Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost

So this is the end. My month long trip across the pond came to a close about a week and a half ago. It's taken me all of this time to spit out this blog post, for the ending is always the most difficult to write. When I started this series of blog posts, I was super excited for my trip. I couldn't wait to tell you all about it. However, I knew only a bare minimum of what I would be doing while I was there so there really wasn't much to say.

Now it's over and I'm back to reality (sort of). And it's been extremely difficult to put into words all of my emotions about the trip. You could almost argue that I'm still getting over my jet lag. It hasn't fully sunk in yet that I'm back in America, because I totally hit the ground running when I got back. I haven't had a weekend free and only see one opportunity for a free weekend before the semester begins. And there is almost too much to say. Too much to recount. Too many feelings to impart. So I'm going to try and I will also keep this short. I could go into extreme detail but that would only be for my benefit and not for yours.

So I will write some thank yous:

To my family: who assisted both monetarily and emotionally, thank you very much. This was really the trip of a lifetime. I will look back on this time in my life with great happiness and I'm so grateful that you were there to help me get there. Thank you for supporting me during the trip, with Skyping and emails. It was nice to feel connected to home while abroad. And thanks for being here when I returned. It was wonderful to be greeted at the airport

To my friends (aka, my blog readers): thank you for reading. I'm sure it got tiring after awhile. I know it was tiring to write these up everyday. And they probably got boring. I wasn't as funny as I could have been but sometimes I was just too tired to be funny. But thanks for reading all the same. Or thanks for skimming/looking at the pictures. I know I got page views that weren't mine so I know that someone out there is reading this garbage.

To my London friends: First, I'd like to thank all of you. You made the trip a very memorable experience and one that I will not forget. I'd like to especially thank my cacaws! (Jenny and Melissa). You guys were the best and London would have been totally different without you. P.S. Cotswold misses your faces a lot.

To London: Thanks for letting me explore your city. You were awesome. I loved every inch of the city and could spend several months there and still not experience everything I want to. I hope to see you again soon (Please don't rain as much next time. Thanks!)

Well that's all I need to say. I did a lot in a month's time. I saw a lot of London but barely scratched the surface. I didn't go to Wimbledon but I drank some good beers. I saw some amazing historical items and visited some of the coolest libraries ever. I met some authentic British boys and they were just as I expected. I ate meat pies and they were awesome. I had too much food but loved it. I walked way too much and my legs hated me for it. It was all glorious. I soaked up a ton of history while I was there and it just left me with the urge to travel even more...

Which I am doing, since I'm going to Disney in a week. How bout that! Not sure it will be blog worthy but I'll bring my computer anyway and we'll see if something awesome happens that needs to be documented.

Thanks again for reading. You know I'll be back again when I take my next trip. I'm thinking Italy next time? Or maybe back to Ireland and actually blogging? Or Spain? Or back to Scotland for a more in depth tour? You know I'll be somewhere, seeing something, and being all together crazy but awesome. Cheers!

- Kate

I Must Away to the Colonies!

Well it's Friday. My last day in London. I wasn't sad to go, but I also wasn't elated to leave. I felt kind of apathetic about it. I mean, I was sad to leave my friends with whom I had spent pretty much every day of the last month. And I was sad to leave London. Glad that I wouldn't be there for the Olympics and that craziness, but still sad to leave the city. And I was happy to come home to see my family and friends. Not happy to return to work or the research paper that I need (and still need) to work on. But definitely happy to return to the comforts of home.

My last day in London started early....too early, and overall, we really didn't do that much. I woke at 6 a.m., unable to fall back asleep, and just decided to start my day. I packed everything, really happy that I had brought an extra bag with me for all of the gifts and souvenirs I purchased. Melissa, Jenny, and I met up around 10 to get some breakfast and do some last minute shopping. We grabbed lunch and decided what to do for the Olympic Ceremonies. The British Studies Program was going on a boat cruise from 4-8 but we decided not to attend. Something about spending 4 hours on a boat with a hundred or so undergrads doesn't really sound like a good time to me.

For the ceremonies, we headed to Trafalgar Square to see if they were showing the ceremony there. They weren't so we just found a bar nearby that was and settled ourselves there. Jenny, Melissa, and I enjoyed dinner and drinks before the ceremonies started. We were almost unable to watch them with sound because the restaurant had so rule about never turning off their stupid techno beats. However, another patron stepped in and took charge to get the sound turned up so we could all enjoy the ceremony. (Opinion: I personally really enjoyed the opening ceremony. I know that those in the United States got a play-by-play of it, which sounds really annoying, but we were able to see it all without commercials. Danny Boyle is crazy but I still thought it was cool.)


We called it a night rather early since I had to be up at 3 a.m. to get my taxi to the airport. I said my goodbyes :( and got a few hours of sleep before heading to Heathrow. A week before, when I made my taxi reservation, everyone in London was threatening to strike. Thus, I planned on getting to the airport early in case there were any issues. Well, no one went on strike. And traffic was non-existent. I was there before the United Airlines counter even opened. And then....

I found out my flight was delayed two hours. This was just the news I didn't want to hear on about three hours of sleep. So I spent the next five hours at the airport. Being angry. Writing blogs. Purchasing Olympic gear with cash (since they only took Visa and I didn't have a Visa.) I finally boarded the flight at 9:45 and settled in for a nice 7.5 hour flight across the Atlantic. The only saving grace was the fact that I was able to get my own seat and didn't have to share.

I landed safely without an issue and made it through customs without an issue at all. I was home! And someone was there to greet me :) What a great ending to a very, very long flight. And then, my month-long trip to England ended. It was over. I'll add my final words in another blog because it's taken a bit for it all to sink in. Cheers.

- Kate

I Can't Remember the Taste of Strawberries, Sam!

When writing my diary entry about the last Thursday of our trip, I drew a major blank. I stared at the page for a good bit, trying to rack my brain as to what I had actually accomplished on Thursday. And then it came to me.....The Research Symposium. Oh yes, the Research Symposium. But we will get back to that later since it wasn't until 6 p.m. at night and I did other things on Thursday.

The Olympic Torch!

It was our first full day of no classes so we took advantage of it. We started our day off with coffees and a walk to Millennium Bridge to go see the Olympic Torch. It was working its way through London on the last week of its three-month tour and would be going over the bridge and heading down towards the Globe Theatre at 10 a.m. There were a lot of people there but we were able to get right up to the barrier and see the torch as it went by. My pictures are only alright though because everyone was pushing in and getting in the way.

