Viking Norwich Tour

This morning I took an informal walking tour of Viking Norwich. Did you know the name Norwich comes from Norvik or Northwic? These were settlements named by Vikings from Denmark and the Anglo-Saxons. There are places around the city that have plaques with information about this Viking heritage. We started our walk in the Tombland area right outside Norwich Cathedral. 

Tombland, from tom meaning empty

As Tombland comes from tom, so do street names like Bishopgate, Pottergate, and Fishergate come from the Norse word for street, gata, and not from the English word gate. The 10th century marketplace was in this Tombland area until the Normans moved it to its present location, still the Norwich Market today. The Cathedral and Castle were not built in Viking times—but here's a picture of the castle anyway! Renovations are currently taking place to restore the interior of the castle to how it most likely appeared during the time of King Henry I. 

Norwich Castle

We also passed this mural

and stopped for Elevenses at this nice cafe

View from Whitefriars Bridge

Not as much is visible in Norwich of the Viking settlement as in other English places (such as York), but it was a good walk nevertheless! I'm hoping to visit Strangers' Hall on Sunday to learn more about the weavers and dyers (the Strangers) who came across with their craft from Belgium and the Netherlands in the 1500s. 

Waxham

 On Sunday, I visited the coast of the North Sea at Waxham (not to be confused with Wroxham, a village we passed through to get there). It's about a 45 minute drive from Norwich. Waxham is a less busy spot on the coast that's a favourite of my host family. We brought coffee and tea and after walking along the shore, headed up to sit on the grassy dunes. At first we did not see many seals, but as the tide came in, they swam closer and closer to shore. The land was reclaimed from the sea centuries ago, and many areas on the coast have erosion barriers. If these aren't kept up, a lot of the villages and farmland would be underwater again.

North Sea Coast

Cold water!

Beautiful day on the coast

Grassy Dunes

Elevenses

See the seal? (Look to the right of the boulders.)

First Week in Norwich

 Hello friends! Thank you for following my page. This post is about my first week living in Norwich. The home I'm staying in is on Earlham Road halfway between the UEA campus and the city centre. I've been alternating between a day at campus and a day or two in the city. On my first day, I walked to campus (about 25 minutes). It was a week before welcome week for new students, so not as busy, and I could wander around on my own. I picked up my campus card right away because that's how I'm able to check out books at the library! The campus library is open all hours and has not only a water bottle filling station, but also hot water at all times for tea. It's a good base to have when spending the day on campus. There's a quiet study space for postgraduates on the second floor (that's really the third level) with storage lockers. Buildings on campus are not very attractive and basically all cement, but not far away there is a man-made lake and wooded area with walking trails. Later in the week when I visited again I took a walk around the lake and trails.

The view from my window

University of East Anglia Broad

Again relying on my mobile phone for Google Maps, I explored the Norwich city centre on Wednesday. I think I went back on Thursday, Friday, and maybe Saturday as well because there was so much to see! My highlights were the Millennium Library at The Forum, Norfolk Yarn, the many, many book stores and thrift shops (including The Book Hive), and Norwich Cathedral. I also visited quite a few grocery stores to find the best places to get food with less packaging. I'm not really big on eating out, so I was tired of that after a few days! Fortunately, there was fine weather for being out all day. One afternoon I had a cream tea at Biddy's Tea Room. Cream tea means a scone served with clotted cream comes with your tea. My favourite!

Millennium Library at The Forum

 American Library inside Millennium Library

Norfolk Yarn: A Knitter's Paradise

The Book Hive

St Gregory's Antiques & Collectibles

Entrance to the close, Norwich Cathedral

Tombland Bookshop

The Dormouse Bookshop

Cream tea at Biddy's Tea Room

On Saturday I saw morris dancers performing outside. Morris dancers wear bells on their legs and do dances and steps to traditional music while beating sticks. Over the weekend, my host family took me to see a group called Flánn that plays Irish music and Céilí. They are very good! I really enjoyed it and I'd like to go to more Céilí events. 

Morris Dancers

Flánn at the Rosebery

The best grocery store is actually not too far from my house and my host family recommended it. It's called The Green Grocers. I can get everything I need in bulk with my own containers including cleaners like soap and vinegar. There is a chain store called Co-op that has better prices on milk, cheese, and yoghurt, though I haven't found any place that does bottle returns. At every food place I visited, I looked at their tea selection. Later I will post about different teas I've found! The stalls at Norwich Market are another place to get fresh produce. I like that better than the types they sell at the Co-op, Marks & Spencer, Aldi, or Sainsbury's. The cashiers here will ask if you need a bag and most places even charge for their bags. There's also a residential food waste collection service and more things are made with paper or a material that can compost in an industrial composter.

Best grocery place

Another quiet spot to walk is the Earlham Cemetery near my house. I was surprised to see that at this time of year there are still ripe blackberries. There's more wildlife in that spot, and I'm keeping watch for hedgehogs and red squirrels. European robins, great tits (chickadees), and chiffchaffs sing outside in the morning. I have also heard jackdaws and magpies. I haven't yet been to explore other surrounding parks because I've been getting enough walking this week—but there are areas I'd like to visit soon!

Thanks for reading.

