A Fine, Soft Day

When it's not actually raining, but the overcast skies constantly drizzle or mist enough to fog my glasses, the locals say, "It's a fine, soft day." I was distracted from my way to the cathedral this morning by the noise of a Saturday market on the square in Durham. There were little shops set up offering food, crafts, candies, home-made fudge, and import goods. They were aligned so as to lead the stroller down into the Durham Market, an indoor facility built in 1851 and filled with more, mostly local, goods. I tried the fudge (very buttery) but avoided the "Scottish Bap"--a sort of puffy hamburger bun with three scary-looking sausages inside. Folks from surrounding towns came in for the market, and I heard a variety of forms of the English language being spoken. I'm so near the border with Scotland that many clearly have a Scottish turn in their locution--in fact, yesterday I bought a potato and corned beef pastry from a chatty young fellow at a pastry shop. He just talked and talked, and I nodded and laughed when he laughed--but I didn't understand a word. I managed to offer the correct change because I could read the price on the window. The pastry, by the way, needed no translation.

When I finally did arrive at the cathedral, I was again offered an unexpected treat. Like many churches I've visited, the Durham Cathedral prohibits the taking of photographs because they find that such activity disrupts the many services during the day. I explained to a proctor, easily identifiable because cathedral staff wear long, blue robes, that I am a college professor and wanted the use of the pictures for presentations and class demonstration; moreover, I added that my camera had a silent mode and that I had turned off the flash. He asked that I wait a moment and ran off. Three minutes later, he introduced one of the cathedral historians; she explained that the only way to take pictures would be in her company--and she offered to give me a personal tour while I took my snaps! For the next forty-five minutes, I had the joy of being ushered about by someone who had made the study of the cathedral her avocation for twenty years. She pointed out the anomalies in the archways, showed with a laser pointer where a flying buttress had been added in the 13th century to support a wall, indicated places where the workmanship was particularly fine, and chuckled about places in the south transept where someone clearly goofed with the carved patterns. She invited me back for Evensong at 6:00 and promised me a seat with the proctors in the Quire (choir stall). So, here's an important travel tip: if you're ever in one of those cathedrals where you can't take pictures, just tell them you're a teacher and you NEED these pictures. I left the cathedral with some fine pictures and a promise to return at 6 o'clock.

Immediately after my longer-than-expected cathedral visit, I walked across the square, past the pilgrim hospital founded in the 14th century, past the bishop's library founded in the 15th century, and right into Durham Castle and joined the guided tour. I felt like I had just entered the world of Harry Potter and Hogwart's. The castle is now the University of Durham--a part of Trinity College, Oxford. About 600 students attend this branch, about a quarter of whom live inside the castle. Right now, the university is out on Easter break (our Spring Break), but a student guide was still on hand to conduct the guided tour. We saw the great dining hall where professors sit on a elevated platform and are served first. The kitchen is touted as the oldest continuously operating kitchen in the world--it was built into the castle in the 11th century and has served food to residents ever since. The dining hall also had a fine display of armour, pikes, and swords from the English Civil War (1642-47). A great, winding staircase leads to the students' quarters, but they are not allowed to use it except on special occasions; the stairs were originally built as "flying cases"--they were attached only to the wall, but they began to collapse. Pillars were added, and they still slant inwards--they still felt a little creaky to me. Different groups of students have their own doorways with student leaders being offered a special set of rooms. It's not too difficult to see where J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books which are set in the north country, found her material.

I'm on my way to Newcastle. The Hadrian's Wall Walk is next.