Then Melissa and I headed north into the City of London for our scheduled mani-peds. Yeah it seems kind of ridiculous to do in London but it was totally nice to get a little foot massage after all of the walking we had done that month. They were wonderful and we were even graced by a really, awful customer who yelled at the employees for messing up her one nail. She was a real piece of work. And of course her worthless boyfriend, whom she dragged along, just sat there and let it all happen.

Then we met up with Jenny for lunch at Mother Mash. I do believe I have extolled the virtues of Mother Mash on this blog and do not need to do so anymore. All I will say is that is was just as awesome as the first time and I officially like meat pies. After lunch, we headed over to Forbidden Planet, a comic book/nerd store. Yes, Jenny, Melissa, and I were pretty nerdy, evidence by our frequent references to Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Dr. Who (Jenny and Melissa only), and other movies/tv shows of the like. We nerded out for a good long time before realizing that we needed to head back to the dorms to get ready for......

The Research Symposium! I know you've all been waiting to hear about this and now the moment has arrived. Now the push behind the symposium is so the students can educate the rest of the British Studies group on their research. We are took two courses: one that counted as a classroom course and the other is a research paper. So as the title dictates, it allows one person from each group to present to the program their research. Here is what we expected: The professor talks for about three minutes and discusses what their class did and then introduces the student. Then the student talks for about five minutes, just about their research.

Here is what we got: professors talking for 5-10 minutes. Then the students talking for 10-15 minutes, and just barely referencing their research. Mainly, they just told us about all of the places they visited. And about 90% of the students did this. So instead of running about two hours, it lasted three. And it was about 85 degrees in the room. It was absolutely awful. I'm listened to a lot of professors ramble on for a long time. But three hours? Seriously? And we didn't really get to hear about anyone's research. Some we did, but not most. And it would have gone longer if the director hadn't stepped in to cut the student off.

So that is how my Thursday evening went. And you can be damned sure that as soon as it was over, we found both food and alcohol. Both were a necessity after that shitshow. We put a nice touch on the evening by hanging out on the South Bank once more, watching the Fire Garden and just relaxing. Only one day left...

- Kate

Enter the 21st Century, England, and get some A/C

Wednesday arrived much sooner than anticipated, for I was up at 7 a.m. to do my laundry. Still fighting a cold that I got in Scotland after spending the entire morning in the rain (see Blog: Storming the Castle), I started the day rather sluggishly. However, a nice breakfast of croissants and bread got me ready to kick off the last day of classes. It was hot. So hot out. Hotter than it had been all month. And England doesn’t have air conditioning because it normally doesn’t get into the 80s. But it did on Tuesday and Wednesday. And boy did we feel the heat.

Our last class took us back to the British Library, but this time it was for a tour of the conservation studio. I have to post for this in my school blog, so I won’t get into it here but will link the page when I get that all written up and posted.

Then we were free!! No more classes! So Melissa and I headed down to the Globe for my third and final Shakespeare performance of the trip. We saw Richard III, which I’ve never read but I really enjoyed. Two really famous actors were in it, Mark Rycliffe and Barty Crouch Sr. (I don’t remember his real name so he will forever be called Barty Crouch Sr. It was very well done. Not as depressing as it is normally portrayed, for Richard made it more satirical. We got standing room near the stage and were able to lean on the stage during the performance. It also kept us out of the sun, which was really strong that day.

After the play ended, we headed back to the dorm for a quick shower and change before heading over to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Pub. It was the first pub rebuilt after the Great Fire in 1666. It is also where Samuel Johnson used to go to hang out and work on writing the dictionary. Twas a really cool bar with lots of windy stairs. They had Samuel Smiths Extra Stout on tap!!! But ALL of the taps were broken. So I had to deal with just having a Samuel Smiths Oatmeal Stout. It was just fine but I've had it in America and was dismayed that I couldn't have something new. Next time!

After dinner, we went to the fire garden again! No fire dancing this time, but we laid on these weird orange hammocks/octagonal boats/nests. They were comfortable for awhile until my butt fell asleep. Then it was uncomfortable. We just hung out for a bit and then went back cause we was tired. And that was the end of Wednesday. Only two days left! Cheers!

- Kate

The Beginning of the End

Temple Church, for all you Dan Brown lovers

(Author's Note:So I just realized that this blog has been daily activity heavy and I really haven’t written anything introspective about my trip. I want to do this and I’m currently working on several opinion blog posts. I wrote several of these in an airport, working on about three hours of sleep and annoyed because my flight was delayed. So bear with me a bit.)

Moving on from that, I need to update you all about my last week in London. We only had two days on class, Tuesday and Wednesday, and the rest were free days to just relax and get everything together before exiting the country. On Tuesday, we had two site visits, one the morning and one in the afternoon.

The morning visit took us to the Inner Temple Library. If you know anything about the law system in England, all of the barristers in England must join one of four temples. These are the Inner, Middle, Grays, and Lincoln. They are all located near each other on Fleet Street in London. I am not blogging about this one for class so I will discuss more of it here. When you become a barrister and subsequently join this temple, you are given free rights to use the library of that temple. We visited the Inner Temple, which allows any member of a temple to use the library.

It is a beautiful and old library that has been in existence since the early 16^th century. It was bombed and destroyed during WWII but rebuilt afterwards and reopened in 1958. The architecture in the library is beautiful. It is all English oak, while high ceilings and large windows that allow in a lot of light. There is a gallery above that gives it that 19^th century library feel. However, the shelves are very high which is an issue for the librarians who need to reach books for the patrons.

Each inn has a core collection of law in England and Wales, as well as other special collections that are specific to each library. The Inner Temple, for example, has items regarding to part of the commonwealth nations as well as Scotland. It also has a very important manuscript and rare book collection. While we were unable to see them in person, we did see some of the copies they have on the walls in the library. For example, the library has the only copy of Edward VI’s will, in which he bastardized his step sisters, Elizabeth and Mary, and said that he wanted Lady Jane Grey to be the regent in the event of his death. Edward was a sickly child and this was written on a few months before he passed away. (History Note: Lady Jane Grey did assume the title, only to be arrested nine days later and have her head cut off. Then Mary took the throne, a role she eventually relinquished to Elizabeth.)

This library is very focused upon reaching out to their patrons needs. They spend a lot of time answering reference inquiries for the barristers, many of whom are crunched for time. They also spend a lot of time updating their blog, which compiles all of the news about cases, law, and verdicts that they believe is important to their patrons. This takes up a lot of time, but they recently won an award for it so they are thinking quite highly of themselves right now.

It's so pretty with the rings!

