WE'RE OFF TO VISIT SHREWSBURY

Saturday, March 1st, 1997 Shrewsbury, England

Patti found the missing back to her earring from last night. It had fallen into the cuff of her pants. She put it on the earring and then looked at the other earring and now it is missing the back. Had Breakfast in the dining room as it was included in the price. Actually had a very nice breakfast. Packed up and drove to town.

We parked in the shopping center lot; left Barbara and Patti to shop in the mall for an hour while Jim, Randy and I went off to walk the wall around the old town. Actually we all ended up at the Cathedral which was really interesting. They are currently replacing the floor. Barbara and Patti ended up staying the whole hour in the gift shop and found some wonderful prayer books for their grandchildren. The wall was great! Saw roman ruins; the river and many other items of interest. Had to cut it short as we ran out time.

On our way to Shrewsbury. Only about an hours drive, but we enjoyed it and even accidentally got to see a Country Church and the ruins of Moreton Corbet Castle. A few more miles and we saw the Royal Air Force Base at Shawbury. That’s how we got off on the side trip by following a sign that we thought was Shrewsbury, but it really said Shawbury. Great side trip!

We found the hotel without too much trouble. It is located in the center of the old city and we had to drive up several narrow streets to arrive. Lovely hotel and after looking at seven different rooms, we were finally settled in for a two day stay.

Walked around the town, finally found a pub that wasn’t too smoky about 2:30 pm and ordered lunch of Fish & Chips. Really a great lunch. Barbara’s been looking for a taxidermist. Afterwards, Randy went to a Restaurant and made reservations for dinner. He also found a non-smoking pub for drinks after dinner. Back to the hotel we rested for a bit and then headed out for dinner at 8:30.

Randy and Patti announced that this dinner was their treat to thank us for including them on the trip. (Jim, Barbara and I had scheduled this trip about a year ago.) It was a lovely old building that had been used by the Drapers for their meeting hall and pub centuries back. Now it is called The Drapers. They sat us up in a separate room called The Buttery, with candles and very old tables. The waitress was very friendly and spent extra time with us telling us the history of the building. Even brought us a candle for the empty water bottle so that Patti could add another light in front of the mirror.

It was a lovely evening of very good food with a wonderful presentation; Randy stated that this was the best duck he’d ever eaten. It was at this time we realized that our old neighbors Ted and Ada who had moved to Montana (friends of Jim and I) would know Patti & Randy’s son-in-law who was the son of the owner of Sierra Bullets….Ted writes for their company. Another small world experience. Barbara told us the story of her honeymoon trip and Patti shared the story of their first trip to Mexico. Both were full of funny details that were not too funny at the time they happened. After meeting the cook in the kitchen and taking some photos; we were off to the smoke free bar to meet John the bartender/owner who Patti and Randy had already met this afternoon.

We met a lonely man at the bar and talked with him about Indiana and Wisconsin where he’d spent some time as a camp counselor for a Catholic School. We were back at the hotel by 11 pm and again signing into AOL for messages. We had typed all of our out going messages earlier in the afternoon and did a Flash Session to send them. Barbara is getting much better with typing on the computer and is talking about getting herself a laptop when she arrives home. Opps…it’s after midnight again!