Cambridge 2010: Three Months On The Trot

I get up around 8am this morning and head down to breakfast. I had the usual and then we all loaded up for Wells Cathedral. We had Steven with us again today. No classroom lectures this time, just Steven himself. At first glance of Wells Cathedral, I could not help but notice the two huge towers and the pointed arches of the three entrances. Upon a closer and further study, I found statues of various Biblical figures, especially that of Christ and the Virgin Mary. Steven then took us around to the street of houses beside of the bishop's quarters. When we came back across the street, we got to see one of England's oldest working clocks in action.

Steven took us inside and out to the cemetery. He showed us the yew tree there and told us that they were often found in the inner courts of the church to protect them from deer and other animals nibbling on them. The importance of this tree rested in the fact that the heartwood from the sacred yew was fashioned to make arrows. I found it interesting that churches, icons for peace and love, would be the home to something used for violence.

It reminded me of the question my Christian Ethics professor once posed to us. In light of the church shootings that happened around that time, he asked us what were our thoughts on a pastor packing heat to protect the members of the church. My immediate reaction was very negative, but I allowed myself to think about it. I am still, to this day, somewhat mixed about that question. The religious side of me says that I should exercise my faith in God to protect me, not that of man...and that any church worth their salt would exercise that same unconditional faith. The logical side of me says that I want a tangible image of protection. I lean more toward the religious side because my faith means nothing if I do not believe the basic teachings of it. This is not a Christian Ethics class though, so let us continue...

Steven let us have a few minutes to explore the church. Once inside, the expansive nave led my eyes to the scissor arches (two pointed arches lined up vertically where the points meet) at front and center. The inner walls closest to the pews are not really walls, but are columns of pointed arches. Looking up to find where the illumination of the nave was sourced, I was surprised to find that the illumination was from the extensive use of stained glass in the upper levels of the nave, not electricity. Illuminating the back of the church was a huge stained glass depiction of different Biblical stories. Wells Cathedral was a very impressive sight to behold. I went around the corner of one hallway and found a display of misericords like those Mrs. Janet showed us at Ely Cathedral.



Steven then rounded us all up to see the working of the interior clock. It was sort of hard to read, so I did not know when to start taking video. I found a video of it on YouTube though, which I embedded below.



The last thing Steven showed us was the room around the chapter house. We all sang a few hymns together in there. It sounded just like what we did at Ely Cathedral, but around only a 2-3 second reverb. We then had a few minutes to finish exploring, go to the gift shop, and get back on the bus. On the way out, I had to do a double-take because I thought I saw a cat laying beside one of the heaters...and it was. I went over to pet him and he was just loving the attention.

Louis the cathedral cat, as I later found out, loved to have his belly stroked. I have a way with animals apparently. When I started to walk away and go to the gift shop, Louis followed me in there and got in his little basket (which had a "Not for sale" sign on it). A picture is worth a million words...



When we got back to Bath, some of the girls and I went to the fashion museum (thanks to Steven for the tickets!). They had a display for the outfit of the year. It was very interesting to see the styles of each year and how fashion has evolved. There were more displays about youth and adult clothes from most of the ages, and they had try on areas! We girls tried on the corsets and hoop skirts, then took a picture of all of us in them. It was hilarious. We tried on hats, then got to design our own clothes.

After the fashion museum, we went to a local coffee shop named "Same Same But Different." I think it's a spoof off of a movie, but either way...they had really good coffee and they made their own sugar cubes in both brown and white! Of course, I had to be creative and take pictures...



I went back to the hotel and took a nap until dinner. After dinner, I went out with a couple of people from the group. We all decided to go to the Royal Crescent since I had not seen it yet. It took us forever to find it, but it was really cool when we did, especially since it was night. We find our way back to the hotel and rested for the bus ride back to Cambridge tomorrow.