After visiting the library, we headed to lunch at a pub across the street. Called the Bank of England (check on this), it is the site on which Sweeny Todd is based. Lunch was paid for by our professor, which was very nice since I’ve been bleeding money ever since I arrived. We then hurried to our second and last tour of the day at the Royal Geographical Society. I won’t get into this here because I will link my post on the other blog here but it was so awesome. Super, super cool for anyone who likes explorers.

That was the end of our school day, so Jenny, Melissa, and I headed over to Tower Bridge to start checking off our checklist of things to do. Step one, walk across Tower Bridge. We did that but then had to walk all the way back to our dorms, which was much longer of a walk than originally anticipated. We do that a lot. I guess that’s why our calf muscles look so great, but it has led to lots of blisters over the past month. Before heading back, we grabbed dinner at a Mexican place that has the best burritos I’ve ever had. (I plan on blogging about food as well, since I’ve eaten quite well (maybe too well) since I got here.)

Fire Dancing!

I thought this was the end of the night until Jenny “cacawed” outside of my window and made me put on pants to go see something. I begrudgingly put on pants, signed off of my Skype session, and then found myself in a fire garden! It was so awesome. There is a Fire Garden in grounds of the National Theatre for three days every summer. We caught all three days. Melissa, Jenny, and I went to go walk through it and danced to the fire-themed music they were playing. Jenny took videos of our awesome dance moves. I have a feeling these may resurface in the future.

Thus, we ended our Tuesday on a high note. The countdown to the end had already begun with only three more full days left until I said goodbye to London. Cheers!

-         - Kate

The Changing Landscape of London (aka, my rant about the Olympics)

(Author's Note: Sorry for being gone so long. I'm finally back in the United States and I have several of these to load and then finish off my trip. Here is a short piece to tide you over. Be warned: I wrote it at 5 a.m. in the Heathrow Airport.)

When we left London the Sunday before (July 15), it was still a rather calm city. There were Olympic paraphernalia all over the place but nothing to ostentatious. The city was still relatively quiet, as all of the travelers were mainly locals getting to and from work.

Fast forward a week and it all changed. First, the amount of people in the city grew greatly. There were a lot more languages being spoken as Olympic attendees arrived to the city. Moreover, the school year had come to a close in England and everyone was starting their summer holiday. This meant increased foot traffic, busier tube stations, and just an overall heightened sense of apprehension as the Olympic Games inched ever closer. And it also meant a lot of people wandering the city, meandering and thus causing us and the locals annoyance as we tried to get to our destinations on time. The makeup of the city changed as well, as the one-eyed Cyclops mascots popped up all over the city. Images and facts were pasted on the sidewalks. The number of police in and around tube stations increased greatly.

Overall, this change was hard for me to deal with. I remembered a London without these visitors. I remembered a London that I had become comfortable with in the two weeks I had been there. I wasn’t ready to handle the sheer number of people and felt some sort of kinship with the locals who were dreading these Olympic Games. Now I love the Olympics and I’ve always wanted to go to one. I hope to do so one day but I will plan on going when it’s not in a major city. So don’t think for a second that I don’t enjoy the Olympic Games because I do and I love watching the American athletes compete for our country.

This is something else and I think it’s something that only happens when the Olympics are in a major metropolitan area. While we are leaving before things got really insane, some Londoners had to stay in the city to work. Others had already planned their two-week vacation during this time, removing themselves from the city before it got really bad. This might be disheartening to some people, for they believe that the locals should stay to root on their athletes. However, I commiserate with these people, understanding that their lives are going to be uprooted for three weeks. The tube stations will be overrun with people, thus affecting the daily commute of thousands of people. Can you imagine if New York City had the Olympics? Can you imagine how many more people would be in that city? There are too many already and having the Olympics there would upset a rather delicate balance.

Moreover, the Olympics have actually hurt the tourist industry in Britain. You may think I’m crazy saying that, for there are thousands of spectators in the city for the games. But think about this: For most of Europe, August and a few weeks in September are the weeks to go on holiday. This is the most popular month for people to travel to England and thus the tourists business does great during this period. However, because of the Olympics, people are staying away from London. They are traveling other places and staying out of the craziness that is London. They do not want to get involved with the people or the traffic. It’s not a very carefree place to be right now. Thus, museums and sites will probably take a hit this month. All of the tourists in the city are there for the games and not to visit the wonderful sites in London. I know for a fact that my cab driver to the airport said his company was hurting for business.

I love London. It’s one of my favorite cities in the world. It’s easy to navigate and easy to learn. Everyone speaks English and I never felt out of place in the city. I could fit in very easily and could be very comfortable here (if I had air conditioning). But I am very glad to be leaving before the Olympics really get started. It’s had a major impact on the city and it won’t be back to normal for several weeks. I hope that anyone who travels to London for the Olympics comes back in the future to see what it really is like without all of these changes. It’s an amazing place and it deserves to be shown for what it is: a city rich in history, vibrant in culture, and on the cutting edge of technology.

Nadolig llawen a blwyddyn newydd dda (haha yeah, look that up and see if it makes sense!)

Hey look, it's Millenium Stadium.
 which I couldn't visit because of the Olympics.
Way to go Olympics.

The last part of our mini-break found us in Cardiff, Wales. And the sun shined there for two days, which helped in making it the best part of the trip. Our hostel was quite nice, despite the snoring we endured, coupled with the seagulls that wake you at 6 a.m. The showers were unreal and any place that has excellent showers and a free buffet breakfast is awesome on my list.

We started our day around 11, once Jenny arrived at the hostel after seeing her boyfriend off on the train back to Edinburgh. We walked down to the bay, which was beautiful and teeming with people. We took in the bay and all of the sites, as Jenny and Melissa nerded out over all of the Dr. Who references (Side Note: I haven't watched the show but have been informed that this is the first thing I need to do once I return to America. I shall get back to you in a few weeks with my opinion on the show.)

Pretty ladies in Cardiff!

After lunch, Melissa and Jenny went off to the Dr. Who Experience while I sat in the sun, tanned and wrote in my journal. It was quite relaxing. Once they were done, we walked back into town to catch a few more sites before they closed. (Side Note: Everything in Wales closes early. And it was a Sunday so stores were closing even earlier.) We just made it into the store that sold Welsh Dragons and were each able to purchase our dragons. They became acquainted on the lawn outside of Cardiff Castle while we rested in the shade. Mine is named Mor Leidr. He is a pirate!

It was so wonderful. 

They all have Welsh names.
I can't remember them all.

