Introduction
We spent Wednesday in the city of Norwich.
Random church
We all began with hot chocolate in a tearoom
in the old guildhall (the tearoom was part of a chocolate
shop; some traditional local chocolate maker). After
that, Mum went off to try and find somebody she knew
who lived in the city, while Dad and I wandered around
a bit.
We had a little tourist plan of the city centre and I
counted 28 churches! Anyway, we happened across a large
one and went in for a look.
Underfloor heating grate.
A church with a hole; you can just walk through the
archway under this rather large tower.
Cow Tower
Mum had failed at her mission. We met her on the riverside
and ate our packed lunches, then went to see a ruined tower
called the Cow Tower.
You may not have noticed, but I really like spiral
staircases.
A frowny inside the tower.
Unevenly-shaped windows.
Norwich Cathedral
We then headed to the cathedral, which is tall and pointy.
It's not as good as (say) Durham, but was interesting
enough.
Tall. Pointy.
The ceiling. You can't really tell from this picture, but there
are detailed, painted bosses at each intersection of those
spines.
Scary dead guy.
Staircase leading down from the treasury (they had a collection
of shiny things, none of which were particularly interesting).
A shrine.
Ceiling below the central tower.
View across the central portion from east to west. (Green.)
So I was going to take a picture of the pipework, but then I
noticed this guy sitting there...
Metalwork around new shrine (I can't remember what it was for
but something fairly worthy).
Self-portrait in a chocolate bowl font. Yes, it's really
a bowl used for mixing chocolate, donated as a font by one of the
city chocolate companies.
Stranger's Hall
After that we went to a rather old (undercroft from 14th century)
house that they've preserved and made into a museum.
Self-portrait in a dirty mirror. Check out the cool shape of the
painting frame behind me; I don't think it was really quite that
wiggly..
Mum through a four-poster bed.
Room they've set out as a music room. There was also a harp which
looked like it might have been quite nice, but needed some very
serious restringing.
They had one room set aside for children to do activities in (drawing
and so on). Around the wall were cabinets of old toys, including the
Scariest Doll In The World.
A small garden courtyard included this spidery door.
Julian of Norwich
Julian of Norwich, born in the 14th century, was a religious
mystic and purportedly the first woman to write a book in English.
(Presumably, like George Eliot, she chose a male name because she
thought it would boost sales.) Anyway, one of those 28 churches
is hers, and we took a look. It's small, plain, and reasonably
nice.
Here's her shrine.
Dragon Hall
...is some kind of museum or other, and was closed for
refurbishment, but we knew about that so it didn't come
as a huge disappointment.
It has a nice sign.
