I had a five week break from school so we had a lot more time to drive around and explore. It was mostly day trips as I still had some work to do for school which included an extensive portfolio project as well as daily cooking practice.
To get into the holiday spirit we decided to go to the frankfurt German Christmas Market in Birmingham city center. it is the largest german christmas market outside of germany or austria. well they weren't lying it was big, there are tons of food and drink stalls as well as many little shops selling all types of christmas things. these stalls go through most of the pedestrian walkways and all around victoria square. it was nice to have some hot apfelwein and german sausages and to experience a different german christmas market as the only ones i'm familiar with are the markets in shanghai. these markets do somehow get you into the christmas spirit.
We finally made it to Warwick Castle, we always seemed to put it off as it was so close to us and there were plenty of other places we wanted to see. we first had lunch in town and i had my very first sunday roast and yorkshire pudding, so british.
after a filling lunch, we then went to the castle. because we had arrived a bit later in the afternoon our tickets were actually half off:) we wandered around the castle and its grounds, the self guided tour takes you through the life and activities that happened in this medieval castle and also teaches you the history of the castle, the wars and the families that had lived there. they also have different shows but it depends on the season and weather. But i would definitely recommend a visit, it is very interesting and educational.
the next stop was a trip to the coast on the east side of the island, wells-next-the-sea in norfolk. as it was december it was quite cold and low tide but it was still nice to visit. i could see how packed this place would be during the summertime.
as it was christmas eve and there wasn't much to do, we decided to take a day trip to oxford. because of the holiday the streets were pretty quiet but it was still nice to walk around and see the famous oxford university.
more holidays and nothing to do, so on boxing day we decided to drive down to bath. because it was boxing day the roman baths and some of the stores were closed but still a nice place to walk around the old city as we had heard from so many people how nice this city was. we will definitely make a trip back to see the famous roman baths.
