The Mark of Athena: Top Ten Scenes!

...Okay, if I'm being honest, there's eleven of them. And at least three of my "scenes" are really several related scenes that have been merged together so that I can get the total number down to something that resembles ten. Also, the ranking is mostly flexible. The top three are easily the best, but all of the others could pretty much be in any order you want--they were all just such great scenes!

In any case, I give you Heather's Top Eleven Favorite Moments from The Mark of Athena!

SPOILERS BELOW

#11 - "Keep It Simple."

  "Annabeth . . . sometime, maybe could you help me with another problem that's not so simple? I've got . . . I guess you'd call it an Achilles' heel."
  Annabeth felt like she'd just had a drink of Roman hot chocolate. She'd never really gotten the term warm and fuzzy, but Frank gave her that sensation. He was just a big teddy bear. She could see why Hazel liked him. "I'd be happy to," she said. "Does anyone else know about this Achilles' heel?"
  "Percy and Hazel," he said. "That's it. Percy . . . he's a really good guy. I would follow him anywhere. Thought you should know."
  Annabeth patted his arm. "Percy has a knack for picking good friends. Like you. But Frank, you can trust anyone on this ship. Even Leo. We're all a team. We have to trust each other."
  "I--I suppose."
  "So what's the weakness you're worried about?"
  The dinner bell sounded, and Frank jumped.
  "Maybe . . . maybe later," he said. "It's hard to talk about. But thanks, Annabeth." He held up the Chinese handcuffs. "Keep it simple."

Since Frank spent most of the book being portrayed as grumpy or scary or even a little unintelligent, I was so glad he had this moment with Annabeth to reassert his teddy bear tendencies. What a heartwarming scene! That being said, there is a part of me that wishes that this conversation had gotten Annabeth thinking about Percy and his own Achilles' heel, or sudden lack thereof. I would have liked to see that addressed, maybe along with the tattoos the Romans gave him when he became praetor.


#10 - Jason's Birthday

  Jason plucked an extinguished candle from his cake. "I've been thinking."
  That snapped Piper back to the present. Coming from your boyfriend, I've been thinking was kind of a scary line.
  "About?" she asked.
  "Camp Jupiter," he said. "All the years I trained there. We were always pushing teamwork, working as a unit. I thought I understood what that meant. But honestly? I was always the leader. Even when I was younger . . . "
  "The son of Jupiter," Piper said. "Most powerful kid in the legion. You were the star."
  Jason looked uncomfortable, but he didn't deny it. "Being in this crew of seven . . . I'm not sure what to do. I'm not used to being one of so many, well, equals. I feel like I'm failing."
  Piper took his hand. "You're not failing."

Okay, okay. I know that Piper and Jason have been getting a bad rap on the internet, but while I hear the complaints and can even kind of see why people are saying these negative things, I honestly do not agree with them. Sure, Jason was a bit of an idiot in MoA at times, especially wherever Reyna was involved. But I've seen worse. He'd never committed to Reyna, not once. And once he had committed to Piper, he didn't go back on that by flirting with Reyna too. I see a guy with a few problems trying to be as good as possible. And we can see from this scene that despite his royal parentage, Jason most definitely isn't arrogant. He's got insecurities, just like anyone else. I can honestly say that I like Jason more for his imperfections and vulnerabilities. And Piper? I see a strong female demigod who isn't sure how she fits in with all of her madly talented friends. I've heard people compare her to Bella Swan from Twilight ("Oh, I'm so popular, I hate it. Everyone likes me. I wish they would just leave me alone.") but I don't think that's fair to Piper. So she's never cared much about appearance. We can definitely thank her famous dad for that! She grew up in a world where her dad was idolized for his looks, and it was constantly pulling him away from her. Is it any wonder that she doesn't want her appearance to be the most important thing about her? I think Jason and Piper are good for each other. Plus, let's face it. The whole series is about bringing the Greeks and the Romans together. Jason's Roman and Piper's Greek. Face the music, people. This was endgame from book one.

