Cambridge

Hello again! The last days of my break were spent in Cambridge. I was sad to leave the scenery of the Lake District behind, but this time my train went through Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester, Peterborough, March, and Ely, where the view was of a lot of trees with the occasional field of sheep. I listened to record two of Out of the Blue from ELO coming into Birmingham and then Pink Floyd's Meddle. I thought it would be fitting, as that's where the groups come from, and I was surprised how much the scenery changed my listening experience. Maybe it was the motion of the train. The songs took on a new significance, a feeling I don't get listening to them anywhere else. (As a side note, Out of the Blue was actually written and recorded in Switzerland and Germany, but it contains the song "Birmingham Blues.") The first thing I did in Cambridge was to tramp down to Grantchester Meadows. Okay, Floyd fans, this is for you!

River Cam

Grantchester Meadows, the street

The Narrow Way

Grantchester Meadows

On Sunday, I went to the only Lutheran Church in Cambridge and felt right at home. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of England is very similar to the Missouri Synod in the US. I came early and enjoyed the Bible Study on Romans. They also use the Lutheran Service Book—and there was tea for fellowship after the service! It was a rainy, wet day, but I still walked around town in the afternoon. 

Resurrection

Newton's Apple Tree

Beautiful cards from Cambridge Imprint

The Round Church

Cream tea

I will never get tired of cream tea! Although, I don't know, it doesn't seem as classy when the clotted cream comes in a plastic tub instead of a little jam jar. I was surprised by how familiar Norwich felt when I arrived back after break. It doesn't take too long to acclimate (or, should I say, acclimatise) to the city!

The Lake District

Good news, the train from London to the Lake District only takes about five and a half hours. When I tell that to British people, though, they think it's super long! I din't get any pictures from the moving train, since they would not have turned out very well. And it was always moving—no long stops like on US trains. Scenery through the corridor between Birmingham and Manchester was not very exciting; it reminded me of Iowa, actually, but north of Lancaster we got into very picturesque territory. Feeling grateful for noise-cancelling headphones, since this train car had crying babies and toddlers with noisy toys, here's part of my soundtrack during the journey: The Kinks, "See My Friends"; Jethro Tull, "Cup of Wonder"; George Martin and The Beatles, "Pepperland"; Led Zeppelin, "Bron-Yr-Aur"; The Idle Race, "Come With Me". I only had to change trains once and made my connections even though the train was running a bit late! On the bus I learned that you don't need to say Lake Windermere or Lake Grasmere because mere means lake. On Thursday morning I took the ferry from Bowness Nab. It takes about ten minutes to cross from Bowness to Far Sawrey. From there, I walked to Hilltop—the cottage Beatrix Potter used as her art studio in Near Sawrey. It was kind of wet, and I think it got on my camera lens in some of these photos.

Windermere

Friendly kitty

Kendal Mint Cake: pure sugar

This way to the ferry!

View of Windermere

Walking path

Irresistible sheep

Leaves are starting to turn

Yes, the path goes THROUGH the sheep field!

Hilltop Cottage

Near Sawrey

Amazing dry stone walls!

Growth on the walls

Flourishing lichens

And succulents!

I LOVED the walk to Hilltop! Seeing the sheep fields, dry stone walls, and cottages, somehow I felt right at home. I can well understand why Beatrix Potter liked this area so much. I didn't mind the rain, but the downside was that there was no dry place to sit. I would have liked to stop longer in the garden with my knitting. There was also a sweet little creek with a bench along the way. Still didn't see any hedgehogs, though! I guess you really have to keep a sharp eye out for them. Red squirrels as well. Many visitors I saw at Hilltop were international. There was a Danish family, a mother and daughter from Sweden, a German couple, and a Japanese family. I spent the day on Friday in Grasmere, taking the bus through Ambleside and past Rydal. I didn't have time to stop—or rather, alight, as the automated voice on the bus says—but those are definitely places I want to explore more. Just do a search for Rydal and you will see the beautiful lake! I really enjoyed my visit to Dove Cottage, too. The view is changed now from the early 1800s with the more recent (haha) Victorian houses built across the road, but they've attempted to restore the garden-orchard behind the house. I felt most connected standing in the kitchen where I could imagine Dorothy Wordsworth baking bread. I picked up a copy of her journals in the shop. An entry from October of 1802 reads: 'It is a breathless grey day that leaves the golden woods of Autumn quiet in their own tranquility, stately & beautiful in their decaying, the lake is a perfect mirror.' My ticket is good all year, so that gives me an excuse to visit again!

Entrance to Wordsworth Grasmere Museum

At the bus stop

Dove Cottage

Kitchen

Sitting Room

Wordsworth's poems hand copied by Mary and Dorothy Wordsworth 

for S.T. Coleridge

Stray quill

Famous Grasmere Gingerbread

Grasmere

Knitting by the lake

Cream tea at Baldry's

London: Walking is Free!

Hello friends! The next few posts will be about places I visited during reading week: London, the Lake District, and Cambridge. I started my trip with a day and a half in London. I planned to go to the Lake District, and it was simpler to get the train from London Euston. This time, I wanted to visit Tate Britain to see their collection of original Pre-Raphaelite works in person. I walked past many famous sites on the way to the art museum. I hadn't booked a place anywhere, but walking is free!

Long queue at The National Gallery

Trafalgar Square

Sunny day!

Scotland Yard, I think?

Big Ben

A Distant Westminster Abbey

At Tate Britain I spent time in the Pre-Raphaelite room and in the neighbouring gallery with the larger-sized works. There are no ropes or barriers, so a near-sighted person like me can stand inches from them! Art on display included: Ophelia, Christ in the House of His Parents, and The Veil of Rest by John Everett Millais; Jesus Washing Peter's Feet by Ford Madox Brown; The Awakening Conscience, Claudio and Isabella, and Our English Coasts by William Holman Hunt; Sancta Lilias and Rosa Triplex by Dante Gabriel Rossetti; Frieze of Eight Women Gathering Apples, King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid, and The Golden Stairs by Edward Burne-Jones; The Room in Which Shakespeare Was Born and The Death of Chatterton by Henry Wallis; Past and Present, No. 1  by Augusts Leopold Egg; photography by Julia Margaret Cameron; Figure of Guinevere by William Morris; and a honeysuckle embroidery done by Jane Morris, William Morris, and Jenny Morris. 

Tate Britain

A little context

Original original Millais!

More Millais

Ford Madox Brown

Rossetti

Burne-Jones

Cameron and Morris

Textile worked by Morris, his wife, Jane, and daughter, Jenny

After the museum, I headed towards Hyde Park. I decided to walk through Kensington Gardens to see the Peter Pan statue. 

Buckingham Palace

Wellington Arch

Hyde Park

Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens

The next morning I had enough time to visit the British Library and get some reading in before catching my train. I arrived around opening time and waited in this queue to get inside! I hadn't made a reservation in any of the reading rooms, but looked at the treasures and read a book (from a different library!) that I had with me. 

Queueing at the British Library