Norwich Motorhome and Camper Van Show

It really was just motor-homes and camper-vans. Had it included caravans (trailers), it would have been a far larger and more interesting show. The Brits are slowly getting into the motor-home thing, most still preferring to tow their caravans. We have no interest in caravans, but it would have been nice to see more accessories vendors and bespoke manufacturers. Oh well. We spent a pleasant morning at the show, dodging dogs and raindrops, collecting a few ideas, and making a few minor purchases; and moved on.

Lots of, um, interesting ideas

One-person camping car

Blows air over ice cubes; for 249L; ice cubes not included

Thinking ahead to next year in GB, or perhaps in Little England,
we again joined our favorite, the Camping and Caravanning Club

Thinking ahead to decorating our US camper, Le Sport

And what motor-home show would be complete without a
flavored gin shoppe?

I'll spare you all the interior shots of dozens of different
Class B campers

Anyhow, there we were...

At the Motor-home and Camper-Van Show...in Norwich, Norfolk...July 19th, 2019

Norwich

Norwich is a medium-sized city, a regional hub, once known for its manufacturing, which is now down to just Colmans mustard. That is to say, however, all the mustard eaten by the English comes from Norwich. (Nevermind Colmans is owned by Unilever). Anyhow, the cathedral, the castle, the market, and many of the halls and churches date from about the same time, that is, the Norman occupation, beginning in 1066, and just after. If nothing else, Norwich is also the flint-stone construction capital of the known universe. We thought we had seen flint-stone in Normandy and in Kent. No comparison with Norwich.

A pub across the street from the entrance to the cathedral grounds...largest
collection of apothecary bottles ever--this is just half the windows, all of which
display the bottles--including many blue ones, Rebecca

First of many flint towers

The castle not visited, Norwich Castle; not flint

Also not flint, the beautiful Royal Arcade, sort of Art Nuvo

Every bit as popular here as in the US

Entering the 900 year old market area--well, there's been a market in this place
for 900 years

Part of costume for my next Medieval fair

Much of the current market is small eateries

We split fish and chips at a nice chippy; I get the fish, she gets the chips

Guild Hall, re-built in the 16th

Ever more flint; Fred and Wilma

More flint: former abbey halls, spared (for a price) by Henry VIII; either St. Andrew
or Blackfriars Hall

Interior of either St. Andrews or Blackfriars Hall (there was an event going on,
so they were technically closed)

Sic transit, Gloria

No end to the flint

Norwich Cathedral

After Boston we drove on to Norwich. We'd been thinking about going to the motorhome and campervan show there on the 19th and finally decided to do it. You can camp at the show itself, but have to spend two or three nights, and we didn't think we wanted to spend that much time there. So we found a nice rural layby a few miles from town, by a horse ranch, drove next morning to the Park & Ride, and easily bused into Norwich, to spend a day there before the motorhome show began. We visited Norwich cathedral, doing one of its excellent tours, and then spent the balance of the day visiting other almost equally ancient sites in the town, the market, the Medieval halls, and so on. Next post.

Someone else's picture; couldn't get far enough away to do my normal west facade view

Nave: very Norman, 12th century, until you look up at the 15th century ceiling; note
organ is part of the rood screen

Nave ceiling; enlarge to see the hundreds of ceiling bosses

Thus

Elevation

Easily one of the more interesting baptismal fonts (the doll is there to help
explain to heathens why Christians dunk their children) we have seen: most
fonts in this part of the world are stone, often beautifully carved, older generally
than the church they sit in; not this one--it is the caramel stirring pot from the
now closed Mackintosh/Rowntree candy manufacturing company that was
located in Norwich back in the Good Old Whenever; inventor and maker of Rolos;
Vicki asked the guide whether there was controversy about replacing the ancient
old font with this new copper stirring pot...the guide seemed astonished at the
question...no, she said everyone loves it... sic transit, Gloria; ad majorem
gloriam Dei...Amen

One of a pair of twisty columns in the nave; Norwich is just
a tad younger than Durham, but shares many such features

Remnant of ancient scene on ceiling

Not funny

This is a look into one of the piers/columns: 99% of the
structure is rubble, chiefly flint, the main building material
hereabouts, with a thin veneer of Caen limestone...brought
to Norwich via the Channel, the North Sea, then up the
river...

Christian graffiti...said to be a prayer for the safety of a ship...

Now in the quire

Attempted artsy showing the meeting of styles

Cathedral cat, spends most of every day here in the quire; the guide said it was a major
priority to get him out of the cathedral very evening, lest his nocturnal prowling set
off the motion detectors

Many misericords on view

Now in the chancel, before the altar

The Erpingham Window...local boy who was one of the
leaders and heroes of Agincourt; typical English window

In the St. Luke Chapel, the Despenser Reredos, 1380, depicting scenes of the Passion,
the piece is remarkable for its great age and survival; also remarkable that it's not
in the National Gallery

Grave of Edith Cavell, nursing and Red Cross leader, who
was executed by the Germans in 1915 for helping Allied
soldiers back across the battle lines in Belgium; she was from
near Norwich

Norwich has the second largest of English cloisters

And the only one that's a double-decker

And...a labyrinth!

Interlude: The Madness Has Begun

I'm about two weeks behind with the blog, and may get further behind since we're now in a flat in Edinburgh until August 13th. After putting Le Duc in storage, we arrived in the Festival City August 2nd, just as the Festival and Fringe were getting underway. It's our 3rd Edinburgh Festival and Fringe, but this time will be best, since we're living 15 minutes' walk from the Royal Mile--not camping out in the hustings--and will be here for far longer than than our previous 3-4 day visits. We've already been to two musical comedies, one on Brexit (!)(we'll see Trump: The Musical Thursday night), and Legally Blonde today. And the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo Monday night. Then we'll get really busy. The whole affair is the world's largest conglomeration of festivals. The Fringe guide alone is about 450 pages, divided among Cabaret and variety, Children's shows, Comedy, Dance, Events, Exhibitions, Music, Musicals and opera, Spoken word, and Theatre; plus all the craziness that goes on with the hundreds of street performers. There are as many as 20 acts listed per page in the guide, many running the entirety of the month-long Fringe. Do the math and you'll see that there is a dizzying array of things to choose from, much, if not most of it, controversial, avant-garde, or experimental. And then there are the many Edinburgh Festival festivals. The book festival, largest and longest such in the world, runs August 10th-26th, and includes hundreds of writers and scholars. Its guide runs a mere 150 pages. Just walking among the excited masses in Old Edinburgh is electrifying enough. About three million visitors are expected this month. Anyhow, if the blog is delayed or seems a bit giddy, you'll know why!

Looking in the direction of Holyrood Palace, Saturday afternoon