I woke up suitably refreshed after a good night’s sleep. We decided not have breakfast in the hotel restaurant; there were many other options nearby. Mr C settled on ‘Café on the Corner’ which we found was run by a community charity, helping people who have limited learning capabilities or difficulties. We had to wait a little before being served with our freshly prepared breakfast, which was not a bad thing; it was lovely to chill out and relax. I chose waffles with strawberries and maple syrup and Mr C chose scrambled egg on toast (the full English breakfast not being available on weekdays).
Feeling comfortably replete, we walked to St Albans Cathedral via the Vintry Garden, which we found to be serene and peaceful. Then, just outside the Cathedral and in another garden space, I paused to look at a paving stone with an inscription that I noticed on the pathway. When I continued walking, a local man stopped to talk with me. He told me that this garden space was new and that he hadn’t noticed the inscribed paving stone before he saw me looking at it and that now he needed to go and research the name ‘Lucas’ that was mentioned on it.
We were greeted with a warm welcome when we entered the Cathedral. The route we chose took us to the East End of the Cathedral where the Shrines of St Alban and St Amphibalus are located. This part of the Cathedral is also near to the former monastery and monk’s cemetery. This area was extremely peaceful and calming with a ‘Spiritual’ air within.
When we stepped out of that part of the Cathedral the Spiritual feeling was less pronounced as we enjoyed our walk around the rest of this amazing Cathedral.
Before leaving, we had lunch in the Cathedral Café (Abbot’s Kitchen) where we shared a Tuna Mayo Baguette. Whilst eating, I looked at the guide book that I had purchased in the shop. Mr C realised that he had completely missed one of the altars and we both realised that we had missed some of the mediaeval artworks on the stone pillars. We had walked down the side aisles and not along the central aisle to the altar.
We returned to the west end of the Cathedral and were lucky to arrive just as the paintings were being illuminated with a digital overlay. As I walked around the Cathedral several people stopped to talk with me including a local lady that said it was her special place to visit and that she was always finding something new. It was lovely to have conversations with local people who love their Cathedral.
Next, we walked through Verulamium Park to the Verulamium Museum of Roman history. Parts of the park were flooded due to recent heavy rain fall; this included our preferred route through the park back to town. Instead, we walked along a lovely street with quaint terraced rows and we were happy not to have missed seeing them.
Back in town after our long walk we enjoyed a slice of cake in Little Roma followed by a book and board game fix in Waterstones before returning to our hotel room to freshen up for dinner in L’Italiana. Before dining we ordered G&T as an aperitif in the hotel bar. This turned out to be a saga payment wise, the till had gone down!
The Italian food and experience was amazing, I chose Chicken Milanese with rosemary roast potatoes and Mr C chose steak which looked amazing. I had some Italian ice cream for dessert and Mr C chose tiramisu. We were even treated to a complimentary Limoncello after our meal.
Before returning to the hotel we had a nightcap in ‘The Saint & Sinner’, a fun themed pub which I enjoyed but Mr C was not so enamoured.
