Nothing's Gonna Change My World

Thursday, June 3, 2010

This morning we took a ferry across the lake (fun!) so we could go to Hilltop Farm, Beatrix Potter’s home! The faculty has a tendency to not tell us what we’re doing until we’re on our way there, so many people were dressed inappropriately for a country hike, wearing flip flops and flats and skirts and such. Luckily, I was dressed mostly appropriately for the hike.

The trouble came when our group got lost. We hiked up into this beautiful wooded area full of blue bells and wonderfulness, but we could not find the farm. The picture to the left is of my friends being lost :) We headed back and found that we had missed the path that took us there. Oops. We went down to Hilltop and had a lovely couple of hours looking around. Inside they had Beatrix Potter’s books open to drawings that were inspired by something in the house, so you could see the original piece of furniture and then Beatrix’s drawing of it. It was really neat to see where some of her inspiration came from. I got to see Jemima Puddleduck’s gate and an egg that she laid hidden in the grass. I swear every single house in Britain has a beautiful garden – every single one. Hilltop Farm was a really cool place to visit. Now I really want to watch Miss Potter. Add that to the list of about 15 other movies I’ll need to watch when I get home.

After Hilltop we got a surprise – they took us to the Preston Temple! It was so gorgeous! It really felt like a refuge from the world, like it was entirely separate. You enter the little area surrounding the temple and you can’t hear a sound from the surrounding highways or anything – it was so calm and serene. I loved it!

We then made the trek to Liverpool, home of the Beatles! We stopped first at our hotel – yes, a hotel, not a hostel! – where we dropped off our things. We then went to Albert Docks and Prof. Macfarlane took us to the statue of immigrants donated by the Church on the docks. It was really neat to see that. We went into the Maritime Museum, where they had displays on the Titanic and two other ships that had rather tragic histories, all three connected to Liverpool. After that, we went to probably my favorite museum of all the museums I’ve been to – The Beatles Story Museum! The picture is of the group outside.

I so wish my dad could have been there. He would have loved it. And my friend Lucky. And my brother Josh. It was right up their alley. They started from the very beginning and told the story of the Beatles year by year. Each room was a different room from their history, including a replica of the Cavern and of their sound studio. It was really neat, and I learned a whole lot that I didn’t know before. I’m so glad I went. After buying souvenirs at the museum shop, my friend Jess and I went to the local mall and got pasties for dinner and then went Primark shopping. There are Primarks everywhere! It’s great! I got a few shirts and things for pretty cheap before we went and got some chocolate and headed back to the hotel.

A bit later, about 5 of us headed off in a taxi to find Penny Lane. And find it we did! Woohoo! We took a picture in front of the barbershop mentioned in the song – it’s supposed to be where the Beatles got their hair cut. Our taxi driver then informed us that he didn’t think his taxi was going to make it the rest of the way – it might explode on us – so he gave us a discount and handed us over to another driver.

We hopped in the other guy’s taxi and he proceeded to take us to Strawberry Field! However, he didn’t actually know where Strawberry Field was…so we got a bit lost before actually finding it. But we did find it! Then the taxi driver took us towards the Cavern where the Beatles first played. He was a cool guy. He had the thickest Liverpuddlian accent I have ever heard. And it was his first job as a taxi driver. We told him all about how we were studying abroad and everything, and he told us that now we could tell everyone back home about the Liverpool adventure we had – he said, “your first taxi explodes on you, and then the second taxi driver gets you lost – he’s lived in Liverpool his whole life, and he doesn’t even know where Strawberry Field is!” He was awesome. He did know right were the Cavern was, though, so we got to see where the Beatles were born! It was so cool! I love the Beatles, and I feel so much more fondness for them having been to all these places and heard their whole story. It was an epic evening in Liverpool.

We went back to the hotel and showered, which was amazing after being stuck in sweaty bus for most of the day. Our bathroom was rather spaceship-like. It was basically a pod in the corner of our room…kind weird, but immensely roomier than the Centre’s showers, so I’m not complaining. We fell asleep watching Toy Story. (awesome pictures coming)