We walked into town with a pocket full of money (thanks darling) and headed for the shops..we had presents to buy.
Then lunch. we found a lovely little bistro alongside the ruins of the old cathedral where we took a table on the pavement and enjoyed the afternoon sunshine. The bells were ringing, the food was great, we could have been anywhere in Europe.
We gradually came to realise that it was 'Heritage Weekend' in Coventry and all the ancient historic buildings were open to the public. We visited the small cell in the Guildhall that once held Mary Queen of scots, we rung the bells of the old cathedral, learned all about Medieval music, saw the Titanic exhibition, visited the Wartime museum underneath the ruins of the old cathedral, did brass rubbing, claimed our fragment of roman pottery. When we climbed to the top of the belltower and viewed the city from high....it was almost like being in Ikea's cafe!!
I'd always managed to miss the open days before today, so I was really pleased when today came together so well. It was a small glimpse of the Coventry that existed before 15th November 1940 when Coventry was almost wiped out.
Incidentally, my family, tired of all the bombings around Birmingham during the war, decided to distance theirselves from the nightly bomb raids and stay with their relatives... you guessed it in Coventry, just before 'that' night. Not surprisingly, they went home ASAP.
This is the report from the BBC from the time
Sounds like an interesting day! Can you really bear to leave Coventry having now 'discovered' it?!
ReplyDeleteThanks guys!
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