Day 2 began my journey outside of the actual city of Penzance. Each day I travel I try to wake up bright and early but when in such comfortable beds and beautiful surroundings that I pay extra for, it makes it difficult to leave the room or the hotel. :) That's my excuse....at least.
I started my day with a traditional English breakfast. Yes, even with the blood sausage. No, I didn't eat it.....Not my style.
The dining room at The Abbey Hotel was so pretty. I loved the fresh flowers each day. There was a fire warming the room each morning, since it was a chilly 50 degrees most mornings. And the natural light from the windows was just a very organic way to start the day.
As I walked from the hotel to the bus station I found a souvenir shop and I stopped to get a few basics: postcards, a patch, and stickers.
Then I headed to catch my bus for the Porthcurno, where the Minack Theatre was playing a matinee.
Even though it was chilly, I rode on the second story of the bus for the beautiful views.
I got this great view of the middle of the city of Penzance from the top of the bus as we went through.
Then I got this amazing view of the whole city from the top of the hill as we were leaving the city.
And the great shots just kept coming.....A few of the surrounding countryside on our way to Porthcurno. So peaceful...
I couldn't get enough of the area. I must have 10-15 pictures of different views.
Then we passed the Cornwall version of Stonehenge.
While driving through the countryside the lanes were SO narrow. The buses would have to really move into the shrubs to let the little British cars creep by. It was amazing to see the driving on the parts of the bus drivers.
And about 45 minutes later I was in Porthcurno! How amazing is that view?!? But, you can tell from the angle how high I am up over it and let me tell you that was a STEEP walk...
The play showing was Alice in Wonderland...based on the REAL book, not the Disney version. It was a great production put on my a high school art school. Very good show.
And look at the view......It was hard to focus on the play at times :)
Another view of the play.....with the amazing background scenery.
And during the matinee it's a big tradition to get an ice cream. So I paid my two British pounds ($3.75) for a little ice cream. It was good but...kinda over priced :) Other families brought lunches and ate during the play. What a fun family outting, really.
The characters interacted with the audience a lot, especially the school children. And the costumes were very good.
I had to take a picture of the "Rubbish" bins. No wonder people looked at me funny when I asked where the "trash cans" were...
While I was up at the restrooms I took this picture of the entire theater.
The entire cast.....at the end of the performance. Again, a great experience that was NOT in my 1000 Things book but it was one of my favorite moments!!
Then as I was walking back to the bus stop I found this shop that also serves lite bites.
So for lunch I had a panini...not bad. Unfortunately, the bus was late which...
put me late into Lands End. It was a small little stop. But in England everything closes at 5pm :(
What a welcome!
Inside the Visitors Pavillion is pretty kitchy (a little touristy for most people's tastes) but it's good for kids...although expensive. I didn't do any of these 3D priate or ocean activities, though.
The beautiful view of the Atlantic Ocean :) From the most Western point of England. In fact, previous to 1492 this was thought to be where the world ends....Thus, the city, "Lands End."
What a beautiful view in Land's End.
And while I was walking around (all by myself since the city closed down after 5:30pm) I saw these two bunnies playing. It made me miss my bunnies at home....
This is actually the souvenir shop I ended up visiting the next day when I came back and got to mail my postcards from here.
Again, I'm trying to portray how little the roads were compared with these huge buses driving along them!
And since I was heading back to the hotel with no dinner plans I saw this Take Away place where I got some famous fish and chips and a steak "pasty," famous in Cornwall.
The "apartment" in the Abbey Hotel, where I stayed that night. I made my reservations so late (the day before) that they were pretty much booked, so I had to trade rooms each night. Good feel for the rooms though.
The bedroom...
The infamous Cornwall Pasty....mine was with steak. Not bad at all!
And the fried cod was REALLY good but the fries were nasty.....as they always are. I relaxed all night and tried uploading pictures all night while the Internet signal came on/off repeatedly.
My first stop after another great, filling breakfast was.......a book store :) Got a traditional Cornwall children's story and The BFG since British TV is iffy and the Internet connection was on/off at the hotel.
I stopped at the Penzance post office and talked to a really nice postman who helped me get international stamps for my postcards.
I found that the bus stopped in the middle of the city yesterday, so I walked around here, the Main Street of Penzance, while waiting for the bus. This is where the main shopping area is so it's pretty lively.
Found my mom her elephants (I get them for her all over the world) here... Saw some other cute stuff but didn't want to go crazy with limited luggage and credit card space. Lol
Then I found.....another book store :) Got Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Ended up reading it over the next couple of months. Great read.
The public bathrooms left a bit to be desired. Felt kinda scary, not gonna lie!
A view of the city from the Romanesque statue/City Hall building... 
Taking the bus back to Land's End to see the town actually alive and open for business. Another great picture of the English countryside. <3
One of the medieval-looking churches in a small town on the way to Lands End from Penzance.
Coming into Lands End from the bus stop... 
Love the post!!
There was a small exhibit by the entrance about walking from one tip of the UK to the other. It's a long distance and I took a bunch of pictures of how far it is...sounds like another goal of mine. :)
While at Lands End I did my souvenir shopping and ended up getting a watch for 5 pounds. Never mind my hair arm shot....Yikes. But it was a cute watch! I wonder where it is.... I need to find it.
Had to take a picture of the British version of the $1 store. :)
And Tresco was the British version of Walmart. :) I didn't go in, though, it was kinda far from the bus stop and I didn't have a lot of free time to stop.
I took the bus to St Michael's Mount. I was hoping I'd have enough time to walk across the walkway before the tide but then got worried I'd get stuck if the tide came in while I was on the mountain. I think I got there at 3:50 and it closed at 4:00. It was so depressing!
Walking on the beach to the walkway...
The walkway to St Michael's Mount...
Walking on the walkway....Getting nervous. See everyone in the coats...so it was cold and I didn't want my feet to get wet and freeze to death.
So I headed back to the beach area to get a coffee and snack.
During the day my iPod headphones stopped working so I ended up at Argos, a store I was directed to to get electronics. Very interesting store but the people were really helpful.
When you walk in there's NOTHING there, no merchandise. But there are all these huge catalogs. Turns out you find what you want in the GIGANTIC catalog and then it's delivered to the counter in half an hour. Since I just wanted headphones it took only 2-3 minutes. But as I was leaving they were closing, so it was nice of them to help out right before closing.
As it was starting to rain I headed back to the room. Another beautiful bed...
Had gotten some Smirnoff Ice at the grocery store the first night so I partook...
Then the Penzance Pirate weekend began with fireworks. So I got to see some good ones...It was another peaceful, relaxing evening. Though as you can see I was starving and ready for breakfast ASAP. Lol My last night in Penzance, though. Little did I know what was in store for me the rest of the trip!
