Wordsworth & Beatrix Potter Land

The Lakes District, England

January 21, 22, 23

The 3 1/2 hour train ride from Scotland to Windermere was “lovely”. There were lots of sheep grazing in rock enclosed fields, doing their job of mowing the grass . Eventually the rolling green fields turned to white. Our ears began to pop and we knew we were heading up high.

At first the train was uncrowded….then all of a sudden it was full... boy & girl scouts returning from a 48 hour tour of Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland….they were sweet and inquisitive about Americans. They had been camping in the light rain the entire weekend and were happy to be on their way back to their home, Wales. They asked if we were going there and since I had always wanted to go to the home of Dylan Thomas (Sr. Clement made me memorize Fern Hill in the 8Th grade), I was again surprised at how, even with the length of our trip, we couldn't fit it all in.

On the way to Windermere , we had to change trains at Oxenholme but we missed our train connection by one minute . We were shocked that they did not wait for us. It turns out there are many companies operating trains, including Virgin, the airline. All trains are given money compensation for leaving on time but arriving late doesn't seem to matter. We had to wait in Oxenholme for an hour. There was a lady waiting with us here with an old golden retriever.... dogs can travel on trains here.

Windermere is part of the Lake District of England. It is the home of Wordsworth as well as other romantic poets . Wordsworth's sister, who was a prose writer actually coined the phrase, "...a host of golden daffodils".

We stayed at Rosemount bed and breakfast

run by a self- professed communist, as least as far as health care was concerned.This place is nice and private, seeing as how we were the only people checked in. Here I had a deep tub for bubble baths and even a sitting room within our room so Gerard had a place to go if he should wake up in the middle of the night, as he sometimes does. Again, the English breakfast was not much to my liking but Gerard got into it.

Breakfast at Rosemount.

Here we are taking a long, expensive ride to the other side of Lake Windermere for a hike and a different vista of the lake. 10 minute ride for 50 pence, about $1.00. These fellows were on their bikes making the crossing to continue on one of the many bike paths . Along the way we met Mollie and David from Leeds. There were fully outfitted for walking in the wet grass with the added help of walking sticks. We also ran into them in the pub where Gerard was inspired to write a limerick....

Mollie and David from Leeds

Were walking in their English tweeds

DA DA DA DA DA

DA DA DA DA DA

And satisfied all of my needs

Of course by definition a limerick is salacious so you will need to fill in the DA Da's yourself since this is a PG blog.

Here we were introduced to the "Brandy Snug". A mixture of hot cocoa and brandy...tasted good after our hike in the crisp but sunny weather.

Those are snow capped mountains in the background. Otherwise, the hills are all green and dotted with sheep. The lake is peaceful and the lake side is full of swans.

On our walk we came across a fellow building a fence by putting up stakes and filling in between the stakes with pruning from nearby small trees....recycling

We then went out on the town, which is very hilly, lots of puffing back up to our b & b but it gets easier every trip.

Tea for Two, the lady actually said this... The local butcher shop which had the freshest looking merchandise. They also make meat pies which I sampled. These actually tasted good, which I was happy to find since I had become a fussy eater, not caring for the "bacon", sausage or eggs without black pepper...but the mushrooms that come with breakfasts are great.

It was cold and the tea shop was welcoming. Of course, all the streets are paved with these stones. Across the street from this tea shop was a church that had a listing of pastors going back to the 1400s. There had only been 19 pastors in that period of time. Their names were all listed...guess it was a great job, not too many transfers.

Beatrix Potter Land

Windermere is Beatrix Potterville. She moved here as an adult and lived out her life. At her death , she willed over 4000 acres to the English Land Trust. Luckily Miss Potter was showing at the local cinema here. Miss Potter was right up my alley. Gerard stayed home at the b & b and met me afterwards. It was a old fashioned movie house with about 100 seats. It was something I won't forget as the scenery in the movie was where we had hiked that day.

Here is a new monument in commemoration of Beatrix Potter's work. Renee Zellweiger had been here a couple months ago for the unveiling.

The townspeople, for the most part, seemed to care less that we were there. This was a change from Ireland, where people reached out to us. This ia a well to do area, almost entirely relying upon tourist dollars. We checked the listings in the windows of real estate offices and most of the properties were, at a minimum ,in the 7 figure range.

We only saw a small part of this district, but what we did see was truly beautiful.

Edinburgh, Scotland

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND
January 17th – January 20th, January 24th


We stored most of our luggage in our Dublin hotel, packed one bag and took a 40 minute flight to this beautiful city, where we spent 5 days. Except for the modern stores and conveniences, this place is old. Most structures are either castles or castle-like. We asked two women on the street what a particular “castle” was and she said it was a bank.

We wished we had done some research before we came here so we could describe the buildings as something “esque” from the something “lithic” age but you’ll have to do that yourself. As for the sights, we really enjoyed the Edinburgh Castle where the royal crown of Scotland is kept and where Mary, Queen of Scots took refuge, lived and ruled, we think. Not only is the castle historically interesting and aesthetic but there are fantastic views of the city and countryside from here as the castle is perched on a rock which overlooks all of Edinburgh.

