Lots of catching up to do! Here's a quick re-cap of the past few days so you can catch a quick glimpse of what you're about to jump into if you read this whole post:
Tuesday: London to Stratford
Wednesday: Stratford to Liverpool
Thursday: Liverpool to Ambleside
Friday: Ambleside to Edinburgh
Here goes.
Tuesday we left London. It was a kind of misty day. London was going to miss us. I sure miss it! I keep feeling like we're just on a weekend trip and we're going to go back and live in the flats again, and then I remember that isn't happening. This week has still been pretty awesome.
See, leaving London was kind of sad I guess, but mostly I was too tired to feel tons of emotion. I had been up until about 4:30 that morning so I could pack and clean and get things ready to go, then I woke up at 6:45 to finish doing all that and head out the door. By the time we got to our first stop, Windsor Castle, I was starting to get very sleepy and a little bit headachey. I still liked the tour of Windsor Castle though! Even though it wasn't as cool as Carnaerfon Castle in Wales (where we got to roam around all the secret passages and stuff), it was cooler than Bunratty or other ones where it's just reconstructed to look like what it did when people used to live in it . . . because the Queen still does live in it sometimes! It was neat to hear about some of the ceremonies and things that go on in the different rooms and things. I also liked that one of the kings decided to add about 10 meters to the size of one of the towers so it looked more formidable. I laughed when I saw Henry VIII's suit of armor which showed what a large man he was. I also liked watching the Changing of the Guard and hearing the band play. Mostly, though, I just realized that I am happy with being a normal person instead of having royal blood. I would hate to have so many people going through my house all the time.
Our next few stops were Shakespeare related. We stopped at Mary Arden's house – a working farm – where I fed quail to a hooded vulture and got hit in the head with a barn owl. Then we stopped at Anne Hathaway's cottage and listened to sonnets in a willow grove. Finally we made it to Stratford and visited Shakespeare's birthplace. After that we had supper and had about an hour to look around, but turns out nothing was open so the only thing to look at was the drunk snogging couple laying down in the middle of the sidewalk. That was pretty . . . entertaining? Actually I don't think there's a word for what it was.
Anyway, by this point I was feeling really sick and could tell that the headache-turned-sinus-mess-turned-post-nasal drip (isn't that the grossest sounding thing in the world?) wasn't going to just be a cold, but an ear infection as well. Like I said, nothing was open so Ashley gave me some decongestant and I took some ibuprofen and as soon as we got to the hostel, I put my sheets on the bed and I was knocked out! That was about 8:00. I woke up around 10, washed my face, brushed my teeth, and went back to bed until 7:30 AM. I still felt icky, but sleeping did help some.
Wednesday I was still very earachey and my nose was running like crazy but I knew we were headed for Liverpool so I decided that no matter how bad I felt, I would suck it up and have a great time. I've been looking forward to Liverpool this entire trip, so I wasn't about to let a silly earache mess up my time there.
When we got to Liverpool, we went straight to the Beatles museum after getting settled in. Not only did we get a student rate, but our hostel gave us 2-for-1 tickets so I got in for 4.25 instead of 12.50. Rockin'.
After that, Liz F and Erica and I made our own little pilgrimage to Strawberry Fields, the orphanage just around the corner from John Lennon's childhood home. Despite the confusion and really long bus ride where we missed our stop, we got there and just couldn't believe it. Sure, all we did was take pictures in front of a pretty red gate, but that place was the inspiration for such a stinkin' beautiful song! A nice Canadian man who lives across from it came and took our picture and told us where all the Beatles related stuff was. We didn't have much time left before we had to get back to the hostel for supper, so we only went to John Lennon's house. (Psh! Ha! ONLY John Lennon's house.) We could have visited Eleanor Rigby's grave and Paul McCartney's house, and we would have if we'd had more time. Even so, we had the experience of a lifetime and went back and had supper, only to leave for our last destination of the evening, the Cavern Club. This is the place where the Beatles really got their start. Fun stuff. My favorite part was when I kissed the statue of John Lennon. Handsome man, he was.
After walking along that street and marveling at the lack of night life in Liverpool, we walked around Albert Dock and just soaked in the beauty of the night air. And other cheesy-sounding stuff. I still wasn't feeling very well, so I went to sleep and made plans to go to a drugstore in the morning to make myself better.
Before leaving Liverpool we trekked over to the Superdrug (where the drugs are super!) and grabbed a few necessities. The only eventful thing of that trip was when we stopped in Preston at the temple and got kicked off the grounds because they were doing maintenance work and didn't want any liability issues in case people got injured and stuff. We still got a few pictures in front of the temple though, and walked around the beautiful gardens and the England MTC. I think this was when I started to feel the worst. It didn't help that I felt like I looked really ugly in my pictures, so by the time we got to Ambleside (in the Lake District) I was too upset and sick-feeling to really enjoy the beauty of the place. I had a good cleansing cry session and two hour nap and even though I still felt sick, I felt a lot better about life once everyone got back from eating ice cream and hanging around the lake. I took a walk with Chloe around the town at dusk and I couldn't believe how gorgeous the water and trees and everything were! It looked so much like North Carolina that I wanted to cry. A happy cry that time. That just made the rest of the evening wonderful even though I still felt yucky when I went to bed.
Upon waking up this morning I decided I was going to pretend I wasn't sick (even though my congestion and sneezing proved otherwise) and that I'd make the best of this day. Can I just say that positive attitudes help everything in the world? I loved today, even though it was mostly just bus riding and junk food eating.
First of all, we packed up and got our stuff moved out of the rooms before 10 (even though we weren't leaving until 3). Then Katie, Lauren, Janelle, Ashley, Mariah, Liz B, Erica, Rachel and I took a boat ride on Lake Windermere! Again, the beauty blew me away. Also, our co-captain Sam guy was SO handsome. I like handsome men.
After the boat ride, we went to Grasmere and bought some awesome gingerbread and looked at a bunch of Beatrix Potter things.
Long story short, we got on the bus and now we're in Scotland. I love these girls, I love the UK, and I love feeling not very sick anymore. I also love that I will be home in 16 days.
Sorry for the not-very-entertaining post. Pictures coming soon.
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