Weekend in Norwich

07 November 2006 ~ 17:34

We caught the train from Liverpool Street, London, and the journey took approximately 2 hours to Norwich, through some very scenic countryside. We actually went through Diss, which is the small town where we went a couple of years ago to get our rats Summer & Autumn.

We arrived at 1.50pm and grabbed a cab to the hotel, the Holiday Inn Express which is situated just outside the city in the �sports village.� It is a brand new hotel that has been open only a month so it was very nice. However it took us a while to get there because there was a football match on and the traffic was bad.

We checked in and off-loaded our bags in the room, freshened up then caught a taxi back into the city, straight to �Dragon Hall� which Mark had discovered from looking up Norwich on the Internet. Dragon Hall was a merchant�s hall in the 15th Century, owned by a very well-heeled man called Robert Toppes, who was Mayor of Norwich three times. It is decorated with dragon carvings of which one can still be seen. We had fun looking around at the hall, which is now a museum, and then walked to Norwich Cathedral.

We paid a donation at the Cathedral and went in. It is huge, and we walked all around whilst the organ played, adding to the atmosphere. We lit candles for my brother Steven and our rats Honey and Constance. I bought a Norfolk wildlife tea towel, some wooden nativity tree ornaments and a book �Cathedrals from the Air� at the gift shop. Then we went for a meal at Yates pub.

We caught a cab back to the hotel and went shopping at the supermarket next door. I bought Mark a bottle of champagne and a miniature birthday cake. I had already given him his cards and presents from me and the girls (I got him a book �The Kite Runner� and the girls got him �My Cousin Vinny� on DVD).

There is a brand new ice-skating rink next door to the hotel so Mark decided to go for a skate before we retired to the room for the night. I just watched because I was scared of falling over. Mark is quite good and he was definitely getting better after forty-five minutes. Most of the time if he felt himself falling him managed to put his hands out and fall forwards. He only fell on his bottom once.

We retired to the room to warm up after the skating, had a shower, drank the champagne and watched TV, then eventually fell asleep pretty exhausted.

The next morning we got up and went downstairs for breakfast, then checked out. We got a taxi to Norwich Castle Museum. Amazingly, it said the museum did not open until 1pm, so we had to make do with taking some photos of Tiny the Dragon outside the castle and a walk around the grounds. We then walked down to the station trying to find a bar that was open but all were closed. It seems like Norwich closes right down on a Sunday!

Eventually we did find somewhere open so we sat down with some drinks and prepared for the two-hour journey back to Liverpool Street. Mark was by this time feeling tired and grumpy. I enjoyed the journey back because I saw a field of pigs and relaxed with some music. It was a good weekend but Mark said he doesn�t want to go away for the weekend again unless he has Sunday night off.



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