The Royal Mile extends from the Castle down to the Palace which is the residence of the current Queen when she is in Edinburgh. We also enjoyed the Writer’s Museum, off a little side street from the Royal Mile, which is a small ancient house, with sections dedicated to Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson and Sir Walter Scott. All of these fellows have statues and huge monuments liberally scattered throughout the city. Also along the Royal Mile was St. Giles’ church which we visited and enjoyed. Here we bought Maren the scarf she had requested. We picked one out that was a recently designed plaid in memory of Princess Di. The pale blue will go with Maren’s blue eyes. Otherwise these tartan plaids have been around for centuries, I even found one belonging to our godson, Braxton Craighill. Sorry, Brax, didn’t get one for you!

The Botanical Gardens we saw on a drizzly day. They were beautifully laid out but of course few plants were in bloom…waiting to bloom though were thousands of rhododendrons.

Also, Edinburgh has a beautiful National Art Gallery that has paintings by Titian, Reubens, Monet, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Degas, et. al. There was a Goya exhibit while we were there that had what appeared to be pencil drawings by him on war, bull-fighting and proverbs, all pretty interesting. The interior design of the art museum was also eye-catching. Of course no photography is allowed and upon closer inspection of the walls we could see they were covered with felt. The combination of the beautifully colored walls, the highest of ceilings, dark antique seating for the public and art work makes a warm and lasting impression

Incidentally, the weather to date has not been a deterrent to us doing anything here in Scotland or in Ireland. There has been rain but nothing close to being torrential or storm like. If it’s sunny, it’s usually brisk (low 40s) or as the locals say “mild”. It’s mostly cloudy and about 45 degrees, perfect coat and scarf wearing weather. The advantage of this kind of weather is that no matter where we go, it is seldom crowded. At the Castle, on a Saturday, we had a 10 minute wait on line to buy tickets. No other waiting at any other place yet.

Food in Edinburgh has been okay. We did find a good restaurant – Mussel Inn. We’ve had mussels in both a bleu cheese sauce and a pesto sauce. They also had a good risotto and soup with a cream base and chunks of salmon. On the last night here, we had their shellfish pasta which was not good – over cooked spaghetti, a canned mild type tasting cream sauce and a bad mussel in the mix….

Gerard enjoyed their beer (MacEwens) but only had some good Scotch (Oman) once due to the exorbitant costs. It’s considerably less expensive at home.

The Scottish people were great, always pleasant and helpful. Of course, you have to be attentive for they use English words in a garbled accent. They probably say the same about us. A few anecdotes:

We pre-booked a B&B in Edinburgh. We had to take a bus from the center of town to get there and then walk up a hilly street to “Menties”. Menties had a very cute web site, accompanied by song. What the web site didn’t show was the rubble in the front yard due to windows being replaced, the upstairs construction, the parlour with sheets covering the furniture and the gruff nature of our host. Needless to say, we were not pleased.

We left our luggage and headed back to the center of town. Gerard had the perfect solution to our downtroddeness – a pub called Robertson’s we saw off Rose Street. We ordered drinks and Ann began telling the bartender about our disappointing B&B (make that a B since Menties didn’t serve Breakfast) The bartender said for us to wait a minute, enjoy our drinks and that he was going to check on the hotel next door for us. He returned with a smile and info that he had a room for us….thank God for hotels and for this darling room with a bay window (from which we did see snow softly falling – but it didn’t stick, as Gerard said) overlooking Rose street which is a street one back from the main drag in Edinburgh. A perfect location and in the brochure of the Hanover Hotel, they tout themselves as being the most centrally located hotel in Edinburgh, which they were.

Gerard stayed in the pub as I checked out the room and continued with what he thought was a casual conversation with Alan.

(Gerard)
Alan was from Glasgow but often came to Edinburgh and hung out in this pub. His face was extremely pockmarked. After he would say about five indecipherable words, he would cough. I thought he would be a good Dick Tracy character. From out of the blue, Alan told me the following: His sister was murdered three years ago. The perpetrator only got eighteen months. When he got out of prison, within 10 days, he was shot between the eyes. His sister’s husband committed suicide, leaving behind two small children and Alan’s wife has a muscle disorder which renders her an invalid. I’m agape. Where’s my wife? Is this a vacation? Alan said he has to go but he’ll meet me back at the pub on Saturday. I’m thinking of that Dustin Hoffman movie where he is in the Scottish Highlands with his Scottish wife, constantly harassed, belittled and assaulted by a group of Scottish towns-people. The movie ends with Dustin laying a bear claw vise on the head of his principal attacker. I don’t think so, Alan. Ann returned, loved the room and we booked for 4 nights. We traipsed back to the Menties, gathered our luggage, took a photo of the rubble and bussed back to our relative Shangri-La, in the heart of Edinburgh.

Every night outside our new window, a street musician (I use the term lightly), with a limited repertoire, would sing bad versions of good songs ( stand by me, losing my religion, knockin’ on heaven’s door, et. al.). I’ve heard each of those songs at least 10 times over the course of the 4 nights. I called him Axl. (Ann – he wasn’t that bad, and the first 5 times he sounded ok!)

