Pillars of the Earth

When I set this blog address up before I started my vacation, a number of people asked me about the title. Why 'Pubs, Cathedrals and le Sud"? Even Kathleen asked me what was this 'sud' thing; did it have something to do with laundry? I explained it was a word commonly used to refer to the Provence area of France - where I was primarily going to be after she flies home. The "pubs" part is pretty obvious: both Kath and I enjoy visiting pubs and, no question, England and Ireland have more than their share to satisfy that curiosity! That leaves "cathedrals". As you know, my sister is an accomplished church organist and is, therefore, extremely interested in seeing the organs in churches. So that, along with her commitment to her religion, means that going to cathedrals will be an important part of this trip for her. Tuesday, we started this "pilgrimage', so to speak, by visiting Winchester and Salisbury cathedrals. What I don't think she was prepared for is generally there is a charge to enter these places. Each one she has visited so far has had a fee of at least 7 pounds. Equal to my sister's love of churches is her reluctance to part with her money. So, this was going to be a balancing act for her. At Winchester Cathedral, she didn't even notice the ticket booth and just walked in as if she was with the large Italian tour group going in at the same time. I got as far as the door and stopped. At Salisbury, she only stepped in far enough to take some pictures. We got no exteriors of that building. It was raining so hard that I didn't even leave the car! She told me that she much preferred Winchester to Salisbury when she got back. The next day (Wednesday) we stopped at Exeter Cathedral but, again, because of the fee, she just stepped inside and took a few quick photos. Too bad as it was an immense amount of trouble to get there - the traffic was a nightmare and the multi-story parking garage quite a challenge. Good thing I am driving a VW Golf and not the Sante Fe the Europcar agent tried to upsell me! I would never have gotten out of there without banging it up! I think Kath was a bit disappointed in these cathedrals and is now looking forward to Wells Cathedral, the one everyone raves about. Heaven knows, there are going to be plenty more along our way, not to mention smaller parish churches as well.