So here I am in the beautiful town of Durham. Durham is a forty-five minute train ride north-east of York and it was well worth the visit. Thankfully, I managed to go on a day that turned out lovely and warm! We had had nearly three strait weeks of rain, so it was something of a miracle to have an entire day of clear skies and warm sunshine! Anyway, the picture below is a shot of the cathedral up on its little promontory.
This next shot is of the Durham Castle that is also up on the same promontory as the Cathedral. It's just harder to see until you get closer. I'm standing down on a bridge crossing the river looking up at the Castle. It's quite a view!
Here is a picture of a segment of the Durham Cathedral. This cathedral is Norman in its architecture and it is a completely unique building and well worth visiting! I really enjoyed it. It's so big that you can't really get a decent picture of it because you can't get back far enough. So I gave up trying and just had to settle for a partial shot of it.
Here is the front door and the door knocker. This knocker is the sanctuary knocker and if you were accused of a crime you could come here and demand sanctuary for 37 days. After that, you either had to go to court and be tried, or leave the country. Of course, this is only a replica of the original door knocker which is on display inside the Cathedral. Unfortunately, pictures cannot be taken inside the cathedral, with or without flash, so I can't show you what it was like inside. You'll all have to come to Durham and check it out for yourselves. It's well worth it, I promise. This cathedral is unique and lavishly decorated inside with all sorts.
Here is a picture of the tower two pictures above. This angle is inside the courtyard of the monastery area. I climbed to the top of this tower! There were 325 stairs all in that narrow and winding style common for towers like this. It almost made me dizzy coming down and there were places where it was so narrow that there was no room to pass those going in the opposite direction. It was quite a climb, but well worth the effort for the view you get up top and the nice breeze!
Since I went to Durham by myself, I had to trouble a nice man to take at least one picture of me while on top the tower. So, here you are. I went to Durham to meet up with Matt and Paige Holland and their children, but they didn't arrive until the evening and thus I did all of the touristy things by myself that day.
A short walk across a green space and you come to the Durham Castle. It now houses the University of Durham and the segment you are looking at is part of the student accommodations. Imagine coming to Durham and living in a real castle while you went to school.
This next shot is of the front doors leading into the castle. We were not allowed to take pictures inside here either, so my apologies again. Since the building is a functioning college, the only way to see it is by taking a tour. Our tour guide was good and informed us that the college keeps all of its old traditions. Such as: the students still wear the black gowns over their clothing while attending classes, they all eat together in the main hall in formal attire and sit at specified tables according to class, and if a cell phone goes off during a meal the student is fined 25 pounds. Apparently the fines have gone up since the college was founded way back when and the things fined for have changed, but they've always had some sort of fines!
Here is a picture of the river that runs around the promontory that the castle and the cathedral sit upon. I can't remember the name of it, so never mind about that for the present. It's lovely, though! I took a lovely jaunt along river paths all the way around the promontory and it was a fun little trek in the shade of the trees. Durham is almost as nice as York is!
Here I am with Paige, Matt, and their youngest son Danny. We had a nice evening together enjoying Durham and catching up and so forth. It's always fun to meet up with good friends over here in England!
This next shot is of the Durham Castle that is also up on the same promontory as the Cathedral. It's just harder to see until you get closer. I'm standing down on a bridge crossing the river looking up at the Castle. It's quite a view!
Here is a picture of a segment of the Durham Cathedral. This cathedral is Norman in its architecture and it is a completely unique building and well worth visiting! I really enjoyed it. It's so big that you can't really get a decent picture of it because you can't get back far enough. So I gave up trying and just had to settle for a partial shot of it.
Here is the front door and the door knocker. This knocker is the sanctuary knocker and if you were accused of a crime you could come here and demand sanctuary for 37 days. After that, you either had to go to court and be tried, or leave the country. Of course, this is only a replica of the original door knocker which is on display inside the Cathedral. Unfortunately, pictures cannot be taken inside the cathedral, with or without flash, so I can't show you what it was like inside. You'll all have to come to Durham and check it out for yourselves. It's well worth it, I promise. This cathedral is unique and lavishly decorated inside with all sorts.
Here is a picture of the tower two pictures above. This angle is inside the courtyard of the monastery area. I climbed to the top of this tower! There were 325 stairs all in that narrow and winding style common for towers like this. It almost made me dizzy coming down and there were places where it was so narrow that there was no room to pass those going in the opposite direction. It was quite a climb, but well worth the effort for the view you get up top and the nice breeze!
Since I went to Durham by myself, I had to trouble a nice man to take at least one picture of me while on top the tower. So, here you are. I went to Durham to meet up with Matt and Paige Holland and their children, but they didn't arrive until the evening and thus I did all of the touristy things by myself that day.
A short walk across a green space and you come to the Durham Castle. It now houses the University of Durham and the segment you are looking at is part of the student accommodations. Imagine coming to Durham and living in a real castle while you went to school.
This next shot is of the front doors leading into the castle. We were not allowed to take pictures inside here either, so my apologies again. Since the building is a functioning college, the only way to see it is by taking a tour. Our tour guide was good and informed us that the college keeps all of its old traditions. Such as: the students still wear the black gowns over their clothing while attending classes, they all eat together in the main hall in formal attire and sit at specified tables according to class, and if a cell phone goes off during a meal the student is fined 25 pounds. Apparently the fines have gone up since the college was founded way back when and the things fined for have changed, but they've always had some sort of fines!
Here is a picture of the river that runs around the promontory that the castle and the cathedral sit upon. I can't remember the name of it, so never mind about that for the present. It's lovely, though! I took a lovely jaunt along river paths all the way around the promontory and it was a fun little trek in the shade of the trees. Durham is almost as nice as York is!
Here I am with Paige, Matt, and their youngest son Danny. We had a nice evening together enjoying Durham and catching up and so forth. It's always fun to meet up with good friends over here in England!
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