Maddie: We drove for a long time today but we stopped at the Bronte Parsonage. After seeing where the Bronte sisters lived, I feel like I understand the kind of gothic nature of their novels better. “It was not the thorn bending to the honeysuckles, but the honeysuckles embracing the thorn” --Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights.
Maddie: We're staying in the Lake District. It's so beautiful here!
Week 3 Day 2
Maddie: It's our last day in the Lake District :(. but I found a super cute ice cream parlor so that made things happier!
Today was super cool! We went to Grasmere where Wordsworth lived and wrote his best poetry...
We started out with a hike. In the rain...
YES MOM I WENT FOR A HIKE WILLINGLY!!
It was so beautiful and amazing in the rain. Then we got world-famous gingerbread that was soooo good. Then we got to go to the trust and a guy in our group got to read us the "Tintern Abbey" poem from one of 6 surviving copies of a first edition of Wordsworths' book. It was so powerful especially after visiting Tintern Abbey last week. I just get chills thinking about it! Overall it was a good, exhausting, wet day. Also, I wore my "marijuana leaf" shirt so now everyone calls me "Marijuana Maddie." Cheers!
Robyn's note: The name for the shirt came because some random woman asked Maddie why she was wearing a shirt with marijuana leaves on it. They aren't.
Week 3 Days 3 and 4 - no pictures :(
Maddie: OKAY. So we've been in Scotland for 2 days and I absolutely love it here! I don't know what it is but I think I love it more than London *gasp*. Yesterday we visited Hadrian's wall, then toured Sir Walter Scott's crazy eclectic mansion. He had all kinds of weapons and I took a ton of pictures to show Nate. Today we toured Scottish Parliament and the Edinburgh Castle. Then we found the graves that inspired the names J.K. Rowling used in her books--Tom Riddle. We didn't make it to the elephant cafe unfortunately...We walked around and shopped. We also got super good treats in little unknown hole-in-the-wall places. Also, apparently Campbells were notorious traitors here? That would've been nice to know going into this. I couldn't decide on anything to buy here but I guess that just means I have to come back!
Robyn: You love Scotland because you're a Campbell. Same way your dad loved it there. It's like he came home.
Grandma Johns: The Johns were not traitors to the Scots so you can use our name if you have to.
Week 3 Day 5
Maddie: We spent the day in York then drove back to London.
Week 4 London Museums, Brighton and Portobello Market
Week 4 Day 1
Maddie: We went to the British Museum and caught up on homework.
Week 4 Day 2
Maddie: Today we took a day trip to Brighton and now I understand Kitty and Lydia better. Brighton is beautiful and wonderful! I would be as excited to go as Lydia and as upset as Kitty if I wasn't allowed to go!
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| My friend, Sarah. |
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| Best donut ever! |
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| Brighton had a reputation as a "party town" in Jane Austen's time. |
Week 4 Day 4
Maddie: We went to Much Ado About Nothing at the Globe. It was fantastic!
Week 4 Day 5
Maddie: We went to the war museum and NATE WOULD HAVE LOVED IT! I can't wait until I can take him to see it! We also went to the Tate Modern Art Museum and it was so cool! There was a room where there was 400 yards of human hair made into a rope. It was creepy, but there were also a lot of non-creepy exhibits too. :)
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| Picasso, of course :) |
Week 4 Day 6
Maddie: I'm just walking back from watching Dunkirk. It was so good! But I think the point was to make you feel uncomfortable, right?? Man! Mind blown!
Maddie: Today was so fun! this morning I went to Portobello Market which is about 1.5 miles of super cool booths. I found an original Beatles record for 150 pounds...I got myself a ring and a print. After that my friend, Sarah, and I went to see Dunkirk and got Indian food at this really good/nice restaurant.
Rod: Did you really spend almost 200 dollars on a record? You don't even have a record player!
Maddie: No, Dad. I wasn't going to buy it but I had a long chat with the Vinyl Cafe owner about music so I felt a little guilty for not buying anything from him.
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| This made me miss Aimee.. |
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| ...so I had some. |
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| It was a great day! |
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