Week 7 in London, part 2

We spent two short days in the Lake District.  Actually, two nights and one full day--that must be why it felt so short . . .  The central focus of our stay there was an educational experience with the Wordsworth Foundation in Grasmere. We split our students into two groups of fifteen.  I was in the first group, which had dinner in Dove Cottage the night we arrived. Dove Cottage is the place where Wordsworth lived with his sister Dorothy before he married, and in the early years of his marriage (until three children made the lodgings too tight and they moved elsewhere).  

Wordsworth's Cottage, from the back

That's coal smoke coming out of the chimney--the same fuel they used in the nineteenth century. I can imagine that, if every chimney was putting it out, it would get pretty gray.  

For dinner, we toasted bread right over the coals, and then spread it with a bunch of delicious things: fresh fish paste (sounds awful, but it was really good), black currant jam, and a chutney with walnuts and something else.  

Making toast at Wordsworth's Cottage

There were also several delicious salads, homemade lemonade and ginger beer, and dark ginger nuts (a biscuit, or cookie) that we spread with lemon curd and raspberry jam. The creator of all these delights was the woman with the toast, in the picture above, using recipes from her mother's days in the WI. That stands for the Women's Institute, a WWII-era women's club which specialized, she said, in "jam and Jerusalem" (the English national hymn).

We got a guided tour of Dove Cottage the next morning, then went over to the education building, where we had a three-hour class on Wordsworth, using first editions and original manuscripts of his poetry. The students seemed to enjoy it. I certainly did. One of the best teaching ideas (which I think I'll steal from him) was to make a high-quality photocopy of a manuscript letter, fold it as it originally would have been folded, and then let the students unfold it, examine it, transcribe it, and compare it to later published versions of Wordsworth's poetry. It conveys something of the flavor of archival research and discovery.

Wordsworth workshop, Grasmere

Witty sweet shop, Grasmere

Then we hiked the six miles back to Ambleside, where our youth hostel was. I don't know how YHA got this particular property, but it was right on the lake.  

View from Youth Hostel, Ambleside

View from Youth Hostel, Ambleside, in the morning

Our hike back to Ambleside from Grasmere took us along the "corpse road." Apparently, Ambleside was once too small to have a church, so when someone died you had to carry the coffin six miles from there to the church in Grasmere. We passed a large, flat stone, about knee high, that was labeled a "coffin stone." You could set the coffin down there and rest a while, then continue on up the road.

Hiking the Corpse Road, Ambleside

The scenery all over the lake district was just stunning. Apparently, it's even better in the autumn, as that is what all the postcards depicted.

Hiking near Ambleside, Lake District

Lake District view

Another stunning view in the Lake District

And another

About halfway to Ambleside, we reached Rydal Mount, Wordsworth's final home (purchased after he had become wealthy and well known). It was located next to Rydal Hall, a lovely manor house with a garden open to visitors--so we visited! 

Rydal Mount

This view seemed familiar to me. Was it the house used in the new "Emma" with Romola Garai? 

Rydal Mount gardens

Rydal Mount gardens from below

The last bit of our hike took us around the far side of Ambleside, through flatter country next to a stream.  

Bridge along our hiking route

We took advantage of some stepping stones for a group picture.

Group picture: sedate

Group picture: silly

The students didn't want to leave the Lake District, and neither did I. Next time (I'm already thinking "next time,") we'll try to stay longer.  

We left early Friday morning to drive to York, watching the last two parts of "North and South" on the way. Our first stop in York was the Merchant Adventurers' Hall, built in the 1300s and still in use (though mostly for ceremonial and charitable rather than commercial purposes). In the medieval era, members of a guild exercised a monopoly on whatever good they produced. Only they could manufacture and market it, and they kept prices high by restricting competition from non-guild members. This guildhall, for "merchant adventurers," focused on international trade, selling England's wool to other countries and importing their goods for sale.  

The Guildhall, York

You can't see it in this picture, but there are steps up to the street on the other side of the lawn. The medieval street level, preserved here, is about a meter below the modern one. 

The Guildhall, York, interior

Most of the timber is original. Can you tell?

Next, we went to the Jorvik Viking Centre. I had heard there was a Viking museum in York, and it looked pretty cool on the web. Actually, it was pretty cheesy. They loaded you into Lagoon-like cars that carried you "back in time" to the Viking Era and wound you through several streets with animatronic figures speaking a Nordic dialect, with the sounds and smells (?!) of Jorvik (York) filling the air. After getting off the cars, however, we did get to go through a couple of rooms with very interesting artifacts and some resident archaeologists to answer questions.  

Here's a skeleton of a young Viking man, unearthed in the York area.

