Day 44 - Durham-Peak District-Derby

I explored Durham in the morning (VERY nice town that I'd love to go back to) and then headed down to York, where I caught another train through Leeds to Manchester. From there I went southeast through the Peak District (beautiful area!) to Nottingham.

Around 5:00 I went west to Derby where I met a friend. She was nice enough to show me around the city (it's nice, a lot like Reading) and take me to a few pubs. It was the first time I've been to a real English pub not for food, and with a real English person. I enjoyed it very much.

The whole pub thing is not what I used to think it was. People (generally) don't go there to get drunk or have a wild time. I found it to be a nice relaxing place to sit and talk. It was exactly what I needed after being in Italy for the past few days. Now I have a pretty good idea of how it works, how to order something, etc. And it was great timing because on my way back to Reading, I was invited to a "bar" (which apparently is considered classier than a pub, though it's probably different from what "bar" means in America) with some people from church. That's right, to the bar with people from church. This definitely ain't Oklahoma.

posted by Matt @ 10:50 PM