England Day Three: Chester Little Guys

On Thursday morning, I went to Nettle again for a cold matcha latte (the tastiest of my trip) and a lemon cookie. When I came back, my friend picked me up so that she could deliver me to the planned swap spot with my friends I'd be visiting for the rest of the trip. We had planned to do this exchange at the beautiful local holy well I really love, Hampston's Well. My friend and I had just been there briefly the night before, but left quickly because of the midges and because a group of women were having a drum circle and we didn't want to interrupt. 

But to our shock, when we went to go there this morning, the road was closed. We had to quickly pivot and meet my goblin friends at one of the public parking lots of Chester, the city where we would be adventuring that day. A quick flurry of hellos and goodbyes later, and my items were swapped into Bryony's car so that we could go walk around the Roman (1,950 years old) city of Chester. 

It was so lovely to see my goblins again, Naomi, Bryony, and Gilly. From the parking lot, we climbed up to the walls of the city to explore and make our way quickly around the perimeter to a vegan restaurant Bryony knew of. Along the way, we took pictures at the wall, saw the Eastgate clock, a beautiful view of the streets, and cut through the Roman gardens and along the River Dee.

We stopped at the ruins of St. Johns church to see the medieval coffin that had been placed high in the walls. 

The cafe, Fika, was really lovely. We sat outside in (mostly) shade. The proprietress (seen at the far right here in this photo of the outside) called us all "pixie goddesses," (I really love the comments we get when we walk about together, all in our complimentary colors and whimsical garb, with usually at least some of us beflowered and be-antlered) and she patted the tops of all the baked goods as they came out of the ovens like they were her children. Honestly it all felt like being in the middle of a cozy fantasy novel.

She also was exceedingly lovely about our group member who needed gluten free choices. Seriously, if you’re ever in Chester, check out Fika!

After a leisurely lunch and much conversation, we meandered the streets, wandering into and out of various charity shops (I love that my kindred friends in England not only also love faeries, ancient cathedrals and ruins, mossy forests, and magic…but also antique and charity shopping). I found a straw hat for three quid, and was quite pleased with myself...I've been searching online for a good one with a short brim and flat top for ages online. Gilly found me a wonderful soft fluttery blouse to wear under my belated birthday dress I hope to buy later this summer (from Market of Stars...they haven't announced the release date yet)

We also stumbled across a little tourist trap statue of Paddington, but I still had to take a picture because it’s Paddington.

From there we went to the Chester cathedral and wound up spending pretty much most of the rest of the day there, looking at the weird little guys all around the exterior and interior, photographing all the little carvings on all the chairs. We ate at the cafe and I got a slice of Victoria sponge cake, and we conversed there until they were closing the cafe area.

We took pictures in the stained glass light of the main cathedral, in the beautiful gorgeous garden courtyard with the stunning fountain I still believe depicts merfolk. 

Why yes I did go barefoot in Chester cathedral garden Courtyard

We all drove back, slightly drowsy, to Bryony's place, where Naomi and I both slept that night and Gilly drove back to her house. I slept wonderfully that night...the air mattress was actually gentler on my back than the Bridge Inn's bed, which had been a bit too stiff for these old bones. 

Tomorrow would be another adventure.