Ely Cathedral

Yesterday Mom and I headed out in East England. We had plans to start out and Denny Abbey, then head to a Stained Glass museum in Ely, then head over to Framlingham Castle. The Abbey was closed when we got there, so we headed over to Ely.

We got to Ely Cathedral and just expected to walk around the Stained Glass Museum for a few minutes and head on to Framlingham. Wrong. The Cathedral was amazing! We had so much fun walking around. When we walked up to the front of it, there were tons of baby ducks walking around. They were so tame, they came right up to us and let us pet them.

The Cathedral

Ely Cathedral was founded as a monastery in 673 By St. Etheldreda. It was destroyed by the Danes in 870 and then re-founded as a Benedictine Community in 970. It became a Cathedral in 1109 and Henry VIII closed the Monastery in 1539 during the reformation, during which time, he ordered parts of the church to be destroyed. His people removed the paintings from the walls and smashed and destroyed some of the sculptures and windows.

The Front Door from the inside

One of the Stained Glass windows and some of the old flags

Up on the 2nd level. That center Octagon in the middle of the church is where a tower used to stand. In 1322 the center tower fell and crumbled to the floor leaving a gaping hole in the ceiling. So, the Octagonal Lantern was built in its place.

Close up of the window

The View from outside

The inside of the Octagon in the middle of the church. Its a feat of engineering, especially for Medieval times. Its made completely of timber and its all braced against itself. To erect it, they had to build it on the ground, take it apart and haul each individual piece up onto the scaffolding, which held it up until the 16 large pieces of timber were put in place. The trees that they used for the main braces they think are over 1000 years old now, since they were upwards of 70 feet tall when they cut them down to use them as the main support. It took 18 years to finish and is over 60 feet high.

Looking into the Octagon

The Roof of the Octagon

Looking down from 60 feet

Mom on the other side of the Octagon

Looking down again

Outside on the roof

The view from the roof

Mom...trying not to freak out on the roof (we were 70 feet off the ground)

Looking through part of the roof

The TINY sprialing staircase (we had to go up something like 150 steps like this)

Mom coming out of the little door... I swear, the Monks must have been TINY when they built this place

The Lady Chapel

The Altar. The Statue of the Virgin Mary is a new statue that was comissioned for the Millenium by David Wynne.

Here in the Lady chapel, you can see the damage done by Henry VIII and the Reformation

The Window at the Altar

The altar in the Cathedral

One of the tombs...I like how this guy's hanging out like that...lol

Mom, shocked at how high up we were!

The outside. We were up where the arrow is pointing

London!

Yesterday we took Mom up to London to spend the day! It was amazing! I really am torn between which city is my favorit, London or New York...I think for now, we'll say its an even tie.

We started out in Camden, which is this quirky, funky part of London where there's TONS of crazy shops, but there's also a HUGE market place, The Horse Stalls Market. It goes on forever and there's lots of different types of things, everything from jewelry to paintings to pashmina's to food (we had some incredible Chinese food here), to just anything you can think of! I swear you cant turn your head without seeing something new and interesting. I think Mom had a really good time.

Some of the awesome tights on the street

One of the Chinese food places on the street

Christopher in Trafalgar Square with Big Ben in the distance

Westminster Abbey

Parliament and Big Ben

And for good measure...me with Platform 9 3/4 again...lol

Christopher kept trying to take a picture of Mom and Me yawning on the way home and it was hilarious..everytime we'd start to yawn, he'd pull the camera up and we'd stop mid-yawn.

Stonehenge

Today we made the 3 hour drive (which turned into a little bit more since we got turned around...lol), to Stonehenge!!!

I wasnt really sure what to expect, I mean, lets face it, its just a bunch of rocks in the ground, right? Wrong. It was really awesome! We went in past the gate that's up (people were spray painting the stones and they had to put a fence up), and when you go through you can get these little recorded tour things so you can hear all about the stones and their history, so that made it worth while.

There are a lot of arguments as to when Stonehenge was erected, it can be traced back to as early as 2200 BC. The monument is actually made up of two circles, an outer circle made up of Sarcen stones and the inner circle made up of bluestones, which are actually cooler to the touch than the Sarcen stones...they also are blue when cracked open.

