Second Star to the Right: On the Ambleside

Post for 7/31/12

The story of the Lake District continues today! Today we got more opportunities to explore the lovely city of Ambleside, which I didn’t know the name of until this morning. Sometimes I get very disoriented on this trip. Where the heck am I anymore?! Anyhow, this morning I found out that we are currently in Ambleside and I finally had a true British breakfast. The hostel provided breakfast and I had the famous bake beans on top of bacon (which is pretty much just ham here). It was delicious; it just felt peculiar having it first thing in the morning. I’m a fan.

After that fun breakfast we broke into our separate groups again and my group made our way back to learn more about Wordsworth. This time we went into the museum that they had by Dove Cottage and we had another amazing experience. The curator there, Jeff, let us actually look at and handle some of Wordsworth’s original documents. It was such an amazing experience. He seems to really like us after our performances of poetry yesterday. Apparently they don’t usually let people see the documents as closely as we were able to today. We stopped briefly for tea and crackers and then had a great discussion with Jeff about the preservation of books. They then recorded us as we gave our own suggestions about how to improve upon the museum. The amazing thing was that yesterday we asked them if they could close the all the doors and windows and have us read by candlelight so that we could know what it would have felt like for William and Dorothy. They really liked that, and apparently started doing that for other groups today! Now I want to come back some day and see if they start implementing that suggestions we made to this amazing little place! It has been such a great experience getting so hands on with this part of history!

We broke up for a lunch break and walked through the town to find some places to eat. I really wanted to get a boat and ride out onto the lake, which is actually quite inexpensive, but we didn’t have enough time for that. The time went by so quickly and we met up really fast to head out on a hike through the countryside. So often I think I have seen everything that I need to see, but then our professors will take us somewhere new and I am completely blown away again. This walk took us through beautiful green hills and it was amazing. It was slightly cloudy and rained a little, which made it even more beautiful. We even passed by some lakes and walked through a massive cave! We are adventurers, no big deal. The walk lasted until dinner when we ate at the White Lion Pub/Hotel and then made our way back to the hostel.

By the evening it was raining really hard so we cancelled our last walk and made our way back to the hostel. Instead we spent the evening drinking hot chocolate, eating Banoffe pie (a pie from Banana and Toffee that tastes like a combination of banana cream pie and score bar cake), and playing cards. The Olympics were on in the corner as well so we got to enjoy the British-ness of it all as well. This hostel has a very different atmosphere from others I have been in, and it feels like lodging in a cabin and is so cozy! I am a fan. Hooray for the Ambleside Hostel!

Again I find myself without Wi-Fi, so this post won’t actually be coming until later. So I hope that you enjoy it whenever you get to read it dear reader. For now I shall go to bed and hopefully get some sleep before our adventures tomorrow.