As I have just gotten out of the shower, I feel the need to comment on showering/bathing in England. When you travel in the US, you sometimes encounter a system that is unfamiliar; the dial turns left or right, pulls out or pushes in etc. Sometimes the shower curtains is a problem. Here, there have been lots of new things to learn! In the shower I just got out of, there was a brand new feature -- a power button, the same kind that you find on an electronic -- circle with line part through it. Most of the showers have had some sort of button that has to be held down so that you can only turn the hot water on if you're old enough to figure out the button system. One of the showers also had a different button that you had to hold down to adjust the water pressure. None of this was intuitive to me, and coupled with the fact that I am blind as a bat without my glasses, there have been some (mis)adventures! In the hotel in Yarn Market, I ended up just showering with my glasses on so I could see all the different dials and gadgets!
Yesterday we went to St. Ives. Happy sigh. It was more beautiful than either of us had imagined. When you can look something up on the Internet, sometimes the in-person surprise is taken away. In this case, it was more than we were expecting. The streets were steep and narrow (no surprise!), but we did end up finding parking without too much trouble. It was a short walk down the hill to the heart of the town where there were, first, awesome shops to visit.
We found the sweetest shops, that were all local to Cornwall. We found a clothing company called Seasalt (that also sells shoes!), a Cornish bakery, a gallery with a print I had been looking for, and a seamstress selling wares with her own designs. Everything was so local, and so unique. We ended up with some very special treasures. Then we had lunch at Porthminster Kitchen before we explored the harbor. Fish and chips -- not something that's unusual for us to eat, right? This was sourdough breaded, and came with curry sauce. Just like Mo's, eh? ;)
Sidebar, which will surprise no one -- got curry sauce all over myself. Given a washer and, um, a DRYER, I may have laundered it. 😂 Right now it's marinating in laundry soap in my bag.
The harbor was amazing. Apparently the city was incorporated in the 1600s, though it has a history much longer than that. It was mostly a fishing port back in the day, but relies mostly on tourism now. It's an artist community too, for obvious, beautiful, reasons. We couldn't take enough pictures.
I can't say this was the best day, because each day has been so special, but this seemed like an exceptional culmination to a great vacation. We were incredibly sad to leave.
It's at this point in the day -- around 5pm, that the end-of-vacation blues set in. We have had such an incredible time. We've seen things, everyday, that we had not anticipated seeing, and have felt connected to the land in a way that neither of us anticipated. When I say that neither of us want to leave, I am quite serious. This has been the vacation of a lifetime. And so, the end-of-vacation blues was quite real.
We decided to drive in the opposite way from home, in search of one last adventure at Land's End. On the way, we saw these ruins, and veered off the road to take a look. I mean, we flashed by, turned around, and vectored the driver through a very small opening in the road (without, again, scraping the side of the car -go mom!!). And then we took a look!
With no cell service, we had to figure out later what we were looking at. We were, apparently, in the town of Giew, at the old engine room. I've read a lot about this, and am no closer to understanding... What I do know is that we accidentally saw the missing piece in our Cornwall adventure. Cornwall has a deep history in tin mining, and we happened upon a piece of it!
And happily, the adrenaline of a historic find bumped us a little bit out our vacation blues. With Hamilton blaring, we headed to Land's End.
Land's End is, as you can imagine, the end of the land! It is the most westerly point of mainland England (the Scilly Islands are directly SW). It doesn't look like it sticks out that far on a map, but it is windy enough to feel like a proper peninsula!
The Seven Seas reef is responsible for more than 200 shipwrecks, some of them being fatal. Just like the Columbia Bar, there is great beauty here, despite all the tragedies.
This final picture, looking north, is what I pictured Tintagel looking like. We weren't able to go as they were repairing the footbridge, but I imagined it like this. Rocky, beautiful, but nearly uninhabitable.
At home, we begrudgingly began to pack. We dumped everything out of our bags, and then promptly ignored the piles while we enjoyed pasties from The Cornish Bakery (flaky crust is everything), and watched a movie (Netflix: The Highwaymen -- watch it!). Eventually we did have to pack. 😩 Quick tip, if you're flying home (instead of driving) the purchases of a stuffed owl, and a longish piece of art make getting everything home tricky! Luckily, T&L always travel with an extra bag. 😉
Tomorrow: our last day in London.
