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

Just Another Lazy Sunday

Sundays are lazy days and we had a very, very lazy Sunday. Us three northerners awoke to an overcast sky and much rain. Alas, we had no food and needed to venture into the wild to find nourishment to slake our thirst. At 10:15, we left the dorms and got absolutely soaked as we walked ten minutes to a very lovely French cafe. Here, we ordered coffee (real coffee! not Americanos like I've been drinking) and tea. We then got some savory scrambled eggs, mine with a side of prosciutto, and some phenomenal homemade bread.

We still didn't want to go outside so we ordered more drinks....and more food! I got a Espresso Chocolate Tart, Melissa a Slice of Chocolate Tart, and Jenny a Scone with Jam and Butter. Everything was wonderful and we enjoyed a lovely brunch whilst staying out of the rain. When we finally left, around 12:45, the rain had miraculously stopped! Thus we meandered across the Thames and boarded a subway train that would take us to the Natural History Museum.

We spent a good two hours going through this museum. It is a really awesome museum, but some aspects were poorly laid out (like the dinosaur area, which really annoyed me because I love me some dinosaurs). Still, we saw lots of gems, and learned about the earth and planets, and about mammals and all sorts of natural history things.

He's kinda crazy, but I love him

Yep, he was drunk.

And then we entered the gift shop...and I saw them...all of the dinosaur stuffed animals. I could not contain myself and I had to have them all, but one struck my eye and he needed to come home with me. Cotswold the Triceratops stole my hearts, and will continue to steal the hearts of many around the globe. We took him home in a bag but he needed to be photographed on the underground. And then he surprisingly asked for alcohol on the way home, so we had to purchase some. It seems Cotswold is a bit of a lush. He drank an 750 ml bottle of beer tonight all my himself. It's crazy. He's passed out now but I'm sure he will rally again tomorrow for another glorious day in London.

Well, I'm finally caught up on my blogs and I will be adding my British Library one tomorrow evening. I really hope everyone is enjoying my blogs. (I also hope you know I'm kidding about Cotswold since I'm actually the one who drank the bottle of beer. And it was a glorious beer. I'm so happy I found porters in London). There is another busy week ahead but I'm excited!

Cheers,
Kate

Blue and Rainbow Pride

Saturday saw me all over London and experiencing several different elements of what this great city has to offer. I began the day by heading to Stamford Bridge. This was on my to do list before I left and I'm so very glad that I made the trip across town. Stamford Bridge, for all of you who are confused, is the stadium of my football (soccer) team, Chelsea Football Club. After seeing the stadium several times on television, I knew I needed to see it in person.

Home Locker room

Front of Stamford Bridge

I arrived at the stadium around 11:15 a.m. and just made it into the 12 p.m. tour. Our tour guide, Niall, took us on an hour tour of the stadium. He took us into the media room, where we could sit at the front table and have our picture taken. Then we saw the away and home dressing rooms, that latter of which was much more hospitable. We ended the tour with a chance to sit in the Shed End and take great photos of the pitch (field). I then spent way more money than necessary at the stadium store and headed to the museum to see the Champions League Trophy. It was such an awesome experience and I really hope to return to England to actually see a game. 

Love Love Love

After spending almost three hours at Stamford Bridge, I met up with Melissa in Trafalgar Square, who had stumbled upon World Pride 2012. London was the host of the World Pride, an event that seems to occur every five years since 2000, but actually happens every six years. (All I know is that Wikipedia lies). There were thousands of people there, and reports inform us that 25,000 people attended the event. It was absolutely amazing to see so many people together in support of this issue. We saw many people dressed in drag and other crazy outfits. Suffice it to say, it was a really awesome experience.

World Pride 2012

Then we headed back to the dorms to clean up before making a trek to Harrods to meet up with Jenny. Our trip into Harrods was.....an experience. Harrods on a Saturday afternoon/evening is not the time be there if you dislike a large number of pretentious, rich people, who don't understand walking. Alas, we did not realize that and went anyway. We battled our way through the massive crowds and found ourselves in the upscale food court, where we purchased items for our Hyde Park picnic. Such items included Hot Chicken Schnitzel sandwiches, strawberries, classy BBQ chips, and Scottish Oatmeal Cookies. We once more braved the packed streets to get ourselves to Hyde Park. Here, we enjoyed our dinner along the Serpentine River and were serenaded by the dulcet tones of Drake.

After a short walk along the river, we headed towards the underground in search of a pub. We got off at a random stop near our dorm. The first pub we stumbled upon was The Tottenham and we decided to go there to get a few pints. Then we met genuine British men! Several of them in fact. Not all of the names were remembered but there was Luke, the really cocky half British/half Irish mongrel (his words, not mine) who was "dating a girl from Poland," had an interview with a Japanese company on Thursday (repeated to us several times during the evening), and could obviously drink better than an American man. He loved his face and didn't believe in compromise, unless it was compromising to do what he wanted to do. And he hates the Labour Party and know what will happen to the economy but he won't tell us. Then there was Jacket (we don't remember his name). We thought he looked dapper in his jacket, sweater, and pink shirt, but he thought he looked gay (once more, his words, not mine). I think there was a dude named Rob, David (with the aubergine jacket), and birthday boy. And a French girl.

It was another amazing day in London and after three beers (for me, two ciders for Melissa and Jenny), we headed back to the dorms to sleep once more.

- Kate

The Great Snail Scale and Other Travels of Steve the Snail

Friday was our first, but not our last, all day bus trip and as is usual with bus trips, they are awful. We were up quite early to board a coach at 8 a.m. that whisked us out of London to the south coast of England. We took a two-hour bus ride to the city of Dover, which is located in Kent. Here is a map for your perusal:

Dover Castle

We spent the better part of three hours wandering around Dover Castle. We took a tour of the Hospital Tunnels from World War II and then went off on our own. There were school children everywhere, yelling and screaming, and definitely not acting like lovely little butterflies. None of us had had any caffeine at this point and were thus not really in the mood for such shenanigans. We climbed to the top of the tower in the center of the castle and got a nice view of the surrounding landscape.

Pharos Lighthouse (Roman Period - 1st Century C.E.)

View From Atop the Tower

It was during our travels that we met Steve the Snail. Steve is a wonderful snail. He moves slowly but is diligent in his travels. He was attempting to return to his extended family that lived a mere three feet away. We watched him for several minutes, as he traversed the asphalt and then scaled the curb to return to his homeland. He eventually made it and we wished him well on his future travels in the Dover region. 

Steve the Snail. I will miss him.

A trip to the cafe was in order, for it was time for elevensies. Our group took a short break and as we exited the cafe, the sun had come out. It would stay out for the rest of our time in Dover and Canterbury,  a great yet truly annoying aspect of England. One can never guess what weather it will be throughout the day, for it can be sunny, then rain, then rain when the sun is out. It's all very tropical and I'm often not dressed entirely correctly. But I shouldn't be complaining. I'm in England!

The Canterbury Cathedral

After Dover, we boarded the bus and headed back towards London for our stop at Canterbury. We only had two hours here and needed to see the place and get something to eat. We paid for and visited the Canterbury Cathedral. It was really stunning, both on the inside and outside. I would have liked more time to spend in Canterbury because it looked as if they had some really cute shops. We got food at a really cute little cafe and then got back on the bus to head back to London. The post-lunch food coma hit most of us as we passed out on the drive back.

After a short respite where we recharged, Melissa and I officially booked our trains and hostels, and then met up with Jenny for drinks at the Prop Bar. We sat on a bench that overlooked the Thames for a few hours and headed back to the dorms when we got tired. All in all, a rather successful, yet tiring, day.