All Packed and Two Days till Leavin on a Jet Plane

**Setting Sail on a New Adventure with My Sidekick, Victoria!**

In a mere two days, my spirited 14-year-old daughter, Victoria, and I will embark on an adventure of a lifetime. While my passport boasts stamps from the US to the romantic alleys of Italy, France, and my all-time favorite, the UK, this journey is unparalleled. It's not just another trip; it's a six-month-long voyage with my daughter, exploring the world as we've never done before. Can you imagine? We won't be back until March 6th, and the anticipation is electric!

The weeks leading up to our departure have been a blend of nostalgia and surreal excitement. I've been incredibly fortunate to reconnect with old friends in the UK and make new ones, especially some wonderful souls from Google Plus. Their outpouring of support, sharing everything from train schedules to local hidden gems, has been heartwarming.

Our journey begins with a vibrant long weekend in London. While I've wandered its streets before, seeing it through Victoria's fresh eyes, on her first trip abroad, promises to be special. She's already made a list! Topping it are the majestic London Eye and the trendy Drop Dead London store. 

By Monday, we'll transition from the city's hustle to the tranquil embrace of Mid Wales. I've committed to house-sitting for Sian, a homeowner with a delightful ensemble of pets - two curious cats, a playful dog, and an endearing chicken (who, amusingly, is thick as thieves with the dog!). Adapting to the rustic charm of a home where fires warm the rooms and water, and embracing a wholesome, unprocessed culinary lifestyle are changes we're both eagerly looking forward to.

One of the things I'm particularly excited about? The serene writing opportunities this journey promises. Back in Ohio, my writing sessions were often punctuated by the buzz of daily life. But in the peaceful Welsh countryside, with only Howl, the dog, for company, I anticipate many uninterrupted hours of writing.

And there's more good news for fellow travel enthusiasts! I've been invited to chronicle our house sitting experiences for www.trustedhousesitters.com. Additionally, I'll be sharing our Welsh adventures on www.smittenbybritain.com. I promise to keep you all updated with our tales!

Until then, sending waves of joy, adventure, and warmth from our corner to yours!

Cheers,

Marianne

London Eye

This is Howl :-) Sian's dog

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Polperro - feels like a lost world

My friend Keb mentioned to me that I had not visited his favorite town of Polperro... I can see what he likes about it.  Polperro is a village and fishing harbour in southeast Cornwall.  I am including some pictures of it I took myself from Google street view.  Seems very "quaint" and pretty.  The Polperro Festival is the 3rd week in June - stop by and enjoy if you are in the area! :)

** April 18, 2012 UPDATE

One of our favorite places we've discovered is this quaint chocolate shop in Polperro (thanks Keb!)

It's name is The Chocolate Dream Company.  We'd messaged them on Facebook and yesterday finally heard back from them! Since then we have befriended them and I have personally spoken with Maz - the owner - on Facebook and am anxiously looking forward to meeting her on my trip to the UK!  This will definitely be one of my stops!  

Ok... Commence drooling......

Be sure to go to their facebook page and LIKE them!  and stop in and buy some chocolate if you are in the area!  http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Chocolate-Dream-Company/170328106329243

** Origional Blog ** 

Polperro's history is one of fishing and smuggling and now, tourism.  Here's what Wikipedia has to say about smuggling and Polperro:

Smuggling is understood to have prospered since Polperro developed as a port in the 12th century.^[9] It reached its zenith in the late 18th century when Britain's wars with America and France precipated the high taxation of many imported goods, making it worthwhile for the local fishermen to boost their income by the covert importation of spirits, tobacco and other goods from Guernsey. Much of the success of the smuggling trade through Polperro is ascribed to the influence of Zephaniah Job (1749–1822), a local merchant who became known as "The Smuggler's Banker". A more organised Coast Guard service was introduced in the 19th century along with stiff penalties, and led to much less smuggling. Part of the South West Coast Path was originally used by Revenue Officers as they patrolled the coast in search of smugglers. Whilst the Coast Path is maintained by the National Trust, the foreshore belongs to the Duchy of Cornwall.

I could see spending a weekend touring some of these shops, couldn't you?

This patio of this hotel looks so inviting!  A glass of wine and a good book while people watching would be so fun from here! 

