Bury St. Edmunds is one of the larger towns in Suffolk once known as Beodericsworth. In the 7th century, a monastery was founded in the town and in 903 King Edmund was buried there, hence the name, Bury St. Edmunds. (There were reportedly miracles performed at the shrine of the martyred king.)  This monastery later became the Bury St. Edmunds Abbey.  In 1214, this abbey was the supposed meeting place where the barons of England swore that they would make King John accept the Charter of Liberties, which influenced the Magna Carta.  One of the copies of this document was even displayed in the Cathedral this year.

Bury St. Edmunds Abbey is no longer standing, but you can walk through and even climb the ruins.  They are part of a beautiful garden near the town centre called Abbeygate Gardens.  People can feed the squirrels and ducks, they have portions with lovely landscaping, and areas where you can have a picnic.  There is an aviary to one side of the gardens, housing everything from cockatiels to a golden pheasant.

View of the Abbey with the Cathedral in the background

plaque telling of the Magna Carta

Manicured gardens

Cheeky squirrels

There is a wonderful market in the market square on Saturdays where one can probably find just about anything.  I know I have bought jam, fruits, vegetables, eggs, magazines, pig ears (for the dogs), and flowers for the garden. The prices are better than some of the smaller town markets and there is also a wider selection.  Now, the street pic I took below is not on market day.  The street is usually packed pretty full on Saturday.

Street leading to the town centre

One of the guides at the Abbey

Bury St. Edmunds is also home to Greene King Breweries.  My husband is eagerly anticipating that trip, so I will have to update everyone on how that trip goes.  I understand at the brewery they have a beer with a really high alcohol content, and my husband is anxious to try it (gag!).  There is also the Bury Cathedral.  It is a lovely place.  Forgive me for not having photos for you.  My hard drive crashed a while back and I can’t seem to find some of my pictures.

Anyway!  Since arriving in England, I have enjoyed going in random churches.  Many of them are extremely old and boast of some amazingly beautiful architecture and stained glass.  I have also wandered around several old cemeteries.  Sometimes they are overgrown, or the headstones have flaked with age, but they are interesting and sometimes beautiful.

Church in Fordham

Front Bell Tower

Inside

Side with Graveyard

Next time….Ickworth!  (It’s not as bad as it sounds!  I promise!)

We arrived in the UK first thing in the morning.  We settled in where we would be living temporarily and received a mini-tour of the area.  We were also taken to a local grocery store to pick up items we would want.  We are not in a large area, so there are larger grocery stores than our local one, but on average the stores here are not as large as in the United States.  Most even have a small clothing department or aisle and a housewares aisle.  What shocked me the first time we went into the local store was the eggs on the shelves.  I have learned since this surprise that it is quite common in other countries.  In the U.S., it is required that the eggs be washed, which strips a natural protectant from the eggs that prevents spoilage.  They aren’t washed here.  I remember my father teaching me about the natural barrier, but he still refrigerated the eggs, so I did not realise they could be left on a shelf.

I also have found that there are a large number of sweets in a UK grocery when compared to the rest of the food.  I love sweets, but if I could eat wheat and gluten, I would have gained a lot of weight since moving here!   It all looks so wonderful–even the foods that aren’t sweets: sausage rolls, pasties, etc.

During the first two weeks, we began driving around.  It is a bit odd at first, switching sides of the road and sides of the car.  Then we had to take a driving class where we learned the different signs, how to navigate a roundabout, and speed limits.  The instructor also told us of all the accidents in the local area to scare us into driving safely.

Suffolk and Norfolk are the Fens for those who don’t know.  The Fens are reclaimed swampland that is used for farming, so there are stretches of road with deep ditches on either side.  When it rains, those ditches swell with water and a car running off the road may not be seen in some seasons.  It can be a scary thought.  The speed limits are upper limits, but as a driver you are supposed to use your judgement, which means that on a narrow road with no shoulders and a 15 foot ditch to your side, you might have a car zoom by at 70 mph.  If anyone ever finds themselves behind me, I rarely go the speed limit unless the road is great or I am on a motorway!

The first few weekends here, we picked up Layla (our dog) and took her to Ely.  The British often take their pets with them different places, and you often see owners walking their dogs or sitting outside (sometimes even inside) a pub while they eat.  The waitresses will even bring you water for your dog.

Just to say, I love Ely.  It’s a quaint, beautiful town.  All towns have market days which can have everything from fruits and vegetables to books and household supplies.  Most larger towns have a market day on Saturday as well as one during the week, so we often walked around the market.  We also walked up and down the river and let the children play in Jubilee Park.  The river is a lovely spot and it is neat to see the ducks come up on the walkway or see the swans swimming near the boats.

