Megan Goes to Leeds: The Lake District (Windermere).

Haiku-a-day:

Feb 27^th

Restless night of sleep,

Kleenexes galore about

the room. I want health.

((Psst, also, pictures of the Hogwarts Express are posted on the entry entitled "I rode the real Hogwarts Express." You should go and check them out after reading this post!))

Yesterday was the Lake District trip. The Lake District contains some of England's largest lakes. It is also where poets like Wordsworth and Coleridge wrote their poetry. We spent the day in Windermere, which is excellent. So beautiful. Even just the drive up was soooo pretty. I've put some of my photos from the drive up on here as well so you can see why I love the English countryside so much!

The day began earlier, as usual. I went with Roxanne, Leah, Vanessa, Melissa, and Stephanie. (Vanessa is the only one in our group not from UW-Madison). We bussed out around 9AM, though we were supposed to depart at 8:30AM. We arrived about 11AM and immediately got tickets to go on a river cruise. Before we went on the 70 minute cruise, we stopped for lunch at a quaint little shack and got hot dogs and chips (french fries). After eating, we boarded the boat. The 70 minute tour (for there was also a 40 min and a 90 min) seemed to be the best option. It meant getting to see Ambleside. At first the weather seemed decently warm, but when we got onto the water, it got really cold! The wind was quite intense and it started to rain. Still worth it though.

When we got back to shore, we stopped at a coffee shop for hot cocoa (with cream!), then it poured hard for about 10 minutes! It was almost out of nowhere for the sun had begun to come back out again. Once the rain had stopped, we decided to explore the city a bit, stopping at various shops, including The World of Beatrix Potter. Beatrix moved to the Lake District when she had made enough money off her books, so the town was full of Beatrix Potter trinkets.

We made our way around the hilly city and found a footpath leading up a large hill where the views were supposed to be spectacular. We didn't get all the way up to the top, but we made it half way and it was lovely! (Muddy, but lovely). When we had finished, we stopped at a Tesco, picked up dinner, and headed back to the busses.

I wasn't feeling so good the whole day, but I'm glad I went. I can totally see why Wordsworth and Coleridge loved living there and writing there. It is a very inspirational place.