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moonvoiceI loved all the little storefronts etc. in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Towards the end of what had been a very long day of Glen and I pretty much walking all over before I realised I actually had to be able to walk back to the Premier Inn too, we decided to all have dinner at a pub. Mum and Simon were craving 'English fare' lol, and the first pub that we looked at was mostly doing food that they deemed 'not English enough.'
Eventually they settled on somewhere else, but I pointed out a place called The White Swan, and after a cursory look at their menu they deemed it good enough and we ate there. I don't have any pictures of the food (that will go in a separate food post), but because it was Sunday, they had roast on, and it was easily one of the best meals I had while in the UK (sadly, as we found out, this wasn't hard to achieve, the bar was low). Our waiter was a lovely guy from Croatia (though his family were from Italy) and we talked a lot about my friend who lives in Padua (he was familiar with the region) etc.
It so happened that the restaurant itself was part of a brewery/alehouse building established in 1560, and has incredible history, including several glass-protected sections where - through renovations - they discovered centuries old paintings on the walls. I don't have photos of these because these were throughout the restaurant and I didn't want to upset diners. But it was pretty awesome.
Psst. Hey kids. Do you like...Christmas?
I mean that's not creepy at all. e.e
Continuing along one of the main streets.
The White Swan. I loved this little place. Tbh, the food overall in the UK was very disappointing. Restaurants often serving frozen or poorly treated vegetables, ridiculously expensive compared to the last time we went (when our dollar was weaker!), badly seasoned, etc. Usually the best food we had was from other ethnicities, or from ethnically owned cafes.
Also the fish and chips was just terrible. It didn't matter where we went throughout mainland UK. Everyone was like 'this is the best one in X area' and the batter was soggy, the chips badly underseasoned (no matter what we said re: salt), and just...yeah. Except - EXCEPT - in Orkney, where we had the BEST fish and chips that completely restored my faith in all of humanity (and UK fish and chips). Harbour Fry. Highly recommend it.
I would allow that I'm definitely biased towards Australian style chippies, but I also remember the food just being overall better last time. Now it costs more, for poorer quality. Look, I have never paid $36 AUD for a mediocre burger and I never want to again.
Special occasion gold for paralympians was cool. Also Stratford-upon-Avon street market was even cooler. This was one of the few places I ended up making some purchases (I thought I'd buy a lot of stuff on this trip and I didn't). We found a ceramicist / potter and I bought a bowl with beautiful glazing for myself and one for Sean (sort of like, so we could have one each in a way, though I didn't explain that to them at the time because I forgot). Here I also ended up talking to a mineral/gem enthusiast (and purchased a tiny laser carved green man of a specific kind of stone that now I can't remember and I'm kicking myself, but it's a kind of sacred site bluestone. I really need to remember (ironically) that since radiotherapy my memory is kind of shafted and I should write these things down.
Anyway, talking with the fossicker for like...oh god a good twenty minutes was great. I know just enough about Western Australian stone that I could talk about like, mookaite agate and serpentine etc. with some knowledge, and I think he enjoyed that (it made me sound like I knew a lot more than I did, because I know absolutely fuck all in general), but it also meant he gave me a crash course in explaining where a lot of the different bands of unique UK stone was, and honestly, he was lovely.
More street market, and a pupper. Tbh, the UK overall is super dog friendly, compared to Australia, and this means that most of the dogs we met were also really well behaved, very focused on their owners.
The icon on one of my Tumblr journals is this guy, from a photo I took last time we were here.
This guy was so awesome. (There's photos of me with him too, but Glen has them). We tipped, not because we wanted a photo but just because we have a policy of tipping/paying buskers and street performers we enjoy (there was one older guy with a guitar, singing his lungs out in Aberdeen, and we had no change on us and we were SO upset). And then he was like 'no no come here and get a photo.' So Glen got a few photos, and then we went to leave and the guy gestured to me too.
He was hilarious. Did the whole kissing my hand thing, winked at me, was sweet, and I was laughing because I am SO asexual and SO genderqueer and the whole thing was gender essentialist and flirtatious and it was just like, adorable but in that 'oh if you knew' way. Ahaha, maybe I wanted the mainly knight pose with the sword! But no, I had a great time.
ALSO HE HAD EFTPOS
Kicking myself that I didn't go inside.
This. This was one of my favourite photos I took during the whole trip. I was actually in front of like...a breast cancer clinic I think? Or a women's health clinic? I was sitting down, because I was exhausted. But I loved the white on white.
Birbs
I'll send you all save the dates for Glen's prospective marriage to Shakespeare. Also he was SO resistant to this photo series, but then once he actually started, he got really into it and it was spectacular.
Mum went up and cupped Shakespeare's balls and then leered at the camera and it was like 'ARE YOU FOURTEEN?' while she giggled away. Tbh travelling with Mum was a blast.
Houseboats are cool. One of them had what looked like one of the happiest dogs I've ever seen.
White swans are such a novelty (I know, I know, I'm an Australian, it's weird) and I love them. They are big chonks. Look at those thick necks.
What you can't see: Mum to the left trying to pet them and feed them birdseed.
Next, our day trip into Wales!
