In England: Day Two
Having consulted a map, I now realize Grant was right. We did travel northwest from Yorkshire to reach the Lake District. Last night, it was dark when we arrived. Mr. Browne says it gets dark around four o'clock. Unfathomable! Today we will spend some time exploring the area around Grasmere and Lake Windermere.
There is no alarm clock in our room, and we couldn't reach anyone at the front desk last night to request a wakeup call. I told Katie if she would leave her watch on the nightstand I would wake her up at seven. Amazingly, I awoke rather suddenly at a quarter till six, my normal time to rise back at school.
It is still dark at a quarter to seven. I wonder what time is dawn? We're to meet in the dining room at eight for a continental breakfast. I'm having tea now.
At Grasmere10 AM
Dove Cottage, Grasmere
On a gray day, the interior of Wordsworth's home is dark. The stairs are narrow, and the fire smokes. The sitting room upstairs is pleasant with its pink wallks and red and white curtains. Here is where Wordsworth wrote (not at a desk, but in a chair--he called a desk an instrument of torture) and the women sewed. Thomas de Quincey and Samuel Taylor Coleridge lived with the Wordsworths for a time, as did Mary Wordsworth's sister. The house grew too snug with a growing family and a host of houseguests, not to mention a dog named Pepper that Sir Walter Scott made present to the family. The family moved to a larger house at Rydal Mount.
Dove Cottage, home of William Wordsworth
Stone Wall behind Dove Cottage
Ambleside
After a cruise on Lake Windermere aboard the Miss Cumbria III--COLD!--our driver, Steve, brought us back to Ambleside. Grant and I took a walk about town, our primary destination being St. Mary's Methodist Church where we wandered through the churchyard. Afterwards, we found a post office and I bought stamps for my postcards. (Today is the Royal Couple's 60th anniversary and the stamps I bought show the Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip in their younger years.) We walked around town, Grant taking care to walk on the curbside; I'm quite absent-minded these days and seem to require a great deal of looking after. Sir Grant is quite chivalrous. The only male student among the eleven of us, he has his work cut out for him, I must say!
Anchors Away
Cruising on Lake Windermere
Churchyard at St. Mary's Methodist Church, Ambleside
At Beatrix Potter's Hilltop Farm
The World of Beatrix Potter
Sunset on Lake Windermere, from the window of the coach
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