Bakewell, Derbyshire, England.

Saturday 2nd September

Bakewell, home of the Bakewell Tart (seriously sinful and seriously yummy) and shire of Derby (origin of Pemberley, Mr Darcy's home). Now all you non-Pride and Prejudice fans - look away now... Woo Hoo!!! I'm in England near Chatworth House (palace really) and Lyme Hall, used in the filming of P&P the movie with Keira Knightley and the BBC production with Colin Firth. Beautiful countryside!! Can't wait to visit the houses (again the suburb of Lesmurdie could fit in these 'houses') and take a gizillion photos!!

I'll catch you up again since its been awhile since I last blogged.

My last day in New York was awesome. My Big Apple Greeter was Mathew Dallas and was fantastic, worth every penny (oops since I didn't pay for him - he was worth millions). He spent hours of HIS time showing me Harlem and the Bronx ( places I wanted to go but was too scared) and Central Park, Rockerfella Centre, Times Square and all the other places on my tourist list. He was facinating with the content and history he mentioned. I had a really good time.
The next day I flew to London, it was a short flight and made with much anticipation. Mum was waiting for me when I exited customs and is still getting back to her original shape after me squeezing her so hard. It was brilliant to see mum and dad again. We chatted before bed and then took off to Oxford the next morning. It was beautiful but a bit of a blowout. We couldn't use the passes we'd bought and didn't want to pay £5 to spend 5 minutes in a building we'd not been really keen to see. I missed out on going into a library that a part of Harry Potter's 1 & 2 where filmed but since the cast weren't actually inside too - I'm not too concerned.

Blenheim Palace was next on the itinerary and was gorgeous (I'm running out of positive adjectives). It was oppulent and very pretty although if I lived there I'd walk around with my hands stitched to my side (too many antiques for clumsy me to knock over). The history was interesting.

Then we went to Stratford-upon-Avon, home of Shakespeare. First we went to Anne Hathaway's cottage (his wife's childhood home) and wandered around the pretty gardens and old Tudor-style house. (Again the history was interesting).
That night I got a free ticket to see Henry VI, a shakespeare play. It was good (although moments of zzzzzz, as in all his plays when you lose track of the plot through dizzying language). It was especially wonderful to see it in that town where he was born, lived and is buried.

The next day I will have to add another time as we are running late to get to Chatsworth. If you don't hear from me again - I've found my Mr Darcy and am not coming home.

Talk to you later (because really - what are my chances...)
Kym