Another Norfolk wedding & a visit to The Broads

As it seems my every waking moment is consumed again by assignment reading and writing, I know that by the time this is published it will be hugely outdated but a) at least I won't be doing anything exciting in the meantime to over-shadow and b) it was a weekend just too good not to write about!

Far too many of my friends are being totally grown up and marrying people which is terrifying but of course also incredibly exciting and I do love a good wedding. This one took us to Norfolk again (there's clearly something in the air there) and to the undiscovered (by me at least) village of Little Ellingham which if I do say so sounds like something out of a quintessentially English film or TV show but it's actually very real.

Slightly disorganised as always, we sadly booked too late to check-in to the apartments we liked in the city so we ended up in a B&B outside of Norwich on the River Yare in an area called Postwick (or 'Possick' because of course it is Norfolk after all and nothing is pronounced as it looks). Advertised as being set on 400 acres of land we thought it would be a nice base for the weekend and a definite break from London city life.

Friday night came and we were on our way. Out of London in record time thanks to Mr Knowledge, we were soon flying along the motorway (pretty much literally) with a beautiful sunset alongside us after a wonderfully sunny day and tunes blaring.

Google Maps triumphed again as we jiggled our way along a long, dark and dusty track littered with pot holes and shrouded in hanging mist, feeling grateful that we were sitting in a 4x4. The single lamppost at the end of said track set the scene for somewhere with potential to be a bit creepy but actually it was super cosy and with the friendliest welcome (even though we were apparently a day early. Whoops).

After a very comfortable night's sleep I was of course straight to the curtains to discover what actually lay outside having not seen much of anything in pitch black the night before. Endless green bathed in sunshine drew me straight up and out. Following a hearty breakfast accompanied by the sound of excitable cows we decided to go for a walk around the farm in pursuit of fresh air and nature before coming back to get ready for the afternoon's frivolities. Blowing out the cobwebs and all of that.

The wedding itself was a very pretty affair with some truly villagey touches. White, blue and yellow was the colour palette and there were flower petals to be thrown as confetti. Throughout the service, smiles and laughs were seriously abundant and we then trundled along in a vintage bus (definitely my highlight) to the reception in a neighbouring village pub. A truly lovely day and, in true English style I must also comment on how lovely the weather was for the occasion!

Can you tell I liked the bus?

The next day, getting up was no struggle when a) we knew what awaited us outside and b) the smells and sounds of breakfast began to waft our way. Each time we visit Norwich we like to make the most of being in that part of the world so we often take a detour. Being on the river had inspired us, we were off to The Broads.

I don't think I'd been to The Broads in at least 10 years but I'm pleased to report that (of course, it's Norfolk) nothing has changed. After a quick bit of research in the morning about where was best to go if only for a day, we first headed to Woodbastwick.

A twenty minute drive from where we were staying, we wended our way through woodland until thatched rooves began to peep through the trees then we knew we were in the right place. A flint church and a selection of quaint cottages made for pretty viewing before we moved on to our next port of call, Ranworth.

Woodbastwick had been a little too far in-land for us to find any water but Ranworth was right on the egde of one of the basins so we were immediately greeted by a whole host of boats. We took a walk through the nature reserve to Ranworth Broad where we stopped for a while to marvel at the plethora of bird life and surreality of the setting.

Ranworth also had a church and this one with a tower you could climb so obviously we did! It was rather precarious but we made it up and down unscathed and the view was pretty spectacular so definitely worth it. There was even a pleasant breeze which was very welcome on what was turning out to be a bit of a scorcher.

Our final stop was Wroxham and Roy was prevalent the moment we turned onto the main road that would lead us to the village centre; Roy's Jet, Roy's McDonald's and then of course Roy's of Wroxham itself and my personal favourite, Roy's Toys.

Here we sat along the riverside to enjoy cool drinks in the sunshine whilst watching boats gently gliding by. It was a truly beautiful end to a truly beautiful weekend. I think maybe there might be a boating holiday on the horizon one day, we'll see.

It's beginning to feel a lot like summer

This weekend marked the first time I've ever had an overnight stay in Cambridge! As a teen I made regular visits for shopping and am still often drawn for Christmas shopping as the centre always looks so twinkly and pretty during the festive season! With so many green spaces and the river, I do also love Cambridge in the summertime as I hark back to days spent picnicking and punting.

Having usually had to make a dash for the last train (or at least one later than the hoards of commuters), I've seen very little of Cambridge in the evenings beyond gigs at Cambridge Junction. I must confess I was therefore a little worried we'd get bored with two full days and an evening to fill, but I'm glad to say I was wrong.

