Compact Carlisle

Any day that starts off with a breakfast like this can't be a bad day, right?

On Wednesday Mom and I took a train up the west coast.  I've travelled from London to Glasgow, but always on a night train.  Now I can see that Id missed out on some lovely scenery - The Lakes District and Cumbria are most pleasant.

Our journey ended in Carlisle.  It's a great little city to visit because everything is close at hand.

Carlisle Cathedral is a case in point.  It's no walk a'tall from the train station. 

It was founded in 1122, and like much in Carlisle, suffered damage as a result of its proximity to Border warfare.  

The cathedral is a delight.  The pipes of the organ are scattered about the cathedral hither, thither and yon.

The ceiling is Heavenly Blue!

Not to be sacrilegious, but my bedroom is just about the same color!

I spent quite some time sitting quietly and gazing up at the ceiling.

The Choir is wonderful too.

The Canon's Stalls and the misercords date from the 1400's.  It is hard for me to wrap my head around that -  they are over 900 years old.

And talk about ambience.  The organist was at practice while we sat in the Choir.

From the cathedral we headed to Tuille House Museum.  The gardens even have Roman ruins as part of the hardscape. The museum was the perfect place for us to 'get into the mood' for our visit to Hadrian's Wall as it has a very nice Roman Frontier Gallery.

Carlisle is nothing if not short on history.  Carlisle Castle, like the cathedral,was important for hundreds of years as a Border Fortress. William II began construction in 1093 after driving off the Scots. Carlisle and the castle changed hands many times over the next 700 years.     

I found I'd not taken a good photo of the castle. Fortunately Wikipedia Commons had the nice image I've used above. 

One of the interior rooms of the castle was filled with these charming primitive carvings. The work of a prisoner? A bored soldier?  No one knows.

Being in Carlisle, the castle was built on Roman foundations. Being a castle, it's up on a hill with a nice view back at the town.

And here's proof I was meant to come to Carlisle.  In 1853 Carlisle became the first place in mainland U.K. to have a road-side pillar box.