united kingdom: england: chester and the canals

Chester is a walled city in England, a city with a long history. Wikipedia tells me it first existed as early as 79 AD, when it was founded as a Roman fort called Deva Victrix. This fort was bigger than others in the area, and some people think the Romans originally intended this area to become the capital of the Britannia Superior province. In some ways the original city design still stands, as the main roads of the modern city follow the same routes in which they were first laid out. None of the roads were completely straight, but that wasn't a thing back then.

After a while the fort turned into a settlement with civilians, not just soldiers. At some point the town became the 'possession' of what is now England. (I would assume this was when The Romans walked away, in 410.) Even though it was no longer officially Roman, it took a while for it to become properly English, but that's not a surprise.

As the city is really close to the border with Wales, a lot of the history has Welsh influence, though I don't understand all of it. And I can't pronounce the names to save my life.

Most of the city walls still exist, and are Grade 1 listed. (Meaning they are protected by legislation, and not up for sale or redevelopment or anything making changes.) You can walk along the top of parts of the wall, which is pretty neat.

Chester was granted official town status in 1541, and now has an official population of almost 80,000 people. Because of the walls, much of the city center has remained as it was back in the day. There is an area called Chester Rows, which is a series of streets with buildings that look just as they did centuries ago. 

I believe these buildings are also protected, so any renovations keep the look just as it was several centuries ago. We didn't go in any of the shops, as shopping is not something I typically enjoy, nor something I typically do while traveling.

The cathedral in the city (having a cathedral is what makes Chester officially a city, as opposed to a town; it isn't size/population that makes the designation,) was founded all the way back in 689. It is huge, with soaring vaulted ceilings, stained glass, gorgeous carved wood, etc...

I had never heard of Chester until September of this year. That was when my friend Claire boat a longboat, which is something she has wanted to do for a long time. As she says, people find you much more interesting when they find out you own a boat. I have to admit, I was much more keen to visit when I found out about her boat. 

I booked my flights to and from the nearby airport in Manchester, then took trains to and from Chester. Side note for anyone who cares: the Manchester airport is neither aesthetically appealing nor particularly easy for visitors to navigate. 

Going both ways one of my trains was delayed, but Claire told me that delays and cancellations are really common in England's privately owned train system. (Such a huge change from the system in Russia, which is amazing.)

I was in the area for 3.5 days. The day I arrived Claire and her partner Karl picked me up at the train station. We walked back to where they'd moored the boat, so I could drop my stuff. I had just a snackbag and backpack, but I'd been carrying them for a while and was ready to let go. 

We also ate lunch, which was nice. Buying the cheap ticket often means ridiculous layovers, and budget airlines, which also means no real food for long periods of time.

After eating we walked around Chester for a while. We walked along the city walls for a bit, which was fun. There are hills in the area, but nothing crazy, so the view from the tops of the walls isn't anything memorable. Claire laughed when I said everything was very cute, and very stereotypical, but to me it looked as English towns always do in movies and TV shows. 

We also visited the cathedral, because such things always catch my eye. It was well worth a visit, as it is beautiful. The ceilings in each area were well done, and still in good shape. There were giant stained glass windows all over, and I imagine the interior feels amazing on a sunny day.

The front areas had wooden pews/seats for the chorus, (at least I think that is who sits there? I could be totally wrong,) with some intricate wood carving. The end of each pew has a different wood carving. 

The carving of note was done back in the 15^th or 16^th century. It is an elephant, and was carved by someone who had never seen an elephant in real life. When you first see it you giggle to yourself, because it isn't quite accurate, but then you think about how hard it is to describe an elephant so that someone else could picture it properly.

Since this is England, the sun goes down around 1600. By the time we exited the church it was getting dark outside. We started to head home, with a stop at the grocery store. 

Even though I'd picked up snacks in the grocery store, I still wanted more 'real' food for dinner.

Or, as Claire called it, tea. I'm still confused as to what the names of English meals are. I think dinner comes at what I would call lunchtime, then there is tea, and late night food is supper? Anywho, we opted to have a chippy tea, which means we went to a takeaways place to get fish and chips and sausage for what I would call dinner. We only got two portions of chips (what Americans call French fries,) but that still more than enough for the three of us adults.

