Day 30: Getting Rained on in St. Albans

Today we had a stressful day, but a pretty successful one.  Ethan had a meeting the the Dean of St. Albans Cathedral and Abbey and I was tagging along to see the church and explore the Roman city of Verulamium.  Sadly, we had issues finding the right train station to get to St. Albans and then more issues with tickets.  After spending far too much time on the tube, we got on the train on a very rainy day and headed to St. Albans.

We went to the cathedral-abbey first and explored a very amazing church.  With Norman and Saxon origins, the church grew into a massive abbey complex and then dwindled again after the Dissolution.  It was revived and is now the thriving cathedral of the diocese.  The church is named for St. Alban, a 3rd century martyr who was a Roman citizen in the local town.  He was martyred for converting to Christianity and sheltering a priest.  His cult probably began around the middle of the 5th century and there is a shrine that holds relics of the saint in the cathedral.

St. Alban is depicted in the new nave screen, which depicts seven martyrs.  Four are locals: St. Alban, St. Amphibalus, George Tankerfield, and Alban Roe.  They range in period from the 3rd century to the 17th.  The other three are St. Elizabeth Romano, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Oscar Romero.  All three come from the 20th century and are meant to remember the sacrifices still made for the church.  Together, they represent early Christianity, Anglicanism, Roman Catholicism, Russian Orthodoxy, and Lutheranism.

The cathedral has centuries of history, most of which I learned from Ethan after his talk with the dean.  The Lady Chapel, pictured below, was for a long period separated from the rest of the church.  There was quite literally a road running between the church and the chapel building.  The chapel was used as the local grammar school before being reincorporated to the cathedral.

The Wallingford Screen was built in the late 15th century but was devastated by the Dissolution.  Every statue in the screen was torn down and destroyed.  In the 19th century, the cathedral went through major restoration and renovation.  The two main benefactors disagreed on how the screen should look.  One felt that it should be restored into its original state and the other wanted to go more modern (and more egocentric) with just a silhouette of himself and Queen Victoria.  Apparently the conflict went all the way to the House of Lords, and luckily (in our opinion) the more traditional restoration won out.

The abbey greatly benefited in the 12th century when an Englishman was elected Pope.  Nicholas Breakspear, better known as Adrian IV, had been educated at the Abbey School of St. Albans and his selection as Pope increase interest in St. Albans as a pilgrimage.

After the church visit, I headed to the Verulamium Museum and site while Ethan met with the Dean.  I first headed to the theater at Verulamium.  Unlike the other theaters I've seen this trip, it is a true theater, not amphitheater.  The first theater at the site was built around 140 CE and was enlarged in 160 CE.  The theater could fit 7,000 people and featured columns 5.8 meters tall on the stage.  The theater eventually fell out of disuse, even before the Roman occupation ended.  It's unclear why it was no longer used.

Around the theater were the local shops and a few homes.  One third century villa contained an underground shrine, possibly suggesting that Christianity had forced pagan rituals into private settings.  Although, it may have just been a private shrine and that might be too much of an attachment.

Below is a pendant with a triskele, which is a design featured in cultures around the world.  It was particularly important in Celtic culture and art.  I'm curious how this was influenced by the Roman occupation and vice versa.

The gold ring below has a depiction of an ear of wheat.  The native Catavellauni tribe had a culture dominated by farming and it seems that the Romans continued the tradition.  Along with the ring, there were also depictions of Ceres, the goddess of the harvest and crops.

Below is a variation on the classic pennanular brooch.  The pair of silver brooches were connected by a thin chain.  I'm unsure if this would have been done to hold a cloak or just as a decorative statement.  Either way it seems like a fairly unique and beautiful piece.

There were many burials around Verulamium, fitting for a large Roman city.  They varied in their use of inhumation and cremation.  Some of the burials were in ornate lead coffins and others were in more simple stone ones.  One very interesting find was this Septimius Severus coin found in a child's grave.  The coin, shown with the child's teeth, was placed in the mouth of the child for burial and the copper in the coin turned the teeth a bluish-green color.  The coin probably dates the child's death to around 210 CE.

The depiction of Venus below, done in bronze, was originally depicted holding a golden apple.  The golden apple was won by Venus in the judgment of Paris, when she bribed him with the love of the most beautiful woman, Helen.  And we all know how that ended.  As a decline of Roman religion in Verulamium, the statue was found in what is believed to be a scrap pile in the workshop of a metalworker.

Verulamium had a unique triangular temple at a major intersection of roads.  The temple was dedicated to Cybele, an Anatolian goddess imported to Rome, and her consort, Attis.  The ceremonies dedicated to the gods involved the sacrifice of an ox, pine cones, palm leaves, and ceremonial pottery, all of which were found in the site of the temple.  The skull off an ox is shown below.

