The Whirlwind UK Tour

April 19- 29
I flew into merry old England on Sunday 19 April. It was really great to be back – it really felt like I was coming back home! I took the bus to Victoria Station in London and had the biggest urge to just get on the train (dear old First Great Western) and go home to Charlbury. Instead, I bought a Tube pass and figured out my way to the hostel where I met Phoebe and Adina. The funny thing about traveling is that there is no way you can be prepared for everything you will come into contact with, but oddly enough, you figure everything out! At least I did, which means anyone can...
First thing we did was dump our stuff (well I did, they had been in London for a day already) and go check out the Tower Bridge, The Tower, and St. Katherine’s Docks at night.
On the Monday we headed over to Leicester Square to see what tickets were on sale for musicals in the West End – we picked Les Miserables and we got super seats! Then we did a bunch of wandering – around Big Ben and the Thames, Westminster (you can spend an entire day in there...it’s astounding!), Buckingham and stuff like that. Then in the evening, we walked back through Leicester Square to get to the theatre and it turned out that the Star Trek premier was happening there that evening! So we saw some actors and some fog machines and stuff...but unfortunately we had to leave to catch our show before things really started to get interesting. I’m not too sad though, even though I missed seeing Jeremy Clarkson, because Les Mis was one of the most amazing things that I have ever seen in my life – I would have joined the revolution right then and there if it hadn’t already happened over 200 years ago... and we were also close enough that when the actors lined up for their bows, they could clearly see that I had been bawling my head off – kudos to them for mad acting skillz.
Then on Tuesday we just wandered around Oxford Circus and Baker Street (we found Sherlock and Watson’s house! – cute little museum...) which was really cool, and we mingled with working London! To be honest, I’m so jealous of anyone who lives in London, England. What an amazing city! Maybe one day...
Phoebe and I also went to check out Wembley – home of the England Football team and playground of Manchester United. Wow – it’s an INCREDIBLE stadium! I’ll be back there one day...gotta see me a football match on that pitch!That night Adina flew back home to Canada and Phoebe and I decided we needed to make some plans about what we were going to do for our UK tour! So we talked to some train station employees, some travel dudes, and scribbled our plans onto a scrap piece of paper.
So far:
-London for three nights...Westminster, Wembley Park, Picadilly Circus, Oxford and Baker Streets, Les Miserables...
-Liverpool for the day...The Beatles Story, Matthew Street (plus the Cavern Club) to...
-The Lake District...Windermere, Keswick (James Bond Museum), Grasmere (Dove Cottage-Wordsworth), Bowness (Lake Windermere, The Beatrix Potter Story) RAIN:(
-York...for the afternoon, did a walking tour, it was awful, but the city is great! to...
-Edinburgh... got in super late, woke up early to go to Loch Ness, train ride took waaaay too long! so it took the whole day, but we hired a private taxi, worked out a deal, and made it out to the Loch and Urqhart Castle for a bit...very foggy! how mysterious...
Belfast
Cardiff
CHARLBURY!

The Homeland

So I've been here in the Netherlands since Saturday (the 11th)...here is a list of some of the stuff I've done so far:
-met a ton of relatives
-toured the towns where my grandparents and great aunts and uncles grew up
-rode in convertibles
-chased a Ferrari
-walked on some dijks
-sat on the beach
-rode on a motorcycle
-did the 11 cities tour (of Friesland) in a car...
-ate fantastic Dutch food
-drove on a bouncy road
-had a super time:)

Barcelona, Baby!

Our next stop on our ama-z-zing post-programme travel was Barcelona, Spain.
What a fantastic city! Our hostel was legit (Sun and Moon...reccommended) and in a central location. We got in late so we just went straight to bed. Next morning was Good Friday and we were woken by all the bells of the city ringing in remembrance. It was really beautiful. I worried about spending Easter away from my family - it is one of my favourite holidays and I've always been home for it- but it was actually ok. There was a Roman Catholic church on our street so we stopped in to hear a Good Friday chant and watch a procession with an icon of the crucified Lord. It was incredible.
Then we went off to find Parc Guell, playground of the famous artist, Gaudi. It was nuts! It looked like Dr.Suess had got all up in ére - the buildings were all funny shaped with wavy towers, there was a pathway through something that looked like a sandcastle that some bully had poured water all over, and there were bright mosaics all over! Would have been perfect if it had not been pouring rain.
So we headed off to find Gaudi's masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia - one of the wierdest buildings you will ever see in your life. I'll post pictures when I get back on my own computer. Gaudi worked on it for 42 years and only stopped because he died, but work continues today. How bizarre.
That night we saw a HUGE Good Friday procession with floats and bands and huge crowds of cheering people. Barcelona is a good place for religious holidays if you want to keep in the spirit...just what I needed.
The next day (Saturday?) we headed out to find MontJuic and walked the wrong way around it...but we lucked out because we could walk through Olympic Park, see the art gallery, and take a bus up it...instead of a gagillion stairs! There is a castle on top so we checked that out, and we got the most incredible view of the Mediterranean Sea, the beaches and the harbour. Little bit of paradise. Then we took the gagillion steps down and walked along the harbour to the beach. By now the sun had finally come out and it was gorgeous! The water was cold, but the sun and sand was warm, and there was a fantastic band playing...
We also toured the maaaany open air markets that are everywhere in the city, they sell some cool stuff, gorgeous handmade jewellery and bags, and bizarre antiques. Sweet.
Barcelona is such a fun city. The architecture is incredible, the people are friendly, and there is so much to do! I love it...
And then I hopped on a bus and attempted to fly to the Netherlands, except for the huge thunderstorm that delayed by flight, the plane parked waaaay out on the tarmac that we had to get bussed to and my broken seat. But who's complaining! I made it to Holland!
**Keep in mind that I don't know how to pronounce most of the place names I've put in here...good luck.**

