Bede, Seagulls, Limpets, Hadrian, York

[Saturday] We got up early and headed out, catching the bus we needed perfectly on time. We rode for quite a while, deciding that we would just skip one of the train transfers and take the bus to the second station because it was going there anyway. However, that was a mistake. Well, more a mistake that we didn't talk to the driver first. Because the train station was before the actual city. We waited to ask him until we were got to the city. He took us back to the station on his way back, but we missed our train by three minutes. They only run once an hour, so that was rather frustrating. But we called Jayne (cause she was picking us up in Newcastle) and let her know about the delay. And we made all the other trains just fine.

We met Jayne outside of the train station. We drove through bits of Newcastle, seeing the famous bridges and some of the statues, and she then took us to her parents' house, Fred and Elizabeth. They gave us a cup of tea and we got to see some photos of Jayne's trip around bits of Asia and Australia. After that, Jayne took us to her friends' house, Sanet and Eugene. She was going to be staying with them as well while she was back for the week for her brother's funeral.

[It was just a bit confusing at different points because of the names. Jayne's real name, of course, is Elizabeth as well. Sanet calls her Lizzie Girl, so that wasn't too bad, but just a bit strange, especially later when we saw Jayne's mom again, and she would call me Elizabeth (which is also what she calls Jayne) and Jayne was rather confused. Except for the bits when Amanda called Jayne "Lizzie" (only happened like once) I was rather surprisingly clear on who everyone was talking to or about.]

Sanet and Eugene are wonderfully friendly people, and were really welcoming. They are both from South Africa, living in the UK. They have an adorable little dog called Midgey, who was certainly the baby of the family. (A miniature Yorkshire Terrier, it's the only small breed of dog I can really say I like.) Eugene is quite the cook, and had made lamb for us. Jayne suggested it, and we had heard about his lamb back in Korea so it had quite the reputation. And amazingly, it completely lived up, and I would say surpassed, it. It was a fantastic meal, the first of many. Rack of lamb cooked with rosemary and lemon, mini potatoes, broccoli with cheese, and mixed vegetables (parsnips, carrots, peppers, onions). We ended the evening with a movie, chocolate and red wine.

[Sunday] After being served coffee in bed (a daily ritual), we got a relaxing start. Sanet had loaned Jayne her car so she could take us around. Everyone had different suggestions as to where we should go. We started off going to Durham, which we had seen from the train. They have a castle and a cathedral. The castle is now used as college housing. Durham is one of four universities in the UK made of colleges: Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, and Durham. One of the colleges there is called Castle College.

After checking that out, we walked to the Cathedral. It was very pretty inside, though you aren't allowed to take pictures. There was also a service happening while we were there, so we went into one of the little side alcove. There was a large coffin there, and I asked who was in it. Jayne said it was "a guy named Bede." I was so excited. I got to see the final resting place of the Venerable St. Bede! It was funny because she didn't know he was anyone that people outside of the Northeast of England would really know. She certainly didn't think he was world famous. (I remember being in Oxford, and one of my favorite things was getting to read Bede, rather than read about him.) It was cool. We even got to see a priest lighting the candle above him. (I took an illegal photo there. I couldn't help it.)

We went outside and walked across the bridge to look at the Cathedral from the other side. Apparently, Jayne used to come there to draw it for her art class at school. (She hiked nearby mountains to collect rocks for geography, and studied the effects of towns (and their garbage) on rivers. Not to mention all the places they could go for history. Kinda not fair.)

We then got back in the car and went to Seahouses. It was right on the coast. We could see Bamburgh Castle in the distance. We stopped at a little shop and got Fish and Chips. The lady also gave me some "scraps." (Pretty much congestive heart failure in meal.) It was great. Like my father, Jayne likes her fish and chips with malt vinegar, but neither Amanda or I do. We sat out on benches overlooking the sea, and it was rather windy and cold, but perfectly lovely. None of us quite finished our chips (Amanda hardly made an attempt) so we fed the seagulls and watched them fight for the bits. (I also saw how close I could tempt them to come by dropping a little trail of chips up to our benches.)

