York and back to Ipswich

York

Leaving Scotland, the three of us headed towards the city of York in Northeast England. York is a historic walled city that has played an important role in England (and even the Roman empire) since about 71 AD. Walking around York was almost like walking around a living museum.

This is where we parted ways with Sally (who is going to study in the USA) with a promise to all come back to England for Christmas!


The city wall


The River Ouse


An old door


York Minster, the second-largest Gothic Cathedral in Northern Europe. Construction began in 1220, even though previous cathedrals have stood on the site since the 6th Century AD


Posing outside York Minster


The Shambles, a well-preserved medieval street in York with buildings dating back to the 14th Century


An old building on The Shambles


Boats on the River Ouse


Sally and I (Nat) on the city wall


York Minster can be seen from the wall


A gateway through the old city wall.

Leaving Sally at the train station, we drove further south to Leceister (which is a hole and not worth taking any photos of) where teary-eyed, we returned our trusty rental car, Henry and met up with Kelly to spend our last few English days in Ipswich again!


I discover a sausage and egg McMuffin in Leicester the next morning

Back to Ipswich

Needless to say, we were pretty tired after our month spent travelling around the UK. It was good to get some "downtime" again in familiar territory. Kelly and Rob took great care of us and showed us the best that Ipswich had to offer. It had been a few years since I'd seen Rob (in Australia) and this time he had hair! Funnily enough the last time we'd seen each other, I had dreadlocks too.


Dinner party at Kelly and Rob's


Outside the Magpie, one of the good old English pubs we visited


Rob, Kelly and I

And that's it! Our British adventures drew to a close. After a couple of days in Ipswich, we boarded our flight from Stansted Airport out of the English-speaking world into the "unknown" world of Sweden.

For more pictures of our time in York and Ipswich, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52918&l=08447&id=681501850

Ipswich and Aldeburgh

Picking up our rental car from Lleytonstone, an outer suburb of London, we had to quickly orientate ourselves with English traffic. Britain is probably the world capital of round-a-bouts and nobody obeys the speed limit, despite the presence of speed cameras on virtually every corner. We were thankful though that we were once again in a country that drives on the correct side of the road (left) and within an hour or so I (Nat) felt comfortable enough in the driver's seat.

Our next stop after London was Ipswich where our friends Laura and Kelly live. Ipswich is on the east side of England, East Anglia and is a quaint town with a nice big mansion in the middle of a nice big park as the main attraction. We stayed with Laura and her boyfriend James for 3 days and they took us to some amazing places.

On the first night we went for good old fashion British fish and chips in Aldeburgh, a neighbouring seaside town. The fish and chip shop we went to has been voted the best in the area, and it certainly was amazing, although there was a huge line we had to wait in for about half an hour! Nat and I ordered some fish, with scampi, chips and even mushy peas! We had to try the infamous mushy peas...which were just that mushy peas. Maybe we won't be ordering them again!




The line outside the fish and chip shop in Aldeburgh.



Aldeburgh was exactly what we expected of English seaside towns! It was absolutley beautiful.



Sitting on the pebbly beach eating our amazing fish and chips!



A close up of the fish and chips, scampi and mushy peas!



We couldn't understand how people would sunbathe on such a pebbly beach, surely the pebbles would dig into one's back.



A very old pub, about 600 years old! Nat is drinking what is apparently an old man's drink - warm English ale!


Outside Cross Keys Inn


While we were sitting in this pub having some ales and ciders after our fish and chips some Morris dancers came jingling their way into the pub. It sounded like Santa Claus had arrived. But no, it was just middle-age men, dressed in Morris dancing outfits, with bells on their ankles and flowers on their hats! It was quite a strange cultural experience.



Our little car we hired to drive around the country which we named "Henry the 9th of Lleytonstone", or just Henry for short. In the background is Laura's house.



Walking around Ipswich with Laura and her Dad's dog Barney!



The old Christchurch Mansion in Ipswich.

We were lucky enough on our second night to meet some of Laura's family and friends. Laura just happened to be having a BBQ at her place and we were treated to fine English sausage amongst many other mouth-tinging goodies. In England, you can never really say you're definitely going to have a BBQ because it just might rain. Therefore, any invitation to a BBQ is tentative!


Nat James (Laura's boyfriend) who is cooking a BBQ in the British way! With coals and a small little round thing. We weren't too sure how this would all work but James did an amazing job and the food was cooked and tasted great! Although I think that gas BBQ's are much easier to use!



The docks of Ipswich



The markets in Ipswich.

After experiencing a taste of this good old English town, we bid Laura farewell and drove off on a massive road-trip to explore the rest of Britain.

For more photos of Aldeburgh and Ipswich, visit:-
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48345&l=49c4f&id=681501850