We woke up at 10am. We skipped breakfast as usual. We simply packed up the car, and checked out at 11am. It was a ten minute drive to our first attraction: Durham castle. It was a little confusing trying to figure out where to park to visit the castle. We could see the castle high on a hill though, and it became apparent that the only way to reach it was on foot. We parked the car at a reasonably priced parking structure, and started walked through the cobble road streets. Beneath the castle is the town center and shopping district. We walked through the streets which slowly wound up the hill.
At the top we were greeted with the view of a huge cathedral. We arrived just in time to hear the twelve o’clock chime. We went inside to explore it since entrance was free. It was impressively tall, even for a cathedral, and very long. I especially liked the unique patterning on the great stone columns that are evenly spaced down the hall. Crisscrosses, spirals, circles. They didn’t quite fit in with the traditional Gothic architecture. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed so I can’t show more clearly what I’m trying to explain.
We walked across the green that separates the cathedral from Durham castle. Entry was a reasonable 5P each. It was a rare guided tour and our guide was very informative. The castle is still in use as a college student dormitory so the inside decor was a mixture of medieval and modern. The kitchens for example had the original fire places and roof, but was filled with all the modern amenities of a professional kitchen. The castle was the home to the ruling Prince Bishops of the area. Our guide told us one story, where a prince bishop was none too happy that as prince he was served his meal first, but as the head religious official he was required to wait until everyone was served in order to say grace. As a result, he remodeled the kitchens to include a carved blessing over the serving counter which he claimed resulted in all meals being automatically blessed as they passed underneath. In this way, he bypassed saying grace and was able to eat his food while it was still warm. Overall, this castle wasn’t super impressive, but it was interesting. It is neat that the castle has been in continuous use since it’s construction in the 1200s.
On the way back to the car, we bought a pasty and a cheese and bacon turnover from a Tesco Metro. Their price was reduced because it was now an hour past lunch time. We then hurried back to the car and rushed to the pay machine because we only had two minute to spare before we would be charged a higher rate for parking. We were happy that we made it! Back at the car, I got the ketchup out of the cooler and ate my half of the delicious pasty. The cheese and bacon turnover wasn’t too bad. I liked the first bite, but with each additional bite it soured on me. Whereas, Davin wasn’t impressed at first, but with each additional bite he liked it more.
It was a thirty minute drive to our next attraction. To get there we went through a toll tunnel that runs under the river Tyne. I tried unsuccessfully to use some of our one and two pence coins to pay the toll. The machine ate half of them, but didn’t count them. It still needed ten more cents. Luckily, I had two five pence coins in reserve.
When we arrived, we visited Tynemouth Priory and castle. It is another ruined medieval building. It was more interesting visually than historically. It was originally a religious site, that was later fortified. It is located on a strategic rock cliff that juts out into the sea. The ruined buildings are mixed with abandoned bunkers from WW2. Soldiers were stationed at the priory with two six inch guns to ward off a potential German invasion. Davin and I had fun taking pictures around the site. We admired all the gravestones scattered about the grounds. There was definitely some striking imagery to be found at this site.
When we finished exploring the priory, we returned to the car and headed south to our next hotel. We drove to the city of York. There we stayed in the Old Grey Mare. We weren’t too surprised to find that the free internet didn’t seem to work. Same problem that we had back at the George.
For dinner we bought a can of tomato soup from the small store across the street. Then we ate the soup with the sandwiches that we hadn’t eaten for lunch. We watched a couple episodes of Voyager, and went to bed around midnight.
No comments:
Post a Comment