Anyway, I loved this. We didn't get to spend a lot of time in Jason's head this time around because he wasn't being very forthcoming with Piper, so seeing him open up to her (not to mention promise that he's not stupid enough to break up with her!) was very endearing.


#9 - Fish-Centaur Brownies

  The dmigods paced the deck in silence, staring at the water and hoping for a miracle.
  When it finally came--three giant pink bubbles bursting at the surface off the starboard bow and ejecting Frank, Hazel, and Leo--Piper went a little crazy. She cried out with relief and dove straight into the water.
  What was she thinking? She didn't take a rope or a life vest or anything. But at the moment, she was just so happy that she paddled over to Leo and kissed him on the cheek, which kind of surprised him.
  "Miss me?" Leo laughed.
  Piper was suddenly furious. "Where were you? How are you guys alive?"
  "Long story," he said. A picnic basket bobbed to the surface next to him. "Want a brownie?"
  Once they got on board and changed into dry clothes, the crew gathered on the quarterdeck for a celebratory breakfast. While Leo fussed over his helm controls, Hazel and Frank related the story of the fish-centaurs and their training camp.
  "Incredible," Jason said. "These are really good brownies."
  "That's your only comment?" Piper demanded.
  He looked surprised. "What? I heard the story. Fish-centaurs. Merpeople. Letter of intro to the Tiber River god. Got it. But these brownies--"
  "I know," Frank said, his mouth full. "Try them with Esther's peach preserves."
  "That," Hazel said, "is incredibly disgusting."
  "Pass me the jar, man," Jason said.
  Hazel and Piper exchanged a look of total exasperation. Boys.

No matter who or where you are, boys will be boys. I don't know, guys. I loved getting this scene from all our newest demigods. Percy and Annabeth got a lot of screen time (and who is definitely NOT complaining about that? Me, right here!) but it was nice to see the others bonding over brownies and exasperating boyfriends. Especially Leo. He worried so much about never fitting into this group that I couldn't help jumping for joy when Piper threw herself off the boat when she saw he was alive. Leo needs the reminder every once in a while that these people really do care about him.


#8 - Bagel Sharing and Promised Returns

  Piper was happy to see Annabeth with a sparkle in her eyes because Piper had never had a better friend. For months, Annabeth had been tormenting herself, her every waking moment consumed with the search for Percy. Now, despite the dangerous quest they were facing, at least she had her boyfriend back.
  "So!" Annabeth plucked the bagel out of Piper's hand and took a bite, but that didn't bother Piper. Back at camp, they'd had a running joke about stealing each other's breakfast. "Here we are. What's the plan?"
  "I want to check out the highway, Piper said. "Find the sign that says Topeka 32."
  "Sounds dangerous!" Leo said cheerfully. "Well . . . you guys have fun. I've got to finish repairs on the hull. And, uh, Annabeth--I could really use your help. You're the only other person who even sort of understands engineering.
  Annabeth looked apologetically at Percy. "He's right. I should stay and help."
  "I'll come back to you." He kissed her on the cheek. "Promise."
  They were so easy together, it made Piper's heart ache.

All together, now: awwww! Piper said it best: Percy and Annabeth are easy together. And that's exactly how it comes across. So cute. And it just speaks volumes about the year they've had that every time one leaves the other it's always with a promise to return. Percy totally gets Annabeth, even though he claims not to. In the first series, Percy relates his relationship with Annabeth to her desire to build something permanent (and is there anything cuter or more romantic than that? No!) and I think his promises to come back are part of his attempt to repair whatever damage was done by his suddenly being gone, not that Annabeth holds it against him at all. I also happen to love the glimpse into Piper and Annabeth's relationship that we got here. They didn't have a lot of time to bond in TLH (though Piper did say she could imagine being friends with Annabeth easily) so it's great that we get to see them acting like actual teenage best friends.


