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Sunday, October 01, 2017

Family Vacation in the U.K., 9th October 2016, Day 10: York to Durham

We checked out of Bootham Crescent and drove to Durham today. The drive was unexciting, but we were aware we were now proceeding to visit a castle that was part of the shooting of Harry Potter movies. Hannah was excited as well. Imagine our disappointment when we reached Durham to see that the castle visits were not on for the day as the castle was hosting a college cultural event! 

We had plenty of other things to do - so we made the best of the day with visits to the Durham Cathedral and an outdoor visit to the Angel of the North. Here are some pictures from the day. I would consider that this was among the most unexciting days we had on this otherwise glorious trip.


This photo was of a plant arrangement in the outer area of the cathedral. I think that the cathedral edifice here was really grand. They did not allow us to take photos inside, but we did manage a few of the structure from outside. 

Within, there was a section of the cathedral devoted to ex-soldiers, policemen and other public servants that was quite interesting. 





A model of the cathedral in the gift shop


From the cathedral, we decided to first have lunch. We went to the Bistro Italiano, which we found accidentally while searching for an appropriate location to have our food. This place is located on Claypath road. This place is on the first floor of a building but is easy to find as they have posted a sufficient number of signposts. The restaurant was delightful. They found us a table near the glass front of the restaurant. A young man called ?Tony served us. 



After lunch, we decided to visit the Angel of the North, which is a huge public edifice located outside Durham at Gateshead of the Newcastle upon Tyne area. One can read a lot about this place on either Wikipedia or on TripAdvisor as well, but the best thing to do is to actually go there and experience the sheer size and beauty of this structure. It has the wingspan of a large jumbo jet and is nearly seven to eight stories high. It is believed to be the largest sculpture of an angel in the world and it was planned under the supervision of Antony Gormley. It stands here since 1998 and welcomes over 150000 visitors each year. We spent over two hours here, taking photos and enjoying ourselves. Around the sculpture are gardens where people have traditionally created places of worship for their pets and children who have passed away. We saw a great many such memorials here. Some pictures follow:







Having visited this place, we went to the Gilesgate Moor Hotel. where we spent the night. 

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