The next morning we started moving not long after it was officially daylight. Part of the reason Claire wanted a boat was to be able to cruise on canals. England has a great system of canals, and cruising was something I really wanted to do during my visit.

The weather started out gray, but with no wind, so I thought everything was beautiful. The clouds slowly gave way to a mostly blue skies, I was in heaven the entire time. There were lovely reflections of the skies and boats in the water as we cruised along. 

We ended up cruising for a bit over four hours before turning around and coming part of the way back toward Chester. I got to drive for a while, which was fun too. 

We moored in the middle of nowhere, then Claire cooked tea. I think it was quite traditional, as we had bacon, eggs, beans, and blood pudding. It was a first time to have blood pudding for me; I don't dislike it but I don't love it. Claire is a good cook, I've always enjoyed what she makes. 

As we'd moored in the middle of nowhere we had an unobstructed view of the lovely sunset. If I had a boat I'd hope for that kind of experience every day.

The next day we had a bit of an unintended adventure, as a band in the engine broke not too long after we started cruising back toward Chester. It took some time, but Karl was able to sort everything out, and used the spare belt to get us going again. I'm glad he figured out what to do, as I would've called the rescue service to have them take care of us.

Not long after tying off in Chester Claire and I got off the boat and walked back to the train station. Another reason I'd wanted to come visit Claire was the chance to meet her mom. Since Claire and I had traveled together over the past couple years, I knew Jenny had seen a bunch of my photos. I'd heard stories about her and wanted to put a face to the name.

The three of us met up at the train station, then walked through the city center, back to the cathedral. 

I hadn't seen it during our visit on my first day, but there is a cafe in the refectory area of the cathedral. The refectory ceiling is just as high as the rest of the cathedral, and it has stained glass windows as well. We had tea (the drink, not the meal,) and chatted for a while. It was a nice way to get to know Jenny.

On the way to getting Jenny back to the train station we stopped at the grocery store again. I picked up more snacks, including ingredients for tea (the meal, not the drink,) that night. I'd go to a grocery store every day if I could.

That was my last night in Chester. While we were relaxing in the evening I sorted out checking in online for my flights, which wasn't the easiest, as I'd made the bookings through a travel company.

The next morning I packed everything up, and the three of us went to breakfast. Going out to breakfast is a modern thing, and probably comes from American influence. The cafe we visited was called Hanky Panky Pancakes, so it definitely comes from American influences. What Americans would call a pancake is what the English would call a Scotch pancake.

After eating we went by a bakery so I could pick up snacks for my flights back to Moscow. I had tickets for budget airlines for both flights, and I didn't want to go hungry. Plus it was a chance to have food from an English bakery, which is completely different from what you'd get from an American bakery. I ended up loving my curry rolls, and pasties.

I opted to take an earlier train than I'd originally planned to get back to the airport, and that ended up being a good thing. It was 20 minutes late, but starting out ealier meant I still had plenty of time for transferring to my second train, which was on time.

Getting through security at the airport took quite a while, as they were opening up a lot of bags. The lady in front of me had to wait for a special check because the holiday gnome she'd bought had been flagged by the machine. I was glad I'd gotten there three hours before departure.

I'm definitely going back to see Claire and her boat again :)

london

The day I traveled to London was stressful, to say the least…one of the most stressful travel days I’ve had in a long time…I was flying air asia, and they’ve recently set up online check in, as well as check in kiosks at the LCC terminal in Kuala lumpur…howeva, when you check in online, they send you one of those barcodey looking squares…you can have it sent to your phone, or to your email, which I guess you’re then supposed to print…not very helpful if you don’t have a phone, or access to a printer…anywho, I was checked in…I got to the airport and discovered that the kiosks would only work to print boarding passes for people already checked in if you had that barcodey thing to put in front of the laser…obviously, I didn’t…what kind of kiosk doesn’t let you search by name, or flight number, or something along those lines? Argh…so I got in line…

