The Norfolk/Suffolk Coast

We'd originally planned to tour Scotland but when we were preparing to leave York, which by the way had miserable weather, the forecast for Scotland included snow. So we opted to head south where the weather had a chance of being a bit warmer.

As it turned out, the weather that week in Scotland was hitting record breaking highs - hotter than it was in Norfolk - but that's what happens when you pay attention to weather forecasts. For the most part it was sunny, if not as warm as we'd liked.

We spent a few days in Kings Lynn.

Stopped in Brancaster.

Spent a night at Wells-next-the-Sea.

And several nights at Southwold.

The Castles

A few years ago when we were visiting Florence we went to museums. Lots of museums. So many that while I was eagerly looking forward to a day at the Uffizi Gallery, Mark announced that he could not visit another museum. He was "museumed out".

And so the pressure to "see" and "do" everything was removed. And now I find that I also have limits. I have concluded that I am good for one historic house, one castle, and one cathedral per trip. Any more than that and they all start to look the same to me. (I'm a bit more flexible about museums.)

So having visited a cathedral already I was okay with a visit to Castle Howard. It's not really a castle and may be best known as the filming location for Brideshead Revisited ( which I have never seen, but will probably watch now, having been to the house.) The Howard family still owns the house and while they occupy the west wing, we were told that some of the rooms on display are frequently pressed into service if they're having guests. It does look ideal for entertaining.

We also visited Castle Rising, also owned by the Howard family, but not nearly as nice as Castle Howard. It's really castle ruins. With proper maintenance, castles can be quite nice - Windsor Castle is the best example. But Castle Rising is being preserved as a "ruin".

In and Around York

One of the more famous sights in York is York Minster. Our guide went through all of the details that distinguish a minster from a regular cathedral, and I'd share that with you, but I'm afraid I'd get it wrong. Suffice it to say that it is quite old and has some magnificent stained glass.

We also visited the Shambles Market with its narrow streets and quaint pubs and shops. I understand that some of the sets in the Harry Potter movies were modeled on the Shambles.

We also visited the Jorvik Center. It's an attraction/museum that focuses attention on the Vikings that conquered York back in 866 AD. This was my second visit to the Jorvik Center and the "ride" portion of it was much smoother than what I remembered and the smells weren't as strong -(a good thing!). But it's not a great place to take photos, so you'll just have to go see for yourself. And by the way, they have real people mixed in with the animatronics so you'll be kept guessing!