My friend from work back in Portland and her son came to visit us in Oxford. David took Friday off and we all spent Friday and Saturday nights in Durham, a city in northeast England city with a university, cathedral and castle.
After much deliberation, we decided to drive (the train prices were horrifying and the car gives more flexibility). It was a long trip with some nasty traffic towards the start, so we all owe great thanks to David for all the driving!
We headed out mid-morning, after our visitors checked out of their Oxford hotel and we brought their stuff back to our place. Lunch was McDonalds and KFC at a rest stop, at tables on an overpass over the freeway. Traffic was worse than expected until we got past Leeds, but we eventually got there.
We stayed at the Durham Travelodge, which is a large chain lacking in ambience but with a good price and clean rooms. It was just outside the city center, so about a 15-minute walk to the main sights. Next door was an Italian restaurant called Che Vita, which was really, really good. We ate there both nights! I had the best bread pudding ever, both nights! It was made with brioche and had chocolate sauce in it and warm custard all over it. To die for. This time I wasn't the only one with dessert, and the others were fabulous as well: banana waffles, raspberry tart, hot fudge chocolate cake with ice cream, chocolate caramel pudding...
Durham Cathedral was really nice - better than I remember when I visited as a day trip from Edinburgh six years ago. It is mostly Norman/Romanesque, with lots of big, solid pillars. It was made of light-colored sandstone and included the tombs of St. Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede, two northern English medieval celebrities.
There were neat Celtic crosses in the churchyard, and inside there was a sign saying, "This is Will," which of course Carol and I had William stand next to for a photo. The sign said you had to be taller than Will to go up the tower, so I guess none of us can go! (And none of us did but William.)
Our explorations of Durham included a nice wooded walk across a bridge to a riverside path that provides a nice view of the cathedral. Despite the worsening weather, it was very scenic and fun.
Durham also has an old castle ("to keep the Scots out and the English in"), of which we had an enjoyable guided tour led by a recent Durham University graduate in history. The castle is now used mainly as student accommodations, which must be pretty nice!
In the basement was a neat surprise - an ancient Saxon chapel that had been forgotten for centuries and recently discovered fully intact. It was very crypt-like, made of gorgeous sandstone, and the capitals were decorated with Saxon pagan-like images including lions, snakes, and even a mermaid.
We all enjoying the sights of Durham, but we pretty much ran out of things to see by Saturday evening. Even the cinema was closed for renovation. In hindsight, we would have spent our second night in Whitby, which we visited on Sunday.