Advertisement
Spent a couple of really good days in York. I would have to say that it rates as one of my top 2 – 3 places visited in the UK. Great history with it having previous Roman, Viking, Saxon and Norman occupation. The Cathedral has been rebuilt 4 times on or around the same site with the current Gothic dating back to the 1300's. The Cathedral has had excavation in the Crypt and shows that it also sits on top of Roman ruins. We also visited a re-creation of Jorvik which is on the excavation of a Viking settlement from around 600 – 700 AC.
Moving South on Saturday, we just spent a day in Cambridge just having a look around. While there is certainly some impressive architecture (especially Kings College), being a Saturday most colleges were closed to the public and those that were only allowed access to their grounds (charging a fee of course), and not to internal areas such as Chapels and Dining Rooms etc........... made me lose interest very quickly. I would have to say that I had a preference for Oxford, probably as it is older and seems to have more history than Cambridge. Given the
Chubbies Take Away in York
While it probably does describe what fatty take away food can do to your physique..... am not sure it is really a good advertisment!!! rivalry between these two university cities, there is a distinct possibility that someone from Cambridge reading this will seek me out and break my legs. Jane certainly thought so, when I voiced my opinion whilst walking down one of the streets. She said I was tactless and moved away, not wanting to be associated with me.
Today we headed just outside Cambridge to have a look at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. This was an operational air field in both the first and second world wars and as such is the section of the Imperial War Museums that house all the aircraft involved in all theatres of war. It is an impressive collection with not only allied but also a number of German aircraft. While they regularly hold air shows here, unfortunately there was not one on at the time of our visit. They did however have some of the aircraft taking short flights, including a couple of Hurricanes and Spitfires.
As our trip is drawing to a close, I thought I would make some general observations, in particular the English roads and driving. I have to say that English drivers are pretty considerate and they didn’t give
Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate
Only a Street in UK (this one in York) could be given a name like this me the bird once. The motorways while they don’t allow you to appreciate the countryside nor the quaint villages they are a quick way of getting you from A to B...... and anyway, how many narrow hedgerows and thatched cottages do you want to see anyway?? The main difficulty was know what speed to do on open roads.... there didn’t seem to be any speed limit signs. One of the owners of a B&B said that when you are on a motorway the official limit is 70 MPH, but police don’t really worry if you do 80 MPH and they only suspend your licence if you are caught doing 100 MPH. Other roads that look good with lines down the middle he said I could be reasonably confident doing 60 MPH...... and roads without white lines would be 50 MPH.... or thats what he thought. I found it easier just staying in one of the left lanes taking comfort that most drivers were driving a lot faster than me. Some were easily driving at 90 MPH.
Oh... I read a couple of funny articles in the papers over here. Apparently Germaine Greer who has clearly given up her Australian citizenship
since saying we Aussies were living in a back water, somehow makes a living by making commentary or writing in the papers. In Saturdays paper she said that dogs should be shot or strictly kept out of forests, paddocks and grasslands. Apparently the blue bell flowers are declining in the wild and this is due according to Ms Greer to increased phosphorus from dog urine which kills a fungus which the blue bells rely on for essential nutrients. Quite rightly someone responded by saying we would be better off killing ramblers (see one of my previous blogs) as the amount of urine sprayed around by these pests was significantly more than the amount excreted by dogs. Couldn’t agree more!
The second story is about a strain of E-Coli that has caused illness in more than 1,500+ Germans with 18 deaths recorded. Anyway, the thought is that the E-Coli sticks to the outside of food and is then ingested. To date the German health authorities haven’t isolated where the contamination is coming from (I assume its an important enough story for you to have heard about it at home). A commentator in the paper however observed that women are significantly affected
Messerschmitt
German fighter captured during WW2. At Duxford Imperial War Museum more than men leading him to suspect the culprit is foods that men rarely eat. He suggested Ryvita and Bailey's Irish Cream!
In the next couple of days we will be back in London preparing to make our way home. This therefore maybe my last blog, although I may try to get one more in during our stay in Hong Kong.... so for those avid readers of Edddy57 will have to keep checking the website.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.042s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0225s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb