London - Day 6

Today was almost a bust at the beginning.  We had found what we thought was the Kings Cross Station East Midland Trains platform the day before, so we got up and to to the station 30 minutes early.  When I looked at the board they had a train to Sheffield but it was leaving at 9:30, not 9:03 like my ticket said.  I was a little worried at this but just thought they'd changed the time.  There was a stop at Doncaster listed on the board, which is where my ticket said we would switch trains, so I convinced myself that we were in the right place.  We sat around and waited a bit and then got some granola bars in case we couldn't find a place to eat and got to starvation level hunger.

Sitting around at the wrong station...

At this point the worried feeling in my stomach was too much, so I told Mom we were going up to the information desk to ask if we were at the right place.  It was a few minutes before 9.  The lady was down the train getting passengers on the train that was leaving for somewhere else, so I waited.  And I waited.  Finally she came back and I asked her about our tickets.  She said we were at the wrong station and that we should be at Kings Cross, which was across the street.  I turned and looked at the clock behind me and it was 9:01.  We had 2 minutes.  I told Mom she needed to run.  I grabbed her hand and we started running.  She got winded really quickly and said that she'd catch up, but I told her NO.  We stick together.  We ran across the street to the REAL Kings Cross and looked at the boards for what platform we needed to get to.  Finding it we ran up there, but it was 9:05.  Our train had left.  I was devastated.

The REAL Kings Cross Station

I'd done so well with getting us places and I'd finally failed.  We asked the attendant at the gate what we should do.  He told us to go to the information desk behind us.  There they pointed us over to the ticket counter.  We queued up and I obsessed and mentally beat myself up over the cost that it would be to get new tickets and why didn't I go ask when we'd gotten there and why did we waste so much time just sitting and buying things and we'd had 30 minutes...stupid stupid stupid.  Mom said to forget it, there was no changing the past.  Finally we were up to see a teller and we explained what had happened.  He said we'd need to buy new tickets for 100 pounds and we said we would.  You see, we were trying to get to Chatsworth House that day.  We already had the tickets for the tour and an afternoon tea.  Mom said we weren't going to miss going, so she gave him her credit card.  He tried to use it like the European chip cards that many people had tried before and we said it was the swipe kind with the metallic strip.  He asked where we were from and I said America and then added the United States after his look was a little blank.  He sighed, did some computer work, got out a receipt book and changed our tickets at no charge.  We thanked him profusely.  Maybe it was because he just wanted to go on break (since his coworker had just asked him and he insisted that the coworker go instead), or maybe it was because we looked so panicked and desperate, or maybe it was because he couldn't believe two crazy Americans were trying to use the British train system, but whatever it was he deserves a medal.  Or a statue in a square somewhere.  He said the next train left in 5 minutes and we took off.  We got there with only a couple of minutes to spare and asked the attendant what we should do.  He told us to go to the train manager at the front, so we walked through the coaches so we wouldn't get left behind.  He said to just pick any seat that didn't have a reserved sign on it and we headed back thru the coaches as the train pulled away.  We got stuck momentarily behind a couple that was trying to fit their large luggage in the storage area, but we finally found a set of seats.  Luckily that train would get us into Doncaster around the same time as our other one would've.  Mom was coughing up a storm from all the running, so she went and got us waters.  I was parched as well and downed mine quickly.  Bad idea since we wouldn't find a bathroom until we got to Chatsworth.