The lady at the check in counter wanted proof that I had plans to leave the UK before allowing me to check my bag and get my boarding pass…never mind that I was already officially checked in…this whole system of showing proof of planning to leave is the dumbest thing ever…just because I bought a ticket doesn’t mean I will actually leave, and if you allow people to check in online, there doesn’t have to be proof of anything…so those of us who can’t do it properly online are more likely to overstay a visa in the UK? Argh…anywho, I had a ticket purchased, but I didn’t have it printed out… (isn’t one of the reasons for e-tickets is to save the environment and stop printing out so many sheets of paper?)…she insisted, so I had to go hunting for an internet connection…I had a laptop, and the airport has free wifi, but I needed to print…there was a VIP lounge area, and it had internet…for the obscene price of $8 for half an hour!!! Can you imagine? Not surprisingly, I didn’t have that much money left in my wallet…I’m leaving the country for goodness sake, why would I keep that much money in a currency I won’t need? The guys running the desk of that lounge were quite insistent that that was the price, though by that point I was crying…my thought process was this: seriously, you’re not going to let me print, and even though I’m already checked in, I won’t be able to leave the country because I can’t pay $8 to print one sheet of paper? Really? You can’t make any exceptions? Aaaaaaaargh… I had some money, just not that much…I was really lucky that some gentlemen who had paid the fee took pity on me and let me print my one sheet of paper…

Then I went back to the check in lady who looked at my ticket to leave the UK as if it were in another language completely…she looked at it, put it down, looked at it again, read her way down the page using her finger, etc…then asked what it said…if you’re working a computer system at an international airport, I presume you can read English, why is it so hard to read my ticket? Argh…finally, she took my baggage and gave me my boarding pass…the flight left over an hour late, but was smooth and easy…

Because of the late arrival of the flight into London’s stansted airport, I was able to catch a bus into the city, but I was too late to take the tube…so I had to catch a cab…it’s London, so that wasn’t cheap…at all…my friend brie had said I could stay at her place, even though she was out of town, traveling for work at the time…so her flattie lynsey greeted me, after explain to the cabbie exactly where to go…at that point I was thrilled to finally be in London, but not thrilled with how my day had been…expensive and stressful…argh…sometimes I hate traveling…

I ended up staying up most of the night due to jet lag, my body clock was completely screwed up…this same thing had happened the last time I flew this particular flight, so I wasn’t keen on the next day…only two or three hours of sleep wasn’t my idea of fun, especially since I hadn’t had tons of sleep lately anywho…

I got up the next day, wasted more time online, then finally walked out of the flat…the last time I flew to London from asia, I didn’t see much of the city…by that point in that trip, I was completely traveled out, and didn’t care if I saw nothing…this time I wanted to see something, even if it wasn’t much…especially as I’d bought a London guidebook…I found my way to the tube, and made my way to the area the book calls “the city”…

My first stop was st paul’s cathedral…it’s huge, an Anglican church…not only is the church huge, so is the entrance fee…argh…but I wanted to see it, so I paid…almost as soon as I walked in, I knew I’d never want to get married in that type of church…(not that I’d be eligible to do so…while members of the public can get married in Westminster abbey – provided you can afford it and follow their rules – you must have an OBE or be closely related to someone who does in order to get married at st paul’s…at least, that’s what I was told)…it’s beautiful, but it’s also really complicated…there is all sorts of stuff going on…amazing decoration, really intricate…you could spend a day walking around, and not see all the decoration…part of that is because it’s a cathedral, and huge…your eyes can’t see the tiny details that far away…which is a shame…you’re not allowed to take photos inside…I have mixed feelings about that, but I followed the rule…it was crazy crowded with tourists, I haven’t felt that crushed in a long while…there were free audio guides, I listened to every track…in addition to the religious stuff, there were also tombs and memorials galore…since churches used to be a much bigger part of daily life, both life and death took place in the building…

One of the niftier aspects of the church is the whispering gallery…up top, it’s said that you can speak in a whisper to someone on the other side of the gallery, and they’ll hear you…as I was by myself, I didn’t have the option of trying this out…the view down was fun…there are plenty of stairs to get to that gallery…then, there are way more stairs to get up to the cupola (I can’t think of the right word, someone help me) on top of the church…when you get all the way up, you go outside, and you can see all across London, all the way around…way cool…heaps windy up there, but I liked it anywho…as I look at my London photos, I took a LOT of photos of st paul’s exterior…

From there I followed one of lonely planet’s walking tours, and proceeded to get lost…not all that surprising…but getting lost in London isn’t at all like getting lost in a country where I don’t speak the language or read…I figured out where I was not too much later…I ended up in front of what used to be the royal exchange I think…another imposing building, but I don’t think it was anything inside…I didn’t go inside, so I’m not all that sure…whoops…there is a memorial/tiny little park out front, I watched people for a little while…