Then it was to a pub for a quick dinner and some authentic Welsh beer. Food was alright but the beer was awesome. I must say, I've had some good beers this month. I was defini
tely worried early on which the selection but England has come around and has really proved to be a country of good beer. Sometimes warm, but mostly good. As two of our trio had colds, we headed back to the hostel to get some sleep.

We had Monday morning in Cardiff but were too tired and lazy to get anything done. Thus, we just slept in, ate breakfast, and took our time getting to the rail station. The trip back to London was uneventful and much shorter than the previous one. We arrived back to our dorms (thankfully) by 3 p.m., thus ending our very enjoyable but all too short mini-break. I shall return once more to catch you up on our last week in London.

- Kate

Pierce Me Where It Counts, Robin Hood

The third day of our mini break brought us to Nottingham, the home of the ever famous and possibly non-existent Robin Hood. As stated previously, Nottingham seemed to be a bit on the sketchy side at 10 p.m. at night. It's absolutely fine at 9 a.m. in the morning. I awoke at 7 a.m. because I can't seem to sleep to any normal hour and we were headed into the city center by 9 a.m.

Caves!

Now, we had absolutely no plan of action beyond finding breakfast. Coffee and food were necessities. Once these were satisfied, we made our plan of action. It began with going on a tour of the city, given by a really crazy dude who dresses up like Robin Hood. He gives tours on Saturdays in the summer but his tour this particular Saturday was at 5 and not 11. :(

We did not despair, however, and entered the local mall to go to the Caves. There are all sorts of caves located underneath Nottingham. They were built by the locals and some date back to the 13th century. During the time of Henry VIII, there was actually a Tannery in these caves, although it then opened into the forest. Today, it is all entirely underground. These caves were also used during WWII for bombing shelters. How's that for today's history lesson?

I agree with you, pub, and not Wikipedia

We then took another tour at the Galleries of Justice Museum. It detailed the history of Nottingham through its justice system. We began with a trial where the Sheriff of Nottingham was brought to trial by Robin Hood. Then we continued to follow through the cells and the dungeons as actors told us the history of life for prisoners in Nottingham from the 17th-20th centuries. It was really cool but by the end, we had had enough of jails, dungeons, and the legal system. Thus, we awayed to the pub !

And to a very cool pub did we go. It is supposedly the oldest pub/inn in England but Wikipedia tells me other places also hold that title. Called Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem, it is built into a rock face near Nottingham Castle. The food was good, as was the beer, and it was a nice middle point of the day. The beer made us drowsy, however, and we just decided to wander for the rest of the day. We took photos with the Robin Hood statue, went to a nerd store, saw a large street fair/beach festival (Nottingham does not have a beach. So yes, they brought in sand. Weirdos.), and then purchased some travel towels for our showers.

Robin Hood!

We finally made it to our rail station by 6 for a 7 p.m. train that would take us to Cardiff. It was rather uneventful for most of the 3.5 hour ride until a bunch of drunk 18-22 year olds boarded the train and sat in our car. I tried to get all of my stuff tucked away but they spied Cotswold and that was the end of it. They started yelling about triceratops and one dude attempted to act out what one looked like. It was quite hilarious, I must say, but also rather frightening.

We arrived in Cardiff at 1045 p.m. only to discover that everything was closed. Well except for some pubs and nightclubs. And no one was serving food. We walked around some really sketchy parts of town at 1130 p.m., looking for food, but to no avail. Thus, we ended up going to a 24-hour gas station to get food....but we couldn't go into it. We had to walk up to the window, guess what they may have in the sandwich variety, were given two ham sandwiches, and made it out alive. I guess I can say it was a successful evening then. Check back later for our adventures in Cardiff, this time with a new addition: Jenny! Til then!
- Kate

2000 Years in A Day

The second day of our mini-break found us in York and after having a bit of a disappointing start to the trip, we were hoping to have a better day. (Spoiler: We had a very successful day!)

We started by walking the mile from our hostel into town where we purchased York Passes. For 34 pounds, we could spend up to 60 pounds going into a bunch of sites in town. It seemed to be the cheapest way to see everything in town and we definitely made it count.

First stop: The York Minster. It's probably the coolest and biggest spot in the city. It's absolutely gorgeous. Built in the 13th century, it has some of the most beautiful stained glass I've ever seen. The organist was practicing while we were there so that made it even more amazing. It's almost too hard to explain in words so I'll just post lots of photos for your viewing pleasure.

Then we went to the Roman Baths (after a short Starbucks visit) and they were also awesome. You see, York was the major Roman city in the Roman province of Britannia and when Diocletian restructured the Empire in the late 3rd century, York became the capitol of Britannia. It was closer to the raiding armies of Britons and Scots and the military could better handle them from that position. That's when London (or Londinium) lost its prominence in the province. And this ends my random historical lesson of the day.

Then we went to Jorvik. This can only be explained at Disney World for the Vikings. There was a major Viking settlement in York and the York Archaeological Society has spent a lot of time uncovering it. They then recreated an entire village which you can ride through, complete with sounds and smells. It's awesome. They also have people who explain the objects and they were super helpful. I could go into a lot more detail, but it was one of the better museums I've ever visited and I would recommend going there if you find yourself in York.

We jumped ahead several centuries to the Georgian Period and visited the Fairfax House. It was quite pretty but we just took a quick look through. Nothing too enthralling. Then we climbed Clifford's Tower, which overlooks the city. It was part of the castle that stood there during the time of the War of the Roses but only the tower remains.

We stopped for a short lunch before heading back out on our adventure. We headed to the York Castle Museum, which has some really interesting and different exhibits. They recreated a Victorian town that you could walk through and actually go into shops to purchase goods. It was so cool! Lots of creepy alleys but totally awesome. And all of this in York. Who knew? Then we walked to Middlegate Bar, where we toured a small museum connected to this gatehouse on the Medieval walls of the city. Then we walked along these walls to get to the rail station to print out our tickets. We had one more stop: Barley Hall, which took forever to find but was discovered tucked away. It was a cool little museum that also had costumes from movies on display. And I got to see one of Colin Firth's outfits from the A&E Pride and Prejudice. I about died.

Alas, that ended our time in York...but we still had to get to Nottingham. It started off well, as most trips do. We arrived at the rail station on time and boarded our train just fine. We needed to change at Grantham for a new train to Nottingham but when we arrived, we were told that all trains to Nottingham were cancelled. I very unceremoniously dropped my bag in annoyance, tired and not in the mood to find another way to get to Nottingham. But they were running buses! So we boarded one (even though I thought I was done with buses for the remainder of this trip. I was wrong) and headed to Nottingham. Much to our chagrin, a stag party was behind us and they were all drunk. One gentleman (if I can call him that) opened the emergency door while the bus was moving to relieve himself out the back of the bus. The bus driver was not happy after that. Then there were some odd people filming the people on the bus with their phone, as if to remember this trip for posterity. I would like to black it out from my memory forever, so there are no photos of it.

