Norwich, the pretty city!

So, last week, all my closest friends went away on a skiing trip. I didn't really want to go because I would have got really freaked out on the slopes, and by god it was expensive! So, guess who was lonely at home all week? If you guessed me, you got it.
My mum, bless her, tried to make the week as fun as possible when she knew my friends were having a great time in Italy whilst I was stuck in dreary England washing cars and internet shopping with pretend money.
So when she told me that on the Tuesday and Wednesday we were going to look round Norwich and the University of East Anglia (for my sister), I knew I was in for a good time.
(You probably caught on to the sarcasm there - but I was surprisingly impressed once we arrived, honestly.)
So I packed an overnight bag, a hoodie and snacks for the car journey, and most importantly my headphones. I basically zoned out for the whole journey listening to my Spotify playlist - except for when we arrived at McDonalds - I had to be sociable then to tell my mum I wanted a mayo chicken legend meal with a coke.
But you know what it's like, a long car journey is the best way to listen to good music and feel like you're starring in your own emotional music video with the (rare in England) sun glaring in your face, the volume up full, and streets passing by, it's just how it is!
Once we arrived, though, we headed to the hotel to down our bags, before heading out to see what the centre was like. It was actually so pretty!
We first of all went into the market, the picture doesn't show just how cute it was. Each stall was built to look like a beach hut and there were so many it was like a maze! Everything was being sold here, from spices to watch straps. (And there was a cupcake stall that I was particularly in awe of.)

Terrible photo of the market.

Then we browsed the shops, and there was a pretty impressive selection! My sister continued to tell me that Norwich is in the top 10 for the best city for shopping in the UK. Impressive!
After that, of course we headed to "the arcades" which were just so quaint and pretty.



The Arcades + dad's head.


At one point, we went to NEXT and spent about 45 minutes finding a pair of jeans for my dad, to replace the ones he's had for the past 10 years, and these new ones - of course - had to be of the perfect quality to last the next 10 years.
Is it just my dad who only buys something new every few years? The shirts he wears on a daily basis have been in his possession since my birth.
Nothing to do with my dad or NEXT - but here's the cathedral from The Forum windows.

The Cathedral

For tea, we visited Jamie (Oliver)'s Italian, if you've never been YOU MUST. They're in most cities, and my god the food is a gastronomic masterpiece. I've been in London, Manchester and now Norwich. This time I had the steak and quite honestly, I would marry it if I could, genuinely it was that delicious - It was probably the best thing I've ever eaten.
(Also the staff at Jamie's are so friendly, if you ever go to the one in Manchester and have a ginger-curly haired waitress called Debbie, she is the best waitress ever, literally.)
 

The bread board me and my sister shared at Jamie's.

In the morning before visiting the University, we went to a dainty little café called No.33 and it was so lovely. Just thought I'd show you this picture from my snapchat because, well, I thought it was funny. And I like tea.
 

 
 

That's all for tonight, sorry if this one was a bit of a bore, I just thought Norwich was worth writing about. The architecture and general atmosphere were lovely, everyone looked so happy and honestly I can imagine myself living their in the future. Who knows!

 

P.s If you're from the Yorkshire/Lincolnshire area (like moi) Norwich is kinda similar to York. But cooler.

 A x