Shopping & Mini-Break Weekend

I had Monday (yesterday) off from work due to my workplace being closed (something I had missed and didn't discover until last Tuesday - didn't get too upset naturally) so my friend Malin and I took the opportunity to make a little trip we had talked about for a while. We went to a place I had previously vowed never to visit, ever, but Malin gradually won me over to her side, brainwashing me into thinking "yeah, maybe it could be quite fun actually... maybe they have some good deals on x or y...".

What am I talking about? My Swedish readers will immediately understand when I say it and be either utterly shocked or say "actually, I've been there too; I used to be a sceptic too but...". It is...

Gekås, Ullared

There, I said it. I'm still a bit embarassed that I can now add Ullared to my list of life experiences but... ;)

For the non-Swedes, this is a low-cost department store à la Walmart or similar (English link), also called big box market (but Walmart is normal compared to this place...).

So how was it? It was alright actually - you can find lots of useful things there, especially perishables such as schampoo and dishwasher tablets, as well as household utensils and children's clothes - but I thought it was going to be even bigger than it was and that it was going to have more brand names goods, especially clothes. So in that respect I was a little disappointed. There were some outlet shops in the vicinity too but these weren't that great. What Gekås did have was a lot of cool and/or pretty lamps and you could also buy cheap Wiis and blueray players, etc. I think my recommendation is to know what you're looking for, maybe research a little beforehand and see when they have deals on what. When you're just randomly shopping like I was you don't make any big finds so-to-speak. Another recommendation is to go on a Monday in off-season like we did - much fewer customers than on a normal trading day (I assume).

The best part about the trip was doing it with a best friend - talking for hours in the car and in the cute cottage we rented. We don't spend time together that often so it was nice quality time! The B&B we stayed at was really nice - Malin has blogged about it here, here, here and here. On the Sunday night, the night we stayed there, we were the only ones in the whole B&B; maybe that's why we were very popular with the cute and super social house cat.

All-in-all, a super weekend!

Interlude

While I finish the post about Lake District I thought I'd show you some nature (or animals to be precise, or birds to be even more specific) shots. Peter took most of them so I can't take all (or even most) credit.

UK Roadtrip: Edinburgh

Today's destination is Edinburgh! Edinburgh reminds me of London, at least some of the Georgian architecture in the city centre. Otherwise, even though I think it is beautifully located between two volcanic hills Arthur's Seat in the south and Calton Hill in the north, and has some grand views as well as buildings, what struck me was that the buildings are so dirty. I assume they are dirty but maybe they are made of some black stone?? I just walked around thinking "why are they not cleaning these buildings?!". That said, I can imagine that Edinburgh is a nice city to live in. It's a big city (seventh largest in the UK) and has all you may need in terms of shops, museums, bars and restaurants, etc. in addition to a good university (where a friend of mine is starting her PhD next month!).

We arrived in the afternoon, checked in at our hotel (just Novotel, nothing special) and then toured the city by foot for a few hours. In the evening we had Indian food for dinner - better take the opportunity when in the UK (and in a big city) (Indian food in Sweden is okay but could be improved).

View from Castle Hill where Edinburgh Castle sits high over the city

Edinburgh Castle, which we only saw from the outside, since it was only one hour before closing time and we had seen several castles so far on our trip, as mentioned in my previous post. Edinburgh Castle dates back to the 12th century. During that time it was a stronghold, Royal Palace, military complex and prison.

Old cathedral which is no longer a church but a café and restaurant and home of the Edinburgh International Festival, the "Hub". It is located on the Royal Mile, which is a stretch of four old streets between Castle Hill and Canongate that were the avenues of the Middle Ages connecting the Castle with Holyrood Palace. Some medieval buildings - sadly no longer standing as far as I know - were 20 storeys high.


Inside St Giles Cathedral, or High Kirk of Edinburgh. It was from here the Scottish reformation's preacher John Knox preached protestantism. The picture shows Thistle Chapel with decorated wooden vault ceiling and carved baldachins with heraldic motifs. The chapel was erected by the Order of the Thistle


Edinburgh's oldest house, John Know House, dating back to 1450, now a museum dedicated to Knox


Arthur's Seat


Walter Scott Monument on Princess Street; Walter Scott was a Scottish writer and poet. Princess Street is the city's liveliest street and shopping district


View towards Castle Hill


For a political scientist a visit to the Scottish Parliament is a must of course. The Scottish Parliament Building opened in 1999 giving the Scots their first own parliament since 1707.


