Harry Potter in Oxford

Friday, 13 November 2009

The class to the train to Oxford to check out the colleges and cathedral. It is actually a very quiet town--not much to do unfortunately, but other than the rain it was fun.

Our guide took us to Trinity College. First thing were the Harry Potter stairs! Used in just the first one I think!

Then we got to go into the dining hall that the one in HP is modeled after. There was a cool "Alice" window since Lewis Carrol was big there and his Alice was the Dean's (or whatever) daughter that he was close with.

We went inside the church and checked out some cool stuff. Then around some of the other colleges and the library. One awesome thing was a building used for more Harry Potter!! Madame Pomfrey's Hospital Wing
and the library
One right above the other!

Then we got to split up and wander. After lunch we went to this awesome shake place where you could have WARM ice cream shakes and they had about 150 different flavors!! It was awesome and sooo delicious!

We wandered a lot more going in and out of shops and then went to the Ashmolean Museum. They had a lot of Pre-Raphealite stuff, Powhatan's (Pocahontas's dad) mantle, and Guy Fawkes's lantern! There was a lot of cool stuff there.

Then we wandered some more and eventually ended up at the Alice shop.

Forgot my umbrella on the train :(

New Moon Rocked My World!!

Friday, 20 November 2009

Megan H, Stephanie, me, Judith, Molly, Ashley, Chelsea

We got there about an hour and a half early...and they don't really do that in London, I guess so we had the place to ourselves a while. But it was good because it filled up fast and we got to bond with these really nice, funny girls--one from Georgia living in London!

So we were RIGHT in front of the theatre entrance and ran to get our seats! It was sooo funny. One girl who'd been trying to get ahead of us with her friend while in the lobby fell down so...karma!




Oh! It was too good!!! I can't wait to go again and again!

Megan and Liz couldn't go with us because they were leaving for Rome :( but when we got home they left us a few gifts! :D

I'm Catching Up :)

I'm catching up on fall break, but the posts are a little out of order sometimes. Enjoy.

P.S. Sarah - lots of New Moon stuff for you!!! Keep Going there's lots more down down down!!

More New Moon

Kristin is walking under of the big umbrella to the far side of the blonde woman. You can kindof see her black hair. This is her interview with the M.C. Enjoy, you can hear pretty well.

Stratford-upon-Avon

5 & 6 November 2009

Before arriving in Stratford we stopped at Anne Hathaway's Cottage. It was really small and beautiful. I wouldn't mind living there! And we didn't really have time to wander too much, but the gardens looked really beautiful. I still can't believe how cold it is and they still have flowers all over!

When we got to Stratford our driver took us around to point out all the sites before dropping us off at our guest houses.

Then we were on our own to explore. We checked out Shakespeare's daughter and son-in-law's house, his granddaughter's house, and some other stuff.

We always have the most fun outside :DPosing in front of Julius Caesar

We went through the Shakespeare exibit. It was really cool and just played videos--nice to get a break from reading stuff! That lead right into Shakespeare's Birthplace. It actually felt smaller than the A.H. cottage!

We went back to our rooms to take a little break from the cold. At 630 the whole group met up to go see the performance of "Twelfth Night." They did it in a really interesting way with a kind of middle eastern feel even though they couldn't take it much farther than the music and costumes. It was really funny--especially when the three guys are eavesdropping on Malvolio's monologue--they did it from a big treetop that came down from the ceiling. So funny! Not as good as "As You Like It" at the Globe, but still good!

Then we all got to go to dinner at The Dirty Duck. It was pretty nice and the actors actually showed up there after they were finished at the theatre!

The next morning we had until about 12 to wander so we checked out Holy Trinity Church where Shakespeare's grave is. I loved his funny little poem.

We walked down by the river and then up toward town to grab lunch and then get back on the bus to head home.

Stonehenge, Avebury, and Bath

4 November 2009

Class trip!

We headed off to Stonehenge first. Paul wasn't our driver and we were pretty sad but had to carry on. This guy was from the Cotswolds, though, so he knew everything about the area we were going.

First to Stonehenge.

Then to Avebury to check out more rocks! That became the joke of the day--that we would tell people, "Yeah, we took class trips. We walked around in sheep shit looking at rocks." :D It was actually really fun!

We stopped there to have lunch and then headed out to Bath.

We checked in and headed out for our guided tour. It was pretty short, but we saw some of the basics--including where Nicholas Cage used to live, ho ho! It ended at the Roman Bath and Pump house so we all went in there. The excavations were pretty cool and the water was really beautiful. I loved the green and all the smoke. It had a great, ancient atmosphere. And I was a rebel and touched the water--very warm!! Then we went up to the pump room and tried some of the water. It tasted unfiltered and rusty. The dry saltiness just kindof made me thirsty.

Then we went back up to the Jane Austen Center before it closed. It was so cute--they had Everything Darcy!"Mr Darcy: Priceless" :D

Then we went to dinner at this chain pub that had a sweeeeet deal on Indian food of all things with a drink included. And deserts were 2 for 1 so we left feeling stuffed like never before!

Back at the hotel we hung out and shared YouTube videos and had nice heart-to-hearts!
And dancing! :D (Yeah, I know it's sideways!)

Last Day in Dublin

9 November 2009

Liz had accidentally booked the wrong flight back so she had to leave early in the morning :(

The rest of the day we wandered a lot.

First thing we walked out to the beach. On the way there we saw the incredible harp bridge that they're building. It is sooo pretty!!

At the beach, the water was way way way out so there was probably about a mile of shore. I walked about half way there to touch the water and that was only a little inlet that had worked its way up!

Walking back toward city center got us a little turned around so we caught a bus.

Something fun!


We went around to some shops and hit up Carrol's--this huge 3 story everything-Irish shop-- and the Guinness store along with a few others. Then we tried to get into this cool library, but it was closed so we went over to the same church we saw on our tour, but it was too expensive for us, so we wandered some more. We made it to this park with a statue of Oscar Wilde reclining on a huge boulder as he looks across the street to what was once his house.

We stopped in at a little shop and got dinner.