7 Oct 2009

Chester, Lake District and Edinburgh

Chester

Early the next morning, after breakfast we all trooped out to visit the historic town of Chester. Chester, according to Hugh is actually built later than the Tudor era. It was built in the hey day of the wool trade in the early 18th century although much of its buildings are Tudor in design - the black and white timbered buildings so prevalent in Stratford which is the real deal.I'd been here before of course - back in 1993 when I attended the testing course at the University of Lancaster. We were given an hour and thirty minutes but most of that hour was taken by Hugh for his walking tour of Chester. Its a beautiful town, especially the town centre where most of the "tudor buildings" are situated. There's a boardwalk around the buildings, a kind of second story with a corridor all around the outside of the buildings. This is the first of its kind since before this there weren't any shops with second stories or a verandah around them. I've always liked this beautiful place - especially the Tudor architecture. But after going to Stratford I think I fell in love with that place already.
From Chester we went to the Lake District which is only about an hour and 30 minutes away. We spent the whole lunch hour there. I was here too before in 1993 but that time we had a boat ride on Lake Windermere and tea and scones at a teashop there. This time around Repin and I had a pizza at a small cafe beside a river or a stream. It was quite chilly (by my standards) but Repin loved the weather of course. The place is beautiful and so tranquil - with the lake and the Autumn foliage just beginning to colour the landscape . The surrounding hills were just turning gold and red with autumn. Its so beautiful Repin is thinking of having a holiday by the Lakes the next time we visit!
The tranquil lake with some students kayakking


The beautiful autumn foliage in the Lake district


From the Lake district we went on to Edinburgh. Edinburgh is another city that I've been to but this time around we are staying here for 2 nights! However I was quite unlucky because that night I developed a igh fever and had to stay in bed. In spite of the fever, we did take a walk and Repin and I found this delicious Muslim food shop - Kebab Mahal, somewhere a few blocks from our hotel. It was the most delicious lunch I've ever had! And they gave us huge helpings too - so much so we had to take back half the chicken.

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