Day Thirteen and Fourteen: The Bronte's, buying out the grocery store and THE WALL!

September 28

We only have two full days left of our trip before we start the journey home. . . that makes me a little sad! Mom and Debbie are excited to get back home to their husbands. I can’t comprehend that. I have decided that this is my new definition of love. If I ever find someone I want to leave Europe for, then I will know I am in love!

So, its inevitable when any trip starts to wind down. . . panic sets in. It’s the panic that makes you overeat because "we can’t taste this at home!" and the panic that makes you over-spend because "we can’t get this at home!" So yesterday we gorged ourselves on Yorkshire pudding and tea and scones and clotted cream. We went to the grocery store and loaded a cart with digestive biscuits and Cadbury chocolate. (For those of you who say "we have Cadbury chocolate in the U.S." you are totally wrong! It tastes nothing like the chocolate here!) We had to make embarrassed apologies to the lady who rung up our items, she was very understanding. (Yes Matty, the "Jammy Dodgers" are for you!) So now the question is, how do we get all this stuff home!

Anyway, buying out the entire McVities Digestive section at the Keighley Sainsbury, was not the only thing we did yesterday. We got up early and hopped on a train to Leeds, and then another train to Keighley and then onto a bus that climbed and wove through country lanes until the driver set us down in the middle of the British moors and a small town called Haworth. Many of you won’t know about Haworth, but Bronte sister fans out there know it as the sight where many of our favorite books were dreamed up! The Bronte sisters lived in a small parsonage with their father and alcoholic brother. They wrote Jane Eyre and Weathering Heights and The Tenant of Wieldfell Hall along with others and then they started to die, one right after the other, until only their father was left. Their story is a sad one. . . but I am so grateful they left us the books they did! I love Haworth! I never thought I would go there again, but mom and Deb wanted to see it. If you stand super still and listen to the wind blowing through the grass on the moors I SWEAR you can hear Mr. Rochester calling for Jane. It is not my imagination! The pictures I have posted show the parsonage house where they lived, the church and the grave yard between the two. It’s a very compact little area up there on the top of the hill.

After shopping and making our way back to our room, we made ourselves a hot dinner in the convent kitchen and called it an early night.

This morning we took our time getting ready for the day. We started our site seeing day by exploring the convent we are staying in! We have loved it here so much. I always stay in budget hotels when I am traveling and the most you can hope for is that they are clean. The rest is just gravy! But this place goes beyond clean! There is not a speck of dust or dirt any where. Our towels are white and fluffy and so big they wrap around Debbie twice! (And me once!) The sheets are bleached crisp and everything in our room smells of fresh cleaner. Mom says it feels like once someone vacates the room the nuns rush in to apply a new coat of paint to the walls! The bathrooms are also amazing. The toilets and bath rooms are separate. In the bathrooms there are these gigantic metal tubs of which I have taken full advantage! I had an hour soak tonight resting my aching site seeing muscles. We head back to London tomorrow and are sad to leave this place. . .

I wanted to tell you a little bit about the history. The full name is The Convent of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin at Micklegate Bar or its nickname is The Bar Convent. Micklegate Bar is the name of the gate opening in the city wall that is next to the convent. The convent boasts to be the oldest running Roman Catholic convent in England and was established in 1686. The convent has had a troubled past. Catholicism was not always a popular religion in England. In the 1800's renovations were made to the building to hide its chapel and religious nature from the outside. Many new stair wells and corridors were added as escape routes (which explains why I keep getting lost in the maze of floors and corridors!) Nuns still live and work here, though we have not seen them. At least we don’t think we have. They may not be the habit wearing type of nuns! Anyway, if you want to know more there is a Wiki page about the convent. We had fun exploring the museum and chapel this morning.

Next we headed off to the York Castle museum. This place housed many rooms set to different eras in time. They even have a full size replica of a Victorian street. It was a fun place to wonder through. After that we headed back to the convent for lunch at the café. So yummy! Next we decided to walk part of the medieval walls as we made our way to another museum. It was not to bad at first. Mom and I don’t do to well with high stuff, but their were railings on both sides for the first bit and then suddenly there wasn’t! The rail on one side stopped and mom and I started to freak out a little! We clung to the wall and made people walk around us as we edged our way along it. It seemed to go on forever! Eventually we got to a set of stairs. Debbie wanted to take the wall back to the convent later as it was the quickest route back, but we refused! Anyway, after facing death by walking on the wall we went to the Yorkshire museum which has been built near and around some very old roman ruins. I love all this old stuff! This country is so old there are things here that you never could see in America. Though, I am sure you could turn that around. We have Native American things you could never see over here! We ran into an English man yesterday who told us all about his trip to Bryce Canyon. That was pretty exciting for him! I guess it is natural to take for granted where you live huh. . .

So, we are off to London tomorrow! We will be home soon! Hang in there Dad and Bruce!