The Lake District - Keswick

The Lake District - Keswick

We took a weekend trip up to the Lake District with Victor and Agnes Lal.  The car trip was just under 200 miles (3.5 hours) and was good other than a winter snow/hail storm in the mountains (spring just can't take hold).  Fortunately, we were only 10 miles away from Keswick so we starting descending into the valley as the roads started to get bad.  I think we were all glad to get there.    

Downtown Keswick - Market Saturday

You can see the snow on the hills from the storm coming into town.. it was gone by the end of a sunny Saturday

We took a hop-on, hop-off boat cruise around the lake.  We got off at Ashness to take a hike up to Surprise View - well worth it.  

Boat cruises on Lake Derwentwater

Vintage wooden boats to take the tourists around.

Nice views from the boat...  There's a hike from one of the boat stops up to the top, where there's a ridge hike along the peaks.

Hike up to surprise view

Ashness bridge on the way up the road 

A look back toward the lake

Waterfalls from the snow melt..  

At the top - Surprise View

Panoramic View of Lake Derwentwater

After Surprise View, we took a walk, and found a pub!... 

A little chilly along the lake

Ready for pick-up

 Our Lady of the Lakes

Room 26 Skiddaw Hotel,  ... Lori always wanted a 4 poster bed

Windermere, Lake District

We drove through Windermere on the way back to Derby.  The weather took another turn for the worse.. drizzle and 30-40 mph winds so we didn't spend a lot of time there.. it's more commercialised that Keswick.

 

One final stop on the way home - Wedgewood Pottery factory outlet in Stoke-On-Trent.  The girls were happy.

Eyam - the plague village

Eyam, Derbyshire

Lori and I took an a hour trip northwest of Derby to Eyam, known as the plague village.  The plague was brought to the village in a flea-infested bundle of cloth from London delivered to tailor in 1665.

After the initial deaths, the townspeople introduced a number of precautions to slow the spread of the illness from May 1666. These included the arrangement that families were to bury their own dead and the relocation of church services from the parish church of St. Lawrence to outdoors to allow villagers to separate themselves, reducing the risk of infection. Perhaps the best-known decision was to quarantine the entire village to prevent further spread of the disease. The plague lasted for 14 months and killed at least 260 villagers with only 83 villagers surviving out of a population of 350.

The cottages where the plague started

Stain glass in the church commemorating the plague.

A footpath leads out of Eyam to the boundary stone. This stone was the place where residents of Eyam left money during the plague, in exchange for goods. The stone has six holes that were filled with vinegar to disinfect the money.

The grave site of the Hancock family... all 6 children and the husband died within a week from the plague.  Only Mary Hancock survived to bury her family.   

Dovedale, Stepping Stones and Thorpe Cloud in the spring

Dovedale and Thorpe Cloud

Lori and I took a quick day trip to Dovedale and Thorpe Cloud

Nice scenery on the way up (~ 1000 ft in elevation) ..

Although spring seems to be here, there still were a few patches of snow on the peaks and fence rows from the March storms.

 At the peak... 

The farmers have had a tough time last month with the unusual late snow and the birth of the lambs,   There were plenty of new lambs out and about the trail.

Enjoyable couple of hours before the rain came.  

Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square

Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peters Square

St. Peter's Square

Visitors on their way to the St. Peter's Basilica pass along St. Peter's Square, a grandiose elliptical esplanade created in the mid seventeenth century by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The square is bordered by massive colonnades that symbolizes outstretched arms. Bernini and his assistants sculpted the 140 statues of saints that grace the balustrades on the colonnades. The square is decorated with fountains and an Egyptian obelisk that was transported to Rome in 37 AD. (We were just in front of the obelisk during mass).

Good Saturday preparation for Easter Sunday.  

We toured the Vatican on Good Saturday which allowed us to get up close to the altar used during Easter mass.  They were preparing the decorations and going through a run-through of the mass.  

 The cross and looking up at the papal balcony

It rained hard most of the Saturday night.  Easter Sunday morning was crisp and clear.. here is the view of St. Peter's Basilica as we head toward St. Peter's square for Easter Sunday mass.

 Here we are waiting in line to get through security.  The "better lucky than having a good plan" story --  Europe changed to daylight savings time @ 2am Easter Sunday, moving the clocks ahead 1 hour.  Since we were using my I Touch for an alarm clock, and since it didn't have an Internet connection, I manually set the time ahead 1 hour before bed.  We woke to the alarm a little weary but got ready and headed to breakfast, which we found not open.. that's when Lori figured out that the I Touch had also moved the clock ahead another hour overnight meaning we had jumped 2 hours ahead.  After they opened breakfast, we quickly ate and headed off to the Vatican early. When we got into the long line, we were seeing everyone with tickets  (apparently, ordered months in advance).  About that time, 4 students from St. Mary's South Bend IN came along the line with extra tickets.    - better to be lucky than have a good plan.

 We ended up right in front of the obelisk.

 The square was filling up.. 

 The mass...  the entrance

A picture of the square from one of the Jumbotrons.  The square was full.. est ~ 250,000 people

The Mercedes Benz Pope-mobile... after the mass, Pope Francis toured through the crowd 

The Pope touring 

The Papal blessing after mass

Left the hotel at 8a, finished at 1p.. Lot's of standing and in need of a rest. 

 The crowd filtering out...