The entrance to the Parliament


The Parliament is located on the outskirts of the city centre (but still very central) next to hilly landscape and the Queen's (when she visits) palace Holyrood (no photo to show you though).


The debating chamber

Not sure what these plaques were for but I included this photo to show the architecture. I like the mix of cement and wood.

I had some links in this post but something happened to them that I don't seem to be able so fix so you'll just need to google the names and places yourselves, I'm afraid! Next (and last) episode: the Lake District

UK Roadtrip: Durham and Northumberland Coast

The story continues... The day after the wedding (Sunday), we were all invited to a buffet at Jill's parents' house (didn't take any photos). After that, around 3pm, Peter and I, accompanied by Karl (Céline and Diego arrived later to meet up with Karl by which time we were already on the road for our next stop), headed to Durham. Durham is probably most known for its cathedral, the castle and university. The city has played an important part in the defence of the north and Durham Castle is the only Norman castle never to have suffered a breach. There are two rivers in the city, Wear and Browney; I think we parked just next to Wear.

The Cathedral, named Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, but commonly called Durham Cathedral, was founded in 1093 and is nowadays a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with Durham Castle. The Cathedral is regarded as one of the finest Romanesque cathedrals in Europe and the church nave is early Gothic architecture.

Kalle and Peter in front of the cathedral


Quite impressive

Durham Castle was originally built in the eleventh century as a symbol of Norman power in the north of England, as the population of England in the north remained rebellious following the Norman Conquest in 1066. It was the Bishop of Durham's palace for a long time until it was given to Durham University as accommodation for the institution' first college, University College, and still to this day belong to the college (and as a result the college is informally known as "Castle"). The castle was made famous for its Great Hall from the 14th century, which was the largest great hall in Britain until it was shortened a hundred years later; however it is still 14 metres high and over 30 metres long.

Unfortunately the Castle was closed on the day of our visit


This is what we could see through the little door

From Durham we continued our journey towards Warkworth in Northumbria. Warkworth is a small town, or village really, situated along River Coquet, about 1.6 km from the coast.

We stayed in another lovely B&B - the room wasn't as romantic as the one in Chester but it was still cosy and the innkeepers Margaret and Chris were genuinely nice and friendly and the breakfast was delicious, especially the homemade (still warm) bread and fresh fruit plate. Tower House B&B is situated just next to (or below) Warkworth's main attraction, the castle.

Our room

In the evening we passed by this lovely bridge over the river Coquet

The next day we had a look at the Castle, just the outdoors though and not the interior (there's a limit to how many castles one can visit; we had already visited the ruins of Rivaulx and wanted to visit a proper, still lived-in, decorated castle instead....see further down).

So instead of visiting the castle we took a walk in the village.

Looks like hard work rowing ten boats (some of which are outside the picture)

Swan with little ones

Warkworth Church, which is really called St Lawrence

The pub where we had dinner the previous night

Can you see the cat guarding the shop window?

We left Warkworth mid-morning for our next stop, Alnmouth, another small village located at the mouth of a river, River Aln. Today, Alnmouth is a popular tourist destination as a port to the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Beauty and the nearby Alnwick Castle (pronounced Anick), still the residence of the Duke of Northumberland and used as a stand-in for both the exterior and interior of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films. We opted not to visit Alnwick Castle though as they (not surprisingly) charge quite a lot in entrance fee (and the roads and car parks are far from the castle so you can't even steal a photo). Alnmouth Village also has the fourth oldest golf course in the country, located beautifully by the sea and next to the beach.

Alnmouth beach

Same beach, different person

After Alnmouth we steered the car towards a castle we did intend to visit, Bamburgh, seat of the former Kings of Northhumbria and presently owned and inhabited by the (industrialist) Armstrong family.

Quite impressive, seated on a hill with the beach on the other side

It's supposedly quite difficult to besiege to say the least

Posing at the castle with the beach below (it looks like I have stolen a small cannon and tried to hide it in my purse, doesn't it?!)

Castle interiors

We finished our visit to Bamburgh with a stop at the famous The Copper Kettle Tea Rooms. The row of cottages where the tea room is located, Grove Cottages, were originally built as accommodation for people working at the Castle. The domed ceilings are still the original ones. In 1956 two sisters bought the buildings that are now the Tearoom and the adjacent Giftshop and spent almost a fortune on renovating them. In the 1970s the sisters sold the business to separate buyers but the tearoom and the giftshop still both exist.



