Oteros in England

Home Again

2006-07-10T00:13:00.000+01:00

Well, all good things must come to an end, and so it is with our stay in Cambridge. After a long trip through London and Chicago (and an even longer trip for Tom), we arrived back in Cincinnati. Our wonderful friends, Don and Sandy, met us at the airport to bring us home. Of course, first we had to eat at Cincinnati's most famous eatery:

Boy, had we missed it!

This was our first view of 'home' as we drove along I-75 into Cincinnati through the Covington 'Cut in the Hill.'

And while we're passing downtown Cincinnati, here are some of the sights. This is the Cincinnati Bengals football stadium, Paul Brown Stadium.

This is Cincinnati's skyline. The Ohio River separates Cincinnati, Ohio, from Kentucky.

Here is a picture of the Roebling suspension bridge (the precursor to Roebling's more famous Brooklyn Bridge). That's Cincinnati on the opposite bank of the Ohio River.

This is Great American Ballpark, also on the bank of the River, where the Cincinnati Reds baseball team plays.

In this picture you can see a few of the many bridges that cross the Ohio River, connecting Kentucky to Ohio.

Here's a peaceful view of the Ohio River, just south of the city center, at the Anderson Ferry.

Deb had a blast cooking with her old pots, pans, utensils, etc.

Finally, we are settled in 'home sweet home.' Cheers all!

Cambridge Churches II: Round Church, All Saints, St. Giles, St. Peters

2006-06-22T15:53:00.000+01:00

The Round Church, pictured here, is one of only 4 round churches in England. It is modeled after the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

Here's the dome. Even though it is much smaller than other domes we've seen in many churches, it is still striking architecturally.

The round Romanesque arches indicate how ancient this church is.

The bases of the hammer beams were fitted with these beautiful carved angels.

This is the main altar. The glass depicts St. George and St. Andrew on either side of the robed Risen Christ.

Here's a close-up of the stained glass.

Circling the dome were these bosses. Although they weren't 'Green Man' bosses, the facial expressions were interesting.

Here's one more view of the arches within the circular rotunda of the church.

All Saints Church is protected by a trust. It is no longer in use as a church, and we had to go call for the key to enter.

Inside the church it was dark but extremely colorful. The walls were stencilled in reds, yellows, greens, pinks, etc. Here is one of the interior doors.

The walls also contained bible passages, like this.

Here is the painting that hangs over the Baptismal font. It shows Jesus calling the children.

This picture shows a corner of the church. You can see the many different colors and painted wall patterns.

This is one of two Baptismal fonts in the church.

This is the front of the ambo (the pulpit). It actually contains 4 of these panels.

This gorgeous window is the great East window, behind the altar.

Here is the nave of the church.

All the stained glass windows were beautiful.

Here we are with Fra' Lawrence Lew, a Dominican friend from Cambridge Blackfriars and author of Contemplata aliis Tradere, a Catholic blog "on matters mainly theological, philosophical and ecclesiastical."

And here's a good family picture taken inside of All Saints.

We passed this church, St. Giles, nearly every day. It is located at the bottom of Castle Hill on the way into town.

Here's the nave of the church. The plain exterior hides the lovely interior, from the windows to the altar.

A statue of the Good Shepherd. . .

. . . and the Madonna and Child.

The windows in the church contain an image of a famous figure. Most, but not all, were saints. Here is St. Catharine of Siena.

And this is St. Ignatius of Antioch. The windows were absolutely gorgeous! Danny took a picture of every one!

We visited the church during their flower festival, celebrating the completion of a 2-plus year renovation project. The artistic flower displays were spectacular as well.

This one is called 'All Souls.'

This display was called 'Christ Church.'

The reredos on the altar was an absolutely stunning mosaic.

This picture shows the screen. It's hard to see, but the cricufix is suspended from the ceiling above the screen.

This crucifix stands at the entrance to St. Giles' Church.

St. Peter's Church lies across the street from St. Giles' Church. Like several other ancient churches in Cambridge, it's no longer in use, but is open to the public.

St. Peter's Church is tiny: it seats probably 30-40 people at most. It is a simple space, without much decoration.

This picture shows the entire church!

This Baptismal font in the back of the church dates from the 13th century.

Cambridge Churches I: Great St. Mary's, St. Bene't, St. Botolph's, Little St. Mary's

2006-06-21T14:44:00.000+01:00

Great St. Mary's Church, pictured here, is the University Church. It's located in the center of the city.

In front of this church books were burned at the time of the Dissolution. Also, here is where the initial mile-marker is located for the London road, the first measurements of their kind in England. There are approximately 16 others along Trumpington Street going south out of Cambridge.

Here is the main altar.

The church is lined with beautiful windows above the arches as well.

Deb loved these details on the pews. There were many mythical creatures as well as the fleur-de-lis.

There was no 'Lady Chapel' per se, but this icon and small statue were beautiful.

From the Tower of Great St. Mary's, the views of the city were wonderful. Here you can see Gonville and Caius College, Trinity College and St. John's Chapel.

The street on the right in this picture is King's Parade. The main gate to King's College is to the right, as is King's College Chapel.

Here's an aerial view of Deb's favorite place to shop: THE MARKET!

The view of King's College Chapel was terrific.

This is the Senate House. Student's take their exit examinations here. Then their scores are posted on large boards, for all to see, in front of the building.

This is St. Bene't Church (short for Benedict). The tower you see is the oldest structure in Cambridge, and dates from Saxon times.

The interior is simple but beautiful. Here is the main altar.

There were carvings like this one at the foot of the ceiling beams all along the nave.

This picture beautifully shows the ancient Norman/Saxon arches.

There was no Lady Chapel since the church was so small. However, this Madonna and Child statue was there.

Here's a sample of the stained glass windows.

This iron sculpture was found in a prominent corner in the church.

This alcove wass part of the entryway to the church. The windows were lovely.

St. Botolph's Church, pictured here, sits directly across the street from Little St. Mary's (pictured below).

Here's the main altar. Again, it was a small church, and quite simple inside.

This is a sample of the beautiful stained glass windows.

This picture, of the nave of St. Botolph's makes it look larger than it actually is. Here you can see Tom and Claire sitting in a pew. You are looking from the altar to the entrance.

This view is from the entrance of the church, looking up the nave to the altar.

The last church on this post is called Little St. Mary's Church. It is located next to Peterhouse College (the oldest of Cambridge's colleges) and was actually the chapel for Peterhouse 600-700 years ago.

With the summer greenery, it's hard to see the entire church. Here is a picture of the side.

In this photo, you are looking at the nave and the main altar.

The Baptismal font was gorgeous, and had several crests lining it, including the seal of the city of Cambridge (in the middle here).

In the early history of the church, this was part of the altar screen. The intricacy of the carvings was amazing! Now this screen lines the back wall of the church.

This stained glass window is in back of the altar (the Great East Window).

Here is one final view of the nave of Little St. Mary's.

Cambridge Colleges Picturebook, X: Christ's, Homerton, Hughes Hall

2006-06-20T14:52:00.000+01:00

Christ's College was founded in 1505, under the patronage of Lady Margaret Beaufort (mother of Henry VII). She also founded St. John's College.

The coat of arms atop the main gate is very similar to that at St. John's. The statue here, though, is of Lady Margaret Beaufort. The statue at St. John's is of St. John.

We were only permitted to visit First Court. The other parts of the campus were off limits to visitors.

This picture shows your view as you enter the main gate.

The chapel was small and quite elegant in its simplicity.

This memorial was one of the decorations
in the chapel.

This shows another part of First Court. The chapel is located in the corner of this picture.

Christ's is considered a medium-sized college with about 400 undergraduates and 100 postgraduates.

Here's one final view of First Court. It would have been nice to see the other courtyards. Oh well, c'est la vie!

Homerton College is located south of the city centre, along Hills Road. It was founded in 1768 and was traditionally the home to the University's education school. Still known for training future teachers, the college now offers a wide range of courses of study.

As you can see from this picture, the campus is beautiful.

It may be safe to say that almost every college here has some kind of sundial. Unlike many, this wasn't on the side of the building but in the gardens.

This picture shows student housing for Homerton College students.

From 1895-1978, Homerton was exclusively a women's college.

This shows the Great Hall at Homerton College.

The final college for our Picturebook is Hughes Hall, also located outside of the city centre, off Mill Road.

The college began in 1885 as the Cambridge Training College for Women Teachers. Here is a picture of the gate.

This building is called the Pavilion. It's a lecture hall that seats 80 people.

Men were first admitted to Hughes Hall in 1973 when Hughes Hall became a graduate college of the University. It also accepts "mature undergraduates."

Just look at this stately building. It looks like student housing.

This is the newest building at Hughes Hall and is at the main entrance to the college.

Here is more student housing at Hughes Hall. It is the oldest of Cambridge University's 6 graduate schools.

Cambridge Colleges Picturebook IX: Magdalene, St. Catharine's, Gonville & Caius, Trinity Hall

2006-06-19T14:57:00.000+01:00

Magdalene (pronounced 'maudlin') College was founded in 1542 on the grounds of a former monastic hostel devoted to educating scholar-monks.

Here is the gate connecting First and Second court. The college motto, "Garde ta foy," means "Keep faith."

This picture shows the chapel on the left and the dining hall on the right.

Magdalene students still eat dinner by candlelight here since there is no electricity in the hall.

Pepys Library, pictured here, was built in the late 17th century.

Here's another of Magdalene's buildings. This one lies along the Cam river.

The chapel is small but beautiful.

At right is one of the stained glass windows in Magdalene chapel. This one depicts the Annunciation, the Visitation and the Nativity of Christ.

Much of Magdalene student housing is across the street from the main campus. This Tudor style building is at the front of one of the residential courts.

Here is a picture of Magdalene College from across the river Cam, at Quayside.

The side of the buildings facing the Cam were gorgeous in full spring bloom. Lavender was the dominant color.

Here is the main gate to St. Catharine's College, founded in 1473 and named after Catherine of Alexandria, a patron saint of scholars whose cult was very popular in medieval times.

Sarah, a 'Cats' third-year, graciously led us around campus. This small belled-doorway leads into one of the small courtyards where student housing is located.

These are students' and fellows' residences in the main court.

The gardens were beautiful. You can see a glimpse of the newer housing in the background in this picture. The college library is on the ground floor of that building.

This is the exterior of the chapel at St. Catharine's.

Here is more student housing.

Gonville and Caius (pronounced 'keys') College sits directly behind the Senate House and right in front of Great St. Mary's Church (the University Church). This is one of several main gates to the college.

The Gate of Honour is located behind the Senate House and is only used for special occasions like students' graduation services. The college was founded in 1348, making it the fourth oldest of Cambridge University's colleges. There are approximately 650 students.

