Great Yarmouth, England

 We spent a lot of time in northeastern England on this tour. Great Yarmouth (literally, the mouth of the River Yare) was the first of many cities. This town had a huge herring fishing industry until the fish population crashed in the 1950s; now it’s somewhat struggling to reinvent itself. But like many such towns we’ve visited, its maritime focus meant we received a warm welcome.

 We always visit local museums when available; I love the stories small towns tell about themselves. This one was all about the herring fishery. Here, an immersive opportunity to experience a recreation of a “row” in the 1950s. There was a chandlery, grocer, tailor, etc -- everyday life 75 years ago.

Diorama of the fishing industry of the time.

The pier on the seafront: like a 1950s time capsule with boardwalk and arcade across the street. 

The flamingoes are obviously not local to England (reminded me of Florida) but the entire street was alternating arcades and fish-and-chips shops and ice cream. 

The walk to our favourite pub went along, then through, this medieval wall surrounding the city.

Another bit of the wall; just casually accepted and interspersed with more modern buildings.

We were visited by a guy with this gorgeous macaw on his shoulder. He posed the bird at several places on the ship, and allowed me this photo op.

We’ve had a “Jack Sparrow” in every port. I have a running bet with myself on the Jack Sparrow thing — almost broke my streak until finally this guy came on our next-to-last day here. By the end of the tour I had a file of "Jack Sparrows" on my phone and the bet became a bit more public, going double-or-nothing at each port. 

On one of our days off we took a train to Norwich ("Norritch" is how it sounded to me when one of our visitors suggested we go.) Gorgeous medieval architecture; this is a guild hall from the 1400s.

This was the gate to the cathedral area.

Part of the cloisters.

This tall quiet place

Was a cathedral,

'Ere they cut the trees

To build a chapel.

According to my friend Moni, indeed the architecture in some parts of the church is designed to echo a walk in the forest.

With the lighting, this corridor does feel like a forest.

Here's a random photo of an aspen forest that came across my feed. It claims to be from Colorado but it's just a bit too regular; I think it could be a plantation, or it could be AI.

OTOH, I'm pretty sure this one is legit, from Arizona.

June 6 at exactly noon this reenactor read a proclamation about D-day eighty years prior. As we would learn on our tour, the memory of the two World Wars was very prominent all over Europe.

Pasties were tasty and convenient hand-meals for the miners back in the old days, but I prefer to eat mine with a fork; I'm messy!

My photo of a photo of our ship docked at the South Quay, a gift from a local photographer.