After much debating, hand-wringing, and all around jibber-jabber in London, I finally sorted out my plans for my post-Paradis visit. Originally I had planned to squeeze in a trip down to Brighton but as I mentioned in the last post that didn't pan out. So, after blanketing my friends across the UK with inquiries, it was decided that I should first visit two of my friends from Le Mans, Josh and Ali, in their town of Wakefield.
For those of you who have absolutely no clue about Wakefield (as I did prior to arriving), it is a smallish English town in roughly the middle of the country about half an hour from Leeds (where my friend Tom Dale from Ledesma went to school!). It's not what I would call a "scenic" English town like a Bath or York, and it's not a bustling metropolis like a London or Newcastle, but it is, as Josh put it, a great example of a typical English town. Which in my opinion, if you're traveling the world, visiting such places is just as critical if not more critical than visiting the prescribed tourist cities and sites. You'll never get a true feel of a country/people unless you see how the majority of people live their lives. And in that respect, Wakefield certainly opened my eyes.
I somehow arrived in Wakefield at the old Kirkgate train station on the opposite end of town. When I say opposite end of town I mean that it's a 10-15 minute walk to the main part of town versus 3 from the other station. We're not talking about a ton of ground to cover here. The notable thing about the station on the east side of town, however, is its lack of notability. When I stepped off the train my first thought was, "apparently the War is still going here in Wakefield."
Outside the train station I located a map to the middle of the city. Since I arrived around noon and my gracious host Josh was at work until 5, I needed to find a cafe to kill some time. On the way into the main part of the city I located the historic Wakefield Arms hotel which... appeared in need of a few repairs.
One of the best things about small-ish towns is that all roads pretty much lead to the center. So it was quite easy to make my way to the middle of town where arguably the most scenic of the city's sites is located: the Wakefield Cathedral.
I eventually found a nice cafe with wireless where I could kill some time and after a coffee, bacon sandwich (which I'm noticing are immensely popular around England), and mucking about on the web for a few hours I received a call from Josh who was going to meet me at the fountain in the main square. When he picked me up he mentioned that we would be having "cottage pie" that night, but I misheard him and thought he said we would be having a "cottage party." My confusion was further amplified when he indicated we would need to pick up some beer before going back to the flat. For the next 2-3 hours I kept wondering what a "cottage party" was and what the protocol required for a guest attending such an event.
At the flat, Josh showed me around and then to my room. I must admit, they have a wonderful flat. Brand new and fully equipped with all the modern conveniences it really reminded me of the old apartment in Long Island City. I do miss that view, a feeling which became more pronounced when I got a peek of the view from Josh's balcony:
After cracking open a beer, Josh put me to work chopping veggies and as things began to come together I slowly realized we were having some sort of pie for dinner. Finally, it hit me: we were having a "cottage PIE." Ahhhh! Wait, what the heck is a cottage pie? Josh explained it to me- a shepherd's pie (which most of us know) is a baked dish of mashed potatoes, veggies, and lamb (lamb?!), whereas a cottage pie is the same thing but with beef. I know what you're thinking- but every shepherd's pie I've ever eaten has been made with beef! Well then, you've been eating cottage pie! (Alternatively you may be thinking, "why are you talking so much about baked pies? who cares?? One more post like this and I'll stop reading this boring blog!" Which... fair enough).
After Josh, his lovely girlfriend Allison, and I finished our cottage pie (which was absolutely delicious), we met up with Ali and made our way down to the pubs for a few pints. Along the way we passed by an interesting sight: a maximum security prison that houses pedophiles, sex offenders, and terrorists on loan from Guantanamo adjacent to... a children's park. So from this I've learned that the English are either terrible at city planning or are extremely confident in the security of their prisons.
While there might not be a ton of "sites" to see in Wakefield, the area does offer some spectacular views. On the way to the pub, in the middle of the city, we passed through this giant open park where I got a nice shot of the setting sun.
The night in the pub was more or less as expected for a Monday night. Had a few nice pints of real English ale, watched some Olympics, and then decided to call it a night around midnight. On our way back, however, we encountered a scene none of us expected: a full raucous crowd of young men and women storming around the town in clubbing gear. It looked like a Friday night (although I was informed that on Friday night there would be 2-3 times more people).
The first thing I noticed about this crowd was how dressed up the girls were- it seriously looked like a club night out in NYC. Secondly, none of the girls had coats. And it was cold. I'll get to the explanation for this in a subsequent post (cliff-hanger!). Finally, and probably most intriguingly, at least half (probably closer to 70%) of the girls had dyed hair. Bleach blond and bright red were very popular but I was stunned by how many pinks, greens, and blues I saw. I couldn't believe it. I made a mental note to observe the girls the following day to see if the trend would hold true in daylight.