Here is a view of Gonville and Caius college from atop Great St. Mary's Tower. It shows well the plan of the campus.

The college has several entryways, and of course, beautiful landscaping.

Here is your view if you look to the right upon entering the gate.

The windows facing Trinity Street sport wonderfully sculpted figures like the one shown here.

Trinity Hall is sandwiched between Trinity College and Clare College. It also sits directly behind Gonville and Caius. Here is the main gate. The college was founded in 1350, just after Gonville and Caius.

This picture shows the newest building at Trinity Hall, the Jerwood Library a most tastefully designed modern building (1998). It sits on the bank of the Cam just next to Garrett Hostel Bridge.

Here is one of Trinity Hall's courtyards. The building on the left is student housing. The one at the back is the former library.

In this picture, you can see the wall separating Trinity Hall from Clare College.

The forecourt in this picture is Gonville and Caius College. You can see a bit of Trinity Hall behind. The building in the back is the stately University Library.

Cambridge Colleges Picturebook VIII: Churchill, St. Edmunds, Lucy Cavendish

2006-06-18T20:50:00.000+01:00

Churchill College was founded in 1958, launched by retired Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

The college has a 70:30 ratio of science to arts students, a very large number of postgraduates and a large program of overseas visiting fellowships.

As you can tell by these pictures, Churchill College also has a very modern campus.

The large campus grounds contain several unique sculptures, like the one pictured here.

Here's the Archives building at Churchill College.

Here is some of the student housing at Churchill. It claims to have the first flats in Cambridge University designed for married postgraduates. Now several colleges have accommodations for married couples.

More student housing. It's an extremely large campus.

This picture shows the Moller Centre for Continuing Education. It was opened in 1992.

St. Edmunds College began as lodgings for Roman Catholic students in 1896 and converted into a postgraduate college in 1965.

This picture shows a beautiful crest above the doorway to one of the student blocks. St. Edmunds is named after a 13th century Archbishop of Canterbury.

St. Edmunds now has about 200 students, not all of whom are Roman Catholic.

Here's more housing at St. Edmunds.

Even though it's not necessary to be Roman Catholic to live here, St. Edmunds remains the only college in the University with a Roman Catholic chapel, pictured here.

Here is a statue of Sts. George and Edmund, located in the chapel.

The windows in the chapel were beautiful. This one depicts four English saints.

Here's another view of the chapel.

Lucy Cavendish College was Britain's first University college for mature women (aged 21 and over). It was founded in 1965.

"Lucy Cav" employs only women academics, the only Cambridge college with that authority.

Lucy Cavendish is the smallest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges: it has only about 150 students.

Here's a picture of the student housing at Lucy Cavendish. The college got its name from the daughter-in-law of the founder of the Cavendish Laboratory. She was an advocate of women's education.

More student housing. Two thirds of the students are undergraduates.

This is College House, the administrative building.

Here is the Porter's Lodge, standing guard at the entrance to the college.

Cambridge Colleges Picturebook VII: Girton, Fitzwilliam, New Hall

2006-06-17T20:17:00.000+01:00

Girton College was founded in 1869 as a women's college. Its campus is the furthest from the city centre.

The warm red brick stands out against the greenery that hides the campus.

This is the main gate, partially hidden behind some grand trees.

Alfred Waterhouse designed the campus. It contains a tower, turrets and gables.

Here is some of the student accommodation. The College was placed miles away from Cambridge in the 1870s to protect the ladies from the young men of Cambridge!

Here again is the main entrance. Girton is the third largest of Cambridge University's colleges with over 500 students. It admitted men beginning in the 1970s.

The chapel is a lovely Victorian era neo-Tudor structure.

Here's one final view of Girton College.

Fitzwilliam College is one of the newest colleges. It was founded in 1966.

The architecture of Fitzwilliam College is much more modern than many other colleges. This picture shows an entryway to student housing.

As you can see in this picture, the Fitzwilliam College campus features a dark brown brick.

Here's another view showing the modernism of the campus.

This unique structure on the right is the dining hall. It was designed by Denys Lasdun. It contains hooded arches and high , clear glass windows.

It is said that Fitzwilliam College's chapel is internationally acclaimed. It was designed by Richard MacCormac.

New Hall sits right next to Fitzwilliam College. It was founded in 1954 to provide more places at the university for women. Now it accepts male and female students.

The Dome is the distinguishing structure at New Hall. It is the college dining hall.

This building stands directly across the Buckingham Street from the dining hall. Blackfriars, the Dominican priory where we have been worshiping for these last six months, is just out of view of this picture, on the right.

Here's another of New Hall's buildings, 'The Rectory.'

This modern building is the Kaetsu Educational and Cultural Center at New Hall.

Here is student housing at New Hall.

Like all the Cambridge University colleges, the gardens here are also beautiful.

Last Trip to London

2006-06-16T16:31:00.000+01:00

We took Tom and Claire to London. It was our last trip to the city, so we wanted to make visits to: the British Library, Kensington Palace, the Brompton Oratory, and the National Gallery.

Here are Tom and Claire, working Sudoku on the train.

This is what King's Cross station REALLY looks like on the outside.

While Tom took Claire to more famous sights that she had not yet seen, we went to the British Museum to see the 'Treasures of the British Museum' exhibit. Here's the main courtyard of the library. We spent over two hours there; Danny could have spent all day there.

In the exhibit: the Codex Sinaiaticus, the oldest extant manuscript (4th c.) of all four gospels, Magna Carta, a sheet of stamps from the reign of George III printed in accord with the Stamp Act (presaging the American Revolution), Lewis Carrol's handwritten Alice's Adventures Under Ground, a handwritten page from James Joyce's manuscript for Finnegan's Wake, and a cabinet of music manuscripts (Josquin, Bach, Handel, Beethoven, Chopin, Britten, and the Beatles). Wow!

A large bronze of Isaac Newton is shown here, working with a compass.

We met Tom and Claire at Kensington Palace, where Princess Diana lived until her death.

Here's a side view, showing some of the gardens.

This famous eatery, The Orangery, is situated in the Kensington Gardens.

As with all the public gardens we have seen in England, these were beautifully kept.

Here is one of several pools within the gardens.

At the southern end of Kensington Gardens sits the Royal Albert Hall.

The Albert Memorial is just outside the hall, in the gardens.

The four corners of the Albert Memorial were decorated with statues of the continents. This one depicts Europe.

Here is Tom acting it up in one of the red phone boxes. The mailboxes in the UK are also painted red.

The gardens near the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain were beautiful and filled with roses.

The Princess Diana Memorial Fountain is shown here. It was not at all what we expected (for a fountain, that is), but it was beautiful and very peaceful.

This shows a close-up of the fountain.

Here is the Natural History Museum. We never had the chance to visit it, so we will have to come back for it the next time we're in England.

Outside the Brompton Oratory was this statue of John Henry Newman.

The Brompton Oratory reminded us very much of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, on a smaller scale. Here is a picture of the nave.

The Pieta was lovely.

Here is a side chapel dedicated to the Madonna.

You can see in this picture of the main altar how decorated the church is.

This crypt holds a replica of the remains of St. Philip Neri, founder of the Oratorians, for whom the church is named.

Another museum we'll have to visit on our next trip is this one, the Victoria and Albert Museum.

This shows the west side of the museum. It was damaged in WWII and the decision was made not to repair the outside (for history). It was interesting to note all the bomb damage.

Can you believe this? It's GREAT! This helpful map shows the locations of the 'award winnning' loos (bathrooms) in the area!

Later in the day we made our way to the National Gallery, the museum containing wonderful paintings. As it was Wednesday, we could stay there late until closing time (9:00 pm), but we still had to rush to see the 'must see' paintings.

Tom and Claire wanted to see Tower Bridge lit up at night so we headed there to end the day. Here's the Bridge: the Tower of London is off to the right.

Here is a picture of the Tower of London.

This picture of the Tower of London (with the Gherkin off its right shoulder) was taken from Tower Bridge.

The red bridge in this picture is the London Bridge.

Well, we stayed long enough to see the lights on Tower Bridge.

We headed home after a very long and wonderful day in the city.

Paris, Day 3

2006-06-14T15:39:00.000+01:00

Most of Sunday was spent on Ile de la Cité. The highlight was definitely attending a Gregorian Chant Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral.

Ile de la Cité is truly an island right in the middle of the Seine.

Here was our first view of Notre Dame. The picture was taken from the large square in front of the Cathedral.

The gorgeous central gate cannot fail to catch the eye. Above the door are carved 28 statues of the kings of Judea and Israel, representing the Tree of Jesse.

Here's the nave of the Cathedral. The 'faithful' were led into the nave of the Cathedral for Mass while tourists continued to move through the cathedral along the side aisles. All throughout Mass camera flashes could be seen from the ambulatory and side aisles.

Here is a sample of the many beautiful windows. This is a part of the North Transept.

This statue of St. Therese of Lisieux was in a side chapel.

These bas-relief wall decorations circled around the ambulatory.

This beautiful rose window is in the South Transept of the Cathedral.

The Cathedral itself was quite dark. Tom was able to get these two atmospheric photos by looking through the arches at the chandeliers.

This is the Baptismal Font.

This sculpture was directly to the left of the Portal of the Virgin and shows John the Baptist (beheaded), two angels and either St. Stephen or St. Denis.

Here is a picture of the cloister area behind the Cathedral.

These views show not only the cloister area but the distinctive flying buttresses as well.

This picture shows the South Transept rose window and the two towers of the Cathedral.

One last view of this beautiful Cathedral shows the entire south side.

We walked to the other end of Ile de la Cite to the Palais de Justice where Sainte Chapelle is located.

This picture of the Palais de Justice was taken from one of the 4 bridges that cross this tiny island.

Here is Pont Neuf. You can also see La Tour Eiffel in the distance.

Tour St. Jacques, pictured here, stands on the other side of the bridge (not on the island).

Sainte Chapelle was built in the 13th century by St. Louis to house holy relics. It's a small, but very tall church.

There are actually two chapels. This is the lower chapel. There are 40 columns holding up the central vault. The floor is paved with tombstones.

Each column is painted with castles or fleurs-de-lis. You can see the castles in this picture as well as other decorations.

The upper chapel was breathtaking! The stained glass is the oldest in Paris. It lines all the walls of this chapel. There are 1,134 scenes depicted in the glass, from Genesis all the way to the Apocalypse.

This close-up shows how large the windows really are.

The interior decorations were also extremely colorful, as this view of the main altar shows.

Lining the walls under the windows are statues of the apostles, each holding one of the Church's 12 crosses of consecration. This sculpture is of St. Peter.

The main entrance to the upper chapel had these bas-reliefs telling the story of creation. They were stunning.