We went to a pub called The Standing Order. It used to be a bank. Unknowingly we entered through the back entrance on Rose Street and upon opening the doors into a cavernous room, we were met by over 400 people, having a “grand” time. Mostly youngish 20 somethings but with “our type” sprinkled in. There was no music or entertainment, just the large group drinking beer and having conversation. They had to pass Axl in order to get in the pub but only the inebriated dropped coins in his guitar case.

Scotland prides herself on indispensable things she has given the world, from televisions to penicillin, but her greatest gift to the world, as they say, was Robert Burns. You may remember the phrase, “the best laid schemes o’mice and men” and

O my Luve’s like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June:
O my Luve’s like the melodie,
That’s sweetly play’d in tune

Burns Supper Day, January 25th (also my brother Denis birthday) – a day the poet was born and died, was also the day we were due to leave. This day is celebrated with a “Burns Supper”, reservations which were being taken all over town. This dinner has a set menu, with intermittent recitals of his poetry, periods where guests spoke of their love of his poetry, etc. Gerard wants to have one when we return…The main novelty for us in this dinner was haggis. Haggis is organ meat, liberally mixed with an oat mixture. This became popular because hunters, who would not come home for days, would exist on this organ meat mixture because the organs were the first to spoil and of course they needed to eat. While shopping in Jenners, touted as the first and oldest fine department store (akin to our Saks) I noticed there was to be a Haggis and Scotch tasting…this would have to do . Up we went, getting lost many times in this ornate and multi leveled store. There were up to 4 levels, or more on one floor. Gerard finally had his taste of haggis, two type now, original and vegetarian…I opted for the vegetarian, which tasted to me like the oat mixture it was and Gerard enjoyed both versions…we both enjoyed the scotch.

We are on to the Lakes District in England on our literary tour, traveling via train this time. The train station is located right in the middle of town and we are packed and ready to go…..

Oh, and a few words from the billboards of Edinburgh...

and for you, Peter....dog beach in Edinburgh..

Publin

Thoughts on Dublin…..

Publin is about the people: Sweet, talkative, generous with their time, fast-walking, philosophical, multi-cultural, and seemingly happy. We asked for directions once and two people stopped. We met a lawyer in O’Donoghue’s Pub and he invited us to his home to stay overnight and have dinner. Of course, he was a besotten lawyer going thru a divorce. A man in Howth, his breath reeking with Guinness and cigarettes at noon, told us of the sights to see which, surprisingly, was a pub at the summit. Walking down Grafton Street is, as Ann said, like being on the streets of Disneyland. The pubs and music are fantastic. We enjoyed O’Donoghues, Doheny & Nesbitt, Brazen Head (est’d in 1198!), Foleys, et. al. The Guinness is great. It’s even aesthetic to look at. The food, let’s face it, is bad but irrelevant, for the most part. We weren’t that hungry ….is Guinness a food and is that why? As for Gerard, it could have been the Guinness. Ann had a great Guinness and beef pie on our first day and Gerard had the same at Gallagher’s after Mass on Sunday. It was a beautiful Mass, with a choir, at St. Theresa’s, right off Grafton. The tourist attractions were not, as a whole, memorable. The bad meals were more memorable. We didn’t go to the Guinness or Jameson attractions. What could they tell us? The National Art Gallery and St. Patrick’s Cathedral are places to see.

Ann loved the nutty brown bread, tea, scones, fluffy white duvets, not doing housework, walking, not driving and our self-motivated walking tours. She didn’t like the bacon, which is really a sort of ham, the sausages, white pepper and the lack of toilet seat covers. She was amazed by the amount of water used when flushing the toilet and how quickly the people of Dublin walk – all of them, housing development projects and the number of foreign speaking residents, all members of the European union who may move around and work freely in another EU country. Ireland is on its way to being another melting pot.

We enjoyed our walks along the River Liffey and the people in our hotel, The Georgian, who were so accommodating, even storing our excess luggage while we took off for Scotland. Where limits on luggage were 70 lbs coming from “America” to Europe, luggage limits are down to 30 lbs when traveling within Europe, or there is a 2 Euros charge for every pound over that.

One quick anecdote. On a Sunday night, we went to Doheny & Nesbitt and politely asked them to put on the Charger/Pats game on. This pub, which is normally crawling with people, was relatively quiet. It’s a haunt for rugby fans. The bartender obliged and turned on the game. A voice shattered the silence :“Turn that shit off.” We then went to another room in the pub and watched the first half. Disaster was looming when the pub closed.

It was all about the people.

Oh, and the pubs..

We even caught a Charger's game....i was knitting a scarf...gerard was lifting a pint...

Pubs, pubs, pubs....

Before we take off for Scotland, thought we would share a couples pics of our pub & city crawl..the city is alive with lots and lots of people walking , quickly i might add...we are slowly picking up the pace. Our room at the Georgian, see the very dapper Gerard in its doorway, is a very nicely located hotel, close to St. Stephen's Green.

And we're off.........

Hello Family & Friends...we're all packed up..ready to go ...the two of us and way too much luggage