Spring In The Lakes District UK

April 18, 2025

As an American in Great Britain, I fit the stereotype…wild about sheep! Locals know that if someone is taking photos of the sheep, it’s probably an American tourist. And while visiting the Lakes District in the UK in early April was a risk weather-wise, it was a great time to see the lambs. I didn’t go to see lambs; this trip was a family reunion ladies trips, I went to see family, which was the highlight! But it turns out the sheep and the unseasonably warm and sunny weather were additional highlights of the long weekend!

A long overdue reunion with a relative who lives in the UK, led us to the Lakes District, a popular spot for citizens and tourists to trek in the mountains of Cumbria, and enjoy lakeside village shops and pubs. I rented a “self catering” house, as short term un-hosted rentals are called in Great Britain. The Holly House was located in the center of the village of Pooley Bridge and easily accommodated our group of 6 cousins, mothers and daughters age 27 to 70. With room for everyone to gather and enough bedrooms for privacy, we felt as if we were in a British rom com; but without all the family drama! Instead, everyone had a great weekend exploring the region, dining, hiking, reading, shopping and of course, photographing sheep!

Photos from Holly House and Pooley Bridge

Some Lessons Learned for Travel in GB…

1- ETA visa to travel to the UK You’ll need to download an app, upload your travel info and receive approval via email. Usually you’ll be approved in a matter of minutes, but it’s a good idea to leave yourself some time to upload all your information. You won’t have the “print” or “carry” any paperwork, it’s all electronic, tied to your passport. so of course, you have to carry that! And do take care to avoid the “scammers’ spoofing the official site…the app helps insure you are sharing your info more securely.

2- Complicated directions in very old places can be made easier with “what three words” What # Words is another tool to use when trying to find directions in old places like Cumbria, or locations with multiple addresses or no address at all. Described as an ‘easier way to talk about locations’, with a specific 3 word code for every 3 sq meters, it’s used by commercial drivers nd can help you or a ride share find you!

3- It’s a touch dressier than I am at home, but hiking casual is acceptable most places! I found a good pair of travel pants (mine are from Columbia) and fashionable walking boots. I call them “cute boots’, (mine are from Clarks) do all the work of more casual athletic or hiking gear, but are bit dressier.

Early April we saw trees and flowers just starting to bloom! (click to expand any image)

Herdwick Sheep are one of the oldest breeds, capable of “hefting” as a herd on their own in the “fells” (mountains) They can self shear, (rub their wool off) but farmers who lease lands with these traditional sheep, lead them onto the farms for shearing and lambing. photo Credit E. K.

4- Americans are crazy for the sheep (and lambs) Most Britton’s hardly notice them at all. But you can help keep the farming industry healthy by taking tours. We toured with “The Herdwick Experience” which was an educational tour and interaction on a local farm with an ambassador herd, which opened our eyes to the culture of farming in Cumbria and gave us an opportunity to see these animals up close.

Herdwick lambs are born black and become whiter as they mature, so baby lambs are black and yearling sheep are black or grey with white heads and the adults are white

5- Accessibility is challenging Old buildings and public transit stations mean that accessibility is a bit patchwork, so leave extra time to use elevators or walk around to find escalators. Especially in Cumbria, there’s no shame in using a walking stick, you’ll fit right in!

Photos from hiking in the fells and boating on the lake at Windermere

6- Be prepared for motion sickness If you are renting a car, be sure you are comfortable with very narrow, and winding roads, and driving on the other side! Having some non drowsy motion medications will help as does a relief band, a new wrist appliance to help with nausea that I found worked really well! Also when requesting car service or on trains, choose or request forward facing seats.

Hiking up in the Fells near Windermere Photo Credit EK

All photos by K Klofft except where noted. No financial consideration for any recommendations found here, all are items or experiences we’ve used and are reporting on the independently.

GoSeeIt Interview- Meg Attends Vivace Music Festival in Vilnius

November 28, 2023

I’m excited to bring you an interview with Meg Stafford, avid traveler and local author! She recently wrote “Who Will Accompany You?” a book chronicling her travel with her young adult daughters, and one I’d recommend as a holiday gift for anyone who loves travel! (Full disclosure: I provided a back of the book review for her book!) Meg also has previously published a book about her breast cancer journey.

After her recent trip to attend a youth music festival in Vilnius, Lithuania, I asked Meg if she’d share her experiences with our readers. I’m grateful she agreed! Enjoy the interview, and if you decide to pick up one of her books, I think you’ll enjoy her warmhearted and humorous look at the world! -Kathy Go See It Travel

Meg with her daughter and traveling companion in Lithuania attending a concert at the Vivace Vilnius Music Festival in Vilnius.

GSIT: How did you decide to go to Vilnius?

