September 23rd, 2009

Russell — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 20:34:50 +0000

EXETER — Today was a carless day. I left the car in the hotel car park and walked into the city centre of Exeter. The weather was overcast and rain looked likely so I took my umbrella with me for the fifteen minute walk. I am glad I did because it began to rain mid-afternoon—the first real rain I’ve seen on my holiday.

I initially did some window shopping as I didn’t want to weigh myself down too early in the day. The centre of Exeter was almost completely flattened by German bombing during the Second World War, so much of the city centre is of post-war construction. A lot of damaged historic buildings were demolished rather than being restored, but every now and then you come across one that has managed to survive into the 21st Century. One such is St Stephen’s church on High Street and it is running a restoration appeal. A banner over the door proclaimed that it has survived, among other things, the Norman Conquest in 1066 and the Exeter Blitz in 1942. Quite a span of time.

I made my way to Exeter Cathedral. A very impressive building and one that managed to survive the war largely intact. Earlier this year the cathedral celebrated its 1100th anniversary and a lot of the banners used for the occasion have been left in place which added a lot of colour to the interior. One of the highlights for me was a papier-mâché life-size reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper by 13- and 14-year old students from Tiverton High School.
I took the guided tour of the cathedral which was really interesting, and though you could join and leave as you liked, most people (myself included) stayed on for the hour-long tour.

Afterwards it was time to head back to those shops I had ear-marked for a return visit. Loaded up with a some shopping bags, it was time to head back through the rain to the hotel.

Wynmelvin » Exeter Cathedral

September 23rd, 2009