FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: Neither Here Nor There

We waved goodbye to Scotland to make our way back down south. The departure from the Hilton was rather painful, but that's life. We have noticed a disturbing phenomenon whereby the dodgy UK Chinese restaurants start looking increasingly appetising! When Alnwick Chop Suey House starts conjuring flashbacks of Wile E Coyote daydreaming of roast bird whilst staring at the roadrunner you know that you have serious withdrawals. We are all drooling over thoughts of Singapore. That was only heightened by the visit to the "fryery" at Alnwick Castle. Don't get me wrong (not sure if Lara would've written dgmw there), the castle was amazing, but the fried offerings didn't leave any of us feeling great.

Alnwick Castle was the only sightseeing recommendation from Johnny, our awesome Novocastrian (the original) au pair. We normally get excited about the physical componenets of castles... the walls, the cannon, the dungeons etc. Alnwick Castle did not disappoint in this regard. In fact it was the site of filming of the broomstick flying tutorials in Harry Potter. There was also a fun little dragon "scared ya!" walk through that provided some giggles. What really captured our attention, however, were the State Rooms on the inside! Two story bookshelves, dining tables that required a telegram from one end to the other and walls completely covered with priceless oil paintings by artists that we regularly mix up at Pub Trivia at the Bayview were simply amazing. It was also interesting to see the odd colour family photo of the current Duke and his family who still reside there! Nanna and Grandpa skipped the castle to explore the pretty town of Alnwick and do a bit of shopping and, by all accounts, had an equally wonderful time.

Alnwick Castle as seen from the distance across the Aln River

Impressive exteriors. No photos of the intererior allowed though. :(

The arrival at the York Central Novotel was relatively smooth with easy, complimentary parking out the front. We would have to survive with Tesco granola yoghurts and free hotel apples for breakfast tomorrow, after the hot chip butty that's probably a good thing. We walked along the river to diagon alley (The Shambles) and then on to the Minster. The Minster was so much more impressive! Diagon alley is cute and photogenic, but the stores are only OK. The "Store that shall not be named" was similar to other Harry Potter merchandised stores in the UK in that the offerings are not particularly imaginative and grossly overpriced compared to similar items at Harry Potter World in Florida. We did, however, find a neat board game store and lolly shop and dropped a few shekels at each.

It's a pity that we din't have time to explore inside the Minster which was closed for the day. It was much larger and more impressive than we had anticipated. Just thinking that something like this was built 700 or so years ago over 125 years is simply mind blowing.

A quick, compulsory stop by the Disney store to grab another red, black and white mug preceded a dinner of roast pork with rolls, Yorkshire puddings or vegies at the York Roast Co. It was a different style of course but not as memorable as Oink in Edinburgh. This would be our last dinner in the UK. The next big decision... rice, noodles or both!