From there I kept walking, back to st paul’s…I wanted to attend the daily evensong prayers…the service takes place every day, and anyone can attend…I was curious…it’s basically a church service w/out the singing or the sermon…short and sweet…around 15 minutes later, it was over…

On the way home, I picked up fruit…green grapes, strawberries and raspberries…a couple bananas as well…that was dinner, and I was thrilled with it…

I managed to keep myself awake until almost 2100, which was way better than the last time I’d flown to London from asia…that time, I kept falling asleep in the evening around 1900, which meant I woke up early early early in the morning (around 0400) and couldn’t get back to sleep, and had a really hard time adjusting to the new time…staying away till 2100 meant I slept until 0500 or so, and it felt good…still too early to be waking up, but at least it was a full night of sleep…

The next day I got up and to the tube to the “west end” of the city…the area full of places Americans have been hearing about all their lives, even if they haven’t been paying attention…parliament and big ben…Westminster abbey…Trafalgar square…downing street…Buckingham palace…Piccadilly circus…I saw them all…

I started my day by joining the ridiculously long queue for Westminster abbey…another huge Anglican church…the sight of William and Kate’s royal wedding, in case you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past year…again, the entry fee was ridiculous, but again, I wanted to see the church, so I didn’t have a choice…the public entry fee is different from where Kate entered the church…again, there were audio guides, which was nice…the guide talks you through many of the tombs and memorials of the church, as well as some of the history and architecture of the church…just like st paul’s, I enjoyed walking around and looking, but I wouldn’t want to get married there…way too much going on in there that isn’t religious…when the current queen was crowned there yonks ago (next year is her diamond jubilee) they somehow managed to put in 6000 seats…(by comparison, the recent royal wedding had 1500 attendees I think? - which apparently was “small” - and it looked crowded on tv, you could see that most of the people there couldn’t see much of anything)…I ended up spending around two hours in the church…again, no photos are supposed to be taken inside…I saw a few people surreptitious (sp?) breaking that rule, but I followed it…

I continued my walk around a tiny little park with tents and political posters set up, I’m sure someone could tell me what that is all about…the signs seemed mostly to be about land…Korea claiming dokdo in particular…and I saw an aboriginal flag from aussie…

I kept walking, and saw a crowd gathered by a gate…I looked at my book, but there was nothing labeled at that point on the map…then I saw the street sign…downing street…10 downing street is the residence of the prime minister of great Britain, I suppose people were hoping for a glimpse…I only took a self portrait with the street sign in the background…more as proof that I was in London than anything else…I haven’t paid enough attention to British politics to know what the prime minister looks like now, though I know I should know…

I kept going and got to Trafalgar square…there is a very tall statue of (admiral) lord nelson (I think? Please correct me if I’m wrong)…it’s a wide open area, again great for people watching…I didn’t stay there though, as you can also see a huge gate entrance to st james’ park right there…this was the path followed by the royal couple after the wedding, on their way to Buckingham palace…gjillions of people were there (and even more gjillions watched the whole thing on tv) and there are still union jacks on every pole all down the street…

At the end of the street is a monument, and behind it, Buckingham palace…which, though it’s quite famous, it’s all that to see…it allegedly has 1500 rooms, or something along those lines…what on earth anyone needs all those rooms for is beyond me…I had my photo taken by one of the gates, and I took a photo of the first kiss balcony…architecturally, the outside of the palace isn’t very exciting…

From there I followed the street to the end of st james’ park, there is an area with military memorials for various countries of the commonwealth…Australia, New Zealand, India, etc…then I walked up Piccadilly…there is an area in the street called Piccadilly circus, it’s described as the times square of London…an open-ish area, with heaps of people…buildings on the edge have lots of signs and advertising…a fantastic place to people watch…also a fantastic place to be overwhelmed by the numbers of tourists…I thought I’d been some touristy places over the past few years, but none of them were like London…whoa…

I made my way to covent garden, watched a few of the street performers and bought some shampoo from lush…the shops there didn’t otherwise grab my attention…