I was fascinated by the teeth of the young Viking man.  They are so straight, as if he'd had a good orthodontist. Of course, he died young, before he could wear them down or lose them (other than the front one, which I'll bet was lost after he died), but in their original shape you couldn't ask for a better set of chops. It's rare to find anyone today who has such good teeth naturally. I'd love to hear a good explanation: Survival of the fittest? Genetic homogeneity?

We all did some walking around York, in groups or alone, that evening. I walked the mile or two from our hostel into York, passing a sign for Hudson House on the way. (The McKays continue to be well represented in northern England).

Hudson House, York

The central part of York is still surrounded by a largely intact medieval wall.

Medieval wall, York

And parts of its medieval castle are still standing as well.

Medieval castle, York

The next morning we visited York Minster, the largest cathedral in Northern Europe. I think our students were all cathedralled out by that time.  I never got my fill of them.) It was our very last stop on our very last group excursion, and they were ready to go home. Here's the cathedral from the front.

York Cathedral

York Cathedral, side view

Like most of the cathedrals we visited, this one was being remodeled (hence the scaffolding on the first picture). It is a constant process, and York Minster had two large displays on the interior of the cathedral focusing on the stained glass and masonry restoration work. I poked my camera inside a chained link fence to take this shot of the mason's yard. The interior display pointed out that cathedral restoration has kept this ancient craft alive. Stone masons are serving apprenticeships and advancing through the ranks to master mason by working full-time on this and other cathedrals. And many cathedrals have mason's lofts--rooms full of the templates masons have used for hundreds of years to create and recreate their intricate carvings.

York Cathedral masonry workshop

Some of the cathedrals we saw, including this one, had a nice mix of ancient artwork and modern. This, for example, is the right hand side of a modern work called "the semaphore saints."  I need Clint to interpret their message.*

Semaphore saints, York Cathedral

Semaphore Saints, York Cathedral, right side

In the cathedral yard was a statue of the Roman emperor Constantine, who halted the persecution of Christianity and is known as the first Christian Roman emperor. Constantine was in Britain campaigning against the Picts when he was proclaimed emperor, supposedly near the spot where this statue now stands.

Statue of Constantine, York Cathedral

Just a couple of weeks before our visit, York Minster opened a new museum in the undercroft (below the ground level) showcasing the past history of the cathedral. York, called Eboracum in Latin, was the capital of the northern part of the Roman empire, and ruins of some of the principal Roman buildings are underneath the cathedral. A number of years ago, the cathedral caught on fire. The firefighters informed the dean that, while they would be able to put out the fire, the building would undoubtedly collapse from the weight of the water being poured into it. Well, it didn't collapse, and during the clean-up and reconstruction, they found out why: There was an ancient Roman drain beneath the foundation that sluiced the water away as fast as it was poured in. You can see the drain (a channel about a foot wide) in the undercroft museum. York rebuilt and strengthened the cathedral's foundation a generation ago, but they decided to keep the Roman drain, just in case.

York is famous for several other things, including this street called "The Shambles," which is supposed to be the model for Diagon Alley.

The Shambles, York

It is also famous for chocolate. Our youth hostel in York had a big mural all about the history of chocolate in York (which I wish I had photographed!) According to the mural, Rowntree's confectionary company, founded in York in 1862, was the model for Wonka Chocolate in Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. (Cadbury's was the model for Slugworth's Chocolate.) The mural said that Rowntree's provided 15,000 chocolate bars for the filming of the first Willie Wonka movie. The hostel also had a plaque commemorating Joseph Rowntree, an original owner of the company. He was a tremendous philanthropist and all-around good guy (a fitting model for Willie Wonka). Rowntree's, now owned and operated by Nestle, originated the Kit-Kat bar and Smarties (two of my favorites). Mike and I discovered mint Kit-Kats in Ireland, which are really, really good. (Kit-Kats in the UK are made with sugar, rather than corn syrup, and they definitely taste better.) For my last lunch in York, I ate at The Cocoa House, where everything has chocolate in it. I had butternut squash soup with chocolate and a chocolate ice cream cone with chocolate sprinkles. Mmmmm.

The Cocoa House (see menu), York

We finished our York visit around noon and headed back to London. We stopped first at the London Centre so everyone could pick up their suitcases we had stashed there. (We had checked out of our flats at the beginning of the north trip). Then we took the students to their London hostel in Holland Park and Kristine and I checked into our little hotel nearby.

I'll tell you about my last few days in one last post.

*With some help from Clint and this pdf:http://www.yorkminster.org/geisha/assets/files/semaphore-saints.pdf
I was able to decipher the message.  Try it yourself before you read the message at the bottom. One warning: I think the artist misinterpreted one letter, the fourth one on the left side, and the first one on the right side. If you figure out all the other letters, you should be able to guess it.