Model Railways and Teppan-Yaki!

 Friday 22nd July, 2022 still in Chester.

What's this??? We awoke to the sound of RAIN on the roof! Surely not?  But it was, and it stayed falling almost all day. 

Grabbing the umbrellas, we walked along the Roman Wall into the city. Behind the cathedral is a row of houses used by the Cathedral staff. And there was an umbrella; something we've not seen in a while!

Just inside the walls is the Cathedral itself, which is very large and imposing, in fact far bigger than it appears from the canal. There has been a church on this site for well over a thousand years.

M was puzzled. Why was R so keen to visit the Cathedral all of a sudden?  She had completely forgotten that Pete Waterman's huge "Making Tracks 2" OO Gauge railway model was on display inside! No wonder R was so keen to go in!

The layout represents almost a scale mile of the West Coast Main Line. It is 64ft long and some idea of the scale can be seen by comparison with the West Window in the background and the people looking on. M, in conversation with a lady member of the clergy, discovered that the Cathedral is delighted to host this exhibition each year, as it brings thousands of folk in!

Because of the length of the layout, it is possible to run long trains to scale. The longest freight train is 22ft long!

Pete Waterman, the well known music producer, was there and M very kindly bought a copy of his book for R and Pete Waterman was kind enough to sign it.

That, and some more shopping, took up most of the rainy day. But in the evening we had a much anticipated treat to go to the "Siam" restaurant for a Teppan-Yaki dinner.

The evening did not disappoint with the chef performing and cooking our food in front of us. He started off cutting and cooking "Siam Potatoes". Teppan-Yaki involves much theatrical tossing of implements and ingredients high in the air and general highly skilled tomfoolery! This causes much laughter, especially among any children present!

Then he started juggling eggs without breaking any. One can be seen here in mid air.

 

At the next door table, a large party was celebrating a young boy's birthday. Everyone sang "Happy Birthday" and right at the end their chef ignited some spirit. Perhaps he overdid it a bit but it certainly took everyone by surprise. Lots of "oohs" and "aahs" and more laughter.

Our own chef continued cooking our prawns, chicken, steak, vegetables and rice. He was always smiling and the food was absolutely delicious.

After eating our fill and collecting a doggie bag to take the leftovers home, we walked happily back to MM through the rain.

A great day despite the weather. This really is a lovely city to visit, rain or shine.

MM took another day off.