Winchester

The British take Easter weekend very seriously.  Both Friday and Monday are bank holidays, so lots of people go out of town. They were shocked to hear it isn't necessarily standard to take off those days in the US too.  Funny - I've met very few people who are religious, but they are enthusiastic about celebrating a religious holiday!

I celebrated by taking a day trip Winchester.  My first train trip!  Aside from going to the airport, but that doesn't count. 

A friend from work suggested the trip - she lives halfway between London and Winchester. She met me on the train at her stop.  Winchester was the home of British royalty at one point and had a royal castle.  Now the only remaining part of the castle is one large hall (The Great Hall) that now houses a large round table on the wall.  THE Round Table of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table fame.  Before anyone sends an email, I know they are a legend and not real!  But they have a table from the 1500s and tourist trap it up, so I went to visit!  There are also some ruins from the original castle walls. 

 

Since I had a friend along this time, I have a pictures of myself!  In front of an archway near the Great Hall. 

We walked through the city center and made our way to Winchester Cathedral.  The Cathedral sits in the center of a large green space and it had a tree-lined walk leading up to it.  If there had been leaves on those trees, it would have been even nicer, but you get the general idea.  There were a few brave daffodils out for Easter weekend!

I have found after going on several tours that I can really only retain a few key facts from each.  They can really overload you with information!  In this case, one important fact is that Jane Austen is buried in Winchester Cathedral.  The tour guide told us that is was quite an unusual circumstance that allowed Miss Austen to be buried in such a grand cathedral - at the time of her death, she was not famous and cathedral burials were usually saved for nobility or clergy.  It was fortuitous that they allowed her because she is the most famous and visited "resident."

Another interesting fact is that at one point in the 1600s, all the stained glass windows in the church were destroyed by Oliver Cromwell's armies who were overthrowing the monarchy.  The local villagers collected all the broken glass and hid it for several years.  When the cathedral was restored about 15 years later, they used the broken glass to create the largest window at the back of the church.  It is a mosaic and has almost no specific designs. 

The cathedral is the longest in of any in Europe.  The current building sits just adjacent to where the original stood.  The current building also was significantly remodeled a couple of times - partly to modernize and partly because the old construction was poor and it kept falling down. 

After a really nice pub lunch, we made our way back to the train station and home.  The Old Vine pub: