Oh bo de o do

In 1966 the song “Winchester Cathedral” that included those meaningless lyrics shot to number 1 on the popular music charts.  That means more people were buying that song on a 45 rpm piece of vinyl and playing it on their VPMs, the most advanced retail audio technology of the time, than any other piece of music.  As a teen, I thought it was a stupid song then and in hindsight, it really was stupid.  On Thursday we hopped a train to the lovely city of Winchester to find that Winchester Cathedral was being bastardized once again.

One of our guide books states that “Though Winchester is a busy country town, crowds are never a problem and you can enjoy a visit any time of year.”  That should have been footnoted to say “Except on September 23, 2010.”  You can imagine our chagrin to get to the Cathedral only to find thousands of people lined up to the “it takes 3 hours from here” sign.  Turns out some television show called the “Antique Roadshow” was there taping an episode.  Cathedral closed!  No big deal.  The place only dates to 1079 and has the longest nave of any church in Europe and we just paid for an hour train ride to get here.

Konnie, somehow noticing that I was a bit annoyed by this first negative surprise of the trip, jumped in to find other lovely sights.  And Winchester is lovely.  As with any city here that played an important role in British history, the buildings and architecture are beautiful.  There is a tiny bit of Roman ruin remaining.  The River Itchen is perfectly clear, home to beautiful birds and is showcased with a lovely walkway along its side and, to no one’s surprise at this point, beautiful flowers.  King Alfred the Great who made Winchester the capital is featured.  And there are twelfth century gatehouses and Winchester College.

Then came Wolvesey Castle (Old Bishop’s Palace).  These are the ruins (and I love ruins) of a 12th century Anglo-Saxon Palace. Wolvesey has been an important residence of the wealthy and powerful
Bishops of Winchester since Anglo-Saxon times.  The extensive surviving ruins of the palace date
largely from the 12th-century work of Bishop Henry of Blois. The last great occasion here was in 1554, when Queen Mary and Philip of Spain held their wedding breakfast in the East Hall, a mere 222 years before our Declaration of Independence.  Okay, so this place made the trip worthwhile.

After completing our tour which included passing the house where Jane Austen died (“This is a private residence.  Do not knock on the door.”  Then perhaps you should remove that giant sign from the side of your home?) and a stop at a charming bookstore, we found ourselves returning to the City Centre past, yes, the back door of the Cathedral.  Now here is this nice lady in a Cathedral uniform asking people if they would just like to see the Cathedral.  With the admonition to Konnie that “you just can’t have anything old valued in there,” Konnie offered to leave me outside but the lady said that she would trust Konnie and that I could go in also.  We didn’t have full access but did manage a few shots while avoiding (also a prohibition) including any pictures of the thousands of people who had wasted their day there with the crap from their attics to see what it isn’t worth.

A return train ride to London and off to Zayna, the Pakistani/Northern Indian restaurant we found on Monday.  It too is outstanding.  With three days remaining we are starting to bemoan how much we are going to miss the excellent ethnic food we have enjoyed here.

Oh yes, and many thanks again to the little old lady at the back door.

2 thoughts on “Oh bo de o do

  1. Lisa

    Gorgeous photos! Just when I think England couldn’t get any more beautiful than your latest stop, you show us Winchester! Now I’m getting sad that you’ll be leaving soon.

    Reply
  2. dale

    Who took the picture of the ‘backside’? Also what do you mean that there is nothing of value–I heard that someone had an old ‘Short High School’ yearbook there!!!–enjoying the pictures and the unbiased commentary!

    Reply

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