day #9

here we go...day 9! this was a very tiring one i must say - more than usual. it all began when i woke up at 6am to check out of my hostel in york. i had about a mile walk from there to the city centre where i went on an audio walking tour (via my ipod) of the city. the audio tour worked out really well and afterwads i made my way to the york minster which is the largest gothical cathedral north of switzerland. you can pretty much see it from anywhere in york. the first thing i did once i got inside the minster was go up to the top of the tower. it was about a million spiraling stairs to get to the top and once i finally made it, it was a wonderful sight. it was beginning to get couldy but i could still see for miles from the top and i got a bunch of good pictures. after that i went back down into the cathedral and took even more pictures - and made a friend. i met the guy when i asked him to take a picture of me, and i soon found out he was a major chatterbox, and had to listen to him for quite a while afterwards. following my visit to the minster, i walked back to the train station , picked up my big backpack from left luggage, and boarded the train to Windermere, Lake District (northeast england). as i had feared, it had begun to rain, and it did so throughout my entire 4 hour train ride including the two stitches i had to make. when i arrived at windermere it was pouring. luckily, my hostel was right around the corner, so i didnt have to walk far at all (even though i still had an umbrella). so i sat around the hostel for a bit and tried to get connected to the internet, and after about 45 minutes i noticed it had stopped raining, and it was much brighter outside. so i felt a lot better about things when i went to pick up my rented bike near the train station. there were no problems getting the bike - and i even got a helmet even though i didnt have to ( if i were in america i wouldnt have, but i was terrified of of trying to ride in the streets here). because of this i asked the guy at the bike shop if he knew any paths that werent near any big roads, and so he gave me a route - a 20 mile route. so i figured eh 20 miles on a bike cant be that bad - not a smart decision. dispite this, the bike ride was still the highlight of the day. it was soooooooo nice. like nothing i have ever seen. it was in the country so there were wild sheep ( or lambs 0 whichever are the small baby ones) all over the place, and you could just walk right up and pet them (although i didnt cuz i was scared). and the landscape was sooo amazing, and sooo green - not to mention there were hills all over the place. by the way, it was these hills that got the best of me after 20 miles of going up and down them. there were a few times i thought i was lost in the middle of nowhere and i couldnt even imagine if i got lost since i was so war away from windermere, but eventually i made it back - although i was very sweaty and dead tired. 20 miles is too far for a bike ride i decided. once i got back i immediately took a shower, and then went out to get some food. as it turned out, the food here in windermere is insanely expensive (like 12 pounds for fish and chips which is like 20 bucks). so instead, i went to the grocery store and got a few of these English versions of cup of noodles, and they werent too bad. so now that i am full and dead tired i will be going to sleep now. Goodnight! p.s. i can sleep in tomorrow - i am excited also...i cant post pics cuz this hostel has no wifi, just a dinosaur computer. i will upload them tomorrow....c ya!