The ride up to Doncaster was nice and we were just glad we were going to make it.  At Doncaster we got off and checked the departures.  The train to Sheffield was leaving in 2 minutes.  Another run downstairs, under the trains, and back upstairs to the other platforms and thankfully the train was still there.  We'd originally had seats reserved on the first train that we'd missed, but this one didn't have seats assigned or even a time of departure really.  I asked the train driver if this was our train to Sheffield and he said it was "A" train to Sheffield and if that was where we wanted to go, to get on, so we did.  Turns out it doesn't matter what train you take, just as long as you have a ticket.  We'd made it by the skin of our necks again.  From Sheffield we needed to catch a bus out to Chatsworth.  We exited the train and in the lobby we happily saw two police officers.  I went up and asked them where the Sheffield Interchange was and they pointed us in the right direction.  We marched over and there was a bus waiting at the D3 stop that was listed on my paper as the place to catch the bus.  I jumped in and asked the driver if it was going past Chatsworth and he said it was and then on to Matlock.  I asked if I needed to go buy a ticket or if I could get them from him.  He asked if we wanted return tickets as well and we said yes.  Boom.  Cash handed over and tickets acquired.  It was a double decker and we took to the top floor because it has the best view.  By the third hair on our chinny chin chins.  The bus driver was NUTS.  It was like Harry on the Knight bus!  Swerving here and there and almost taking people and bikers out!  The bus ride took an hour and really got us deep into the countryside we'd been longing to see.  The views were beautiful and the landscape became more intriguing with rolling hills, stone walls and grazing sheep.

If you've seen Dr. Who you might get the reference

Bakewell

Isn't it quaint!?

I have decided to live in Bakewell because it is such a charming village.  Eventually we pulled into Chatsworth and it was so beautiful.  Definitely Pemberley-esque.  We made it there at 1 PM, just the time I was hoping for.  We claimed our tickets and they asked Mom to check her backpack.  We started with the house audio guided tour and did take the tour a bit briskly, but saw everything we'd been hoping to and more!  The main hall, the statues, the veiled lady, a gorgeous dining room, bed chambers, amazing paintings of royalty and the Cavendish family including Georgiana.

Arriving at Pember...I mean Chatsworth House

The main entry hall

Views of the grounds from the house

The chapel

From right to left:  Georgiana Cavendish, William Cavendish the 5th Duke of Devonshire
and his mistress and her best friend Bess (If you haven't seen the movie The Duchess, you should!)

The library

The Veiled Lady...all carved from stone

The dining room

Mom kept tabs on the time and we made it out out of the tour in time for our tea.  After a little direction we found the dining area and had such an amazing tea.  They had their own English breakfast and classic blends of tea, which was what Mom and I chose, but they also had probably 20 different kinds of tea. There were four different finger sandwiches (beef and mustard, smoked salmon, cheese and cucumber and egg salad), lemon macaroons, tiny fruit tarts that had a vanilla cream filling with a slice of strawberry, a blueberry, and a kiwi slice on top (which I could have eaten a tray full of), delicate layered chocolate cake, and of course scones with Devon cream and strawberry jam.  It was AMAZING and I didn't take a single picture of it until we were done.  :(

The carriage house, where our afternoon tea would be served

All done...it was beautiful and delicious

I think we end up so famished by tea time that we devour it and then once I'm returned to a state not verging on the edge of starvation I remember what I was supposed to do.  Better luck next time.  We had bought a large loaf of bread at the market for our breakfasts and we were running out of honey, so we went into their farm shop and picked up some of that yummy strawberry jam we'd just had.  I also got lemon curd, shortbread cookies and some of their signature classic tea blend.  We couldn't find any of the English breakfast tea we had, which was a shame, but Mom got chocolates instead.  All of the food they sold was made there at their farm.  Walking through some more of their shops I found a beautiful tartan scarf and Mom picked one up too.  Then we eased back to the main gift shop we'd passed by on our way to tea and I got a book about the house and the Cavendish family, a tea towel (which I've collected a couple of here and there on this trip) and then they had a Jane Austen display.  I looked at it for a long time and Mom came up and asked if I already had all of the books they were displaying.  Sadly I did.  Upon closer inspection, however, I spied one I didn't have called Mr. Darcy's Diary and they had a very nice bookmark to match.

I circled the shop a couple of times and found a magnet of the house and just as I was turning around there was the bust of Mr. Darcy from the 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie that had been filmed partly at Chatsworth.  Below the bust was a sign saying "Do not kiss".  Haha.

After making our purchases we took a stroll through the grounds.  I am very fond of walking.  We walked down the tree lined avenue buy the lake and then down and around the other side, with many pictures taken of course.  They have statues and more modern art all around the grounds which is a nice way to preserve both old and new art.

