Holiday in Norfolk: Norwich (A Fine City)

I really enjoyed being in Norwich again. It is,
as the saying goes "A fine City". A fine old city
mixed in with fine modern bits! Hope you enjoy
this whistlestop tour!......

Firstly admire the wonderful Forum building,
added for the Millenium, beyond is City Hall.

Viewing the Forum from alongside St. Peter Mancroft church
you can appreciate the internal horseshoe shape
of the Forum.

The old market square with its stalls...


The Royal Arcade, bedecked in Art Nouveau
style ......



Up to the Norman castle, with its eye on the market
below.....best keep an eye on those Angles....



And then there is the fine Norman
cathedral too!


















Pull's Ferry, whence the stone for the Cathedral
arrived from Caen



and in the shadow of the cathedral

...fine old streets and buildings....




...of a FINE CITY!!!!
For a longer photo tour around Norwich
(not of my making!) take a look at
http://www.oldcity.org.uk/norwich/

Holiday in Norfolk: UEA

It was great to revisit some old haunts earlier
this month. A trip onto the University Campus
held some surprises and disorientating features
(loads of shiny new accomodation blocks, an old
familiar one on the brink of final demolition....
and a Coptic Orthodox service as the main
Sunday morning event at the Chapaincy!!)

But the basics were still there:
The delightful Broad....



...the limpid waters of the river Yare flowing
by (invitingly cool looking on a scorching day!)

And the starkly impressive concrete architecture
of the main teaching blocks....





and famous "Ziggurat" accomodation terraces



But the main attraction at UEA, beyond the
splendid new sports complex (and the Olympic
sized Bernard Matthew's swimming pool....
what a bonus!) still has to be the Sainsbury Centre
for the Visual Arts. http://www.scva.org.uk/

Within its cool interior I passed a pleasant morning
admiring both a splendid temporary exhibition
of 18th and 19th century Polynesian craftwork
and, amid other great "World Art" pieces, some
old favourites....such as Degas "Little Dancer"
http://www.scva.org.uk/collections/mustseeobjects/index.php?collection=1&collection_object=43
Well worth a visit.

In Search of a Kingfisher Photo (part two)

The kingfishers at Slimbridge have now
hatched their eggs and got hungry mouths to feed.
Thus, their visits to the nest hole area are
much more frequent. So I tried again to get a
half decent photo of one of them.
After a number of abortive attempts and
missed opportunities (they seemed to turn up
just as I decided I needed to shift my position
a bit on my bench or move the tripod legs to
a better floor arrangement!) I obtained these
following photos.







As you will see the bird liked this branch hanging low
to the water. It would arrive back in a bush near the nest
settling there quite briefly before disappearing into the hole.
A few moments later when its delivery had been made
it would re-emerge and fly across to this favoured spot.
Here it would take a quick dip in the water (to wash?)
and rest a while before heading off again to fish.
If my patience had lasted I would have tried for photos of
it entering the hole.....or a video clip. But enough is enough
and I shall count that photo-project as finished.

A fun day out with the Bartlett's in
Milton Keynes to see some jousting...
Firstly some barbarians did their stuff..



(A Roman army officer showed what
he could do!)

...before a two horse race.....with one rider!




and a two rider race with FOUR horses!



A bit of combat!




Barbarian trickery.......hanging off the side..

lying across the saddle....

Then some "Medieval" jousting.....

The Black Knight (Boooo!)



Some fighting with staves......





Hurrah the Black Knight is vanquished!