We finally arrived at Nottingham and said stag party man ran off the bus and relieved himself in public. Does this still make him a gentleman? I'm not so sure. We got to the hostel, which was very nice but in a rather dodgy part of town. Since we hadn't eaten since lunch, I dragged Melissa from her warm bed to get food at a not too sketchy Chinese place just down the road. Thus ended our long day in York and travels to Nottingham.

- Kate (P.S. The formatting was screwy this evening so the photos are below)

The York Minster

What Lovely Ceilings

Stunning Stained Glass

More Stained Glass

Roman Baths

Clifford's Tower

Fairfax House

Ah, Mr. Darcy.

The Day We Almost Saw Hadrian's Wall

St. James Park - where Newcastle United play.

Well the mini break started out quite swimmingly. Melissa and I embarked on our 8 a.m. train to Newcastle, all prepared to see Hadrian's Wall. We arrived to the station, found a place to hold our bags for the day, and boarded a bus that would take us along the route to Carlisle. According to the map, we could get off at several different stops and the wall would be nearby.

The closest we got to Rome

We chose Corbridge! It was a quaint little town that was also home to a Roman Fort. We walked the mile from the stop to the fort first, believing we could then just walk to the wall. The fort was really awesome, and we were able to walk all over the ruins. It was here that we were informed that the wall was about two miles away. But hey there were buses that ran there! We looked for these buses and saw a sign but it wasn't clear regarding where it would be going and where was the best place to stop to see the wall. So we decided to walk there! And then we realized that it was two miles of highways.....yeah, not doing that.

We did see some sheep, though.

Thus, we went back into Corbridge, determined to take a bus to another stop and see if there was a better place to see the wall. We stopped into a church in town, the Saxon Church of St. Andrews, and visited there for a bit. We were still determined to find the wall, but our will was beginning to diminish. It only took about 20 minutes of sitting for us to give up entirely, realizing the futility of our endeavor to find the wall. The signage was poor, the website useless. It was if they really didn't want visitors. Strange.

Pretty Saxon Church

Thus, we found ourselves back in Newcastle around 2 and had lunch. We believed we had about three hours to kill so we walked through the mall and people watched in a Starbucks. The number one thing we learned: Newcastle is kind of crappy. Maybe it was just the people there and the part that we were in but we felt that the whole city was populated by drug addicts. We watched a train wreck of a relationship go up in smoke in Starbucks, as two people yelled at each other in public and then the man went back to playing with the baby as the girl cried silently on the couch. It was quite an experience.

The River Tyne

It was about 4 when we realized that our train left at 7, and not 6. Thus, we had an extra hour in this city. It was painful. However, as we were walking towards the rail station at 630, we happened upon a showing of Anchorman in a large town square. I had to give the city points for that, although it was also a bit strange to show an extremely sexually suggestive movie in such a public venue. Maybe this explains Newcastle? The jury is still out. I am more than willing to be proved wrong by someone who loves the city but I am currently of the belief that it isn't the best place in the world and I would be okay never to return.

We boarded our train to York and arrived there around 830 p.m. It was only a short cab ride to our hostel, where we shared a room with one other girl. She was Asian and didn't speak much English so words were not passed. The long day had taken it's toll and we quickly took to our beds. York tomorrow!

- Kate

Storming The Castle

Today was our last day in Edinburgh. And it rained. Check that, it poured. All day. As I write this blog, it's still raining and it's about 7 p.m. So yeah, it's been pretty crappy all day.

Still, we had a plan for the day and we were going to achieve our goals! Here were our said goals for the last day in Edinburgh:

1. Go to Edinburgh Castle
2. Go to St. Giles' Cathedral
3. Climb Arthur's Seat

We got downtown and were still relatively dry at this point. As we were trekking up to the Castle, we made our first great decision of the day: stopping for coffee and breakfast. A very cute place off of the main road that had the best tomato and cheese croissant I've ever had. Great decision.

Then we went back out into the weather, which had worsened. As we walked up the hill, the rain started falling sideways so our umbrellas were pretty much useless. Our shoes, jackets, and jeans were pretty much soaked once we made it to the castle entrance. Here is where we made our second great decision of the day: only doing item one on our list. I knew the rain would persist all day and that a trek up the mountain was not in our best interests.

So we toured the castle and I personally don't have any pictures because it was raining and I didn't want to get my camera wet. It was really cool and on a clear day, it would have been great to see the city of Edinburgh from it. But it wasn't so we didn't get to see much.

After leaving the castle, and stopping at the shop of course, we made our way back into town. On the way, we made our third great decision of the day: stop for lunch before heading back to Dalkeith. We went back to The Albanach to actually have their food this time and they did not disappoint. I may have had the best beef stew ever (besides my mother's of course). And we couldn't resist having their dessert one last time so Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake it was!

(Side Note: We're all extremely happy that Jenny will most likely be moving here next summer so we aren't too upset that we didn't see everything. Melissa and I will just come back to visit and see stuff then! Next summer, hopefully.)

Then it was back to Dalkeith via the bus. Still raining pretty hard. We made it back to our rooms by 330, and I proceeded to spend the next 30-45 minutes in the shower to warm up to normal temperatures again. This evening will be a relaxing one of packing and preparing for our five days of travelling that commence tomorrow morning. I may not be as frequent about my blogs because we will be in a different hostel every night and I may not have the time to keep up with it. As a reminder, here is our schedule:

Thursday: Edinburgh to Newcastle. Visit Hadrian's Wall, Then back to Newcastle and head to York for the night.
Friday: York all day. Leave for Nottingham in the evening.
Saturday: Nottingham all day. Leave for Cardiff, Wales, very late.
Sunday: Cardiff all day.
Monday: Leave Cardiff mid morning. Return to London early afternoon.

Hopefully I'll be able to check-in periodically but I can't be certain. It will be a whirlwind but I'm looking forward to it. Til then!

- Kate

So Why Are You In The Lake District?

Day Two arrived in Scotland with a very early morning. Too early. We all had to be on the bus at 545, so it was up at 5 a.m. for most of us. Our plan for the day was to go to the Lake District with the Children's Literature Class. It was to be a real treat to see everything to do with Beatrix Potter!