River in Ely

Swan

When in Ely, there is Oliver Cromwell’s house as well as the Ely Cathedral.  I had one gentleman here tell me that he preferred the Ely Cathedral to Notre Dame.  I have not been to Notre Dame yet, but the Ely Cathedral is incredible.  Perhaps one of my favourite things since moving here was my birthday lunch that we had at The Almonry behind the cathedral.  There is a lovely walled garden and as you sit outside you can see the rear of the large building.  There is also a park nearby with a lovely view of the upper portion of the huge building.  There was a service inside when we went, preventing us from taking photos, but there was a fair across the street for different charities.  We had a wonderful time touring the different booths and meeting some of the people.

Parking can be a bit tricky in Ely.  There is a nice car park near the centre of town, but on certain days there is a time limit imposed.  If you don’t mind a bit of a walk, there are other car parks to the outside of town that are free and are unlimited parking.

Next up…Bury St. Edmunds

How it all began…

For those who did not know, I relocated to England from Omaha, Nebraska in May of this year.  It was a move we were very excited about, but it was also a rather harrowing move.  We had always moved ourselves, taking on four interstate moves in eight years, and I had to trust my irreplaceable family heirlooms to commercial movers for the first time.  I remember that I watched the girl packing my grandmother’s tea set while chanting a line that I once heard in a sermon at church, “You can’t take it with you!”  I must say that a part of me did not miss the packing, but I can honestly admit that I still prefer it.  If something breaks, it is no one’s fault but my own and I honestly like it that way.

Beyond our household belongings, there was our family dog, Layla, who is shy of strangers and can be skittish.  We prepared her for travel as much as we could by taking her to obedience classes to get her more comfortable with strangers, and putting her in her travel crate while we drove through a car wash.  I am not sure it helped, but we were nervous about how she would tolerate it all, and I am sure that I bugged the great guy we hired to pick her up from the airport and board her here.  Nevertheless, he was patient, and did not run from me when we finally met.  I still take that as a positive sign.:-)

Because of Layla, we drove out of Omaha to Chicago where we shipped Layla the day after we arrived.  She scared me the morning that we flew her out.  She was barely drinking and she hates doing her business on a leash, so she was refusing to do anything while I walked her.  It was not the situation I’d hoped for before an 8 hour flight.  To compound my stress, the traffic around O’hare was terrible, and the road construction managed to get us completely turned around.  I became a wreck because I believed her to be late to check in, but we managed to get her to the facility in plenty of time.  Curses to the airline operator who told me an hour more than they actually needed!

My worldly goods

She hadn’t realised we were leaving yet.

Our flight left later in the week, so we then took in destinations that we had been hoping to see for a while.  A friend and fellow JAFF Author C Rafe Carlson recommended seeing the “Bean,” which was our first destination upon arriving to the imposing downtown area.  The “Bean” is actually a sculpture called “Cloud Gate” by Indian British born artist Anish Kapoor.  It is a bean shaped stainless steel structure that reflects the sky and the Chicago skyline situated in Millennium Park.  We then wandered around Millennium Park before meeting the aforementioned C Rafe Carlson for lunch at a local Sushi restaurant.  Our final stop for the day was The Art Institute of Chicago.  For those who do not know by know, I have two degrees from University–Biology and Art.  I had long wished to go to The Art Institute of Chicago.  I did not get to mull through it as I might have liked, not everyone in my family enjoys taking days to stroll and study the works, but I did get to see a great deal of amazing art that I had long wanted to see.  I ended up making them take their time through certain sections and then I looked for particular works I had wanted to see.

Downtown Chicago

An Afternoon at La Grande Jatte

Sue at the Field Museum

Our last stop of the Chicago part of our journey ended with the Field Museum.  Our children had been begging us for a few years to go see Sue, the most complete skeleton of a T-Rex that is situated in the lobby.  If anyone has seen Night at the Museum, the T-Rex is Sue.  She is rather impressive as are the other dinosaur skeletons found in the actual exhibit.  Like the art institute, the Field Museum is large and could take more than a day if you were to take your time.  By the end of the day, we all had aching feet, but my husband humoured me and drove me out to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House.  I didn’t go inside, but he parallel parked beside it and then in front so I could study the details and see what I had only seen before in photos.

We spent the day after checking out of our hotel and making out way to the airport, where we remained for the duration of the afternoon for our evening flight.  I do not like flying at all, and I remember pausing at that last step that took me onto the airplane.  I made it through the flight, and even managed to sleep for a while, bruising my legs while I attempted to get comfortable with two children sleeping across my lap.  What I wouldn’t give to afford first class!!!

Next up…Arriving in the UK and Ely