Meg: I was invited to go to Vilnius to attend the Vivace Vilnius Music Festival, and write about it in order to bring more attention to this wonderful event. Egle Jarkova, a Lithuanian born violinist, now living in the Boston area, created this festival 11 years ago as a way to bring more access to up and coming musicians to world class instruction and concerts, all for free. There were students of violin, cello, and piano from Lithuania, Latvia, United Stated, Italy, Mongolia, Indonesia, and Ukraine participating in this year’s festival. Instructors were from Berklee Conservatory, and Italy (Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia). I may not have otherwise made my way to Lithuania, so I’m grateful for this invitation to get to know this lovely European city.

Musician and Festival Organizer, Egle Jarkova (center) with Ukrainian youth cellists who participated in the festival.

GSIT: How did you plan your trip? Did you work with a travel agent?

Meg: I bought my own plane ticket, and stayed at the same hotel as many of the students and instructors, as we were all given a special rate because of our involvement with the festival. Two of the major donors since the beginning of the festival were attending it for the first time, and Ms. Jarkova created an itinerary of museums and restaurants and a castle for them to visit, and included my daughter and myself in these activities. The museums centered mostly around World War II, and the atrocities to which Lithuanians were subjected, including being the site of the first mass killings just outside the town proper. On the days when we were not with the group, we visited art museums, and spent time walking around this beautiful city, including making our way to the highest places for views overlooking the entire town. So we explored during the day, and attended tremendous concerts in the evenings.

Scenes around Vilnius

GSIT: What surprised you? What’s not to miss?

Meg: I didn’t realize how beautiful the city would be (and is now actually a World Heritage Site), and how great the food would be, even in the smallest cafes in the park, or on the outskirts of town. Fresh, interesting food, ( my favorite was a raspberry gazpacho) plus of course the traditional Lithuanian fare of beet soup and potato dumplings.

We also never expected to find an enormous statue of Tony Soprano by the train station. We had to go see it, and how incongruous it looks there. No signage or explanation. And how did Tony rise to this level of importance there?!

Don’t miss the inexplicable Tony Soprano character statue! Also, Meg and her daughter enjoyed the street art.

Street Art (click on image to enlarge)

The 2 Dimensional Café at the Illusions Museum, love that Meg is perfectly dressed in black and white to extend the illusion!

We loved the Illusion Museum. Such unexpected fun and delight. We also sought out the pedestrian lights that featured women for the Stop and Go signals, and it made us wonder why this has not been adopted in more places.

More visual magic at the Illusion Museum

Ladies represented in the walk/don’t walk signs!

Lithuanians love classical music, and every concert was well attended and greatly appreciated. It was remarkable to see the turnout each night. Since Lithuania is so far north, it is light well into the evening, (til nearly 11) and it was lovely to wander past my typical bed time at home.

English signage and commonly spoken in tourist areas, makes getting around in this part of the world easier for Americans.

GSIT:Are there tips about packing? Other tips for visiting?

Meg: Temps were warm during the day at the end of July (high 70’s and on my last day it hit 90), and there was rain at least part of most days. The weather was mercurial, and it’s important to have an umbrella or a light raincoat. It cools off during the evening, but was not cold.

There were not many Americans, which was kind of a treat. It is a city that is visited by many Europeans, so there is some catering to tourists, meaning lots of cafes and restaurants, and opportunities to purchase goods made in Lithuania. Amber is a huge export and you can find all kinds of jewelry made from it, and also a museum, and they make beautiful linens, so there are many options of treats to bring home.

Many people speak English, and it is easy to get around. It is a very walkable city, with lots of delightful alleyways and doors adorned with vines and flowers, which make it very appealing visually. I’m so glad to have been able to visit this part of the world, as well as attending the compelling and captivating concerts of the festival each night.

Meg Stafford is a traveler, social worker (psychotherapist) and author of two books as well as numerous columns that have appeared in a variety of newspapers. Several pieces about Lithuania and the Vivace Vilnius festival can be found on her website, www.MegStafford.com

For more information or to support the festival, contact Vivace Vilnius.

Hundreds of Gnomes and Thousands of Guitarists in Poland!? - A GoSeeIt People Interview

November 1, 2022

There are so many places in the world and I am constantly delighted to learn about them! I was delighted to learn that there is a city in Poland where there are hundreds of little gnome “dissidents” are appearing for visitors to discover and for locals to remember their recent history! My friend Anita, a retired grandmother who loves to travel, recently visited Poland April 25th to May 5th, and when she told me about the gnomes, but also about being lucky enough to come across an amazing local attempt to break the Guinness Book of World Records record for guitarists! I just knew it was the kind of story our readers would love! Read on to hear about Anita’s trip to Poland and why the city of Wroclaw has hundreds of gnomes and thousands of guitarists popping up around town!

(All photos courtesy of Anita)

Many of the bronze gnomes include little details that relate to their location, like sleeping gnomes at a hotel!

GSIT: Tell us about how you came to travel to Poland?

Most of my trips as an older adult I would label as pilgrimages. I have a friend who is a parish priest who also likes to travel.

Three years ago a group of 30 or so individuals from this priest's parish signed up for a trip to Poland. But as luck would have it Covid struck and so this trip got re-scheduled several times, spring, fall, spring, fall etc. until this year when travel restrictions were lifted. It was this priest's desire to go to Poland since he has some Polish ancestry. So, I figured why not?