(Side Note: Now, I'm really not here to complain but I don't care about Beatrix Potter. Her life really has no bearing on my future career and there are better things to see in the Lake District than her home and surroundings. I actually cannot remember when I last read any of her books, and probably never read them because someone read them to me. So she's not really important and I would have liked seeing the lakes in the Lake District instead. Or maybe a library! What a novel idea!)

Alas, we were stuck, and off we went to the Lake District. Back to England! We made a stop for breakfast along the way and arrived at the World of Beatrix Potter Attraction around 930. That was a 20 minute walk through of the world of Beatrix Potter, complete with smells and sounds and weird creepy life-size of Peter Rabbit, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, Benjamin Bunny, and all those other weird human-like animals. The men running the door asked us why we left Edinburgh to come to the Lake District. Sirs, we were asking ourselves the same question...

After that, we boarded the bus again and drove about 30 minutes to where we were getting lunch. A free lunch was our treat for getting up at 5 a.m. The booze wasn't free though, and we had to sit through a forty-five minute lecture from the President of the Beatrix Potter Society. That was riveting.

Then it was back on the bus to drive to Hill Top, BP's (Beatrix Potter from now on. I'm too tired of typing her full name). We had an hour to walk through a five-room house. I stood outside in the rain for about 45 minutes of that hour. Then it was back on the bus to go to our final stop: Wordsworths's grave. How that connect to BP, I'll never know, but it was in the vicinity, so hey, why not? We walked there, saw it, took a photo, and then had another half hour to kill before leaving.

Then it was back on the bus only to stop an hour later to eat at a rest stop. Yay rest stop food. Just what I needed. It was awful. Then back on the bus for another two hours. We finally reached the house at 930 p.m. It was late and I was tired but it began our mini-break a day early so that was an added benefit to a truly ridiculous and kind of wasted day.

Here is how this day could have been more efficient:
1. Stopping only a few times. For example, eating lunch at the first place we stopped and then eating dinner at the last place we stopped. That would have cut down our stoppage and driving time. We could have left later and probably arrived home earlier. In fact, if we arrived home earlier, we wouldn't have needed to stop for dinner on the road and then could have eaten when we returned to Dalkeith.
2. Not overestimating the time we have to spend at every place. We didn't need an hour at Hill Top. We probably could have seen the first place in about 30-40 minutes, instead of an hour.
3. Not going to these locations at all...while there might have been some benefit to seeing these places, I really don't know how BP's life will be important to my career as an archivist. Even some of the future Children's Librarians were grasping at straws to discover why this was a good idea.

So that was my Tuesday. It was spent mainly in England, despite the fact that we were supposed to be in Scotland. It kind of took away from my time in Scotland and my ability to see Edinburgh. Still, I may find some silver lining in this trip but it wasn't the highlight of this month.

- Kate

The Ocean Doesn't Look That Far Away....

First, I'd like to apologize for not updating my blog as frequently as I was last week. However, my short time in Scotland has been extremely busy. So let me know backtrack to explain what I've been up to for the past three days.

We left London on Sunday morning at 10 a.m. Of course, it was a beautiful sunny day and of course, we were going to spend all of it on a bus. But alas, we left, and after spending about an hour getting out of the city, we were finally on the road and heading towards Edinburgh. Things that suck about long bus rides: everything. The bus was really hot, I lost feeling in my butt after sitting for four hours straight, and it was almost impossible to sleep on the bus. I was glad that I two seats to myself so I could spread out. Still, it was a long day on the bus.

We finally arrived at our destination at 7 p.m. and most of us were cranky and tired. However, Dalkeith House is a beautiful home, surrounded by several wonderful acres of land. We checked in to our rooms, got oriented (probably unnecessarily) and then headed into the town to get some food before they stopped serving. It was a small shock that it was so light out, until I remembered that we are closer to the North Pole and thus the sun sets and rises much earlier.

Spending 9 hours on a bus will take a lot out of you, even though you aren't exerting any energy. Thus, we only last a bit more before we all returned to the rooms and passed out.

On Monday, we were up pretty early to get into Edinburgh for our class/tours. Dalkeith is located about 15 miles from Edinburgh so we have to take a bus into the city and it takes about a half hour. First mistake of the day: purchasing coffee that I couldn't bring with me on the bus. Tossing that after two sips was really upsetting.

We had our first visit of the day at the Central Library of Edinburgh and that lasted two hours. Then we had time for a quick lunch at a local pub before heading to our second visit, which was at the National Archives of Scotland. Both were awesome, but left us both tired and a bit cranky. The weather was nice, so we wandered downtown Edinburgh for a bit and purchased some gifts. Then we decided to try this famous dessert that Jenny had heard of via a friend. We entered The Albanach, and into a magical world. Melissa, Jenny, and I each ordered a separate dessert. Best.Desserts.Ever. I had Belgian Waffles and Ice Cream. Melissa had the Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake, and Jenny had the Cranachan. All were awesome in their own way and it energized us to conquer the world.....

Or instead of that, walk to the ocean! It didn't look too far from the center of town and with the dessert courage, coupled with some liquid courage from my Scottish Coffee and Melissa'a Irish Coffee, we decided to make the trek. Our second mistake of the day....

One hour, three miles, and a lot of bitching later, we finally arrived at the sea. It was totally worth it. We got to walk on the beach and look our into the Firth of Fourth. It was still a beautiful day and made up for the pain coursing through our legs. Getting back to Dalkeith was quite a trek as well, for we needed to run to the bus twice. Both times uphill. We missed the first one, but made the second one, and finally made it back to the house by 830. A long but truly rewarding first day in Edinburgh. This is all for now. I will update on my second and third days in Scotland when I find the energy write again.

- Kate

The Authentic English Countryside

After spending two weeks in the hectic and uncouth scene of London, I had finally grown sick of the squalor and decided that a trip to the countryside was necessary for my health. Thus, I found myself on a train on Saturday morning, speeding me away from London and into the famous English countryside. Finally, I could breath again and not fear for my health from breathing all of those industrial fumes.

Well, this is sort of how my Saturday went but not entirely for the reasons I discussed above. When I was last in England, which was 11 years ago this summer, my family and I stayed at the home of a family friend. They, Mr Ellis, his daughter, and son-in-law, graciously took us all over England and were wonderful hosts/tour guides. Since I am the first one to return to England since then, I decided to get in touch with them to hopefully set up a visit. I was able to get in touch with Mr. Ellis who asked me to come visit him in Kettering. Kettering is located about an hour north of London in the country of Northhamptonshire. Thus, this is why I found myself heading into the English countryside on a Saturday morning.

