13th December 2015
Roast chestunts, German sausages and Ice Skating with the
family
Every year at Christmas time, my sister’s
family of nieces, cousins, grandchildren etc traditionally go to the Christmas
Markets held in the courtyards around Winchester Cathedral, where the adults
drink mulled wine and eat mince pies, while the younger ones go ice skating in
a temporary outdoor ice rink which is erected every year for Christmas.
Janet and I got to Winchester early, and it
was a good job we did, because the car parks were already filling up. With Troopy being over 2 metres tall, we often
have a problem getting into underground or multi-storey car parks, so we were
glad to find a suitable spot fairly quickly, and just had about a 15 minute
walk into the centre of the old town and the Cathedral.
The Cathedral
is one of the largest cathedrals in England, with the longest nave and greatest
overall length of any Gothic cathedral in Europe. Originally founded in 642, the
current building was started in 1079, and consecrated in 1093. While many
additions and alterations have been made over the centuries, s substantial
amount of the original structure survives.
There were services in progress while we were there, but we were still
able to see enough to impress us.
From there it was out into the
courtyards which were very busy, families, children, dogs, and everyone else
out there drinking mulled wine and exploring the many stalls. Mulled wine is not my favourite, but I did
manage to find a beer later that was much more to my liking ! While waiting for everyone else to arrive, we
wandered around everywhere, and ended up having some German Bratwurst and a
beer to keep us going ! We then made our
way over to the ice rink where we were to meet the others.
As their allotted time-slot approached,
everyone came. All my nieces and
nephews, and their offspring – All looking forward to their hour on the ice
rink. While they went off to get their
skates on, those of us who planned to sit it out moved round to a good viewing
spot, and got some coffee to keep us
warm.
Soon they were all out on the ice, and
to begin with most people were being pretty careful. But within about 10 minutes, most fears were
forgotten, and everyone had a great time together. Due to the warm temperatures in England so
far this winter, the rink was melting quite quickly, which meant there was
about a centimeter of water on the surface, so if one fell over, one got very
wet !! But this didn’t stop the fun – It just meant that people got up very
quickly if they fell over !
The setting of the ice rink in front of
Winchester Cathedral was wonderful, and it just added to the Christmassy feel
of everything, especially with all the people enjoying the stalls set out
around the compound. Eventually the
allotted hour was up, and some weary bodies went in to remove their skates before
we set off for dinner.
Jo had made reservations in a pub about
10 minutes walk from the centre, so we strolled up there and had a lovely family
evening in a private upstairs room where the little ones could make as much
noise as they wanted. After an excellent
dinner, everyone made their way back to their homes – And we set off back to
the Skidmore’s in Effingham. A wonderful
day with all the family.
Rest of the pics are here :- https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/0392WinchesterCathedral?authkey=Gv1sRgCLD106DchbzMYQ
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