After lunch, we had more time, so we went to St. Eustache Church, located in the area called Les Halles. What a find!

Here's another close-up of St. Eustache.

This interesting sculpture sits in the plaza outside St. Eustache. It weighs 70 tons and was sculpted by H. de Miller.

This picture shows how tall the ceiling is. It rises about 112 feet!

This picture shows the North Transept windows.

The Lady Chapel was absolutely gorgeous, from the paintings to the altar with the Madonna and Child sculpture.

This picture shows the High Altar. Just look at how high the ceiling is!

This final picture shows the nave of this beautiful church.

Well, by then it was time to head back to Charles de Gaulle airport. What a wonderful trip!

Paris, Day 2

2006-06-13T21:18:00.000+01:00

Day two of our trip saw an even hotter day. Even in such heat, we saw a lot of the city.

We passed this open-air market on Boulevard du Port Royal. There were many open-air markets throughout the city on Saturday.

Our first stop of the day was here, at Les Invalides.

This entryway is the front of a cloister-like arrangement of buildings.

Each window atop the building (all the way around) had a window frame designed in the shape of a suit of armor.

Here's the courtyard. Les Invalides houses the Musee de l'Armee. We were incredibly impressed by the exhibits.

Here is Louis XIII's armor. The museum also had artifacts from Louis XIV.

The detail on top of some of the cannons was unbelievable, like the lovers sculpted on this one.

Les Invalides is home to two churches. This first one is Eglise St. Louis which is the soldier's church.

The organ at Eglise St. Louis was beautiful!

Here is the main altar of Eglise St. Louis. The large cross is on the altar in the other church on the other side of the window.

The second church is Eglise du Dome. It houses Napoleon's tomb (as well as the tombs of several of his family members).

The inside of the dome was absolutely beautiful!

Here is the front view of the cross on the main altar in Eglise du Dome.

Napoleon's tomb sits in the center of a circular crypt in the middle of the church. Napoleon's body is placed in 6 coffins, one inside the other.

Around the edges of the crypt are these beautiful bas reliefs, telling the story of important times in Napoleon's life.

This is called Jardin de l'Intendant and is situated just outside the Eglise du Dome.

Here is the Esplanade des Invalides, a very long garden. In the distance (on the left) you can see the Grand Palais. It is located across the Seine.

Our next stop was the Grand Louvre museum. Words cannot even begin to describe this place! We only saw two exhibits and were there over two hours!

This bas relief is called 'Armeme' and dates from the 13th century.

There was an entire room filled with Madonna and Child sculptures and wall decorations.

This is one of many Robbia bas reliefs. It shows Christ at the Mount of Olives.

Believe it or not, this is the ceiling of the Louvre. Even that is art!

'Autel des 12 Dieux' (a ceiling boss) dates from the first century.

Here is Bernini's 'lEnfant Jesus.'

Michelangelo's 'Captif' was also there.

At the top of a grand staircase was this famous sculpture, 'Winged Victory of Samothrace.' Tom was in awe!

And of course, we had to take a picture of the 'Venus de Milo.'

We also walked through the Italian painting section, but were unable to take pictures. The collection was unbelievable!

We then walked toward Sacre Coeur. On the way we passed the 'Moulin Rouge.'

Sacre Coeur sits atop Monmartre.

Here's a close-up view. Since there was a school program going on inside, we didn't take any pictures. It was beautiful, though.

We then decided to go see the Pantheon. On our way, we walked through the Jardin du Luxembourg. It was much prettier than the Jardin des Tuileries.

There is a large reflection pool in the center of the garden.

Look what was in the pool! Of course, Deb had to get pictures of the sailboats.

Here's what the main entryway looks like. Yes, that is blue sand (and there were kids playing in it, too).

Here's the Pantheon.

The dome was just beautiful, in black, grey and white.

Here's another view of the inside of the Pantheon.

The walls were lined with gorgeous murals, like the one pictured here.

Some incredibly famous people are buried in the crypt below, including Voltaire (pictured here), Rousseau, Louis Braille, Victor Hugo, and Marie Curie (the first woman so honored).

Behind the Pantheon is this beautiful little church, called St. Etienne du Mont.

This is the nave of the church. As you can see, it is very bright inside.

This is part of the Shrine to St. Genevieve.

Here is another beautiful chapel within St. Etienne du Mont.

The main altar is pictured here.

After that, we decided to go see the Bastille. Deb was very disappointed. All that was left was this monument situated in the middle of the intersection.

This is the Bastille, or 'Opera Bastille.'

Our second day was now over. Time to return to the hotel, exhausted once again, and get ready for a relaxing dinner.

Paris, Day 1

2006-06-12T20:27:00.000+01:00

Last weekend, Deb and Tom spent 2 1/2 wonderful (and summery hot) days in Paris. Below are pictures from our first day.

This picture, taken from the plane, shows the English coast as we flew across the English Channel.

After just a few minutes we reached the other side and the French coast. We were a little surprised at how narrow the English Channel really was.

After checking in at the hotel, which provided just the bare bones of services, we went to see La Tour Eiffel. It's so tall, it can be seen from almost everywhere in Paris (or so it seems).

Here's another picture, taken from the street running alongside it, Quai Branly.

We were standing at the base of La Tour Eiffel when this picture was taken.

We decided to take the elevator to the top level to see the views of Paris. What a great decision that was! Below are a few of the many pictures we took from the top.

This view shows Les Jardins du Trocadero and Palais de Chaillot, situated directly across the Seine from La Tour Eiffel.

Here's a view of Le Grand Palais and Le Petit Palais, with the gardens surrounding them.

The large garden past the third bridge is Le Jardin des Tuileries. The Louvre is the huge structure at the far end of Le Jardin.

Les Invalides is pictured here. It houses the Musee de L'Armee, Eglise St. Louis, and the famous Eglise du Dome which houses Napoleon's tomb (that's the large gold dome in the picture).

Here's a view of Promenade du Champ de Mars, the garden separating La Tour Eiffel and L'Ecole Militaire (seen at the far end of the garden).

Here again is the Seine.

The one 'touristy' picture we took was this one, from on top of La Tour Eiffel.

It's kind of hard to see, but in the dead center of this view, you'll see L'Arc de Triomphe.

This beautiful pond was a part of the park surrounding La Tour Eiffel.

We crossed the Seine via Pont de L'Alma. The other side was lined with trees, like in this photo. Here is one of the many monuments we passed.

Here's our first view of Le Grand Palais. It is currently undergoing renovation on the exterior.

This begins to show why it's called the 'Grand' Palais.

One of the many entryways is shown here. You can also see the scaffolding set up as part of the cleaning and restoration work.

Next to Le Grand Palais is Le Petit Palais, another beautifully regal structure.

We walked to Place de la Concorde, where Le Jardin des Tuileries begins.

This is appropriately called Obelisque de la Concorde. It sits in the center of the intersection.

There were several of these fountains as well. Greek gods were evident.

After walking through a stately gate, we entered Le Jardin des Tuileries. This fountain stands at one end of the jardin: The Louvre is at the other.

Le Jardin was filled with many classical sculptures, like this, as well as some modern art.

Here was our first view of Le Grand Louvre. This picture only shows a small part of the museum.

Here's another picture of Le Grand Louvre with the famous I.M. Pei Pyramid.

Here's a close-up of the Pyramid. The reception area of the museum is located directly underneath it. So when you enter the museum, you can look up from inside the Pyramid.

This arch, called Place du Carousel, is like the entry-gate to Le Louvre.

Tom liked this statue in the garden: Hercules fighting the Minotaur.

This is a sample of the many beautiful trees in the garden.

Since it was getting dark, we decided to walk the length of the Champs Elysees to see the Arc de Triomphe lit up at night. That was a LONG walk, especially after a tiring day.

Here's what the Champs Elysees looks like near sunset.

The Arc de Triomphe looked beautiful at sunset. The sun sets right behind it.

Well, by 10:15 pm, it was still light (as you can see here), so we took one last picture and headed to La Tour Eiffel, hoping it would be dark enough for us to see Tour lit up.

La Tour Eiffel is stunning at night. We got some (fuzzy) pictures of the tower with the moon in the picture. It was gorgeous. This picture was taken from Jardins du Trocadero, across the Seine.

Well, by then we were exhausted, so we headed back to the hotel.

The Manor, Hemingford Grey

2006-06-05T20:13:00.000+01:00

Deb's friend, Diana, took a group to 'The Manor' in the village of Hemingford Grey. It was a beautiful day to see this very famous residence and the gorgeous gardens surrounding it.

The day started with lunch at this pub, called 'The Cock.'

Here's our tour group for the day.

The pub had a cute garden patio out back. You can see how bright and sunny it was!

The Manor lies along this river, the Great Ouse. Lucy Boston first saw the house from this river and decided to purchase it after her marriage failed.

This is The Manor. It was built circa 1130 and is reputedly the oldest continuously inhabited house in England. The most recent residents are the Boston family. Lucy Boston was a very famous British children's author of the 'Green Knowe' books.

In this picture you can see traces of the Norman architecture in the windows. We were given the tour by Lucy Boston's daughter-in-law who still lives in the house with her family.

Do you see the small balcony in this picture? That would have been the original main entrance to the house. Animals would have been stabled below.

When Lucy bought the house, it was surrounded by fields. Lucy had acres and acres landscaped into beautiful gardens, including these sculped yew plants.

Lucy must have been a chess player since all these sculptures look like chess pieces!

Here's one look at a garden.

This is part of the large iris garden. The colors were beautiful, even though peak time had passed.

We decided to walk to see the church in the village. On the way we passed these two thatched houses.

The church is called St. James and is situated right along the Great Ouse river.

Here's an example of a stained glass window inside.

This is the main altar. It was a quaint little church, so I can imagine an intimate congregation worshiping here.

The cross was beautiful, showing the alpha and the omega.

Of course, Deb had to take a picture of the organ. It seemed awfully big to be in such a small church.

London with the Kids

2006-06-04T19:39:00.000+01:00

We took the kids to London for the day on Thursday. They certainly made the most of the time. Sara and Keith didn't arrive back in Cambridge until 1:00 am (due to train track maintenance). Here are some of our pictures for the day.

We took them to Buckingham Palace so they could (try to) see the Changing of the Guard.

This picture, of St. James Park right in front of the Palace, shows how the spring colors have come to London.

On our way from the Palace to Westminster we passed the glorious Abbey church.

We were at Big Ben when the clock struck noon. A discussion of the tune for the bell chimes enlivened our discussion for much of the rest of the afternoon.

This is the riverside of the Westminster Palaces, where the House of Lords and the House of Commons are located.

The London Eye sits directly in front of the London Aquarium.