#7 - Bronze and Gold, Together

  "I'll take Otis again?" Jason called over the noise. "Or do you want him this time?"
  Percy tried to think. Dividing was the natural course--fighting the giants one-on-one, but that hadn't worked so well last time. It dawned on him that they needed a different strategy.
  This whole trip, Percy had felt responsible for leading and protecting his friends. He was sure Jason felt the same way. They'd worked in small groups, hoping that would be safe. They'd fought as individuals, each demigod doing what he or she did best. But Hera had made them a team of seven for a reason. The few times Percy and Jason had worked together--summoning the storm at Fort Sumter, helping the Argo II escape the Pillars of Hercules, even filling the nymphaeum--Percy had felt more confident, better able to figure out problems, as if he'd been a Cyclops his whole life and suddenly woke up with two eyes.
  "We attack together," he said. "Otis first, because he's weaker. Take him out quickly and move to Ephialtes. Bronze and gold together--maybe that'll keep them from re-forming a little longer."
  Jason smiled dryly, like he'd just found out he would die in an embarrassing way.
  "Why not?" he agreed. "But Ephialtes isn't going to stand there and wait while we kill his brother. Unless . . ."
  "Good wind today," Percy offered. "And there're some water pipes running under the arena."
  Jason understood immediately. He laughed, and Percy felt a spark of friendship. This guy thought the same way he did about a lot of things.
  "On three?" Jason said. 
  "Why wait?"
 They charged out of the trench.

Oh, I cannot tell you how long I waited for this moment. I wanted Percy and Jason to be friends more than anything, and it tore me up inside to see them competing with each other. I cringed when Jason implied that Percy would need an ocean to have a chance at measuring up to his own skill. I cringed again when Percy grumpily compared Jason to a blonde superman. Obviously it took a while for the two of them to get comfortable with working together, but once they did they were pretty much unstoppable. This moment, where they realized that they were not only stronger as a team, but also that they could actually be friends, was huge for me.


#6 - Don't EVER Mess With Leo Valdez

  Leo rested his hand on the Archimedes sphere, which now sat on the help, ready to be installed. He should have been excited. It was the biggest discovery of his life--even bigger than Bunker 9. If he could decipher Archimedes's scrolls, he could do amazing things. He hardly dared to hope, but he might even be able to build a new control disk for a certain dragon friend of his.
  Still, the price had been too high.
  He could almost hear Nemesis laughing. I told you we could do business, Leo Valdez.
  He had opened the fortune cookie. He'd gotten the access code for the sphere and saved Frank and Hazel. But the sacrifice had been Percy and Annabeth. Leo was sure of it.
  "It's my fault," he said miserably.
~
  "I'm the only one who has actually been into Tartarus," Nico said. "It's impossible to describe how powerful that place is. Once you get close, it sucks you in. I never stood a chance."
  Frank sniffled. "Then Percy and Annabeth don't stand a chance either?"
  Nico twisted his silver skull ring. "Percy is the most powerful demigod I've ever met. No offense to you guys, but it's true. If anybody can survive, he will, especially if he's got Annabeth at his side. They're going to find a way through Tartarus."
~
  Leo straightened. "We can do it."
  Everyone stared at him.
  "The Archimedes sphere can upgrade the ship," he said, hoping he was right. "I'm going to study those ancient scrolls we got. There's got to be all kinds of new weapons I can make. We're going to hit Gaea's armies with a whole new arsenal of hurt."
  They would find this House of Hades. They'd take the Doors of Death. And by the gods, if Leo had to design a grabber arm long enough to snatch Percy and Annabeth out of Tartarus, then that's what he would do.
  Nemesis wanted him to wreak vengeance on Gaea? Leo would be happy to oblige. He was going to make Gaea sorry she had ever messed with Leo Valdez.

That first part literally took my breath away. I admit it, I hadn't made the connection between Leo's deal with Nemesis and Percy and Annabeth's fall into Tartarus until it was spelled out for me, and what a poignant moment that was! And how awful for Leo to realize that in saving two of his friends, he'd doomed two others. But Leo doesn't take things like that lying down. He's proven over and over again that if you back him into a corner, he comes out kicking. Gaea should have learned that when she tried to break him by killing his mother and ended up merely giving him a reason to fight her. He's got something to prove now. And Nico's praise for Percy? Fabulous. They've always had a bit of a rocky relationship (especially recently in the series) so hearing Nico so blatantly labeling Percy as the most powerful demigod he's ever met, and in the presence of a son of Jupiter, too? I loved it.


