So then Part II and all that of holiday goings on. I'll try and keep things short and sweet as it's Saturday night and I can at least pretend that I have better things to do. The pluses and minuses of the holiday can easily be categorized by whether or not Bethany enjoyed the experience for convenience sake with a third category of partial enjoyment which may safely be assumed that if we are relying on our daughter to judge probably means that we were not overly impressed. The first excursion involved going to Thrigby Hall which we thought would be a winner with the zoo knowing how much Bethany enjoys interacting with all animals. We and her were not disappointed with the crocodiles / alligators and big cats providing especial wonder for Bethany but we still felt slightly uncomfortable seeing such magnificent beasts in captivity.
The broads were a popular destination with an initial trip to Potter Heigham followed by my rekindling of old memories by venturing to Wroxham where as a student we had been to before and had hired a boat from to cruise the broads. Twenty years later and I did not recognize the place but the presence of Roy on the front of every other shop told me that I was in the right place place and that his grip on the local retail market was as strong as ever. Two further trips did nothing to rekindle old memories as we went back to take a boat cruise which Bethany (and therefore us) enjoyed and also the following day to take a trip on the narrow gauge railway that runs between Wroxham and Aylsham.
This latter train journey can be filed in the fail column as we had called in the previous day before we got on the boat and realized that we did not have time for both so picked the water option as it was getting late and the last boat journey was the only 1 hour trip of the day which we thought best so as not to have Bethany confined for so long but found out that the train journey was 45 minutes. Once we were on the train overhearing a family behind us we soon discovered that it was 45 minutes each way. Added to that most of the scenery consisted of hedgerows and given the timescale we were obliged to have lunch at the cafe at Aylsham station in the half hour wait for the return journey after having already spent twice as much on tickets as we had for the boat (I was already mildly irked by having my vouchers declined as I had remembered them too late and he had rung it through the till but before I had paid). Too make matters worse Bethany was due a sleep after her lunch, being tired and howled for about 5 solid minutes (it felt much longer but that is probably more accurate) before she finally went to sleep causing us to apologize to the rest of the carriage. The other passengers were fine but I could definitely detect the smiles on one older couple who started admiring Bethany become more rigid as they tried to sympathise as she screamed her way through Norfolk. This relaxed once more when she did fall asleep and another couple also became friendlier as they told us not to worry in response to our apology saying that they had been there themselves.
The added bonus of these trips to the broads was finding some nice country pubs for lunch on the way which were always welcoming with good food and real ale. In the case of our last full day it proved to be the highlight of the day after the morning train journey and a trip to Norwich after lunch. The pub on the road between Wroxham and Norwich even had a guitarist and another customer who came in after us got up and sang along. This separated my second slice of nostalgia with the trip to Norwich but we only looked around the city centre where we grabbed a few souvenirs as presents and aimlessly wandered without any real purpose. Alison did comment that a pub we passed on the way in looks nice only for me to recognize "The Artichoke" as a pub I had frequented a few times as a student as friends lived nearby but remembered as not the best in the city and not unknown for drug deals to take place therein. It may well have improved since then but it would not have been my first choice had we called in for a drink anywhere.
Another mixed bag was Fritton Park which the tourist brochure led us to believe contained a farm as well as children's adventure park and soft play area. There was no farm but a pony riding area and duck decoy which Bethany again was happy to say hello to as well as the soft play area which she played in for a while as well as a go on the slide. However we walked around the rest of the estate which was fine enough but there was not quite enough for children of Bethany's age to do. She certainly was too young for golf and we did not relish going on the boating lake with her but looked forward to utilizing our free carousel ride vouchers that we were given on the way in. There was a queue for the carousel when we arrived so thought to have a go after walking round. When we got back to the starting point near the carousel it was running so again we decided to check out the ponies behind it, but by the time we came back it had shut for half an hour so just left.
So as to actually feel seasideish we did do the usual holiday stuff in Great Yarmouth on a couple of occasions (amusements, walk down the piers) and took the local car train as well as calling back in after the boat to check out the nightlife on the pier as Alison wished to size up the entertainment which turned out to be non existent. The following night we could have seen Cannon and Ball had we so wished but for that evening, nada. Still it was better than being at work.
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