We've been visiting Winchester!

We have been meaning to do this visit for a long time.  One of my person's grandmothers lived in Winchester, opposite the cathedral, so there were summer and Easter holidays there and my person knew it quite well.

Winchester is the ancient capital of England, in the time of King Alfred, the king who burnt the cakes!!  There is a big statue of him there.

We started out by taking the ferry across to the mainland.  We were lucky enough to get WightLink's new eco-ferry, Victoria of the Wight.

Harry from Baboon HQ and Mikey from Lion HQ looked out at the port of Fishbourne on the island.

We had an uneventful journey and by the time we arrived Mikey was starving.  We had a cheese and pickle panini in the cafe eighteen71, in the Guildhall.  It is called that because the foundation stone of the Guildhall was laid in 1871.

This is opposite the statue of King Alfred.

If you are interested in this ancient king of our nation you can find out more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_the_Great  He is an interesting chap.

We booked into our hotel the Royal Hotel Winchester, which was built in Charles II's time, as the home of the Bishop of Winchester, very close to the cathedral.

It was a real treat to put our feet up, before we went to wander around and have a look at the cathedral.

The cathedral was started during Saxon times, but there are also Norman features, as it took centuries to build.  There is more information about the history of this wonderful building here: https://www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/our-heritage/our-history/

At some point you may feel that this is a pizza tour of Winchester.  We went to Three Joe's pizza, near the cathedral.  We recommend it very highly.  Not only did we have pizza and beer, but also ...

Eaton Mess sundae. Delicious!!

It is not our habit to take photos of bollards, but all the bollards around the cathedral were very nicely decorated, for various charities, this one was for young carers.

The next morning after breakfast, that we were too busy eating to remember to take photos of, we set out for a busy day.  First, we walked up the town to visit the great hall and castle.

We found the memorial, above to American soldiers who fought in Europe in the world wars.  It was very moving.  The picture below is the great hall.

This is the inside of the Great Hall of the castle, with King Arthur's round table on the wall.  It has been identified now as a representation of the round table, but it is still quite fascinating to see.  For more information about King Arthur: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/winchester-round-table

We decided to walk out along the River Itchen to St Cross.

On our way down through the town we managed to take a picture of the Butter Cross in the market place.  There was quite a good market every day in Winchester.

Mini-Paddington found a small part of the original Roman city wall.  Its just a small section remaining, by the river.

This is near the beginning of the river walk,  you can see a fairly old mill in the background, it is flats now, but the speed of the flow of the river is ideal for milling.

Detouring around by the cathedral, Harry introduced himself to this very important gentleman, William Walker.  You may feel that his is strangely dressed.  However, he is dressed for a very important job.  Winchester is in a valley and there is a lot of water around the cathedral.  At one time it was found to be sinking, and could have been lost.  Mr Walker, known in Winchester as "The Diver", using his diving skills, went down into the foundations of the cathedral and underpinned it, to save it from sinking.  For more of his story see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Walker_(diver).  He is a very important man to Winchester and even has a pub named after him.

A good walk needs cakes or scones.  Harry found a big selection in the Cathedral Refectory.

On the way out to the water meadows and the walk to St Cross, we passed the famous Regency, English author, Jane Austen's house.  She actually did not live in Winchester for long, her father was a vicar in the dioceses, and when she was ill she came to Winchester and died there.  She is buried in the cathedral.

We also came across this interesting, tiny church, St Swithuns, it is over the road.  St Swithun is the patron saint of Winchester Cathedral and this little church is also dedicated to him.  It is just outside the cathedral close.  St Swithun is thought to have a lot of influence over the British weather.  He has been doing a good job in recent years.  For more information about him: https://www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/our-heritage/famous-people/st-swithun/

We walked through St Faith's water meadow, which is very beautiful.

We carried on to St Cross.  We wanted to visit there because our person's grandmother worked there for a short time, as a nurse and our person remembers a visit there when they were very young.

The Hospital of St Cross is one of the oldest Almshouse in England.  It was founded in the 1130s by Henri Blois, Bishop of Winchester, grandson of William the Conqueror and brother of King Stephen.  The purpose was to provide accommodation for: "Thirteen poor men, feeble and so reduced in strength that they can scarcely, or not at all support themselves without aid".

In the 15th century another Bishop of Winchester added a second part for "noble poverty".  The gentlemen we saw there seemed quite healthy and happy and they live in a beautiful place.  They wear gowns that identify them. We went around the public areas.

The medieval kitchen was interesting.  How did anyone every manage to cook anything there!!  Just look at it!!

Luckily they have better facilities now.  We explored below the kitchen and found a bit of a gargoyle and the secret of why the men who lived there seemed so happy!!

They seemed to have quite a few barrels of beer!!

We got back to the cathedral and Mikey found this interesting snack van.  However, we went to the cathedral refectory for lunch.

Mini-Paddington nearly made a big mistake and joined the Benedictine order, like these bears.  It was all a misunderstanding and when he found out they did not have marmalade he backed off pretty quickly!!

Could have been a big mistake and Mini-Paddington needs to take more care what he agrees to!!

