I have a couple of days holiday, which I had to take before Christmas. Today I went in to Winchester. It’s only a few miles from where I work, but I don’t go there very often. It really wasn’t designed for cars, so the traffic and lack of parking make it hard to pop in during a lunch time.
King Alfred the Great probably didn’t have to deal with Land Rover drivers or traffic wardens when he had his throne there in 827. There’s a statue of him at the bottom of the city that I really like. Leaders that have statues or portraits made these days always look thoughtful and calm. They want to be seen as kind, caring people, who don’t hurt animals and protect the environment. Not King Alfred. He is stood there with his sword and shield out ready to take a swipe at anyone who got in his way. He looks like a proper king, the sort of king you get in fairy stories.
Lots of tourists visiting England go to Winchester as it has quite a lot of history associated with it (about 1000 years ago it was the capital of England). It also claims to have England’s oldest bar, the Royal Oak. It’s quite reassuring to see that England’s oldest bar now has wi-fi and loads of 18 year olds trying to get as drunk as possible.
Lots of people were walking around the cathedral, there’s been extra interest in it as they filmed some of the new The Da Vinci Code film there. There seemed to be a bit of an argument going on between two Americans on which type of arches the cathedral has. I’m pretty sure they’re gothic arches, but I didn’t want to get involved.
Are they 18 year old boys? Because, if they’re 18 year old boys, get me to the Royal Oak! I wonder if it’s the same as “the old oak” in Danbury, CT, where I would go after a long day of working at Friendly’s with my under age coworkers and get all kinds of sauced on Coronas from the bartender who spoke only Portuguese.
Comment by beav — December 2, 2005 @ 4:47 pmYes, all varieties of 18 year olds are available.
They also just started selling Corona over here as some fancy exotic beer, so you’d be right at home.
Comment by Darren — December 2, 2005 @ 10:22 pm