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...

Homies from Home!

In a sense...

From 6-8 March, my not so ghetto friends (from Redeemer) came to visit for the weekend from France! Yes, Steph and Julianne took a nice little break away from hectic Paris life to take in the English countryside! It's only a hop, skip and jump, really. Naturally they were charmed!

So they stayed with Marion and Andrew (saved the day at the last minute! love you both!) and they got on great! We tried to make the most of Saturday - pain au chocolat pour dejeuner, then off for a typical 'life with Sarah' jog to the train station. Thankfully we met a good Samaritan on the way who gave us a ride! I just hopped right in the car and Ju and Steph followed believing that I knew the people! Ha! never met 'em before in my life! We did a solid Oxford tour and then had dinner at the Eagle and Child, 'cause you gotta.

Interjection: have you ever had Sticky Toffee Pudding? Do it, best thing of life!

Meanwhile, back to the story.

One thing that surprised me was how much it had all become every day for me! Ju and Steph were going nuts with photos; it's not like the magic has worn off, but I may have been taking for granted how cool my new school is;) They kindly reminded me...

The weather was perfect as well, and the flowers were all blooming! And we saw two protests! Communists and Animal Rights...never a dull moment...

Then we went back to Charlbury, ate toast (yes that is important enough to include in a blog), went to the local pub (very English experience - we HAD to do it;)) and then watched The Illusionist with most of the other girls - we also had some chocolate heart attack - chocolate ice cream, brownies, and mars bars chopped up on top!

Sunday morning we had another 'life of Sarah' experience and were late for church, and then got caught in a rainstorm on the way to our Sunday lunch host's home, yippee-do-dah.

We (Ju, Steph, and I) went to Howard and Jan's house for lunch, and they are just the most wonderful, hospitable people! And Jan was born in Manitoba and they lived in Toronto for 18 years - whoa connections!

Another Interjection: Sunday lunch is another one of the best things in life (more on that later)

And then, Howard drove us into Oxford so the girls could catch their airport shuttle...I was sad to see them go!

It was really great to have them come for a visit! I love where I am and there's never anyone to show it off to! We had such a super time!

Now I'll go see them in April! Booked my ticket already:)

London Calling...

