Coventry & RAF Museum Cosford

Monday, 11 November 2019

We actually had to set an alarm to get up this morning.  We have a lot to see today so we need to get a somewhat early start on the day.  We got up, packed, and had breakfast.  We had a frozen pizza left, so I through it in the oven...pizza for breakfast...yum. 

We managed to leave before 10 AM and arrived in Coventry by 11 AM.  I want to leave Coventry in about 1.5 hours because we have a 1 hour drive to the next location that I want to be at by 1:30 PM.  First stop is Coventry Cathedral.  The original church, St. Michael's Cathedral, was bombed during World War II, but the remains have been left standing.  It was built in the late 14th and early 15th century.  On 14 November 1940, it was bombed and destroyed by the German Luftwaffe.  We happen to be here on Remembrance Day just after 11 AM, so there was a crowd of people leaving poppies at a memorial inside the ruins.

Built right next to the ruins is the current St. Michael's Cathedral and opened in 1962.  The stain glass was pretty amazing.

As you look down the nave you don't see any windows, but if you walk up the aisle and turn around, you are rewarded with an incredible display of glass.

After the cathedral we walked down the street and went into the St. Mary's Guildhall, a half-timbered building built in 1342.  Our tour book said to go in and check out the great hall, so we followed the signs and entered.  Unfortunately there was an event going on inside, so we just got a peak.  I seemed very impressive.  It even had a 500 years old tapestry.  However, with the event going on we could just sneak in the back for a peek and then we left.  Tim didn't even get a photo of it.

Next we wanted to do a quick run through the Coventry Transport Museum.  For most of the 20th century, Coventry was the main auto production center in Britain.  According to the guidebook, the museum was free, but when we arrived we found out that it cost £14 per person.  We would have been willing to pay if we had time to spend there, but we don't, so we didn't.

We headed back to the car and headed to our next location.  Tim asked about what we were going to see next.  I told him we were going to a place similar to the place we were just at.  When I began exiting the highway, he noticed the sign for the Royal Air Force museum and then we knew where we were going.

He was very happy that I have brought him here.

We arrived at the museum around 1:30 PM.  They close at 4 PM, so that gives Tim 2.5 hours to enjoy this place.  For the next 2.5 hours I followed Tim as he walked around and heard stories of the aircraft that excited him.  Here are a few photos I picked out from the over 50 he took here.

We left the museum right at 4 PM.  I think we were the last ones still there.  I knew that I wouldn't want to drive much more today, so I made a reservation at a B&B about 20 minutes from here.  We arrived at a farm in the middle of nowhere it seemed.  We checked in and relaxed for about 1 hour and then we headed out to the local pub for dinner.  For dessert I finally ordered the sticky toffee pudding.  It was very, very good.