I have a wonderful traveling companion (Callie) who is young enough to be my daughter. She has travelled all over the world, first as an army brat, and then going to places she wants to explore, usually with her mother, when she is not organizing a group trip.

GSIT: How did you plan your trip?

My travel companion is travel-wise and she has organized several of my most recent group trips. For several of our trips we have used Gate 1 Travel. We had one travel agent who was with us the whole time but like most trips abroad we also had various travel guides for a particular city join the tour.

GSIT: What did you do while on this trip?

Day 1 & 2- Of course, the first day was travel to Warsaw (Varshava) Poland's capital and cultural center on the Vistula River. which then becomes day 2 when we landed. Check in etc and welcome dinner were part of that day. We stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel in Warsaw.

Day 3- We toured beautiful Lazienki Park (jewel of Warsaw) where we viewed the Chopin monument; stopped at the Memorial commemorating the Warsaw Ghetto uprising walked through the Old Town to Market Square (most of the Warsaw streets are cobble stoned) ; viewed the Cathedral of St. John and the Royal castle (residence of King Jan III) and the royal gardens.

Day 4- Travel to Gdansk. On the way we stopped to tour Marienburg (Malbork) Castle, which is one of the largest Gothic castles and medieval fortresses in the world. It was founded in 1274 by the Knights of the Teutonic Order. I was amazed at how magnificent and well preserved this was.

We continued on to Gdansk, Poland's principal seaport. This is the home of the Solidarity worker's movement which started the breakaway of the country from the Soviet Union. This city is also the amber capital of the world. One street is lined with jewelry shops that mainly sell amber. Fr. Riley celebrated Mass for us at St. Bridget Church which has some WWII damage from bombings but has been renovated since then. The reredos (backdrop of the altar with tabernacle) is in the process of finishing its construction built entirely from donated amber from individuals' jewelry and artifacts. It is breathtaking. Much of old town Gdansk has been reconstructed since WWII looking much like it looked before the war. During our free time in the afternoon we took a pirate ship ride up and down the a branch of the Vistula River. A talented guitarist/singer entertained during our voyage. I recognized some Irish songs sung in Polish.

Day 5- More Gdansk touring buildings and churches and learning about shipping and trading.

Day 6- Traveled to the enchanting town of Torun which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, and is considered one of the best-preserved medieval towns in all of Europe. We saw the house where astronomer Copernicus was born. This is also the town where pierniki (gingerbread) was first made. There was a festival going on while we toured, so we saw acrobats, jugglers, singers etc. in the streets. We then traveled to Wroclaw (pronounced vrowt.swaaf), a city with a turbulent history with Bohemian, Austrian and Prussian influences.

GSIT: So tell us about the gnomes and guitars in Wroclaw- that sounds unexpected!!

Day 7

This city has a gorgeous very large Market Square where, coincidentally, there was a gathering of guitarists that gathered (over 7,676 of them) to break the Guinness Book of World Records playing Jimi Hendrix's song "Hey Joe" at the same time. AMAZING.

Thousands of guitarists gathered to break a Guinness World Record!

While in Wroclaw we were introduced to bronze gnomes that are the hallmark of the city. In response to the communist regime in 1980 people gathered wearing orange hats mimicking dwarfs and shouting "No freedom without dwarfs". After many years in part to memorialize the event the first bronze gnome appeared in the city in 2005. Since then they have grown in number and appear in front of many businesses and other buildings in Wroclaw. They now number over 350.

We also toured the cycloramic depiction of the Battle of Raclawice during the Kosciuszko uprising.

On one of the evenings there we walked to Tumski island to see the Lamplighter (dressed with a top hat and cape) who walks the streets of this island to light the gas lamps in the area.

Day 8- Travel to Czestochowa for the monastery of Jasna Gora to view the daily unveiling of the Black Madonna painting( a shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary).

Day 9- We toured the Jewish district with its ancient synagogues and ancient main square of the former ghetto and the memorial called "The Lonely Chairs". Then drove to the historic 16th century Wawel Royal Castle district for a tour of medieval Krakow. Then a somber visit to Oswiecim where the Nazis built Auschwitz and Bierkenau Extermination Camps.There are no words to describe these sites adequately.

Day 10- We travelled to Wadowice, the town where pope St. John Paul II was born We visited his family home that is now a beautiful museum and parish church. We then drove on to the St. Sister Faustina Sanctuary and participated in the Divine Mercy Chaplet that was being televised that day.

My name is Anita. I am a 75 year old widow (5 and 1/2 years) with three wonderful children (all married) and 6 adorable grandchildren in ages from one year to 17 years old.

I have always loved to travel first as a single person and then, when my children were older and on their own, with my husband (44yrs married when he died).

I have travelled to Ireland (twice), England, Scotland, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Israel, Portugal, Southern France (Lourdes), and various places on this continent including two cruises.