Not sure what this house was but I was intrigued by it.

I liked the name of this shop :)

Wonders if the bakery is for sale or just the building? Maybe above it? You'd spend your entire time working hungry from all the amazing smells, I'm sure!

We all must stop and thank God for our blessings :)

If you happen to be there - send me a postcard!

I think the tram takes you down to the shore.

The town streets are so small they do not allow you to drive on them anymore (well not tourists at least).

Have you all seen an infatuation with me and ice cream lately?  Do we even have half of these flavors in the US?  Like Honeycombe?

Love ~ Peace ~ Happiness

Marianne

Back to Cornwall and Devon - Kinda Rocky Here (an info update on my rock obsession)

We've discovered I'm obsessed with rocks now, haven't we?  No sooner had I thought I moved on from the Cornwall area but then I get word that there's a show called British Countrysides that featured  - wait for it - yes! Rocks!

A lot of my questions were answered with this show.  So I wanted to share them with you!

Remember how I was so amazed at how the UK had so much rock and where it came from?  Ya well, this show answered that.  Can you imagine thousands of years ago, the magma under the earth forming volcanoes?  How about the land between Europe and the US being all dry and being able to walk between them?  Is it a  bit unfathomable?

This show started out with Wolf Rock.  Wolf Rock was a volcano that became extinct.  The molten rock inside solidified into igneous rock.  Millions of years and a succession of ice ages later, the last of the cone was washed away, leaving only the hard rock.  This Rock at this location was huge, causing ships to crash upon it.  So James Walker had a lighthouse built on top of it in 1861 and it was lit in 1870.  It wasn't automated until 1988.  Hard to believe!!!  Here's a picture of this amazing lighthouse.  See the very top of it?  That's a helicopter pad so they can go out and do maintenance on it.

 

Moors

A term that we, in America, do not use much is Moor.  According to the dictionary, a moor is a tract of open uncultivated upland; a heath.  We have words we use here for that like field, among others.  The show took us to Dartmoor which is in south Devon, covering 368 sq miles of land.  It's a savaged, untamed country covered in myths and stories of beasts, dogs and large cats.  Once covered in dense woodland.  People moved in the area and cut down the trees for building and fire, leaving the land empty except for the rocks.  The people moved out.  Rather an eerie feel for a land.  For someone not familiar with the land, wondering where the huge boulders of rock in the middle of nowhere would have come from.  

Thick layers of rock hid hot magma that tried to force itself upwards, but wouldn't allow the magma to come through the land since there were no volcanoes.  It was forced together in giant underground domes.  Then the magma cooled into giant pockets of granite.  Eventually, the land around them has eroded and they now have these huge granite boulders called TORS - which is another term we don't use very often in the US. Here's the definition according to WIKIPEDIA: A tor is a large, free-standing residual mass (rock outcrop) that rises abruptly from the surrounding smooth and gentle slopes of a rounded hill summit or ridge crest. In the South West of England, where the term originated, it is also a word used for the hills themselves – particularly the high points of Dartmoor in Devon and Bodmin Moor in Cornwall.

(a representation of the hot magma that created the TORS above)

There was so much more than about the rocks than I can post here, but needless to say, I understand how the UK has so many rocks and sources of it, but I still don't understand how that area has so much more of it than the US.  Makes me smile and intrigues me enough to keep researching. 

Ponies

Although ponies clearly are not made of stone, these are from the same region we've been discussing and because of their cuteness, have earned a spot in my blog :)

Still in Dartmoor - PONIES!  I have become completely fascinated with these ponies!  Dartmoor ponies are this amazing hardy breed due to the extreme conditions they have to endure on the moors.  They have excellent stamina and are considered work ponies.  They used to work in the mines and quarries in the 1930 and had numbers in excess of 25,000.  Now, they are mostly just used for keeping the moors grazed and the numbers are down to 1,000 or less.  They have small heads featuring wide set eyes and alert ears.  I'm including some pictures of these amazing creatures but what I cannot find is a picture of one of their tongues.  Looking at the vegetation in the area that they are grazing on, I can imagine they have a very thick, tough tongue.  If anyone has a picture - please send it to me at itsthewriter@gmail.com and I'll be sure to update this :)

 (Aren't they pretty?)