This monument depicting Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni, stands at the foot of Westminster Bridge. Boudicca led a famous (and ultimately unsuccessful) revolt agains the Romans at roughly the same time that St. Paul was evangelizing in Rome.

This is Downing Street, where Tony Blair resides. Needless to say, the security fence at the top of the street was very high and well guarded.

Admiralty Arch is at the opposite end of St. James Park from Buckingham Palace and opens into Trafalgar Square.

Trafalgar Square contains the National Gallery (mostly paintings), St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church (to the right), and Nelson's Column (not pictured: unfortunately, the Column was scaffolded up, probably for cleaning). The Canadian Embassy is located off to the left of this picture.

This beautiful fountain lies directly in front of the National Gallery.

Here's another part of the fountain.

St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church is one of the most important in London.

Look at how beautiful and grand the inside of this eighteenth century church is!

This picture shows not only the arches, but the organ.

We walked on to Covent Garden, certainly the place to be for young adults at night. St. Paul's Church (not the famous Cathedral) sits at one end of Covent Garden. Performers act in the square out front.

Here's another view of Covent Garden. . .

. . . and yet another one. . .

. . . and finally, one more.

We then split up our party: the kids went to visit St. Paul's Cathedral and Tower Bridge, while Mom & Dad spent the afternoon at the British Museum.

One look at the outside of the museum and it was obvious we wouldn't have the time (or energy) to see the entire collection today.

The main entrance is off to the left of this picture; the building is classically symmetrical.

This photo shows part of the (recently enclosed) rotunda of the museum, also known as The Great Court.

Here's a view of Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Reading Room of the former British Library (which moved out to new digs at St. Pancras in the 1980s).

The circular Reading Room was spectacular. It was built between 1854-7 and is where Karl Marx wrote Das Kapital.

Here's another view of the Reading Room.

In the Museum galleries we concentrated on antiquities. This huge Assyrian human-headed winged lion dates from 865 BC.

Danny loved the displays of cuneiform writing.

This is arguably the most famous artifact in the museum: the Rosetta Stone. It really was incredible to see it up close. We were reminded of the full-size replica that sits in the foyer of the Phillips Library at our alma mater, Providence College, and greeted us whenever we went to the library to study.

The Nereid Monument pictured here dates from about 400 BC.

The Parthenon exibit was spectacular as well. It was housed in a room whose dimensions matched the Parthenon. The walls were lined with friezes like the one pictured here (from the North side of the building).

The room also contained Metopes. The detail we saw in these sculptures was amazing!

Climbing the stairs to the first floor, we passed beautiful mosaics like this one of Spring. It reminded us of the lovely mosaics in the Roman Museum in Cirencester.

The mummy exhibit was very popular, of course. This picture shows a pair of mummy cases.

Here is the mummy of Cleopatra (from the 2nd century AD). What was fascinating was that next to the exhibit was an x-ray image of the interior of the mummy.

This ivory piece depicts the Resurrection and dates to the 14th century.

Saints Cosmas and Damian are depictted in this 17th century icon.

Deb absolutely loved this 1589 Habrecht clock! It did everything!

We returned to Covent Garden to meet up with the kids. Along the way, we passed this icon of Britishness, a brolly shop! (That's an umbrella shop, for you Yanks.)

We walked directly beneath the London Eye (hoping to take a ride). It looks like it's going to fall into the Thames at any moment! But we decided against it at the end (£65, even for the unique view, didn't seem worth it).

This view of the Westminster Palace was taken from in front of the London Aquarium.

This sculpture of Dali's iconic melting clock was located on the river side of the London Aquarium outside the Dali's Universe gallery at the Council Hall.

This final picture is of Scotland Yard seen from across the Thames.

We had a very long, but wonderful day in London!

Cambridge Colleges Picturebook, VI: Wolfson, Clare Hall, Robinson

2006-06-02T10:27:00.000+01:00

The three colleges on this blog are three of the youngest Cambridge University colleges.

Here's the front gate to Wolfson College, at which Danny is a visiting scholar. It took this name in 1965.

Even on a bleak March day (when this photo was taken), you can see the beginnings of spring flowers in the gardens.

The back gate to Wolfson is the one Danny used the most, as it is closer to our house.

Here is the Lee Library (on the first floor) and the computer room (on the ground floor).

Here's a view of the computer lab at Wolfson.

This is the Cafeteria. Formal Dinners are held in the banquet hall above.

Here's a nice room where scholars can sit and read a paper.

Every college has a Porter who knows EVERYTHING about the school. Three of Wolfson's porters are named David!

Here's where the Porter's Lodge is located, directly inside the main gate.

This picture is of the same tree as in the previous picture, but taken in May (the earlier one was taken in March). Quite a difference, huh?

As you can tell by the pictures, Wolfson's buildings are all quite modern.

Lee Hall is where concerts and receptions are held at Wolfson.

Clare Hall is the next college. This is where Debbie's friend Aviva lives. It is excusively a postgraduate college, and was formed in 1966.

Each school has its own crest. The teardrops on this crest signify that Clare was widowed three times.

This sculpture, called 'Flame', rests just outside Clare Hall's gate.

These are the 'dorms' for Clare Hall students. Several are large enough to house families.

This is more housing. Clare Hall offers more visiting fellowships than any other Cambridge University college.

Here is another building at Clare Hall. The grounds contain beautiful greenery.

This statue sits in one of the gardens.

The architecture of Clare Hall is certainly unique, as seen by this picture of a housing unit, designed by Ralph Erskine.

Robinson College is the newest of Cambridge University's 31 colleges, founded in 1977.

This is the main gate to Robinson College. The college lies across the street from Clare Hall.

Unlike most other Cambridge University colleges, Robinson has very little greenery on its campus.

Most of the Campus is paved in deep red brick. Youcan also see how modern the architecture is in these pictures.

Here is a picture of Robinson College's chapel from the outside. Just look at that window!

Here's that same window as seen from the inside of the chapel.

This shows a close-up of one of the panels.

In this view of the chapel, you can just make out the organ in the back.

Here is the college library, another very modern structure.

Stoneleigh, Kenilworth, & Coventry

2006-06-01T20:30:00.000+01:00

On Tuesday, we visited three different places: Stoneleigh Abbey, Kenilworth Castle, and Coventry Cathedral. The weather cooperated, making the day even more enjoyable.

The building you see here is the main house at Stoneleigh Abbey, called the Georgian West Wing. We were able to tour this grand estate, which was the manorial home of the Leigh family and their heirs from the time of Henry VIII. In the manor house we saw the Saloon, the Library, Queen Victoria's bedroom, the Chapel, the Drawing Room, and many other elegant and restored rooms.

The gatehouse here dates to 1346 and is one of the few estate gatehouses still standing (from this time period) in the U.K.

The facade containes multi-colored stone: the lighter stone replaced original stone that was severely damaged a fire in 1959.

The Conservatory sits right along the River Avon. On the other side of the river is a beautiful field, famously occupied by American troops during WWII.

Here is a beautiful tree as seen from the Conservatory.

These are some of the original Abbey buildings, dating from 1155 when it was built as a Cistercian monastery. The old Abbey has now been made into 5 separate, private homes.

This is another picture of the beautiful gatehouse.

Stoneleigh Abbey sits a mile or so down a grand driveway, part of which you can see here. The trees line both sides: sheep graze in the fields on either side of the trees.

Believe it or not, this is the entrance to the stable yard. At one time the yard housed a livery of more than 100 horses.

Here's the main gate to the stable yard.

Each horse either had its own stall, like these pictured here, or shared a larger stall with one other horse. It was a very elegant setting.

This is the interior of the stable yard.

This picture was taken from the top of the bridge to Stoneleigh Abbey. The Avon was rerouted to suit the contours of the Abbey.

We then took a quick detour to see Kenilworth Castle. WOW! We walked along a public footpath to get the photos you see here.

Kenilworth is one of the largest castle ruins in England.

Robert Dudley transformed Kenilworth from a medieval fortress into a great Tudor palace so he could entertain Elizabeth I when she visited him here in 1575.

As we drove through the town of Kenilworth, we had to take a picture of this great thatched house.

Our last stop was Coventry, home of the war-ruined St. Michael's Church and to the newer Coventry Cathedral. In this picture, the spire to the right is from nearby Holy Trinity Church, and the spire on the left is from the ruined St. Michael's.

There have actually been three Cathedrals in Coventry's history. Here are the ruins of the first Cathedral of St. James which dates to the 11th century and was founded by Leofric and Lady Godiva.

This is St. Mary's Guildhall and is more than 650 years old. It served as the center of King Henry VI's court during the Wars of the Roses. What you see here is the facade on top of the main gate.

Here's the view once you walk through the gate. This is where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned in 1569.

Here is the Great Hall, being set up for some special event.

The walls of the Council Chambers were lined with these tapestries of many different family crests. The Guildhall still is the center of the government for Coventry.

Here is a picture of the Minstrel's Gallery from the Great Hall.

This wonderful sculpture was situated in the small cloister of the Guildhall.

Here are the Tower and Spire of St. Michael's. The Cathedral suffered a direct hit in 1940 during the Blitz, and has been left in ruins since that time. Several windows still have shards of stained glass in them. It was very moving to see.

Here is the hexagonal-shaped choir of the old church.

The new Coventry Cathedral, pictured here, is just off to the right of the ruined Cathedral (from this vantage). Unlike its predecessor, it is an extremely modern building, both inside and outside.

Here's a close-up of the sculpture on the wall outside Coventry Cathedral. It shows St. Michael defeating the Devil.

This is the West Screen, depicting angels and saints (etched into the glass). This window faces the ruined Cathedral.

The Baptismal Font, pictured here, is carved into a boulder quarried from Bethlehem. Behind the font is an incredible Baptistry Window.

The colors in the window and its size are very impressive. You can get some perspective by looking for the font boulder at the bottom rear of this picture.

This sculpture is called the Plumb-Line; it represents the message of Amos 7:7-8: "Then the Lord GOD showed me this: he was standing by a wall, plummet in hand. ...the Lord said: See, I will lay the plummet in the midst of my people Israel; I will forgive them no longer." The sculpture was given to Coventry Cathedral by the people of Christ's Church...in CINCINNATI!!

Here is the Chapel of Christ the Servant. We loved the suspended crown of thorns above the altar.

Here is 'The Tapestry.' It's enormous: it covers the entire wall behind the main altar and depicts Christ in glory.

This smaller tapestry is situated immediately below the main one in the previous photo. It adorns the Lady Chapel behind the main altar.

Also in the Lady Chapel is this statue of the Virgin Mary gazing up at her Son on the cross.

These 5 tall and thin nave windows, running from floor to ceiling, are called the Windows of Life. Starting from the back of the church they symbolize birth, youth, maturity, old age, and the afterlife.

