Lincoln

Mom and Dad have been wanting to go to Lincoln for awhile and so they decided to use Lincoln Cathedral as one of Dad's projects. I still don't understand what these "projects" are. They kind of sound like excuses to go out and have fun to me.

From Mom:

"I wanted to briefly tell you about our trip to Lincoln. Dad and I took the train from King's Cross on Friday night and had decided to stay two nights. Lincoln is in Lincolnshire which is where some of Grandma Christensen's relatives are from. The Cathedral is up on a hill and our hotel, the White Hart was right around the corner.

We spent about 3 hours in Lincoln Cathedral. There was a modern 15 "Stations of the Cross" exhibit that was really neat. It was carved out of wood with insets of various woods from all over the world.

None of the chairs were in the nave and so when the afternoon sun came through the stained glass windows there was a spectacular effect.

The Cathedral has a teeny carving called the Lincoln Imp. There is a legend that some of the devil's imps escaped and flew into the cathedral. The angels told them to leave but one of them wouldn't leave and so it was turned to stone. It's way up high and if there hadn't been some people nearby who knew where it was, I probably wouldn't have found it.

Lincoln Cathedral is also known for letting the Da Vinci Code in to film in their Chapter House because Westminster Abbey wouldn't let them. (you'll see pictures of Dad playing the piano in there)

Some of my favorite things in the Cathedral are known as the Gilbert Pots. The person that created them evidently used the potter's wheel to it's maximum capacity and so the pots are very large. They are filled with sand and serve as candle holders in the Gilbert Chapel. One of the pots didn't have any candles and so I put one in; when dad came along, he put in a second.

We also were just around the corner from Lincoln Castle which houses one of the three copies of the Magna Carta but it was in Santa Barbara or something. Actually we'd just seen the most legible copy in Salisbury two weeks before. The castle was also a prison for awhile.

We then wandered down Steep Street knowing we were going to have to come back up at some point. We stopped for a lemon and chocolate "sponge" at a cute little pub. We went to Evensong and the men and the girl's choir were singing. It was a great service because they used a string quartet and did a Pergolasi Mass. Later we went to dinner at Cafe Zoot.

We always have to get back in time for Sunday dinner at the Centre so we left after a late breakfast. Dad tried the black pudding. I chose not to have a taste. He didn't eat all of it but at least he can say he tried it.

That's it for Lincoln."

Mom also included this picture in her Lincoln album. I think it's from the castle. I have no idea what it's about, but I thought it was kind of awesome.