sunny Saturday in Lincoln

I can hardly believe it that two weeks have already passed since we were on Anglesey. Where is time going? In five days I want to have finished a first draft of my dissertation for my master's degree and it doesn't feel that long ago that I finished school, graduated in Basel and came back from Honduras! The future is almost open me and I don't know where it will take me!

Enough philosophy and a few more facts from my recent past. Yesterday I spent a delightful day with some friends in Lincoln. Lincoln is an hour Northeast of Nottingham by train. Most people wondered why we decided to go there but we soon knew. Following pretty cobbled streets we made our way up to the top of the hill and its majestic cathedral and Norman castle. The road up leads past commercial shops to be found in every city but gets more interesting the further you go up with traditional sweet shops, antique shops, book shops, arts and crafts of every kind, chocolate in all variations and little tea shops where people were tucking into tea and scones. Up on the square between the castle and the cathedral there was a delightful little farmer's market where Paulina and I were delighted to find real bread (and later saw even more in other bakeries - Nottingham is definitely missing a proper bakery) and the others tucked into ostrich burgers. Lincoln cathedral was once the tallest building in the world with spires towering above the height even of the pyramids in Egypt but sadly they didn't last long. Before the spires were built though it had already gone through many changes, which a lovely lady told as about on our tour of the roof of the cathedral, which took us up above the nave to see original beams. Quite impressively the Lincoln cathedral conservation people had decided to take conservation literally and not use modern techniques but instead continue restoration using the same techniques as had been used originally recycling material in the process. After the tour we had a short break before some of us went back for a second tour up the central tower in which Peregrines had been nesting again this year. Much cause for celebration by the RSPB. This tour took us up 338 steps in total first to see the clockwork, then the bells of which the biggest one is the 13th largest bell in the UK and then all the way up onto the top of the central tower where thanks to strong winds and sunshine we had the opportunity for not only beautful views but also a bit of a sunbathe. We then headed back down to the bells just in time to be deafened by Great Tom chiming 4pm. We then crossed the square and entered the castle where we first looked at the exhibition about the Magna Carta and admired not only one of the four remaining original copies of the Magna Carta but also one of the few remaining copies of the Charter of the Forest: the Magna Carta's predecessor. The castle prison has also been well preserved by the Friends of Lincoln Castle. After visiting these gruelling sights we ventured back out into the sunlight and made our way round the castle wall getting fantastic views of the cathedral and Lincoln and the surrounding countryside. Having accomplished a group picture and taken in all we needed to it was already 5.30pm and time for a cold beer in a local pub before heading back to Nottingham by train. The whole day Paulina and I had kept ourselves sustained eating expensive but well worth it truffles in different flavours and cheese scones bought from the baker. We also bought ourselves some cheese to go with our bread for supper. I bought ginger flavour (sounds odd but is most tasty) and Paulina bought tomatoe and basil. Other flavours were: apricot, mango, hot'n'spicy, lemon and pepper, onion, garlic and herbs, apple something, etcetc.

As you can maybe tell it was a delightful day and now I feel I should maybe think of somewhere to go for a day next weekend. Possibly Chatsworth House as I haven't made it there so far and it would be a shame not to have seen it!

xxx

P.S. all pictures on: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=136423&id=663901806&l=1d519c904d