Hmmm...so I've been getting a little lazy in my blogging habits...my bad. Let's just say that I have a really exciting life and am therefore entitled to be a bit behind...:)
So. The very last weekend of February, the whole group of us + Mad and Marion went to LONDON! for four days. London gets an ! behind it because it is one of the most wonderful cities I have ever been to - Rome and Amsterdam also in the running...
We took the train up (fact: if you go in groups of four or so, you can get much cheaper tickets! England supports communities and making friends...) right into London Paddington, home of, dun dun duhhhhhh Paddington Bear! Awwww (pause to reminisce on your happy Paddington memories...). All I can remember of the next hour or so is running everywhere yelling about southbound/northbound/eastbound/westbound/circle line/tube tube TUBE! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the London Underground.
We found our hostel right outside of the Great Portland Street Tube station - International Student House, complete with almost free breakfast, almost free bar, almost reliable internet, and almost hot water! Actually, I really liked the place. For all its quirks, I liked the atmosphere and everything was clean - and my room had hot water, I was willing to splurge on jam for breakfast and I didn't need the internet for anything so I was golden!
After our check-in, we hit the tubes and the streets to find the V&A - the Victoria and Albert Museum. I think they said this museum was intended to house pretty things - I'm sure they would include a smelly sock if it was all done up in lace and dipped in gold...regardless, we took a tour through the fashion section and then the British section so see the development of writing materials through the ages. Our guide was a hoot! And we saw lots of...tables. Good times.
Then the girls stuck up their noses and walked into Harrod's to do a bit of drooling! Harrod's, yes. Red carpets outside with doormen. Security guards inside. And Jimmy Choo shoes on the second floor! For those who don't know, it is a GIGANTIC super high class department store - Louis Vuittin, Chanel, Gucci, all those cool dudes...anyone want to buy me shoes for 500 pounds??
We found Jules Chicken for supper... (o, ps. we saw the most beautiful boy in the entire world - yes, that is significant;) just ask Carolyn...)our V&A guide recommended it, had some great food and then all got changed in the washroom - all the other restaurant guests were pretty shocked to see us come out one by one all dressed up - we were going to the opera!
Carmen the Opera was playing in the round in the Royal Albert hall. Everything in this area of London is named after Prince Albert (whom I just adore because we went to see The Young Victoria in the cinema...probably will never come out in Canada, sorry about your luck!) so the whole area is affectionately called Albertonia. Carmen is the story of a gypsy woman who is not particularily morally inclined who captures the heart of a (mildly irritating and pathetic) soldier. It ends sadly, but it was very well performed! Drama, drama, drama
Friday morning we headed over to the Museum of Natural History to pay a visit to Darwin. We stopped in to see the Dinosaurs...with all the 9/10 year old boys! There was a big robotic T-Rex and I saw it the same time as one of the little guys and we said "T-REX!!!" at the same time...no jokes! Who's the mature one...The Darwin exhibit was really cool, but very one-sided, as in evolution or nothing. That was a bit frustrating.
Then we went to the Parliament buildings and the National Portrait Gallery.
The portrait gallery was pretty neat - the Ditchley Portrait was there, and it was fascinating to see how the portrayal of people and style of portrait painting changed!
At the Parliament Buildings, we got a personal tour. Security was super tight getting in but that was it...you think they'd roll out the red carpet for us colonial types...but no. We saw the House of Lords (red, like our senate) and the House of Commons (green, like ours) - and the connections to our parliament buildings was acutely obvious. Kind of cool. But they were much more ornate and ancient, of course.
And that night, Phoebe, Emily, Chloe, Matt, Emily, Whitney and I went to see Wicked! The Musical. People, that is the best thing I have EVER seen! I laughed, I cried, I shrieked, I sang! It was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much fun.
Saturday we spent the whole day at the National Gallery, just spending quality time with della Francesca, Lippi, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Picasso, Monet, Constable, Turner...those guys. *Sigh* what a beautiful place. And then Phoebs and I watched Slumdog Millionaire on ths silver screen...great film. Brilliant.
Fun Underground moment: Carolyn and Melissa got stuck next to this ancient, totally hammered old man on the tube and he decided to sing to them and become quite emotionally attached. Not good. When they could, they moved over to where the rest of us girls were standing but he followed. So at our stop, me, who was pretty emotionally wound from Slumdog quickly jumped out of the train and I somehow imagined that this freaky old man got off the train with us so I did the logical thing- I screamed and ran. And this convinced the other girls that he was following so they screamed and ran as well! How to handle a crisis 101. Well done.
Sunday morning we meandered over to St. Paul's basilica for the service. I'll be honest, this was one of the most beautiful, fulfilling services I have ever been to. It also helped that we were in England's biggest church, a Christopher Wren masterpiece, sitting under the third largest dome in the world! We got very informative programmes so we could follow along, and everyone was so kind. There was also a beautiful choir complete with choirboys with voices like angels.
After the service we found a pub and had a solid English Sunday lunch complete with Yorkshire pudding. And then we took a walking tour on which we saw the Thames, London Bridge, the Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, The Scoop, The Belfast, the Globe Theatre, the Golden Hind, so much...
The thing about London is that when I say 'England' all the pictures that pop up in your head (I assume) are located in London - The London Eye, Big Ben, Westminster, etc. It's a wonderful city just exploding with history while being distinctly modern at the same time. I would live there forever...

An Ode to British Roads

O British roads you make me ill.
You have too many bends and too many hills,
Driving you takes too much skill!
O British roads, you make me ill.

O British roads you make me queasy,
My poor little stomach can never rest easy!
I'm sorry if this poem is cheesy,
But British roads just make me queasy!

O British roads you make me moan!
And I know in this I'm not alone!
We try to smile but can only groan,
Because British roads just make us moan.

O British roads make me insane,
I'm so glad we take the train!
It's often late but causes less pain!
O British roads make me insane!

