Museum Crawl: In pictures (part 2)

When we last met our intrepid band of latter-day Indiana Jones' (I'm trying to build excitement here!) they had explored both New Walk Museum & Art Gallery and the City Gallery and were now having lunch...

Next stop after a relaxing lunch and good old gossip (by this point I think Pippa was probably regretting ever having signed up for a PhD!) was the Guildhall. The weather turned nasty on the way...

...as did did the atmosphere, when we arrived.

Outside the main entrance to the Guildhall.
Little did we know the horrors we could encounter within.

The Guildhall is one of those places with a really negative vibe. Not surprisingly really, given its history as a place of justice and imprisonment. I liked it not one jot.

The Great Hall

A replica of a gibbet (this becomes an object of significance later on in this tale)

Although the cobbled courtyard was wonderfully sheltered, the interiors were - I think we'd all agree - a little spooky. It probably didn't help much that I kept going on about 'Most Haunted' and the paranormal, but even Ceri, who was determined to see something otherworldly, didn't like the atmosphere in the bedroom on the mezzanine floor of the Great Hall. And the Library, with its haunted Bible, was too much for me. A sudden and unexplained chill around my ankles had me running! And then - when I got home - I found this (scroll down the page until you get to the Guildhall section).

The Haunted Bible

But, having said all that, there were some more pleasant surprises to be had at the Guildhall. Like...

Nineteenth-century scratched graffiti on the stained glass windows, and...

...a mop-wringer in the courtyard, that got Ceri mightily excited!

By the time we'd had enough of the ghosts and ghouls, it was cold and windy and piddling it down. So we dashed across the alleyway and had a quick look at Leicester Cathedral. Pleasant ambiance (very cathedrally, as you'd expect) but lacking a certain je ne sais quoi. The fact that the pews had been ripped out and replaced with stackable stainless steel framed and beech veneered chairs didn't really help.

After the cathedral, and getting stuck in the rain, we all felt in need of a caffeine pick-me-up, so we stopped in a nearby cafe to dry off and refuel.

Believe it or not, we were actually talking about research methodologies here!

After coffee, Anna W got her wish and we split up for a spot of shopping (Primark, naturally) before we hit out fifth destination, Jewry Wall.

To be continued...