Day 8 ... highlights The Lake District and English slang

... I felt it was somewhat unfortunate to leave Edinburgh today, really wanted to stay longer and explore some more - especially the weird and funky happenings of The Festival.

This morning we made our way to The Lake District (close to Keswick, Engand), with its beautiful and indescribable landscapes - there is so much variety in each eyeframe, and so much to take in, it really is hard to describe. This area is famous as the area that inspired both William Wordsworth and Dorothy Wordsworth (William's sister). In my opinion, Wm Woodsworth did great justice through the simplicity of his words [poems] in creating a vivid picture and creating the feeling of being in his surroundings 200 years ago. We took the opportunity to tour his home [Dove Cottage], rather than eat lunch, to experience his modest dwelling [which was also occupied by his wife, sister, sister-in-law, and 3 of his 5 children, and frequent guests]. Our tour guide, Molly, was very knowledgeable about the era and her subjects ... it was really quite interesting.

Today's photo is taken at the back of Dove Cottage [William Wordsworth's residence from 1798 to 1805] ... love this because it looks like I superimposed Beanie into the photo

We then carried on to Liverpool where we were subjected -- and I say subjected because it was one of the worst verbal tours I've ever been on ... the Liverpool tour guide Sheila was more intent on describing her life to date versus the highlights of Liverpool ... seriously ... thankfully this was the only drawback to our bus tour. On the plus side, we got a rockin' room on the 11th of 12 floors of the Thistle Atlantic Tower [the hotel is shaped like the bow of a ship and we've got amazing views of the River Mersey and the Irish Sea]!

This next bit, I must share ... a personal encounter:

... every morning and mid-afternoon the buscoach stops for a washroom / refreshment break. This morning we stopped at Gretna-on-Green (famous for run-away weddings) ... I had gone into a cafe to snag coffee for my go-cup and went over to the cream & sugar table ... I was pouring in my second creamer and ...

• this elderly women says ... "Crikey!"
• I said to her ... "did you just say 'Crikey'?" ... me with a wide grin
• she said, "Ye-AH ... bloody hot this coffee is!"
• I said, "I've been here one full week and was afraid I wouldn't hear someone say that word "
• she was grinning quite broadly, and I asked her what her name was and where she`s from ... Frances from Kent, England [approximately 75ish years old]
• our exchange ended with her asking "have I made your day?" ... my response was "Absolutely" [even now I'm grinning ... ... awesome]

And those are my quick tidbits on this day ...

P.S. Another positive in the day ... I had an awesome dinner out, Salmon and Green Curry with Rice ... mmmmmmm ... totally need a work-out though I think I'm losing the progress I made ... it's all good, I'll get it back ! Once I get to Amsterdam I should have some time to fit a run or 2 in ... and hopefully find a yoga studio ...