penzance

How to go?
<train>It takes 5 hours and forty from London, Paddington.
<bus>It takes 7 to 8 hours from coach station, Victoria.
<In my case> I used the train on both trips.

　I've been to Penzance twice. In other words, I've been to Southwest England twice!
　If you are considering, as I was, go to St. Ives, Land's End or St. Michael's Mount ; then Penzance is an ideal stationary point. However, in my case, I stayed at St. Ives. Actually, at that time I was fascinated by St. Ives. Therefore, during my second trip, I wanted to stay at St. Ives again. However, the second trip was during Summer, which is the busiest time, so all the B&Bs which I telephoned were full. In the end, my friend and I had to stay at Penzance.
　During the train journey to Penzance, my friend said half-jokingly, "What shall we do, if the proprietor of the B&B says he can't find our name on the booking list?" In reality, when we arrived at the B&B, we found out that her commnet had become true and the proprietor was flustered. I also experienced a double-booking, when I went to the Cotswolds. I think it is because English people can't distinguish Japanese names, so they think that we Japanese belong to the one category, "Japanese". Therfore, English people will think the same Japanese person reconfirming their booking, when another Japanese books a room. In this situation, obviously, it is their fault. They'll say, "I'm really sorry." and will then telephone B&Bs which they know to ask if there is a room available.
　This is what happened to us. Finally, we were able to get a B&B further down the street. Fortunately, it was a spacious room for two people. This B&B was better than the previous one, I thought. I felt extremely happy(Right picture is the scenery near the B&B we stayed).

　Penzance is along the coast as is St, Ives. However, B&Bs in Penzance weren't full while St, Ives was alive with sea bathers during summer and B&Bs were full. I wondered why. After I went there, I found out the reason. It was because there were a lot of stones on Penzance beach.

There was a pretty tea room whose name was "Victoria Tea Room"(left) near our B&B. Their menu had "Cornish Cream Tea".
What does it look like we wondered--we went ahead and ordered it.
Actually, it was a simple set of two scones and a tea(right). I really enjoyed splendid atmosphere while taking tea.

Land's End
　You can go to the southwest tip of England after a 50 minutes bus-ride or 1 hour-ride from Penzance.
　When I first visited there, I traveled alone. Although I arrived there around 2 o'clock, the bus driver said that there was no bus until 5:20. I asked myself, "What can I do alone for more than 3 hours?!" Finally I decided to take some pictures from inside the bus, without getting off. A man saw me taking pictures and said, "It looks like a good idea! I like that". He laughed.
　However, I felt regret because I couldn't walk to Land's End. Therefore, I visited again and got off the bus. I walked around taking in the scenery and atmosphere of the place ; I was satisfied.

St. Michael's Mount

　I've been there only once. The monastery on an island was quite good.
　Take a 10 minutes bus-ride from Penzance and get off the bus at Marazion. After that, you take a ferry or you can walk on a pavement if the tide is out. Then, you'll be there.

Penzance has been a central part of Cornwall from old times and belongs to the Celt culture area. I heard that its name comes from "Pen Sans", which means "holy headland" in ancient Cornish language.
The Minack Theatre, outdoor theatre is near to Penzance. HIRO, who came to my homepage a few times, visited there last year and shows us some pictures of the theatre. After I saw the pictures, I suddenly began to want to visit the Minack Theatre enthusiastically.
"Ah, I want to see a play written by Shakespear there."
Recently, we can see "Wycliffe", a English TV mystery drama, on Sky Perfect TV in Japan. It is set in Cornwall. Every time I see the drama, I recognize that I like the sea and my desire to visit there becomes greater and greater.
It takes 5 hours and a half(too far!), but now I think that I'll visit Penzance again in the near future and will visit some places such as the Minack Theatre from Penzance.


			There are some small cannnons at St. Michael's Mount(right). Because the monastery is on an island, it looks like an impregnable fortress.