"Laughter is sunshine, it chases winter from the human face." ~ Victor Hugo from Les Miserables

It's been an odd sort of day. Started out raining so Andrew spent some time sorting out train tickets for the rest of our trip. We then ventured back to the market square and took a self guided tour of the town hall. This building has been central to life in Durham for more than 650 years.  Then we heard some interesting music coming from St. Nicholas Church and popped in to find Morris dancers doing their thing which was quite fun. We then did a walk about and were starting to get hungry, so uncharacteristically we stopped at a Lebanese restaurant (tasty). We were getting pretty tired so tucked back to our hotel for a break. The many pubs here were overflowing with men, often wearing Hawaiian shirts. Seems excessive drinking is problematic here.
Andrew had read online about a concert being held at the Durham Cathedral this evening, so we decided to check it out to see if there were any tickets left. They actually still had seats in the back nave, so we bought them and what a concert! From Harry Potter and Jurassic Park theme songs to Agnus Dei and Beethoven Symphony No. 7 to a Sound of Music medley with operatic baritone Sir Thomas Allen finishing off the evening with a selection from Les Mis. These pieces were all performed by the Durham University music society and what a talented group of young people. Durham University has the top rated music department in the UK. I wish our musical daughters could have been with us to hear it.

This has been our home - not high on our recommendation list. It's called the Bridge Hotel for a reason. See those arches? That's where the trains run through. It's on a very busy road and over the top of a pub - need I say more? On the upside the staff are very friendly.

Andrew at the Mayor's desk in town hall. William of Orange hangs to his left.

This little guy was only 12 when he was arrested for housebreaking. He was in prison for 2 months. Punishment was pretty harsh in 1872.

A great room in the town hall.

 A front view of Durham Cathedral. So very beautiful.

 Me trying to get into the castle without authorization.

 It is hard to capture the height of the cathedral. Pictures just don't do it justice.

This was our program for this evening - quite the variety of music and a very well done production.

 They also had interesting lighting for the show.

Lovely shot of the River Wear with the cathedral and castle on the hill.