First Trip Out of London

We left London at 7am yesterday and drove to Salisbury where we stayed the night at a cute little B&B. On our way to Salisbury we first stopped at Stonehenge, which is right off the road, you can see it as you drive up to it, which is pretty amazing. There's only so many ways to take a photo of a block of stone, but it was an amazing site.

We learned in class that Stonehenge was basically a cemetery, a place where ancient people may have worshiped a sun god of some sort, because the ring of stones can also be used as a calender. Outside of the immediate site of Stonehenge there are fairly recent excavations of a city. We didn't get to see the site, but basically the idea is that Stonehenge was for the dead and the city was for the living.

Our next stop was Stourhead Estate. Some people weren't very excited about this stop, but it was the highlight of the trip for me. Remember the scene in "Pride and Prejudice" with Kira Knightly where Mr. Darcy proposes to Jane? Well, that is called the 'Temple of Apollo' and is located in the gardens of the estate. The entire time I was walking through the gardens I kept thinking, "Mom and Sarah, Emily and La would love this"! It's absolutely stunningly beautiful and one day (soonish) we need to see it all together. Sometimes photographs just can't do the subject justice. Not only was it beautiful to look at but it smelled wonderful with all of the flowers in bloom.

We stopped at Old Sarum which is an old Medieval ruin outside of Salisbury. It was the least exciting stop of the trip, but a beautiful location high up on a hill looking down over Salisbury.

Next we drove into Salisbury where were toured the Cathedral. It was a very beautiful building that is nearly 1000 years old but to be honest I didn't feel very comfortable in there. It was weird...I don't know how to explain it. When we went to Bath today I couldn't make myself go into the Cathedral there because of the memory of the unpleasant feeling I had in Salisbury.

Today we went to Bath as I mentioned. First I toured the Bath House and the old Roman ruins, then I admired the Cathedral from the outside, then I walked up the the Jane Austen museum and toured there. That was pretty fun, you know what a fan I am of Jane. I'm sure we would have been friends back in the day! *grin*

Now we're back in our flat in London with brand new clean sheets on our beds and planning our trip to Canterbury (another Cathedral...I'll force myself to go it) and Dover. I'll post on that one tomorrow night.

PS: I've put a few photo's on here but I'm really limited, so I'm downloading all of my pictures onto Photobucket now. Here's the link if you want to see all the pictures http://s1112.photobucket.com/albums/k495/Moxeyjc/London%20Summer/
If it doesn't work please let me know.

The Imperial War Museum, Tower Bridge, etc. etc.

Guess what? As of today I've been in London 1 week. It sure feels like I've been here a lot longer. After all the things we've already seen and done it seems like a lot more time should have gone by.

Today I ate a Summer Berry Crepe for lunch, went to the Imperial War Museum and walked a very long way along the Thames, over Tower Bridge and past the Tower of London then went on a Ghost Walk through the West Bank. All in all it was a fun day, but I've got three new blisters to welcome the the party. Sigh... Oh well, at least they won't be lonely, the triplets will keep them company. I have dubbed the new ones, Larry, Mo and Curly.

I don't know if anyone is reading this...so please let me know if you are. Thanks.

So, here's some pics.

Parliament and Windsor Castle

Today was very long for me. I could collapse and sleep till noon tomorrow if given the chance.

First we went to Parliament Square and I wanted to go in but the ticket was 15 pounds which translates to $30...so I didn't do that. Then I wanted to tour Westminster Abbey but the tickets were even more money...so I didn't do that. St. Margaret's Church is right there next to Westminster and there's no fee to get in, so I went in there with my buddy Sabrina.

Afterwords we walked to Waterloo Train Station and took the train to Windsor where we toured the Castle. It was AMAZING. The town in adorable and the castle is WOW. I found another ancestors portrait on the wall in the castle...pretty cool. Unfortunately we couldn't take photographs inside, but I got some of the outside.

The Globe

Last night we saw Hamlet at Shakespeare's The Globe Theatre. It was a really neat experience, and the play was done very well...although I hear that standing for three hours isn't all that fun. I chickened out and upgraded my ticket to a seat, which I can assure you, isn't that much more comfortable.

I tried to take pictures of St. Paul's Cathedral and Tower Bridge after the show, but my camera wasn't behaving for whatever reason. Maybe it was the darkness that was holding things up... oh well.

We're off the tour Parliament and Windsor Castle. I'll post pictures later on.

Food

I just have to share my appreciation for the food here. It's sooo good, I mean it's ALL good. Yesterday I bought a chicken and avocado sandwich at Pret and there was basil on it. Basil! It was fabulous! I'm going to buy basil for my sandwiches when I get home. The first morning I was here I bought a croissant from a French bakery down the street. It was the best croissant I've had in my entire life!

Second, I've purchased a few dinner items at the market, pizza, cottage pie and penne with meat sauce. The food doesn't have added crap in it, they don't freeze it, you just buy it refrigerated and can freeze it at home if you want. The expiration dates are like 5 days after you buy them, in other words there's no preservatives (or very few). The fruit is actually yummy...they haven't been engineered for size and flavor totally abandoned. They're small and they taste good. I choose tastes good over size any day!

Off to see Hamlet at the Globe tonight. We've got Yard tickets which means we'll be standing...for 3 hours. Should be fun.

Day 4 The London Derby

So, today was the London Derby. We broke up into teams and were given an envelope with 7 different destinations in it. The goal was to use the Tube and take pictures of ourselves with as many of the 7 buildings/monuments/etc. that we had on our lists. There was also a list of things we could get extra points for (Red telephone box, pub, double-decker bus, a historical marker, etc.)Guess who tied for first place?! My team of course. We got back first, so yeah, we rock.

One of the items on the list was The Old Curiosity Shop...here's a photo.












We ended up at Trafalgar Square and I saw this amazing street performer, please excuse the sideways-ness.






Last but not least, I obtained this image at the National Portrait Gallery about 5 seconds before the guard caught me, so enjoy... I'm such a rebel. (This is Robert Dudley btw, my 6th or something great grandfather.)




That's all for now, must go tend to my well earned blisters!

British Museum

Today was our first day of class, and it was at the British Museum (locally known as the BM, but we'll just got with the full name), how cool is that!!! We spent several hours there, and my camera battery died about half way through, but I still got some cool pics.







The outside of the British Museum.



















The Rosetta Stone (not such a great picture, I'll have to get another one.)




















Gigantic Human-Headed Winged Lion from an Assyrian Palace.



















Gigantic Statue of Ramses II.















Parthenon Metops (The picture really doesn't do them justice.)




















This wooden carving was only about 14 to 18 inches tall. I was amazed at the intricacy of the carving.













Nebamun's tomb paintings. Beautiful!

Ok, so I've probably bored you to tears so here's a picture I took at a Skate Park down by the National Theatre. Now to homework...all play and no work is not what I signed onto this trip for (although I can't imagine hating only play).

BTW, London is awesome and I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to live here!