Day 14

Today we took a field trip to Winchester. We started out at the hospital then walked a mile to the college. We then had lunch and got to look inside of the Cathedral. We ended the tour in Winchester Castle were we saw ....(pause for dramatic effect) KING ARTHURS ROUNDTABLE!!! Oh yeah that really happened. What can I say my princess mentality and royal blood just knew that this was the place where I was supposed to be.

The entrance to the hospital which is a place that housed 13 old men so it was more like an assisted living place.

They were prepping for a celebration of some kind.

Only the statue of a Cardinal made it through the reformation...

King's coat of arms

13 separate apartments

This would have been the means of keeping the hall warm when it is chilly outside.

Part of the dinning hall

Kitchen! Could you imagine cooking in here?

And the most important part of the kitchen: The cellar! There was a brewery on the property and each man received 1.5 gallons of light beer each day so they were pretty happy I'm sure...

The beautiful Gardens

There were two random fountains in the pond.

Stew climbing the tree

The chapel

We had to walk on gravestones to see the backside. I hope there are not any angry spirits coming to take revenge on me because of it :(

The chapel was built over a time span of 200 years so this was one of the entrances when it was first being built. 

There was amazing woodwork on the ceiling.

The fortified hill. The line you see running around the top is actually a ditch.

On our way to college!

This is were the bishop now resides

Can you imagine attending this college? and by college I mean high school boarding school.

 

On Campus Chapel

Jesse Tree

Miseri cord for relieving aching feet while looking like you are standing.

Dr. Jonathan Kirkpatrick when asked why the figures were so grotesque "you certainly couldn't put a saint under your bottom"

School Mascot??? Actually is was the symbolization of their school motto.

Dinning Hall

Simon always has his camera!

Portrait of the founding Bishop

and his coat of arms...

Yes this is were Jane Austen spent some of her days.

Part of the Cathedral...

Statue outside the Cathedral

Front of the Cathedral

On our way up to the triforium museum.

You get quite the view from up here!!

Bishops rings found in the Cathedral.

A wall of heads... Yeah that's not creepy...

Part of our Blessed Virgin Mother.

St. Swithem's altar (or what is left of it). They are going to try and reconstruct it with the pieces that they found!

This was a really abstract stain glass set. There were no distinguishable images. Just a bunch of pieces put together.

A font of course!

There are pelicans everywhere.

Going down to the crypt (sooo scary!!!)

14th century paintings I believe...

They had remodeled the church during the 14th century I believe so you can see the lines were the original pillars stood.

Simon is an amazing tour guide!

This was the last Catholic bishop in Winchester. He died of normal causes but his corpse statue was beheaded. Catholics be warned!! Needless to say I do believe my hand was on my throat for the remainder of the trip.

I did get to say a rosary in front of his grave though before we left and it was a very spiritual experience.

Some of the graves were very life like...

This was a door to get closer to St. Swithem's relics.

I really wanted to stop in there...

Winchester Castle

King Arthurs roundtable. Painted by Henry the 8th to help establish his lineage to make him seem legitimate.

Talk about a family tree!!

Yet another gorgeous garden!!