I met up with Mr. Ellis at the Kettering train station and after a small mixup on the platform, we headed off. We lunched at a local English pub, where I had Fish & Chips and my first (and hopefully last) warm British beer. I love beer and that took a lot to muscle down. After lunch, he took me to several different spots in the area. First, we went to St. James Church in Grafton Underwood. Here, there is a very famous stained glass window that is dedicated to the 384the Bombardment Group of the 8th US Air force. They were stationed nearby at Grafton Airfield during WWII. It was a beautiful but tiny church, that dates back to (according to my online research) 1200.

A Triangular House!

Then we went on to Sir Thomas Tresham's Triangular Lodge. It was built by Tresham on his land during the late 16th century. Tresham was a staunch Catholic living in a country that had recently shrugged off the Catholic Church and was now Protestant. He built it to express his faith as a Catholic, and to show the mystery of the Trinity. Everything is in threes. The building has three sides, there are triangles all over the building, and everything is in multiples of three. There are three stories! It was very cool and still very mysterious. 

Then we drove into Tresham's Estate, which is now a hotel/spa called Rushton Hall. It was beautiful and quintessentially British. Stunning from the outside and on the inside. There was a wedding going on in the courtyard, but we were able to see the Great Hall, where they host tea for guests and visitors. Oh I totally want to stay there. Now I just need to find the money to do so. 

Yeah, I would like to live there.

This ended my tour of the English countryside and I once more returned to the busy streets of London. I returned in time to dine with some friends, before they headed off to the theater and I went home to rest and recuperate from my long day away. Tomorrow, we leave for Scotland, where I shall be until Thursday morning. Then I will be slowly travelling back to London over the next five days, where I shall finish out the last week of my trip. Two weeks to go! See you all in the North!

- Kate

Stop Touching the Statues!!

The British Museum is like the holy grail for students of history. (It's also really pretty.) So many amazing things are located in this museum that it could take one at least an entire day to go through and really soak up all of the items. Hell, you could spend more than an entire day there and not see everything that exists. The history that exists in this museum is paralleled in only a few other museums in the world and it is worth a trip if your in town.

Hey, you can totally see my reflection!

Alas, everyone and their mother agrees with my assessment that this museum is the place to be. What they don't understand and what drives me insane, is that if the sign says, "Don't touch the Object," you don't touch the object? What a novel idea! It was absolutely infuriating. If I saw one more tourist touching the hieroglyphics on a sarcophagus, I may have caused a scene. Are these people insane? Don't they understand that by rubbing their greasy, grimy, germ-ridden hands on the hieroglyphics, they run the risk of eventually erasing the images. Angry hands!

Well now that I've ranted to you about annoying tourists, I shall continue with my tales of 13 Friday, 2012. Our class met at the British Library at 10 a.m. for our tour of the British Museum Archives. We got an awesome tour, about which I blogged here, and then were on our own for the rest of the day. Thus, we went out on an adventure to see the British Museum in two hours or less. First Stop: Egypt! They have the Rosetta Stone, which obviously attracts everyone. But they have a lot of other cool things that were brought to the museum from excavations. The museum also has a great collection of Greek and Roman items, most specifically the famous Elgin Marbles, brought "legally" to England by Lord Elgin in the mid-19th century. Greece is still clamoring to get them back, but when one looks at the mess that Greece is in currently, one wonders if that is the correct decision.

The Olympic Medals!

After going through the ancient Mediterranean region, we quickly went through the more modern times, seeing artifacts from the Middle Ages. Cotswold and I took a picture together by a statue from Easter Island, and then we saw a special exhibit about horses! It was all awesome and we did it in under two hours. Inconceivable! (We do plan on returning during our last week here to see a special Shakespeare exhibit. So look for more on the BM in a week or so).

After the Museum, we walked through Soho to find the holy grail of mashed potato places: Mother Mash. They have the most magnificent mashed potatoes, and some seriously awesome meat pies, and truly glorious gravy. I'm hungry just thinking about it now. I'm eating well, my friends. Probably too well. Then we found Ben's Cookies, an amazing homemade cookie place tucked away on Oxford Street. So, so, good. Much to the happiness of my stomach, we stopped our food tour of London after that and headed back to the dorms to rest and blog. One more day left before my trip to Scotland!

- Kate

"Out of the jaws of death."

Thursday was a day of firsts for many reasons. It was the first time I got up before 7 a.m., for I awoke early to do my laundry. It was also the first day on this trip that I really wasn't looking forward to what was on the schedule. On Thursday, we went to Stratford-Upon-Avon. Now, I know all of you will think me stupid and petty for complaining anything on this trip but let me just point out the two things that weren't exciting me. One, we were going via bus and I really am not a huge fan of buses, especially when you're on them for over two hours. Second, we weren't going to return until after midnight, and the thought of that was just unpleasant. And since I had already risen at 630 to get my laundry done for the upcoming trip to Scotland, the prospect of being awake for 18 hours was not getting me all excited.

Nonetheless, I boarded the bus at 1030 and spent the next three hours on board. I did finish a book, which was a plus, but the fact that it took an extra hour to get to the town put me in a bit of a foul mood. There was nothing planned for us during the day and we didn't have to meet up as a group again until 7:15, so three of us went off and did some exploring. Another bad thing about Stratford-Upon-Avon: nothing is free. They really like to milk the crap out of the whole Shakespeare thing so you have to pay to do pretty much everything. Thus, we just visited the local public library and then wandered around the town itself before heading to the church where Shakespeare's grave is located. We had to wait about a half hour to get in because there was a funeral in progress (oops!) but we finally got to see the church and the grave. That was worth the 50p it cost us students to get in.

Then we wandered back into town to get a very late lunch/early dinner at the oldest pub/inn in the town, the Garrick Inn. They had some great food, amazing chips, and finally a well-pulled Guinness. Success! By the time we were done there, it had started raining, which ruined out plans to go sit along the Avon River and read. Thus, we found a Starbucks and settled in for an hour or so of reading. Before that, however, I broke down and finally purchased an umbrella. I had lasted almost two weeks with either my rain jacket or not caring about it. But I finally hit that breaking point and needed to get one. I really wanted to last the entire month but I just couldn't. I'm ashamed.

We then met up with the rest of our group and headed to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. We had tickets to go see them put on the Twelfth Night (and we actually discovered later that it was opening night!) I was excited to do this but I had already been up for so many hours and the prospect of being up for several more was really putting a damper on my spirits. However, I rallied and sat through a great performance. I'm very glad that we had the opportunity to see it but would have enjoyed seeing it when I was more awake.

