continuation

after sating ourselves at a local tea house, then we drove around wales a bit and tried to go to a very old church, but felt it would be a little rude to intrude on the funeral. so we headed north to spend the night in ilam. we decided that before we called on mr. darcy, we should actually get out and do some hiking around the peaks, which were gorgeous, and for which we most definitely were not appropriately dressed. we made it about a mile, but realized whilst i was standing in my chacos in a mixture of frozen mud and sheep feces while the rain was hurtling down in sheets that hiking in britain is very different from hiking in utah, and the scenery was very nice when viewed through the car window. so we headed back to the hostel, changed into some semi-dry clothes, had some hot chocolate, and then headed on a very meandering path to lyme park.

ilam (missing from all these pictures are the school children who were rambling around the county park, considerably better prepared for the elements):

view from the hostel window, overlooking another wing of said hostel.

not an eleanor cross, but still not too bad.

ilam town centre. 

ilam church graveyard.

windshield view

in case you're wondering whether lyme park is worth hunting down, either because you're not a bbc p&p fan or you think it's a bit over the top to go hunting down the filming locations, the answer is yes. it is. you can slip around in the mud while ogling the scenery and dodge the rambling deer and clamber to the top of hills and get some pretty phenomenal views.

case in point.

ditto.

some other visit highlights:

oxford. not shown: the little kids at rugby practice. kee was swooning.

turning on the christmas lights is a serious event.

for which you must be well hydrated.

greenwich.

free range AND free spirit.

i feel this way about greenwich too.

i have yet to pull myself out of my post-kee funk, though i'm trying my best to bludgeon my despair with as many christmas concerts/carol services/markets as i can afford (which is not many. but i did get in a goodly number of samples at a cheese evening at borough market the other night. you just have to sneak in through the throngs and grab quickly, then sneak back out before anyone registers how much you just took.). good thing ixoj and t-rav are coming in a mere 6 days and e in 13. spass und faszination indeed!