Winchester Mish-Mash

Here are more photographs from the Christmas Market in Winchester. I really liked these Moroccan lanterns.

What about this as a Christmas gift for someone!

A jolly reindeer!

An image from the side of the ice rink.

A lovely wreath on a door as we approached the Christmas Market.

A coat of arms on a nearby gate.

There were musicians and Morris Dancers!

Time to remember that Christmas is for giving and not just receiving!

Some more goodies from the Christmas Market.

 It looks as if Santa has had too many mince pies and Rudolph has turned into a cross-dresser!

Well, the Christmas tree has been purchased and decorated. We now need to do the rest of the decorating and write the Christmas cards. Our daughter has been far more organized than us grown-ups and has already written hers!

Until next time.

June.

Winchester Cathedral

Here we are again at Winchester Cathedral. Although it wasn't so cold as it has been - the sky was a dull, grey colour.

Inside the Cathedral there was plenty to see.

Did you know that Winchester was the capital of England in 1043 and that a few years later the Normans started to build the Cathedral?

In 1348 The Plague (Black Death) killed half the population of Winchester.

During the English Civil War 1642 - 48 the Roundheads attacked the Cathderal and smashed the windows and scattered the bones of the dead Kings and Queens. Local people later gathered up the broken bits and returned them to their chests but all the bones are mixed up!

Inside the Cathedral there are many small chapels - there is a Fisherman's Chapel where even the furniture has been carved to look like ripples on water!

The place was truly amazing especially with the backdrop of the choir practising!

Even the floors were beautiful!

No matter where you looked there was something interesting to see - the quality of the workmanship was outstanding.

There were many stained glass windows but my camera was not too good at capturing the fabulous quality!

In the Crypt was this Antony Gormley Sculpture.

 Back outside the Cathedral. We went and grabbed something to eat before returning to the Christmas Market and catching the bus back to the Park and Ride to make our journey home.

Right, we'd better get started on getting that Christmas tree.

Until next time.

June.

A trip to Winchester

Today we went to Winchester. We were hoping to go ice-skating in the Cathedral grounds. Alas, it was fully booked! Above is the statue which you see as you enter Winchester - it is of King Alfred, famous for burning the cakes!

We decided that if we couldn't go skating we would do a bit of retail therapy and shop at the Christmas Market and go to the Cathedral.

Some of the things on sale at the Market.

There were a lot of people about and it was a relief to be in the Cathedral away from the crowds.

The Cathedral!

The choir was rehearsing - the acoustics were great!

Jane Austen is buried here.

There were many fabulous things inside and I will show you more tomorrow including an Antony Gormley sculpture!

Our daughter!

The weather has certainly been warmer here the last few days and there is very little of the snow left - it all seems such a long time ago now!

Tomorrow I hope to get a Christmas tree so that I can begin to get into the festive mood!

Until next time.

June.