This small, simple, and brightly-lit chapel is the Millennium Chapel of the Stalingrad Madonna.

Eight of these 'Tablets of the Word' lined both sides of the nave of the Cathedral. They highlight quotations of Christ that summarize the Gospel messages of his teaching.

The beautiful Chapel of Unity effectively conveys its message of worldwide Christian unity in its long, narrow painted windows and marble floor tiles.

The floor was tiled with both the names and symbols of the four gospel writers and . . .

. . . representations of all seven continents.

This picture gives a good view of the nave of Coventry Cathedral (and the size of The Tapestry).

This final view is of the exterior of the Unity Chapel of Coventry Cathedral.

Warwick Castle & Stratford-Upon-Avon

2006-05-31T17:59:00.000+01:00

We planned another very busy trip, this time for Sara, Keith, and Tom. On Monday, we left early and drove to Warwick Castle. The first castle on this site was built in about 1064 at the command of William the Conqueror. Over the next 400 years it was rebuilt and expanded to what it is today.

As soon as you enter the castle grounds, you are surrounded by actors playing their medieval parts. One of them announced that people should beware of Sara because she was a colonialist! This was our first view of the castle.

The walkway leads you up over the original moat and through the main gate.

The Mound, pictured here, was also built on orders from William the Conqueror to provide a defense for the castle. The wall you see does run around all four sides of the castle.

The Mill and Engine house lie along the River Avon. The earliest mill at the castle dates to the 12th century. This one dates from the 14th century.

This picture shows Guy's Tower, situated near the main castle gate. This twelve-sided tower was built in the 14th century, standing 39 meters high.

Here you can see a part of the main castle containing many of the state rooms: the Chapel, Dining Room, Great Hall, Armoury, several Drawing Rooms, all of which have period displays.

This picture was taken from the top of Guy's Tower. It shows part of the main castle building.

From Guy's Tower, the views were wonderful. Here is Caesar's Tower behind the main castle gate.

Another view shows the tents set up on the grounds. Represented there were cooks, garment makers, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, tanners, coopers, ... all the standard medieval trades.

The highlight of the visit was the launching of a 15kg rock from a great trebuchet!

Here is the trebuchet loaded and ready to be launched. It launched its payload almost a quarter mile!

Here is a close-up of the trebuchet. It requires at least 5 men to work the contraption.

Well, no medieval castle is worth the name unless they stage a joust, so we stayed for that as well, although there was very little jousting and lots of 'playing.'

These two knights were the 'good guys.'

Can you tell that this Black Knight and the Red Knight in the first picture are the 'bad guys?'

After Warwick Castle, we drove on to Shakespeare's hometown, Stratford-Upon-Avon. What a beautiful town, even in the rain!

The owner of this boat must be a Lord of the Rings fan!

This is the town library. 'Shakespeare' was out front pantomiming (and scaring unwitting tourists).

This is Shakespeare's birthplace. It is a beautiful medieval building with a lovely garden in back.

This just shows you how ominous the skies looked while we were in Stratford. It made for a stunning picture.

This beautiful building is called the Shakespeare Hostelry.

This is Nash's House. Nash was the husband of Shakespeare's granddaughter.

This is a view of the side of Nash's House as seen from the garden.

We believe the part of the house in back is 'New Place,' which Shakespeare bought in 1597 with his London earnings. He later died there, in 1616.

This is the Falcon Hotel. Wouldn't you just love to stay in a hotel like this?

Walking down the passage by Nash's House brought us to this famous building -- the Swan Theatre. It makes sense that it is so close to Shakespeare's dwellings.

The Royal Shakespeare Theatre occupies the same building as the Swan, but at the opposite end. This is where we saw a great production of Romeo and Juliet on Monday night.

There were dozens of swans on the River Avon.

This is a beautiful view of the one bridge in town that crosses the River Avon.

Here is the Royal Shakespeare Theatre as seen from across the River Avon. The Swan Theatre is under the roof in the background.

The park at the marina sported this statue of Shakespeare surrounded by statues of some of his most famous characters, among them . . .

Lady Macbeth . . .

...and Hamlet.

We spent the night at this rustic B&B called Holly-Tree Cottage. The main house dates from the 17th century.

Holly-Tree Cottage is surrounded by beautiful countryside. It's too bad we weren't around long enough to enjoy the serenity.

On Tuesday: Stoneleigh Abbey, and Coventry...

American Cemetery & Bury St. Edmunds

2006-05-30T21:23:00.000+01:00

On Sunday, to celebrate (American) Memorial Day we went to the American Cemetery in Madingley, just outside Cambridge. It was the perfect SUNNY day to visit this memorial to Americans who perished (mostly on sea and in the air) in the British Isles, Europe, and the North Atlantic during WWII.

This War Memorial Wall lists the names of all who died from each branch of the military: Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard.

The grave markers lie next to the Mall and spread out down the hill covering a dozen or so acres.

This is the view along the Mall from the Chapel.

On the day before Memorial Day, the grounds were manicured and ready for the ceremonies to be held the next day. Each gravesite was dressed with both the Stars & Stripes and the Union Jack. It was a very moving sight.

This is the view towards the Chapel. The interior is tiled, walls and ceiling, with a beautiful mosaic. On the right wall is a map of the world marked with all the WWII battle sites (air, land, sea). The windows on the left side of the Chapel contained panels with the crests of all 50 states.

Here is the mosaic behind the Chapel altar. You can see how the mosaic stretches out along the ceiling, depicting angels flying alongside airplanes.

Here is a sample of one of the windows with the state crests.

This view of the cemetery gives you an idea of its expanse.

There are 24 graves of Unknown Soldiers in the cemetery. Each of these graves is also adorned with white carnations.

Here is a view down the drive along the field of graves that leads into the fields beyond.

After leaving the American Cemetery, we decided to take a drive to the town of Bury St. Edmunds.

One of the first buildings you can see as you enter the town is this lovely Medieval building.

The Cathedral Church of St. James lies on the site of a former Benedictine Abbey. This picture shows the gate to the Abbey.

The Abbey grounds contain beautiful gardens like those pictured here.

Our visit coincided with the final day of the Bury Spring Festival.

The Abbey ruins are substantial. The whole area was filled with people enjoying the day and waiting for a concert that was to start late in the afternoon.

Isn't this old bridge gorgeous?

Here are the ruins of an Abbey tower.

Here are Sara and Keith walking in among the ruined arches.

In this picture you can see the ruined pillars that held up the main tower of the Abbey Church.

This is what's left of the original Church.

The present-day Cathedral can easily be seen from the Abbey ruins.

This is a closer picture of the pillars, as well as the North Transept wall. It shows just how large the original Church was.

This is another view of the Cathedral.

A close look at this picture (download it and use a zoom) will give you a sense of what the ceiling of the Cathedral looks like. It was stunning!

This is called the Susanna Window. Susanna was wrongly accused of adultery and tried. She is pictured in the blue robe.

The absence of a choir screen separating the two parts of the Cathedral (as in most Cathedrals we've seen) give this church a sense of significant depth and grandeur.

This is the High Altar with the Choir behind.

Here is the organ. You can also see the colorful ceiling.

This is a view looking up the central, Great Tower.

Here's what the nave looks like, standing in front of the High Altar.

Finally, here's a picture of the Cathedral Bell Tower.

Oxford

2006-05-28T20:21:00.000+01:00

On Saturday, we spent an (unfortunately) very rainy day touring England's other great university city, Oxford.

Even in the rain, Oxford was teeming with people. The need to be out and about in the bustle of city life clearly outweighs the more rational imperative for shelter! For us, this was our only chance to visit 'the other place,' as Cantabrigians refer to Oxford. Here is a wonderful old building in the city center.

Carfax Tower, pictured here, is the 14th century tower of St. Martin's Church. We arrived just in time to hear the chime toll noon.

Christ Church College is recently famous as the site of Hogwart's Dining Hall in the Harry Potter films. Here you can see a view of the Christ Church Great Hall in the background of the college grounds.

This is the main gate to Christ Church College, occupying the site of a religious house founded in 700 AD by St. Fridewide, patroness of the city.

This is Tom Tower, so called since it houses Great Tom, the large bell moved here from Osney Abbey after the Reformation. This view is from the cloisters. The tower was designed by the famous Christopher Wren, and the bell tolls 101 times at 9:05 pm daily, supposedly to call back the 101 scholars to the college grounds before the gates are locked for the night.

The Great Hall was closed to visitors on the day we arrived, but we were able to photograph the grand staircase leading to the Hall. (This is where Professor McGonigle meets the first years in HP and the Sorcerer's Stone.)

The Cathedral was also beautiful and dates to the late 12th century. This is a picture of the nave.

The arches show the Norman (and Early English) style of the Cathedral.

This beautiful Madonna and Child statue was at the entrance to the Lady Chapel.

The reredos here, at the High Altar, was also beautiful.

The choir stalls were adorned with wooden details, like the angel pictured here.

This, dear Muggles, was our best view of the Great Hall.

Here you can see both the inner courtyard as well as Tom Tower.

Oxford University consists of 39 colleges. The one pictured here, is Merton College, founded in 1264. This was the first college here where students could live and be tutored. J.R.R. Tolkein was Professor of English Language and Literature here (1945-1968).

This is the main gate to All Souls College. It was founded in 1438 by Archbishop Chichele of Canterbury, as a memorial to those who died in the Hundred Hears' War.

Here is the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin. It was built in the early 14th century on the site of a former St. Mary's Church, and incorporates its 13th century tower.

These statues stand above the altar. They are (left to right) Catherine of Alexandria, Frideswide of Oxford, Mary Magdalene, the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, Hugh of Lincoln, and Edmund of Abingdon (Oxford-educated 13th c. Archbishop of Canterbury).

Danny loved these old and battered altar stalls.

Radcliffe Camera, the building pictured here, was completed in 1749. It was built to house a library devoted to the sciences, but is now a private reading room for the Bodleian Library.

Balliol College was founded from a penance served by John of Balliol when he assaulted the Bishop of Durham. John was publicly whipped and commanded to perform a charitable act. So in 1266 he created an Oxford hostel for 16 poor scholars that later became Balliol College.

Blackwell's Bookshop opened in 1879. It is one of the world's largest and most famous bookshops. The Norrington Room (in the basement) is the biggest single room of books in England.

Exeter College was founded in 1314 by the Bishop of Exeter. (Here is where Tolkein studied as a young man.)

This gorgeous building is the Sheldonian Theatre which opened in 1669. It was the first large-scale work by Christopher Wren. It is now used for Oxford degree ceremonies.

