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Here's a few shots for you Anthony.
I got them resized this a.m., and really don't know where to start...or stop. England has SO much to offer, and the camera was just a'clicking. Perhaps since half the troops are at HGF, this might be a good time to view such things?

First, a shot or Yorkminster. You've GOT to respect a race of people that can build things like this:





And this--I had to keep reminding myself that this was all STONE:





And again:





And this ceiling, not to be outdone by the last:





One more--can you tell I was impressed by the place?





This shot looks up the tower, the main cross of the building. We took a grueling hike up the 275 steps to get to the top of this tower. The reward was a brisk (cold) wind, and a commanding view of the town of York and the surrounding plain.

Thinking of these structures, and their lavish decorations, I say about guitars: go for the pearl. Don't be shy of ostentation. Just do it right, like these old guys did.
Hope you enjoy,

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Steve great shots of York Cathedral, did you get a shot of the Rose window? If so you'll see where lute roses got their inspiration from, the Rose windows on the medieval cathedrals are spectacular, the one at York is particularly fine. There are better cathedrals in England but York is up there with the best. Imagine the masons that built them had no access to computer design and material stress measurements, just a plumb bob and a square, mind you a lot of them fell down!

See if you had come to stay with me I could have taken you down to Canterbury cathedral one of two cathedrals that are UN World Heritage sites in England, Durham is the other and my personal favourite. But they are all relatively modern 12th/13th century. My local church, 100 yards away from my house is 11th century, built on older Saxon foundations, and there's a Yew tree in the churchyard that is older than the church, so the site was a religious centre in pre-Christian times. So, my house is just new fangled modern stuff as it was only starting to be built when York was just about finished! Ain't history grand?

Glad you had a good time in England despite coming over in the wettest year in recorded history!

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Window shots....







Not the best shots, and too bad, because those windows were just amazing. Colin, next time my friend....

Thanks for looking,

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

What freaks me out is that a lot of places like this took a couple of generations to build.

Imagine starting a project (at the putting quill to parchment stage) that you knew wouldn't be finished in your life time.

And you all thought guitars were tough

It's a novel, but the book "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett, is a story of a midievil stone mason who traveled and lived at places where they were building Churches and Cathedrals.  His one desire was to lead the construction of a major cathedral.  It has a lot about the feudal system, how people were treated, lots of details about construction techniques, etc.  Very good book.  I have read it twice.  Now I'm thinking about doing it again.  Long book - nearly 500 pages.  He obviously did a lot of research in writing it.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Beautiful pictures, though.  I went years ago. I have a whole box of slides, that I never seem to look at any more.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Steve, great pictures!

I went to Barc elona recently and I'm oozing inspiration. Us Texans have to venture out of our country more often.

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Instagram: @jfrenchluthier
Web: https://www.jfrenchguitars.com/

Waddy, there is a sequel to The Pillars of the Earth coming out soon. The arc to World Without End just came through the shop. Its supposed to hit the shelves Oct 9th. Oh, an arc is an advance reader copy of a book about to be published. They are usually still in need of corrections.

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Aoibeann

Cool.  I will definitely keep an eye out for that one.  Thanks for the tip.  Maybe I'll read Pillars again to get ready.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

So where is this "Anthony" fellow, anyway?   

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Were we supposed to butt out?  Oh well, too late now! 

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

No Waddy. You're more than welcome. I just wondered where Anthony was--he requested these shots.
Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Steve, sorry for being AWOL. I got back from the UK on July 29th and then left again for a weeks camping in Quebec...returned to work and a ton of Toronto area social events...including visiting Uncle Bob this past weekend.

Steve those are fantastic shots .... wow. Truly amazing to think of the architecture/engineering and the execution of building such a cathedral that would be deemed impossible or financially impossible today. Britain is a great place. Visiting the UK and Europe sure is an eye opener isn't it... Sounds like you had a great trip Steve. Thanks again for the photos.

Waddy that Ken Follett book was a great read. Lillian thanks for the heads up about the sequel.

Glad you like, Anthony!
Welcome back,

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Imagine the builders who first laid out the foundations knowing that they would never live long enough to see the finished building! Three, four, five generations would work on it.

In my favourite cathedral in England, Durham, there are black limestone pillars against the main columns supporting the nave. The limestone pillars are about a foot in diameter, and are smooth as ice to the touch. If you feel round the back where they butt up to the main column, they are still rough to the touch, why? Because they were polished in situ, by a man with a leather pad on his hands and rotten stone on the pad, he just rubbed up and down until the pillar was polished, for months on end. The reason the back of the column is still rough? That's as far round as his hands would reach with the pad on. That's the thing I love about these old buildings, the marks of the men that built them. Imagine his going home to his wife. "Nice day at work dear, what did you do?". "Oh, still polishing the pillar."

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Sort of puts rubbing out a guitar finish into perspective, doesn't it?
Thanks for the insights Colin!

(Is this the one we'll see when I come back over? )

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

That, or you are welcome to visit Trondheim, Norway! I'll take you to Nidarosdomen, the ancient pilgrim destination and «Cor Norvegiae» (heart of Norway).

It is supposedly built on the grave of St. Olav who died in 1030; Construction started in 1070, but the oldest parts still in existence are from the middle of the 12th century. There were several fires over the first few centuries, but they rebuilt it - mainly in the Gothic style, but the oldest parts around the transept reflect the Roman style.

Here's the west facade





The rose window for Colin...

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Arnt you'd like Durham Cathedral, it displays the Viking influence in the North East of England, the carving is very Norse in style.

No Steve, it's Canterbury that is close to me, the most important Cathedral in England. The stained glass is the best in Europe (which means the best in the World!)

I used to teach at Durham University, so got to know the Cathedral well, I used to take my students on a geological tour of the Cathedral.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Those are specactacular shots. I do not understand how such airy construction can be made of stone.

One of my favorite cathedrals in England is the one at Chester. Crazy intricate wood carving inside the entire structure. It is not as grand or as impressive on the outside as those pictured but the inner carving measures up very well.

Hey, that's a beautiful cathedral, Arnt.
And, boy howdy, would I ever love to visit Norway!

Looks like I'd better retire soon, and start traveling in earnest. So much to see. So little time....

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

We have become such a "microwave society" and expect things to be done and buildings to be built in such short times. I dont know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Either way I have such high respect for those men that worked on buildings like this all of their life and never saw them completed.

Thanks for sharing the pictures!

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Reguards,

Ken H