So I awake Friday morning- look outside, and the sky is kind of a mixed bag- but I decided the hell with it and start my march down to the train station. I really need a break from all the work- I know, it is only the first week, but I reason if the first week is like this I will never be able to get out of York the rest of the term. So after about an hour train ride north, I reach the little town of Durham.
Now, I have never been to Durham, nor do I know my way around Durham. All I have heard of Durham is that it has a 11c Norman Cathedral that rivals York Minster, along with a full, well preserved castle- THIS I have GOT TO SEE! Truth be known, I have not seen all the sites at York, but I will be spending the bulk of my time here the next year- so I might as well get out when I can, right!
The only hitch to my plan is that I have to be back for a semi-compulsory English Party at eight o'clock at night. Spending a whole day exploring the city of Duhram, possibly getting lost, and having to make it back before 8pm might be a trick. It doesn't help that I woke up late (yes, I am finally adjusted to the time here and back to my regular sleeping habits), and caught the train around noon.
What an adventure though- I am going to a town I don't know, don't know where it is I will find what it is I am looking for, and I don't have any help. Fun! So I arrive at Durham, and it is starting to drizzle- not a good portent. I walk out of the train station, and I don't readily see what I am looking for (I didn't know it at the time but the station was blocking my view), and I didn't see a sidewalk leaving the station. I go back in the station, grab a free cheesy map of the town, and it all becomes very clear. I walk down from the rise on which the train station is perched, and across the river valley looms this HUGE cathedral and castle. It was quite a sight!
The River Sands runs through this area, and the landscape is very hilly. The town itself is rather small and is on both banks on the Sands. The Sands though bends back on itself forming this little pocket, and within that pocket sits, on a high hill, the cathedral and next to it the castle (which was the residence of the archbishop of the cathedral but is now part of the University of Durham).
So I make my way to the Cathedral by way of crossing a bridge over the Sands- the view is absolutely beautiful. The drizzle is on and off, becoming full-on rain occassionally, but I am not hampered too much.
The cathedral itself is huge, like the Minster in York- but I know the Minster is bigger (the Minster is the largest cathedral north of the Alps). But Durham Cathedral is no small fry. Durham Cathedral is also older built in the 11c by William the Conquerer, whereas the Minster was built in the 15c. The architecture is completely different as well, Durham Cathedral is Romanesque whereas the Minster is Gothic.
One really bad note about all this is that they do not allow pictures inside the Durham Cathedral, but it is free to go in. They want you to buy their book, which on priciple alone I refused to do. After I spent an hour walking around inside the Cathedral and saw the pilgrimage shrines of Saint Cuthburt and Bede (Anglo-Saxon Saints). I decided to try a bold venture. They have a staircase which goes to the very top of the cathedral, but it is 325 steps! Let me tell you, this was no easy venture. It seems you spiral upward forever, until finally you're on top of the world. The cathedral is the most dominant structure in Durham, nothing even comes remotely close- not other church steeples, nothing. Even the castle is this little structure way down below. It was quite a view up there. Then I had to convince my legs it was time to walk back down those old steps- it was a little tricky becuase they were made for smaller feet it seems.
The most awesome moment came though when I finally got back down to the bottom story of the cathedral. After I lodged my complaint with the local porters of the church about not being able to take pictures- that was an interesting conversation- I was starting to walk out when all of a sudden this great sound rushed down the nave of the cathedral like some great wind and stopped me dead in my tracks. It was like the sound of thunder! It was so grand! As I sat down in a pew, I sat and listened as one of the members of the church played on the great organ- it was the most unbelievable thing I have ever heard! To hear those great bellowing notes issuing forth and flooding the entire church with its beautiful tones was just magnificent. You could feel the heavy notes in your chest! I sat there a good hour listening, and I was in awe. I cannot explain the effect it had on me- it was a noise I have never heard before. I couldn't even see the organ from where I was because the cathedral is so vast, but I sat in quiet contemplation for a long while.
After the cathedral I just wandered around the town taking pictures of various places and things. Unfortunately, the castle was closed becuase it is where the University holds classes. I was thinking of just pretending I was a student there and walking around, but I thought better of it. After spending a couple hours wandering the town, getting rained on, and using up all my memory in my camera, I got back on the train and I made it to the English Party with time to spare. One of my professor asked me, "Where could you find time to do that?!!?" I replied with, "How could I not find time to do that!" It was a grand day and quite an adventure!
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