Yesterday we bid a sad farewell to Aldeburgh. We were there so long, it had become our home! We set off in the bus to Ipswich (about an hour and a half, which goes through several villages and picks up passengers along the way. Rob sat behind me on the bus with the two cases, while I sat with the hand luggage. I had an empty seat beside me and at one point early in the trip, a lady got on and sat beside me. She then proceeded to ear-bash me all the way to Ipswich! The topics covered included her health problems, the UK government and what they don't do for Suffolk, the Royal family and her utmost admiration for the Queen and disdain for all the other royals, and a range of other things. She was quite a character and just loved talking! It was very peaceful when she got off the bus a couple of stops before we did!
We arrived at Ipswich railway station then caught the train to Norwich. We are staying in a hotel not far from the station but it is about 2 to 3 km from the city centre. We have been getting lots of exercise walking into town and around the city.
Today we set off on the train to Thetford, which was Walmington-on- Sea in the Dad's Army series. We saw the Guild Hall which was used as the Town hall in the series, a statue of Captain Mainwaring, and various other ancient buildings around the town. We wanted to visit the Dad's Army museum but it was closed. It only opens on Saturday at this time of year but from next week it is open more days of the week - so we missed out by a week, unfortunately. We will be in London on Saturday so can't possibly go back to Thetford. We did see the Charles Burrell museum which houses Jones's butcher van which featured in several episodes. We have more Dad's Army adventure tomorrow at Bressingham.
After catching the train back to Norwich, we walked around the city a lot and visited the cathedral, which is wonderful. It is a huge cathedral, which has stood for over 900 years. We entered the cathedral through the Visitor Centre which is built on the foundations of the medieval Hostry where guests would have been welcomed into the Benedictine monastery which then served the cathedral. The organist started practicing music while we were there, which was fabulous. We had a look at what services are coming up and plan to go to Evensong on Friday to hear the organist and the choir.