A bit more walking, a few turns and I ended up along the river…I decided to cross the river, in order to get the southside view of parliament and big ben…lots of folks were doing the same thing…I walked past the London eye, a huge ferris wheel that was set up in 2000 (I think) and was supposed to be temporary…since London is set to host the Olympics next year, I guess it isn’t so temporary…I like walking along rivers…

That was the end of my sightseeing for the day…on the way home I stopped for more fruit, and takeaways…yum…

The next morning lynsey told me how to get to luton airport…I packed up, hopped on the bus, took the train, took the bus, and flew out of the country…security was a long line, but at least checking in was an easy processJ…where I was going, not only do american’s not need a visa, I didn’t have to provide proof of plans to leave…(which was a good thing, since I didn’t have any of those plans!)

my first visit

the UK..a country which i haven't previously visited, at least not that i remember...my dad says that isn't entirely true..he says i spent a night here when i was 4..clearly, i don't remember..so i don't count that..lol..
getting to london wasn't fast, to say the least..it's pretty much on the exact opposite side of the world from new zealand..i flew from auckland to brisbane, coolangatta to kuala lumpur, and KL to london..i finally arrived at my friend brie's flat around midnight, the "same" day i left KL..a measly 14 hour flight, with an 8 hour time difference..i met brie when she and i taught at the same school in korea, she's canadian..once i landed at stansted, i took a bus into the center of the city (liverpool street station for those who know it) and from there took the tube to brie's flat..not surprisingly, the weather as i arrived was crappy..not pouring rain, but definite precipitation..at least it wasn't windy..and not all that chilly..we stayed up a couple hours, getting caught up on each other's lives as well as the lives of the other people we know..i didn't sleep that night, even though i tried..apparently i slept too much on the plane, and my body hasn't been adjusting to the time difference..so i was awake long before anyone else in the flat, but that was okay..
we tried to go to the grocery store to get scones and cream for breakfast, but it was closed..go figure, the biggest grocery store in central london is closed on sunday mornings!! so that plan changed..instead, we took off for some mystery shopping, and then a walk along the thames..i didn't know that the thames is tidal, but now i do..i even got to see a beach..of course, it wasn't exactly the type of weather that made me want to strip down to a bikini and lay out... as we continued walking along, i saw a face that seemed really familiar..another traveler, a woman i had met in nepal, while trekking through the himalayas..nikki is british, but currently lives in chiang mai, thailand..neither one of us knew the other would be in london, we were both surprised..a quick catch up, a quick photo, and we split..brie and i were walking with one of her friends by that point, a girl in the film world..tansy..tansy talks a lot, she's really entertaining..she has fun stories, and has lived in places like cuba and russia..
brie is an awesome cook..she made phad thai, and i stayed awake all the way till 1900..jet lag was horrendous when i got to london..not only did i not sleep my first night in london, but even with falling asleep at 1900, i only slept until just after midnight, then was up all night again..ugh..
brie went to work the next day, i stayed home..i know i should've gone out and seen a few sights, enjoyed london, but i didn't..i didn't do a darn thing but play on the computer and take quick cat naps..after a year of nonstop traveling, i figured it was okay to take a day off and not see anything at all..
the following day brie and i took a day trip to brighton..it's a seaside town, about an hour outside of london..london has a great train system, and the earlier you book tickets, the cheaper they are..brie booked ahead and we only paid 3 pounds each:)..the beach at brighton is a pebble beach, probably not the best for laying out and enjoying sun..it wasn't sunny the day we were there, so that didn't matter..we enjoyed lunch at a lovely restaurant near the beach, and walked along the beach for a while..there is a nifty boardwalk with a bunch of carnival rides, unfortunately none of them were open, due to the time of year..
brighton used to be a seaside getaway for the royal family..king george built the royal pavilion there, back when he was the prince regent..(his dad went crazy while on the throne, so the prince took on ruling duties while still technically a prince)..the pavilion is "interesting" architecturally.. it's built in what they thought was indian architecture..those who designed and built the pavilion had never been to india..the inside is where the prince entertained..a huge dining room, an even bigger kitchen, a music room, several rooms for lounging around..the interior decor is totally over the top, totally flash..chinese in theme in one room, gold gilt in another, etc..it's stunning..there is a free audio tour and while listening it was easy to imagine the life they led back then..since brighton is british, it's easy to find tea shops serving tea and cream and scones and all sorts of yummy stuff..YUM!!
that night i took a late evening bus back to stansted..