#5 - The Epic Solo Death Quest

  Once Annabeth had made up her mind, arguing with her wouldn't do any good. He remembered the night three-and-a-half years ago, when they'd saved Nico and Bianca di Angelo in Maine. Annabeth had been captured by the Titan Atlas. For a while, Percy wasn't sure if she was alive or dead. He'd traveled across the country to save her from the Titan. It had been the hardest few days of his life--not just the monsters and the fighting, but the worry.
  How could he intentionally let her go now, knowing she was heading into something even more dangerous?
  Then it dawned on him: the way he had felt back then, for a few days, was probably how Annabeth had felt for the six months he had been missing with amnesia.
  That made him feel guilty, and a little bit selfish, to be standing here arguing with her. She had to go on this quest. The fate of the world might depend on it. But part of him wanted to say: Forget the world. He didn't want to be without her.
~
  "It's on the Tiber River. I think I can find it, but I should--"
  "Take me along," Percy finished. "Yeah, you're right."
  Annabeth glared daggers at him. "That's not--"
  "Safe," he supplied. "One demigod walking through Rome alone. I'll go with you as far as the Tiber. We can use that letter of introduction, hopefully meet the river god Tiberinus. Maybe he can give you some help or advice. Then you can go on alone from there."
  They had a silent staring contest, but Percy didn't back down. When he and Annabeth started dating, his mother had drummed it into his head: It's good manners to walk your date to the door. If that was true, it had to be good manners to walk her to the start of her epic solo death quest.
  "Fine," Annabeth muttered.
~
  Percy gripped Annabeth's hand--probably a little too tight. "Tiberinus, let me go with her. Just a little farther."
  Rhea Silvia laughed sweetly. "But you can't, silly boy. You must return to your ship and gather your other friends. Confront the giants! Annabeth has a different path. She must walk alone."
  "Indeed," Tiberinus said. "Annabeth must face the guardian of the shrine by herself it is the only way."
  Percy's pizza felt like a cement lump in his stomach. "But--"
  "It's alright, Percy," Annabeth squeezed his hand. "I need to do this."
  He started to protest. Her expression stopped him. She was terrified but doing her best to hide it--for his sake. If he tried to argue, he would only make things harder for her. Or worse, he might convince her to stay. Then she would have to live with the knowledge that she'd backed down from the biggest challenge.
  "You're right," Percy said, forcing out the words. "Be safe."
  Annabeth kissed Percy. She hesitated, like she was wondering what else to say. Then she shouldered her backpack and climbed on the back of the scooter.
  Percy hated it. He would've preferred to fight any monster in the world. But he forced himself to stay in his chair and watch as Annabeth motored off through the streets of Rome with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn.

Letting Annabeth go and face Arachne, knowing how terrified she is of spiders, was probably Percy's greatest challenge yet. I love the dilemma here: Percy wanting to protect her and help her and yet knowing that he can't this time. Again he proves that he really does understand her by realizing that any protesting on his part would only hurt her in the long run. The whole book Annabeth and Percy have been promising to "come back" to each other and for the first time, that promise is really being put to the test. The emotional depth in this whole sequence of scenes is just delicious.


