Photos of farmer's market and first trip to Lake District

Bonjour amis! I bring you more photographs and tales of my travels. Although I am kind of tired so the narration might be a bit lacking.

Yesterday we went to the farmer's market in Lancaster, which takes place every Wednesday and Saturday year-round. I can already tell that I will really, really miss this when I go home.




This is where I bought a head of broccoli, three bell peppers, a grapefruit, four tomatoes, three bananas, and three heads of garlic for a grand total of three pounds (about $4.50-$5). I made some of the broccoli for dinner tonight and for some unknown reason, it tasted really, really good. It had much more flavor than American broccoli. The tomato, basil, and garlic sauce I made last night wasn't bad either.



From left, Germa, Alison, and moi.



They had about 20 varieties of cupcakes here. I plan to share one with Germa the next time I go to the farmer's market (which will most likely be Wednesday).



Yes, that's a hog.

At this point my camera decided to run out of batteries and I felt a huge sense of disappointment at its pathetic measly battery life. After the farmer's market we walked up to Lancaster Castle and the priory church and it was very beautiful and everyone else took great pictures. Except for me. Because my camera had no batteries.

I will go back, though, and post more pictures at a later date.

When I was in town, I got yet another quilt for my bed and other useful things like knives and cutting boards. So last night I was very warm and snuggly. But I have at last figured out why room is freezing cold. The window is basically open a centimeter or so on one side. Vast amounts of literally freezing air are seeping in at every second. I'm going to talk to the porter about this and ask if it can be fixed or if I can change into a different room, because this is just ridiculous. The heater is on a foot away from me and I'm still frigidly cold.

We move on to today...the Lake District! (No, I did not go hiking. I was sad about it too. But I made amazing new friends.)



This is the boat we took across the lake. It looks cloudy and dark. It was not quite as dark as the pictures might make you think, but it was still pretty dark. It was also very, very windy and a light rain was falling. And we were going across a lake on a boat. I stayed on top of the boat for about half an hour and stayed relatively warm until the rain started falling harder and then my face got really wet and I went inside.

Here are some not-very-good photos of Lake Windermere, which was actually very pretty, if you're into fog, rain, and dark clouds, as I am.







Castle-like house!





See all of those green fields on the hill? Imagine these brighter, covered in sheep, and expanding in all directions, interspersed with the occasional rushing stream, and you'll have a good idea of the Lake District.





Alison and Germa. Aren't they cute? They were also very warm. And dry. Unlike me.



Lori on left and Jamie on right. Lori is an English major and is in my linguistics class.

The following are pictures of Grasmere, a really beautiful small village where Wordsworth actually lived for some parts of his life. (His house is a museum now but not open in the winter. I can't find anyone who has read Wordsworth. Or Neruda, not that Neruda spent a lot of time in the Lake District.)



Well then. I remember there being more pictures. Maybe they got lost again. Well, I plan on going back to Grasmere too so you'll see it eventually.



Jamie at the really cute restaurant we at lunch at. We had some rather interesting sandwiches. I think Jamie's was probably the most normal - ham and dijon mustard. Lori ordered a "bacon sandwich with tomato sauce," which consisted of two pieces of bread, English-style bacon (not very crispy and not in strips, but still heated up at least), and a side of ketchup. I had a cheddar and chutney sandwich, which was two pieces of bread, shredded cheddar cheese, and some kind of jam (figs? dates? I don't know). Not toasted. Mine was actually really good, kind of like a peanut butter and jelly, but with cheese instead of peanut butter.



This is Shad, whom Lori described as a "free spirit," which about says at all. Both Shad and Lori read xkcd and read lots of books, which means that they are sufficiently nerdy and awesome. Check out the restaurant's quaint fireplace.



British tea. "For one." In the foreground, you can see the "tomato sauce."



From left: Katie, Heather, Emily, and Emily. They are also awesome, I just did not get to see them much of the day.

The following pictures are from Keswick, a fairly large town at the other side of the Lakes.



BLUE SKY! It still exists!



Oh really?







This is Shad catching up after spontaneously deciding to climb a tree.



Another churchyard. I'm sorry if the photos of graveyards bother you. I really like European churches. They tend to be consistently aesthetically beautiful even if they are surrounded by dead people.



I really liked these moon and mountain decorations. I think they light up at night. I also liked the outdoor flower displays.



That's the end of the photos. I am going to go ask the porter if my window can be fixed.

Much love,
Julia