From the museum I went into Verulamium Park, which contains some more Roman artifacts.  Sadly, I was only able to peak at a large mosaic since the building had been closed for the day.  I did get to walk along portions of the city walls and see the foundation of a massive gateway.  The walls were a later addition, being added towards the end of the 3rd century.  Unlike most sites I have been to, the military presence in Verulamium was much smaller and the site was never really a fort.

I headed back towards the abbey through the park to meet Ethan in the rainy weather.  Unfortunately, due to a miscommunication, as I arrived back at the abbey, Ethan headed to the museum to find me.

I took a few more minutes to walk around the abbey before Ethan and I reunited.  We eventually found each other and headed back to the train station.  By the time we were back to London, we were wet, hot, sweaty, and ready for a break.  Though the day was successful, the travel logistics were messy and the rain dampened both our hair and our moods.  But with a little rest, we were able to rally for dinner and a quiet evening.

Fun Fact #30: There were several breeds of Roman dogs at Verulamium, shown by the various dog skeletons found at the site.  Romans had three divisions for different types of dogs, villatici or house dogs, venatici or sporting dogs, and pastorales or shepherds' dogs.  The villatici could be small lap dogs and the sporting dogs were divided into further categories: fighting (pugnacious) and hunting (celeres, sagaces).

Day 16: Moving into Cardiff

With not much else to do in Newport, I had a relaxed morning in my hotel and then headed to the train station.  I knew I would be arriving in Cardiff earlier than I had told my next hotel, so I decided to wait for a later train.  The trains came so often, that waiting for three trains to go to Cardiff before boarding, I had only been in the station for about 20 minutes.  So I took the train and decided to have a long lunch in the station to arrive at my hotel at a more appropriate time.  I also decided to wait for the rain to lighten up a bit before walking the mile to my hotel.

It's hard to describe how excited I was to get to my hotel.  The walk to it, although a bit long with a  heavy suitcase, was through the center of Cardiff and I was really intrigued by the city.  But the thing that was the most exciting was the fact that I will be in my hotel for five consecutive nights.  No long haul to a hotel for a single night, a quick pack in the morning, and back on the train.  It feels like I am moving into this hotel.  This may become my new home.

After an hour or two of decompressing, I decided to wander towards Cardiff center.  I entered Sophia's Garden, a large, green park along the River Taff.  I walked right on the river bank, enjoying the quite of the setting.  I noticed what I believe is a grey heron fishing in the shallows.  As I worked to switch my camera lens to a longer zoom, the heron took off and I was able to capture some pictures of it flying and landing farther down the river.

I moved farther along the banks, trying to get closer so I could get more pictures of the bird.  As I walked, the poor heron began to be harassed by a flock of seagulls.  Before I was close enough to get photos, the gulls had chased the heron far down the river.

I crossed over a footbridge from Sophia's Garden to Bute Park, another part of Cardiff's "green lung."

I wandered aimlessly through the park, so I stumbled upon things, rather than knowing what I should be finding.  I saw the preserved layout of an old friary and a circle of standing stones, which I'm doubting are original.  Even in the rainy weather, the blooming flowers and the greenery reminded me of warmer seasons.

I angled my way towards Cardiff Castle and walked around the walls.  I'm already a big fan of the castle, and I've seen very little of it so far.  It has a dramatic, tall wall that is surrounded by a very proper moat.  I think the moat may be reformed and different from medieval times (certainly Roman times; the River Taff now runs a different course than it did in ancient times).  But still, it looks fantastic today!

  I got quite hungry pretty early in the evening so I started heading back towards my hotel and some restaurants in the area.  On my route back is the Animal Wall.  The wall was thought up in 1866, but not constructed until 1890.  The wall originally had nine animals climbing over the wall and six were added later.  They were renovated in 2010 and look fantastic.  It seems like the local zoo has had a massive escape and you'll see an elephant on Castle street at any second.

One last site I saw on my way back to my hotel was the Millennium Stadium.  It was built for the 1999 Rugby World Cup and has been used to host rugby and football matches, as well as concerts and large events.  I don't think the picture really does it justice, but it is a very interesting building! 

After my wandering, I stuffed myself with a gigantic calzone and had a quiet evening back at my hotel.  Excited to do more exploring tomorrow!

Fun Fact #16: Cardiff was named the capital of Wales in 1955.  Caernarfon was also considered for the capital city, but instead Cardiff was named and later became the seat for the National Assembly of Wales, now housed in a building called the Senedd.