What's next?! Edinburgh!

UK Roadtrip: James & Jill's Wedding

We have come to one of the highlights of the trip, and also the reason why we went to the UK in the first place: my friend James's marriage to Jill on Saturday 24 July.

The weekend started with old friends being reunited for dinner and drinks on Friday evening, except for James who was busy sorting out the last details ahead of the big day, understandably. French Céline, Swedish Karl, me (i.e. Swedish Anna) and English James* met back in 1998-1999 when we all lived in the same place in London, in a long-term stay hostel/student house in Notting Hill**. Spanish Diego, now Céline's husband, also lived there for a while but for a much shorter period than the rest of us; though enough time for him and Céline to hook up! :) We have been pretty good at keeping in touch over the years. In the beginning, until 2002 or so, it was much easier as most of us still lived in the UK, but since then it's maybe been once a year at best, usually for someone's wedding, and we have also met on one-to-one basis so-to-speak. All of us gathered for Céline and Diego's wedding in Barcelona (where they live) back in 2004 or 2005 and again for Karl and Anlaug's wedding in Norwegian Telemark last year and now for James and Jill's (Karl and Anlaug recently had a baby girl so Anlaug had to stay at home this time unfortunately). And hopefully all will make it for ours!

Peter, Kalle, Diego, me and Céline

James and Jill got married in the cute little Danby Wiske church near Northallerton, Yorkshire, dating from the 12th century.



And here comes the bride!

Vows


Signing the registry at the end of the ceremony

Newlyweds!

The little bridesmaids or flower girls and page boy as they are sometimes called

Céline with daughter Maïwenn

Some English churches has a tradition at weddings whereby the local children secure the gates of the church yard by tying them together (though in this case I think the best man arranged it but the little bridesmaids guarded the gate for a while). The gates and more importantly the newly married couple are not released until they have thrown some money (coins) over the gate (or to the children). This is called "parrying up".

Cutting the ribbon after having paid their dues


You can't have a wedding without confetti!

After the wedding everyone went to Jill's parents' house in Danby Wiske for a reception. They have an amazing garden that, impossible to believe, was just a dirt field three-fours years ago. It was just perfect for a reception. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the garden as such. At the reception there was a (senior) orchestra playing and we were treated to Pimm's (naturally) and finger food...

Jazzy


The children enjoyed the music

...and wedding cake of course. It was beautifully decorated with flowers from the garden and local fields.

Cutting the cake

After the reception we drove to Headlam Hall about 40 minutes away for dinner where we first continued to mingle while the newlyweds had their official photos taken.

We also had our photo taken :)


...and Céline kept her daughter occupied


Peter even fell asleep for a while :)

Once dinner was on it followed the usual English tradition whereby all speeches are held one after the other after dessert and not spread out throughout the dinner as in Sweden. The other difference is that in England only three people make speeches; the father of the bride, the groom and the groom's best man (a bit too male-dominated if you ask me, but when you are in Rome...).

James's speech

A tradition that is probably the same everywhere though (?) is the wedding waltz though James and Jill's dance was more of a slowdance than a waltz :)

The seating arrangements are also different in England (and other countries) compared to Sweden. Instead of mixing everyone at long tables (which means couples don't sit together), partners are seated not next but close to each other at round tables. Our table was called the "International table" and seated our little group of friends as well as Jonathon and Ingrid from South Africa (but living in London) and an English guy (can't remember his name). On this particular occasion it was a good set-up though, since we don't see each other that often and want to make the most of time spent in the same location.



Then there was dancing of course. The children were quite active on the dance floor before it was time for bed (which was not that much earlier than the rest of us as English weddings tend to finish a midnight and this one did too).

Peter, Céline and Kalle go crazy

Final picture: wedding details

* Céline has lived in Spain for several years and is married to Spanish Diego (who grew up in Brazil); Karl moved to Norway with his family when he was only ten years old and studied and worked in England, Germany and Sweden before moving back to Norway two years ago or so (he married Norwegian Anlaug last year); I have as you know lived in the US, England and Belgium - quite an international bunch! James is the odd one out I guess who's really just lived in the UK :)

** Great location, great friendships, but the food was abysmal and the (shared) showers... Hope things have improved somewhat since then.