Okay, then. Birmingham.
This was the first thing I noticed on entering my room in Birmingham. At the time I thought it was both hilarious and particularly European, but now that I'm suffering in a dorm room that stinks of stale smoke, I'm not quite as amused.
It isn't in any guide books, but if you ever find yourself in Edgbaston, I recommend a trip to St. Augustine of Hippo. It's a small, sweet, much-used, and very Anglo-Catholic Anglican Church. I had trouble getting the entire structure in one picture, but this is my favorite of the many pictures I took of it-- I have to be selective, because I took about twenty.
The next two pictures are of the two towers which inspired Tolkien's volume of the same name. They are right down the street from one another, and make a dramatic skyline. The first is part of a water-works. I don't know what the second is, and I don't know which tower was inspired by which.
Here's part of Newman's Oratory, where Tolkien studied as a boy and his guardian Francis Morgan was a priest. Mass here was so quick it would put Fr. Pat to shame. To shame.
British optimism-- a huge billboard in Victoria Square, right across from the aforementioned "floozy in the jacuzzi".
By the end of my time in Birmingham, I was very happy to be leaving. There were too many cars moving too quickly, and too many unpleasant people. I could hear Melanie in my head saying that it had bad Feng Shui. It is, however, a great place to go if you are interested in architecture, and this is one of my favorite examples.
This is St. Chad's. St. Chad is a seventh-century priest from the midlands, who died of the plague. There was a shrine in Birmingham which was destroyed in the British reformation, but his relics were preserved by familes of the faithful, and when the church was built in the 1800s (the first Catholic church built in England after the reformation), they were enshrined above the altar. It's gorgeous on the inside--very Victorian with a great deal of gold. I have to say that I can't really imagine hiding a saint's relics in my house.
And here's part of the garden outside their Anglican cathedral.
Finally, to finish on our theme of white animals and water features, here's a cat sitting next to one of the Birmingham canal boats.
Good night, everyone!
It isn't in any guide books, but if you ever find yourself in Edgbaston, I recommend a trip to St. Augustine of Hippo. It's a small, sweet, much-used, and very Anglo-Catholic Anglican Church. I had trouble getting the entire structure in one picture, but this is my favorite of the many pictures I took of it-- I have to be selective, because I took about twenty.
The next two pictures are of the two towers which inspired Tolkien's volume of the same name. They are right down the street from one another, and make a dramatic skyline. The first is part of a water-works. I don't know what the second is, and I don't know which tower was inspired by which.
Here's part of Newman's Oratory, where Tolkien studied as a boy and his guardian Francis Morgan was a priest. Mass here was so quick it would put Fr. Pat to shame. To shame.
British optimism-- a huge billboard in Victoria Square, right across from the aforementioned "floozy in the jacuzzi".
By the end of my time in Birmingham, I was very happy to be leaving. There were too many cars moving too quickly, and too many unpleasant people. I could hear Melanie in my head saying that it had bad Feng Shui. It is, however, a great place to go if you are interested in architecture, and this is one of my favorite examples.
This is St. Chad's. St. Chad is a seventh-century priest from the midlands, who died of the plague. There was a shrine in Birmingham which was destroyed in the British reformation, but his relics were preserved by familes of the faithful, and when the church was built in the 1800s (the first Catholic church built in England after the reformation), they were enshrined above the altar. It's gorgeous on the inside--very Victorian with a great deal of gold. I have to say that I can't really imagine hiding a saint's relics in my house.
And here's part of the garden outside their Anglican cathedral.
Finally, to finish on our theme of white animals and water features, here's a cat sitting next to one of the Birmingham canal boats.
Good night, everyone!
2 Comments:
I'm going to go with the second tower being Orthanc and the first being Minas Morgul. However, I'm certainly up for a debate on them. Great pictures Alice, looks like a wonderful area! Miss you.
By
Anonymous, at 9:50 PM
Second is definately Orthanc - my Two Towers edition with Tolkien's original illustration on the front has the pointy spikey tower over a picture of a hand. And a tower vaguely similar to the first picture had a little moon under it, therefore, Minus Morgul (because it used to be Ithil = Moon).
Um....
No I'm not a hopeless nerd, I-
Ok. I am. ^_^
I liked the cat...
By
Stephanie, at 4:31 PM
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