Antiques Buying Trip England: Lincoln Cathedral

If you've been following the story of our antiques buying trip in France and Belgium, you'll know that our next stop is England!

At this stage in our adventure we had finished our tour around France and Belgium and returned our big rental van in Paris. It had been packed with antiques that we bought, but now we had time to hike up to Sacre Coeur for a final view of the city.

It was beautiful but hot at 100 degrees temperature!
I was definitely ready for cooler temps in England.

Meanwhile, we enjoyed the view over Paris:

Then we flew to Manchester, England. When we checked in to our hotel in Lincoln, we discovered another great view. This was the view from our hotel window - Lincoln Cathedral!
We were in Lincoln to meet up with antique clock dealers, but the sight of this cathedral was just too tempting. Here's another view of the cathedral:

We had a few minutes free so we decided to go in. I have seen quite a few European cathedrals in my travels, but I have to say that Lincoln Cathedral may be the most fantastically beautiful one I have ever seen.

The first cathedral was built here 1088 but after an earthquake (a very unusual event in England) they had to start rebuilding in 1192. The nave was built in the Early English Gothic style, as you can see in the photo above.

The cathedral was the tallest building in the world until 1549! It is still the third largest cathedral in Britain in terms of floor area.

This beautiful stained glass window is so detailed, it's amazing to think how old it is.

The carvings are wonderful and they are everywhere. Find the imp! He looks like foliage at first glance but he sits in the corner above the carved head. It's a medieval joke!

We also strolled through the charming medieval town before we got down to business searching for antiques. It was all very colorful.

Greg couldn't resist trying on this traditional English bowler hat. We'll leave it to your imagination to wonder whether he bought it or not! In my next blog post, I'll show you some of the fantastic grandfather clocks that we saw, and more of the English sights we enjoyed.