Chester

Spent the whole weekend in Chester, which is just southeast of Liverpool, and sort of a border town between England and Wales. It's a nice town, lots of old buildings and Tudor architecture, though some of it is from the Victorian Age, not Tudor times. Some streets have overhangs which protect from rain while you're shopping, and there are plenty of terraces and stuff, also medieval walls that follow the outline of the ancient Roman Walls.

Ah, the Romans. They've got plenty of Roman history in Chester, although I don't think they've been very good at maintaining & marketing it. Cases in point are 1) the amphitheatre, which used to house 6-7,000 people was almost bulldozed over to make a bypass a few years ago and 2) the "Roman Experience" museum (Dewa) is quite dull.

Saturday, my old friend Stef came down to visit. She's an engineer, and works for some sort of water/waste company. As far as I know she could be spending her working days swimming in sewage. She shared my misery at the Roman museum, but we both liked The Grosvenor Museum, which in addition to being free also houses several exhibitions on Chester's long history, including a whole house looking like it did in the Victorian Era. The name Grosvenor is, in that curious, British fashion pronounced without the s. There are lots of Grosvenors in town - streets, parks, etc.

We then spent some time on a tour bus, where at least to me the whole experience was wasted due to the combined forces of the wind and the old hag that mumbled throughout her comments. We also discovered that Stef's headache wasn't caused by me (not for lack of trying), but by a lack of caffeine (the woman goes through eight cups of tea per day at work, whaddya expect?).

All Chester pics here.

1274? I'm suspicious.


That sweet, sweet Tudor style.


Arty farty.


Hmmmm.


Reputedly the 2nd most photographed clock in Britain, after the one at the Palace of Westmister (Big Ben). T'was made for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee (her 60th year of reigning o'er us as the song goes).