While I was attending grad school in England, I lived in Guildford, a town about 40 minutes southwest of London. One of its claims to fame was the fact that it is the only town in all of England to be home to a cathedral – only cities traditionally have that privilege. That cathedral was on the grounds of my college.
The whole time I was in school, the view from my bedroom window was the angel on the cathedral. If it looks familiar, that is because they were featured in the movie Omen.
I’ve still never seen the movie, and I’m pretty sure I’m glad I hadn’t see it before I moved in!
Ages ago I talked about how much fun it is to go to new-to-me tourist spots in my hometown. I was smart while living abroad and took advantage of all the opportunities I could when they arose.
It turns out that once a year the cathedral opens its doors to a lucky few for a behind the scenes tour. I was all over that! I signed up the day I heard about it.
I loved going up into the bell tower. Of course I was having Quasimoto images as we climbed up, but either they didn’t have a captive bell ringer, or they hid him well. They didn’t let us pull on the ropes, which was a bummer because I was curious as to how much force it would take.
The highlight of the tour was when we got to go on the roof and be near the angel.
The cathedral rents out its roof space for cell phone towers, so I’m sure I got blasted with a bit of radiation that day. I wasn’t that concerned, though. My attention was all on the angel and the view.
I was so glad I heard about this opportunity while there were still spaces left. I would have hated to miss that chance!
When was the last time you did touristy things in your own city? or Am I the only one who hasn’t seen the Omen?
Grown Up, Now What? 