We decided on a whim to join some friends who had planned a visit to Chester — it’s less than an hour’s drive from home, which makes it an easy day trip. Normally trips like this result in all sorts of photos to illustrate the experience, but I came back with a grand total of four photos. (That happens when I get more focused on absorbing experiences than documenting them.)
Instead, I present a list of the things that stuck out the most:
- Posing as Captain Morgan on a statue commemorating a different Captain Morgan
- Watching baby ducklings paddle furiously along a canal, their mother guiding them to the edge of the water as canal barges glided past
- Wandering through the Roman gardens and amphitheater, appreciating the artifacts but wishing they weren’t quite so carefully manipulated and reconstructed
- Eating incredibly tasty Thai food, well worth the short walk outside the city center (especially given that it resulted in the nice walk back along the canal)
- Walking the city walls, looking down at the street below and discussing the etiquette of the gentleman walking along the edge of the sidewalk back in the day to protect the lady from getting doused in sewage water
- Stopping along the river to look at a bridge and ending up watching seagulls float right up to the edge of a little waterfall before bursting into flight to save themselves at the last moment
All in all, a pleasant day with just the right mix of history, serendipity, and good conversation.
Expat Linguist 