Rochester

I was just looking through my photos and found some from my trip last weekend so thought I'd do a quick blog entry to tell you a bit about Rochester.

Last weekend I headed down to Kent again to celebrate Ben and Michelle's birthdays. I was only there for one night but we packed heaps into both of the days so it felt like a real break away. When I arrived, Julia (Ben's partner) picked me up with Michelle and another friend Becky and we headed to Rochester for a girly day visiting cathedrals, castle ruins, getting coffee and cake and of course looking around the shops. It was great!

Bunting on the streets in Rochester

The blossoms were out on the walk to the castle

There was nice stained glass work in Rochester Cathedral

View of the cathedral from the castle

Rochester Castle

Queen of the castle!

From the inside

I enjoyed poking around Rochester Castle, it was incredibly windy and the wind blew through all the windows so you got a feel of how awful winters must have been in there. I had a chuckle to myself when I saw that the castle was bought by Rochester castle for 6000 pound in the late 1800s. I also couldn't resist taking a picture of this lone panda glove (for Matt, my brother's nickname is panda) that had fallen over the side of the viewing platform.

For Matty :)

Everyone probably knows about my terrible sweet tooth by now and the streets of Rochester were the place for me because I swear every second shop was a sweet store! I stocked up on fudge and pick'n'mix which I kept me going throughout the week.

Little scoop or GIANT hand?

Let loose on some pick'n'mix again

On Saturday night we went out for a big dinner and then danced the night away in some hot spots in Maidstone. At dinner I had my first dough balls which are literally balls of dough you dip in garlic butter. I could have eaten them all night they were that delicious.

Not helping the figure... But so good!

On Sunday we headed over to Ben's parent's house for his birthday lunch and I'm sure I mentioned in my previous Kent blog how entertaining his family get togethers are. My face was sore from laughing so much. One highlight though was when Brian, Ben's dad, talked me through cooking a paella (his speciality). Spain is one of his favourite holiday destinations so gave me lots of recommendations of food to try when I get over there.

Brian's famous paella

After lunch I got a ride back closer to London with Ben's sister and her fiance, Doug. Doug is from Wellington too so it was great to talk about home and experiences of moving over here with him.

Now it's time to write about the cricket...