Highlight Shrewsbury

Destination Shrewsbury, England!

Pulling into the station:



Ancient Britons called this place Penngwern meaning, "the Alder hill," and Anglo Saxons knew it as Scrobbesburh, "fort in scrub-land region." It became known as Sciropscire, "Shropshire." This changed over the years to Schrosberie and then to SHREWSBURY.

Shrewsbury- A medieval market town near the Welsh borders and in the county of Shropshire. The birthplace of Charles Darwin. Internationally known for beautiful flower shows. The river Severn loops Shrewsbury making for lovely walks and interesting bridges.

I heart Shrewsbury!




A foggy sort of day:





Shrewsbury castle:



Leaving through the gates at Shrewsbury castle:



All around Shrewsbury:



The Shuts:



The shuts are a throw back to the medieval days, how the town was first planned.



A maze of alleys through-out town connecting streets.




English Bridge:









Children In Need time!



A benefit held annually for needy children.



Getting ready for Christmas:

More Touring- Norfolk, UK

An iconic view of Norfolk has to be the windmills. The windmill pictured below is called Horsey Windpump in the village of Horsey, near Great Yarmouth. This windmill is a grade II listed structure in the care of the National Trust. The windmill was working until it was struck by lightning in 1943. It was restored in 1948 by the National Trust.



The inner and outer workings of the windmill:




The windmill is open to climb to the top which has a very small deck to view The Broads. The Broads are a network of rivers and lakes in Norfolk and Suffolk counties in England.

Read more:

http://www.broads-authority.gov.uk



Speaking of The Broads. Near Caister-On-Sea, we took a boat ride to see birds in sanctuary, A lovely, relaxing ride to look for elusive and rare birds.



...And speaking Caister-On-Sea, to the beach!




Great Yarmouth with a pier and market is a great day out just strolling the beach:






Here is a series of pictures from a canal- Potter-Heigham with plenty of boating action, not to mention fishing.





The reeds used for thatched roofs most commonly come from Norfolk. Here is a sample being used for a fence.







A drive-by photo of another windmill someplace in Norfolk:


A house that is the setting of one of my favourite television shows on The Beeb- 'Kingdom' with the wonderful Steven Fry. The house is located in the town of Swaffham. I was chuffed to see this! There is also a picture of the pub across the street that they use for the show, not sure what happened, but will add that later.

http://www.literarynorfolk.co.uk/kingdom_tv_series.htm

Edited to add pub picture:

Rounding Out My New Your State Trip.....

Cooperstown and Lake Ostego home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. It is said that native of Cooperstown Abner Doubleday invented baseball. The origins are more complicated than that, however.



Nearby is the Brewery Ommegang. This was a highlight of the area with wide range of Belgian style ales and a serious contender for best of that style of ale....I say this even though I am from Fort Collins, the home of New Belgium brewery.



....On to Saratoga Springs. A nice. if not a bit posh area with natural springs to tour and actually taste.

This particular spring is surrounded by a bed of deposits.





This spring is very popular and many line up to fill jugs to take home and use for drinking water. A good reason for this is, this water actually tasted good!





Lake George with more spectacular autumn colour action.


Lake George was originally named Andia-ta-roc-te. In 1755, British colonial forces renamed the body of water Lake George after King George II. After that, well that is history....



Speaking of history, Saratoga National Historical Park. A self-guided tour of the Saratoga battlefield. We drove the loop and saw how the lines of the war went down, marked by blue poles for the Americans and red for the British. There was a boot monument for Benedict Arnold and farm sites set up for fortifcations.




A blurb from the website states:

Here in the autumn of 1777 American forces met, defeated and forced a major British army to surrender. This crucial American victory renewed patriots' hopes for independence, secured essential foreign recognition and support, and forever changed the face of the world.

It is all more complicated than this, if you want to know more check this out:

http://www.nps.gov/sara/index.htm



I had to add this picture for Cait. She really likes this style of house and it shows more of the colour.

My Albany Experience

Not far from the capital building, declared a National Historic Landmark in 1979 and the wonderful square around it. Taking in all it had to offer; museum, sculpture, also to the top of a skyscaper to get an overview.

The capital building and courtyard:



The building was the third capital building for New York state and was built between 1867-1899.


To the top of a nearby skyscaper:


Overview of the Governor's mansion:


A typical Albany view from above, including the Hudson river:


Some of the sculpture, this reminded me of Stonehenge a bit:


The New York State Museum:


Located opposite across from the Capital building, this museum had a touching tribute of 911, with actual items from the site.




In a neighbourhood to one side of the square was a great Mexican restuarant with Mexican and Spanish dishes.




At El Mariachi I had the Pollo Al Ajillo, a chicken dish with garlic and wine sauce and saffron rice. The salsa and chips to start were nice indeed.





Right next door was the much awaited Cheesecake Machismo for dessert. This place has strange hours so we only managed to visit once....Not for a lack of trying. The cheesecake on offer changes for daily specials and costs $5 for a slice and a drink. The cheesecake featured below is the Caramel and Toffee that often is on the menu, with good reason.