By the Sea, By the Sea, by the Beautiful Sea!

Our school has organized trips planned for weekends and so Julie and I decided to take advantage of one of them. So we signed up for a surfing trip to Cornwall. Yeah, that’s right, I went surfing. Tried to.

We stayed in a little town called Newquay (pronounced new-key), which is I was informed is the surfing capital of the UK. It kind of reminded me of Pacific Beach in San Diego, but colder. We had a surfing lesson on Saturday in the morning. IT was very much fun but I got lazy about half way through and decided I enjoyed just kneeling on the surf board more than standing. But I really enjoyed myself and did actually stand up a few times. I think I want to try it again in San Diego. Our surf instructers were really cool and kept saying that the whole point of the lesson was to “surf with style.” Hahaha, they’ve apparently never met me.

Saturday afternoon we drove to the coast. First we got real Cornish pasties in St. Agnes. They are pretty good. I learned that the original intent for Cornish pasties was to keep the meat inside protected from the dirt outside, as they were mainly eaten by tin miners in Cornwall. Then we drove to where we could walk along the coastline in Cornwall. We walked from St Agnes to Chapel Porth. I cannot even describe how dramatic the coastline was. My pictures do not even capture the intensity of it. I am so glad I got to see it, the Cornish coast is INCREDIBLE.

The next day we went to Padstow, a little English fishing village, and had the “best fish and chips in England” with a side of mushy peas. The fish was cod and they were pretty good, but incredibly greasy. We walked around Padstow for a little bit and then went to Tintagel, where King Arthur lived, according to legend. It was breathtaking. We went into Merlin’s Cave and then up to the castle. The castle ruins are on a giant cliff overlooking the ocean and it is just magnificent. Again, like the walk on the day before, the pictures do not capture the intensity.

Cornwall is incredible. So beautiful. I think it has been my favorite location in England so far. Just unbelievable beauty.

oh ocean, how I missed you!
the English were very serious about beating the French in the Rugby World Cup...
Newquay!
Julie and I standing on a cliff on our coastal walk
more coastal walk
Oh Julie...
wow. Those are the ruins of old tin mines ahead of us
Padstow!Fish n Chips! Merlin's cave
Tintagel ruins!
this was on a cliff - I don't think the picture captures how high up this was



Julie and I are standing out there, I promise
breathtaking, even more so in person
Tintagel!!

Searching for Druids

Wow, I’ve been kind of lazy, and I definitely apologize. Time to get back on track. So on Oct 6 Julie and I went down to London to hang out with my good friend Reeses (she goes by Nicola in the real world). who is a nanny for two Austrian boys for a year. They are named Maximillian and Johannes - the best Austrian names ever, I think. We went to Kings Cross to see Platform 9 ¾ (it was kind of odd, there isn’t really a real barrier between the two platforms – oh JK Rowling). Then we decided to go to the West End and see how much a show was. We ended up buying tickets to see Spamalot. Our tickets weren’t superb, but the show was soooo good. And beforehand we ate dinner at a pub and I had Bangers and Mash and tried some of Reeses’ Toad in the Hole. Then we took Reeses back to Kidlington with us.

The following day was her birthday and also the day when my Uncle Steve came to visit! He had a rental car so he drove us to Stonhenge, Longleat, and Bath. Sonehenge was amazing. I had heard from everybody that it was just a pile of rocks, but I have to say that I found it very incredible. They had a very nice audio tour set up, even though it was a little melodramatic. Julie’s favorite part was when the audio tour guide said that “the rocks were dropped like teeth into the gums of the earth.”

We went to Longleat after Stonehenge and walked through a real life hedgemaze!! I felt a little like I was in the fourth Harry Potter, but that’s just because I’m a complete nerd like that. It was so fun and I think I’m going to grow a hedge maze in my backyard as an adult. Just give me about 50 years.

