Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Chester, Part II

 The trip to Chester was amazing. Our hotel room was right across the way from the colosseum. Next to that was the ruins of the Roman Gardens. 


In the background, you can see what remains of the Roman baths.  They consisted of three rooms, one which was cold water, one which was hot water,. The final room would have been the warm water room where one leisurely soaked. Below is a close up of what remains of the hypocaust for the hot water. Fires would be built beneath the floor of the pool and the hot air would keep the caladarium water piping hot. Hypocaust means fire below. 
(It is a different fire down below than Bob Seger was singing about, fyi.) 

The majority of the morning was spent in the Chester Cathedral. I provided the link, because the building is huge, so big that no picture I took could give you even a hint of the size.  

But it sure was beautiful. 

Like all the old cathedrals, the current church members worship along with the past church members. They are tucked into crypts in the wall....




Both sides of this mosaic walk way are covered with the tombstones. 
Tucked back at the end of this hall was a marble crypt .

Behind the chair to the right, where the small vase of flowers sits, there is a small plain tombstone of a woman who died in the 1990s. A small token left there says, "Grandma". I found that moving, for whatever reason, that a grandma rests among all the long forgotten ancients and is remembered still.


This clergyman sleeps with angels at his feet, 

while this fellow spends eternity with his faithful dog at his. 

That was just one hall, but there were so many of them, all of them holding their own stories.

It didn't matter whether you were looking up...
....or looking down....

There was some amazing thing to see. 


This is an interesting selection to be carved on a church pew, isn't it? 




Just as interesting to me was the choir loft. You could see where several generations of bored choir boys did their own carving on the shelves that held their hymnals and prayerbooks during the long services. 




The church above was a small (compared to St John's and to the Chester Cathedral, anyway) Welsh church. It was not open to the public and I wondered about the stories inside that church. 


Cara and I went to the Story House one afternoon and we saw 'The Duke' with Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent. We both thought it was a nice film. 

What holds up these posts is that I saw so much while I was in England. I was really fortunate to have a daughter and son-in-law who know their way around. They also both took a chunk of time off work to make certain that I was able to see as much of the sights as humanly possible. Every time that I post a picture, I find a dozen more I want to include. 

There is no way to show you all of it, and I am sorry about that.  
The pictures fall short. 
So do my words. 

16 comments:

  1. Don't sell yourself short Debby. Your photos of the Cathedral capture the essence of the place and just the weirdness of British history. Your Cara and her husband did you proud!

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  2. Sounds like you had a great time and saw so much history in England Debby.

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  3. It is great that you enjoyed your visit so much, especially after such a long journey to get there.
    Perhaps you can come back again some time?

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  4. That was a good overview of the interesting Chester Cathedral. Using public transport in a strange place takes much planning and consumes more time. You were fortunate to have 'drivers'.

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  5. Chester and its cathedral and its walls is one of our most beautiful cities. Your photographs certainly make it look a tempting place to go. So glad you enjoyed it all so much.

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  6. I would have said it impossible to work a Bob Seger song into a post about a church in England but you’ve done it!

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  7. It's been fun traveling with you, vicariously! Thanks for sharing!

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  8. Ed, it was nearly midnight when I put this together. My mind works in strange and twisty ways at midnight.

    Andrew, we actually used public transportation a fair amount, traveling by train to Liverpool and Chester, and then down to London and back. We bought a pass to make things cheaper. Cara and Colin are very adept with their phones. As long as they have their phones in their hands, no city is foreign to them.

    Side note: delivering meals to shut-ins over the weekend, I finally (after two years *blush*) discovered how to use my phone as a GPS. I was pretty impressed, and was able to give Tim helpful advice like "Didja know you're doing 54 mph in a 35 mph zone?

    Anyways.

    Jaycee, I am as certain as anyone can be in these uncertain days that I will indeed be back.

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  9. Another place I've never been! The pew carvings are especially interesting and weirdly humorous, considering they're in church.

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  10. The English Tourist Authority should employ you as an ambassador Debby. I am sure you would increase the number of US visitors. Your enthusiasm would be more infectious than COVID.

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  11. Wow! That church is massive! I like all of your explanations and think you are doing a wonderful job of showing your trip to us. I know I will never go there so I sure appreciate seeing it all from your viewpoint! Thanks so much for putting these posts together. I am sure they take a long time!

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  12. Thanks for the tours! My feet are tired just looking at your adventures. You certainly weren't in Kansas. Linda

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  13. I want to sit in the pew with the dog. Woof! Beautiful cathedral photos, inside and out! Share as many photos as you want to share.... I'm enjoying all of them.

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  14. I’m just so amazed at all the interesting, wonderful, historical places you saw and could share with us. Thank you very much!

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  15. Such beautiful skillful work

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  16. I did, Northsider. The trip exceeded my expectations.

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