Italy - Student Style (Part IV - Pisa-England)

On the train again, o I just can't wait to get on the train again...
actually, the train ride from Rome to Pisa was my favourite by far because the track went right along the sea for quite some time. It was absolutely picturesque!
Pisa itself was kind of dull, we spent most of the day at the piazza with the Leaning Tower and all that - the weather was fantastic, we made some friends...for better or worse, took some touristy pushing/holding tower photos, toured the church and ate more gelato! It was my last one so I got 5 scoops:) Don't judge.
Then we headed off for pizza, then back to the hotel for our last night in Italy! It was nice to have a hotel for our last stop...Pisa is not so good with the hostels anyway. But it was nice and quiet, I got a nice shower and a clean bed! AND I got to watch Walker, Texas Ranger in Italian! wow! Chucko Norriso?
Sunday: home day. Breakfast was super and then we packed up and walked (yes, walked:O) over to the airport to fly home! We left at 11am and made it all the way back to Charlbury by 3:30pm! Brilliant!
Good times in Italy for sure...

Italy - Student Style (Part III - Roma)

I love Rome. What a great absolutely ancient city! You could just be walking, turn a corner, and BAM! The Colosseum!
So Phoebe and I showed up in the dark and tried to avoid the homeless and beggars outside the gigantic Termini train station and pretend we knew where we were going - we did find a nice man to point us in the right direction...so we showed up at our first hostel and found that we were overbooked so they moved us down the road to another hostel. That worked out alright...made some new friends, watched some music videos, and ended up being the only girls in the all boys dorm...dang overbooking. That resulted in some pretty awkward, humorous times! The next day, we moved on to the Alessandro Downtown hostel to meet up with our SPICE program buddies. That was a legit hostel! It was great! We got free breakfast and pasta for dinner and met all kinds of great people!
We spent that first full day in Rome freezing to death walking under the Roman palm trees and touring Vittorio Emmanuel's memorial which was really beautiful. And becase we couldn't get enough of the cold wind, we went to look around the Colossuem as well. Wow. Just being able to see that, this ancient, fascinating, troubled structure and hearing its loooooong and varied story, was amazing. We spent a long time there - we had to get our monies worth! And we took tons of photos...good times. Then we went back for our free pasta, which was decent. and FREE, that's the important thing.
Thursday we walked over to the Vatican...we are walk pros...it was only all the way across the city, no big. It was pretty cool, but I was hoping that they would check my passport since it is its own country, but no luck. So we dressed appropriately and get through security and went into St. Peter's Basilica, the largest church in the world. Apparently Peter, the first pope is buried under the basilica, you can actually see the valut and the mosaic covering his grave. The church was interesting...but honestly, I felt like I was in a Pope-shrine. It was absolutely overwhelming, all decorated to the max with precious stones, marble, gold, and whatnot. A lot to take in. Then we got lost on our way to the Sistene Chapel (hint: follow the large crowd of people), but we found a fantastic bakery! So we lucked out. And so with our chocolate croissants, we headed off for the Papal Palace to see the Sistene Chapel and all that. So you know, you can't just meander over to the Chapel, you need to go through EVERY exhibit to get there, but it's ok, because the other museums are fantastic! Gallery of maps, Raphael's Rooms, all sorts of stuff with frescoes by THE artists of the day, so that was alright. Of course you were allowed to take pictures everywhere except the Sistene Chapel, isn't that right mister NO FOTO! Jeepers. So while we gawked at Michelangelo's Creation of Adam and the like, we entertained ourselves by counting the number of people taking pictures compared to the number who actually got caught...those illegal photographers were the winners by far:). I won't say if I took any... :) Afterwards, we walked to the Pantheon to check out the hole in the ceiling. The outside was pretty dingy, but I guess that's allowed becuase it is absolutely ancient...the oculous was HUGE though and very impressive, but I would avoid it in a rainstorm...then we got some gelato:) That night, Phoebs and I met up with her cousin Hilary who was in Rome on business, what are the odds. She's great! Good times...
Friday we went to St. Sebastien's catacombs. Like the Colossuem, this was an incredible portal back to the time of the early church. There were carvings of the fish symbol and the names of Peter and Paul etched into the walls. There were also Roman mausoleums with the ashes of aristocratic Romans still in the urns with ancient fresoes decorating the walls. In total, I think these catacombs go down about 7 levels and there are 100,000 graves in total... we only got to see a small part but that was incredible! The museum on top was full of sarcophagi that had been uncovered in the catacombs, and other trinkets and decorations. And in the catacombs, you can see the clefts in the walls where people were buried, and look down the long halls and see more and more rows. It was surprisingly warm down there...the stone is volcanic and it was soft and moist. I'm claustraphobic but it was alright...I think the fact that I was down in ancient catacombs captured my attention instead. The church on top of the catacombs was built by...Constantine. How cool. So that was a good time. On the way back into the city I tried a Roman experience...I bought a panini from a roadside stand. Not recommended - go to a bakery or something. Ew. When we got back to the Colosseum, we split up so Jaime, Cherylyn, Phoebe and I could attempt to break into the Roman Forum (ancient ruins). In all honesty, we bought the tickets but they expired the day before (we were 15 minutes late- boo). So we got in line, tried to look like retarded tourists and they let us in! The Roman Forum is great, extra great because of our mildly illegal entry...it's all ruins of ancient temples, roads, palaces, and the like and it is HUGE! The weather finally matched the palm trees so we had a lovely walk around, it was what dreams are made of. Then we headed off to the Trevi fountain and the Spanish Steps. Made some wishes at the fountain and played some Crazy Eights on the Steps, headed back to the fountain and got some, o...gelato:) Friday was also Jess's birthday (one of the SPICE girls:p) so Amber, Jaime, Jess and I bought some fresh pasta, pesto, tomatoes and wine (and lemons we picked right off the trees) and made a rocking awesome Italian meal of our own! Pasta tastes so much better in Italy...then we went to the grocery store and bought some cake and ate it at McDonalds (everthing else was closed...it may have been pretty late...). Good party times...
Saturday morning, the SPICE girls left to return to the Netherlands:( We definitely had some super times and Phoebs and I were sad to see them go!
Then we left for Pisa...last stop...

