No, we're not tourists...

Went touristing and shopping today. Exeter's main attraction is the gigantic cathedral in the center of town that dates from 1200 or something like that, and we visited that today. Took lots of pictures, which I will be linking to in the big picture post I'm making after this one(!!!) and gaped in awe at the gigantic vaulted ceiling and the flying buttresses. Had an interesting "cheese and bacon savory" from a neat litle bakery on High Street that was quite possibly the saltiest thing I've ever had, and those of you who know me well know how much I like my salt. Then we did another batch of grocery shopping, where I discovered that no grocery store in Exeter stocks either cream of celery soup or celery seed. Do Brits have something against celery? I got some "Scotch broth" with which to improvise my hamburger-and-onions-and-cream of celery soup-over-mashed potatoes dish, but found out that, no , it's not going to work, so Pezzers, it's chicken, pasta and broccoli tonight. Sorry, Ellen. You can have peas instead? Anyway, now I've completely filled up my freezer and refrigerator shelves, so there's no possible way I can buy more food for at least a week. Ugh. Now I need to turn my attention to things besides survival, like laundry...

One of the things I noticed yesterday was that the clouds here seem to hang lower in the sky than they do anywhere in TN or Ohio. It's not just the fact that we're in the hills, because it wasn't this way in the mountains this summer. I always thought those old English painters had poor depth perception or something, but no, it really happens. They look close enough to touch without even stretching very far, and thick enough to smother. Even on sunny days, the few clouds invariably left in the sky It's a little claustrophobic at times, but does make for some gorgeous sunsets.

Next up for touristing is these underground passages in the center of town...

Pictures!

My room: 1, 2 (with my honking huge Norton Complete Works of Shakespeare on the middle shelf, and my collection of medicines on the bottom), 3, 4 (and imagine a plain door that matches the closet and desk to the right of the sink)

View from my window: 1, 2

Exeter Cathedral: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

High street:
A special statue
Chandra outside £-Stretcher with my Halloween purchase
Me outside £-Stretcher with the same

Uni campus:
View from the opposite end of campus
Bunker-esque condemned dorm
"Cardiac Hill" (much steeper than it looks)
Random fountain along the sculpture walk, I think
Interesting building
Interesting building take two
View from the west end of campus
Same view, essentially
A dorm
Fountain outside the Peter Chalk Centre
Random quad
Red brick building whose purpose I don't know
How did part of Versailles make it to Exeter?

Totnes:
Arch over the main street with a clock in it
Typical English weather
Norman castle up on the hill
pezprez, softstepshoes and rowdycamels on the way up to the castle
The remains of the tower rebuilt! Er, sort of. Heh.
View from the wall of the castle
Another angle
Lots of rooftops and an old church spire
Cream tea!
The River Dart
This looks more like Miami Beach than England...
Stewart, the Earl of Rain
Whitney's a leper! Auuuuggh! (Best picture ever. Hee.)
Tiniest birdbath in the world
Chandra is a tourist
A pretty hotel
Number 12
The English have such amusing graffiti
The Quay
Looking up Fore Street in all its Tudor glory

Wheee!!!

Well, spockette and I talked on the phone, and the universe didn't implode. Maybe I have to get into Scotland before that happens...? Anyway, Kim, your accent rocks! So very cool. We have to do this more often. :)

Mmm, tasty

I have the biggest bar of Cadbury's DairyMilk ever in my possession at the moment; it was 99p at the porter's office in Cornwall House, and it was calling my name, man. Mom, don't send my any candy or cookies; they do them way better over here, and almost cheaper, too.

Also, I introduced rowdycamels to the wonders of GIMP. For those who don't know, it's a free program for all platforms that's sort of like Photoshop light; it has about three quarters of the features of PS, as far as I can tell from the couple times I've seen it. I give that girl more ways to waste her time... ;)

I promise I'll stop spamming after this...

...but I had to say that my dinner was a success! It ended up being chicken in chicken-and-mushroom flavored pasta with broccoli florets mixed in, which I wasn't sure would turn out so well, but it did. Everyone seemed to like it a lot; I've been asked to cook more. :) The only downside was that either we screwed up and didn't get a Teflon-coated frying pan or gas cooks waaaaaaay faster than electric, because I burned a few bits of it, and I don't remember that kind of skillet meal ever burning at home. But other than that, it worked! Wheee!

Now, I'm still willing to sell my soul for a can of cream of celery soup and/or some celery seed...or even some canned chicken, as Mom says chicken salad isn't too tasty with just cooked chicken breasts... Oh, and what's with the absence of rye bread? Aaaaauuugggghhhh!!!! Do I need to go to some kind of specialty bakery to get it? Help me out here! Sandwiches just aren't worth it without the rye! Must I resort to multigrain?