After the performance, we booked it back to the bus and were on our way by 10:34. We arrived back at the dorms by 12:36 a.m. and I attempted to go to sleep. Alas, the stupid and drunk undergrads proceeded to yell outside my window until 1:30. If I had had the physical power to actually remove myself from my supine position, they would have gotten some strong words from me. Alas, I did not have the energy and they eventually dissipated to their own rooms. This, my friends, is a faithful narrative of what I did on Thursday July 12., 2012. For the truth of everything here related, I can appeal more particularly to the testimony of Jenny Collins and Melissa Proulx. (Borrowed and adapted from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.) And it turned out to be a pretty okay day in the end so no more complaining here.

- Kate

What Happened to Monday? Cotswold Must Have Stolen It...

I can't believe it's already Wednesday. Not only Wednesday, but I'm almost half way through the trip. All of a sudden, this week and the entire trip is flying by. I'll be in Scotland in a short time and then onto my mini-break and then it's almost time to return home. I feel like I've done nothing but I know I've done a lot. There is just so much more to see and do in this city! Sometimes I don't have the energy to push on to one more museum but I'm doing my best to see as much of this city as possible in the short time that I am here.

Today was a very full day that involved a lot of walking. A.Lot.Of.Walking. We started the day at the Art Library of the Victoria & Albert Museum. This is located near south of Hyde Park and is actually directly across the street from the Natural History Museum that we visited on Sunday. It was a really cool library and it was nice to see a museum library. They showed us a lot of amazing things! We actually got to touch the first manuscript of Dickens' Bleak House! I'll say no more of that but will blog more about it on my class blog.

After finishing there, we wandered around the Victoria & Albert Museum itself to see what it had to offer. The jewelry collection was stunning, as were the tapestries, and the dress collection! There was a lot that this museum had to offer but just not enough time to see it all (as is often the case with museums). We left there around the noon hour to find some lunch and happened upon a nice Thai place just across the street. It was very lovely and I had some really awesome Phad Siew. 

Then we began our four hour walk across London. I've decided to map it for you all cause I have a lot of time on my hands. Enjoy that. First we went to the Science Museum and walked around there. We saw an exhibit on the WWII code breakers in England, most specifically Alan Turing. Then we listened to the London Philharmonic Orchestra perform The Planets. After hearing it, we then decided to go to the Royal Albert Hall to purchased tickets for the Proms. Here is the event we will be attending: http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whats-on/2012/july-23/14244. We're all very excited!

It was very nice out so we walked up by Hyde Park and on to Oxford Street. We stopped in several stores during this walk but by the end of it, all of us were exhausted. But hey, I purchased a really pretty dress, which is so very unlike me. And it looks all feminine. I will be wearing it to the proms with my date, Cotswold. Once more, we're back at the dorms and blogging/relaxing. Tomorrow we will be heading to Stratford-Upon-Avon for an all-day trip. It will be a long day so I probably will not post again for a few days. Until then!

If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium

Well this blog title has absolutely no bearing on what will actually be in this blog but it's just something my Dad says a lot and it felt appropriate. I mean, it is Tuesday, but I'm not in Belgium. Although, it would be pretty cool to be in Belgium, but I'm not exactly sure what happens in Belgium. I think they're known for their chocolate. And the capital is Brussels. They also may be half French and half German. This has now turned into a stream of consciousness and I'm positive all of you have stopped reading. My apologies.

Now onto what I actually did on Tuesday. Class didn't begin for us until 2 p.m. on Tuesday, so I had the entire morning free. After staying up a bit too late on Monday night, I awoke and pushed myself to go for a run on the Thames. I ran by a man dressed in a mouse costume sitting on a bench overlooking the Thames, and that made Tuesday a great day. I then met up with Melissa and Jenny for a visit to the National Portrait Gallery before class. They have a life size statue of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert dressed in Anglo-Saxon dress. I've decided to commission a photo of me when I return. I'm thinking this one to my right would be best.

We spent about 1.5 hours going through there before grabbing lunch at a nice Italian place in Leicester Square. Then it was off to class, where we took a tour of the London Library. It was a really great tour, and we got to see a lot of what this amazing library has to offer. There is a post on my class blog about it and you can access that here.

After the tour ended, we were once more on our own for the rest of the day. It was raining quite a but as we left so Melissa, Jenny, and I went to the local Tesco to pick up drinks and some finger foods for dinner. Then it was back to blog and enjoy the evening. It was a rather lazy evening, but sometimes that is needed. Yet another great day in London!

Two Hemispheres, One Person

Today began our second week of classes (time is flying by already!) and we started this week by a trip to Greenwich. Greenwich is located to the East of our location but is still within Greater London. To get there, we took a boat on the Thames that allowed us to capture some great photographs of Tower Bridge and other sites along the Thames. When we arrived in Greenwich, we walked around the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College and then around the downtown area.

We then headed towards the Greenwich Maritime Museum, where we were to have our coursework for the morning. We were unable to access the Library, for they are closed because of the Olympics. However, we did go to see a special exhibit that is happening through September 9, 2012, and was erected in honor of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee. I will blog about this on my other page and you will be able to access it here.

I'm between two Hemispheres!

After going through that exhibit, we visited the other parts of the museum and then went in search of the Prime Meridian, since that is kind of an important thing for people in Greenwich. Now, the entirety of Greenwich (and London in general) has been overcome with construction for the Olympic Games, which begin in about 18 days. And Greenwich will be hosting the Dressage Competition, so they need to get the stadiums ready. Which means, they need to shut things down in the area where the Dressage Competition will occur....so that means the Royal Observatory is closed. And the Royal Observatory is where the big Prime Meridian sign is located, and where most people go to get their photographs taken in two hemispheres. Alas, we couldn't get there. Now, if we had been scheduled to have gone to Greenwich, say, last week, it would have been open and we could have seen it. But that wasn't the case. Nevertheless, we overcame this issue and found another spot on a random side street where the PM is located and took our photos there. Crisis averted!
 

Elementary!

After succeeding in finding the PM, we went off in search of some shops and then lunch. We found Britain's Oldest Brewery, Shepherd Neame, where I had a pint of their Bishop Finger and a lovely sandwich. It was quite good, but tasted much like a Yuengling. Go figure. We then took the boat back to our home location, and Jenny and I headed towards Baker Street. Here, we saw the Sherlock Holmes Statue and then decided against going into the Sherlock Holmes Museum because of the ridiculous line. Thus, a quick trip to the gift shop was all that was necessary before I headed back to the dorms to catch up on my blogs and diary entries. A short but successful day!

- Kate