Bad Taxi, Johnny Depp & Jack the Ripper!

Quick London quiz, can you see Big Ben from the street?

Thanks to our UK hosts, Kathrin & Ryan (BTW Kathrin-Colin can't get the monkey song out of his head), Sarah & Jamie(mmm champagne) & Mel (who we're sure loved having her Canadian friends stay, but is happy to have her bed & couch back!).

The day started with Maria heading to Darlington Town Center for some shopping, brewed coffee and to use the post. Colin toured the Darlington radio station, which was directly behind where they were staying.

Colin met Star Radio (name of station) www.thisisstar.co.uk on air presenter Phillip. Radio operations in the UK & Canada and all around the world are exactly the same, with different accents. Sales enquiring about weekend promotions, music scheduling software & work place smoking areas.. Outback. The only difference with UK radio and North American radio, there’s hardly any rock stations in the UK. Mostly dance and top 40.

After returning from their morning visits, Mel treated C&M to bacon sandwiches with brown sauce before taking them to Aycliffe, where Maria went to school in grade 11. The place has changed... Then on their way to the train station to catch the 1:06pm train to London, Mel’s car (aptly named Rust Bucket) made a fun noise, it was 12:30pm, 36 minutes til the train departs. After giving the passengers a headache, Mel thought it would be best to take it immediately to the shop.

Our travelers parted ways with Mel and walked three buildings down to a taxi stand to catch a ride to the train station. It was 1AB Taxi, the reason they want you to know this is because of the service. Don’t use 1AB if ever in Darlington. When they got to the stand, they asked for a taxi to the train station. With 3 or 4 drivers standing about & a few taxi’s parked outside they waited.. and waited.. and waited.. It was now 12:42. Finally a taxi pulled up, they two dumped their backpacks in the trunk and jumped in the car.. Then the driver yelled at his buddy at the stand and told Colin & Maria to get out, they had the wrong taxi.

Seeing how things were going, C&M just said “screw it, we’ll walk to catch the train.” A very fast paced walk through downtown Darlington, passing plenty of empty taxis’, they finally reached the beautiful train station. Just as they walked onto platform 1 to hop on the 1:06pm train, it was just pulling up.. Another close call..

They arrived in London (metro population 14,000,000) at 3:44pm. Found their bed & breakfast which is just around the corner from the Underground & in what seems like a quiet residential area. Then it was off to a cafe for a latte and a mocha to decide what to do in London!

The motto on the trip is sleep later, do everything now! So even though it was a long travel day, Colin & Maria decided to take the evening Jack The Ripper- London Walk.

It starts at Tower Hill which is across the road from the London Tower which is seen in the background.

It’s about 2 hours with a stroll through London, with a guide, theirs was Simon, to give a fascinating historical account of the fear that swept through East London in 1888. Was it a Prince? Was it a Doctor? Was it an American? Was it the Freemasons? You decide! You’ll visit area’s (which are different now than 1888 because of World War 2 & the 1960’s) where "Jack" supposedly murdered prostitutes.

Simon BTW visited Canada last year. He took a train fro Quebec to Moncton, rented a a car, traveled to PEI to view Anne Of Green Gables, then took the ferry to Nova Scotia!

This is one area where a prostitute was found.

This was a photo of an alley where another prostitute was found, but when Colin went to upload it 3 times, it kept turning blank! Truth! Weird or what?

The really cool thing about this walk is that Johnny Depp actually did it for the 2001 movie “Into Hell”.

This is Ten Bells Pub, a pub featured in the movie..

And so was this church..

This Jack the Ripper Walk was worth the 16 quid! Even though they looked for it, Colin & Maria tried to find the pub that the last murdered prostitute was seen alive, The White Hart Pub, they had no luck.. Guess Colin should have listened to Maria. After, it was a trip to Brick Lane for some of the world’s best curry at Halal Al-Badar, it was 10:00pm when they walked in, just as they were closing down..

The answer to the quiz is “no”, Big Ben is the bell inside the tower which can’t be seen from the street.

Dungeons, heathens and kinky donuts

Something Colin just found out today while touring through the ancient city of York (population 195,400) is that in UK pubs, you order food at the bar, there are no servers to take your order. The day begun with their host Mel swiping little packets of brown sauce so the Canadians can take some home!

York, UK

York dates back to the Roman era, 71 A.D. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York, where they sell some interesting donuts in the town center.. We're wondering what the donut holes look like...

Apparently the vikings took over the city and BBQ'd everyone on a stick, or so it seems. A great tour to take is the York Dungeons. C&M are accompanied by Mel & her sister Bexta.

You'll be checked for the plague, you'll have blood spit on you, you'll be taken to a medieval court (like Maria who was found guilty of being from Fredericton), you'll burn a witch & you'll have a great photo taken of the torturous times! Just don't ask what a "chappy chopper" is, most dudes will not want to hear this. This tour is something you should really do!

Next it was off to lunch at the most Haunted Pub in the most Haunted Inn in York, the Golden Fleece.

Where Colin enjoyed a pint of Yorkshire Terrier & Maria had a Strongbow.

After, the girls went for tea while Colin went on a pub stumble. Along the way, Maria found a colony of cat boutiques!

While Colin found a row of pubs. First was the Three Tuns, York's oldest & winner of York's Pub of the Year 2011!

They had 1/3 pint samples, so when in York, sample!

First round was Jennings Bitter, Banks's Bitter & Cocker Hoop.