On Friday evening we managed to jump on an earlier train than planned. Usually running late or arriving literally at the last second, I think we'd both decided to be a little more organised and found ourselves being a lot more organised. We don't do things by halves... There just in time for said earlier train, we did unfortunately miss out on a seat. However, when the train split at Royston (seriously, since when was this a thing?), we managed to find somewhere to sit down and tuck into leftovers from Wednesday night's feast at the Big Easy Lobstershack in Covent Garden. Lobster Mac 'n' Cheese and brisket that even when cold melted in the mouth; yum!

The length of the Cambridge journey always takes me by surprise and before we knew it, we'd arrived! We then had the shortest walk to our hotel where we dropped our bags before venturing out to locate a supermarket for nibbles and drinks to tide us over for our stay.

Our venture was quick but took us back over the train tracks which is a bit novel for me who usually treads the same route to, between and back from the shops to the station and home. It's always interesting to see a slightly different part of a place that seems so familiar!

Following a quiet night in at the hotel, we were up bright and early to make the most of the day of sunshine!

Now our hotel was fine, providing the basic comforts, but it was certainly no more than basic. Thus, breakfast was more than entertaining... in true tea-snob style I requested an Earl Grey (after all, a 'selection' of teas and coffees with breakfast had been promised) but was told they had none. 1☆ rating from me. Next, the gentleman next to us asked for Marmite with his toast but instead was presented with syrup as that was the only alternative to jam they had. 1☆ rating from him. A moment later another lady wondered whether they have gluten free bread but of course they do not. 1☆ rating from her. Then last but not least, a couple order Full English without various bits and bobs (per their request). When it comes out, to the lady's horror it is lacking in mushrooms, which she did not request to be omitted from her plate. Upon asking where they are she is told that they... have none. -1☆ rating from her.

Tummies tickled, we were off! Decided it was a good idea to go punting first thing to a) avoid the heat of the day and b) to make the most of our empty hands before they were potentially filled with shopping bags.

My rule, if the touter's wearing a 'proper' punting hat, they have my custom. So we booked a ride with a totally authentic looking punter that was leaving in a matter of minutes; perfect timing!

It is my personal opinion that boat tours give the best perspective! It's so relaxing to bob along water in the sunshine whilst zoning in and out to someone telling you amusing anecdotes. If that said someone telling you anecdotes happens to be topless, tanned & tattooed then it's probably a blessing if you're facing away to allow full focus. Anyway, swiftly moving on, punting was, as always, lots of fun! I could quite happily spend an eternity on a boat.

Half 11 and it was obviously time for our first pub stop. We sat on the riverfront with tequila and ginger beer, observing the art of punting; dog passengers, falls into the river and even the 'professionals' losing their sticks (?) to the reeds below. Tummies rumbled and we knew it was time for lunch.

When in Cambridge, have a picnic! Still home to a large M&S foodhall, we went in and gathered tasty treats to eat on Jesus Green. Like everyone else, we searched for a tree providing mottled shade. Finally finding one (they were in high demand), we settled down to enjoy our food and a rest; heat is hard work!

I think we could have stayed there, drifting in and out of consciousness forever, but we knew we fancied a bit of shopping and we weren't in London where everywhere would be open until 10pm, so we tore ourselves away from our comfy spot!

In Cambridge, it's hard to simply shop. Beautiful buildings forming the centre make for huge distraction, so I may have stopped for a million photos as we ambled along. The other distraction came in the form of a more than comprehensive list of pubs to visit as we had a whole weekend, so of course we had to pop in and out of those as we found them.

Despite distraction, I do love the easy-to-choose nature of smaller shops. London (and Oxford Street in particular) almost offers too much and you never know where to begin! However, it has to be said, that a Cambridge shop is a successful shop! So we returned to the hotel laden with bags and very ready for another nap!

Incredibly fortunately, a friend of mine was staying in Cambridge over the same weekend and as she had gone to university in the city (jealous? Me?), she knew all the best pubs for good food, beers, board games and atmosphere! So on Saturday evening, we ventured to one close by our hotel. Just like the Fat Cat (Norwich reference), it provided a real good old man feel, excellent pork scratchings and a lovely outdoor area for sitting in the summer.

The following morning, check-out was at 11 o'clock, so we decided to have a lie-in to balance out our early start the previous morning! Disappointed by breakfast the day before, we hoped to find somewhere alternative on our way into the city for a final wander and shop.

Feeling a little under-dressed in my flip-flops and sleeveless top for the rain that had decided to make an appearance, I was pleased when we soon found a popular little French café serving a whole host of tasty breakfast treats! Stomachs more than satisfied by Eggs Benedict and a Bratwurst Baguette washed down with proper tea, we were ready for the day!

Laden with just a few more bags than we'd arrived with, we headed back to the station at a relaxed pace to get whatever train we co-ordinated with. Unfortunately, the train going through to Kings Cross was weaving all round the houses, but it turned out that was of no consequence as I spent pretty much the entire journey asleep!

