Summer, at last!

Finally the showers have dried up and the sun has come out. Temperatures have soared into the low to mid 20's (that's 75 to 80 for you Yanks!), and summer weather has arrived. Our British friends tell us to enjoy it as it rarely lasts for more than a few days at a time. On Saturday Scott was chomping at the bit to be off on a fell walk, so we headed to Buttermere. We'd been there before, but, as you might recall, we walked around the wrong lake.

The walk around Buttermere is advertised as an easy, 2 hour, five mile walk. Just the thing for a beautiful English morning. We left early as we were concerned about crowds and parking. There are a few "pay and display" lots in Buttermere, but they tend to fill quickly, especially on days like this! "Pay and Display" means you park your car, go find the machine, drop in your pounds for the corresponding amount of time you want, and a ticket comes out which you display on your dash. Scott parked and headed off to find the "pay" machine and I began taking a few photos. From behind me I heard a very loud "MOO!" and turned to see several cows coming up the roadway towards me. The farmer was moving them from one pasture to another, apparently. His sheepdog was herding the cows while he followed behind in his truck. Quite the sight on the roadway through the parking lot!

Those cows appeared a little agitated and in no mood for a picture taking, steak eating, human, so I hurriedly got off the road before taking their picture! Scott returned and we set off for our walk. The remaining pictures were taken along our walk. It took us a little over two hours as we often paused to take a picture or two, but it was a beautiful day.

Do you remember the photos of those adorable little lambs from a few weeks ago? We saw lots of lambs, older now but still young enough to keep close to their mums. At one point we stopped to watch a little lamb who was "baaaa-ing" repeatedly. In between cries he would take a few steps, look around, and then let out another "baa". He had lost his mum! Within a few minutes, though, his mum showed up and he was so excited to see her. Did you know that lambs wag their tails just like dogs? His was wagging as fast as it could go!

Well, as advertised, our weather is due to change this week. In fact, today (Monday) was bright and sunny and warm, but colder air is set to move in with showers on Wednesday and Thursday and high's only in the 50's over the weekend. It's the Queen's Diamond Jubilee weekend and in our town there is a big maritime festival to coincide with the Queen's celebration. Scott has 4 days off and we're looking forward to relaxing and enjoying the festival.

York!

 This past weekend Scott and I travelled to the ancient city of York. York is a walled city, and was founded in 71 AD. It has Roman origins, but in 866 the Vikings arrived and the city, which had previously been called Eboracum, was now re-named Jorvik. Two hundred years later the Vikings were driven out and it was in English hands. The remains of the original Roman fort have been uncovered under the Minster and parts of the wall remain. Artifacts from the Vikings have also been uncovered, and Scott and I paid a visit to the Jorvik Centre where we learned about life in the Viking town of Jorvik, and we were able to see some of the artifacts on display. While there are large breaks in the ancient Roman walls, they pretty much surround the city. Our hotel was within the walls, making all of the things we wanted to see and do within walking distance.

By far the largest, and most dominant, building in York is the Minster. York Minster is a Church of England cathedral, and is one of the largest cathedrals in Northern Europe. Construction was begun in 637 but that structure was destroyed by fire in 741. A new Gothic cathedral was begun, and while it has been damaged, enlarged, and plundered over time, that cathedral still stands as York Minster.

It is a very large cathedral and has been at the centre of both English church history and England's politics for many centuries. There is a tower and Scott, of course, had to do the climb to the top.

While we enjoyed our exploration of the Minster, it is not the only thing to see or do in York. This next bit is for our friend George, and also a couple of photos for Jennie :). During the 19th century York became the hub of Britain's railway network. It seems only fitting that the National Railway Museum should be here, then. Scott and I spent some time meandering around the trains.

Hmmm.....where have I seen that before?? In a movie somewhere maybe??...

Look Jennie!

Yep. It says "Hogwarts Castle" for all of you Harry Potter fans!

