Sunday, October 18, 2009

Wow, I'm Really Behind!!

Here’s the gist of what I’ve been up to!

A bunch of us got some scandalously cheap tickets to Dublin for November.
Molly and Stephanie celebrate our tickets!!

A few of us went around the Thames to check out the sunset. It was beautiful, of course, to see the city at dusk. There were these two awesome guys on one bank in some really tiny white shorts, no shirts, headbands, and tennis rackets that had chalked out a little tennis court on the sidewalk and ran around us doing that tennis “UGH!” and batting the ball around us. It was super funny!

For our last September art class we checked out Temple church.
Effigies of some Templar Knights

Oct. 1st was our day trip to Lincoln where we talked about the Jewish role in England and blood libels and such. Pretty cool cathedral there!View of the Lincoln Cathedral and a little bit of Lincoln from a castle wall tower!

Forgot Erin were coming on Oct 2nd--thought they were coming on the 3rd. Luckily I figured it out JUST IN TIME to get to Heathrow to pick them up. They were pretty happy about that and we got our Love Actually moment! Got them settled and we walked around St. James’s Park, Buckingham Palace, the Horse Guards, Trafalgar, checked out the National Gallery, around Piccadilly Circus and got some pub food.

We love Kareoke!!!

Sat. I took them to Portobello Market, which was absolutely crazy! I did homework while they did some site-seeing and when they got home we went to see The Invention of Lying. It was okay, but …just …don’t waste your money.

Sunday we went around Oxford Street and Marble Arch and went to check out Speaker’s Corner. I absolutely hated it! There was this absolutely crazy woman talking about Jews, etc etc. I really wanted to spoon out her eyes, but thought better of it. Don’t fight violence with violence.
All the people at Speaker's Corner.
Then we went up Baker St. and checked out the Sherlock Holmes gift shop since we didn’t want to pay to get into the museum.
Holmes explains another mystery to her trusty, yet slow sidekick, Watson. Just kidding, Erin... ;)

Then we went up the street to Regent’s Park and went paddle boating around the little water area. It was beautiful outside and super fun! Although, I don’t think Megan liked it when I would steer us under the willow trees that hung over the water. But WHATEVER!! It was hilarious!

Went to St. Paul’s on Monday and Erin and I trekked it up to the three galleries. It was pretty foggy and drizzley so it was hard to see far, but still really cool.

Took them to the Old Swan for drinks :)

Stephanie and I watched the first episode of this season’s the Office on Tuesday!!!! It was amaaaazing!!! I Finally found a site that would play it here…and it only took about 4 hours to fully load. Totally worth it!

Steph and I found a cheap flight back to London from fall break out of Frankfurt. So we had a starting and ending place…now just fill in the huge gap in the middle… Checked out train times and booked some hostels. YAY!!! Met up with Erin and Megan at the British Museum and saw some awesome Egyptian, Greek, and Roman stuff.Oh-So-Ancient Fistbump

Friday was our class trip to Canterbury. Pretty cool little medieval area of the town. Steph and I happened on some Charles Dickens stuff.
We had a fabulous tour of the cathedral, our guide was really cool and had great, detailed stories…even though we’re all experts on the whole Tomas/Henry II thing by now. Saw “Thomas’s Ghost,” his murder site, the Black Prince’s tomb, the pilgrims stairs where they had to climb up on their knees…lots of cool stuff and history there. Monument at martyrdom site:


The train home was packed because the previous one had been cancelled so a lot of us got to stand for about an hour…yaaay. Molly, Liz, Kelsey, and I played some games though so it was kindof a blast!
Liz is losing our train game :(


Took Erin and Megan to Camden Market and Borough Market on Saturday. And of course, they LOVED Borough Market, who wouldn’t! Then we went to the Imperial War Museum and through their extensive Holocaust exhibit. It was just staggering all the detailed, graphic information and footage and photographs they had. It was incredible.
Sunday, while Erin and Megan were at Hampton Court, Stephanie was a champion about fall break stuff while I worked on my paper. I don’t know what I’d do without her!! E, M, and I went out to eat and enjoyed our last evening together in London :(
Monday morning, the three of us got up early and got a traditional English breakfast down the street. I couldn’t let them leave without one! Then we rounded out their trip where we started: St James’s and the palace. I took them to the airport and we said our Love Actually goodbyes. It was great to have them here, though!!!!

Later, Steph and I went on my Jack the Ripper walk when it got dark. Very cool, although I think I was a little desensitised about him since I’d had to read a huge book about the whole thing last semester.

Tuesday, Steph and I went on a book walk that took us around Keat’s House and to Parliament Hill where the Gunpowder traitors were going to watch Parliament blow up--VERY cool. And there were BEAUTIFUL views of the city despite all the modern buildings.

Started watching Jane Eyre on YouTube. Steph’s first time and I’ve really missed it. Such a bonding experience :)

Friday was our class trip to Hampton Court Palace. It was really huge and beautiful. The inside didn’t have as much to offer as the grounds, though.
Molly and I are getting so good at jumping!


We went through a maze and pretended we were in the TriWizard Tournament!!! So much fun. Then we went around the Long Water…and very aptly named because it took forever! But on the way we walked through the Deer park and it was really cool being so close to them. Back up the Long Water though, we’d gone up the wrong side so we had to hop the fence! It was a great and exhausting day!!!

And it was truly a Harry Potter day. Even the lawn decorations were decked out for a quiddich match between Gryffindor and Slytherin! Well, I like to think so!

Megan and I had a beautiful Twilight moment :)

Saturday night I slept for a good 13 hours...feelin kinda under the weather, but much better today (Sunday)!

Whew! Now we're all caught up!

1 comment:

  1. Ok, first off. I would be scared to have you steering the paddle boat at all, it's amazing that you just went under the willows and not right into them. Secondly, you ladies are getting fantastic at jumping! and Thirdly, I LOVE your Twilight moment!!! We miss you! Connor is going to be a King/Knight for Halloween. He is wearing the coat of arms you made and the sword/shield from Erin and we made a crown out of poster board and aluminum foil :)

    ReplyDelete