It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a....Gargoyle?

By the way, even though it was just a day trip, this is a really long blog since i learned a lot! So don't read unless you have time!

We had our first field trip for British Studies yesterday, and we went to Lincoln. When I saw the itinerary, i was a little concerned since we were going to be there from 9:45-4:45. That just seemed like a waste of a whole day considering my typical Wednesday ends at 10:30. But nevertheless, we were forced to go and learn about castles, cathedrals, and a few other things.

The entire school was broken up into four groups. My group was allowed to wander around for an hour and a half before going on a castle tour. So, Robb, Sara, and I started down Steep Hill. Within a few minutes, I realized just why it was named Steep Hill. Sara talked the whole way down about how it was going to be hard walking back up. I kept my mouth shut, but silently agreed. It was going to be difficult! It had to be at a 45 degree angle at some points, which isn't so bad except we walked about a mile at a continuous decline. There were a lot of shops once got half way down. Sara really wanted to go in them, but I figured they were all expensive so we decided not to.

We did come to a little river and we saw tons of swan! I had never seen so many swan in all my life. Some lady on the other side started throwing in pieces of bread and the brawl was on. They are vicious creatures, don't let their looks fool you. They were going at each other. Plus there were a few little ducks in there, and I felt bad for them because they were just getting knccked to the side by the overly large white swan. Just because you're pretty, doesn't mean I want to be your friend!

A few minutes later, we decided to walk back up the hill so we would be there on time for the castle tour. On the way back up, Sara saw a shop that resembled a Victoria's Secret, wanted to go in for a second. Keep in mind, we had Robb with us, plus Adam (who we picked up on the way lol). Well, it didn't take long to figure out that it definitely wasn't a Victoria's Secret and was more of a...sex shop. Hmm...lets just say there were "toys" everywhere. I found it really funny, the guys were just standing there. Adam said, "I'm a liberal, but this is just too much for me." But I won't go into any details about the inside...

By the time we reached the top, a lot of other people had congregated, coming back from their own tours from various aspects of the city. So, our big group got together and walked to Lincoln Castle, which is still a working castle. Once we got there, we split up into 3 groups and picked a tour guide.

He led us to West entrance of the castle and showed us a little some of the reasons why the castle was so well protected. It also had a lot of the same stonework from when it was first made in 1068 which was pretty cool. Next, he led us to Cobb Hall which was built into the wall of the castle a little later. It was basically just a big tower, that they kept prisioners in, were able to shoot arrows at people through the slits in the walls, could throw cobb stones (big round stones) at people from off the top, or where they held executions (on top as well). We were able to walk up the stairs to the top, which were the same stairs that 38 people took to get executed (hung).

Cobb Hall:

The view from the top was absolutely amazing. We could see for miles in every direction. We even had a great view of the Cathedral which was fairly close. He talked about the executions and how people would come for miles to watch, just for the fun of it. Then, we got to walk across the East end wall, in which we could get an even better picture of the Cathedral, and the town. You could understand why they placed the castle where they had, because from the top of those walls, you could look down on the town of Lincoln and see it for miles, even through the clouds. It was truly remarkable.

This is the Cathedral from the wall.

Me on top of Cobb Hall

We walked around a little until we reached Lucy Tower. It didn't look real big until you actually got in it, but it was built on top of a really steep hill for a reason. At the time, they had made wooden stairs, instead of stone, leading up to it because if they were ever invaded, everyone would go up into the tower (which would have been stored with lots of food and water) and then they were burn the stairs behind them so they couldn't get up. The hill was way too steep that men in heavy armor would not have been able to make it all the way up. So, we were able to climb the 54 stairs to the tower and see what it looked like on the inside. It was actually rather peaceful, which is understandable since they used turned it as a burial site for the poeple who had gotten executed. We stood on the graves of two people who were hung in the 1800's and we could read their graves very well.

Below are the 54 for steps leading to Lucy Tower.

In the end, we got to see a replica of the Magna Carta and the prisons which were pretty neat. Oh! And while we were walking around, we got to see one of the bomber planes, because it was flying around. Our tour guide said it was the only one left and it was really cool to watch it circle around the castle. Sorry, that was just a side note!

After lunch, my big group had to split up again into 3 groups and go with one of the British studies professors on different tours. First, we started at the Lincoln Cathedral which was built 4 years after the Castle, in 1072. My guide was my actual seminar professor, David Green, so I was pretty happy. He stood us outside and talked about how the Cathedral was built in 3 different periods: 1072, after 1185, and then when they made the Angel Choir in the 13th and 14th century. He walked us up close, so we could see how the English Reformation had effected the church since there were heads cut off of the saints, and Inconoclasm had occurred, which is the destruction of icons, and how the colors were washed off the walls (except a little color still remained). We saw symbolism in the decorations on the outside like people either getting sucked into hell by demons or getting pulled into God's hands by angels. Green told us that the arches and way they built the cathedral was to draw our eyes up and up until eventually they were looking at God.

When we went in, it created the same effect. My eyes immediately started tracing the walls upward to look at the ceiling. We saw all the stain glass windows and imagined what it would look like if the sun was shining through. We saw tombs of bishops and queens. We saw the rood screen (sounds like rude), which separated the clergy from everyone else, and we were able to see how some of the reds and blues weren't completely washed out of the walls. It was amazing to see the details put into these walls. Saints and demons were everywhere, which seems weird to put a demon in the middle of a church, but back in medieval times, it wasn't weird at all. You'd see little figures of men, riding on horseback but had gotten killed by arrows throughout the place, as well as other figures. Its perhaps the thought of the crusades, and dying for religion and freedom. Which, of course, doesn't seem quite to morbid as just a dead guy.

Rood Screen:

We walked on top tombs, which was a little strange at first, but my professor assured me they wanted us to, which is why they built them into the floor. It was a way of remembrance in hopes that we would pray for them and help them "get out" of purgatory. I even got to see the lines from where the original church was, and how it had expanded into the huge cathedral that it was today. I saw a transi tomb which is a tomb that is split in two. On the top, you saw the bishop dressed in his utmost best attire, looking almost perfect. Then, on the bottom, you saw what he looked like in death, which was basically bone, which showed us that we are all going the same direction: death. Wouldn't you want your spiritual life right?

Corridor with the tombs in the ground

This is the alter.

Below is the transi tomb.

He led us to the Chapter house which i found very cool. It's basically this round room which stainglass, of course. But the cool thing about it was, Edward I, II, and III, ALL held Parliament there. It's amazing that I could stand in a room where 3 former kings had their government meet and discuss important matters. I was in a room, in the exact same spot as people from the medieval ages. It's really fascinating.

This is the chapter house:

After our tour of the Cathedral was finished, we went on a "roman walk". Green took us on a little walk to see all the remnants of the Romans who had been in England til 410 A.D. So, we got to see walls, entrances, whats left of aqueducts that were over 1500 years old. It truly was amazing. We even got the stand on the stones of first christian church in Lincoln. I felt kind of cool, being able to stand on history like that. Everything Green told me, I soaked it all in. History was never my strong point, but being here in England, it's really changed a lot of that. America is so young that we consider the first house built in American to be old and historic, which Europeans consider that new. It's been an adventure to see things, old things, really old things and just think of who had been there and what they were going through. It's still hard to realize that great kings, queens, knights, and just regular people, walked around where i've been walking. Suddenly history become a little more fascinating, and a little more real.

Newport Arch (remnant of Roman building):

Robb, me, Meghan, Sara

Anyways, There is a slideshow you can see of my pictures on my actual blog, so just click on the link to go to my blog and watch my slideshow at the end of this post! Thanks :)

Love you!