Lancaster Day 1

Our respite in Amish Country before heading to Niagara and Canada ...

Our newly picked up Honda Accord outside the Washington Plaza to pick up the luggage. Only about 10,000 miles on the clock, the car was very nice! Negotiating our way out of Washington DC was interesting, to say the least, but Tom Tom was excellent! Traffic heading North towards Baltimore was heavier than I expected but it still only took about two and a quarter hours to get to our destination, Lancaster. 

We did do a circuit of York on the way to Lancaster but were not impressed with the place - so no photos. This photo and the next two were taken in Lancaster which was quite a smart town. We had lunch in Lancaster 

Some impressive buildings for a smallish town 

Some street theatre in the main square was an attraction for a few minutes!

Our hotel, AmishView, just outside Lancaster in an area called Bird-in-the-Hand. Some interesting names for areas in these parts! We had a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment in this hotel. One of the best (if not the best) room in the hotel!

Anne and Terri fooling around in front of the hotel entrance 

Our room complete with king sized bed and own bathroom with spa 

The common living area and kitchen 

The view of open fields from our bedroom window 

Our room faced front and side. The top two windows you see here are our apartment as well as windows down the side of the building 

This was the next town down Route 340 East called Intercourse - yes that's right - if you don't believe me look at the next photo carefully!

Note the sign on the left! A lot of the shops were closed because it was Sunday and the Amish people are at religious services

This was a genuine Amish buggy not a tourist ride! You aren't supposed to photograph Amish people since they take no photos of their families at all. During the day we saw probably 30 buggies like this one. Thy even have their own lane on Route 340!

This was a craft shop specialising in quilting

And lots of other things! 

On our Amish tour, this was a replica of an Amish classroom. Children are taught from age 6 to about 15 with all grades in the same classroom. After that you go on the farm or learn a trade 

An Amish bedroom 

An Amish wedding dress 

An Amish living room

A typical Amish house and vegetable patch in the foreground. Tomorrow morning we are doing and hour and half tour of the local Amish farms