I know I've been living in London for almost two years now, but I still don't often get a proper sense of it as home. However, this time when returning from Cambridge I was really looking forward to being home! It was a brief stop though, just time for a cup of tea and to say hello to the cats before we then headed straight back out to Barbican for a very wonderful concert featuring one of my own little ones; SO proud (and super jealous as his performance was conducted by none other than Sir Simon Rattle)!

A hugely summery weekend! Only one full week left before we break up for the holiday (I'm not counting the three extra days plonked on the end) and I can already tell that despite having next to no plans, it's going to be a good one!

Amsterdam

Now I haven't fully committed to writing this post so I'm not entirely sure how it's going to go... whenever I go away I always go bearing my notebook and usually put a little time aside each day to write. Apparently Amsterdam doesn't lend itself particularly well to such behaviour, and instead this time was spent napping. As a result, I have only a list of events to go by and as two weeks have now passed (although I can hardly believe it; madness!) my memory is one hundred percent hazy. Let's see what I can do!

So I've been wanting to visit Amsterdam for some time. Every time I see photos I'm always intrigued, and actually I even remember way back when to a friend visiting in primary school and bringing clogs home and how desperately I wanted my own pair (perhaps something I should have kept to myself?)... Anyway, the overall view is that I'm very glad I've been, but I won't be rushing back. 'Been there, done that, bought 'traditional' souvenirs from the Christmas Shop'!?

We flew from Southend Airport and it was blissful! Such a simple process, so quiet, so calm, so unlike an airport. We were so relaxed we sat down to have breakfast... only to be called for an early boarding!? Totally unheard of, surely? The flight was the shortest flight I have ever experienced. Literally, no sooner had the seatbelt signs switched off and the tea trolley had made its way to the front two rows of passengers, it was back on again and we were making our descent. Absolutely blew my mind.

From the easiest airport experience to the quickest flight, we then arrived at Central Station, Amsterdam. Purchased a 3-day travel card (with attached map; London needs those!!) and made our way to the trams to reach our hotel. We somehow managed to figure the map out pretty easily to decipher where we were getting off. Our only concern was how we'd then find the exact location... until we a-spied our hotel from the tram!? We were there a good two hours before check-in but we hoped that they'd at least let us drop our bags. But they did more than that! Our room was ready! Too much good fortune?

Once we'd freshened up and settled in, it was time to find breakfast (which having been rushed on to the plane we had not yet had)! We were a short walk from a street lined with takeaway places which we'd identified as having potential for hangover curing but we figured there must be somewhere a little more civilised in the meantime. Having wandered around in the most ENORMOUS circle, we found ourselves in Burger King, back on afore mentioned street. Well, at least we knew what we were getting?

After what should really be called brunch by this point, we set off for another wander, this time with a better sense of direction (and a map). The hotel conceirge had circled various points of interest for us and with only three days, we decided we needed to cover as much ground as possible!

First impressions, good!

One place we'd been told to see was the flower market and with Amsterdam's tulip reputation, we felt it was probably something we should see. Turned out that just like everything else, it was right at the end of the road, a five minute walk from our hotel! It wasn't at all what I was expecting as obviously I associate 'flower market' with the likes of Columbia Road. Much more like a glorified garden centre, it was nevertheless pretty impressive with bulbs in clogs as far as the eye could see! Around we wandered until something that struck us with a sense of both amazement and disgust caught our attention. Something I have only ever encountered in tales of other people's travels, there it was. A Christmas shop. In May. Well of course we had to go in...

Out we skipped, me still singing carols (it's amazing what a bit of Christmas can do for your mood, no matter what the time of year) and on we ventured to our next destination.

Turns out canals make navigation incredibly difficult. As someone who prides themselves on a good (nay, excellent!) sense of direction, I could not get my bearings! Anyway, before we knew it we'd stumbled into a rather sleepy Redlight District where we tried to ascertain where life would be when the sun went down and counted Bulldog Cafés.

As we came back on ourselves to the Flower Market, we decided it was time to hop on a tram and go further afield. So we headed for the museum area (or 'Museumplein'). One thing we wanted to tick off was a photo with the 'I amsterdam' sign but we had the feeling it was a little way out of the city and would require a minor mission to find it. So when we stumbled upon it we were pleasantly surprised (although not so by the expected hoards of people photobombing)! Suddenly a sign advertising a sculpture trail caught my eye and in a bid to move away from the crowds, we followed it!...

Claiming that the walk was 10 minutes, at 20 we began to worry we'd missed it. However our feet led us on, so we followed. If nothing else, it was really interesting to see a very different side to Amsterdam. Away from the terraced towers lining the canals, the suburbs were rather Americanised with unusual but relatively uniform architecture; big cars, big doors, big houses! I will say too that Amsterdam (in the centre as well) is incredibly green!