Earlham Cemetery

London

Hello friends, thanks for following my page! Earlier this week I visited London. My original flight to England was cancelled, so I ended up with only one day to spend in this city! I really enjoyed it, and would like to plan another visit soon. Since it's only a two hour train ride from Norwich, there's a good possibility I will do that soon. The hotel I was going to stay at was kind enough to let me still use their luggage storage for the day and also use the internet from their lobby. I would not have been able to see so much without the Citymapper app. One of the first things I did was to get a UK SIM card in my mobile phone so that I could use data from anywhere. I felt like a pro using it to travel from place to place (without having to spend an age looking at the map).

I decided for my first visit that I had to see a few Beatles spots! So, my self-guided, whirlwind Beatles tour took place in the areas of Bloomsbury, Marylebone, and Mayfair. I started at the British Library— which obviously I would want to visit anyway, even if they didn't happen to hold some of the Beatles' original handwritten lyrics. Yes, a longer visit is coming soon I hope. 

Outside The British Library

The Beatles Lyrics

It wasn't raining!

Next on the itinerary was a trip on the Underground from St Pancras to St John's Wood via Baker Street taking me up to Abbey Road Studios. I also used the Underground (Tube) from the airport into the city and to Liverpool Street to catch my train, and I have to say I was amused by people's behaviour. I liked it, but was amused. They have a way of looking at you while avoiding eye contact even when they are sitting right across from you. They do not start any awkward conversations, everyone minds his own business. If there is any talking, it's very quiet. I was really grateful for this when travelling on my own, although I'm sure there are people to ask if you need assistance—and if you are really lost, you can always ask for help and someone will readily give it. I felt a lot safer than when I visited New York where the subway cars are very loud and random people try to talk to you or ask you where you are going. After getting off at St John's Wood, I had to walk a few blocks to get to the studio and the famous crossing. The crossing was crowded with people getting pictures, and of course, doing the walk. It looked pretty different to me than the album cover. There's a roundabout with a statue not far away that is not captured in the cover photo. I bet some of these trees are the same, though, and you can see that the very top of the buildings are included in the cover shot. But I did not stand in the middle of the street to take this picture!

Abbey Road Crossing

Abbey Road Studios

Alas, I did not have time to walk to Paul McCarney's house at 7 Cavendish Avenue this time! I'd also like to walk through Regent's Park on another visit. So, the next place I visited was the location of the original Apple store on Baker Street, which is now owned by a real estate company, Marsh & Parsons. I took a double decker bus, and it was my first time on one of these. The view from the front or near the front of the top is the best! It was so convenient to use the Oyster card for public transportation. I needed this for the Tube and the buses. There was a bit of construction going on around Savile Row, but I found my way to number 3, the former location of Apple Studios. I was the only Apple Scruff there that day. This is now owned by Abercrombie & Fitch.

Passing the London Beatles Store

Location of the original Apple store

3 Savile Row. The famous door!

Plaque that reads: 

The Beatles played their last live performance on the roof of this building 30th January, 1969

While walking around these places, I found myself passing Carnaby Street. It's really not as cool as it was in the 60s, but I did find a neat little place called Farm Girl Cafe for a bit of lunch. I walked through Piccadilly Circus on the way to the Covent Garden Moomin Shop. I wasn't able to see Trafalgar Square or Buckingham Palace from there, but they were very close by. I guess people generally walk to the left on the sidewalk, too, as they do for driving. I found that I normally stayed to the right (my right) and ended up in the path of oncoming pedestrians. But I can't quite figure it out, because sometimes they do walk to their right. Maybe it was the foreign people who got mixed up in this, since other countries also drive on the right. In the areas I visited, I saw many American tourists and Chinese or Asian tourists as well. It felt really international.

Carnaby Street

Piccadilly Circus

People actually know the Moomins here.

Okay, it was kind of pricey, but I had afternoon tea at the British Museum. I figured I would only do it once, and it should be something grand for my first tea in England. I arrived at two and then had some time to first walk through the Egyptian exhibits, see the Rosetta Stone, and walk the gift shop area in the wide circular part of the building. The shop was one of the highlights because there were things (I'm ashamed to admit) I didn't know were at the museum until I saw the collectible knickknacks in the gift shop! Haha. It was a hot day! Maybe only in the upper 70s, I can't remember, but it felt muggy. And surprisingly, the museum didn't seem to have air conditioning (maybe that's an American attitude?). There were just fans going on the upper floors. When you got to the top floors, it felt like an old elementary school building, just stuffy and humid. I didn't stay that long there because of the temperature. I had to go down to the ground level gift shop. The fancier restaurant area is on the top level, but it's in the wide open part and wasn't a bad place to sit. The tea was served with a china set. So many tasty (and one not so tasty) finger sandwiches and treats! It was a bit much for one person. The best, in my opinion, was the scone that came with clotted cream. So that's what it is! I thought it was really good butter at first. The waitress told me it was clotted cream. It's my new favourite thing! (More later about my cream tea in Norwich.)

The British Museum

Part of the Egyptian exhibit at The British Museum

Afternoon tea at The British Museum 

(the clotted cream is on the middle plate next to the jam)

I'm not so great at taking a ton of photos, but I hope these give you an idea of what it was like! 

Thank you for reading.