North and South

Tiz and I are finally in Brighton after spending Monday, Tuesday and Saturday nights in London and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights at her uncle's house in Bradford. We took megabus between London and Leeds each way, and were impressed with the price and punctuality (and I was amused that we drove halfway across the country in like 4 hours). On day 1 in the north, we went to a town called Harrogate, a relatively wealthy settlement in a region that, for the Americans reading this, is somewhat comparable economically to the "Rust Belt". It was windy and cold as hell, so I bought a jacket from Primark to wear as my fourth layer of clothing. The next day we went to Haworth, a village famous for being the hometown of the literary Bronte sisters. As an English lit student, Tiz was very excited to show me Haworth, but to my dismay (not really) the Bronte parsonage and museum was closed for the month. I had fish and chips (and MUSHY PEAS!) twice in Yorkshire, once at Tiz's uncle's house and once at a pub called The White Lion in Haworth.
Last night in London Tiz, our friend and host Sarah and I met up with my American mate Walker who is in the country for a couple of weeks. We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant that had a terrific view of the Tower Bridge (the photo below was taken from just outside). Then we went for a few pints at the Horniman's pub, chosen entirely due to its name, and thought of all our American friends who would love the pub atmosphere and the British legal drinking age. By Thursday I'll report on the British version of the seaside town. As usual, comments are welcome!

                     A fancy tea room in Harrogate. Yes, that is a cake trolley.

                    The pub in Haworth. Two giant Yorkshire puddings and one fish & chips.

                          Walker and I enjoying a few pints of cider. Profpic, Bristol?

                           Me, Walker and Sarah near the Tower Bridge

Tour of the Island

So I had a rather exciting weekend, visiting Tiz's friends and family. Actually right now I'm in South London, having just arrived today; on Wednesday we're doing a 4.5 hour bus journey to Leeds to stay with Tiz's uncle. Anyway, New Year's Eve British style was very fun, since I discovered that London's fireworks show (on TV) is just as entertaining as the Times Square thing we have in the states. We went to Tiz's friend Fiona's house and ordered Domino's. I learned that a UK large is a US medium, a UK medium is a US small, but at least you can get Tandoori chicken as a topping!
New Year's Eve was actually rather tame for me, as I was keen to go light on the alcohol having properly gone to the pub for the first time on the evening of the 30th. It was an interesting experience walking through a seemingly deserted village on a Friday afternoon, only to walk into "The Plough" and see dozens of people waiting around for 11:00 and last rounds. I have never been much of a drinker, but cider in this country is really, really good. On New Year's Day Tiz's mother cooked us a very English meal, complete with a Yorkshire pudding and gravy. I managed to bring some of the South to England with me in the form of my brother's pecan pie recipe that seemed to be a hit with the household.
In contrast to what you have been reading, this is not a food blog, but these past few days have been food-heavy and somewhat slow-paced. Hopefully by about Thursday I will have pictures of London and maybe Leeds/Bradford, where apparently some of the best fish and chips in England can be found. I promise I'll talk about something else in addition. As usual, comments are welcome!

                                       Outside the pub on a rather cold Friday night

              A variation of Yorkshire pudding (toad in the hole) on New Year's Day

So this post, and possibly the next one, will focus on the southwest of England (specifically the county of Wiltshire). With the exception of one decent-sized town, Swindon, this is an area of "villages", a term I was sure hadn't been used anywhere since the 1600s. In fact, Tiz and her family live in a village of about 1,500 people, Wanborough. The highlights of the place are the village shop, run by a Bangladeshi man named Mr. Naseem, and also the SIX PUBS. Indeed, that works out to roughly 250 townspeople per drinking establishment, and later tonight I'll be having a few pints in one of them.
But now for a recap of the last 2 days. Yesterday saw a visit to Avebury, the site of a stone circle that is much less famous (at least in America) than Stonehenge, but no less fascinating. Later we had afternoon tea at a "tea room" in Marlborough, a wealthy town which has one of the country's most prestigious (and stuck-up) colleges. Today we drove about 45 minutes (a very long drive by English standards) to Burford, a village in the very prosperous Cotswolds area. We went to a pub for lunch and I had a chicken and mushroom savory pie, and a pint of cider (which in these parts is ALWAYS alcoholic). Headed downstairs to watch Liverpool v. Newcastle now; as before, comments and questions are welcome!

                                         Myself, Tiz and her father in front of a stone at Avebury

                                                    Zillions of cakes at the Polly Tea Rooms

                                                                     A pie and a pint

P.S. Any Americans wanting some elaboration on the British education system or the British diet (both based on my brief experiences in this country as well as dating a Brit for 15 months), post a comment and I'll reply back.

27 December 2011

Greetings from Interstate 40! For those of you not familiar, I-40 is a ~2,300 mile long road that begins in my hometown, Wilmington, NC, and traverses basically the entire US before terminating in Barstow, CA. Fortunately, I am only driving about 135 miles of it today, in order to catch a 6:05 nonstop from RDU to Heathrow. My older brother James does a lot of business and personal travel with American Airlines and was able to get me a BUSINESS CLASS ticket using frequent flier miles, so I’m living a pretty good life for the next several hours. Anyway, here’s some general information about my trip and myself:

1.      I am 19 years old, a student at UNC-Chapel Hill. I have been to the United Kingdom (read: London and Edinburgh) once, 18 months ago. I am studying at the University of Edinburgh from January to May.

2.      I am doing a bit of travelling outside of Edinburgh, starting with the next few weeks. My girlfriend Tiz is English and her parents have graciously offered me a place to stay at their home in Wiltshire for a while. Tiz and I are also spending time with her extended family in Yorkshire and at her university in Brighton before I head up to Edinburgh on 13 January.

3.      I have several trips outside of Britain planned (one already booked); more details on these as they approach.

4.      My itinerary for the near future is as follows:

28 December- arrive at Heathrow, hopefully after some amount of sleep on the flight

28 December-2 January: staying in Wiltshire with Tiz and her parents, having a second Christmas and watching footie!

2 January-4 January: London

4 January-7 January: Yorkshire (on Megabus!)

7-8 January: London, this time to meet up with Walker Bristol!

8-13 January: Brighton

13 January: arrive in Edinburgh

Questions or comments are always welcome!