I liked the windows...

We wandered around at least half of the sculptures (there were 70 in total) before heading again towards a tram to take us back to civilisation.

I rather began to enjoy the habit of napping each evening. Still trying to find some way of incorporating it into my working life... a nap and a hot hot shower after a day of endless walking put us in good stead for the evening's entertainment and another tick on the list, the Ice Bar.

I think we all worried the Ice Bar had the potential to be a let down, but we were definitely pleasantly surprised! The warmer bar beforehand was very cosy indeed and offered tasty free cocktails (well, included in our ticket). I think they probably kept it so warm that the ice would then not be such a shock to the system! As we sat there we were surrounded by people who obviously knew exactly what to expect, dressed in hats, big coats and gloves; the anticipation was real. A bell rang, a short film was shown to get us into the spirit of it all and then it was our turn. Adorned in enormous coats, we made our way into a tiny icy room where we drank from glasses made of ice, got accosted by a lairy Northern 'lass', witnessed men stripping (not included in the ticket) and where the hen took a shot from a ram's horn. Normal.

Having succumbed to a nap before our Ice Bar experience, when we got out we needed something to eat! Having had a few beverages by this point it was totally acceptable to grace the street of junk food with our presence. We found pizza. Tasty pizza, too. And for only £5 (for a whole one)!

Pizza consumed, we headed back to the hotel to change into something a little less comfortable before losing ourselves in what was possibly a gay bar where we were searched for 'lady weapons' by a man who then led us to lots of free drinks and a pretty great selection of music!

Day 2 brought with it beautiful sunshine! Before it disappeared again we decided to book tickets for a canal tour and a visit to the House of Bols in the afternoon and then Redlight tickets for the evening. Our canal tour wasn't until after lunch and we'd actually managed to get up and out pretty early considering the night before, so after a hearty breakfast of Wagamamas, we did some more wandering to pass the time.

The canal tour was the most relaxing event of our few days. I would quite happily return to Amsterdam if I could spend the entire time on the canals. On a small boat we were taking through tiny connecting tunnels past enormous homes with enormous windows, canal 'crossroads' and a multi-storey bikepark containing I think the 'captain' said ten thousand bikes!?

After our tour of the canals, we headed again to the Museum area. This time we actually ventured into a museum; the House of Bols. Possibly the most entertaining museum I've ever visited (I'm not usually a fan of museums unless they have specific exhibitions on), we got to sniff, taste and drink various ingredients then the cocktails themselves (which were yum by the way! I had a Golden Aztek which was chocolately and mm and then had a shot of Amore Parfait (or something along those lines) which tasted like a mix between roses and violet). Also had a go at bartending... I won't give up the day job.

Wanting to make the most of the sunshine, we walked back to our hotel from the station, armed with fries smothered in 'sautèsaus' from Mannequin Pis; SO yum!

This is where I stopped writing things down so excuse me if two weeks later my memory fails me...

Fuelled by what claimed to be the best fries in Amsterdam (to be fair they were pretty darn good and just what we needed at the time!) and refreshed by another nap, we were ready to venture into the Redlight District. I don't really think it's possible to describe the surreality that ensued. All I can say is that it just did not feel real. Like Barbies in lit-up boxes. Or wandering through a film set or a human zoo. It was odd. And our visit to the Museum of Prostitution did not make us feel better about it all. Anyway, I'm glad to have been. It was certainly an experience!

Our final day was fortunately a full day but we were still sad to be heading home (especially me, as at this point my shower at home was still out of action after more than 6 weeks and the hotel shower was hot)!

After some souvenir shopping, armed with the map we set off to find what appeared to be the only windmill in Amsterdam; when in Holland... it was on the very edge of said map and we had horrible premonitions that it would be tiny and a disappointment, but when we arrived we were completely overwhelmed despite the fact that it was residential and we couldn't go inside. When one is used to itsy bitsy windmills in Norfolk, this one was pretty impressive!

Via the longest stretch of market I have ever seen, we headed for a tram to take us back to civilisation. Once at the Central Station we decided that sitting in the sunshine in the museum area would be a nice way to spend the remainder of our day. Got a bit confused by trams this time (blame the two-day hangover) and ended up in the wrong direction but it was pretty interesting to see yet another part of the city that we wouldn't have otherwise seen!

The rest of our time was wiled away in glorious sunshine with ice cream, crisps and wedding talk.

Sad to leave but by this time also looking forward to bed, the 'weekend' (that was actually Mon-Weds but felt like a weekend) came to an end. So glad to have finally been to Amsterdam after wanting to visit for so long! We had so much fun and it is such a beautiful place!

Hens in a clog. As you do!

Now, onto the wedding. So. Much. Excitement!