Italy - Student Style (Part II - Venezia)

So from Florence, we took the train for a couple hours to, dun dun dunnn! Venice! Known locally as Venezia. I will admit, I was most nervous about Venice because it is an island, and there are no actual roads, etc. But we needed to see it before it sunk...:p. We had superb directions to our hostel but that was it for that good luck...we dropped off our bags and went to find St. Mark's Square...easier said than done! We wandered for ages...there were signs everywhere for it but still...some of the 'roads' look just like alleyways so you think that it cannot possibly be the way you have to go, but it most possibly is...
Somehow, we ended up going on the first day of Carnival! Carnival is a HUGE deal in Venice, it runs the week before Lent beings (ends on Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday). The closer we got to St. Mark's Square, the more we saw people dressed up in outrageous costumes! The Veneitians live for Carnival! I don't even know how to describe it besides amazing! All the costumes were incredible, some were just out of this world! St. Mark's Square, which is usually chalk full of pigeons was now chalk full of people instead, all singing, speaking different languages, dressed in costumes or taking pictures. There was a big garden set up at one end with a lion made of a shrub and beautiful lights, etc. It was so people could have a special place to parade around and feel all carnivally, they even played lovely nature/dream music. Wow.
Phoebe and I mostly wandered Venice, stumbling upon random concerts in the street and all kinds of fun stuff. We were lost about 80% of the time, but it was ok because there was so much to see, and how far away can you get really!? It's a island...
We also went to check out a cathedral and a free Vivaldi exhibit...Venice is super expensive, but there is so much that can just be looked at! :) I bought a mask...but I lost it in Rome so that was depressing, but I was mildly carnivally for a bit! In that garden thing in St.Mark's Square, we watched a tango party happening - a bunch of couples were on stage dancing, it was really cool and they have mad skills! We also saw three dinosaurs running around the square - they were performers from the Netherlands providing some carnival worthy entertainment. They were very agile and had nimble and they were a hoot to watch!
Venice was really neat. It is really unusual (it being as island and all), but so beautiful and QUIET! That was strange...no sirens...
Off to Roma!