Its also argued that the inner, Blue Stones were placed there before the outer stones, and they might date back to 3000 BC. Its also not just the stones, there are specifically and purposely dug ditches surrounding the stones themselves. We also learned that 1/3 of the actual stones are buried underground. And although they can guestimate when Stonehenge was formed, historians and scientists have no way of knowing how the stones got there or how they were stood up.

Its been shown that Stonehenge served as a burial ground in its earliest time, and its one of the first sites where single burials took place, instead of communal graves. Now Stonehenge is a place of pilgrimage for neo-druids, pagans, and even people of other beliefs. The monument started gaining more religious attention in the late 1800's and early 1900's as they began doing enactments of ancient Druid ceremonies. Between 1972 and 1984 Stonehenge was the site for a free festival during the Summer Solctice on June 21st, it was basically a rally of hippies who would dance and sing in the ritual space.

Even Angus got to visit Stonehenge (he wasnt allowed past the fence though, so he and Christopher walked around while Mom and I went through

Mom laughing...

And because we're so awesome, Mom and I tried to "jump" Stonehenge...lol

Mom's Here!!!!

Well, after an 8 hour flight, training in for about 2 and a half hours, including changing trains 3 times, driving from the train station, Mom is finally here!!!!!! Even though she'd only slept about an hour on the plane, we hit the ground running and had lunch at a cafe here in St. Ives and then headed to Cambridge!

Along our walk through Cambridge, we walked past this little round church that we'd passed a dozen times before, but it had never been open. A group from the college were in there singing and they were amazing! We missed most of their concert, but we did get to hear the last 2 songs they sang. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Round Church, Cambridge was built in 1130 by a fraternity similar to, but not, the Knights Templar. Like the Knights Templar, the fraternity came about in the Crusades of the 12th Century. It was a beautiful church with soooo much detail!

The floor tiles

These carved angels were added during the 15th century during a remodel of the church.

The stained glass...its Jesus, alive on the cross which is turning into the Tree of Life. It was breathtaking in person!

I wrote Oprah!

Oprah wanted to hear from Military spouses advice that you'd give other military families. So, I figured, what the hell, I'll write Oprah, or as my grandma calls her, Ofrah. Here's what I wrote:

My name is Jessica and I am a Navy Wife. I married my High School sweetheart when we were 20 years old the day after he graduated from his "C" school in the Navy. A week and half after our wedding, he left for his first deployment. Thus is the life of someone who loves a military man. That first year he was in the Navy we spent less than 30 days total together. Was it difficult? Of course. Would I go back and change it? No. Being apart and having to rely on emails, rare phone calls, trust, love, and most important, faith, got us through that time and made us stronger.

The best advice I could ever give another military family is to love one another while they're gone. Stress levels are going to be high, those boys are working long shifts on no sleep and on nothing but homesickness; the last thing they need is stress from back home. So if they call and try to pick a fight (or if you try to), take a deep breath and remember, the petty arguments can wait til they're back home and in your arms. I can remember being roused from sleep at 3 or 4 am and being instantly awake at the sound of my husband's voice...cherish those moments, those stolen whispers in the middle of the night that remind you why you're doing this, because those moments, those memories will get you through the days where it feels like they'll never be home.

And, you're going to have bad days. There are going to be days when your chest is so heavy with worry and sadness and longing that all you do is sit on the sofa in your pajamas and cry at commercials. And that is okay, we ALL have those days. But its also okay to get up off the couch and live your life and be happy because while your man is gone, he'd much rather hear about a busy day so he knows you're okay, rather than worry that you're hiding away becoming a shut-in while he's gone.

And in honor of my Navy Man... here's us on the day of his re-enlistment (last October)

Cue the Hallelujah Chorus!

Finally, after 5 months of being here, taking the test a couple of times, getting frustrated, and putting it off, I FINALLY passed the UK driver's license test!!!! It consists of 50 of the most assanine questions, half of which have nothing to do with driving, the other half that you cant find in the study guide. So, it was an annoying process, but finally, I passed, so I can quit being a hermit and get out of the house!!!!! YAY!

Oh, and Mom comes DAY AFTER TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!