Wednesday 26th March: Day Trip to Gloucester, Richard III Exhibit, dinner at the Green Dragon

I had a nice breakfast of cereal with raisins and bananas, with toast and peanut butter-home-made bread no less. We took our time, then set off with Kate to the larger near-by city of Gloucester (Gloster), where there was a traveling exhibit about the recently discovered skeleton in Leicester of King Richard III, the last English king to die in battle, in 1485.

Gloucester is a short drive away,and is another old city founded by the Romans in 97AD. It is situated on the River Severn, an important navigable waterway and is the county seat with its own cathedral and a population of some 125,000 people.

We parked in a parking garage and entered the museum housing the special exhibit.

View of main pedestrian street in downtown Gloucester

King Richard III only served for two years and was subject to a vicious propaganda campaign by the victors, who became the Tudor dynasty, and Shakespeare's play about him casts him as a hunchbacked tyrant. But in truth, in the short two years of his reign, he introduced a court for poor people to seek justice (like small claims, I assume), instituted the use of bail and prohibited property from being confiscated before conviction; further he ordered that all of the laws be translated and printed in English (after several hundred years of Norman, i.e. French rule).  He also prohibited the church from ordering the burning of books, this just as Gutenburgh's invention made the printing of books an big issue.

A forensic specialist took the severely damaged cranium and rebuilt his face which they displayed (the chief attraction of the exhibit).  Turns out that it is remarkably similar to a portrait of him painted in his lifetime and further proving its accuracy.

Reconstruction of Richard the 3rd from his skeletal remains found under a parking lot recently

We looked around at the other exhibits in the museum, which included a couple of dinosaurs unearthed in the area and showed off some of the artifacts from the furniture making that the area is known for. We then walked around the central shopping street, also a pedestrian mall, past the cathedral which was used in the filming of several of the Harry Potter movies.

Gloucester Cathedral, used in the Harry Potter movies

Quaint old street near the Cathedral

Street scene in Gloucester

King's Gate

We ate at the Guildhall right there in the center, cheese and tomato sandwiches with a pint of beer for me after which we returned home and rested a bit before taking our wonderful hosts Kate and Dave out for dinner.   They recommended a 17th century inn in the hamlet of Cockleford in the Cotswold's called "The Green Dragon" .

Romantically blurry hand held shot of The Green Dragon

I ordered lamb with mint sauce, not jelly, and it came with some sprigs of mint on top.  It was very good as it seems to be with all British food. There are some special hard-to-understand named desserts, including one called a Bannoffe pie, bananas and toffee; there is even a "spotted dick" which is a suet pudding with currants mixed in, steamed and served with custard.  Many pies and desserts here have hot thick custard on top, usually just off the stove and extremely hot!  I do prefer it cold though.

Roads out here in the country are narrow, with no shoulder at all, there isn't room and sometimes a farmer is stopped to open a gate completely blocking the lane.  English people seem to take it all in their stride. We made it back home safe and sound and off to bed by 11:30.