Peak District and Cinco de Mayo

On Tuesday night, Cat and I went to see an independent film called "The White Countess," starring Natasha Richardson, Ralph Fiennes, and Lynn and Vanessa Redgrave. It was pretty good! It took place in Shanghai in the 1920s. I think that was my first "independent" film to ever see. On Thursday, I went to the Peak District National Park. It was quite an adventure getting out there! I found some information about the National Park on a few website, and I really wanted to see it because the scenery is really pretty, and it's where they filmed "Pride and Prejudice." However, as hard as I tried, I couldn't find any information telling me how to get to the park. The only clues I had were that it's near the city of Sheffield, and not much public transportation goes out there. So I took the train to Sheffield, which is about an hour from Birmingham. Sheffield is actually a very big city, and home to two universities. I went to the Travel Information building, and the man working there told me a certain bus to take. He told me to get off in a town called Oughtibridge, and the place I wanted to go (Fairholmes) was only a twenty minute walk. So I took the bus to Oughtibridge. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and about eight five degrees...steaming hot for England! Well, when I got off the bus, I walked to a convenience store and asked the people who worked there if they knew which way I should go to get to Fairholmes. The lady just looked at me, and said, "It's a five hour walk from here." I told her that the people in Sheffield told me it was a twenty minute walk, and she said, "They don't know what they're talking about." I asked her what she would recommend for me to do, and she 1) tried to give me directions on how to walk the five hours to Fairholmes - not a chance I was going to do that! 2) told me about the scenery in Oughtibridge and tried to convince me to stay there instead 3) asked me about four times I drove here. I realized that she wasn't going to be any help, so I caught the bus back to Sheffield. I went back to the Travel Information building, grabbed some bus maps, and figured out the route myself. I had about two hours before my bus left, so I roamed around Sheffield. When it was time for me to catch my bus, I hopped on, and the driver dropped me off at the corner of the National Park, and told me that I would have to walk about two and a half miles to get to Fairholmes, which was also the only other bus stop in a ten mile radius that would get me back to Sheffield. So I trudged up the trail to Fairholmes. The scenery was really amazing! The Peak District National Park is in Derbyshire (pronounced Darby-shire), and the part I was in is called the Derwent Valley. The Derwent and Ladybower Reservoirs make up the center of the valley, and it's surrounded by hills and moors. I took some pictures, but they're not loaded onto my computer yet. I'll post them soon! I hiked around one peak for about forty five minutes, and then roamed around the valley. There was LOTS of tourists out walking and riding bikes. A few hours later, I caught the bus back to Sheffield and took the train back to Stratford-upon-Avon. I enjoyed the Peak District, but I'm not sure it was worth all of the trouble it took to get out there! On Friday, my housemates, Michelle, and I had a little Cinco de Mayo dinner. I cooked tacos and banana pudding, Cat made nachos, and Michelle brought a chocolate tart for dessert. Marfo had never eaten a taco before, so she was really excited! We enjoyed a nice meal, and stuffed ourselves full of delicious Mexican food. Afterwards, we watched American Idol in Cat's room (it comes on TV on Friday in England). We also watched a new show called "Test Drive My Girlfriend," which looks like it should be on MTV. Tonight, I'm going to see a concert with Michelle in Coventry. The group is called Dirty Pretty Things, and I've never heard of them! She had an extra ticket and asked me to go, so I figured it would be neat to see a concert in England. I'll let you know how it goes! I hope everyone is having a great weekend!