Chatsworth House + Gardens

Chatsworth was one of the places I wanted to see most in England and it was one of the very last places we went. You need a whole day to devote to this gigantic mansion and we never managed to have the time to drive the three hours there and back. So, naturally, we decided to stop by on our way to Scotland (ps posts on Scotland coming soon).

I wanted to see this place so badly, I even watched a three-part documentary on the house. It was great and very informative, but seeing it in person was even better. The grounds are 35,000 acres and the gardens are spectacular. They even have a maze (!).

This is Forrest doing his Mr. Darcy impression. Because, you know, Pemberley.

Only about 26 of the 126 rooms are open to the public, but they're pretty good rooms. Also, the doorways are really tall.

We saw the Duke of Devonshire (who lives at Chatsworth) in the library. He's the blue blob at the back of the room. 

These are some silver miniatures that I thought we so cute! The chandelier is about three inches tall if I remember correctly.

I thought this house was so dreamy. If I could pick a little English cottage, this would be the one.

I am really starting to miss England. I knew I would, but I didn't think I would miss it quite so much so soon. I suppose part of the longing is for all the adventures we had across Europe while we've had a few very quiet months since we've arrived in Washington. A few quiet months means that I've gotten a lot of reading and knitting done and Forrest has had some time to try and recover from his ridiculous headaches, but I think both of us are lusting after more time on the open road. We traveled at least once every two months while in the UK and it seems like something should be coming up on our calendar.

I suppose all I can do for now is sort through more photos and remember all of the amazing moments we've had. There's not a day that goes by when I'm asking Forrest remember when we went there and did this? that was fun! let's go there again someday soon. It's wonderful, but I got used to living in places with so much history and now here I am living in a house from the 1920's that seems ancient to most Americans. It's an adjustment.

There's a different kind of beauty in the US. It's not the beauty of old buildings and even older families. It's the fact that I can look out my window and see Mt. Rainier any old day. We have the magnificent beauty of nature that hasn't been touched and touristed (?) to oblivion. I can get away from people in this state. I've said it before, but with the population of the UK, we just couldn't get away from anyone. There was always someone around even in the most remote place. On our road trip across the states, we practically had an entire National Park to ourselves. That is what I love about this country.

That said, it's still an adjustment.

I miss you, old houses (especially you, Chatsworth)!

I can't believe I'm blogging about this dog again

The other day, we took Jasper on his first walk. The weather was lovely, crisp, and not too cold. Perfect!

We took him to a trail nearby. He sniffed a few dogs, licked a little kid on the face, and was admired by countless adoring walkers. We also discovered that he is scared of bicyclists when he jumped about two feet backwards as one sped toward us.

Above is Jasper looking at his first cat. He was intrigued.

 

 

This is the sweetest little puppy you will ever see. I've never been this crazy pet person, but I can't get over this dog. It's a strange new experience for me.

I can't believe how big he has grown already. At 14 weeks, he weighs 32 pounds and his paws keep getting bigger and bigger.

P.S. Jasper on his first day home.

Rome

Months and months ago, I went through all of my Rome pictures and selected the ones I liked best. These photos have been sitting (bookmarked) for a very long time.

No longer!

I feel a little guilty like maybe these photos think I don't love them anymore. 

So here are a bunch of pictures mostly of the Colosseum (..from June 2013. Eep.)

So the thing about Rome in late June is.. it's really hot with 1000% humidity. Especially when by comparison, I have been living in places my entire life where the high in the summer is 85 with a light breeze. HOT. So if we look hot, tired, and overall pretty grumpy in these pictures, it's really because we are. 

We had a tour of the Colosseum at about 1:00 (underground, thank goodness) so we headed to the Roman forum first thing. Our cruise ship was docked on the coast in Civitvecchia which was an hour train ride away, so I think we ended up in Rome at about 10:00.

It's still really hot in Rome at 10.

We had been to Rome the year before and had already toured the Forum. But the ticket was included with the Colosseum tour and it's right across the street, so we figured why not? I'm glad we did because different parts of the forum were open this time (and some of the parts we saw last time were closed). Seeing anything in Rome is difficult when there are only about 10 hours scheduled in your cruise stop, so I was very glad we had already been and were accustomed to the train system, etc. (validate your train ticket, people!). 

After we sweated our way around the Forum (seriously, the next time we go to Italy, we're going in the fall. Holy humidity, batman!), we headed up the street to find some lunch. We ordered a pizza for five euro and found some shady steps to sit and enjoy our favorite part of Italian culture. Foooood.

Then, off to the Colosseum!

We took the special underground tour of the Colosseum which included access to the lower level tunnels, the rebuilt main floor, and the third level on the very top. A normal ticket only includes the first and second floors. I was somehow under the impression that we were going to be able to walk through the uncovered tunnels in the middle, but I was sorely disappointed. I kept waiting and waiting for the guide to take the ropes down, but she never did. It was still cool though! The tunnels we did get to walk through were very dark. The whole time we were down there, I couldn't help but think how black (and scary!) it would have been when the whole bottom level was covered up and there were no electric lights or big open spaces.

 

All of those people up there were wondering how did they get down there and why are those people so special? I know because that's what I was thinking when we did our ordinary tour the first time.

 

 

The top level was breezy and had wonderful views of the Forum and an even better view of the entire Colosseum. If you ever get a chance to visit Rome, I would definitely recommend booking the more extensive tour. It's not much more than a normal ticket and you get to feel like a VIP going up blocked staircases and things.

P.S. Fun fact: do you see all those holes in the upper right corner? Those are the most apparent ones in this photo, but they're actually all over the entire Colosseum. Those are the spaces left over from where people stole building material and metals. I know.

After our Colosseum adventure, we headed on over to the Appian Way which is one of the oldest roads in Rome. It took us a while to find the part where the traffic-y part ended and the ancient part started, but we had a nice little stroll to end our afternoon.

Here are some things we saw along the road!

 

I would not recommend traversing the Appian Way on foot unless you have an entire day to spare. It's a long walk and the scenery is kind of spread out. There were a lot of people who were much smarter than us on bikes. Next time.

So, once we were too exhausted to continue on, we found a taxi to take us back to the city. And then back on the train we went to the port.. where we bought ourselves another pizza.

Next stop: Genoa!

P.S. to see more pictures from this adventure:

Valencia

Palma de Mallorca

Barcelona 1and 2