Adventure In The Details: The Best of Britain and Ireland: Day 5

The first thing our tour group did today before leaving Coventry was to visit the Coventry Cathedral. There are actually two cathedrals side by side. One is an older cathedral that was bombed during World War II. Only the ruins of the old cathedral stand today. The other is a newer cathedral built in late 1950s and early 1960s.

A view of the newer Coventry Cathedral.

The spire of the old cathedral.

Another view of the Coventry Cathedral.

Stained glass windows and a beautiful pink tree.

An ornate door.

What is left of a spiral staircase in the old Coventry Cathedral.

Forgive the nudity here. :) There is a local legend in Coventry about Lady Godiva who threatened to ride through the town naked if her husband raised taxes. Well, her husband ordered everyone in town to cover their eyes while his wife was on her "joy ride". Everyone did that except for good ol' Tom who snuck a peek (and was blinded as a result). Now in Coventry, every morning at 9am the clock chimes in the town center and depicts this interesting event. I think it looks like Tom is giving Godiva two thumbs up but apparently that is him covering his eyes. Consequently, this is where we get the term "Peeping Tom".

After leaving Coventry, we drove a few hours to the town of York. York is the most complete midevil city in England. There were narrow streets, really old buildings, and a wall around the entire city. The above picture is the view we saw when we were walking into the city center.

Here is a picture of our tour group. Christina, our tour director) is the brunette with her hand in front of her face (sorry I didn't get a better picture). When we walked through different cities, she would often stop us and tell us about the buildings we were walking by and about the local history. I'm not sure how she kept all of this information in her head but she was amazing with all of the stuff she knew.

A pretty park in York.

The York Castle Museum

York Minster (the largest gothic cathedral in Northern Europe)

After we left York we drove to Newcastle for the night. I was amazed at the differences in architecture between Southern and Northern England. Northern England is definitely more industrial. I was reminded of one of my favorite movies "North and South". If you haven't seen it (or read the book by Elizabeth Gaskell) you should. And by the way, I LOVE MR. THORNTON!! :)