Till Next time... I think it's time to move a bit more East....

Love ~ Peace ~ Happiness

~*~ Marianne ~*~

UPDATE ON THE MINACK THEATRE (Video)

Southern Uk - The sunshine on my virtual keyboard - stop and view the roses....

This week, I am traveling in the southern most part of the UK. First stop?  My little google man (does he actually have a name? I'll name him Ed....) lands on Minack Theater in Cornwall.  Wow, what a story and amazing pictures on their website.  The Minack is famous.  Theater groups from all over perform there, including dramas, musicals and opera.  The theater, built by Rowena Cade who was born in 1893.  She herself built it with the help of two men.  The history can be read here: http://www.minack.com/history.htm - read it - you will be impressed as well!  Here is a picture I took from their website.

As with everything, I'll update my blog as I visit these places this summer!

So I left The Minack and continued driving around Cornwall, finding interesting buildings and places that intrigued me.  As an American, I often stop and look at architecture and buildings built (by American standards) a long time ago - but by European standards, just yesterday.  Small towns and intriguing spots.  I'd often see a "barn" that I can only guess is like a "barn" that we think of.  The difference? They were stone and looked like small houses.  Here's one I found...

Next Official Stop?  Lands End.  Also south and along the shore.  Land's End (Cornish: Penn an Wlas) is a headland and small settlement in west Cornwall, England, within the United Kingdom. It is located on the Penwith peninsula approximately eight miles (13 km) west-southwest of Penzance.  They definitely play upon their name there - Lands End.  End and beginning of everything.  Apparently, Lands End is privately owned but the area certainly is scenic being right on the edge of the water.  Here are some pictures I took of it.

As you can tell, these are not professional pictures - I took them using Google Maps Street View as I will all my pictures until I get to the UK and take them in person :)


Cornwall was definitely a pretty area.  It had lots of agriculture and the villages in it are small and scattered.  What I have yet to understand is where they get their groceries from.  Do they drive to bigger towns?  I suppose there's no midnight ice cream runs like in America.  I am left to guess better planning and not forgetting things when you are at the store are in order if one lives in such a rural area. (If I am wrong - someone tell me!).  But the one thing I have learned about the British is that food there is much more natural and homemade.  Perhaps they run out to the barn (see pic above), milk a cow and make their own ice cream.  Yes, this must be the case.  (Again - someone post a comment and tell me, ok?)  I'm pretty sure I saw ice cream at the First and Last House (again - picture above) but I'm talking residential.  

Continuing on with the subject of things being more natural, it always amazes me when I find a garden in the UK (what in America we would call a "yard") and they have a vegetable garden.  There are exceptions to the rule here, but many Americans simply go to the grocery store or farmers market when they need fruits and vegetables but when people in Europe need herbs or vegetables, chances are they may have grown them.  I see this as a good illustration as using what is in season in your garden now to plan your meals rather than living on a whim and just being able to drive to the grocery store.  Neither are right or wrong, but from someone who would rather live on a holistic natural diet, this really appeals to me.  Imagine the taste of fruits and vegetables that aren't covered in wax to make them look pretty or pesticides.  One day I was driving around in Saint Banbury and found this amazing looking garden that excited me ;)

 

(Thanks to the unknown owners here)

Another picture that is one of my favorites is a wheelbarrow of Rocket that my friend Peter sent me to show me what Rocket was.  Rocket was something I was not familiar with in America although I'm sure somewhere they may have it?  

Here's the definition from Wikipedia:  Eruca sativa (syn. E. vesicaria subsp. sativa (Miller) Thell., Brassica eruca L.), is an edible annual plant, commonly known as rocket, roquette, rucola or arugula, not to be confused with Wild rocket. It is a species of Eruca native to the Mediterranean region, from Morocco and Portugal east to Lebanon and Turkey.^[1][2] It is closely related to Eruca vesicaria and included by some botanists in that either as a subspecies E. vesicaria subsp. sativa^[3] or not distinguished at all;^[4] it can be distinguished from E. vesicaria by its early deciduous sepals.[

Ok - back to more travels -watch for the next blog coming soon to my blog on your computer where Technology melts with Humanity!

Love ~ Peace ~ Happiness

Marianne