Dinner was in a pub inside of a hotel that we just happened upon. It turned out to be one of the better meals we had in Scotland. We filled up and toasted to a great week in Scotland and then climbed back into the car to have Maude lead us into Great Britain; a country that has been on my bucket list for years. About five miles from the border we pulled over into a rest area to take a break and we realized that England was definitely not going to be like Ireland or Scotland.
The rest area was a huge building with several fast food restaurants, gas stations, and tourist shops. It was very much like America with lots of advertisements. It was almost a shock to enter, but we did, and we filled up on Starbucks because if anything we are American.
Exiting out of the rest area took us on to a major road, something we hadn't been on since we first arrived. Suddenly we had three lanes to chose from and all of them wider than anything we had driven on in weeks. There were overpasses and guard rails and if I hadn't known better I would have thought us in the United States. We drove on the interstate for miles. The scenery was not anything to write home about and so I put away the camera and blogged some.
Eventually Maude led us off the interstate and back on to a smaller road that had something to study out the window. I read aloud from the tour book again and we talked about some of the places we might be interested in seeing. Grandma had never been to the Lake District, but had been told by several people it was a point of interest. We had three nights here, but as I read aloud we realized we were in the tourist part of the district and that we would have to travel by car to see most of the points.
Our travels to our hotel were uneventful until we reached Windermere. There Maude told us we had arrived at our destination and it turned out not to be our hotel. Tom went inside to inquire and discovered we were staying at Bowness on Windermere a few miles down the road. We turned off Maude after she kept telling us to "make a U-turn" and we relied on the directions that Tom had gotten at the wrong hotel. This of course had us all given him our own suggestions on where he should be driving, but we found our little destination on the water after driving through a familiar road of twists and turns.
The hotel was valet parking only and was off in a small alcove off of the main drag. We unloaded and took turns in the small three person only elevator to get to our floor. It was starting to mist as we got into our rooms and having already eaten we decided to retire for the night. We spent the rest of the evening preparing in our rooms for the following day's adventures.
The next morning after breakfast the church, directly outside my window, started sounding its bells. As my window was open it was quite lovely except that they kept ringing and ringing and ringing. I knew that Madison, who had not joined us for breakfast, was now awake because there was no way anyone could have slept through that.
Tom and I had scouted out laundry facilities on the Internet the night before so we volunteered to handle that chore in a facility in the next town. The girls and Grandma opted to stay at the hotel and so we set off for Ambleside.
I got to ride in Grandma's spot in the front seat for the first time. It was not as scary as my back seat spot because I could see everything as it happened. The ride to Ambleside was only about fifteen minutes and the town itself was very quaint. It reminded me of small town Indiana with lots of limestone buildings. The day was overcast, but the weather was warm. We parked in a lot and were directed by the lot manager to the facility. It was a very small laundry mat with four extra large washers and dryers. No was there, but as we entered a woman came running from the shop across the street. She owned both and gave us some change to do our business.
Tom thought he should stay with our laundry, but I wanted to explore the town so I set off. It was Sunday and most of the shops were closed or were opening later. I wandered around most of the area near the laundry until I found a recreation facility. A game of football (soccer in America) was in progress with small children running around. I used their bathroom (cost me 10 pence), watched the kids for awhile, and then headed back to the laundry. We changed the loads and Tom set off to explore the town. He too found everything closed. We finished our laundry and headed back to our hotel.
The girls and Grandma were off exploring the city which meant they were shopping. We dropped off the laundry and met them in the center. I still had not purchased much at this point and really was searching for some one cup teapots and was anxious to walk around the city to do some shopping, but everyone was hungry. So we set off to find a place to eat.
The area was full of tourists eating, shopping, boating, fishing, and just wandering. It was very much like our beach area in Florida and we decided to head back toward our hotel and away from the tourists.
There was some discussion as to whether we should eat in our hotel, but it had rules regarding eating in the dining room. Shorts were not allowed and so we opted instead to eat in a tea room not far from the church outside my hotel window. It proved to be the right choice. We had tea and toasties and lemon cake while we chatted with the owner who was from Liverpool. After lunch Madison and I headed out to try to find some souvenirs. The rest of the group went back to the hotel.
Right next to the tea room was a shop that sold exactly what I was looking for. It was a small area and filled with teapots, cups, saucers, creamers, and milk jugs. Madison and I spent about forty five minutes picking out what we liked and then instead of getting it we decided to look around some more. We headed out and when we got to the center of town it started to rain. We had no rain coats or umbrellas and while it wasn't a hard or steady rain our hair was dripping. We called it a day and went back to the hotel. I knocked on our door and Tom opened it a crack to peek out. He was laughing. I wasn't in the mood for nonsense as I was wet and empty handed of souvenirs and so I didn't respond to his, "We are having a wild and crazy party in this room." I pushed against the door and he stepped back. I walked in to this:
Apparently he had gone over to Darcy's room and this was how she was drying her bras that I hadn't put into the dryer. He thought that hilarious and came back to dry my bra the same way. I did chuckle. Then I showered and joined everyone downstairs for some cards and cocktails.
The lounge was quite large with couches and chairs and tables set up in discreet circles around the room and a full bar at one end. There weren't very many people in the lounge even though it was after five o'clock. We ended up drinking and eating there while we played cards. At one point after returning from the bar I noticed Grandma missing. I started to ask where she had disappeared to when I heard once again the tickling of ivories.
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