Procrastinating

Today I did nothing. The Husband left early this morning to go to Harwich (which is three hours away) for work and won't be back until tomorrow. One reason I didn't do anything today was because I had a splitting migraine headache so I pretty much stayed in bed all day. It finally broke about 5:30 at which time, I left the flat to go get some dinner at McChina Wok Away. Just thought I would share that name with you. When I got back, I watched some TV, planned a tea party and looked at millions of pictures and videos of petit fours, tea cookies and french macarons. I really miss my Kitchen Aid mixer right about now. I haven't baked in about a month (the July 4th cupcakes really don't count). Good thing I made two cakes and a dozen cupcakes right before I left. I already have my brother's birthday cake on deck for the weekend after I get back home.

Now to backtrack. Yesterday was far more eventful. First of all, for a "job" that doesn't pay, helping out at the cake shop definitely comes with benefits. Yesterday, Helen cut some cakes and sent me home with the scraps. She also gave some to me at lunch with some butter cream and raspberry jam on it. YUM! We spent the rest of the day comparing the differences between American vs British cakes.

For two weeks, the City of Winchester has the Winchester Festival which consists of a series of speakers, writers, and musicians who share their craft.Yesterday, we wanted to hear a speaker talking about the history of MI6 (the Biritish intelligence) at 6:00 in Winchester. The Husband got off work right at 4:30, came home and we headed to the train station to catch the 5:13 train to Winchester. That's where the adventure begins. My watch was 10 minutes slow so I thought we had more time than we actually did. We ended up running the last chunk of the way and got there right at 5:12. Guess what! NO TRAIN! There had been a fatality earlier in the day and caused major delays causing our train to be canceled. So we had to take the 5:33 train which is a longer trip by 15 minutes and it was running another 5 minutes later. There was no way we were going to make it to Winchester in time. We got in just before 6:30 and caught a cab to Guildhall and snuck in to the talk:

I wanted to make sure we got good use of our day light so after the talk, we walked around town. Winchester used to be the capital of England and is very historic. I wonder what it was like to walk down this street hundreds of year ago. I wonder if the shop owners ever imagined that the second shop with a covered walkway would eventually become a Starbucks. 

 One street was a little quirky.

As we walked up the hill, we came closer to The Great Hall.

There is is! The Great Hall. Don't know what The Great Hall is? This is where the legendary King Arthur met with his knights.

Just behind these doors lies the Round Table. The sad news is, it was closed. Everything here closes at 5:30 during the week. But don't worry, we have already planned a weekend in Winchester before I head back home and of course, I'll take some pictures on the inside. 

Then we headed to Jewry Street. According to the Winchester Visitor Guide, Jewry Street got its name because it used to be the Jewish Street in town. I found this interesting for a variety of different reasons. First, it didn't actually get its name until after they had moved out. It is now a popular place for restaurants. Today I did a little bit of research on the street but wasn't able to find much. The Husband and I plan to go to the library (located on Jewry Street) and see what we can dig up in the archives.

I love traveling with another mind. While walking along Jewry Street, The Husband questioned whether this may have been a synagogue at one point. There is no steeple, which is common for these older churches and it looks like certain characteristics have been removed (like the plain plaque at the top and the new doors). We were unable to find a plaque but we hope to find more information on our next visit.

This was also on Jewry Street. The menu didn't look like more than burgers and chips so we went to a steak house right across the street.

I started with an apple and parsnip soup.

And moved on to the cod. The Husband had a steak that was overcooked of course, but that's how he likes it. Ew, well done. We shared some chips and then had a brownie and ice cream.

We've been really good up until last night about asking for tap water. If you don't, you end up spending about $5 on a pretty bottle of water. 

Oh well. Our night was still successful, we caught a train home and made it in well before midnight.