We visited the Railway Museum and Minster in the morning and then headed to a street in York called "The Shambles". This street has buildings dating back to the 14th century and was originally filled with butcher's shops. Many of the buildings still have the large windowsills where the meat would have been displayed. The buildings were intentionally built to overhang the street to keep the sun off the meat. The Shambles was recently voted in the top 5 of Europe's most recognizable streets. No butcher shops here now, though. It's mostly filled with unique shops and cafes. Scott did tolerate a quick peek inside the Christmas Shop, but the rest will have to wait for another visit.

After a nice lunch in another little cafe we headed to the previously mentioned Jarvik Centre. It was quite interesting to learn about the city and to see the artifacts. After the Jarvik Centre we walked to the Castle Museum. This museum is unique in that the areas are laid out in "periods" with rooms set up as they might have looked. Imagine our surprise, and dismay, to find an entire floor filled with the things we remember from our childhood! In the basement of one wing are the castle dungeons. (Did I mention this was part of the original York Castle?) Anyway, the exhibits were quite interesting, and a little creepy. I was glad to get out of the dungeon and back into the fresh air! There is one remaining structure which was build on a hill and served as the lookout point for the city. This building was constructed in a clover shape. For a fee you can enter this ruin and climb up and walk along the top. Neither of us was game for that exercise however as the whole structure looked as if it might collapse at any moment.

On our way back to our hotel we found the ruins of an old hospital, and the ruins of St. Mary's Abbey which was thought to have been as large as the Minster at one time. 

York is said to be one of THE most haunted places in Europe. One of us believes such things might be possible, the other, foolishly, scoffs. Anyway, we had thought to do a ghost walk in the evening, but after a full day of walking and sightseeing we decided that could wait for another visit. I have not mentioned the weather but you can see from our pictures this was not a "postcard" day. Sunday weather was similar so we enjoyed a nice breakfast, packed up and headed home. We moved to our permanent flat last week on Wednesday. Poor Scott had such a busy week that he had not really been able to spend any time in the flat except for sleeping. It was nice to get home early and we were treated to an afternoon of beautiful sunshine in Whitehaven. Scott did take a walk along the wall before we left, and here are a couple of pictures from that walk. The first picture is taken along the wall looking towards the Minster in the distance. That brick building on your right is our hotel. The second picture also from along the wall looking towards the Minster.

 

As I mentioned, we moved last week. It is really great to be in a more permanent place. We now have the luxury of 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and.......2 parking spaces! On Sunday afternoon we went and picked up my car. I had not driven since before Easter as we had no place to park the car when we were in our old flat. Now I have a nice space in the garage. I'm working on getting up the courage to take it out as, two months into our adventure, the roads here are still somewhat intimidating. 

Scott and I are heading home to the US in less than a month! My flight leaves here on the 10th of June, and Scott will follow about a week later. We are really looking forward to seeing family and friends. We will return during the first week of July as Scott has to get back. So, friends and relatives, I will practice my driving skills between now and when I leave, and once we return we will be ready for visitors!

A Return to Muncaster

We arrived home from London on Friday evening. Saturday was sunny although it was very cold. Since rain is in the forecast for the next several days, Scott wanted to take advantage of the sunshine. We decided to head back to Muncaster to see what spring had brought to the gardens. We thought we would just take a leisurely walk around the gardens, snap a few photographs, and head back to Whitehaven. This is a bank holiday weekend, meaning Monday is a day off for most people, and Muncaster had a flower show going on, as well as some special activities. We ended up spending the entire day at Muncaster and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Scott and I decided to go on a garden walk with the owner of Muncaster, Patrick Gordon Duff Pennington. As we walked along we were treated to not only the latin names for each plant, but often some sort of personal anecdote about the plants as well. We had a wonderful time listening to his stories about the castle and grounds, and we learned that he has entertained a number of famous folks over the years. He completed our walk just in time for us to see the owl and raptor (otherwise known as "hawk" or "buzzard") demonstration being put on by the folks at the owlry. He did promise that he would be waiting at the back of the crowd after the demonstration for anyone who wanted to venture on another walk in a different part of the garden. I decided to attend a cooking demonstration, but Scott re-joined Mr. Pennington for the promised walk. Although no one else returned, Mr. Pennington and Scott rambled around on the hillside for several hours and ended up back at the little cafe where Scott was treated to tea. What a great experience! By this time, the cooking demonstration had finished and I joined the crowd gathered on the lawn for the feeding of the Herons, also known as "Heron Happy Hour". Here are some more pictures from our fun day at Muncaster.

