Day 4: Grasmere, Rydal Mount, Bowness, and Cultural Reflections with Mr. John Lionet

Today we woke up at the same hotel we were at the night before – still in Scotland, in Symington – about an hour drive away from Edinburgh. We ate a quick breakfast, then hopped on the bus for a two and a half hour drive south across the border into the Lake District in England (where William Wordsworth grew up and lived for the majority of his life). I have to admit, I napped for a big part of the trip down. :o)

We got into the Lake District and John (our guide) told us about the differences between a U.S. state park and a European state park. In the U.S. a state park is preserved as a wilderness where no one really lives. In Europe, a state park is a place acclaimed as a natural beauty, but there are still villages and neighborhoods and communities where people live and work. There are strict regulations about houses and buildings, etc., but there are villages and communities.

We found out that most of the lakes are actually not called “lakes,” most are called “Ullswater” or something ending in “-water.” Only the largest, Lake Windermere, is actually called a lake. The drive was just beautiful! I tried to get lots of pictures out the windows (the sun peaked through occasionally and shone on the water), but in most of them there’s a glare and you can see my reflection. =P But I tried. :)

We stopped at a lookout on Kirkstone Pass which is named for a (rather unremarkable) stone on the hillside that apparently is supposed to look like a church. Maybe it did at one point, I don’t know. :)

We went into a town called Grasmere which was charming. We went into a few shops and stopped for lunch. A few of us got lunch at a little café called Potted Out. Noah and I got spaghetti and tried to inconspicuously eat sugar cubes from the container in the middle of the table. :) Then we went and visited Wordworth’s grave in the church cemetery, where he is buried along with his wife, Mary, his sister, Dorothy, and his daughter, Dora. I visited the graveyard with Noah, and it WAS a graveyard and there SHOULD be a sort of unspoken reverence that goes with you into such places, but you know those times when you get the giggles when you're supposed to be serious and then it just gets worse? Yep - that happened.

Grasmere is also famous for Beatrix Potter and her stories about Peter Rabbit and Aunt Jemima Puddleduck. I haven’t read the stories since I was little and I was very tempted to buy a few of the children’s books to take back with me. :)

Then we got back on the bus and went to see Wordsworth’s house, called “Rydal Mount.” It was fairly modest, but the grounds covered 4 acres that he landscaped entirely by himself. THAT was very impressive. The grounds are still kept up today, and the house is owned and kept up by his direct descendants. We weren’t allowed to take pictures in the house, but I took plenty outside. It was simply splendid walking around the grounds – just gorgeous. You could even see a little bit of the lake at times.

Wordsworth has quite a few poems that we studied in class about nature. Well... Nature really. Wordsworth had a very pantheistic view of the world which comes through in a great majority of his poems, especially in the “great decade” of his life (from 1798 to 1808). And it was easy to see where he got his inspiration – the grounds were beautiful.

Then we got back on the bus, went to the dock in Grasmere where we got some ice cream and wandered around a few more shops, and then took the ferry across Lake Windermere to the town of Bowness. We got to wander through the town of Bowness as well – a very pretty town.

After about forty-five minutes, we got back on the bus and headed to our hotel, the Cragwood, which is right on Lake Windermere. It’s a wonderful hotel – I am very impressed with it. From the rooms to the food; and I especially love the grounds here. A few of us took a walk on a trail that led right down to the water’s edge. It was a very nice walk through the woods and around the stunning house. I absolutely love it. I went on another walk with my roommate Ashley so that she could get some pictures as well (her camera had been charging earlier). Then we came in and sat by the fireplace (it was a tad chilly outside), and read The Times. Fortunately, John was there and I asked him about some of the things I was reading in the newspaper. He kindly explained to me a little bit about the English political parties (of which I was totally ignorant). They have three – the Tory or conservative party, the Liberal Democrats in the middle, and then the Labour party. Currently, the Tories and the Lib Dems are being lumped together and having to share power because of some situation where neither party came out on top in a recent election, and the Lib Dems are apparently griping about it.

Then we had dinner. The appetizer was a chicken liver pate (or parfait as it was listed on the menu). It bore an interesting resemblance to bologna in a way. The meal was absolutely delicious – roasted saddle of lamb with lentils. Then dessert was orange crème brulee and blackberry ice cream on what John called a “cracker,” which reminded me of a sugar cone.

After dinner we had some free time, so our whole group let me do a dress rehearsal of my Shakespearean monologues that I prepared for the talent show at the Brontë sisters’ church in Haworth. So I did a run-through and I think it went well. I got positive feedback. :) Then we sat down and had a fascinating conversation with John about the main differences he perceives between American culture and European (more specifically British) culture. One of the main differences he talked about was how we raise our children. In the U.S., a lot of times, everything is about the kids. He gave the example that they occasionally have American friends stay with them and when the adults will be having coffee or sitting around having wine, their friends’ kids will come in and ask for something and they immediately jump up to take care of it for them, whereas if his kids come in and ask for something, they’ll often say “Hold on for awhile, we’re talking,” or “Yes, all right, but you’re going to have to wait for a bit.” He also said that for his kids to walk into the house and just go grab something out of the fridge without asking even though they’re 14 and 16 would be extremely rude and disrespectful and they would never think of doing that.

Another difference is the way Americans talk to their children. He said he’s heard Americans tell their kids “I’m proud of you” and “I love you” about ten times a day whereas in England and France, parents only really give high praise to their children if, quite frankly, they’ve earned it. Teachers also, he said, seem to give students a more truthful picture of how they did instead of sugar coating everything. Basically, they don’t give undue praise.

We asked what his favorite thing was about different cultures that he’s been to. He said that his favorite thing about France is the determination of its people to preserve and uphold their culture – even the uneducated class will go to museums and art galleries on Sunday afternoons, etc. His favorite thing about Scotland is the pride and respect the people have for their nation – their patriotism. His favorite thing about Italy is just how full of life and joy people are. His favorite thing about the U.S. is that it doesn’t matter who you are, most people will accept you. He also likes Americans’ ability to apparently be comfortable wherever we’re at. :o) He said that, yes, on a whole, Americans are quite a bit louder than really anyone anywhere in Europe, and, as a tour guide, he has seen his fair share of Americans’ insensitivity to other cultures, but for the most part seemed very fond of the U.S. and its people.

Just to give a little background about John – his name is John Lionet. He’s English, and I believe married to an Englishwoman; they have two boys and moved to France awhile ago because they liked it much better than where they had been living in England. He speaks English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian all pretty much fluently, and guides most often in English, French, and Spanish. He’s been all over the world and is very knowledgeable about pretty much anything you’d care to ask him about. It was great to talk to him and hear his opinion about the cultural differences.

Well, tomorrow we head to Haworth – the village where the Brontë sisters lived and wrote. We’ll do some service projects for their church, and then have dinner and the talent show. I am loving this trip. :)