Ireland has captured my heart - and I don't want to leave!

Hello again! Here's another quick update on my latest travels outside of London. I would write about London too, but whenever I'm there I am too busy experiencing it to actually find the time to write about it! But I promise to catch you up on everything once I get back ... if I can find the time before school starts up :)

I took off on my adventure to Ireland on Thursday just after noon. I hopped on the tube and rode the Piccadilly line all the way to the Heathrow Airport terminals with no problem. Once I got to the airport I checked myself in on the machine, checked my backpack at the Aer Lingus desk, and then zipped through security and made my way to the Gate 84. There I had to wait for a little bit because my seat was in row 5, so I was one of the last passengers to board. About a half hour later I was on the plane sitting between an older woman with a semi-grumpy appearance and a thirty-something man with tattoos and a savage looking earring in one ear. Tattoo man was actually quite polite, though very quiet, but the older woman in the window seat kept her earplugs in the whole time and never even gave me the chance to make eye contact. One thing they held in common was their notion of armrest rights because they both seemed to think that they had a higher right to the armrests than I did. That's the hard thing about sitting in a middle seat - you get the leftovers.

Thankfully, I was so elated over the fact that I was on a plane, by myself, and on my way to IRELAND - that I didn't mind the lack of armrests. I was also rather pleased with how well the trip had gone so far. Before leaving I was extremely excited, but very nervous because there was a lot to remember and I was on my own. I had planned everything myself and was responsible for getting myself there on my own, so it was very liberating and thrilling, but there was a bit of "oh man, what if I _______ or forget to ______ ?" going on in my head too. But by the grace of a very great God the flight and every step before it ran very smoothly and I arrived in Cork about an hour later with nothing to peeve me except my lack of aerial pictures. The grumpy lady next door did not look like she wanted to be spoken to much less leaned over for a few shots from above, so I but my tongue and gazed out the window longingly, promising myself that the next time I came I would make sure I got a few pictures from the airplane. The view was just spectacular!

Christina and Anna Hartley were there to greet me at the airport after I had grabbed my baggage from the check point. Anna Hartley had grown so much since I last saw her, and was all smiles despite the fact that she had no clue who I was! From the airport we stopped by a Tesco (grocery store) that was attached to a small shopping mall.

I took Anna Hartley for a spin in the stroller while Christina stocked up at the Tesco. A.H. wasn't entirely sure I was qualified for driving a stroller, but as you can see that didn't stop her from propping her feet up and relaxing!

She was a great shopping buddy! I took her all over that mall and she rambled on in baby language like she and I were having a real conversation. It was relaxing for me to just enjoy some baby time and drink in the everyday views of Irish culture around me. Everyone was so friendly!

The next day (Friday) we headed west and made a day out of our trip to the Cliffs of Moher. At times the weather looked a bit iffy, and we got some way on the trip over, but when we finally reached the cliffs just after lunchtime, the sky was beginning to look quite hopeful. Anna Hartley was great about going straight from car seat to stroller - she was a real trooper that day!

It was definitely a trek to reach the actual cliffs, but between the two of us Christina and I were able to push/drag the stroller all the way up to the top! The sights were breathtaking - a few minutes and any remainder of my heart that was avoiding full surrender was gone.

I don't know if I can possibly describe with adequate words just how stunning the Cliffs of Moher were to see in person. If ever you are in Ireland and have the slightest possibility of going to see them, by all means go! They were absolutely magnificent - and so very rich a green - and the water was wild and free down below the jagged rocks, untainted by human touch.

Then a few minutes after we'd been there the sky really began to clear up, even sunny in certain places. There was a gentle breeze to keep us cool, but in general it was a very mild day and perfect for viewing the beauty all around us.

And Anna Hartley was certainly happy to get out of that stroller! She was cheerful throughout the day and so patient with Christina and me as we dragged her around from sight to sight. One thing that did not fit into this trip were the Aran Islands, which you can see in the distance below if you look very closely (it's more of a distant shadow):

The Arans are supposed to be some of the most beautiful places in the world by all accounts, and I would love to make it there the next time I travel to the green hills of Ireland. This trip was a fabulous way to show me a glimpse of just how gorgeous and full of sights this country is, and I since there is still so much left for me to see, I guess I'll have to plan a return trip :)

That evening Christina and I had quite an ordeal getting back! Traffic was pretty back in Limerick, and then when we tried to find a dinner place we got all turned around only to discover the place was right near our parking deck - but closed. So we made do and picked up some bread, cheese, etc. at a nearby Tesco then hopped back in the car and ate on the road. I sat in the back and kept Anna Hartley happy, which wasn't very hard since she was either sleeping ...

