London
Photos from our stay in London on the last two days of our England trip.
Bircham Windmill, Norfolk Lavender and Hunstanton
Today, we visited the Bircham Windmill – a real working windmill and farm in Norfolk. We climbed up five stories to the top of the windmill and I took tons of photos. Mom even climbed all the way to the top, and she’s very afraid of heights. We also watched sheep being milked, chickens running around, and had snacks.
We visited Norfolk Lavender briefly and looked around, but they were closing so we didn’t take the full tour of the farms. It’s a large lavender farm – smells heavenly.
After, we drove up to the Victorian seaside town of Hunstanton to walk along the beach, eat fish and chips and play at the penny arcades. We won Peppa Pig and George for Annabelle at the two-penny coin game, but I utterly failed to win a meerkat from the claw machines. We teased Mom into playing air hockey, and she did quite well at it against Annabelle.
We had a lovely day.
The Queen says hi!
Despite my whining about seat assignments, we ended up together on the plane. The first leg of the trip was on a tiny jet but the Boeing 757 wasn’t bad at all. It was an overnight flight, but we didn’t get much sleep on the plane, so we’ve been catching up here.
Once we landed, it was Friday here. We had a hired car to take us up to Stacy’s house in Upwell, and we visited with Stacy and the girls. After lunch we took a walk up the road and I took photos while Annabelle played a bit in the play park. Then we went and explored the Church yard and I took pictures of the gargoyles and gravestones.
Later we checked into our bed and breakfast (Bury House in the village of Little Downham) which is a lovely place with a nice room. After getting settled, we walked down the road to The Plough, which is an quaint English pub that serves Thai food. Roger mentioned that lots of pubs are closing, so it’s possible they added the restaurant portion to supplement their business.
On Saturday, we went to Ely and walked around the river, through town and up to the Ely Cathedral, an 11th century construction called “the Ship of the Fens” because it could be seen on the hill out across the marshy wetlands that surrounded it. Most of the fens were drained several centuries ago, resulting in a flat, damp, low-lying agricultural region.
We visited the market and the yarn shop and toured the Cathedral until we got kicked out because there was a mass going on. Oops. Mom and Stacy and the girls headed back to Upwell, and Stephanie and I visited a pub – The Lamb – and had dinner and a pint. I have British Beef and Ruddles Ale Pie – which is not as odd as it sounds – just a beef pie with gravy made with ale. Very tasty.
Sunday, Roger and Stacy drove us all up to Sandringham, the queen’s winter home in Norfolk. We took a tour of the grounds and the children’s play area, then saw the house and the museum. The queen said hello, of course, and that we were her favorite guests and should come back often. (that is completely not true.) It was a long day, so Roger and Stacy and Mom and the children went home and we stopped back in Ely for pizza and a nice glass of wine before heading back for and early evening in.
Here are a few of the photos I have so far.