Last weekends adventure was to go to Norwich. Norwich is about an hourish north east of Cambridge and is a central hub for the area. It is a medieval town with a castle at its centre. Apparently it is usually by-passed by Britons as they make there way to the coast or to the Norfolk broads.
We were both keen to see our first castle so we made the trek to Norfolk with the help of our Irish friend Isla (thats the sat nav's name). As this was or first road trip out of Cambridge we hopped on the motorway and cruised north. It is funny to have the "Kangaroos for 10k's" signs replaced with deer (or Reindeer as Fee calls them), that and the green grass reminded us we weren't in Aus anymore. Along the way we noticed that there wasn't really any rest stops and service station kind of places like on the Fedral Highway, instead the road is dotted every two miles or so with a caravan with a big english flag on top selling hot sausages, chips and stuff. (Stuie heaven)
When we arrived in Norwich we both instantly took a liking to the place. It is slightly bigger than Cambridge but it still has kept its charm and beauty just like Cambridge does. We made our way from our carpark up to the market square, always our frst port of call, and found a sloping market square with semi permanent market stalls with brightly stripped canvas roofs and people busling around buisly. Very cute, very atmospheric and we had a hot cooked breakfast (delicious) from one of the stalls. We made our way around the stalls and some of the shops and as we made our way to one of the small churches that bordered the market square, it began to rain. The rain got heavier so we crossed the road to another church for a bit of shelter. This was quite surreal, we came out of the church into the cemetery that was attached, not only was this still the heart of the city but the wall that marked the end of the cemetery also marked the entry of a multi story shopping mall. Wierd!
The rain got heavier and as we tried to make a desicion as to where to go, I heard Fee's voice, partially muffled by her scarf say "Lets shelter in here where it says 50% off". It didn't matter what they were selling she could smell bargains. She is a funny girl. We went to the Norwich castle (after the sales) and it was a strange collection of different museums, Natural history, Roman, Anglo saxon, Modern art, traditonal art, castle museum..... Not a big place but plenty to do. We had a tour of the dungeons where we saw where our forefathers were chained up :-) and a tour of the battlements. This was a highlight as the castle is on a central mound and from the rooftop we had an awesome view of the city.
A novel part of Norwich, and this shows the english commitment to retaining the charm of regional towns and cities, is the undergroud shopping mall. It was the first shopping mall in the city and they decided that rather than create an eye sore in or have the mall too far out, they buried it instead. It is really cool. Three subterrainian levels, much bigger than Canberra centre, and the only evidence of the place from the street is what looks like a large glass house.
We left after dark so we could see the Castle at night and after spending about 4 hours inside it was a good choice for our first castle.
We were both keen to see our first castle so we made the trek to Norfolk with the help of our Irish friend Isla (thats the sat nav's name). As this was or first road trip out of Cambridge we hopped on the motorway and cruised north. It is funny to have the "Kangaroos for 10k's" signs replaced with deer (or Reindeer as Fee calls them), that and the green grass reminded us we weren't in Aus anymore. Along the way we noticed that there wasn't really any rest stops and service station kind of places like on the Fedral Highway, instead the road is dotted every two miles or so with a caravan with a big english flag on top selling hot sausages, chips and stuff. (Stuie heaven)
When we arrived in Norwich we both instantly took a liking to the place. It is slightly bigger than Cambridge but it still has kept its charm and beauty just like Cambridge does. We made our way from our carpark up to the market square, always our frst port of call, and found a sloping market square with semi permanent market stalls with brightly stripped canvas roofs and people busling around buisly. Very cute, very atmospheric and we had a hot cooked breakfast (delicious) from one of the stalls. We made our way around the stalls and some of the shops and as we made our way to one of the small churches that bordered the market square, it began to rain. The rain got heavier so we crossed the road to another church for a bit of shelter. This was quite surreal, we came out of the church into the cemetery that was attached, not only was this still the heart of the city but the wall that marked the end of the cemetery also marked the entry of a multi story shopping mall. Wierd!
The rain got heavier and as we tried to make a desicion as to where to go, I heard Fee's voice, partially muffled by her scarf say "Lets shelter in here where it says 50% off". It didn't matter what they were selling she could smell bargains. She is a funny girl. We went to the Norwich castle (after the sales) and it was a strange collection of different museums, Natural history, Roman, Anglo saxon, Modern art, traditonal art, castle museum..... Not a big place but plenty to do. We had a tour of the dungeons where we saw where our forefathers were chained up :-) and a tour of the battlements. This was a highlight as the castle is on a central mound and from the rooftop we had an awesome view of the city.
A novel part of Norwich, and this shows the english commitment to retaining the charm of regional towns and cities, is the undergroud shopping mall. It was the first shopping mall in the city and they decided that rather than create an eye sore in or have the mall too far out, they buried it instead. It is really cool. Three subterrainian levels, much bigger than Canberra centre, and the only evidence of the place from the street is what looks like a large glass house.
We left after dark so we could see the Castle at night and after spending about 4 hours inside it was a good choice for our first castle.
Sunday was a beautiful day, walked in the sunshine for hours through Cambridge. Made our way along the river watched the rowing and punts and sipped luxurios hot Chocolate. Cambridge gets prettier with each new place we explore.
No comments:
Post a Comment