norwich

How to go
<train>It takes about two hours from Liverpool Street station.
<bus>It takes about two hours and forty-five minutes from Victoria Coach station.
<In my case>I used the train to go to Norwich, but I used the bus on my return trip to London because there was a rail strike!

For about 1 year, my friend had stayed in Norwich, which is a 2 1/2 hours ride from the Liverpool Street station in London. As she told me that she was going to see her host family after a long absence, I audaciously asked her to take me with her and stayed at their house for 1 night.
That day, we heard the news that Inter City would go on strike at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, so we boarded the 10:30 train for Norwich. This was the second time that I experienced a train strike, although I stayed in England only for a short time. Therefore, I think British trains often go on strike.
Johnathan and Philip who are twin brothers welcomed us. Unfortunately, their parents went on a journey to Italy because they had already planed it. But their mother cooked a dish for my friend before she went away.

I've shaded out their faces, as they may not wish to appear in my homepage.. Do you think there is no meaning putting this picture here because we can't recognize them?

		left 1 : the dish which their mother cooked for my friend. We can read the name of "Akiko" on the lid ; left 2 : There is a beautiful conservatory in their house ; right 2 : They had a large garden and kept some geese ; right 1 : A Dish Washing machine which I saw for the first time. How rough English people are ; they seem to throw all their dish into the machine!

My friend's host family were very friendly, so that day other guests, who were their friends, a professor, stayed there with his wife and their newborn baby. Only about 1 year passed since their wedding. The wife who married and had a baby after she became 40 years old advised my friend against marrying in haste! We may have followed her advice too much, as my friend and I are still single. When will the ideal husband come, Akiko? Sorry, Akiko, it may be only me who feels this! The professor taught us the meaning of "It will do". We liked the sentence very much ; it sounds fun and amusing.

The left in the upper line : the church of Sir Peter Mancroft
Other pictures are of Norwich Cathedral.

In the town of Norwich, we went to the water bridge, and the shopping mall, the latter of which Johnathan had talked about with pride, and finally visited Norwich Cathedral.
I remember a hot dog which I bought in the town was very tasty.

The next day, I went back to London earlier than Akiko, because I wanted to see a film. I knew that Inter city would be on strike, so I decided to use a bus. However, all the buses at an appropriate time were already full when I arrived at Norwich because everybody knew about the train strike. Therefore, I made a reservation of an early-morning bus and planed to sleep in the bus. I don't know why, but the woman sitting next to me liked me. She asked me to have some sandwiches　which she'd made and proceeded to tell me the story of her life!! Therefore, I couldn't sleep. However, she was very interesting ; actually she was interested in history. She taught me that Norwich was the second most important city in medieval time.

The extra story....

2 days before that, we visited Mathew who is a elder brother of Johnathan and Philip, in other words, the eldest son of my friend's host family. He worked for an office near St. James Square in London. After he finished his work, we went to a pub with his 4 co-workers. He treated us to a gin and tonic. After that, we went to his apartment. The atomosphere of the apartment was very cheerful because his roommates and their many guest gathered there. Mathew cooked us some garlic-tasting stew which included chiken, green peppers, red peppers and so on.This dish resembled the dish which his mother cooked for Akiko. English people seem to like their mother's dish, just as Japanese do!
There was another stew which included potatos, kidney beans and some meat. Also there was salty rice, a salad, and puddings with some fruit on the table ; the combination was excellent. We had a small party that night!

I had a glass of white wine before dinner. I ate some bread sticks with pate
shown in the left front of the photo. They were really tasty!

*If you want to see more scenery of Norwich, click here. In the page, you can see scenery duriing the longest day of the year, June 21st in 2002.