Following that, we drove out to the castle. When we made it to the top of the hill, we discovered the castle was currently closed, because it was winter. However, much of it has been converted to private housing, so it was okay. We instead walked over the frozen grass covered dunes, picking our way carefully to keep from falling. (Both Jayne and I didn't make it.) We walked along the beach and I collected limpet shells. I've never seen so many all together in so many different types. Normally, you might find one amongst a bunch of others, but here, the primary shell was limpets.

We started the long drive back, made longer because I had a request. Jayne had told me before that she lived near Hadrian's Wall. And I wanted to see it. So we saw the little bit that cam into Newcastle, but then ventured further and drove for quite a while until we started following signs. We were out into the countryside, but still couldn't find the wall. (Much of it has been torn down for fences and houses over the centuries.) Jayne kept asking, "Where's the wall?" and I replied, "I can see two," pointing at the little farmer's stone walls lining the road.

However, we did eventually find it. We climbed over a farmer's fence and stood on the actual wall. (Apparently you can hike it as well. Lots of hostels along the way. If only I had someone who would go with me.) So I got to stand on the famous Roman remains.

We got back and had our second amazing meal. This one consisted of succulent roasted chicken, mini potatoes, and Brussels sprouts with cheese. Fabulous. And we were getting on with them well, so they asked us to stay another night. We had planned to leave for York tomorrow afternoon, and stay with some folks there. But we decided instead to stay another night with Sanet and Eugene.

[Monday] Amanda and I took the train to York. There are these places on the walls all over the cities that you can do rubbings to complete a map of York. Sadly we had neither paper nor crayons, so we do not have a self-made map. Next time. We first found ourselves at Trinity Church. It is one of the oldest churches around, and once served as a monastery. It is the only one of these that maintained being a church during the whole Henry VIII. It was also used as a Catholic school for girls in secret (when everyone was Protestant) and therefore is one of the oldest. We got to see some old stocks while we were there as well. (Also, we looked at the markers all over the church, and over half of them had the name Elizabeth on them. One of them even had Elizabeth Jane. It turns out that York is my town.)

We headed then the Roman ruins. There was a wall built around the city and underneath bits of this wall, they discovered Roman remains. There were coffins, one of which is child/Amanda sized, made of stone. And we also got to see the different levels of the walls, built all at different times.

From there we headed to York Minster. Jayne had said it was one of her favorite churches. We went in and started looking around, but it costs 6 pounds to get in. So because Amanda had already been in (on her previous trip) we decided that just I would go in, and she would look at the surrounding churches.

It was lovely. Lots of little details. There is a massive altar area with the organ that had painted pipes. There were lots of statues, and above the statues, even more smaller statues. Very intricate. There is also a bunch of stained glass. Sadly, the famous Great East Window is not currently on display because of restoration. They did have a giant cover of it, and a few samples of what the window looked like.

After the Minster, we walked down one of the oldest streets in York. We stopped at a chocolate shop to buy a present for the people we were staying with. We also got Jayne a card. Today was the day of her brother's funeral, and I knew it was going to be really tough on her.

We found Clifford's Tower, and watched a guy do stairs up and down. Then we went to the gift shop of the Castle Museum, but it was closing up, so we couldn't go in. We did stand outside and take pictures of the castle however, which is something Amanda hadn't done before. In the failing light, we made our way back to train station and headed back.

We had ginger salmon for dinner, with broccoli and salad. It had been a hard day for Jayne, of course. There were lots of hugs and tears and everyone went to bed rather early, kind of emotionally wiped.

Kings and Castles

[Wednesday] We packed up and said goodbye to Matt and Josh. (They both left for work before us.) We headed back to King's Cross to catch a train to Cambridge. However, when we got there, because of the snow, all the trains to Cambridge were cancelled, and we were told to go to a different station. This of course changed our plans. What was supposed to have taken two hours took about five. And numerous transfers.

