We started the day off by riding a train from Liverpool Street to Stowmart, northeast of London by about an hour and a half. We passed through several smaller towns on the way and got some great views of the countryside. Once we arrived in Stowmarket, realizing that one of our teachers simply missed the train, we went ahead and got on our pre-arranged bus and went about our way. Dr. Welford and her father-in-law, whose name I did not get, were our tour guides. We rode for quite some time through the narrow, winding roads of the scenic route to Framlingham Castle. The views were spectacular and seeing the soft rolling hills of England was truly a sight I will cherish.
Framlingham Castle was an neat a place, though not exactly spectacular. The castle was in ruins for the most part, although a poor house still existed and you are still able to climb up and walk along the castle walls. There were some very nice views from the castle and I'm quite glad I got to see it. I assume that most tourists rarely go there as opposed to places like Windsor, Eltham, Kensington, etc. After Framlingham came the part of the day I came to dislike: the riding. We rode for nearly an hour along the winding rodes, bumping up-and-down in the bus as we went, until we finally reached Lavenham. In Lavenham we, literally, had enough time to find a place to eat and then look at the church for a few minutes before leaving.
Most of the restaurants in Lavenham were either closed, over priced, out of food, or going to take too long, so after walking down the street a ways, we had to turn around and eat at the only pub we could find, which was called The Cock. I ordered a steak and mushroom pie with mash (mashed potatoes) and I was quite pleased with it. It was a bit on the pricey side, but the portions were good and it was a very nice meal. Once we had finished lunch we went up to the castle there at Lavenham, took a few photographs, then had to climb back on the bus and go to Bury St. Edmunds. It's probably just as well that we spent very little time in Lavenham because frankly I didn't see anything of much interest there.
Bury St. Edmund's on the other hand, was quite a different story. The supposed birthplace of the Magna Carta, Bury St. Edmund's is home to the ruins of an old Abbey that, had it not been destroyed by angry peasants, would have been one of the most spectacular sights in all of Europe. Even today, although in ruins, one can begin to grasp an idea of the scale and beauty of the Abbey, and feel a bit of disappointment in that it is not still standing today. We did manage to go inside of the St. Edmund's Cathedral and look around for a few minute. Inside were several hundred kneelers that were hand-stitched with symbols of various towns in Suffolk to commemorate the twenty-five year reign of Queen Elizabeth II.
After I got a hold of some soft serve ice cream, it was time to leave Bury St. Edmund's, and I'm sorry to say I didn't get to look around the town as much as I would have liked. There were some gardens there (award winning, I hear) that were very nice and the park where the abbey used to be is very impressive and well maintained. Once we left there, we made straight for the home of Dr. Welford's father-in-law (our tour guide) for some English tea and snacks. Considering we had eaten lunch at around 3:00 and it was just after 5:00 when arrived for tea and snacks, I wasn't very hungry. I skipped the tea, but I did eat some scones, digestive biscuits (I don't know why they insist on calling them that), tiny meat-pie like things, and a nice dessert called lemon sweet that reminded me of a key lime pie. Everything was very tasty and Dr. Welford's in-laws were great hosts. They had a lovely home and a lovely garden, as well they have a great view of some farm land behind their home. I truly enjoyed the experience of meeting them.
We took the bus back to the train station at Stowmarket and found out that our train was delayed by about fifteen minutes. We sat around chit-chatting for a bit before boarding the train back to London. I'm pleased to say that our train ride back to London was a little bit shorter than our ride from London (only by about ten minutes or so, but still) and we made it back to London before 9:00 p.m. We all went to the Tube and rode back to the dorms, where we are all now relaxing for the rest of the evening. Overall I'd say it was a very eventful day. We got to see a side of London that I doubt a lot of foreigners get to see, and we certainly got some amazing scenic views of the rich farmland that England has to offer. It seems like everyone had a great time; I know I did.
Photographs of today's trip around East Anglia can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8494714@N03/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8494714@N03/page2/
