UK Part III

We caught the 8:40am train to Bridlington. After seeing York, Neil wanted to show me a different side of England. It took 1.5 hours to reach Brid. It is a seaside town and from what I gather a small town that's mostly busy during tourist - summer season. Many people will rent campers and go out to one of the seaside towns for the summer. I can see the appeal to children as it reminds me of PNE. There are many rides and arcades. There's even a pirate ship ride! You can actually go on a ship that goes out into the waters, circles around and then comes back to shore. It's got a jolly rancher flag and everything! It was only 1 pound to ride it. If the waters didn't look so rough, I might have gone.

We walked along the promenade and there are fish shops everywhere! We finally settled one that's off the promenade but still close by. It was very yummy. The fish was very moist but I thought the batter from the first night was better. Next we went to play a bit of mini golf in a pirate themed place. I won :D And I kept the score card. We played a couple of arcade games and got tickets to exchange for prizes. Like I said, very much like PNE/Playland. Next, we went to pick up some rocks! By that I mean rock candies or rock sticks. They come in all flavours and sizes (shapes too!). I also picked up a marshmallow sandwich for the road.

On our way back to Sheffield, we stopped at Meadowhall Centre. It was Neil's parent's anniversary party so we picked up a card. It was a very busy mall. Since it was raining I guess more people migrated to the mall as well. Eventually we got back to the house and luckily the rain stopped and we were able to hang out in the backyard for the party. Neil and I had head downtown to meet up with his friend Mark. We stopped at Lloyd's first. I got ID'd! :D After we went to Dev Cat (aka Devonshire Cat) and then to Washington. It's nice that you can go to many different places in one night - unlike the bar scene in Vancouver. At Washington, there's a beer garden which is basically like a covered backyard patio.

Before midnight Neil and I took a bus back to his place. It was a double decker bus and we sat on the top :) By the time we got back, his aunts and uncles were all still drinking. The party wasn't over. The British sure knows how to party!

UK Part II

My second day in the UK, Neil and I caught the 9:40am train to York. It was a scenic and pleasant 1 hour train ride from Sheffield.

York is a very beautiful city! So full of history and evidently so today. The city used to the capital of England and there's a wall around the city that still exists. I wished I had learned more about York before I got there but the tours gave me a pretty good idea.

After getting our tour pass, we headed to the York Minister. This is a big beautiful church. Reminded me a bit of the Notre Dame Cathedral. It's still being used for services today as well as tours.

Much of York is pedestrian only and it's how one would imagine the UK to be, narrow streets with cute shops and cobble stone walk ways. This area is called the Shambles. As we walked along these streets, we stopped to get a pork sandwich and some crackling to share. As we are eating on the street, it started to rain! We ate the rest of our food under a walk way. Next, we went to get some cream tea at a Teddy bear shop. It was a bit obscure so there was no line, which was nice since we wanted to get out of the rain. The tea and scone as super delicious! I couldn't finish my scone and I wished I could've taken it to go with me. But we had so much more to see!

Next we went to the Jorvik Viking Museum. The greatest part of this tour was the ride through the re-creation of a Jorvik Viking village. Neil told me as I was riding through that the smell was also re-created. The outhouse part was a bit smelly! It was like riding the "It's A Small World" ride but a million times better! There's mechanical characters, voices, and so much more! I really enjoyed this and would go back again.

Our next destination was the Castle Museum. There were several parts to this and my favourite is the old english era. There were also World War I and II exhibits, kitchen throughout the decades, a prison area and music and art section. Outside the museum, we climbed a set of stairs to reach the Tower. After climbing to the very top, my knees were feeling a bit wobbly and I needed to get down closer to the ground. It was a great view though!

Finally, we went to The Dungeons. Neil's told me nothing about this place except the name. It is an interactive tour with actors and scenes that illustrated the history of York. Some parts were really quite scary. Often times some of the audience (a group of maybe around 15-20) had to participate. At one point, Neil was volunteered as the guy with the plague and the one to test out torture devices. It's hard to describe, you really had to be there. As scary as it was (and yes, I screamed several times) it was very fun!

We caught a train back to Sheffield and we for a carvey with his family. So much food. But oh so delicious! and lots of drinks too. After dinner we all hung out and drank more back at home. The kids played with Ella and I wondered how they managed to have so much energy.