So instead of spending a good deal of time wandering the streets of Cambridge, we only had a few hours. We found our hostel and then started walking towards the center of town and thereby colleges. We found an open gate and started walking around one of the college grounds. Later, we found out it was Peterhouse. We walked the garden paths all over, at first exploring, then trying to find our way back out.

Before it was too dark, we wanted to get to King's College, because we had heard it was best. However, when we got there, it was closed. There was a sign for attending the Evensong service. So we looked around a bit more, watching it get darker and darker and waiting for the doors to open.

Just before it started, we went through the courtyard and into the acclaimed chapel. We decided to stay for the whole thing, so we got to go in and we sat right behind the choir. It was beautiful. The ceiling was intricately carved, and reverberated the sounds of the choir epically. I really enjoyed listening to the men singing. There were some very talented singers.

After it was over, we peeked around the grounds, but then headed back to the hostel. We stopped at the grocery store first and picked up things to make a stir fry and chocolate cake. The stir fry was great, and we made enough cake to share with a number of other people staying there, including the man at the desk who was very helpful. We also got to do some laundry, which was great. And we had some left over cake to take on the train with us the next day.

[Thursday] The night before, we had looked up train times to get to Caernarfon, a small Welsh town. We got up early after a fabulous breakfast served by the hostel and got to the train station, but found that it had snowed again and the route we had planned wasn't going to work because of cancelations. So once again we had to get creative and find different paths to where we were going. Instead of three and a half hours, the train trip took over seven hours. We had packed snacks though, so we were okay. (Yay for hummus and carrots!)

We went to Birmingham, Flint, and the town of Shrewsbury, which is right on the border of Wales. I knew it from a mystery series my mom loves about a murder solving monk. So that was kind of a neat stop, though we didn't leave the train station. Caernarfon is a small down on the coast, rather near Holyhead. We had to take a bus from the train station and were a goodly number of hours later than we had told the hostel, but we got there safe and sound.

The town is small but very pretty. Many buildings are made of stone and as well as having a castle, there is a stone wall that runs through much of it. The hostel is one of my favorites, with a very homey feel. We got to watch a movie, Notting Hill, something we haven't done on the entire trip. We've been able to have bunches of cups of tea. Overall, a good day, though I lifted my big backpack more than I care to even think about.

[Friday] We started the morning pretty early, walking down the the water before going to the castle, which was the big thing for the day. We planned to come back to the water to watch the sunset. I was really excited about that.

The castle was built by Edward I, the same guy who built the Tower of London. (See London blog.) He built it to defeat the Welsh rebellions and was quite the conqueror. The castle at Caernarfon is the most complete and maintained of the series of castles he built. He built six (we think) castles all a day's ride apart around the natural defensive area called Snowdonia to suppress the Welsh rebellions. It was very effective.

The castle was quite impressive. I loved it. I think Caernarfon is my favorite place we've been. From the top of the castle towers, of which we climbed many, you could see the snowy mountains, the surrounding town, sheep pastures, the stone city walls, and the sea. It was beautiful.

We had a great time ducking into doorways, climbing staircases, and traipsing across walkways. It would have been an incredible place to play hide and seek or sardines. Amanda and I weren't even trying, but there were a number of times we couldn't find each other, and other times we couldn't get to where we were trying, because of the halls and stairs and doors. I loved it. There were lots of hidden rooms and windows that looked out either onto the rest of the castle, the town, the hills or the sea.

The day started off bright and sunny, but later it started raining/snowing, so we went to the museum section. We learned all about the building of the castle as well as the Welsh regiment. All the signs are written in both English and Welsh, and most of the people we hear walking around are speaking Welsh, though they all speak English as well. It's rather strange, because I had mentally moved on from not being able to understand the language. So it's strange to be thrust back into to being identified as a foreigner just by opening my mouth. (Yeah, I know, my accent does that anyways, but just not understanding what people say is strange.)