A very delicious toasty!!

Then we went for another walk, the other way along the river, and found some interesting meadows and moors.

This was a lovely managed wild area with interesting paths and views.

Back at Cafe eighteen71 for tea and Mikey found some more interesting cakes.

Finally we had our evening meal, at ASK pizza in Winchester, it was very nice, of course.

So it does seem to be a bit of a pizza tour!!  Well we would say Winchester centre has lots and lots of lunch places, far too many to choose from!!  However, there were not so many mid-priced dinner places, with decent veggie options, apart from pizza places.  There was a Nepalese restaurant, which we wish we had tried, but we did not find too much else.  Meat eaters would be fine. However, we would definitely recommend a visit and a pizza at Three Joes!!

A flying visit to Boston

Last week Ozzie from Baboon HQ, Lawrence from Lion HQ and a stowaway went on a quick visit to Boston.  We flew there on Monday and arrived at our hotel, The Revere, in the afternoon.

The bed was massive and meet the stowaway, Mini Paddington!! He likes travel and experiences.  The reason we chose the Revere Hotel was that person's father used to read the poem 'The Ride of Paul Revere', to get them to sleep, when she and her brothers were children.

There were so interesting artifacts in the hotel.  Paul Revere was originally a sliver smith and later cast cannon and other items in metal.  The hotel had taken this on board and was decorated with objects made from metal things.  This horse was spectacular, Ozzie hitched a ride.

There were images of Mr Revere everywhere.

He was a scary looking chap!

On Tuesday morning we went to the Paramount in Charles Street for breakfast.  This is where Mini Kolo had the famous caramel banana french toast.  This is the cinnamon french toast.  Mini Paddington was more interested in searching for marmalade sandwiches.

Later we went for a walk around Quincy Market and found lots of delicious cakes.  Ozzie fancied the banana cream tart, but really we were full from the breakfast and so we could only manage a muffin each, we got them to takeaway.

One blueberry and one apple.  Not all of our trip was about food, but breakfasts are very important so here we go!

The next morning we went to Tatte Cafe in Boylston Street for breakfast.  Paddington checked out the sunnyside up haloumi sandwich and the museli bowl.  Neither involved marmalade, so he was less than impressed.  However, the rest of us enjoyed them.

Then we went to visit Fenway Park, the home of the Boston Red Sox.  Mini-Kolo has a Red Sox shirt, but then he also has a Chicago Cubs shirt so we didn't feel too guilty about being there without him.

We loved the look of this shop, where fans get their snacks.  We don't eat sausages, but they seemed to sell everything, so we would find something there we could enjoy.

A highlight of the visit was the club shop.

We just loved the giant glove seat and it was a chance to put our feet up.

After that there was time for more food, so we went to Panificio in Charles Street for grilled cheese.  Ozzie particularly liked that.

On the way back we met Mr Punch, outside a tobacco store.  We don't smoke, of course, but he was interesting.

In the evening we went for a walk on Boston Common and came across the Frog Pond.

Lawrence had a chat with Mr Frog, while he was fishing.

Mrs Frog was clearly bored with the fishing.  But look at what their tadpole was up to!!

He might need a little supervision.  He seems mischievous!!

When we got back to the hotel, after eating a the Thai restaurant, King and I, in Charles Street, it was dark and we looked at the views from our window.

We were on the 19th floor, so it was quite a view!!

So morning, and more breakfast.

Back to Tatte cafe for Thursday breakfast and Mini Paddington gave up on trying to find marmalade and settled for a passion fruit tart!!

Later we went for a walk on Commonwealth Avenue, Mini-Kolo loves it there.  Our manperson liked this bird with a red front.  Apparently it is an American robin, but it wouldn't face the camera.

Well Thursday was an exciting day, with a tweet-up.  We had caught up with Michelle @grrlysquirrel75 for dinner earlier in the week, now was time to meet Lily's Bonny, Pandafur's Katy and Beth, a friend of Katy's.  We had met them before so we were excited about catching up.  We met at Serafina's in High Street.

Ozzie got the chance to catch-up with Petie, Lily's re-homed baboon.

Then it was pizza time!!  Bonny and Katy had this spectacular prawn and pesto pizza!!

Our people had the VIP Margarita.  Why VIP?  We don't know!

The pizzas were great!!  After that we walked down to Quincy Market for ice cream.  There was a lot of choice!!

Blueberry pie was especially good.

Later, we went for another walk on Boston Common, before dinner.

Ozzie hitched a ride on a duck and then found that he was in a long line of ducklings.  Boston Common has some great bronze castings.  Finally our last dinner in Boston, for this trip.

We had it in the restaurant in our hotel.  Lawrence chose mac and cheese with fries.  It was delicious.

We had to get up at 3 am the next morning to get our flight, so we went to bed early.  We did mange it and we flew home with no hitches.

We had a great time in Boston and will be back again soon, probably as part of a longer trip to destinations in the US, as we have done before.  We love Boston and we love all our friends there.  Thank you to Michelle, Bonny, Katy and Beth for meeting us and helping to make our time great fun.