We went for a bit of a dance in what seemed to be the most popular destination (sadly we weren't carded- getting old is beginning to set in) but considering that everyone in the bar/club was probably 10 years younger than the three of us, and everyone (except me) had work in the morning, we decided to call it a night. Here's a shot of the three of us at the pub.
I didn't really have a plan for day 2 so I decided to wander around the city as long as the weather would hold up and then head back to the flat. Since Josh lives just a bit out of city center I had a nice 10-15 minute stroll through the neighborhoods of Wakefield before I reached the town center. It was fascinating to see some of the old school English architecture that ultimately has made its way across the pond and can be found in the aging suburbs of cities like NY or Philly. Here is a typical Wakefield row house.
In the town center there's not a whole ton to see, the aforementioned cathedral and fountain probably being the two main attractions. There is also a cool town hall and county hall where a statue of Queen Victoria was erected by the citizens of Wakefield.
I walked around for an hour or so and then it started raining so I retreated to a cafe and then ultimately back to the flat. That night, Josh, Allison, and I went to Pizza Express: an upscale pizza chain scattered around the UK. As you may have noticed via my posts on Naples and other pizza references, I'm a bit of a pizza snob. So I'm thrilled to announce that Pizza Express (despite the very fast-food sounding name) actually serves up very good pizza.
It's a thin crust pie and there are probably 20-30 different options of pizzas to choose from as well as a build-your-own option. I went with one of the signature pies which had hot salami, 3 different peppers including some nicely hot chilis, fresh mozz, tomato sauce, a sprinkle of parmigiano reggiano, and some arugula. It was really good but I needed Josh's help to finish it off. We also had an outstanding crisp (not sweet) cider that was over 5% abv. Well done. I should have taken a picture but I was so impressed with how good it was I simply forgot. But if you find yourself in the UK and fancy a pizza, Pizza Express is a safe bet.
Back at the flat Allison fixed me a proper cup of English tea with milk and Josh and I closed out the night watching a few episodes of How I Met Your Mother which is apparently pretty popular over here. Since I had to be up and on a train at 7:30am the next day I decided to call it a very early night by Wanderlust standards and was soundly asleep on the air mattress by 10:30. If you're going to England and you only have a week or so to explore, I'd tell you to focus your efforts on London and some of the other bigger or more scenic towns. But if you're taking your time and want to get the feel of a proper English town- Wakefield is as good of a bet as any. And I'm sure Josh and Ali would be more than pleased to escort you down to the pub for a pint or two... or three...
For those of you who have absolutely no clue about Wakefield (as I did prior to arriving), it is a smallish English town in roughly the middle of the country about half an hour from Leeds (where my friend Tom Dale from Ledesma went to school!). It's not what I would call a "scenic" English town like a Bath or York, and it's not a bustling metropolis like a London or Newcastle, but it is, as Josh put it, a great example of a typical English town. Which in my opinion, if you're traveling the world, visiting such places is just as critical if not more critical than visiting the prescribed tourist cities and sites. You'll never get a true feel of a country/people unless you see how the majority of people live their lives. And in that respect, Wakefield certainly opened my eyes.
I somehow arrived in Wakefield at the old Kirkgate train station on the opposite end of town. When I say opposite end of town I mean that it's a 10-15 minute walk to the main part of town versus 3 from the other station. We're not talking about a ton of ground to cover here. The notable thing about the station on the east side of town, however, is its lack of notability. When I stepped off the train my first thought was, "apparently the War is still going here in Wakefield."
Outside the train station I located a map to the middle of the city. Since I arrived around noon and my gracious host Josh was at work until 5, I needed to find a cafe to kill some time. On the way into the main part of the city I located the historic Wakefield Arms hotel which... appeared in need of a few repairs.
One of the best things about small-ish towns is that all roads pretty much lead to the center. So it was quite easy to make my way to the middle of town where arguably the most scenic of the city's sites is located: the Wakefield Cathedral.
I eventually found a nice cafe with wireless where I could kill some time and after a coffee, bacon sandwich (which I'm noticing are immensely popular around England), and mucking about on the web for a few hours I received a call from Josh who was going to meet me at the fountain in the main square. When he picked me up he mentioned that we would be having "cottage pie" that night, but I misheard him and thought he said we would be having a "cottage party." My confusion was further amplified when he indicated we would need to pick up some beer before going back to the flat. For the next 2-3 hours I kept wondering what a "cottage party" was and what the protocol required for a guest attending such an event.