Let Loose in Europe

So on the saddest day, April 6, 2009, the ABU-Oxford Programme of 2009 came to and end. It was an interesting end, everyone was stressed to death trying to get papers and reports in on time, but we had a great party on Saturday night, with some good reminiscing (no idea how to spell that...)some funny jokes and some sweet food and dancing:) On Sunday, Emily W went home and Joel disappeared...then Monday morning we lost Ben, Matt, Emily M and Whitney. I was getting pretty depressed. At 2pm, it was time for the rest of us to go...Carolyn, Lisa, Chloe, Melissa, Phoebe, Adina (Phoebe's friend from Canada) and myself, flew off to Paris, leaving behind the home we had quickly come to love...now is a good time to shed a tear or two, I did:p
While that was thoroughly depressing, I knew I would be back in a couple of weeks to say proper goodbyes (ie. 'see you again as soon as I can afford it' (or the government will pay for me...)).
So off we flew to Paris! It was so great that we were all going together....like a sweet girl's weekend away before the real travel began! So we were met at the airport by Julianne, Stephanie, Lisa and Denise with a big wonderful sign welcoming us! And croissants...yum. We had a fantastic time trying to find our hotel whilst dodging the world's largest raindrops (we had to go all the way to France to find rain...). Then on Tuesday, we found a free walking tour and walked all over Paris with a huge group of other Anglophones. We saw virtually everything from the outside for two seconds...so I'll go back...:) But I did go up to the Arc de Triomph and the Tour Eiffel (first level). Then we met up with Julianne and went to see the Eiffel Tower at night, right on the hour, so we could see it sparkle! It was sooooo wonderful!
Wednesday we went to Versailles in the morning (rain) and then the Louvre in the afternoon (sun). Then I met Steph outside the Louvre to see their school, the Pantheon, and then meet Julianne and the other Redeemer girls. The off to the Luxembourg Gardens with some delicious pastries to ruin my dinner! We went all together for dinner in this cute little Italian/French restaurant but there we said goodbye to Chloe, Melissa, and Carolyn:( Saaaaaaad.
Thursday I met up with Stephanie to use her internet and to see what I was allowed to of the Foyer where she lives...very nice! Then we went off to meet Phoebe, Adina, and Phoebe's other friend Laura at Notre Dame. I said goodbye to Stephanie (who is now in Italy with Natalie and Julianne) and went to tour the famous Cathedral! I went into the treasury to see the crown of thorns and an authentic piece of the cross....could be...it was a beautiful day and we walked through the gardens as well and went across that one bridge with all the souvenirs and such...
And then we flew off to Barcelona!