We finally left the castle in search of food. We were going to try to find a fish and chips restaurant, but instead found a very cheap supermarket, and purchased all that we needed for today and tomorrow on the train. After lunch/dinner, we went in search of wifi, and found it at a bar. We got to get online for a bit, which was good. However, we wanted to catch the sunset, we didn't get to stay on for too long.

We went down to the water. We looked out across the water where the sun was setting, but we couldn't see it! It was cloudy all across the horizon, though the sky was clear otherwise. So we stayed and watched the sun setting behind a wall of grey clouds. In the background, we could just make out bits of orange sky and pink clouds. It was very disappointing.

More clouds moved in, sweeping across the sky. It was a rather lovely night, listening to the gulls call, watching the moon when it wasn't obscured by clouds. We walked around the town for a while, with no real aim. The streets are lit with orange-colored lights, giving the whole scene a warm glow.

Eventually we went back inside and watched another movie while we blogged and downloaded pictures. I took a ton today. We're cooking pizza for dinner! Tomorrow we will get up early and catch a train to Newcastle to meet up Jayne for a few days. I'm excited and loving this trip a lot. I hope the trains aren't too much of a mess tomorrow. I know the snow has caused all kinds of problems today in the South, but we're headed East and North, so I'm hoping we'll be okay.

Wickedly Delightful

Getting to London was a bit problematic and took the better part of a day (flying was involved) but we made it. We found the house we would be staying at with a friend of a friend of Amanda's. Matt (one of the two guys we were staying with and the only one who was really there because the other one was off skiing in Switzerland so we got his room) was very nice. He owns his own business, is an art lover and would be very interesting to get to know more. We pretty much went straight to bed, and woke up late the next morning.

We went to two museums the next day, both of which I had previously been to, but both of which I would happily go to again. We went to the National Gallery, and got to see Rembrandt, Vermeer, Da Vinci, Turner, Claude, Degas, Cezanne, Monet, Manet, Renoirt, Van Gogh, and Picarro, as well as many others. We could have spent a good deal more time there, but they were closing and we were getting a bit tired. And we still had to go to the British Museum. We went through the Greek and Roman sculpture, and then to the New World art. We didn't get to go to the Asian art rooms because they were closed that day, but we had plenty to do in the time we had. (It was interesting to see who had what bits of the Parthenon. Heads in Athens, bodies in London, and some other pieces spread out around the world.)

That night, we asked Matt if there was anything we should see besides the typical sites, that London folk would be aware of. (Because we had already done much of the touring of London, we didn't feel we NEEDed to see it all again.) (Oh, and I can I just interrupt here and say how much I loved being back? It was good to be in a semi-familiar place amongst English speakers, where I could speak to the cashier and understand why the tube was closed or whatever.) He mentioned a market fairly close by that only happens on the weekends, and so, tomorrow being Saturday, we decided to check it out.

It looked to be a very nice day, but because of the lack of cloud cover, it ended up being quite cold. We packed egg salad sandwiches (I had been craving eggs for a few days) and headed to the market to browse before going off to the main of London for the traditional sites. Well, that was the plan at least. The market was INSANE! There were so many people crammed around so many shops. We wandered for hours, literally, pursuing merchandise, and dreaming of the houses we would one day own. If you stepped into the stalls to look at something more closely, it was quite a while before you could find a space to merge back into the stream of walking people. We found tons of fun little things, and even bought a few items. (We found these Indian pillow cases super on sale which was a highlight.) Amanda found a marigold colored hat to replace the one she had stolen. My favorite item was a dress I bought for my birthday (tomorrow). It's one in a style I've looked for for quite some time but never found. It's Chinese in style and blue and silver and fits me quite well. I'm excited to wear it.

