St Alban's Cathedral (and cake)

Today we headed to St Albans which is a beautiful town north of where we live. We love going there as the cathedral is stunning and it helps that there's lots of lovely tea shops.

Where the cathedral sits is the oldest site of continuous Christian worship in Britain and the story of St Alban is fascinating - he became a martyr because he was protecting a priest and because he wouldn't worship the Roman Gods, instead standing up for Christ. He was beheaded and is believed to be buried close to the site of the cathedral.

Now you know if there's a graveyard I have to include a picture but I'm going to let you off lightly and here's just two shots of great Celtic crosses.

There are lots of beautiful stained glass windows in the Cathedral but the best one is the rose window - here it is from the outside and from the inside.

When we got inside there was a choir and small orchestra rehearsing for a performance tonight of Handel's Israel in Egypt - neither of us had heard of it before but it sounded fabulous, especially with the acoustics of the cathedral. It must be amazing to perform in such a sacred space.

Whilst Ken sat and listened to the rehearsal I wandered round the cathedral so here are a few piccies to show you how lovely it is.

The font with its decorative cover lifted

Two empty caskets - wonder where they've disappeared to

Ken next to a very big door

There are lots of memorials around the building, and these two had very scary looking skulls on them.

The shrine to St Alban attracts a lot of pilgrims throughout the year and is a very peaceful spot in the Cathedral.

The area around the cathedral has lots of lovely buildings, old and atmospheric.

Sorry, slipped a few more graves in

Stairs to nowhere

Lovely cat door knocker

We then walked up through the market and of course we found a cafe to stop for sustenance.

Lovely bread stall

Lovely biscuits and cakes

Man with high cholesterol!!

• It was a really nice day enjoying the beauty of St Alban's Cathedral and the town.

Until next time, stay safe, be happy, and smile at a stranger - it just might make their day.

Pamela and Ken
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P.S: Quote I liked in the bookshop except I would replace the word tea with skinny latte.