Second round was Banks’s Mild, Lovey Warne & Brakspear Oxford Gold (which was the best!)

Then, to sober up a bit before he met up with Maria and the girls, he decided to walk the York wall. The original wall was built in 71 AD to keep the heathens out, not sure how the foursome got through the gates.

It surrounds the city, and makes for a really interesting walk.

Then it was off to meet the girls, but Colin was a bit early, so he dropped in for a quickie at York Arms to enjoy a Samuel Smith Old Brewer Bitter. Not bad! Tonight, it's one final beverage, a final wash & a final episode of Corrie Street for Maria on the telly.

Tomorrow is a travel day, it's off to London! Hopefully a stop at Abbey Road & to where Jack the Ripper did his bad things. Between now and Germany, Colin & Maria are on their own. No hosts, no friends to cart them around.. Should be interesting as Colin will be driving in northern France & they'll be in countries where neither of them speak the language.. What's the international signal for beer?

A trip back in time, pickled eggs & Indian cuisine!

Know what's cool about the UK? Booze is sold in corner stores, it's cold, cheap and available 24 hours. Now onto the adventure! (plus Colin wanted you to know the page 3 girl doesn't wear a bra or top)

Colin & Maria were picked up in Darlington by Maria's friend Carolyn & her little man, 2 year old William. Today's adventure was a trip to Beamish Historical Museum, the Living Museum of the North, about a 25 minute drive.

Beamish is just like Kings Landing in New Brunswick, but more modern & a bit bigger. It has an old skool bus system & a tramway that you can ride!

Their first encounter was down a former coal mine shaft! The height of the ceiling at places was only 4ft.

(Sorry it's sideways, not sure why it's doing that)

This is returning from deep inside the mine! Are you claustrophobic?



Then it was off to the turn of the 19th century school...

Where Colin had to sit at the back of the room for having poor handwriting, as evident from the photo above.

After touring around, they had a picnic in the city center with Carolyn's husband Kris joining them.

After which Maria challenged William to a game of Roll Down the hill, Maria might have won, but William had more fun!



Then Kris took Colin to the Sun Inn for a pint.

It was a micro beer, brewed especially for this museum. Beamish Hall Best Bitter, it was really good! Not to strong, not too light. What was really great was being able to take it back to the picnic to drink in the sun, and on the grass. Other people must have been thirsty, because when they saw the beer Colin & Kris had, they went to the pub to get one as well.

And Colin's first pickled egg...

Then it was off to the dentist office, if you don't like the dentist now, be glad it wasn't back then! Most people had their teeth pulled by age 21 and they only used pliers! This is a drill from the 1900's.. It took a dentist 45 minutes to drill your tooth, with no pain killer..

Hey! Let's catch a ride on the still working steam locomotive, the London North East Railroad, for a ride around town! This area is also known for having this first steam locomotive.

After a long day of touring around and fairly sunburnt and exhausted, it was back to Darlington with a Newcastle Brown Ale for Colin and a Fizz Cider for Maria, that's her in the background serving up a kebab, which is like a donair back home and buttered chicken, both freshly made from the Indian take away shop.

Tomorrow, our crew conquers York! Tonight it's Coronation Street (which is 9 months ahead in the UK) & a round at the pubs in Darlington.

Maria's Swedish Saturday Night

It was time for Maria to relax, she picked up Premium Cider Kopparberg, Strawberry & Lime as well as Mixed Fruit. Made in Sweden with a kick! So good, she had to email her friend in Sweden! Maria's critique? "Fizzy, fruity with a hint of Ikea."

Dracula, Captain Cook & enjoying Whale N Chips!

The day started with an hours drive from Darlington to Whitby, North Yorkshire, UK, population 14,000, it`s kinda like North Rustico, PEI. This seaside town on the North Sea is home to the port where Captain Cook sailed from and local legend has it that Dracula is buried here as evident by all the Gothic people roaming around.

A quick stop in to a side cafe down an alley called the Singing Kettle Cafe so Colin could enjoy a bacon bun with brown sauce and Maria had a cheese & onion pasty.

Then it was off to the wharf to catch a view of the stormy North Sea and watch the fishers cast off for sea bass and mackerel. Colin asked one of the guys fishing if he caught anything, it's been 5 hours only 1.

A short walk back into town to walk 199 grueling steps up to Whitby Abbey.

Almost there..

Are we there yet?

Finally!

Also at the top is St. Mary's Parish Church, they must get some strange requests.

This is the grave yard where Dracula is supposedly buried.

Do you see Dracula?



Here are ruins of St. Hilda's Abbey, high on Whitby's East Cliff over looking the North Sea.

And since it costs a lot of money to go in to actually view the ruins, Colin, Maria & their host Mel just stayed outside the wall and took more photo's.

Then it was back down the 199 steps (which was a lot easier then going up) to The Magpie Cafe for the best fish & chips in town, except it should be renamed WHALE & chips, where they filter and bottle their own water & buy their fish directly from the boats in the harbour! Colin also enjoyed Slipway Ale, brewed at the Captain Cook Brewery. A hoppy, light ale that went down waaaay too easy.

Maria and her small whale N chips.

Colin's whale N chips.

There was one more size.. The Killer Whale N Chips combo, enough to feed a small Newfoundland fishing village. After the travelers were done, the pants had to be taken out a notch.

After lunch, they ended their day by taking a dip in the North Sea..

Stock up on more beer for tonight because tomorrow is a new adventure!