So the market took so much of the day we decided not to spend the money on the Underground to go see the rest of London and instead head back to the flat for a cup of tea. We planned to go out to dinner with Matt that night at an Indian restaurant, and we were all hungry earlier than planned, so we went early. It was a very nice restaurant. One of the things I love about big cities is the diversity in ethnic restaurants. We had been craving Indian food for quite a while. It was the first sit down restaurant we had been to this entire trip. And he offered to pay, which was also very nice. On the way home, we picked up groceries, mostly things for cinnamon rolls.

The next day, we headed to London and you can read all about my birthday in another blog. The second day in Oxford, we walked around the town. We got to revisit many familiar locations and had tea with Simon and caught up. We also got Cornish pasties which are delicious. (Amanda says her mother makes very good ones and I'm hoping to get the recipe.) Amanda also went to this discount store she knew about to get some shoes. Then we met Jonathan for coffee one last time before catching the bus back to London.

It had snowed a bit in Oxford, but it snowed quite a bit more in London. And the people of London freaked out. Tons of places were closed, from trains to grocery stores, and Matt hadn't thought we would be able to make it back. (His flatmate was stranded in Zurich.) We didn't really have any problems however, and got back just fine.

The next day, (a Monday,) was our last real day in London. School had been canceled for many students even though it had stopped snowing and most things were clear. We headed off to the Tower of London, which Jayne, our friend from Korea, had surprised me by plotting with Amanda and buying our tickets to for my birthday. (We also found out she'll be coming back to England for a funeral, so we will be meeting up with her again.) It was really nice, because I had wanted to see the Tower of London, having not done it last time I was here, but I had been worried about spending the money.

Some parts of it were closed because of the snow (Londoners panic), but we accidently joined a free tour given by the only female beafeater, who showed us around and told us all kinds of stories about the place. We got to see the Palace Green, where the private executions happened. (Most of the executions happened on Tower Hill, so these were different.) Only 13 official executions happened there, including Anne Boelyn, Lady Jane Grey, Sir Thomas Moore, and a number of others. We also got to see inside a little chapel that housed many of the bodies of those famous people and hundreds of others. (Only 33 could be identified.) Four queens had been housed in the Tower of London, and only one ever left. (Do you know who it was?)


After the official tour, we walked through the older parts. It was originally built by the Normans. There was another part where Edward (the Hammer of the Scots), lived and decorated. We also had lovely views of the evening sun on the Tower Bridge before it got dark and the Tower closed.

After we left, we met up with two of our friends from our language class when we were in South Korea. We had our second sit down meal, but this one, our friend had a coupon for, so it was cheap. It was great to catch up with them, hear of their adventures and what they were doing, especially over bangers and mash.

We left directly from there to the broadway show, Wicked. We were very high up, in the cheap seats, but there were enough vacancies that we got to move down. Neither of us knew the musical or had read the book, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. It was quite long, over three hours, but very fun to watch. I really liked the show and the music and the whole idea behind it. I will have to get the music sometime. The girl we saw singing was probably one of the very best singers I have ever heard. She was spectacular.

After leaving the theater, we went to King's Cross Station. We went to the now famous Platform Nine and Three Quarters, and got to hold onto the luggage cart that is part way through the wall, which wasn't there the last time I was at King's Cross. (Harry Potter mania wasn't so big then.) We also found out times for our train to Cambridge the following morning. So that was our final, fabulous night in London.

My Birthday!

I have just had an amazing birthday. It was honestly one of the best birthdays I can remember. It started with my wonderful friend Amanda. Last year, we spent the year together in Korea, and so she knew about my family tradition of doing breakfast. I actually had forgotten about that bit of it in our travels, but she made sure to ask me what I wanted. I wasn't too particular; most anything sounded good. However, after a bit of discussion and some consultation with Matt, the guy we're staying with, we decided to attempt cinnamon rolls.

Amanda has made them before and had a great recipe for them. The guy we're staying with is typical as far as guys go and hasn't really done any baking at all, so there were a number of ingredients we needed to pick up. He did have some things, he informed us, including flour. So that night, Amanda made the dough and icing for cinnamon rolls. (The flour he assured us he had was a little tiny package. Thankfully we were only making a half batch, or there certainly wouldn't have been enough.) He didn't have any measuring devices, so there was a bit of creative estimating involved.

