Continued from My English Experience – Week 1

OK so now we are on our way up to Binbrook where some of our family live. We will be staying the week with them and celebrating Christmas together. To the left is the view from Mum’s house.

On our way there we stop off at Stratford Upon Avon, the home of William Shakespeare. This is a lovely, old world type town with lots of quaint shops and at the

moment a street market was going on. I bought a few extra gifts and dared myself to try something new. I bought a sausage roll type pastry that was filled with rabbit, partridge, pork, venison & pheasant. I thought that it might taste a bit gamey … but it didn’t .. it was really good and I’d

definitely have another!

So we continued our journey north and finally arrived in the early evening. Worn out from the busy week… I remember stopping in to visit my sister in law and all the kids for a while and then we all ordered take out from the local chinese place and called it a night.

Day 2 up north we traveled to the city of Lincoln and took a tour through the Lincoln Cathedral. Wow! The cathedral was massive and absolutely beautiful. Stained glass windows that stretched toward the sky towered over us as we made our way through the cathedral. This building was constructed in 1092 … ummm that’s over 900 years old!!! Amazing.. absolutely amazing!

After our cathedral tour we ventured down the steep hill of Lincoln to do a little shopping. OMG.. that hill is as steep as I have ever seen! Once you get to the bottom.. the terrible part is.. you have to go back up! The shops were awesome… I found a great little rock shop where I purchased a few crystals for myself and something for my hubby. We stopped for some lunch and a cuppa at the bottom before making our way back up that hill. Thank goodness! I needed the rest..lol. After that it was back home to plan the following day.

Day 3 up north, we gathered all the kids up and headed to a place called Hull. We had to drive over the Humber bridge  to get there and this bridge is something I have never experienced before and dare say I don’t mind missing it. This bridge actually sways in the wind as you drive over it and the guard rails around it are tiny. I was glad

to be over it but knew that it wouldn’t be the last time because we did have to get back home afterwards. In Hull we visited  The Deep, an aquarium and it was great fun with all the kids.  There really wasn’t anything else in downtown Hull that was worth seeing so back home we went to plan out our next adventure.

Day 4 up north, we ventured off to York where we found loads and loads of lovely shops on cobblestone streets. I LOVE THIS PLACE! We found lots of gifts and had some lunch at Bella Italiano. The tiny cobblestone streets lined on either side with shop after shop was heavenly. It was a step back in time and I can imagine back in the day all the english folk dressed in their garb of the time walking up and down these streets daily doing their shopping and visiting. I would visit York again and again.. a definite must see!

Day 5 up north was Christmas day. Up early to open pressies that Santa had dropped off, then some proper english breakfast and then we nipped around the corner to see the kids and deliver more pressies. I had come down with a nasty head cold so I found myself a nice warm bed and took a nap before dinner while everyone else walked down to the village pub for a pint or two. Christmas dinner was very different than what I’m use to in the states.  It was lovely and lots of fun. Christmas crackers were popped open, paper crowns were worn on every head and wine was dispensed all around and around and around and…. around!

Day 6 up north was our last. It was an easy day for us that day. Our only down day where we weren’t running here and there. We had a nice meal at The Click’em Pub down the road and had an early night for our travels the next day to Northampton.

Continue reading – My English Experience – Week 3 – London

Many Blessings,
Raventalker