2008 - United Kingdom - Day 8 - Lake District, Grasmere, Hadrian’s Wall

This morning we left our hotel at 9:00 am. By the way, for breakfast EVERY morning except in Wales, (that was the traditional European breakfast of pastries and meats and cheese), they serve scrambled eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, hash browns, sausage and beans. Sometimes there is oatmeal. It’s kind of funny, good though, I like it. It’s just the same in every hotel. We drove 2.5 hours to the Lake District. On the way, we watched Harry Potter since we are going to the castle were some scenes were filmed in tomorrow. The Lake District is so gorgeous. It is a hilly area with several small lakes and trees and flowers and sheep and so green. We started in Windermere. We ate lunch there and bought a few trinkets in the shop, then we went for a boat ride across the lake to Anglesey, about 40 minutes. From there we got back on the bus and drove to Grasmere, home of William Wordsworth. We walked a little ways through the city to the church where he was buried. There we took pictures of his grave and sat on the lawn and listened to Mike tell us about his life and read some of his poetry. It was so nice sitting under the trees and looking at the hills with its stone walls and flocks of sheep. We then drove out of the Lake District, but we saw some beautiful scenery along the way. Mike and Laurie talked to us about Beatrice Potter (author of Peter Rabbit), who lived in that area. Driving towards Newcastle where we are spending the night, we stopped at a section of Hadrian’s Wall built in the 2nd century and marks the northern most region of the Roman Empire. Again, it was set on a beautiful hillside and we walked a short way and got some good pictures. After the wall, we finished our drive into Newcastle and are at our hotel. Mom and I ordered some sausages and mashed potatoes which are a traditional British dish that Dave’s British co-worker told me to try. It was really good. We had a fabulous chocolate marble truffle cheesecake-like dessert that was sooo yummy. It was served hot with fudge and berries.