The Lake District

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

When we got to the Lake District what do you
think was the first thing we did?

Went for a hike!

But it was in a beautiful place.
And I wasn't feeling sick so it was okay.

Here are my feet on a bridge over
the rushing water of Ambleside.

And here is a stump we came across on the trail that had all these coins shoved into it. Weird? Yes. But we saw some stumps later and there were coins in them too.
It must be a British thing.

And here is the beyond gorgeous sunset
at the lake right by our hostel.
I don't think I've ever seen anything so beautiful.

The next day we went to Dove Cottage, the home of William Wordsworth. It was adorable. If I lived in a place like that I'd write fantastic poems about daffodils too.

Then we hiked (hike #3 this week, mind you) to
Wordsworth's bigger, nicer home known as Rydal Mount.

He had some nice things in his home.
Like this vase of flowers.

And these books.

And I really liked this dining area. Especially the green walls.

Rydal Mount also had incredible gardens.
And I'm obsessed with taking pictures of
flowers so you get to see a lot of them!

After seeing both of Wordsworth's homes,
we rode in the coach for awhile and
then hiked (#4) to John Ruskin's home, Brantwood.
It was extremely rainy. Hence, the umbrellas.

We had to walk through a field of cows to get there. They sounded angry, but our professor said they were just curious.
Nevertheless, I was scared for my life.
See the cow in the background?

My favorite part of Brantwood was this little dock. It was rainy, the lake looked beautiful, and everything was right with the world.

Me with Carli and Shannon.

The next day we took a cruise on the lake by our hostel.
It was an uncharacteristically clear day.

Here I am with the house built over the river so the owner didn't have to pay property taxes. I was pretty excited to see this because right before I came to London, my grandma showed me a little figurine she has of this house and I thought, "I'll probably not even see this, but cool, Grandma!"