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The Lake District and London with Mom:
The first leg of my 3 week spring break I spent with my mom in the Lake District and London. She spent about 6 nights here. I had a choir concert the 2nd night she was going to be here so we stayed in Hull for a couple of days before moving on to the Lake District to explore the walking trails of England. We arrived in the Lake District in the afternoon by train. We made our way from the tourist information to our bed and breakfast. It was about a 15 minute walk to the bed and breakfast with our suitcases and thankfully it was all downhill. When we arrived the owner’s greeted us at the door and they were exactly what you would expect English bed and breakfast owner’s to be. They were very friendly and a bit odd but in a good way. We weren’t really sure what to do while we were there so they offered to make us some tea and give us some ideas. The tea, quoting my mom, really hit the spot and they gave us some great tips. We decided to hike up to Orrest Head which apparently has the most beautiful view in all of the Lake District. They were right. It was a pretty steep walk at some points but it was totally worth it. You could see most or all of the lake and the Pennines which are a mountain range up in the Lake District. I believe they are a mountain range at least. They aren’t very big but they’re bigger then hills so they must be mountains. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant which was delicious and then we went back to the bed and breakfast. They had a variety of DVD’s we could watch so we chose Love Actually because my mom had never seen it, I was shocked. She loved it of course because who wouldn’t. After that she went to bed but I attempted to stay up and watch Officer and a Gentlemen. Towards the end it got a little too mellow- dramatic for me and I was tired so I decided to go to bed as well. The next day we got up early so that we could have breakfast at the bed and breakfast and we both tried a traditional English breakfast which consists of tomato, mushroom, sausage, ham, and egg. It tastes pretty good but not my favourite kind of breakfast. After that we went on another walk that was recommended by the owners of the bed and breakfast and explored the town a bit more. The town’s full name is Bowness-on-Windermere but they usually split it up so that the part that’s higher up the hill is called Windermere and the part further down the hill is called Bowness. We signed up for a boat ride around the lake in the afternoon that took us all the way up to Ambleside then back. Ambleside was not what we were expecting it to be. We thought it would be much bigger with more things to do but it was just a very small town/village. It was still very cute though with some nice gift shops and a cafe. When we arrived back in Windermere we spotted some tiny little boats that you could steer around the lake yourself and we thought that it looked like a lot of fun so we tried it! I got to drive which was pretty exciting and I think I did pretty well but if you were talking to my mom she would say that I almost crashed into an island...but I don’t think I did, I was fully in control of the situation. We had a nice heart to heart out on the lake and then headed back to land to do some shopping and get ready for dinner. We wanted an authentic British dinner for our last night in the Lake District and had seen a pub on the water that looked promising. We were told it was cheap but had good food so we decided to stick with that. It was delicious! They had what they called a cutlery and you chose from three different kinds of meat. I chose turkey, and then an assortment of vegetables. We also both got our own desserts which were delicious. After that we were so tired and full that we just decided to go back and sleep. Thus ended our stay in the Lake District. The next day we caught a train to London where we had a whirlwind couple of days. Our first day there we went to Nottinghill just to see what it was all about. We went into a designer consignment store that had 7 and Rock and Republic Jeans for like 30 pounds which is really good and we even found a pair for about 5. I got a really cute shirt from there and then a tank from a store where everything was 5 pounds. We walked forever and couldn’t find anywhere to eat but McDonalds. Finally I think we ended up near Kensington gardens and found a French restaurant to eat at. There was a pub down the street so after dinner we went there and ordered drinks and chatted for awhile. We were tired from our day of travelling and walking so we decided to go back to the hotel and sleep. The next day was going to be a big day. We planned to see Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and all of the other important sights. We also planned to go to high tea at a tea house called The Orangery and then tickets to Wicked in the West End. The high tea turned me into a cucumber sandwich lover and I haven’t actually made one myself yet but I’m working on it. There was some drama while trying to find our theatre for Wicked. Apparently there are two Apollo theatres in London, The Apollo and the Apollo Victoria. They are two miles apart. We were already running late to the show when we arrived at The Apollo and we had practically run there and it was quite a distance let me tell you. When we arrived we were informed that our show was 2 miles away and that we were going to have to take a taxi back to get there at a reasonable time. It was very dramatic. We had a very nice cab driver who even waited to make sure we would be able to get into the show. We managed to make it there and they let us in but we had to wait until the first couple of numbers were over. We could see through some windows that looked into the theatre and I did get to see my favourite song performed via the lobby. The show was amazing and everything I had dreamed it would be. The next day I had to get up early so that I could catch an early train back to Hull. It was really great to see my mom and I was very sad to have to leave her but we had an awesome time together and I look forward to the summer when I can see her again!
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