March musings

On the Sunday evening at the hotel,we had sandwiches via room service. They were quite substantial and filling, but there was a hefty charge to deliver them. I asked husband if he minded watching 'Call the Midwife' live, so we did that, then left the room TV on. Something followed that had Tom Hollander and Hugh Laurie in it, but we couldn't make head or tail of it so switched it off. I later heard it was hugely popular. Something about a Manager, I think.
We went to bed, but there still seemed to be a lot of noise, and all of the doors seemed to close with a bang. Not the best night's sleep we've ever had. Next morning we found breakfast was in the Conservatory, which seemed to have a plastic outer wall, and there was quite draught round the ankles. I was disappointed to see that it was all self service. The decaff was in sachets, and I had to just add hot water. For the price we were paying I had expected table service at least for the cooked part.
Breakfast over, we headed off to the City Centre,and parked on a car park our Son had shown us last summer. It is however now more expensive to park there. Husband wanted to visit the bike shop, where our Son had bought a bike whilst at uni. Husband had been saving up for a while. I headed for M&S. I was so cold that I bought a scarf,and 2 pairs of thick tights! During those 2 days in Chester, we had the works. Sun, rain, hail, wind sleet and snow, but not all at once I hasten to add.
I met up with husband again, and we set off, up the steps by the Eastgate, and on to the walls starting off going towards the Northgate.  It was interesting to see how much has changed since I lived there. Husband isn't keen on steps,and by the time we got round to the river, he decided it was lunchtime.
We couldn't find anywhere in the Groves,so went back to a small place at the bottom of Bridge Street.
Replete, husband headed off to try the bike they had been assembling for him, and I wandered around before meeting him. We had decided to go to the Cathedral, I hadn't been there for years, I had forgotten how massive it was inside, of course it was originally part monastery, there were a lot of monks in old Chester, and some of the streets echo this, such as White Friars, and Black Friars. We didn't see it all, were feeling somewhat footsore, my back ached from the hotel bed, so we in the made our way to the small cafe, and had a drink before leaving. I walked slowly back to the car, and husband headed to the bike shop to pay, with a promise to collect the bike on the Wednesday.

King Charles' tower

Race course or Roodee

Dee Bridge, the hand bridge

 Dinner that evening was in the Conservatory part of the Restaurant. It was quite chilly in there, rain slid relentlessly down the plastic wall, The meal was reasonable, but I forgot to take notes of what we ate.
The next day we were off to Chester Zoo. I had donned thick tights under trousers,and wore the new scarf and gloves, which I had remembered to pack. The entrance is not in the same place as I remember it from years ago, but we found our way around using the map provided. there were a couple of parties of school children, and quite a few other visitors, despite the cold. We used the monorail, and some self steering boats, round the new 'Islands' project, However there were bits that we couldn't find our way to, and I was left wondering if they still had any tigers. Later I discovered they were in a bit we couldn't fathom out how to reach. We had lunch in one of the small cafes, and resumed our wanderings, then decide we could walk no further, and headed back to the car. My fitbug recorded over 13,000 steps that day.
For dinner we had booked the Marco Pierre White restaurant, in the main building, which was once taken over by Western Command, after being a private residence.
There was only salmon as a choice for fish, so I ended up having lamb for my mains. The food was quite good, well presented, but the waitress could have done with a bit more training. 'You're' welcome' sounds much better than 'No problem' in response to thanks!
Next morning we checked out soon after breakfast, more sleet and snow,and drove into the City, where husband fixed the bike rack on the car, and collected his shiny new bike. Then we drove to Sandbach, let ourselves in Son's house, as they had an appointment. Had a quick drink, petted Tom for a while, and unloaded the bike and left it at Son's house.
Will post some zoo pictures separately. I will also catch up on the rest of March.