A busy month back to school but at least its the second term, so I know now what to expect or at least I think I knew. We did a few more day trips on the weekend before the semester got busy.
We were recommended to visit the Peak district as it was just a bit north of Birmingham. it was actually a very nice drive once we got off of the highway and drove on country roads. the landscape and scenery were similar to what we had seen on the drive up to edinburgh, but it was very pretty. as the peak district is quite large, we had to figure out where to go and because it was winter many of the castles and sights were closed for the season. looking at the map i spotted a place called bakewell, upon doing a little research found out this is where the bakewell tart ORIGINATED. i only knew about this tart after watching the great british bakeoff. So we had to make a stop. we walked around the town, many cute shops and restaurants, and many that sold the bakewell tart. we picked one and bought it home to try, the tart wasn't bad but it was just far too sweet for me. we didn't find out until we got back that they also have a famous bakwell pudding, which is different from the tart. So i guess we will need to come back. THE TOWN IS VERY SMALL BUT THERE ARE MANY OTHER LITTLE TOWNS AND ATTRACTIONS THAT YOU CAN VISIT WHILE AT THE PEAK DISTRICT.
we had been to the cotswolds before and really liked THE area so we decided to EXPLORE a different part. we DROVE TO gloucester, WE WALKED IN THE TOWN TOWARDS gloucester CATHEDRAL which dates back to sometime in the 600s. then WE continued WALKING towards the water, GLOUCESTER used to be a port by ways of the canals connecting. around thE WATER there are many old warehouses that RECENTLY have been converted to restaurants, office, retail space, AND apartments. i really like THE IDEA OF using old warehouses and converting them into something modern, mixing old and new together. IT SEEMS TO BE A POPULAR IDEA all over the world, making use of abandoned spaces.
as i found it a bit exhausting to drive back and forth every weekend, this weekend we decided to stay around the southern part of the uk and explore a bit more. first stop was to poole as we have a friend living there and wanted to check it out. it is a nice small sea town, but not as glamorous or large as brighton. it isn't so small of a port town either as many people park their boats there. we had a nice lunch of different local fishes then took a little walk by the sea. after that we had to figure out where we would stay for the night and to see if we could see something on the way. we decided to stay in southampton, so on the way we stopped by milford on sea and we got there at the right time as the sun was beginning to set. it was very nice and peaceful but quite chilly.
we stayed overnight in southampton. while we were walking in the old town trying to find somewhere to eat, I had joked about eating chinese food because i had seen so many chinese restaurants and then realized it was chinese new year tomorrow. so we actually ended up eating chinese food in the uk on chinese new years eve. 新年快乐！it made me feel for a split second that i was back in shanghai.
the next morning we drove towards portsmouth to visit the portchester castle. the castle was under renovation but you could still walk around the grounds. the grounds are quite small so it doesn't take long to walk around but you do have a very nice view next to the sea. it was a fun little weekend in the south but now back to school and work.
