Day 7. Wednesday 20th May 2009 Norwich and Gt. Yarmouth

Day 7. Wednesday 20th May 2009 Norwich and Gt. Yarmouth..
Today the main group take a whole day trip to Cambridge. Fay wanted to rest a bit and I need to catch up with this diary so we spent the morning at the hotel. At midday we started to wander. I had heard about a cathedral that had been built by the Normans; we asked directions of a lady waiting to cross the road; she was a kind lady who insisted on showing us the way; after several blocks she showed us the entrance. It was a magnificent example of architecture of the 10th century. According to a church guide the building was started in 1096. The stone was brought by the Normans from Caen in Normandy, France by ship to the River Thames and then up the coast then up the river Wensum to Norwich. They then dug a canal from the river to the cathedral site. It has beautiful stained glass windows. A modern addition provided us with a lovely lunch. After lunch we strolled to the rail station and were just in time to catch the 2:36pm two car fast rail car to Great Yarmouth; the trip took ½ hour. After travelling for about ¼ hour through rolling go flat farm land with surrounding trees we came to a vast low land grazing sheep and cattle. The land was about 5meters above high tide; there were windmills to pump water from the drains over the stop banks. We alighted from the train to an uninteresting part of the city. We nearly got back on to return to Norwich. I am glad we did venture forth; after about 30minutes we found ourselves in a street full of small markets. As we wandered further I found a Lloyds Bank at last; I have been looking for several days; they give full value for my traveller’s cheques. Then we found a small restaurant that served four vegetables with their meals. We vowed to return later for an evening meal. We were walking along a pedestrian mall full of small shops. Their goods were the cheapest we have seen in England. We finally arrived at the pier and the nice sandy beach. I can just imagine the crowds that would flock to Gt. Yarmouth in the summer. We stayed 2 ¾hours longer than intended so that we could have our evening meal with its 4 vegetables. The meal was so large we could only eat half. We arrived back at our hotel at 6:45pm. Tomorrow we move on to Newcastle.