Tuesday 7 December 2010

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

The Ship of the Fens
I can't believe the end of My Friend's stay is approaching the end.
I have been so lucky to have had a friend from Norway staying in town this fall and it has been wonderful. But as Christmas is approaching, they are getting ready to return back home.
We took a break from the normal Christmas preparations on Sunday and went to Ely to see the Cathedral.
Ely itself isn't much to talk about, in my opinion. A rather sleepy little town, still very cute, but the Cathedral is the big reason for going and for the existence of the town in the first place.

Don't be fooled by the pictures!
It was absolutely freezing. Whilst most of the country is wrapped in a blanket of snow, we don't have any in our parts, but the temperature is absolutely "chillin' us to the bone"!



Being so close to Christmas it seemed very fitting visiting a cathedral.
The Cathedral is simply beautiful.
It is absolutely enormous and very richly decorated although much was destroyed during the Reformation. It was built during 1083 - 1375, as a shrine to St. Æthelthryth, daughter of the Anglo-Saxon King Anna of East Anglia. Despite two marriages she remained a virgin and in the end became a nun and founded a monastry in Ely. 


More of the history can be found here.


It must really be something special attending service in this Cathedral on Christmas or even just a concert.



It must really be something special attending service in this Cathedral on Christmas or even just a concert.


It was a great time to go sightseeing as everybody is busy gearing up for Christmas...

Back home like most parents around the world we are attending (and enduring) end of term celebrations and Christmas performances.
Last night was the end of year event for Our Boy's scout group. Actually, the group has left the scout movement as their activities are a bit too tough for the Scouts. The boys (and now girls) are very fortunate to have a dedicated team taking them on annual mountain climbing events. Depending on their age these events range from climbing mountains in Wales, Sweden, Kenya or even the Himalayas.
I am really pleased Our Boy gets to 'rough it a bit' seeing that he doesn't really have the most 'out-doors type' of parents.

;-)

8 comments:

  1. For en flott katedral!!
    Kan tenke meg det er fantastisk å være der på julaften ja!
    Ha en herlig tirsdag, her har vi over -18 idag... Brrrr..
    Klem fra størstepia

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  2. Dette var virkelig til å få julestemning av! Nydelig katedral og bilder.. Blir rent høytidsstemt :)

    ♥ Nyt dagen ♥

    Klem fra Tove

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  3. Nydelig kirke ser det ut til!
    Og selv om vi har 15 minus her i Oslo i dag, er det sikkert enda verre hos dere. Engelske hus er ikke akkurat kjent for å være varme!

    Catje

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  4. Skulle gjerne ha vært tilstede på en julemesse i en høytidsstemt og overdådig katedral som den du besøkte...ikke mye av det her hos oss.

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  5. Takk for hyggelig hilsen inne hos meg:) Vakker katedral du viser bilder av:))

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  6. Nydelig julestemning! Wish i was there;)

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  7. Ah, Ely! I saw the photo of someone crouching through a doorway and wondered if you'd had a chance to go up into the lantern? We did it last year and it was amazing!

    How are your feet after the foot spa? Did it work? Kinda gives me the heeblies, but it's interesting all the same!

    Take care and keep warm,
    S

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  8. No, we didn't go up as it was simply too cold to try to brave the top. Next time I go I hope it will be summer... ;-)

    My feet are fine. The only thing with the fish is that they didn't do their work where I wanted them to go - namely UNDER my feet (theyare are 'a bit' hard to communicate with). They actually tended to prefer the upper part of my feet and to be honest - I didn't have a 'problem' THERE. No, I won't do that again, but it was interesting all the same

    ;-)

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