FUN TRIVIA

Useful Trivia

            Traveling around it is always nice to know where the American Embassy is located. Absolutely the ugliest one has got to be in Warsaw, Poland. One had to wonder who the architect was for that big concrete box. By now I surely hope the stars and stripes are flying in front of a more appropriate building.

            The most beautiful American embassy is in Australia’s capitol, Canberra, where major public buildings are built on low knolls around the lake. One exception is the ten acres the US embassy sits on. Australia deeded this land to the US for our help in World War II. The embassy is the largest and sits on the highest knoll. All of the red bricks in the colonial building were imported from the United States.

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            England has a creative smart idea of putting clean well supplied restrooms in their carparks. You always know where you’ll find a ‘loo’ as the Brits say. They are stand-alone buildings. Wonderful

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We looked out the airport window on Kangaroo Island in Australia to see several small planes lined up with EMU written on their tails. A gal standing beside me said, “Who would name an airline after a flightless bird?”

We were weighed with our packs and then led out over the tarmac to two small planes. I remarked, “Well I think I’d rather fly back than take that ferry back across that rough channel.”

The pilot took our packs and stuffed them into the end of the wing.

The pilot placed the biggest fellow in the co-pilot seat. We were all seated and bucked up when we watched the pilot crawl up over the wing and through a window into the cockpit.

This seemed like a good alternative to the ferry?. What was I thinking?

A good part of the short flight was above the clouds. When I could looked down on the water, the white caps looked like wiggly little viruses look under a microscope. When over land the sheep in the pasture looked like little golf balls.

It was a smooth flight, but I was happy to have my feet on firm ground again.

A GORGEOUS CATHEDRAL

Yorkminster

York, England is on my list of places to return to, not only because it’s a fun interesting city but because of it fantastic cathedral of which we only had a cursory visit. Like Westminster and Salisbury one should pick up a docent to really appreciate the wonderful features of these churches.

 During a walking tour we walked around the outside of the cathedral as our local city  guide told us, “This cathedral is the fourth building on this site and was built in 1220 in stages until completion in 1472. It is the largest medieval structure in England and the largest Gothic church north of the Alps.”

            The Minster contains 128 stain   glass windows and one half of all the stain glass in England. John Thornton created the east window in 1405-08. It is the largest stain glass window in the world. Its 117 square panes represent 1680 square feet and is the equivalent size of a tennis court! It is truly a gorgeous window. Thornton’s work surely was a labor of love as his payment was 50 pounds.  The five sisters window, completed in 1260,  consists of five lancets, each of which is fifty feet high and five feet wide, and contains more than 100,000 pieces of glass. It.is the oldest window in the Minster.

            The Chapel house  built in 1280-90  contains fine carvings and medieval glass. The central tower of the 15th century is built in the perpendicular style. The original tower collapsed in 1407 and was rebuilt in the form of a lantern tower.

            The ceiling wood in the nave is painted to resemble stone, and it sure fooled me.  On one wall, 400 year old oak figures strike a charming clock every fifteen minutes. The clock movements date to 1749 and the clock needs to be wound every two days. The 15^th century screen is decorated with statues of fifteen kings from William I to Henry VI.

St.  Stephen's Chapel is dedicated to healing and peace.  A short healing service is held here at regular intervals. A portrait bust of Mother Teresa of Calcutta is in this chapel. It also houses a terracotta reredos (the decorative screen behind the altar) which depicts the first hour of the Crucifixion. 

Prince William of Hatfield's Tomb is the only royal tomb in Yorkminster. Although the tomb figure is that of a young boy, William, the son of Edward III, actually died as a baby. The tomb has been moved several times. It was placed here in 1979, in what is thought to be its original position.

There are two fonts in the Minster: a permanent one in the eastern crypt and a movable one in the nave. Traditionally a font is placed near the western door of a church to symbolize entry into the Christian faith.

            The 1291 nave, in  Decorated-Gothic style, is the widest Gothic nave in England. Nave is derived from the Latin navis, meaning a ship and compares the Church to a ship in which the faithful will be saved. The pulpit commemorates Archbishops Temple and Lang. The brass eagle lectern has been used for bible readings since 1686.

There are many points of interest within the magnificent Minster.