An American in London: Catching Up: April Part I

Thus begins the post-London posts that I neglected during the final crazy weeks of my time abroad. I've been home two weeks now and shall enjoy remembering the amazing adventures I had. It feels good to be home (well, back in Ashland for work) - I've definitely missed the wonderful people I'm blessed to know and love, and I can tell that the rest I'm trying to get is needed. One can only keep up with city life and travels for so long.

So I'll begin the catching-up with my mom's visit in early April. When I last posted, I had just gotten back from the Oxford Literary Festival. The next day, my mother Linda arrived for an awesome 10-day visit. Her first day was spent recovering from jet-lag a bit and then a walk around London in the sunshine (a rare occurrence). The next morning, we departed for a few days in northern England, in the Lake District. We took the train from London Euston to the village of Windermere, where we stayed at a REAL hotel (no hostels for us this time - The Grey Walls was nice). Surprisingly, the first day we were in Windermere (April 3), it snowed. Yep, snowed. Lovely, right? We had a whole spectrum of temps, precipitation, and sunshine during our visit, but we powered through all.

We started out early the next day to Bowness, where we caught a ferry across Lake Windermere and then a bus to Far Sawrey to see Beatrix Potter's Hill Top Farm. We had tea at the Sawrey hotel, and then headed to Beatrix's adorable little cottage. The National Trust has done a phenomenal job preserving the house just as Potter bequeathed it in the early 20th century. Practically everything in the house belonged to her - all the furniture, knick-knacks, linens, lamps, etc. Plus they had a number of her letters, drawings, and photographs. It's really a spectacular site. After Hill Top, we walked along Lake Windermere for as long as we could stand the cold before heading back to Bowness for dinner and a bit of chocolate-shopping that we enjoyed that night over some hard cider and a film at our lovely hotel.

On Thursday morning, Mom and I went to Grasmere, which is north of Windermere, to visit Dove Cottage and the Wordsworth Museum. Another really amazing place - the cottage is relatively empty inside, but walking through the rooms inspires incredulity as you try to picture all the people living there. Wordsworth has never been one of my favorites, but I definitely fell in love with the place he set up his home. The surrounding countryside - now slightly more built up than in his day - is simply gorgeous. The hills, the lakes, the forests... One can breathe there. After the cottage, we took a walk through the village of Grasmere, saw the Wordsworth graves, and grabbed some lunch and millionaire shortbread (shortbread + caramel + chocolate) at the Riverside Cafe. After our meal, we took a bit of a hike up one of the hills near Lake Grasmere to get a better view of the valley. While we decided we didn't want to do the whole trail, we did get a considerable way up the hill. In the afternoon, we caught a bus to Rydal Mount, which was Wordworths's later home in the Lakes and is about three times the size of Dove Cottage. Wordsworth retired to Rydal and spent his time writing poetry and working in his extensive gardens. Dinner was at Windermere, then wine and chocolate for dessert while watching some 'Big Bang Theory' in the comfort of our room.

Our last morning was dedicated to sleeping in and a walk around Windermere before catching the train back to London.

Lake Windermere

Sawrey

Hill Top Farm

Lake Windermere (notice the snow)

Dove Cottage

Lambs!!!

Rydal Mount - In Wordsworth's library

View from Rydal Mount of Lake Grasmere

Saturday, I finally made it to Portobello Market with Mom. It was an intense experience navigating through the crowds, but the atmosphere was exciting. We feasted on crepes as we walked and I took Mom by the bookshop in Notting Hill after we'd done a little shopping in the market.

Easter Sunday, we attended church service at THCC. I made some pasta for our dinner and we then met up with my friend Christa's family for tea and biscuits.

During the final days of Mom's time in London, we hit up a few indoor activities due to the rain. We made it to the Dickens Museum, the Museum of London, and Evensong at St. Paul's Cathedral. We then grabbed a traditional English pub dinner (those were getting old by this point) before heading back to my flat.

Our final full day together, we went by coach to Brighton for the day, where we walked the famous pier (which has unfortunately been overrun by cheesy carnival things and arcade games), toured the Royal Pavilion (look up pictures of the interior online - it was easily the most stunning building I've ever seen), and explored the disappointing sea-side town. It's not how Jane Austen described it, I can tell you that. Anyways, we took a bus in the afternoon out to the town of Lewes to see Lewes Castle, the priory, and just to walk around a smaller English town. We ate a yummy French dinner at Cafe Rouge in Brighton before catching the coach back to London.

Mom left the next morning from Heathrow as I asked myself: 'What now?' I spent a few days just lounging around a bit before plunging back into a whirlwind of study, travel, and more.