Towards the end of what had been a very long day of Glen and I pretty much walking all over before I realised I actually had to be able to walk back to the Premier Inn too, we decided to all have dinner at a pub. Mum and Simon were craving 'English fare' lol, and the first pub that we looked at was mostly doing food that they deemed 'not English enough.'
Eventually they settled on somewhere else, but I pointed out a place called The White Swan, and after a cursory look at their menu they deemed it good enough and we ate there. I don't have any pictures of the food (that will go in a separate food post), but because it was Sunday, they had roast on, and it was easily one of the best meals I had while in the UK (sadly, as we found out, this wasn't hard to achieve, the bar was low). Our waiter was a lovely guy from Croatia (though his family were from Italy) and we talked a lot about my friend who lives in Padua (he was familiar with the region) etc.
It so happened that the restaurant itself was part of a brewery/alehouse building established in 1560, and has incredible history, including several glass-protected sections where - through renovations - they discovered centuries old paintings on the walls. I don't have photos of these because these were throughout the restaurant and I didn't want to upset diners. But it was pretty awesome.
Psst. Hey kids. Do you like...Christmas?
I mean that's not creepy at all. e.e
Continuing along one of the main streets.
The White Swan. I loved this little place. Tbh, the food overall in the UK was very disappointing. Restaurants often serving frozen or poorly treated vegetables, ridiculously expensive compared to the last time we went (when our dollar was weaker!), badly seasoned, etc. Usually the best food we had was from other ethnicities, or from ethnically owned cafes.
Also the fish and chips was just terrible. It didn't matter where we went throughout mainland UK. Everyone was like 'this is the best one in X area' and the batter was soggy, the chips badly underseasoned (no matter what we said re: salt), and just...yeah. Except - EXCEPT - in Orkney, where we had the BEST fish and chips that completely restored my faith in all of humanity (and UK fish and chips). Harbour Fry. Highly recommend it.
I would allow that I'm definitely biased towards Australian style chippies, but I also remember the food just being overall better last time. Now it costs more, for poorer quality. Look, I have never paid $36 AUD for a mediocre burger and I never want to again.
Special occasion gold for paralympians was cool. Also Stratford-upon-Avon street market was even cooler. This was one of the few places I ended up making some purchases (I thought I'd buy a lot of stuff on this trip and I didn't). We found a ceramicist / potter and I bought a bowl with beautiful glazing for myself and one for Sean (sort of like, so we could have one each in a way, though I didn't explain that to them at the time because I forgot). Here I also ended up talking to a mineral/gem enthusiast (and purchased a tiny laser carved green man of a specific kind of stone that now I can't remember and I'm kicking myself, but it's a kind of sacred site bluestone. I really need to remember (ironically) that since radiotherapy my memory is kind of shafted and I should write these things down.
Anyway, talking with the fossicker for like...oh god a good twenty minutes was great. I know just enough about Western Australian stone that I could talk about like, mookaite agate and serpentine etc. with some knowledge, and I think he enjoyed that (it made me sound like I knew a lot more than I did, because I know absolutely fuck all in general), but it also meant he gave me a crash course in explaining where a lot of the different bands of unique UK stone was, and honestly, he was lovely.
More street market, and a pupper. Tbh, the UK overall is super dog friendly, compared to Australia, and this means that most of the dogs we met were also really well behaved, very focused on their owners.
The icon on one of my Tumblr journals is this guy, from a photo I took last time we were here.
This guy was so awesome. (There's photos of me with him too, but Glen has them). We tipped, not because we wanted a photo but just because we have a policy of tipping/paying buskers and street performers we enjoy (there was one older guy with a guitar, singing his lungs out in Aberdeen, and we had no change on us and we were SO upset). And then he was like 'no no come here and get a photo.' So Glen got a few photos, and then we went to leave and the guy gestured to me too.
He was hilarious. Did the whole kissing my hand thing, winked at me, was sweet, and I was laughing because I am SO asexual and SO genderqueer and the whole thing was gender essentialist and flirtatious and it was just like, adorable but in that 'oh if you knew' way. Ahaha, maybe I wanted the mainly knight pose with the sword! But no, I had a great time.
ALSO HE HAD EFTPOS
Kicking myself that I didn't go inside.
This. This was one of my favourite photos I took during the whole trip. I was actually in front of like...a breast cancer clinic I think? Or a women's health clinic? I was sitting down, because I was exhausted. But I loved the white on white.
Birbs
I'll send you all save the dates for Glen's prospective marriage to Shakespeare. Also he was SO resistant to this photo series, but then once he actually started, he got really into it and it was spectacular.
Mum went up and cupped Shakespeare's balls and then leered at the camera and it was like 'ARE YOU FOURTEEN?' while she giggled away. Tbh travelling with Mum was a blast.
Houseboats are cool. One of them had what looked like one of the happiest dogs I've ever seen.
White swans are such a novelty (I know, I know, I'm an Australian, it's weird) and I love them. They are big chonks. Look at those thick necks.
What you can't see: Mum to the left trying to pet them and feed them birdseed.
Next, our day trip into Wales!
no subject
Date: 2019-05-22 10:59 am (UTC)(Also, WAIT WHAT ARE YOUR SWANS LIKE?)
no subject
Date: 2019-05-22 11:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-05-23 10:13 am (UTC)