... or goofing off with blanket!

We made it home safely that night, happy about the side of Ireland we had discovered for the first time, but pretty tired from all the traveling. Today was a lot slower and more relaxed. Christina and I had breakfast and discussed the wonderful complexities of the Jim/Pam relational dynamics within the T.V. show The Office while Anna Hartley had her morning nap, and then the three of us headed out to downtown Cork to look around and do some shopping. You know, girl time :)

I absolutely loved Cork! Not only was it colorful, clean, and happily bustling, but everyone I met along the way was remarkably kind and friendly! (I took lots of pictures, but will have to post those when I get back to London.) One of the highlights of my day was when a young British woman came up to me and asked if I could point her in the direction of a good coffee shop - I was so flattered! To be mistaken for a local is quite a compliment for me, so you can imagine how excited I was when it happened again an hour later! I was in traveler's bliss!

After a few hours out and about around the town, the three of us had had our fill so we headed back to the house for lunch. Then Christina and Anna Hartley took naps while I laboured feverishly over my Chatsworth blog update (see below if you haven't read that update yet!) and caught up on email. It was nice to have some downtime before the hectic days that await me this week! Tomorrow morning I fly out of Cork bright and early at 7:30 am and head back to London by 9. I'm very sad to part ways with Ireland, but so thankful that I had the opportunity in the first place.

Ireland has truly taken my heart! Not to lessen the wonder and happiness I felt in the other countries, or downplay the other gorgeous sights I have seen this summer (each one was special and unique in its own right!), but I have never felt more at home in any place as I have in these few days in Ireland. I don't know what I'm going to do about this newfound attachment, but if I could guarantee a return to anywhere I've been so far, Ireland would be the place I'd want to ensure I visited again.

I hope you all are doing well and enjoying the summer. I can't believe it, but this trip is getting close to reaching its conclusion! I return on August 5th, but will certainly do my hardest to blog at least one more time before I come home. We are going to Bath next weekend (Hello Jane Austen World!) so hopefully I will be able to blog about that before we leave London the Monday after.

Much love and many many baci! I can't wait to catch up with all of you when I get back to the States. Again, if I have not responded to your emails please forgive me! Oftentimes they come in herds at a time when I cannot respond, but then by the time I have a few minutes to catch up on email they have gotten pushed down the inbox and I forget to go back and respond! So all that to say, don't think I'm purposefully neglecting you! Each and every one is a blessing and I really do love getting emails!

Take care!

Bekah

Catch-up post: Chatsworth Estate in Derbyshire

Well I think it's safe to say that last two weekends have provided a few of the most wonderful experiences of my entire life! Yet again, I apologize for my long absences during the London half, but I've been so very busy that blogging has had to take a backseat to homework and journaling when I get a bit of free time. But now that I have some time this afternoon, I will do my best to get you caught up on my past two weekend trips.

A few of us went to the Derbyshire area last weekend and toured the Chatsworth estate (where they filmed part of the newest Pride and Prejudice movie) and this weekend I am in Cork, Ireland visiting Christina Marrow, who attends Christ Covenant with me back in Raleigh. Her husband Dave was transferred to Cork for the next year or so, but he is actually back in the States for a couple of weeks for training. So this weekend it has just been Christina, myself, and little Anna Hartley, who just turned one. I think I've taken more pictures of Anna Hartley than I have of Ireland! But before I talk about Ireland let me catch you up on Chatsworth ...

Joy and I left London Friday afternoon to make our way towards St. Pancras station and hop on our Chesterfield-bound train. Yet the tube ended up taking longer than we anticipated, so despite our mad dash from the tube station to St. Pancras, we missed our train by ONE minute. It was quite a disappointment, and for a few minutes we thought we were going to have to either forfeit the trip or buy new tickets, which would be pricey. Yet the ticket lady took compassion on us in our flustered state and allowed us to catch a later train to Sheffield (which passed right through Chesterfield) with no extra charge. So we waited in the station for about an hour and then hopped the train and were finally on our way. Thankfully, we found empty seats and were able to sit too.

