Day 6: St. Ives

Day 6 St Ives (Saturday, June 28)

Wound our way from Ednovean house to St Ives, through warrens of streets lined with little stone or stucco villas, so small they had flower baskets rather than gardens. Suddenly saw St Ives spread below us and realized we were curling past the Malakov and thus only a few Blocks from Talland House, but no amount of cranning and craining has produced a view of the building from any location in St. Ives; the proliferating villas around and below have quite covered it up.

Nonetheless, the day in St. Ives has been quite magical. The minute we got out of the bus at the Bernard Leach Pottery, the sun came out, the breeze picked up, and fluffy white clouds started sailing merrily across the sky. One of our party is a Ceramics historian so we were treated to a wonderful brief intro to Leach and later to the mechanics of the anagama kiln. I enjoyed seeing the pots and kiln, but kept wishing Patti and Mike were hooked into my brain, seeing everything and whispering explanations to me. Found out later when I checked FB that it is Mike's birthday. First of several karmic coincidences.

Next the driver dropped us off at the Tate St.Ives museum. The tide was out, leaving a huge expanse of golden sand, and the water was that lovely turquoise that you only see in St. Ives. All the ladies were enchanted. We went up the the restaurant on the top of the museum for lunch -- panoramic views over the jumble of town roofs and out to the lighthouse. The main exhibit at the Museum was right up my alley: St. Ives and modernism. Small but informative.. Particularly enjoyed the leach pottery in light of re-reading Byatt's The Children's Book recently.

Instead of returning to Barbara Hepworth museum, I made my way down into the steep windey streets of St Ives and, frankly, had a lot of fun shopping, interspersed with sea views. The weather was brilliant, literally -- glorious sunshine, golden beaches, water like stained glass, dogs on parade, boats pulled up, children wi buckets, Brits boasting expanses of parboiled skin, cool breezes. Found a place wi gluten free scones and had a cream tea. Went to the local "craft Fayre" at the Parrish hall and had fun chatting with people. Had a nice encounter with a silversmith who does funky silly animals. A fun day.