Today was the day following our No Good Very Bad Day, and it actually went quite well. We began the day by having a nice English breakfast of sausage, eggs (scrambled), toast, fried tomatoes, and a variety of jams and spreads. From there, we proceeded to the train station where we caught the 45 minute long train ride to King’s Lynn.
At King’s Lynn, I was finally introduced to the Harris family with whom Libby stayed while she was student teaching in England. We ventured to the next town of Wisbech, where they lived. Once in town, we made a quick stop at Marshland High School, where Libby had spent two and half months teaching. We walked around the exterior of the art building, saw what had changed with the school, and peeked in the windows. Rhiannon and Rhosey, two of the Harris sister trio, then took us on a tour of Wisbech.
The quaint town is often used in movies and in fact Johnny Depp is buying a house near there after having filmed a movie in the area. They both got a laugh out of this, worrying that he might be disappointed with the amount of things to do. Later they took us to the Elgood Brewery, a famous point in the town, for a walk through the massive Brewery garden and to sample some goods. The garden was glorious. The English are very proud of their gardens and with good reason. We passed the garden maze and of course decided to give it a try. Our sense of navigation, perfected in the previous week, successfully led us through the maze after several tries. I imagine it would have looked funny to an outside observer, as four twenty-somethings all tried to pretend that they weren’t having too much fun exploring the 8-foot hedges.
After touring the gardens we headed back into the main part of town to pick up a variety of sausages for the cook out. The Harris family had heard I liked trying new foods, and were determined to give me a good selection to sample. Leaving the meats to the Harrises, I quickly headed over to the candy aisle with Libby in tow. In the time it took them to pick out a couple of sausages I had a basket full of my favorite English goodies: Toffee Crisp Bars, Cadbury Crunchies, Smartees, a variety of Biscuits, and Mars bars. After getting over their shock at my booty, Libby and the Harris girls added a few items of their own. Libby insisted we had to get some Jaffa Cakes (her personal favorite from her previous visit) and Battenburg cakes, while the Harrises suggested Lion Bars and a few other candies to try.
I was eventually dragged from the candy aisle and back to the house for a quick lunch of breads and cheeses before heading off to the new cinema. Of course, the cheeses were all traditional English cheeses, which were mostly delicious and definitely smelly. The Leicester Red and English Cheddar were excellent, and Libby assured me the Stilton was fabulous as well, although I was skeptical. Along the way I got to try Marmite (interesting is a good description), several homemade jams, and traditional cream tea. Of course, I didn’t actually drink the tea. But I did enjoy the scones and clotted cream.
After we were all finally stuffed from our “light” lunch, it was time for the cinema. It was a very nice little cinema, with leather couches and drink service. Certainly, it was the most comfortable theater I have been to. Unfortunately, the single screen forced us to watch G-Force, an action flick about talking hamsters. Despite its best attempts, I was able to withstand the movie until the electrical kitchen appliances went on the attack and I was finally forced to give up.
Fortunately dinner was excellent; the Harris girls cooked sausages, herbed potatoes, and even made black pudding (ewww… look it up) for us to try. While eating we watched the very funny English show Q.I. and I was introduced to the comedy of Stephen Fry. After a great day we headed off for some sleep.

Travel question of the day: Why would anyone eat black pudding?