We had to eat lunch at The Eagle and Child, the same pub where Tolkein and C.S. Lewis frequented during the 1940s and 1950s, when The Lord of the Rings and the Narnia books were written.

These two framed pieces contain various memorabilia from both Lewis and Tolkien. They were part of a group of academic and literary men called the 'Inklings.'

You can tell by this picture how quaint The Eagle and Child Pub is.

Sara and Keith did the touristy thing: having their picture taken with the menu in the pub.

Here is a letter written by the 'Inklings' to the owner of the pub (Lewis' contribution is at the top of the page and Tolkien's at the very bottom).

After lunch we went to the Bodleian Library. Here is the back of the Sheldonian as seen from the courtyard of the Bodleian Library.

The Bodleian is the main research library for the university and another of England's copyright libraries. It houses over 9 million items! All the tour tickets were sold out, so sadly, we weren't able to enter the main library. Here are two of the dozen or so doors that open onto the impressive inner courtyard. Above each door are names of the ancient schools at the university. The door on the left advertises the School of Languages (Hebrew and Greek) and the School of Geometry and Arithmetic, while the one on the right leads to the School of Metaphysics.

The beautiful fan-vaulted ceiling in the hall at the Divinity School was started in about 1420 but not completed until the 1480s.

We toured the collection at the Ashmolean Museum.

This 2nd c. AD Greco-Roman frieze is called 'Metrological Relief.' It shows various measures of length, and may have stood above a door at a market where officials controlled the weights and measures for commerce.

This stunning 'Mummy Portrait' comes from Egypt (3rd c. AD).

Just look at how elaborate this ancient Indian 'Ceiling Boss' is.

Here is St. John's College. Sir Thomas White, a tailor, bought a 15th century college and founded it in the name of John the Baptist, the patron saint of tailors.

This picture is of St. Mary Magdalen Church.

This Martyrs' Memorial was erected in 1841 to commemmorate Protestant martyrs who died in the 16th century.

Sara's Graduation

2006-05-24T20:36:00.000+01:00

Well, it's official! Our daughter Sara has her college diploma. It was spelled correctly and even signed! Below are pictures from both the baccalaureate service and graduation at Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania.

We begin with the official Elizabethtown College banner. Banners like this one lined the driveway up to Leffler Chapel.

Of course, no celebration is complete without cake -- this one supplied by the College.

The baccalaureate service was held in beautiful Leffler Chapel on Friday night. It was a very moving service, revolving around a dozen or so short addresses by graduating seniors.

Sara won the honors of selecting the music and conducting the choir during the service. Here she is 'taking attendance.'

That's Sara conducting the choir. It is the first time we've seen her conduct. Very nice technique, my dear.

Mila is one of Sara's good friends. She also accompanied Sara on the piano for one of her vocal recital pieces this year.

Here is Sara and Lisa, her roomate of 3 1/2 years.

After the baccalaureate we were treated to (very loud) music, drinks, and this unbelievable Hershey chocolate-covered strawberry fountain!

Saturday was a beautiful day for an outdoor graduation.

At the graduation ceremony, Sara was part of a vocal quartet. (She's the short one!) Here they are singing the National Anthem.

Yay! Sara didn't trip going up the steps to get her diploma!

I think that's relief on her face here as she walks back to her seat.

After all the speakers were finished and diplomas were handed out, the quartet sang the Alma Mater.

Gee, do you think she's happy?

Here are three of the four BAs in Music: Mila (piano), Erin (alto voice), and Sara (soprano voice).

These are Sara's two closest friends, Lisa (left) and Sarah (right). They will be two of her bridesmaids when she marries in August.

Here they are showing off their hoods.

The proud family (now including Keith, her fiancé, to her right, and her brother Tom, to her left). . .

. . . and again.

You can see the pink flip-flops these three wore. The pink is to symbolize that they were Music majors.

Sara with Lisa. . .

Sara with Tom . . .

. . . and Sara with Keith.

Quad D6 was known as the 'cool' quad (in their eyes, anyway).

Lastly, here's Sara with Lisa, Sarah, and their friend Steph, outside their quad.

Cambridge Colleges Picturebook, V: Jesus, Sidney Sussex, Emmanuel, Downing

2006-05-17T19:07:00.000+01:00

The first college pictured in this post is Jesus College, founded in 1496.

This walled path through the gate at Jesus College is called 'The Chimney.' Jesus College was the first college to take over the site of an old medieval priory. The college is built around the plan of the original nunnery buildings.

This picture shows one of the inner courtyards.

This is First Courtyard, directly past the gate in the picture above.

This is a picture of Cloister Court. You can really tell that it was a cloister in earlier times.

This beautiful detail was on a door in the Cloister hallway.

These arches are somewhat sunken, and were certainly a part of the original cloister.

A few famous 'Jesus men' were Thomas Cranmer, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Alistair Cooke.

These pictures show Sidney Sussex College, founded in 1596.

This college is well hidden by the large walls along Sidney Street. The walls hide the beautiful buildings (and gardens) inside.

Here is another of Sidney Sussex's courtyards. The college was built on the site of a Franciscan friary before the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII.

These are the gardens (in winter). I'll have to take more pictures now that it's springtime!

Here is another courtyard. The red and white brick faces of the courtyard buildings really are beautiful, even on a rainy day.

The chapel lies in this courtyard. The head of Oliver Cromwell is buried somewhere in the antechapel. He studied at Sidney Sussex for only one year, in 1616.

This is the Coat of Arms for Sidney Sussex College.

Here's one final view of the Chapel at Sidney Sussex.

Emmanuel College is John Harvard's (of Harvard University) former school. It was founded in 1584 on the site of a Dominican friary dismantled during the Dissolution.

The main gate, pictured here, lies along St. Andrew's Street, one of the busiest thoroughfares in Cambridge.

This building is the college library.

Emmanuel College Chapel, pictured here, was Christopher Wren's second building in Cambridge (after Pembroke College Chapel). After designing this chapel, Wren went to London to help rebuild the city after the Great Fire.

The two pictures here are located in the Chapel. The man on the left in the first window here is John Harvard.

These two pictures show the fishpond of the old 16th century friary. The building in back of the pond is student housing.

Don't you love all the ducks?

Emmanuel College also has beautiful gardens, a sample of which is pictured here.

Finally, we come to Downing College, which is just down the street from Emmanuel. It is built on a 15-acre site with vast lawns. Downing was founded in 1800 with money willed by the grandson of the man who built Downing Street in London (the Prime Minister's residence).

At Downing, most buildings look like the one pictured here, rectangular, box-like, neo-Classical buildings faced with yellow ketton stone.

Here is a picture of the Chapel. Even the Chapel is of a consistent Greek classical style.

The inside of the Chapel is very bright, and unornamented, giving it a spacious look.

A final view of Downing's campus.

Cambridge Colleges Picturebook, IV: Selwyn, Newnham, & Darwin

2006-05-17T16:29:00.000+01:00

Below are some pictures of Selwyn College which opened in 1882. It was a favorite college for sons of clergymen because all senior members had to be confirmed Anglicans (not the case today).

The main gate shows the red-brick, neo-Tudor style of the 1880s.

This is the outside of the main gate.

The greek inscription atop the main gate means 'Stand fast in the faith & acquit yourselves like men.'

This beautiful building is the Master's Lodge. Each college has its own Master who lives in the Master's Lodge during his/her term.

Here in the main courtyard are student lodgings.

The Chapel, pictured here, is reminiscent in style (but not size) of King's College Chapel, built 400 years earlier.

In this picture you can see the similarity between Selwyn's Chapel and King's College Chapel.

Here is the interior of the Chapel. We liked the decoration behind the altar showing Jesus ascending with a pair of angels.

Here are some details on the Chapel's choir stalls.

This grand building houses the dining hall.

Of course, flowers are abundant on campus.

Next is Newnham College which lies just across the street from Selwyn College.

The main gate to Newnham College. The college was founded in 1871 as a women's college. The writer Sylvia Plath and actress Emma Thompson are Newnham graduates.

This is the inside of the main gate. The red and white brick (Queen Anne style architecture) is very attractive.

This is a picture of one of the side gates to Newnham.

We aren't quite sure whether or not these are student rooms. It was a beautiful scene with the green and purple foliage alongside the red brick.

Here are some more student rooms. The cranes in the background indicate that Newnham is still building. It is definitely a thriving college.

Here is another view of the courtyard.

From the outside, looking in, this seemed to be the dining hall.

This garden and fountain are situated immediately inside the main gate.

Now we will move on to Darwin College. It is one of the newer colleges, founded in 1964.

Darwin College (which has a very small campus) was the first modern Cambridge college designed solely for postgraduates. It was the first Cambridge college to accept both men and women.

This is a view of the gardens at Darwin. The Cam runs right along the back of the small campus.

We don't know exactly what this building is, but its architecture was very interesting.

The college is named Darwin because the campus encompasses the former residence of the Darwin family (the great Cambridge dynasty descended from the naturalist Charles Darwin) pictured here.

This is the back of the Darwin House, looking from across the River Cam.

Here is one final view of the Cam running through the back of Darwin College.

Henry Moore Foundation at Perry Green

2006-05-15T20:44:00.000+01:00

Eleven of us (from the coffee morning group) took a trip to the village of Perry Green, home of the Henry Moore Foundation. Henry Moore was a famous English sculptor of the 20th century. His sculptures can be found all over the world. Here are pictures of several we saw on our trip.

Before the guided tour, we ate lunch at this quaint inn, The Hoops.

See how rustic the interior looks?

Here is the first view of the grounds of Henry Moore's estate. Moore started here in a small cottage with his wife. As his fame increased, he bought more land and built more studios. The grounds now encompass 70 acres of land.

This is called Knife Edge Two Piece. The mirror-image of this can be found in Washington, DC.

Moore's signature can be found on many of the bronze sculptures.

This sculpture, called Locking Pieces, is not made of bronze, but fiberglass.

Here is a view of how many of the sculptures are placed on the grounds. The three here are: Goslar Warrior(front), Knife Edge(left back) and Three Piece Sculpture: Vertebrae(right back).

This is a close-up of Three Piece Sculpture: Vertebrae. You could see handprints (of the molders) on the bronze.

A sheep pasture actually contained several sculptures. This is called Oval with Points.

I loved this one, Sheep Piece.

If possible, click on this to enlarge it. It's called Large Reclining Figure and sits on top of a small hill in the pasture.

As Moore's fame rose, he had to build more and more studios, like the one pictured here.

The title of this piece is Large Spindle Piece.

Here is Draped Reclining Mother and Baby. Henry Moore built many sculptures of Mother and Child. We saw a marble Mother and Child at St. Paul's Cathedral.

Aisled Barn, pictured here contained enormous tapestries that Moore designed. They were incredible!

