Advertisement
Published: July 22nd 2015
Edit Blog Post
Norwich
Our daughter's favourite vehicle. Friday 17 July 2015
We seem to be attracting thunderstorms. Fortunately last night's thunderstorm had no affect on our travels. Driving into Norwich city centre through leafy suburbs the streets were covered in leaves, the only sign of last night's event.
Parking was easy with the choice of one of 283 parking spaces in the basement of a reasonably new very large shopping mall. We do not linger as we have two important sights to visit. The first is Norwich Cathedral. As we walk through the streets we notice how busy the town is on this fine Friday morning. Most of the streets are car free so it makes it a very easy place to navigate. As we head towards the cathedral we pass the castle built during William the Conqueror's reign and admire some of the character architecture.
We are welcomed by a member of the parish and given a brief description of the cathedral. There is free entry but donations are expected. Once inside we are impressed at how alive the cathedral feels. Ladies of the parish are busy arranging large displays of flowers, polishing the copper font, cleaning windows and arranging place names on the
Norwich
A busy shopping arcade. seats. Later in the day is a memorial service. It must be for someone important from the number of counts, countesses, earls and ladies who will be attending. As we talk to one lady she recognises our accent immediately. Her daugher-in-law is a New Zealander. As a nation of travellers we are everywhere. Three very modern windows produce a very bright colour across the ambulatory. As we leave we are quite impressed by what we see and how we feel about our visit. We have seen many cathedrals on this trip, some more famous or bigger, but none have left that feeling that Norwich Cathedral has.
It is past lunch time, we are hungry, and we have one more place to visit. As we leave the cathedral we notice vast numbers of Spanish students. They must take the opportunity of their summer break to visit and improve their English. Not sure about improving their English but their retail skills were certainly getting a work-out. The walk back to the mall took us past a large market in the square that was attracting large crowds.
We decided to drive to our second sight as it was on our way
Norwich
Interesting old buildings in the centre of town. out of the city. For many years the thoughts of Julian of Norwich have been with us, "All shall be well......" So while we are in Norwich why not visit the little church where Julian spent much of her life in the 14th century writing. She was probably one of the earliest published woman authors. The small church where Julian had her cell was severely damaged during WWII but has been successfully restored.
Our brief visit to Norwich has left us feeling that this is a wonderful place to be and is lively with much more to see. We have seen the two sights we came to see and leave feeling satisfied. Now we head to London to visit our daughter and her husband. The GPS calculates that we will be there by 4:38 pm, oh no, rush hour. Heading west we soon encounter large queues of cars travelling east. Fortunately these queues do not impede our travel. It is Friday afternoon, state schools have finished for the term, and everyone is leaving London for Norfolk. Here's hoping, as we approach London, the traffic is not too bad. Polly has made the transition from French to German to British
Norwich
One of many decorated dragon statues seen around the city. roads without a blink. Perhaps the only slip up is the speed limit on the GPS screen. We presume the 70 is mph not kph. We are easily directed from M1 to North Orbital to M25 back to the M1, through Watford, and finally our destination, arriving at 4:53 pm. Not too bad considering the distance and traffic. The roundabouts are more interesting in the UK with choosing the right approaching lane being vital. We mastered the task without causing the carnage that would easily make its way onto the BBC News.
We received the warmest of welcomes from our daughter, son-in-law and pet dog, Holly. We look forward to a few days in London before a brief excursion to Wales. The sun is shining, we watch a replay of the All Blacks playing Argentina, a delicious meal, family together, what could be better.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.544s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 12; qc: 30; dbt: 0.0451s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb