Weekend in Cornwall, Part 1

Behold- the coastline of Newquay, Cornwall!

I had absolutely no idea that the coast of England was so beautiful. Courtesy of the wonderful BCA program, I got to spend the entire weekend in this beautiful county.

We departed early Friday morning and spent the first couple of hours sleeping on the bus (coach, sorry). Our first real stop, rest stop aside, was in the town of Bodin for lunch. It was pretty- most of the buildings were stone, and many of the streets were cobbled- but we didn't have much time to look around. I had a yummy panini in a restaurant that we found, but our food took so long that we had to run back to the bus. 

The next stop of the day was Lanhydrock, a country estate once owned by the Agar-Robartes family. It is made out of solid granite and is surrounded by gardens, fields of cattle, and a small church with its own cemetery. It was given to the national trust in 1969, but the rooms inside are set up to represent the home in the late Victorian age. It was beautiful, but my very favorite part of the self-guided tour was the long, hall-like room on the third floor, where a man was seated at the grand piano. I imagine the room was once used for dancing. The man tickled the keys with skill I've never seen in person; and everything he played was from memory! Laura and I couldn't stop watching, and so lagged behind the rest of the group during his two performances. He was older, and I hope that he played for some kind of orchestra when he was younger, because he was spectacular.

When we finally arrived in Newqay (I fell asleep again) I was poked awake by Sam, and opened my eyes to high cliffs and beautiful azure waves. This was completely unexpected; the ocean near where I live is a cold, slate gray on the best days. I couldn't wait to get closer. The surf lodge was a bit of an unpleasant surprise. There were four sets of bunk beds squeezed into a room that was barely bigger than the room I occupy alone here. Eight girls, two of whom are sick, eight beds, one bathroom, one flat-screen television. Nice. Our room was also the only one that didn't actually have access from inside the building- we were located around the back of the building, next to the dumpster. Just about everyone else had nice ocean views; all we got to see was the scaffolding on the building across the street.

Some of the girls and I wandered down the street looking for a place to eat. We eventually found ourselves at a restaurant called Steam, which was a bit fancier than other places we've been eating, but looked like it would be worth it. Out the windows near our round table was a gorgeous view of the cliffs and beach; while waiting for our food we tiptoed outside in shifts and took our first pictures of them. 

Kelly and I both ordered the mussels and were delighted by the enormous bowls that greeted us, complete with bowls of chips (fries) and chunks of thick, white bread for dipping into the sauce. I was a bit apprehensive, because I haven't eaten muscles very often, but these were absolutely delicious. That was the best 9 pounds I've ever spent, definitely. 

After dinner, we walked down the steep road to the beach and took a couple more pictures. We didn't actually go into the sand, because it was now after dark and so cold that we couldn't wait to get home. Other girls went out that night, but I was coming down with a cold and decided to stay in. I ended up not going to bed until after midnight anyway, but it was still a pretty restful night.

I'm going to put up another entry so that I can use another picture :p

To be Continued!