After arriving in Chesterfield (a very wet one at that!) we pulled out our umbrellas and hailed a taxi to Beeley, a small village about 20-25 minutes from Chesterfield. Our taxi driver was wonderful (though he drove a bit too fast on those small country roads and there were times I feared we would slip off the road and into a ditch!), and because we were a bit unsure of where to go once we go to tiny little Beeley, he made sure we knew where we were going before he left us. He even knocked off a few extra pounds that had accumulated on the meter while we were looking for our exact destination - and all this in the rain too!

We finally found the de-consecrated Methodist church where we would be staying and after a bit of a battle with the old iron keys we made our way inside and were delighted with what we saw. Dr. Webb had kindly asked some old friends of hers if we could stay with them for the weekend, and John and Janet had generously opened the guest half of their home for us!

The inside of the church was completely remodeled into a home, and we were staying in the half that used to be the Sunday school room. It was deliciously quaint and cozy, and all around us there were remnants of the room's old purpose, such as prayer books, old Bibles, and chairs with shelves on the back where the children would keep their books. I just loved it! The decor had a rustic farmhouse feel to it that I would love to mimic in my own kitchen someday. Everything was so wonderfully old, but at the same time it was neat, clean, and surprisingly modern. The perfect blend of new and old if you ask me!

As we walked in the door we were greeted by a pretty little black cat with white "mittens" who was later introduced to us as Norma. Now I'm pretty allergic to cats and have been for many years, and as is usually the case, Norma took to me especially - the allergic one! Go figure! I am not a cat lover, but I will admit that I was quite taken with this sweet little cat and I really wished that I was not so allergic so that I could cuddle with her like she wanted me to! Thankfully I made it through the evening with nothing more than a very stuffy nose, and Janet was kind enough to make sure Norma was out of the room while we slept.

The next morning however I woke up with the tell-tale signs of cat allergies in my eyes. I washed my face and tried my best to stay away from little Norma until the rest of the girls arrived, but I was ready to get outdoors and away from the cat fur as soon as possible! When Hillary, Maggie, and Meredith came in from London it was getting close to 11 o'clock, so I dosed up on Benadryl (compliments of Meredith) and then hurried everyone out the door and towards the Chatsworth estate. John and Janet had given us directions for where to walk, and we were about as excited about the sights we would see while walking as we were about seeing the house itself!

As we stepped off of the paved roads and into the first of many fields, the scenery was so beautiful my heart raced at the sight of its simple elegance. The wild, English countryside in Derbyshire is truly one of the most serene places I've ever been, and yet, even in the midst of all its majesty I felt at home. The greens and blues were warm and inviting, and scattered throughout the fields were cows (pretty ones no less!) and fluffy little sheep with black faces. Some of the sheep were all white, but I think the ones with the black faces and feet are much cuter.

Walking through the estate with the sun gleaming down and the cool occasional breezes really made me feel like Elizabeth Bennett when she walks three miles to Netherfield to visit Jane who is sick at Mr. Bingley's house. I kept expecting her to pop out from behind a tree at any moment!

Upon reaching sight of the house a few of us lost it in our utter excitement. We couldn't believe we were there, the real-life Pemberley! The only thing that would have made the visit any better would have been Regency style period clothing. If I had been wearing one of those dresses then I could have really felt like I belonged there, and pretending to be Lizzie Bennett would have been much easier.

When I reached the house and looked up I felt just like the young heroine when she realizes just how grand Mr. Darcy's estate really is. It was so well-kept and the grounds were just gorgeous. I don't even want to think about how much money it takes to run that place!

In real life the estate belongs to the Duke of Devonshire, who died about a year ago (his son now maintains the family estate). After eating lunch at a small cafe on the grounds of Chatsworth we went in for a tour of the house, which ended up being even more incredible than I had imagined it would be. I even discovered an elephant just outside the main entrance!


The artwork outside, inside, and around the home was quite impressive (there were a couple of pieces from the 1st century!) and the beautiful staircase seen in Pride and Prejudice (when Lizzie is touring Pemberley with her aunt and uncle) was even more lovely in person. And amazingly, we were allowed to take pictures of any and everything we saw!

One of the security guards even let me go behind one of the roped off parts and take pictures from a distant window (see below).

From that view I was able to get a shot of the grounds from underneath the veranda that overlooks the large fountain seen at the end of the film (when Mr. Darcy calls Lizzie "Mrs. Darcy"). It was so cool to be that close to the location where that scene was shot - I got goosebumps! Here are a couple more shot of the same location from an upstairs window:

The last room of the tour is the sculpture gallery, which is the same one Lizzie walks through in the movie!

