cathedrals and commercialism

[bedlamsbard]

Yesterday I saw cathedrals! Today I bought things! I almost reversed the verbs in those two sentences, which would have been...very strange.

Anyway, yesterday we went to Flag Fen, Peterborough Cathedral, and Ely Cathedral. Cathedrals! They're very large! I am glad to see that I am no longer as nervous about cathedrals as I used to be (I freaked the fuck out the last time I was in one in Europe in 1999. On the other hand, I was nine), but that might just be because I've studied medieval religious culture since. Both Peterborough and Ely have these marvelous painted ceilings, and Ely has a particularly gorgeous Lady Chapel that was renovated in 2000. Did you know that the insides of medieval chapels were painted? I didn't! You've still got traces of paint on the insides of English ones, they were all whitewashed over in the English Reformation, but they're not painted anymore. Flag Fen is also very cool, if you like that sort of thing.

Today I found a paperback copy of Pigeon Post at a used book stall in the Cambridge Market and pounced on it. I grew up with Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons and Secret Water, but those were the only two we have in the house, and Ransome isn't that easy to find in the States. There's a really nice first edition of The Big Six at a bookshop in Cambridge that I've been eyeing thoughtfully, but it's twenty pounds and I'm hesitating over it, even though I'm sure my dad would love it. And, hell, I want it. We'll see. I also picked up a copy of Philip Pullman's The Tiger in the Well, after staring at the books available for a while and determining that it was the thickest. (Value for money, obviously). I, um, I never realized that Philip Pullman wrote anything besides His Dark Materials. I don't know if The Tiger in the Well is the place to start or not, but The Shadow in the North was two pounds and they didn't have The Ruby in the Smoke, although they did have The Tin Princess. (I don't know which of these are actually related, though.)

I also bought a skirt, which, uh, may be the first piece of clothing I have seen in the UK in my size, so it may not have been the most well-advised purchase. But it fits! And then I took it back and hung it up and realized it was the third blue skirt in my closet -- the other two skirts I brought with me are both blue too. Oh, well, it's cute.

I also finally started my narniaexchange fic. I thought maybe I should get on that.

Not that I need to buy more books, but I have belatedly realized that I actually have the opportunity to buy all those books that people grow up reading in the UK but that aren't really available in the U.S. (Enid Blyton and all that. Or...whatever.) Unfortunately...I don't know what they are.

Comments

[deathsblood.livejournal.com]

The Tin Princess is the mainly unrelated one. It uses two characters from the other books, one of which was only in The Ruby in the Smoke. The Tiger in the Well is I think the third, but from what I remember any of them shoulb be understandable in whatever order, though my school library had them all so I read them in chronological order. I think they had enough, not flashbacks exactly, but explanations of relevant information shown in the previous books. Then again, I haven't read them since I was eleven, so.

[bedlamsbard]

*sighs dramatically* Ah, well. I'll keep an eye out for the others.

[isweedan]

Ely Cathedral? Eeeee. That's where Byrhtnoth is burried! And Wulfstan! Eeeeeeeee. #anglosaxongeekout

And you know who killed Byrthnoth? VIKINGGGGGGS! At the Battle of Maldon! :DDDDD

[bedlamsbard]

IT IS VERY PRETTY. YOU WOULD LIKE IT.

[lady_songsmith]

Ruby, then Shadow, then Tiger. Tiger brings back characters from Ruby, but is understandable without the background reading. Like I said, there was a span of about 5 years where I kept finding series backwards: I read the very last book, then found out there was a series and started from the beginning. Lioness and Dark is Rising, memorably, but I know there were others.

[bedlamsbard]

Heh, I think I read Dark Is Rising inside out -- I have the vague memory that I may have started with Greenwitch and...is there one called the Silver King? Not Silver on the Tree, another one in the middle, the one set in Wales.

[dogstar]

Eee! I remember really loving Ely Cathedral- I took some gorgeous photos lying on the grass and looking up at the tower with some COOL perspective tricks, and I remember being insanely happy at the lack of chiggers and fireants and itchy grass bugs and it being summer but not horribly hot. :P

[bedlamsbard]

It was incredibly cold the day we went. *sighs* I don't think I have any pictures of the outside of the cathedral, though.

[clanwilliam]

Abebooks.com is your friend. Also, pop into the Haunted Bookshop and ask them if they've got any recommendations and have a browse through their downstairs books. (Upstairs is very very expensive indeed, so make it clear you're on a budget.)

[bedlamsbard]

They...have a downstairs? I just thought it was the tiniest bookshop ever. (They've got a book I want, but it's twelve pounds. *sighs*)

[highlyeccentric]

I technically did know medieval churches were painted, but I keep forgetting. Most of the painting on the roof in Ely is 19th century, but some of the archways have traces of the original on them, I think.

[bedlamsbard]

There's some bits left on the arches as well, and I think there was some in the Lady Chapel. I am very fond of their brightly painted Virgin Mary, too.