Mom had been eyeing the ice cream and I mentioned a video I had seen about the house so we headed back and got both.  We sat leisurely in the orangery courtyard and ate ice cream and took pictures...and then I remembered Mom's backpack.

It was just about 5 PM and that was when the house closes while the gardens stay open until 6.  We scooted down to the main entrance just as the bell was ringing 5 and they were about to lock up.  But we got it.  Then I asked Mom if she wanted to sit around for the 6:10 bus or take the 5:10.  She said let's go now, so we headed over to the bus stop just as what we thought was our bus pulling up.  There was a crowd standing around, but no one got on.  Some of the people that were on our bus from the ride in were in the crowd and they weren't getting on, so I figured that it wasn't the right bus.  We saw someone ask the bus driver something, but couldn't hear what it was and the person turned away.  Just as I was about to ask where they were going the bus pulled away.  We hoped that it wasn't ours.  I looked at the time schedule and another bus was supposed to come along for Sheffield.  That one that had just left was probably going to Matlock.  Sure enough, another bus pulled up shortly saying Sheffield on the front.  We boarded it and took another crazy, but beautiful, ride back.

Off the bus and across the road to the train station, we found a train was waiting for departure to Sheffield.  Made it just in time again!  The story of the day.  We made it back to Doncaster in plenty of time and saw that there were multiple trains back to London.  When the first one came in I asked the attendant if we could take one of the earlier ones than the one listed on our ticket but found out from him that we had to stick to our time (Stick to yer ticket Harry, stick to yer ticket.)  or pay more.  So we sat in the waiting room and watched as train after train left bound for London that wasn't ours.  Mom knit and I typed out the events of the day on my iPhone (3 pages worth when I printed it out people).  When we got on our train we saw that every seat had a reserved sign on it and the two that were ours already had two people sleeping in them.  I told Mom to just sit across from me because of the two outside seats, one was reserved for a young man that got on with us.  She was trepidatious about that, but I said we'd figure it out.  The young man eventually found another seat in the car and moved and Mom changed and sat across from me.  When the lady came by to click our tickets she didn't check for the seat number.  I guess if someone challenges us for them we'll move, but hopefully we make it back to Kings Cross without an encounter.  Sleep is going to be spare tonight as we are getting in around 10 PM and have to be up at 3AM...

Fun Observations of the Day -  The night before this day there were fireworks that went off around 2 AM.  Earlier that previous day we had heard the bells ringing joyously before we went into the theater.  Not sure what was going on and Google couldn't help me figure it out.  I tried everything I knew including birthdates of the royal family, but no luck.  Still not sure what it was all about. I am pretty done with "exciting" days.  Today was so "exciting" that I need a rest from them.  Bring on the mundane.  However, I do think that today was one of the best days we've had here.  While it was stressful and long getting there, the time we spent at Chatsworth was so relaxing.  I loved the countryside and the views were all so beautiful that you can understand why Jane Austen may have based Pemberley on this beautiful house.  The walks were pleasant and the gardens pristine.  The next time we travel on the National Rail I will definitely buy an "Anytime Ticket" which would have let us come home about an hour earlier than we did.  Since we had a reserved ticket for the 20:20 train we couldn't take any of the three trains that came before it headed for London Kings Cross.  And we did make it back just fine, no one came for our seats or the ones next to us.  The whole way back the lady across from us was talking on her cell phone to someone named Angie.  I got to hear all about how fat her brother's wife was, how she was just like her Mom, and more that I just tried not to listen to but couldn't help it.  Accents are different here just like in the US, of course, based on region.  I'm not sure what regional accent that lady had but it was just like Lister's from Red Dwarf.  Oh!  And I blame the whole St. Pancras versus Kings Cross Station problem on Harry Potter.  In the Chamber of Secrets Kings Cross sure looked like St. Pancras...

Step Count - Carrie:  12657 steps, 26 floors climbed.  Mom:  13754 steps, 30 floors climbed.