Here is Sqare Form with Cut. Another one of these is in Florence, Italy.

This bronze sculpture is the largest and weighs 21 tons. You can get an idea of its size by Beth, Aviva and Brigitte standing at it. It's called Large Figure in a Shelter.

I also liked Double Oval, pictured here.

Here was another huge bronze sculpture, entitled The Arch.

The last sculpture we saw was this, called Large Upright Internal/External Form (kind of a long name). Again, it was huge and had a lovely pond in back of it.

Here's a closer view of the 'interior' of the sculpture.

Cambridge Colleges Picturebook, III: Trinity & Kings

2006-05-14T13:14:00.000+01:00

Trinity College lies next to St. John's College. Trinity's most famous student was Isaac Newton. It should be noted, though, that Prince Charles and Prince Andrew were also students at Trinity.

Here's the Great Gate to Trinity. Trinity is both the largest and wealthiest of the Cambridge University colleges. It was founded in 1546.

A close-up of Henry VIII on top of the Great Gate shows him holding a CHAIR LEG! One year a student prank involved removing the staff and replacing it with this chairleg. The original has never been found.

This is Trinity Great Court. It's the largest enclosed courtyard in Europe. A part of the movie Chariots of Fire was filmed in this courtyard.

Here is a view, from the Great Courtyard, looking at the chapel.

In the antechapel there are plaques with famous Trinity graduates on them as well as statues of 4 famous men: Isaac Newton, pictured here . . .

. . . Lord Tennyson, here, and Francis Bacon and Lord Macaulay. Trinity's graduates have claimed more than 28 Nobel Prizes in the 20th century alone.

The fountain, in the center of Great Courtyard, dates from the 17th century. The water comes from an underground conduit (1.5 miles long) constructed in the 14th century.

Here is a picture of Nevile's Court, named after the Master of Trinity from 1593-1615.

In this view of Nevile's Court you can see a covered walkway. This is the hallway where Newton performed his sound experiments.

Here's the outside of the famous Wren Library. What a treat it is to see the historic documents inside!

This is what Wren Library looks like inside. At the end is a statue of Lord Byron, another famous Trinity graduate.

Each alcove within the library looks similar to this.

At Wren Library, one of the famous documents is a first edition of the Complete Works of Shakespeare.

Here is Newton's financial ledger. We were actually able to read the ledger and recognize several places around Cambridge!

Of course, Newton's Principia Mathematica, first edition, is also at the library. You can see Newton's corrections (preparing for a second edition) in his handwriting if you look closely.

This is one of the many 'back' gates to Trinity. Being the largest college, it has several entrances, most as picturesque as this.

The pictures below are of Kings College, founded in 1441. It's most famous for the extraordinary Kings College Chapel (and boys choir).

This is the main gate to Kings College. The Chapel can just barely be seen in back of the gate.

Here's the Chapel, which lies just inside the main gate. It is probably the most photographed building in Cambridge (and for good reason).

This side view of the chapel was taken from the Front Court (just inside the main gate). Completion of the chapel took 80 years, beginning in 1446.

This is a close-up of the great West Door of the chapel.

My friend Aviva took these two pictures of the inside of the chapel. The fan vault ceiling is absolutely gorgeous, as are all the stained glass windows.

In this view we are looking across Front Court to the main gate. Again, you can see the chapel as well.

This is the Gibbs building, situated directly across Front Court from the chapel.

Here is Webb's Court, which is closed to the public. It looked like a private garden area.

Here is the chapel, looking down Trinity Lane. Clare College's main gate is toward the right in this picture, where the two posts are.

This beautiful picture is of the back of Kings College, taken from a punt on the Cam.

Cambridge Colleges Picturebook, II: St. John's, Corpus Christi, Queens'

2006-05-13T20:01:00.000+01:00

St. John's College is the most picturesque campus in Cambridge. It was founded in 1511 by Lady Margaret Beaufort (mother of Henry VII). St. John's is second in size with 800 students. Only Trinity has more.

This front gate is definitely the most colorful of all the Cambridge colleges.

In this view you are looking at the inside of the front gate as seen from First Court.

Here is St. John's Chapel. St. John's is the second school to have a Choir School for boys (Kings is the other school). Evensong is sung by the boys choir (and the music is beautiful). The chapel was designed by George Gilbert Scott.

Along the outside of St. John's Chapel are life-like statues (in the niches) of former members of the college.

Julie P. took the next two pictures, of the interior of St. John's Chapel.

It's difficult to see here, but the chapel ceiling is stunningly beautiful.

This is called First Court and dates from the 1500s.

Second Court, pictured here, dates from the 1600s. . .

. . . and Third Court dates from the 1700s.

This building is called the School of Pythagoras. No one knows why: Pythagoras was never here. In addition, there are no triangles evident in or around the building! It is one of the oldest surviving houses in England, having been built in the 12th century.

Here is another building on the campus of St. John's College. St. John's was the first college to breech the Cam and build on the other side of the river.

This is the Bridge of Sighs, modeled after the original in Venice. It's one of 2 bridges that lead from St. John's across the Cam.

Once you go over the Bridge of Sighs, here's your view, of a beautiful corridor leading to New Court.

Here's a view of New Court at St. John's. It's called the Wedding Cake and is almost perfectly symmetrical.

Here's a close-up of the left side of the Wedding Cake. These are student dorm rooms.

This is a picture of the back of New Court looking from the Cam.

Below are pictures of Corpus Christi College, usually closed to visitors. We were able to enter as part of a Newcomers Club tour. Corpus Christi was founded in 1352 by two citizens guilds.

This is the front gate, entered from Trumpington St.

This is New Court and houses the Parker Library. The Parker Library contains the most important collections of medieval manuscripts and books in England. Included in this collection is St. Augustine's Bible, dating from around 800.

This is another view of New Court.

Look at this! It's called Old Court and is the oldest surviving residential range in Cambridge or Oxford.

Here's another view of Old Court. The playwright Christopher Marlowe was a student here.

This is a beautiful picture of the sundial on the side of the building in Old Court.

The next college is Queens' College, founded in 1448 next to a Carmelite friary. It's named after two queens (Margaret of Anjou, queen to Henry VI and Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV).

The main gate is shown here. It hides the beautiful campus inside.

Upon entering the gate, you are in Old Court, pictured here.

This clock is on the side of the building in Old Court.

Cloister Court, shown here, is definitely one of Cambridges most beautiful courtyards.

This view, of Cloister Court, shows the outer wall of Old Court.

Here's yet another view of cloister court. The most famous student of Queens' College was Desiderius Erasmus.

This is the Mathematical Bridge which connects Cloister Court to Lyon and Cripps Courts (dorms) on the other side of the Cam. Legend says that when the original bridge was built (in 1749) no screws or bolts were necessary. This is the third bridge on the site, constructed to an identical design.

Cambridge Colleges Picturebook, I: Peterhouse, Clare, Pembroke

2006-05-13T10:20:00.000+01:00

We begin with Peterhouse, the oldest of the colleges at Cambridge University, founded in 1284.

This is the main courtyard showing the chapel which was designed by Christopher Wren's uncle, Matthew Wren.

Part of the original stonework is still visible, shown here. The doors are so low that an average adult needs to duck to get through. Adults 700 years ago were shorter than we are.

The Chapel has a beautiful gothic window behind the altar.

The beautiful daffodil garden was stunning to see in spring.

Clare College was founded in 1326 as University Hall, then as Clare Hall, then Clare College.It's not to be confused with the college Clare Hall (will be pictured in a later post).

Here is the main courtyard.

The Chapel dates from 1763-1769.

The main gate contains the shield of Clare College's foundress, Lady Elizabeth de Clare, who was widowed three times. The shield, therefore, has teardrops around the upper part.

It is said that this building (the Master's Lodge?) is one of the most photographed in Cambridge. It lies along the backs of the Cam and has a very stately aura about it.

Clare College's gardens are exquisite and are certainly the pride of the college. To the right is a picture of part of the Fellows Garden, with the stately building in the background.

Here's another of Clare College's beautiful gardens.

Pembroke College was founded in 1347. Its claim to fame is that the Chapel was the first building built by the famous architect, Christopher Wren.

Here's the facade of the chapel. Notice that one side is in yellow stone: the other three sides are of deep red brick.

As with all Wren buildings, his mathematical training is evident in the interior of the chapel as well as the exterior.

In this view of the Chapel entrance, you can see the symmetry of design.

The next two pictures are of Old Court. You can see the various architectural styles in these two pictures. Pembroke developed over a 600-year period: hence the differing styles found.

This is the library with a statue of William Pitt (an undergraduate at age 15 in 1773 and Prime Minister before age 25) out front.

These two pictures are of Ivy Court.

New Court, pictured here, contains much open, green space. You can see how hard the students are 'studying' for their exams in this picture.

Lincoln

2006-05-12T22:37:00.000+01:00

The last stop on this whirlwind trip was to the city of Lincoln to see both the castle and the cathedral. Needless to say, we were unable to see both. By the time we were finished touring the cathedral, the castle was no longer admitting visitors. So we weren't able to see one of the 4 original copies of the Magna Carta. (Sigh. Luckily, we had a chance to see another original at Salisbury Cathedral in March.)

Here was our first view of Lincoln Cathedral as we were walking down Eastgate from the car park. This is the east tower, of course.

The west front of the Cathedral is so large, it wouldn't fit in one picture. Here, then, is a picture of the front of the guidebook so you can see what it looks like!

These three arches are all that remains of the original Norman Cathedral built in the mid-11th century.

In this view you are seeing the tops of the 3 Norman arches and the two towers at the west front.

This view is of the north side from the west front. . .

. . . and here is the south side including the Galilee Porch.

This is the Exchequer Gate; it lies just in front of the Cathedral (preventing anyone from taking a picture of the whole west façade without a special lens).

From the Exchequer Gate you can see the walls of Lincoln Castle, right across the town square from the Cathedral.

This was a real treat: this store, on Steep Hill close to the Cathedral and Castle, is Imperial Teas. The small shop was lined, wall to wall and floor to ceiling, with teas of every kind, specializing in Asian varieties. There were at least 10 different kinds of Darjeeling teas and at least eight Earl Greys. Of course, we bought some tea.

Now back to the Cathedral. Here are statues of English kings atop the Great West Door.

Inside the Cathedral now, we came across stone details like the angel pictured here.

Here is the choir. You can see the organ in the background.

Here is the High Altar with the Great East Window behind it.

The Great East Window was made in about 1275 and is considered the first Gothic eight-light window. It is 59 feet high.

This is the shrine to St. Hugh of Lincoln. The modern-looking 'headpiece' was made in 1986 to celebrate the 800th year of St. Hugh's arrival in Lincoln.

