The Lake District, Saturday

Saturday morning Rachel and I woke up and tried breakfast in the hostel. It was fine; just another normal english breakfast (always with beans). Our plan for the day was to meet up with the Sarahs and go to Beatrix Potter's home, Hill Top. Before heading out Rachel and I had to figure out the bus system which involved actually finding the bus stop (they have a great bus system throughout the Lake District that connects all of the small towns).

Once we hiked to the bus stop, we waited for the Sarahs and watched someone fail to parallel park. I was positive they were going to push the other car down the hill; they actually managed to push the other car, but I didn't see any damage to its bumper. It was more like they wedged their car under the stationary car and lifted it. I guess it was too early in the morning for them.

Then Rachel and I met up with the Sarahs and headed to the ferry area in Windermere (our hostel was in Ambleside, so that's why we had to take a bus back to Windermere). The buses are all double deckers with open tops. It was wonderful to sit in the sun, but my hair was really knotty by the end of the day. The ferry ride to Hill Top was fun; it was nice to ride in a boat in warm, sunny weather.

Hill Top was pretty, but I probably wouldn't recommend anyone going back there. You could wander through her house and gardens, but there were no plaques explaining things within the house. You didn't know which paintings were hers or her brother's. I mean it was really pretty, but as a museum lover I was disappointed.

After Hill Top we had lunch in a pub there (ham sandwich with english mustard-spicy!) and then caught the bus back to the ferry. The bus over on that side of the lake was a minibus and couldn't fit everyone. It was full when Rachel and I tried to get on, so we just said good bye to the Sarahs and decided to walk. However, this other man, with a private hired minibus (same company as bus we rode earlier, but a group of people hired that particular driver for the day), saw that we got left and gave us a ride. He wouldn't accept anything either; he was really nice. So we were able to catch the ferry back with the Sarahs and ate ice cream (like all of the other tourists) by the lake and watched the swans (swans are everywhere in England). I had no idea how large swans actually were until I came to the Lake District.

We then left the Sarahs and headed to Dove Cottage, Keats' home with his family and sister for about twenty years. The tour at the Dove Cottage was much better. There was actually a tour guide who led us through the house and explained early 1800s houses in general and told us amusing anecdotes about Keats and his family.

After Dove Cottage Rachel and I wandered through Ambleside (the town nearby our hostel) and got some take out Chinese to eat for dinner. We ate it in a park and just enjoyed the weather. We headed back to our hostel around 8 thinking we might do some school work (ha!). Instead, we joined the rest of the hostel in grabbing a drink at the bar and then watching the sun set outside (the hostel didn't have air conditioning and was suffocating with the heat). We went to bed early so we could get up for our adventure on Sunday!

Beautiful view from our hostel

Bus ride

Ferry boats

Village near Hill Top Farm

Hill Top Farm

More ferry ride

You scream, I scream, We all scream for ICE CREAM!

Crazy hair from the bus

Dove Cottage and Garden