VISIT 50 CITIES IN ENGLAND BEFORE 50

I thought I will update my challenge of visiting cities in England.  This is part of my 50 before 50 Challenge. My list is to follow, I am still working on it. This challenge is definitely top of the list.

My challenge focus on visiting 50 of 51 cities in England before I turned 50.  Here are the list of 51 cities in England:

1.  Bath √
2.  Birmingham √
3.  Bradford
4.  Brighton & Hove √
5.  Bristol
6.  Cambridge √
7.  Canterbury √
8.  Carlisle
9.  Chelmsford √
10.  Chester
11.  Chichester √
12.  Coventry
13.  Derby √
14.  Durham
15.  Ely √
16.  Exeter
17.  Gloucester
18.  Hereford
19.  Kingston upon Hull
20.  Lancaster
21.  Leeds √
22.  Leicester
23.  Lichfield
24.  Lincoln √
25.  Liverpool √
26.  City of London √
27.  Manchester √
28.  Newcastle upon Tyne
29.  Norwich √
30.  Nottingham
31.  Oxford √
32.  Peterborough √
33.  Plymouth
34.  Portsmouth √
35.  Preston
36.  Ripon
37.  St. Albans √
38.  Salford
39.  Salisbury √
40.  Sheffield √
41.  Southampton
42.  Stoke on Trent
43.  Sunderland
44.  Truro
45.  Wakefield
46.  Wells
47.  City of Westminster √
48.  Winchester √
49.  Wolverhampton
50.  Worcester
51.  York √

Interesting Facts:

*  So what is a city you may ask?  The Oxford English dictionary defines 'city' as a 'large town' or  'a town created a city by charter and containing a cathedral'.
*  In the United Kingdom however, not every city has a cathedral and not all cathedrals are found in the city.
*  Not all large towns in the United Kingdom are officially designated as cities and there are a number of UK cities which are no bigger than an average towns or even villages.
*  There are no specific criteria which automatically grant city status in the United Kingdom.
*  In present times, city status in the United Kingdom is granted by the British monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II.

Source:  http://www.ukcities.co.uk

*As of 2015, there are currently a total of 69 cities in the United Kingdom.  51 in England, 7 in Scotland, 6 in Wales and 5 in Northern Ireland. (Wikipedia)

So join me in discovering new cities in your own country and share it in any of my social media.  Subscribe or follow me so you will have an up to date information of my challenges with a

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NEW YEAR...NEW CHALLENGES...

Fifty Challenges to be exact...

Hello! If you are new to my blog welcome. If this is not your first time to visit my blog I am so glad and very grateful for your return. It has been a while...over a year I think since I posted on my blog. A lot happened in the last year... Let's just say I took a whole year vacation.  

What happened in the last year you may ask?  Well a lot!  The biggest change I made in 2018 and the main reason I was gone for a year was my new job, well not quite new now. It's a 9 to 5 job, the pay is just about the same but I get all the holidays off, weekend off and no more night shifts! Bliss!!! I am so happy I made the move. The best decision I made in 2018.   

I visited 7 cities in 2018...

I visited Oslo at the beginning of the year (February) with my best friends Haidee and Vicky. I returned to Edinburgh in June for my second The Moonwalk Scotland raising money for Walk the Walk for vital breast cancer causes. In October I went to Sheffield for the first time for five days study leave. Although I didn't get to explore the city I met some very clever, interesting group of people in my course.  For 12 days in November, I visited Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo and Tromso with my husband (Paul), my sister (Jenny), my sister's husband (Ralph) and my sister's best friend (Dids). Although we didn't get to see the Northern Lights, it was an experience I will never forget. Scandinavia is captivating! Last but definitely not the least was my trip to Bruges. One word - Enchanting!

My year won't be complete if I don't get to watch a concert or two and operas...

It was "a blast from the past" with The Psychedelic Furs last June and Queen with Adam Lambert last July. Not to forget the "pint-sized powerhouse" that is Sigrid in which I was blown away with her amazing talent.  

It was a treat (thanks to my husband) to watch two amazing opera last year.  La Boheme in the summer, with all it's drama on stage and back stage. The actress who played Mimi's real life husband (who happens to be an opera singer) has to stepped in as Rodolfo in the second half of the performance due to some vocal issues from the other singer. But that's not all...we had a complimentary upgrade seat and we saw Stephen Fry in the audience (all due to the upgraded seat). Sweet!  And Georges Bizet's Carmen was enigmatic!

Last year was a better year I think for me in terms of work-life balance. I get to see my friends and loved ones a lot more. Also get to see and experience a lot of new and wonderful things. And last but definitely not the least...it was the very first time in a long time (exactly 20 years) for me to get the time off both Christmas day and New Years day. And finally...I can get to say TGIF!!!

So what's in store for 2019???  Hopefully a lot more blogs coming from me. I will be revamping my 40 challenges into 50 before 50 as I didn't manage to complete the challenge within a year. (Working on it as we speak)  So watch this space...

In the meantime...I wish you all a very Happy New Year and leave you with this beautiful quote from Melody Beattie

"The New Year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written."

Write a good one everybody!!!

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