Somewhere beyond the sea...

You alright, love?

Because my trip to England couldn't have been lovelier! Cheyanne and I enjoyed an immensely packed week - filled with everything from shopping to tourism, from walks through the scenic countryside to train rides and the busy streets of London. We arrived Saturday morning, our flight landing a full hour before schedule. And so we whittled away the subsequent hours waiting on our train by sipping down some fresh English coffee. Mauri met us at the train station and we walked back to her flat. Our first taste of English food was at a quaint little place called Barbakan. They served Polish food; I had some incredible pumpkin curry dumplings. Then we explored a bit of York, seeing the Minster, and checking out a few of the local shops. Then, for our first night experiencing England we went out for pub grub! We visited a place called the Punch Bowl for dinner, where Mauri and I split a vegetable tart and I experienced my first glass of English cider!

York Minster

Sunday left us extremely jet-lagged, and after church we went out for tea and scones. The British eat their scones with clotted cream and jam. Standard British scones are usually currant, but you'll see the occasional cranberry scone served at coffee shops. Most tea houses will serve Cream Tea for somewhere around £3 - which is a pot of tea with milk and one or two scones with clotted cream and jam. It is absolutely delightful, and I'm pretty sure we had tea and scones every day we were there. On Sunday, we also walked around the wall and saw Clifford's Tower - this awesome tower on a hill that's in the middle of a parking lot.  

Clifford's Tower

On Monday, we hopped on a train to Whitby and saw the coast! Whitby is a super cute town right on the coast in the Northwest of England, located kind of between Scarborough and Middlesbrough. We ate at a place called the Magpie Cafe, located right on the harbor, (or harbour as they spell it). They serve super fresh, locally caught fish and supposedly have some of the best fish and chips in almost all of England. And I, vegetarian extraordinaire, actually ate fish and chips! And I have to tell you that I was insanely impressed. I'm not a fish eater, mainly because I've never had good fish before. This was fish that I could possibly eat interminably. After fish and chips, we walked up to the Whitby Abbey, St. Mary's church and Caedmon's Cross. We had a beautiful view of the entire town, and walking further, we went onto a pier and saw the wondrous expanse of the North Sea! We did a small amount of shopping before catching a train back to York. The English countryside we saw on the way was incredible. It's absolutely beautiful, and no description I can give will do it the justice it deserves.

Whitby

The remains of Whitby Abbey

On Tuesday, Cheyanne and I explored a lot of York, doing tons of shopping and even more window shopping - swearing to come back to every store we stopped in. (And of course allowing for a tea and scones break). We eventually met up with Mauri and did some grocery shopping. Grocery stores in England are nothing extravagant. I have little to report, except that you can buy a six pack of crumpets for a mere 88p, which astounds me. I thought it was cute, though, they sell packs of tea cakes and crumpets at the store! We picked up Wensleydale cheese and some crackers, which were incredible. We took few pictures on Tuesday, mainly due to being overwhelmed, jet-lagged and pictured out.

On Wednesday, we went to Mauri's Galatians class, did a bit more shopping and then had Indian food. They say that Indian food is the best in England, and I will admit that it was quite tasty. Not to be overly picky, but I have had some incredible Indian food since moving to New York, and unfortunately, I only tried one dish at the restaurant we went to, Garden of India. The dish wasn't my favorite. We went out with a few of the other kids from the Bible college, and had a wonderful time filled with conversation. 

Thursday was a blur; Mauri had class in the morning, so Cheyanne and I revisited the stores we had sworn to see again, finally making some purchases, grabbing MORE scones and tea and then meeting Mauri back at her flat once she was done with class. That night we went to Johnny Depp's favorite pub in England, the Evil Eye Lounge. They serve incredible Thai food, and for whatever reason, I ordered falafel. (haha) However, they had a really awesome Elderflower cocktail. After the Evil Eye, we went to Betty's - a really fancy tea house and restaurant/dessert shop. We enjoyed some delightful desserts before heading home. 

Friday morning we attended Mauri's theology class, which was really interesting. Then she took us to see the sheep fields. But there were no sheep. We took a beautiful walk along the river to get there. Everything in England was so green and so incredible. It was quite lovely. That afternoon I met up with my brother, Sean, who is currently working in Sheffield designing video games. Sheffield is only about an hour's train ride from York. The beautiful thing about Europe is that nothing is more than a short train ride away. We walked around York for a bit before going to (once again) the Evil Eye. This time, I did try their Thai food, and it was incredible. After our late lunch, we did some more sight seeing, taking some great pictures of the Museum Gardens and of the city in general. After a lot more walking and talking, we settled into another pub for some drinks and ended up talking the night away! It was incredible to see him and catch up. I've been incredibly blessed this past year with opportunities to start to get to know my siblings. I would be a fool if I didn't take them. But of course, with both of us in England  - of all places - at the same time, was an opportunity impossible to pass up. 

Saturday was our day in London, which truly deserves a post of its own. And so, I will be crafting my London post over the course of this next week, because we took a million pictures! I also have a post about the musical Once up my sleeve, so check back for a mid-week post and my weekly Sunday post.

Cheers!

-Em