Yesterday I was tired from the weekend and did little. Except go into the city with HMB and HMV and Finally and At Last visit Norwich Castle, in between a little shopping.
About 4 years ago in #pubfood (the UEA irc channel, sadly defunct), Karo planned a trip to the Castle, but I never did make it.
The castle looks boring from the outside, because it has a fairly modern shell around it. Inside is quite different: the largest Norman (Will the Conq) motte-and-bailey castle in England, built of Norman stone specially imported. Norwich being not exactly on the way to anywhere, the castle was demoted from royal palace after a while: Henry I did Christmas there in 1121, but after that they didn't bother with it much, and then it spent 400 years as a gaol before being taken over as a museum in late C19, by which time it needed much repair.
We started with the current exhibition of shoes. Not generally my thing, for fairly obvious reasons, but the display and information about Turkish wedding/engagement shoes was lovely and fascinating: shoes of white paper, for men and women, carefully stored in the family treasure chest. After a look at the art galleries we tagged on to a guided tour, which is worth it for the extra information (worth the time, that is, because it's included in the entry price). The upper bit, once the Great Hall and royal apartments, was almost empty so we could look past the Victorian and modern alterations and pretend to be C12 visiting minor nobility - or, in my case a trouvère, of course.
The café there has the most amazing chocolate and carrot cakes.
And then we had a brief wander round M&S while HMB bought a winter coat. Puce. A very C19 colour.
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