some knowledge in the topic. It is nice if you know what you look at. Somewhere among the rubble is a spot with a mark which reads "Grave of Augustine first archbishop of Canterbury". He was one of the most influential people of his time and is now buried underneath a heap of stones. A bit ironic if you compare his grave to the tombs of Nelson or Wellington. Anyways, as it was raining all day the grounds were incredibly slippery and I made nasty fall. My back still hurts but I managed to save my camera and equipment. After returning to my car and driving back to Tye Green the sun starting shining again :)
Friday was a lazy day. The weather was beautiful so I simply went exploring. I drove the backways between Stansted and Cambridge and ended up at Wimpole Hall. A nice mansion with gardens and hills which offer a great view over Hertfordshire.
Saturday I rose early, drove to Harwich, got on the ferry which was completely booked by bankholiday tourists. I then figured out that bankholiday was last weekend and not the weekend before. I sat across an elderly muslim woman who kindly shared her apples and grapes with me. The weather during the crossing was great but upon arrival in Hoek van Holland it started raining once more and hasn't stopped since.
Pictures, promise, soon.
Last saturday I returned from the UK and I had a great time. Last post was about plans for the day but of course it ended up going completely different. B's flight from Bilbao was a bit delayed so he returned only late sunday afternoon. Instead of going to Cambridge we went to Bishop's Stortford and the local videostore. Bart bought some movies (Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels which is hella cool and Doom: The Movie which is worse than hella lame. It is even worse than the D&D movie and actually the worst movie I have ever seen, which says quite a lot).
B was off duty on Monday and Tuesday so we spend Monday doing a lot of driving in my car. We went to the Salisbury Plains which is famous for its neolithic monuments. We visited Stonehenge -of course-, went in search for the famous white horse -which turned out to be a quite some younger white horse version made by a mad doctor of 300 years old instead of its older brother of 3000 years-, visited Avebury which is a tiny hamlet built inside the world's largest stonecircle -quite impressive stonework-. All in all we had fun. On Tuesday we went to Cambridge, a magnificent citycenter dominated by 15-16th century University buildings. Went into St. John's Uni, King's College Uni, visited the Museum of Archeology & Anthropology for about ten minutes -it's free, has a huge collection and was about to close-. That night we ended up seeing Romeo and Julliet at the local Shakespeare festival. I had never been to a Shakespeare play and this was simply amazing. So much fun, so greatly performed, I was truly impressed! All in all I now wish to emigrate to Cambridge were it not for some minor details like mortgage, job and stuff.
So wednesday was next, B. had two flights to Copenhagen and Nice and was home late. My plans were going into London. I love London. London is by far the greatest city I have ever seen. I don't say it will stay that way, I mean I have never visited Rome, Constantinople or Jerusalem... but for now it is. It is also a city in which I am lost upon arrival. I entered through Liverpool Street Station found an exit, looked around and was lost. The only smart thing to do was going back into the station buying a decent map of London and find the underground. I rode the tube for a bit up to St. Paul's Cathedral which was the target for the day. It is an impressive 18th century building designed by the great Wren. Due to its grandeur all piety is lost in imperial power. This is not a cathedral for worship but a place to be worshiped. Hundreds of tablets and tombs remember of British military units, generals, admirals, explorers, scientists etc. Horatio Nelson's grave and the tomb of the Duke of Wellington are among the most elaborate in highlighting 19th century British power. However, the nicest thing about St. Paul's is the roof or actually the dome. If you have the stamina to do the climb, it is in three stages, it is steep and 503 steps. I didn't count, it said so at the start. First stage is the famous whispering alley, the underside of the dome where you are supposed to be able to whisper to the wall and still hear eachother at the other side. This didn't really work since there were a couple of hundred tourists going all whispery. Most of them didn't make it past stage 1 though. Cramped stairs led up to stage 2 a large balcony all around the dome with a beautiful view over London. The third set of stairs leads up to the top of the dome. The view is greater still, but the balcony quite cramped for the dozen or so people who made it that far. After about 4 hours in St. Paul's I made my way across Milennium Bridge and took pictures of Tates. It was already 1730 by then so I didn't go inside.
Thursday, I drove to Canterbury. Which is the seat of the Anglican Church and the origin of the second conversion of Britain. Canterbury is famous for people like St. Augustine, the scholar and archbishop Anselmus and of course Thomas of Beckett. The town itself is very beautiful, medieval and has about half of its walls still standing. I spent about 4 hours in Canterbury Cathedral which has surpassed the York Minster as number one on my list of nicest-cathedrals-anywhere-in-the-world. This is without a doubt the most magnificent medieval building I have ever seen. At the cathedral they told me that you could also visit the remains of the old St. Augustine Abbey. Since I had done some research into Augustine I decided on visiting. This is however only interesting I fear for someone with some knowledge in the topic. It is nice if you know what you look at. Somewhere among the rubble is a spot with a mark which reads "Grave of Augustine first archbishop of Canterbury". He was one of the most influential people of his time and is now buried underneath a heap of stones. A bit ironic if you compare his grave to the tombs of Nelson or Wellington. Anyways, as it was raining all day the grounds were incredibly slippery and I made nasty fall. My back still hurts but I managed to save my camera and equipment. After returning to my car and driving back to Tye Green the sun starting shining again :)
Friday was a lazy day. The weather was beautiful so I simply went exploring. I drove the backways between Stansted and Cambridge and ended up at Wimpole Hall. A nice mansion with gardens and hills which offer a great view over Hertfordshire.
Saturday I rose early, drove to Harwich, got on the ferry which was completely booked by bankholiday tourists. I then figured out that bankholiday was last weekend and not the weekend before. I sat across an elderly muslim woman who kindly shared her apples and grapes with me. The weather during the crossing was great but upon arrival in Hoek van Holland it started raining once more and hasn't stopped since.
Pictures, promise, soon.
posted by Gertjan at
8:31 am
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