After Longleat we went to Bath, which is where there used to be – you guessed it – Roman Baths. We took a tour of that and it was incredible. There is a natural hot spring in bath and the Romans figured out how to not only use it to fill large pools of water, but also as a floor heating device. At the end of the tour you could drink some of the Roman Bath water. It used to be known for healing paralysis, palsy, and ague. Well, it tasted like liquid copper. Warm liquid copper. But hey, at least I can walk again!

It was a very lovely day and I very much appreciate my Uncle for taking us to Stonehenge, Bath, and Longleat.

Julie and Reeses in front of Stonehenge
Stonehenge!!
the Longleat Manor - someday it shall be mine....
Reeses in the hedge maze
the hedge maze from a tower up high
there's Uncle Steve!
Julie is sticking her hand out of the side of that wooden triangle, if you can see it
this river in Bath was way cool looking - they made a sort of tiered waterfall
Roman Bath - the main pool
the natural hot spring - I could feel the heat from it, it was lovely!

Paris pictures, oui!

the opera house

the louvre

a mummy!!!

the crowd in front of the Mona Lisa - not worth it

nike alighting on a warship
Notre Dame! Can you see Quasimodo?
inside Notre Dame
I'm kind of obsessed
like really, it was incredible

Julie and I in front of the Eiffel at night
Marie Antoinette's bed - my favorite part is the gold rail
Hall of Mirrors!!


Versailles is so awesome

this fountian is nothing compared to the one I'm going to have...I wish...
Sheep! I took this picture for my mother
my artistic phot attempt of the Temple of Love
Marie Antoinette's hamlet that she had built to play peasant in
and of course a fun black and white picture of the eiffel tower

Je suis desole

On September 29 I went to Paris! Oh my goodness, I had so much fun!

We took the bus to Paris (because it was the cheapest way to get there) and left Thursday evening. I sat next to a very interesting French man who told me about his journeys to Lisbon and South Africa and thought Paris was dirty. I hadn't realized that we would have to go through passport control to leave England (which was very dumb of me) so my plan to sleep on the bus all the way to Paris was disrupted. After passport control I slept for a while longer before being informed that we had to get off of the bus for the ferry ride across the channel. The upside is that I briefly saw the famous white cliffs of Dover before finding a lovely table to lay my head down and sleep through the ferry ride.

We got into Paris at about 9am on Friday and immediatly went to our hostel and checked in and put our stuff in a locker. From our hostel we walked took a metro to the Opera House and then walked from the Opera House to the Louvre.

Oh the Louvre. I didn't realize it was so incredibly gigantic. We sort of raced from room to room looking for particular things, with the lovely Julie as our tour guide (she had been before and understood the map, which I had trouble figuring out). We saw Venus de Milo, Napoleon's Coronation, Hammurabi's Code (I always forget his name), Winged Victory of Samothrace, a mummy, lots and lots of ancient artifacts, and the Mona Lisa (from afar).

Upon leaving the Louvre we encountered what can only be described as a tropical storm. It was pouring rain. So we decided to get some coffe from a little coffee shop on the street. I had cafe au lait and a croissant. How touristy and yet so incredibly delicious! Hey, I had to do it, I was in Paris.

Then we walked to Notre Dame. I was so incredibly impressed with the sheer magnitude of the cathedral I don't think I've ever used the word awesome to mean inspiring awe, but it in this sense it definitely works. Notre Dame is awesome. I light a candle, walked around and stared at the magnificence, and thought about Esmerelda from the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Also, I got lucky because the choir was practicing. It really added to the ambience.

After leaving Notre Dame, we had a lie in at the hostel. Then we went to dinner. On the way we passed the bridge where Di died and saw the Eiffel Tower from a distance. Our dinner was an amazing 3 course French dinner. I had traditional French white pea soup, beef tartar, and creme brulee. It was soooo delicious. Probably my favorite meal of the semester so far.

