A Little Walk With a Lot of History

Hello again! I had the pleasure of taking a walking tour around Exeter today, and I was quite happy to find that I hadn't seen even half of the cool sites that this city has to offer. To begin with, I finally saw the Exeter Cathedral, and all I can say is, "Dang, I can't believe this is just two blocks down from where I go grocery shopping"

Quite the sight, isn't it? The church itself took over 200 years to complete, partially due to a change in design (they decided midway to go English Gothic in style, rather than the earlier Norman style) and the plague (according to the tour guide Exeter was hit so hard that the population, at one point, was reduced to a man and his dog). The front gate shows kings, angels, and saints, complete with one matyr, flayed alive for his faith, holding the skin that was taken off him... sorry for spoiling your lunch.

Right across from the church where a mixture of buildings that dated from medieval times. One had what was termed a "Judas" door that was about 2 feet shorter than I was, and lead into a quaint courtyard.
There's the door...

And the courtyard,

Along the same lane was a coffeeshop which, it is rumored, Francis Drake stayed in after the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
Drake: Guys, we won, let's all get drunk!
Owner: This is a coffee shop.
Drake: I just saved England, get me my beer!
(As a history major, I can say that the above conversation that I fabricated in my head, is 100% historically accurate).

As the tour continued we passed one of the oldest government buildings still in use...

And the world's narrowest street...

The story goes that in the early 19th century Parliament expanded voting rights. However, they did so in a very narrow manor, so the residences of Exeter struck back by building this street and naming it Parliament street. (As our tour guide said, the French built barricades when they were mad at there government and the English built streets). Said street has a reputation for traffic jams of the toy car variety.

Another cool site was the House that Moved. This house dates back to Tudor times, because it was classified as a historic site, was moved in order to accomodate a new road, hence the name.

In addition, we visited the remains of a medieval bridge that was recently discovered...

And that wrapped up the tour for the day. After a quick walk across the river...

my friends, Ani and Finn, and I got lunch together, ending a fun and interesting morning in Exeter.