Maggie and I were near-ballistic before we walked in. Magnificent nerds that we are, we listened to the accompanying soundtrack from that particular scene as we toured the room (Maggie had brought her iPod along). Fans of the movie - you will recognize a few of these:

So there we were, seeing everything as Lizzie does in the film, listening to "The Living Sculptures of Pemberley" on Maggie's iPod and gawking at the gorgeous works of art that were easily recognizable from watching the movie so many times, when all of a sudden we turned at the exact same moment and our jaws hit the floor.

There he was ... Mr. Darcy.

We couldn't believe it! We ran over to the opposite end of the room, squealing and giggling like idiots as we said over and over, "It's him! I can't believe he's actually here!"

Correction: Matthew Macfadyen was not there in the flesh impersonating Mr. Darcy as he did in the film (although Maggie was lucky enough to get her picture taken with him after seeing him perform in a play last week in London), and Colin Firth was not haunting the site either. But the marble bust of Matthew Macfadyen that appeared in the movie was still there in the sculpture room, so we experienced the same moment of awe/surprise that Elizabeth did when she saw it for the first time.

We (of course) then proceeded to take quite a few pictures ...

This is my "I am in total shot because Mr. Darcy is standing right next to me" face.

And this is a more composed "keep it together you crazy English major" face.

And then this is my "I don't care what the other visitors think - I'm head over heels for you!" picture. Needless to say, finally meeting Mr. Darcy face-to-face was certainly one of the highest highlights of my weekend :)

After a tearful goodbye we exited the sculpture room and were led into the gift shop, where I was sorely tempted to purchase both a new copy of the book Pride and Prejudice and the complete works of Jane Austen in a single volume (which I have been wanting to get for ages, along with the annotated version of Pride and Prejudice as well). But thankfully I had just enough common sense to resist temptation - all I had to do was imagine adding the extra weight to my already exceedingly heavy backpack, and think about just how unbearably heavy it would be with the books added to the back. So I contented myself with postcards and ice cream, which was a reasonable trade-off, but hardly took the place of a new copy of Pride and Prejudice. I'm not sure why I was so close to buying a new one. I mean, I already own at least two copies, three if you count my Italian version, but there's something about a new copy with a different cover that just begs to be bought. I'm afraid I am a terrible Jane Austen freak, and living in England this summer has only intensified my obsession!

Now that our tour of the house was complete it was time to tackle the grounds ... or at least, a part of the grounds. I really don't have the time or space to do them justice with photos here, but if you visit my Picasa site (type in: http://picasaweb.google.com/bekahabroad) you can scroll through my pictures documenting the grounds and gawk like I did!

According to their website, the Chatsworth Estate is made up of 35,000 acres, spreading throughout and beyond Derbyshire! The park (part of which we walked through to get from Beeley to Chatsworth) is about 1,000 acres and sits at the edge of Sherwood Forest. The spectacular gardens cover 105 acres. If anything, I think it's fair to say that the land was even more impressive than the house - which shows just how appropriate a choice Chatsworth was for the location of Pemberley, since Mr. Darcy's estate was said to have a fine house, but truly magnificent grounds.

Below is a shot of the outdoor scene where Elizabeth hastens away from the house after accidentally running into Mr. Darcy and his sister (when they have that awkward conversation and then she refuses his offer of a carriage and runs away across the fields!):

As we walked through the wide open lawns, primly trimmed bushes, colorful flower gardens, and even a large maze, I was blown away by the scale and beauty of the estate. I got some great shots of the front of the house, and as the sun slowly began to descend from above to beside the hills, the house and lands grew even more beautiful!

And later that afternoon Hillary even got to meet Mr. Darcy's horse!

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring as much of the grounds as we could, and then walked back through the fields towards Beeley. That night we ate out at little pub in Beeley and had authentic food of the area. Absolutely delicious!

Later that night we got settled in and watched Pride and Prejudice. It was so cool to see the movie after visiting the estate because everything was so much more real after seeing it in person!

The next morning we said goodbye to Beeley and rode the Chesterfield train back to London. We were sorry to go, but I am really hoping to make it back there for a return visit someday!

I will do my best to post again tonight and update you all on my visit to Ireland. I won't be able to add Chatsworth pictures to this post until I get back to London, but you can view them all at this site: http://picasaweb.google.com/bekahabroad

Bye for now!

Bekah