We learned from our tour guide that the difference between a city and a town is that a city has a cathedral. Wells (named for the natural spring wells on the property of the Bishop's palace) is a fairly small city with lots of charm. We were taken on a tour of the cathedral by 2 lovely guides who were very informative.
One of the most distinctive features of the cathedrals are the scissor arches which were installed due to the stress put on the building when the tower was erected.
The baptismal font is from the original cathedral and is over 1000 years old - the choristers were encouraged to feel the tops of the arches on the font to see how the builder tried to change them from Norman to Gothic.
The cloisters were also beautiful.
After the tour we had a bit of time to find lunch and explore the town. Some people shopped, some found a good pub for lunch, some continued to explore the cathedral. Afterwards we returned to Bristol for Evensong.
We rehearsed quite a bit before the service before taking a rest before the liturgy began. The choristers had fun taking some refreshment in the cafe with our friend, Plastic Baby Jesus.
The choir sang well once again, treating the congregation to Kenneth Long's Magnificat and Nunc dimittis in F set for trebles. Our women and trebled did a spectacular job on this piece, while the men added their lovely tones for the rest of the service music. All in all - a great service.
After evensong we headed down to the dock for the Harbour Fest before dinner - quite the party scene! There were tugs of war on boats, lots of music, food...a true festival. We even indulged in a little body art:
Don't worry - it's not permanent!
We returned to the hotel for dinner after a bit, then a small group went out to Queen's Park to check out the night life of the festival. It was a heavenly feast of food - stalls and stalls of sweets, cheeses, paella, noodles...just fantastic! More than a few plans were made to return on our free Saturday before AND after Evensong.
Saturday is a free day for everyone before Evensong at 3:30 - we'll get some much needed rest before the weekend liturgies.
Onward we go!
Larry - you just might want to make that body art permanent. It would sure give a message to your students! You all look like you are having a great time. Thanks for the updates!
ReplyDeleteNice choices on the body art except the guy in the pink polo. Does that really say church singing trip? I love the pictures of the kids! Keep the info coming! I'm using all this with my class when we do Great Britain! Gayle
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