Day trip to St. Albans

On Saturday 1/24, we loaded up the car and drove about 1 hour toward the area northwest of London to visit the city of St Albans. I had seen a few recommendations about the city online, so we did a little research about the top sites and where to park. We parked in a garage of an outdoor shopping mall -- we were both on high alert as we tried to navigate a parking garage appropriately. Paul eased the car into a tight little spot quite well :)

After walking through the shopping area, we came out onto the Market Square, where they have several blocks of stalls selling food, clothing, decorations, etc. After casually strolling through, we found the tourist information center. The woman working there gave us a town map and gave us advice about where to have lunch, what to see, etc. We found out it was "Resident's Weekend" -- meaning a lot of places were open & free to local residents that aren't normally so. She implied that we should just "pretend" to be residents and it worked at the one place at which we would normally have had to pay a nominal fee.

We set off toward St Albans Cathedral & Abbey, down a narrow high street (the common term for a main street) lined with cute shops. After stopping for a few pictures, we headed down toward Verulamium Park, which is situated on top of the old Roman town named Verulamium. It was a really lovely walk between a lake and a flowing (manmade?) stream, with lots of ducks, geese, and swans paddling about. The lake was partially frozen over, with gulls standing on the ice. Many families were feeding the birds, and there were lots of strollers with bundled babies about.

The west entrance of St Alban's Cathedral

Birds at Verulamium Park

Swan & duck

More birds sitting on the iced-over pond

Upon recommendation, we ate at the "Inn on the Park." It was a nice, very family-friendly spot, with excellent food. I had a jacket potato (baked potato) with chili, and Paul had a burger and soup. Charlotte chowed down off both our plates, as well as some pre-packed snacks! There were tables inside (which I would have preferred, it was pretty chilly even in the sunshine and sheltered from the breeze) but they were all full so we sat outside. Charlotte was enthralled by some dogs ("woouh!") outside, and we enjoyed eavesdropping on British families. One particularly naughty girl kept stomping in puddles in her normal shoes, drawing the ire of her mother -- "Lola, you haven't even got your Wellie Boots on!"

Sitting outside at the Inn on the Park

Next, we had a little more time before the 2 pm Cathedral tour, so we were able to walk over to the site of the old Roman theater. It was excavated in 1935, and is the only known Roman amphitheater to have been built in England. This is the site we were able to get in for free, which was nice. It wasn't super stroller-friendly, so Paul made a wider loop around the site than Charlotte & I did.

Finally, we headed back across the park toward the cathedral for the 2 pm tour. It lasted an hour, and we made it through about 50 minutes of it before Charlotte's lack of a good nap caught up with us and she started to make a fuss. We ducked out of the tour at that point. The tour guide was excellent, and reviewed lots of interesting details about the varied architecture in the building. Construction started in 1077! Because of various problems over the years, the left side of the church has a more Romanesque style, and the left side of the church has 2 different styles of Gothic architecture. The church also has the longest nave in all of England.

Looking down the nave toward the altar

This ceiling (refinished) was originally put in during the War of the Roses, where the warring houses were symbolized by white and red roses, respectively. Since the war wasn't over, the designer used both red and white roses in the design -- just to be on the safe side.

Lovely stained glass from the rose window in the transept