We began our day again with a wonderful breakfast at Grandma's Cottage. A little more acquainted with the place, we talked of places we wanted to visit before the week was out. The previous nights activities had only whet our appetites for castles, cathedrals, and stories of kings and queens past.
Derek arrived to pick us up at exactly 9am. We would run to his home, as well as to the BX, to ready ourselves for the taxi set to arrive at 11am to take us to Bury St. Edmunds. It would be a day of touring cathedrals, seeing the ruined, crumbled castle and much shopping. "The Bury" as called by the locals is a great mixture of England past and present. On one side of the town there is the Abbey, St. Mary's Cathedral, St. Edmunds Cathedral, the castle ruins, the gardens and old buildings filled with shops for tourists, and information on the town's history. On the other side of town is a mall, and downtown offices for the town's businesses.
We started through the Abbey archway to view the Gardens. The Gardens were beautifully laid out.
This proved to be a good place for some photos. We snapped pictures while Adam caught all he could on his video camera. Can't wait to see the DVD. He is pretty good at video editing and producing. He has done it several times for us.
We continued on toward the town street that would lead us to the first of the cathedrals we would tour this fine day, St. Mary's.On the way we found our way to a courtyard between many of the old buildings. More photo opportunities. So again, we took pictures. 
We walked up this stone road toward St. Mary's Cathedral. Inside were stone structures, large and elaborate with ornate fixtures and art work. The ceilings were home to hosts of angels looking down on us.
In St. Mary's the angels and ceiling structures were grayish, stone colored. Yet at St. Edmund's the angels were painted in an array of different colors with similar colored beam structures.
Both cathedrals contained marble tombs and floors tiles, as well as large stained glass windows on every side. St. Edmunds appeared to be much larger to me than St. Mary's, though St. Edmunds was under reconstruction at the time, and was very noisy.
St. Mary's was home to Mary Tudor's grave, she was Queen of France, and died in 1533. We also noticed in St. Mary's that they had various graves all over the place, and people were even buried in the floor. The floor tiles would state the names, and dates of those who were buried beneath.
After touring the cathedrals, we went down the road to look for a place for lunch. We walked back to where the Abbey archway was, and headed the opposite way, down a street that was lined with shops and restaurants. The buildings again were the original old style, yet renovated. Yet the layout of the shops and the crowded busy street reminded me of being in downtown Gatlinburg, on a busy in-season day. The shops were not large, but many, and the crowds were not thinning, no matter how far up the street we walked.
We found a Spanish restaurant, the same place Derek & Nelle had eaten dinner with Simon and Adrianna Potter, missionaries to Asia, Africa, and the US. The food again was superb, and the atmosphere and setting of the place offered a good photo opportunity. So, we snapped shots of each couple, and of course, Drew got to be in the one with his Mommy and Daddy. He was getting to eat too while we were there. Derek was great with the bottle feedings.
Norma had been on a quest to find England soccer balls (footballs they were called here) as we had come during the World Cup Soccer Championships. All England talked of it, and hung flags proudly from windows, doors, even on their car antennas. These soccer balls had been difficult to find. So Adam and Norma went off to find the one shop in town that was to have the balls in stock.
(Side Note: It seemed odd to me that the place we found some soccer memorabilia was the Aldi's down the road from our Lodge in Brandon. There we found World Cup beach towels. Of course they were promoting England, but they had "2010 World Cup Championship" written on them, so Norma and I each bought one for the cost of 2 pounds - approximately $3.85).
While Norma and Adam shopped, Derek, Nelle, Mike and I went to the corner shop for frappes. Drew, who had been riding in his car seat/stroller content, was now sitting in a dirty diaper. It was time for Derek and I to get the baby cleaned up. This was Drew's second dirty diaper on this trip. Unfortunately, the first had been at St. Mary's cathedral. Since their restroom did not have a diaper changer, or any counter space at all, Nelle, Norma and I had managed by holding Drew in the air, working together to get him cleaned up and diapered again.
Drew hated diapering, and the "in the air changing station" was more than he could handle. He screamed loudly the entire time we worked on him. After he had been calmed and Nelle and Norma left the restroom, I was still washing my hands when 2 English women came to me to comment on the sturdiness of that boy, as his lung capacity was great. He would be "sturdy and produce good stock" they told me. I found this to be quite humorous. But told them that I was sure they were right about that.
Adam and Norma returned to join us. Norma had not only found the soccer balls, but had also found the Starbucks. I was sure after drinking England's version of a frappe that Norma had the better deal. The corner coffee shop had not mastered the frappe taste of Starbucks, though they tried.
Norma and I, along with Mike who wouldn't have us going off alone, headed back to the St. Edmund's gift shop to pick up a few items, while the others headed back to the find the castle ruins. When we met up with them a little later, we found Derek and Adam were playing in among the ruins - jumping, and climbing like 2 little 5 year old's. Nelle and Baby Drew stood by watching. The ruins were just that, crumbled left overs from St. Mary's chapel from years gone by. Apparently the Abbey had been home to much more than just the cathedrals. Living quarters had been here too - but were now called the castle ruins.
Mike and Derek posed for a few shots as they played among the relics of yesteryear.
Then we all got in the act as we snapped family shots, one with Adam, then with Norma.
It was time for us to head to the other side of town. We needed to run to Mothercare, a baby shop that was near the mall. Drew had lost weight after birth and was being swallowed by the newborn clothes. So off we went to find those "preemie" clothes we couldn't seem to find on base, via a quick jaunt through through the candy store to pick up items for later, and ice cream cones for those who wanted them. Mothercare was located up several blocks and over a couple more. Walk, walk, walk! Then walk, walk, walk back to the meeting spot to wait for the taxi. (I guessed the days walking would have been a grand total of 3 miles, but the guys said I was pushing it on this one. It would be closer to 2 - but my feet still said 3).
The taxi returned to take us back to Derek's at 6pm. Once there we ordered pizza, and then Norma and Adam decided to take a taxi on to Brandon so they could relax a little before bed. Derek asked us to stay and watch a movie with him. So Mike and I stayed for the movie, (Brother's Grimm), then he drove us home about 10pm to retire for the night and revive from the day's events. It had been long, but a quite enjoyable day for all.
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