The next morning, she popped them in the oven. However, his oven is a bit strange, and sort of burned the top without fully cooking the bottom. However, they still tasted wonderful! I love cinnamon rolls, and I especially love cream cheese icing. And then adding orange juice and tea... Yum! I also got a good number of Happy Birthday messages from people back home, which made me smile. Then we headed to the bus station to go to Oxford.

On the way, I finished the book I was reading, and spent a good bit of time looking out the window. Coming in to Oxford was just what I had remembered. I was afraid it was going to be different than my memories, but it lived up to what I was hoping. We got off the bus and found our hostel. (We're staying at a better one than the one we stayed at last time.) Then we started walking the familiar streets. We were going to tea later that day at the house we where we used to live. But before it was time, we walked through the park and past some of the colleges we remember so well. It was good to be back.

We told each other of the memories of different places as we walked. Our feet had no trouble finding our street and then our house. It was a chilly day, and we recalled how Oxford was the first place we ever really wore scarves. (As well as where we fell in love with tea, hummus, and pesto.) We were early for tea, but the students there, after telling them who we were, were very nice. We got to chat to them and hear all kinds of stories. They were really warm and welcoming, and I just remembered how much I loved being there.

One boy was making baklava while another girl had made banana bread. Then there were all the traditional tea things, like digestives, twiglets and cakes. (They had the one cake I was really looking forward to eating. So that was nice.) (Also, when I went before, I didn't like twiglets. They have a rather burnt taste. And by the end, I could eat some. But this time, I really enjoyed them. Very strange.) We each had three cups of tea (which I got to drink out of a Queen Elizabeth cup, which was new to the place since I'd been there; meanwhile most of the cups we had had were gone), and got to hear tons of stories from the different students, as well as reconnecting with Jonathan.

We hung out in the kitchen, and helped wash up, as well as help some of the boys there write a poem for a contest which resulted in a date on Valentine's for the winning girl. After a while, Jonathan decided it was time to start dinner. I got to help a little bit, and the resulting meal was amazing. Every time I've eaten what he's made, I am amazed. We had lamb (because Americans don't eat much lamb) flavored with mustard and salt and pepper, and saffron cous-cous. He also fried up some zucchini with garlic, which was surprising and good. He had a sauce which he poured over bits of it, and he made mushrooms for the lamb. I have never been enjoyed eating mushrooms. But these mushrooms were the best tasting (and least mushroomy) mushrooms I have every had. My father will be horrified; my mother delighted.

For a second course, he made a salad, with mixed greens. It had a vinaigrette dressing and Maltese pine nuts and a bit of goat cheese, and was probably the best salad I have ever eaten. I was quite impressed with the taste. For dessert, he had little pastries with whipped cream and pomegranate seeds, and shaved dark chocolate on top. Overall, it was an incredible meal. (Sorry to go into so much detail, but I want to remember it, and perhaps attempt some of the parts at later dates.)

After dinner and washing up, we had some coffee, and sat around talking. Then Jonathan showed us some of his newly collected items, a first edition book he rebound and some unique old coins. Then, some of the others in the house announced it was snowing and they were going to have a snowball fight. So all three of us raced outside and launched a massive snowball fight, with most of the members of the Crick Street house. It lasted close to an hour, and everyone was freezing and wet, and so we all trouped inside and had hot cocoa. (One of my favorite things about England, and Oxford in particular is the constant supply of tea and coffee.)

We talked a bit more, and then heard yelling in the other room. We ran in to catch the last half of the stunning interception throw and amazing touchdown run from the Superbowl. We got to watch it on replay for quite a while and then some of the half time show before deciding we were too tired to stay any longer and headed back through the snow for our hostel.

Overall, it was one of my very favorite birthdays I can recall.