Meets and Exceeds the Hype

While my mom and I were watching The Holiday last Christmas (2006), she commented that she would like to take a vacation to a quaint English town, something that has rolling hills and a beautiful landscape. Yesterday I was taken to the perfect spot for this vacation. Dean has lived almost his whole life outside of Dartmoor and for the past two months has been talking about its beauty. Of course, I believed that it would be a lovely place, but I never imagined that it would be like all the movies show it to be. His dad and stepmom picked us up and we all drove out to the country together. The first place we went was just so we could climb a moor and take a look around. Magnificent! All over there are sheep just roaming around we also got to see some ponies (and even a little baby pony (a foal)!).

After this, we headed to Princetown, and there I discovered that my cheap €10 sandals were falling apart. We also visited the tourist information center. We first thought it was one sign with a map and a little information on the town. But 10 steps further there was a real tourist information center, complete with interactive displays for all ages.

Our last stop was Tavistock, the cutest, most cliché English town I have ever seen. There were stone buildings all over. I bought new sandals there (adorable pink and black sporty sandals for £15) and we also walked in and out of cute little shops (like a butcher's place that had jars and jars of typical English toppings. What is chutney? I never really got the best answer, but I guess will have to experience for myself at sometime). After enjoying some ice cream, bought from a truck that had Devonshire written across it (I was told a few years ago, that 1. it isn't pronounced Devon-SHYRE but "sure" and 2. it is just Devon, no shire), we walked along the river, which apparently has wild salmon swimming in it.

The end the afternoon, we headed back to Michael (Dean's dad) and Pam's place. The day had ended up really sunny, and we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon in their garden drinking tea and eating homemade cake.

Today, I get to see Plymouth, take a picture by the sign where the pilgrims set out from, and eat a pasty.