At the flat, Josh showed me around and then to my room. I must admit, they have a wonderful flat. Brand new and fully equipped with all the modern conveniences it really reminded me of the old apartment in Long Island City. I do miss that view, a feeling which became more pronounced when I got a peek of the view from Josh's balcony:
After cracking open a beer, Josh put me to work chopping veggies and as things began to come together I slowly realized we were having some sort of pie for dinner. Finally, it hit me: we were having a "cottage PIE." Ahhhh! Wait, what the heck is a cottage pie? Josh explained it to me- a shepherd's pie (which most of us know) is a baked dish of mashed potatoes, veggies, and lamb (lamb?!), whereas a cottage pie is the same thing but with beef. I know what you're thinking- but every shepherd's pie I've ever eaten has been made with beef! Well then, you've been eating cottage pie! (Alternatively you may be thinking, "why are you talking so much about baked pies? who cares?? One more post like this and I'll stop reading this boring blog!" Which... fair enough).
After Josh, his lovely girlfriend Allison, and I finished our cottage pie (which was absolutely delicious), we met up with Ali and made our way down to the pubs for a few pints. Along the way we passed by an interesting sight: a maximum security prison that houses pedophiles, sex offenders, and terrorists on loan from Guantanamo adjacent to... a children's park. So from this I've learned that the English are either terrible at city planning or are extremely confident in the security of their prisons.
While there might not be a ton of "sites" to see in Wakefield, the area does offer some spectacular views. On the way to the pub, in the middle of the city, we passed through this giant open park where I got a nice shot of the setting sun.
The night in the pub was more or less as expected for a Monday night. Had a few nice pints of real English ale, watched some Olympics, and then decided to call it a night around midnight. On our way back, however, we encountered a scene none of us expected: a full raucous crowd of young men and women storming around the town in clubbing gear. It looked like a Friday night (although I was informed that on Friday night there would be 2-3 times more people).
The first thing I noticed about this crowd was how dressed up the girls were- it seriously looked like a club night out in NYC. Secondly, none of the girls had coats. And it was cold. I'll get to the explanation for this in a subsequent post (cliff-hanger!). Finally, and probably most intriguingly, at least half (probably closer to 70%) of the girls had dyed hair. Bleach blond and bright red were very popular but I was stunned by how many pinks, greens, and blues I saw. I couldn't believe it. I made a mental note to observe the girls the following day to see if the trend would hold true in daylight.
We went for a bit of a dance in what seemed to be the most popular destination (sadly we weren't carded- getting old is beginning to set in) but considering that everyone in the bar/club was probably 10 years younger than the three of us, and everyone (except me) had work in the morning, we decided to call it a night. Here's a shot of the three of us at the pub.
I didn't really have a plan for day 2 so I decided to wander around the city as long as the weather would hold up and then head back to the flat. Since Josh lives just a bit out of city center I had a nice 10-15 minute stroll through the neighborhoods of Wakefield before I reached the town center. It was fascinating to see some of the old school English architecture that ultimately has made its way across the pond and can be found in the aging suburbs of cities like NY or Philly. Here is a typical Wakefield row house.
In the town center there's not a whole ton to see, the aforementioned cathedral and fountain probably being the two main attractions. There is also a cool town hall and county hall where a statue of Queen Victoria was erected by the citizens of Wakefield.
I walked around for an hour or so and then it started raining so I retreated to a cafe and then ultimately back to the flat. That night, Josh, Allison, and I went to Pizza Express: an upscale pizza chain scattered around the UK. As you may have noticed via my posts on Naples and other pizza references, I'm a bit of a pizza snob. So I'm thrilled to announce that Pizza Express (despite the very fast-food sounding name) actually serves up very good pizza.
It's a thin crust pie and there are probably 20-30 different options of pizzas to choose from as well as a build-your-own option. I went with one of the signature pies which had hot salami, 3 different peppers including some nicely hot chilis, fresh mozz, tomato sauce, a sprinkle of parmigiano reggiano, and some arugula. It was really good but I needed Josh's help to finish it off. We also had an outstanding crisp (not sweet) cider that was over 5% abv. Well done. I should have taken a picture but I was so impressed with how good it was I simply forgot. But if you find yourself in the UK and fancy a pizza, Pizza Express is a safe bet.
Back at the flat Allison fixed me a proper cup of English tea with milk and Josh and I closed out the night watching a few episodes of How I Met Your Mother which is apparently pretty popular over here. Since I had to be up and on a train at 7:30am the next day I decided to call it a very early night by Wanderlust standards and was soundly asleep on the air mattress by 10:30. If you're going to England and you only have a week or so to explore, I'd tell you to focus your efforts on London and some of the other bigger or more scenic towns. But if you're taking your time and want to get the feel of a proper English town- Wakefield is as good of a bet as any. And I'm sure Josh and Ali would be more than pleased to escort you down to the pub for a pint or two... or three...
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