How would you like to wake up to this view every day?!!

Scott loves to photograph flowers and he captured some beautiful images today! Enjoy!

Here are a couple of pictures from the owl and raptor demonstration.

And a few from the Heron Happy Hour.....

This guy was trying to make himself as small as possible so as not to be noticed by the fellow below.

This Heron did not appreciate all of guests at happy hour. He spent about 10 minutes trying to chase off several other herons. He gets the title, "Does not share well with others!".

All told, 32 herons showed up for happy hour. We were told that this number has been pretty constant over the past few years. Whatever the heron eats in it's natural environment is in short supply in this area, primarily because it's habitat has been cleared out. There is work being done to try and convince the sheep farmers to restore some of their land so the food supply for the herons will return, but it is proving to be a slow process.  For now, hungry herons continue to gather on the lawn at Muncaster at about 4:00 daily and Happy Hour begins at 4:30.

Kensington Palace and Gardens

Scott had business to take care of in London and that left me with a couple of days to explore on my own. On Wednesday I braved "the tube", London's underground transit system, and headed to Kensington. From the South Kensington train station I walked up Museum Row. On a return trip I would like to take some time and explore some of these museums but on this day I had a different goal. I eventually reached Hyde Park and Kensington Garden and found my way to the Diana, Princess of Wales, Memorial Fountain, which is actually located in Hyde Park near the lake. This fountain is in the shape of an ellipse, with the water flowing in two directions. After spending a few minutes walking around the fountain, and enjoying the ducks on the lake nearby, I turned towards Kensington Garden and began a long stroll towards the Palace. Kensington Garden has lots of unique monuments and several playgrounds. I eventually wandered into a flower garden and noticed a small crowd gathered around something. From my vantage point I could not tell what was causing the commotion, nor what the people were saying as there were several languages being spoken, none of which was any form of English. The object of their attention suddenly darted out between the onlookers and into the grass behind the fence. No joke, it was a squirrel! Squirrels are not common here in England. In fact, red squirrels and deer are protected here!

  

                                                                                                                                                

This little guy is munching on a peanut handed to him by one of the visitors, right next to the sign that says "Don't feed the squirrels!". I guess their excuse might be that they don't understand English??!!! I managed not to laugh over their excitement at seeing a squirrel, and went on down the path past some beautiful spring flowers. Finally I left the garden and emerged in front of Kensington Palace. 

Kensington Palace was the home of Queen Victoria, and also the home of Princess Diana following her split with Prince Charles. There are several wonderful exhibits inside which tell the stories of some of Britain's monarchs, including Queen Victoria. There is one exhibit about Princess Diana that includes several of her dresses along with the fashion designer's sketches and also some photos of Diana with Prince William and Prince Harry when they were little. 

This is the Queen Victoria Fountain with Kensington Palace in the background.

This beautiful spring flower garden is at the palace itself, while the pond in the distance is in Kensington Garden. You can't see it, but there is actually a palm tree growing just out of the picture here.

Most of us will remember the pictures of the outpouring of flowers, candles, stuffed bears, signs, etc. that were stacked against and around these gates when Princess Diana passed away following a car accident in Paris.

Well, I'll have to admit, I was a on a slight "overload" with all of the historical sightseeing. On Thursday I left the hotel armed with my umbrella and credit cards. It was raining again, making it a perfect day for shopping! I spent several hours roaming in and out of the shops near our hotel. Scott finished up his business and we were able to enjoy a yummy dinner at Bumbles, located just a stone's throw from Buckingham Palace. After dinner we went to see Wicked, which we both really enjoyed. It was a great way to spend our last night in London.

Odds and Ends in London

Scott and I had a great time in London. Hope you enjoy the photos!

Winchester Cathedral was just around the corner from our hotel.  

Parliament on a sunny day.

We went to a local pub for dinner our first evening in London. Scott ordered a whole sea bass, and it arrived, smiling at him.

On our last night we went to see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre.  Now we know the "real story" behind the Wicked Witch of the West.