This shrine is called the Easter Sepulchre. It's a rare example of a representation of the tomb of Christ. You can see three knights in the stone carving shown guarding the tomb to prevent the disciples from stealing Jesus's body.

The next two pictures show details on the front panels of the choir stalls. Here is an angel playing a portable organ. . .

. . . and this shows an angel playing a lute. Aren't they beautiful?

We found this Green Man boss in the cloister ceiling.

Here's another great cloister boss of a Green Man.

Here is a picture of the west tower seen from the cloister.

This is a view of the cloister, not as large as many we have seen.

The Lincoln Cathedral's Chapter House, pictured here, will soon be quite famous. Part of The Da Vinci Code was filmed here!

Doesn't this artwork look stunning? It's actually fake. These are painted canvasses that were fitted on the walls of the Chapter House for the filming of the movie.

Here is the entryway to the Chapter House. The blue board on the left was an exhibit of pictures, comments, etc. from Tom Hanks, Ron Howard, and others involved in the movie's production.

This is called the Dean's Window and is in the North Transept.

The Bishop's Eye Window is opposite the Dean's Eye Window, in the South Transept.

This is the altar screen at Lincoln.

Here is a view of the nave of the Cathedral. As it was getting late, the sun shone through the West Window. For some reason there was no furniture set up on the floor of the cathedral on this day.

After visiting the Cathedral, we decided to walk down Steep Hill again. It is well named. In Roman times, this hill was a grand staircase leading up to the square at the center of the Roman settlement. This medieval building is called the Harlequin. It housed the first theatre in Lincoln, dating from 1744.

This is the side of the Harlequin.

Here is 'Jews House,' located at the bottom of Steep Hill. It was the home of a wealthy Jewish (banker) named Belaset of Wallingford. In 1290 the Jews were expelled from England and their homes seized. In 1992 (after 702 years), the FIRST meeting of Jews for purposes of worship since 1290 was held here, at Jews Court. Can you believe it?

This is a view looking up Steep Hill.

Here's another view. The castle and Cathedral both lie atop this hill. Pilgrims really had to CLIMB to get there.

The Roman town was called Lindum Colonia, which was later fused into Lincoln. At the end of Bailgate, the road that extends northwards from Steep Hill is Newport Arch, the north gate of Roman Lindum. It's relatively low clearance indicates how much the level of the town has been raised since Roman times, when the top of the arch was 6 meters off the ground!

This is all that's left of the Roman Forum that originally was here. These pillar remains run down the middle of Bailgate.

Our last view of Lincoln Cathedral was of this, the outside of the Chapter House.

We wish we had scheduled more time for this trip, but we are very glad we were able to see what we did. We'll just have to come back someday to see the rest.

York Minster

2006-05-11T11:23:00.000+01:00

First thing Tuesday morning we headed to York Minster, planning on spending a couple of hours there before heading off to Lincoln. WRONG!! We spent 4 hours there entranced with the rich treasures of this gorgeous cathedral!

St. Olave's Church, pictured here stands on Bootham St. in the city walls, on our way in to the Minster.

Here is an example of the original York city walls, again, running along Bootham St.

This is High Petergate; it leads the way not only to the cathedral but to a mainly pedestrian shopping area in the center of York.

Across from High Petergate is the City Art Gallery.

This beautiful picture shows the west entrance to York Minster. What an amazing sight!

We heard the bell tower, pictured here, toll at 8:45 am.

This is the north side of the nave of the Minster.

There are lovely gardens on the north side with many colorful trees.

In this picture you can see TWO of the Minster's towers.

This is the south entrance, where visitors enter. The people at the bottom of the picture give an idea of the size of the Minster.

The SW side, pictured here, contains the Coverdale Chapel, the small building in front; Miles Coverdale translated the first English Bible.

Here is the choir screen with the organ perched on top. Notice the beautiful Easter cross in front.

A close-up of the screen decoration shows nearly life-size statues of 15 of the kings of England, from William the Conqueror to Henry VI.

This picture of the nave, taken from the crossing, doesn't even begin to do justice to the sheer size of the Minster.

This beautiful 400-year old clock is in the North transept. The two oak figures below it strike every quarter hour.

The Chapter House was also beautiful. Here is a picture of the ceiling. We saw remnants of the original ceiling during our tour of the crypt below the Minster.

You can see the enormous windows of the Chapter House here.

We loved this detail in the Chapter House. Numerous whimsical details were found in the stonework throughout the Minster.

We found this Green Man in the hallway leading to the Chapter House.

This astronomical clock was in the North Transept, near the 400-year old clock.

The official name of York Minster is St. Peter in York Cathedral. Here is a lovely statue of the patron with the keys of his office at the great west doors of the Minster.

Here is another great picture of the nave. You can clearly see the hanging cross in front of the screen.

Next to its size, the other most striking feature of York Minster is its large collection of medieval stained glass. This is the Jesse Window, depicting Jesus' lineage. It starts with Jesse at the very bottom, then King David above him, Solomon above him, the Virgin Mary, and finally, Jesus at the top. Other ancestors and prophets are shown alongside.

The choir dates from the 14th century, but had to be restored after a fire in 1829.

This is the High Altar with the Great East Window behind it.

The Great East Window (dating from 1405-1408) contains the largest area of medieval stained glass in a single window in the world. It depicts the beginning and end of the world.

This is the Lady Chapel altar. The reredos shows the Nativity, including the Holy Family, shepherds and wise men.

The first church on the site of York Minster dates to 627, but in the 300s this was the site of a Roman army fortress, where Constantine was proclaimed emperor in 306. Later, he would be called Constantine the Great, the emperor who issued the famous Edict of Milan in 312, permitting religious expression throughout the Roman Empire. But by dallying 4 hours touring York Minster we had no time left to visit the museum's Constantine exhibit!

Still, on the way back to the car we passed through the museum grounds. The next three photos are of the ruins of St. Mary's Abbey. The museum sits in these same gardens.

Then it was off to Lincoln! Look for those pictures in the next post.

Durham Cathedral & City of York

2006-05-10T16:09:00.000+01:00

Well, we finally did it! We planned too much in too little time: three days of travel to do in just two. Still we saw some wonderful sights. Day 1 consisted of Durham Cathedral and the city of York. Enjoy these pictures.

During our 4.5 hour trip to Durham we took a little detour off the A1 in Lincolnshire to see Isaac Newton's childhood home at Woolsthorpe Manor. Unfortunately we could only take photographs from the gate as the facility was closed on Mondays.

From these pictures you can tell that he came from a relatively well-off family.

For the entire two-day trip, these fields could be seen all up and down the highways of England. The yellow of these flowers was so bright at times that it actually was hard to look at.

This pictures shows another surprise that awaited us. Driving through Nottinghamshire, we skirted along the REAL Sherwood Forest, of Robin Hood fame. Is that one of his merry men hiding in the trees?

In the city of Durham we parked by the River Wear (pronounced weer). The castle and cathedral lie on a peninsula surrounded by this river.

This was our first view of Durham Cathedral which lies atop a hill overlooking Durham proper.

Here is one of the cathedral's three towers. It is too bad that we have only a small number of photos of the interior: we were not permitted to take pictures inside the cathedral, but sneaked a couple anyway! Inside we were able to see the shrines of St. Cuthbert, the 7th century shepherd monk and bishop who helped to restore Roman practices to the Celtic Christians of Northumbria, and his contemporary, the Venerable Bede, the great early historian of England and Doctor of the Church. We have a few shots of the latter below.

This shows the Prior's Door leading from the Cloisters to the Cathedral.

This picture shows one of the four cloister hallways. There were ceiling bosses here, but they weren't nearly as spectacular as those at Norwich.

In this beautiful picture we are standing in one of the cloister hallways, looking up at the other two towers which are a part of the Lady Chapel.

Here is another view of the cloisters.

Originally, this building was part of the kitchen, which included a vaulted wine cellar. Now it houses the restaurant as well as the Treasures of St. Cuthbert exhibition.

This picture is of the central tower as seen from the cloisters.

The hall with this lovely timbered ceiling was formerly the Monk's Dormitory (14th cent.). Now it contains the modern book collection.

The Galilee Chapel, otherwise known as the Lady Chapel, was built in 1175 and was the only place where women could worship in the cathedral at that time. Pictured here is the tomb of Bede.

Behind the altar of the Lady Chapel are twelfth century wall paintings of St. Cuthbert and St. Oswald.

Across the square from the Cathedral sits Durham Castle, whose tower is pictured here. It now houses parts of the University of Durham.

Here is the main gate into the castle grounds.

Another view of the wall and side gate. Notice the crosses etched in the wall.

Here is a closeup of the blossoms of the beautiful tree just inside the wall of the castle in the photo above! You can see the castle tower through its branches.

Our two-hour drive from Durham to York was spent admiring the countless fields of yellow that surrounded us.

Our first destination in York was Clifford's Tower, pictured here. Originally it was part of a military fortification. The tower is all that's left.

Here's a good view of the inside of the tower. We were able to climb the stairs to the top to get a 360-degree view of the city of York.

This view from the walkway atop Clifford's Tower is of the Crown Court. The Castle Museum is off to the left of this picture.

This shows you how large York Minster really is. It towers above the other buildings in the city. We would be going there tomorrow morning.

As we walked along the city streets, we found several lovely old churches. This one is All Saints.

We were told not to miss this street: it's the Shambles, perhaps the best example of a medieval street in England. Look how the buildings lean in to each other.

The remarkable white house in this picture is home to a shrine to the martyred St. Margaret Clitherow, the Catholic wife of a butcher, arrested for sheltering a priest by Henry VIII's men and put to death by being pressed under great weights piled upon her on the Ouse Bridge.

You can really see how close together the houses are here. It would be possible for neighbors across the street to shake hands with each other from window to window.

This is the Church of St. Martin Le Grand. It is now dedicated to military victims of war.

This is the side gate to St. Martin Le Grand.

Here is the nave of the present church. It is the side aisle of all that remains of the original church that sat on this site.

The great west window of the church, dedicated to St. Martin of Tours, was moved to the wall across from the entrance. It was situated across from the main entrance.

Since it was too early for us to eat and too late to make it into any of the museums, we just kept walking. Here is a photo of the River Ouse (pronounce 'ooze') facing Ouse Bridge.

We ate dinner at the famous Betty's tea rooms, across from St. Helen's church. St. Helen was the mother of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great, who was declared emperor here in York. Thank you, Fra' Lawrence, for the recommendation!

Mansion House, the Georgian home of York's mayor, lies directly across St. Helen's Square from the church.

On the way back to the car we passed this gorgeous Victorian building, the York Magistrate's Court.

After a long day of driving and much sightseeing, we made our way to the hotel for the night. Tomorrow would be another very busy day.