Journey to the Centre of the ... Industrial Revolution

Today we had took a rockin' awesome field trip to Telford/ Iron Bridge/ Coalbrookedale, which is practically in Wales...
To get there, we took an equally rockin' awesome mini bus and jaaaaaam packed 16 of us in it! And you know how I feel about British roads...lets just say, if I didn't have Ben to laugh at, I would have been toast.
The weather was kind of blah - couldn't decide if it wanted to rain or be sunny, that was too bad, but we spent most of our time inside anyway.
Our first stop was to the Victorian Village in Telford. It is a restored mining/Iron producing town and it had a foundry, bank, pub, sweet shop, bakery, all that...the bank actually changes money into Victorian coins that you can use to shop in the village, very cool. We got to see some iron being poured and some coke and other bits being melted down, and we also saw some blacksmithing with the help of a steam engine. Steam engines=a big deal (I should actually be studying about them right now instead of writing this!)
We made some nice new friends as well - the fellas at the print shop - they decided I should come live and work with them because I have small fingers. Which I could lose in the machinery...super. Our other friend lived in the mine Manager's house and was making some delcious lunch when we popped in. She told us some nice stories about doctors and sub-letting rooms in the Victorian period, as well as her travels to Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. Lovely.
We were actually pretty Victorian today - we ate homemade bread from the bakery; Chloe, Melissa, Carolyn and I dressed up in Victorian evening wear and got our photos taken, and a bunch of the others learned pub songs. Good day so far.
Then we hopped back in ye old mini bus to brave the roads again. We weaved and careened our way over to Jakefield across the Severn River and toured the Tile Museum there. That was a cool museum, very well done. And I think tiles are cool now...probably the biggest fan.
Back in the bus, across the Severn again, off to Iron Bridge.
Guess what we saw here? A great bridge, no, not made of wood or steel, but made of IRON! Wow...clever name. This was the world's first bridge of iron and it was built here by Abraham Darby III in 1777-79. Kind of a big deal...anyway, it was built here because Iron Bridge (used to be called Coalbrookedale) was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution, producing iron and other materials from its fantastic deposits of raw materials. Floods a lot though...Iron Bridge does...
We stopped at one more museum as well which told the basic story of Iron Bridge, past, present, future, and lots of details about floods.
It was a pretty unique trip - the stops we made were fascinating and engaging. The thing is, as well, that most of what you study in England, you can find surviving examples of it semi-nearby. For example, we are studying Victorian science and everything we saw today enhanced our lessons. England is cool like that.
So apart from the claustrophobia bus, it was a super trip!

Bath Day!

Some time in the recent past, March 13? yes...Friday the 13th...again, Em, Chloe and I hopped on a train and went to visit, dun dun duhhhhhhh BATH! (pronounced Bawwwwwwth). We had the day off so we decided to make the most of it and the train system and dangerous tunnel engineered by Brunel! We knew the trip would be extra...special...when we ended up in the same car as a Hen party (a Bachelorette party) of about 12 outrageous, loud, maybe not so morally inclined ladies with pink fuzzy pompom headbands and equally pink champagne. Never a dull moment...

Charlbury-Reading-Bath Spa! (that was our route...)

Once we arrived, we somehow found ourselves in a candy shop...we had no idea where we were going...what are the odds! But that little detour happened to make us perfectly on time for a free walking tour of Bath! That was a fluke too...we're just lucky...so armed with sweets and a knowledgable tour guide from ...Manchester?? whatever...we made our way around beautiful Bath!

One cool thing about Bath: it is a World Heritage City, there aren't many of those...and you know the ancient Romans? yea, they hung out here, chillin in the bawwwwwths.

There are actually three hot srpings in Bath and the water is actually really hot! I forget the amount, but the important thing is that tonnes of water gets pumped naturally into the baths every day!

On our tour, we saw the Abbey, the Roman Baths, the Pump Room (Jane Austen, anyone?), The King and Queen's Baths, the Cross Bath and some other bath that was for the poorer classes. Yes, Bath became popular because of the healing properties of the hot springs - but I tried the water...no good, no good at all! 46 minerals plus warm temperature...think about that.

Wouldn't you love to go sit in a bath that thousands of skin-conditioned, ill, moulding, sore, and medical-mystery types had been chillin in in the nude for centuries? Doesn't that sound neato!? Don't worry...the water is fresh every day...and there is a brand new state of the art spa for ya'll:)

Anywho, the tour continues...

Queen's Square - beautiful Palladian facade, but looks a bit like a dog's dinner from the back..., The Circus, The Royal Cresent (WOW!)

Interject cool story about Cresent: John Wood, the architect, liked everything to look uniform, that's why he did facades. The Royal Cresent is actually 33 homes, but the lovely Palladian facade makes it look like a unit. Very nice. BUT! All the front doors are painted white, except one - a nice light yellow one. Story goes that 10 or so minutes before the law came in that all the doors must be white, the crazy old lady living in the house painted her door yellow. When she got in trouble, she went all the way to the House of Lords to fight for her yellow door! And she won! So she left it in her will that whoever owns that house MUST keep the door yellow...you go girl!

And now back to the tour...

The Assembly Rooms, for balls, and tea parties, etc., the Gravel Walk (mentioned in Persuasion) and the Georgian Gardens, the Hospital (another one, we saw St. John's earlier in the tour) which is now a research building. And I think that was it...

Then we kept walking and found the Grand Parade, the Pulteney Bridge, Laura Place, Great Pulteney Street, Henrietta Park, the Holburne Museum of Art, and the Bath Rugby stadium...and the Huntsmen, where we had dinner...I love Bath.

A Brief Response to the Recently Released British Film entitled 'The Young Victoria' depicting the Early Life of England's Longest Reigning Monarch

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, what a beautiful film!
It will make girls sigh and guys jump off a bridge. Classic.
Maybe someday it will come out in Canada...