Saturday 3rd November 2018



The kids had a huge culture input today. Again, after a long walk, we left Harvey on the boat and walked into the city. We visited both the cathedrals. The old one, built in the 14th century, was bombed almost to destruction during the Coventry blitz of 14th November 1940 by the German Luftwaffe, and now stands as a roofless memorial and a symbol of reconciliation. The new cathedral was consecrated on 25th May 1962 and its design caused some controversy. While the exterior is quite plain the interior, I suppose, is spectacular in its modernity, but definitely reflects 60’s architecture.



    









We then went to the Hubert Art Gallery. This has a museum section that tells the history of Coventry, even the kids enjoyed this. We then visited the Lady Godiva section but missed out the art gallery, thinking this could be too much for the kids. There was an art sale being held in the reception areas, some quite stunning artefacts on sale at vastly inflated prices.  

We then walked through the city centre to the market. Although not as impressive as the one in Leicester, Coventry is also “multi-cultural” and this is reflected in the array of fruit and veg, meat and fish on offer. It is fascinating watching them buy, with much poking, stroking and squeezing of all the foodstuffs.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thursday 25 th June 2020   After breakfast we walked up to Beeston Castle. It was open but visiting was by prior arrangement only. However, we both enjoyed the walk although it had been hot before 8am and the day just got hotter. We then decided to head for Christleton and resume our exploration of the Shroppie and visit the castle on the return journey. Once down Wharton’s Lock it is an 8-mile, lock-free somewhat boring cruise. The countryside is lovely but there is the 2-mile stretch of privately moored boats at Hargrave to contend with. The algae was not quite as bad as yesterday, but there were numerous floating islands of reed, some completely blocking the canal and had to be pushed gently aside with the boat.                                    ...
Read more
Friday 26 th June 2020   We both had a terrible night. It got to 28 ˚ and was airless. Rain started at 4am but it did nothing to cool the place down. The rain stopped as soon as it started but came again before 8am and continued heavily until midday. Once the rain had cleared we walked up into Christleton village. It felt so good to be back out and exploring again, although the church was only open for private prayer on Wednesday and Sunday. The centre of the village was delightful, a pretty village, full of some lovely old buildings. Even outwith the actual centre, there was an abundance of gorgeous properties.                                    St. James Church, Christleton               ...
Read more
Saturday 20 th June 2020   Brenda took the dog out this morning and, after an hour, Harvey turned up back at the boat on his own. A frantic search for Brenda found her on the towpath talking with someone. At Tracey’s, the fencing was finished and the gate hung. Well pleased with the job but hard work. In the afternoon, we met with Martin and Shelley in the grounds of the Kings Lock pub, bringing our own beer. Again, it was nice to meet up with old friends. The Kings Lock would be our usual meeting place but it did feel funny not being allowed inside. There were quite a few groups meeting up in the same way with most tables being full. Roll on when the pubs reopen. Of course, there were no toilet facilities so we had to break up early. Brenda went for fish and chips, while I dragged the dog back to the boat, desperate for the loo. It was a long way back! We sat in the front cratch and ate our fish and chips, very novel. After a bit of TV, it was early nights. We heard...
Read more