Dr Foster went to Gloucester - 29 June

Today we went to Gloucester to stay with Mark and Kate. By the end of our time with them, all the kids knew all the words to 'Dr Foster went to Gloucester'! I heard it chanted quite a lot!

The first thing we did when we got there was go and visit Gloucester Cathedral. It was spectacular. One of the fun things about it was the Whispering Gallery, a tiny little corridor which runs the full length of the building behind the great East Window. You can stand in the entryway and talk, and the person at the other end - around a couple of corners and almost 40 feet away - sounds as if they are right next to you. It was really cool!

Nicholas in the entrance to the Whispering Gallery. He generally needs no help in being heard 40 feet away...

The window is amazing, too. My pictures do not do it justice.

I love the detail in stained glass windows. You can always find some little detail to look at and wonder about. Later on we found a musician's chapel, and the windows in there were my favourites!

Parts of the Harry Potter films were filmed in the cloisters at Gloucester.

 
We loved the lavatorium - which, if you didn't know better (we didn't) could have been mistaken for the medieval toilets.

 
Actually no, it was just washing stations. But still pretty funny. And this is where Harry and Ron hid from the troll...

Gloucester had some great tombstones, too. I especially liked this one, with representations of all of the couple's fifteen children on it.

 

And these... I'll just prop myself up on my hand for eternity. Or cross my legs. A very casual approach to death!

It was a beautiful day, and we had a lovely afternoon exploring the cathedral - including going down into the crypt, where it was nice and cool!