Wigan, England

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After we arrived in London we bought train tickets up to Northern England to Wigan. Wigan is where Mark's mother's side of the family live.

Before boarding the train at Paddington Station, we had coffee with Kingsley to catch up. Then we were off. We had been up for over 24 hours, and we had a 5 hour train ride ahead of us. I've included a map to show where Wigan was in relation to London. There were 3 stops along the way where we had to get off the train and change trains. And with Mark and I as usual over packing was difficult with all our luggage.

The cities along the way included:
Reading
Worcester
Birmingham

We finally got into Wigan around 7pm. Mark's Uncle Richard picked us up fro the train station and we were off to Aunt Joan's house for dinner. Mark right away tried to get in on the wrong side of the car... Sitting in the back I didn't think anything of it, but then I realized that there was no steering wheel on the right left side. No matter how many times I've been to England, it still throws me that first day to be on the wrong side of the road.

Dinner at Aunt Joan's was AMAZING! So much food, I was unable to finish.

Roast Beef
Baked Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes (which I found strange to be served both)
Green Beans
Brussel Sprouts
Yorkshire Pudding

Yorkshire Pudding.. very different, but VERY delicious! It's not what you think. It isn't sweet... they are more like bread cups, kind of like the fried dough my mom use to make, but served with gravy instead of sugar. I MUST get the recipe!

At the dinner table we had "Crackers" on our plate. Not like the crackers you eat... those are called biscuits. Not these were like presents. You pull each end with the person next to you and the make a big "CRACK" and then inside are little toys. Apparently these are done more back east. But I have never heard of them or even seen anything like them. It's a Boxing Day (day after xmas) tradition.

After dinner we visited and shared pictures and talked about the upcoming wedding. We do hope that they can attend :-)

Mark and I slept in the spare room like logs, since we had been up for 48 hours prior. We didn't wake up until 10am the next morning (whoops). Anyway, we had our coffee and it was off to visit Mark's Nan. She was so happy to see Mark, and was very upbeat and talkative. Which Mark was very grateful for.

We then went to an authentic English Pub for lunch had a few drinks. In the picture at the Pub is:

LEFT TO RIGHT
Aunt Joan
Cousin Cathy
Uncle Richard
Me & Mark

After lunch we were on our way back to the train station. We thankfully were able to catch a quicker route with only 1 stop in Birmingham which was much easier.

Our trip in London now begins! More to come!