Chester---- what a wonderful city

Who would have believed that 2 weeks ago we were all lapping up the sun and thinking summer would never end and this week we have our scarves hats and woolie socks on.  Mr D and I had planned a little trip to some cities in England that we have never visited before, and as we drew closer to the date of departure the weather folk gave out dire warnings of gale force winds and rain rain rain......guess what?- we have spent the last couple of days in Chester and I have to say the weather hasn't been too bad.  I am not saying we have had wall to wall sunshine, in fact its more like wall to wall grey but the rain has only got us once.

We started our tourist bit with an open top bus.  How cute is this bus?  The tour guide tells us that there are only three of these buses left, one is in a museum, one is owned by someone that lets it out for private functions, and the one we were on is the only one left as a working bus (of sorts).

We took note of all the beautiful buildings and wandered the 'Rows' (the Rows are double decker shops) very "oldie worldie" and wonderful to think they have been there for centuries.

You can just see the walk way of 'The Rows'

Our next few hours were spent in the Cathedral.  I didn't take a photo of the entrance because it was quite underwhelming, but once inside I didn't know what to snap first.  Photos never do justice to the beautiful stained glass windows and my photos are no exception.  I can't remember a time when I have seen so many different windows and the size of them is unbelievable.  The first photo is of 4 of the side windows (there were many more beautiful windows to see).

               Ancient and modern side by side.

 These windows were at either end of the Cathedral, and oh so huge.

this mosaic was along the side wall, and there is no way my photo could do it justice.

Just a small sample

The Cathedral is massive, and you wonder how they managed to build such masterpieces so long ago.

The back of the Cathedral, 

Day two - with more and more warnings of bad weather, we decided to walk the City wall first thing in the morning....who's footsteps am I walking in?  Once again its amazing not only how the walls were built but how well they have stood the test of time.

Look at the height of that wall

Look at the car park side by side with the old gate house. That's why we have planning officers - Der!

As our feet were feeling the strain we took a trip up the river (that's when we did have a bit of rain), and saw how the other half live.  Some - no most of the houses on the river bank were what dreams are made of, with beautiful gardens leading down to a boathouse or landing dock.

Saviour of our feet

Our time in Chester has been wonderful and the weather on the whole has been so good to us.  If you have never been, I would highly recommend a trip to this beautiful city.

Tomorrow Liverpool.