On Saturday we went to Versailles. After a couple of train switches (first we got on the wrong train, then we accidently got off the train too early and had to wait for the next one) we arrived in Versailles. I was blown away by the palace itself and couldn't help thinking of Kirsten Dunst the entire time (I know, sad, isn't it). We took the palace tour and then walked the grounds and went to Marie Antoinette's estate. We mainly wanted to see her little Hamlet but the rest of her "little country house"/giant estate were equally beautiful.

I think I want to live in the Palace. On second thought, it's far too small. No living room. Very cramped. (sarcasm)

On the train ride home we had baguettes and brie and I also had some grapes that I thought were blueberries. Silly me. Then we went to the Eiffel Tower. And sat on the lawn by it for 4 hours. I know this because it sparkles on the hour and I saw it sparkle 4 times. We met some boys from India and some boys from Australia. We went to get some "Mackers" with the Australian boys (Mackers = McDonalds and I wouldn't have gone if they hadn't said Mackers with their fun accents).

On Sunday we took the bus back from Paris to London. To make a long story short, we missed our return ferry and had to take a train. Also we went through immigration 3 times. What should have been an 8 hour trip took 12 hours. But it made a fun story, actually, so I'm not upset about it at all.

In short - I LOVE PARIS. Julie and I are going to see if we can go back the first weekend in Dec.


as of now it won't let me post pictures, so I will try again this evening to put pictures on a different post.

The Shakesperience

so I'm a couple of weeks behind, but I'm going to catch up, I promise

two weekends ago (Sep 22) I went on a school organized trip to Warwick Castle and Stratford-upon-Avon with Julie and Alex.

Both beautiful places, but Warwick Castle was my favorite. They had part of it restored to it's 16th century glory and part restored to it's 19th century glory, which was cool. We couldn't figure out why there were so many odd wax figures everywhere, but then learned (upon returning home and checking wikipedia) that it is owned by Tussauds (as in Madame Tussaud). This castle had a tower and an old moat and a place where you could try on armor and victorian bonnets. Plus, there was a trebuchet!

Stratford-upon-Avon was quite lovely. We saw the outside of the house where Shakespeare was born (we were too cheap to go inside) and walked along the Avon to the church where he is burried. Overall it's a very touristy place, as you would imagine, with Shakespeare type statues everywhere, but I enjoyed it nontheless.

Warwick Castle from the outside - we went to the top of that tower!
the entryway
Castles used to be built in the "motte-and-baily" style, which I learned in medieval history last semester, so it was cool to see it in real life! This is the "motte" or raised hill section of the castle, taken from within the "baily" or enclosed courtyard.
view from the top of the tallest tower looking down at other parts of the castle
view from the top of the tallest tower looking at the surrounding town

Julie, Alex, and I (from left to right) trying on some helmets
now we get to the Victorian part of the castle
notice Queen Elizabeth II. We thought her dress was fairly hideous.

A dark room that I would not enjoy lounging in
This tea room was pretty fabulous. Not only was it nice looking, it had a lot of history to it. Queen Victoria and her son took tea here with the Duchess of Warwick. Also, those paintings on the wall are of Henry VIII and various women through history, which is pretty amazing.
This clock in the tea room belonged to Marie Antoinette and was sold to the Duke of Warwick by Napoleon.
Here we find the wax figures enjoying the song sung by this Wax Woman. On the couch on the right is the wax figure of Winston Churchill's mother.
The wax figures in their bedroom.

this is the Peacock Garden behind the castle
Julie and Alex in the Pacock Garden
me in the Peacock Garden
a peacock in the Peacock Garden
a trebuchet!!!!!! We saw a demonstration of it launching a boulder, which was way awesome.

Shakespeare's birthplace
Avon and the many birds that frequent it
the doorway to the church where Shakespeare was buried - notice how small the door is!!
the church where Shakespeare is buried
Shakespeare's grave - I dig the epitaph (no pun intended)