#4 - The Stables

  She leaned over and kissed him: a good, proper kiss without anyone watching--no Romans anywhere, no screaming satyr chaperons.
  She pulled away. "I missed you, Percy."
  Percy wanted to tell her the same thing, but it seemed too small a comment. While he had been on the Roman side, he'd kept himself alive almost solely by thinking of Annabeth. I missed you didn't really cover that.
  "Annabeth," he said hesitantly, "in New Rome, demigods can live their whole lives in peace. I saw so many demigods living without fear: kids going to college, couples getting married and raising families. There's nothing like that at Camp Half-Blood. I kept thinking about you and me . . . and maybe someday when this war with the giants is over . . ."
  It was hard to tell in the golden light, but he thought Annabeth was blushing. "Oh," she said.
  Percy was afraid he'd said too much. Maybe he'd scared her with his big dreams of the future. She was usually the one with the plans. Percy cursed himself silently. "I'm sorry," he said. "I just . . . I had to think of that to keep going. To give me hope. Forget I mentioned--"
  "No!" she said. "No, Percy. That's so sweet."
~
  "You've been here all night?"
  "Frank!" Annabeth's ears were as red as strawberries. "We just came down here to talk. We fell asleep. Accidentally. That's it."
  "Kissed a couple of times," Percy said.
  Annabeth glared at him. "Not helping!"
  "We'd better . . ." Frank pointed to the stable doors. "Uh, we're supposed to meet for breakfast. Would you explain what you did--I mean didn't do? I mean . . . I really don't want that faun--I mean satyr--to kill me."
  Frank ran.
  When everyone finally gathered in the mess hall, it wasn't quite as bad as Frank had feared. Jason and Piper were mostly relieved. Leo couldn't stop grinning and muttering, "Classic. Classic." Only Hazel seemed scandalized, maybe because she was from the 1940s. She kept fanning her face and wouldn't meet Percy's eyes.
~
  "Great," Percy said. "We should take one more. Annabeth--"
  "Oh, no!" Coach Hedge barked. "Young lady, you are grounded.
  Annabeth stared at him like he was speaking a foreign language. "Excuse me?"
  "You and Jackson are not going anywhere together! Hedge insisted. He glared at Percy, daring him to mouth off. "I'll go with Frank and Mr. Sneaky Jackson. The rest of you guard the ship and make sure Annabeth doesn't break any more rules!"

I'm going to go out on a limb here and just say that no Percabeth shipper in the world could possibly not like these scenes. Percy's big dreams and Leo's grinning and Annabeth getting grounded by a satyr and Mr. Sneaky Jackson... I'm sorry. It's just too fabulous for words.


#3 - Charleston Harbor

  She needed help . . . some kind of distress signal to Coach Hedge, or even better--Percy.
  "Well?" Octavian demanded. His two friends brandished their swords.
  Very slowly, using only two fingers, Annabeth drew her dagger. Instead of dropping it, she tossed it as far as she could into the water.
  Octavian made a squeaking sound. "What was that for? I didn't say toss it! That could've been evidence. Or spoils of war!
  Annabeth tried for a dumb-blonde smile, like: Oh, silly me. Nobody who knew her would have been fooled. But Octavian seemed to buy it. He huffed in exasperation.
  "You other two . . ." He pointed his blade at Hazel and Piper. "Put your weapons on the dock. No funny bus--"
  All around the Romans, Charleston Harbor erupted like a Las Vegas fountain putting on a show. When the wall of seawater subsided, the three Romans were in the bay, spluttering and fantically trying to stay afloat in their armor. Percy stood on the dock, holding Annabeth's dagger.
  "You dropped this," he said, totally poker-faced.
  Annabeth threw her arms around him. "I love you!"
  Down in the water, Octavian yelled, "Get me out of here! I'll kill you!"
  "Tempting," Percy called down.
  "What?"
  "Nevermind."

Of all the scenes in this book, I had the most vivid mental image of this one right here. I could see everything happening as I read it, and I loved every minute of it. Oh, gosh, Octavian squeaking and Annabeth pretending to be airheaded for once and the harbor exploding and the Romans are wearing earplugs so they can't be hoodwinked by Piper and Percy's poker face and I love you. Too much goodness all rolled into one. Possibly the best little bit of storytelling I have read in ages.


#2 - The Reunion
  During their separation, something had happened to Annabeth's feelings. They'd grown painfully intense--like she'd been forced to withdraw from a life-saving medication. Now she wasn't sure which was more excruciating--living with that horrible absence, or being with him again.
  Annabeth didn't mean to, but she surged forward. Percy rushed toward her at the same time. The crowd tensed. Some reached for swords that weren't there.
  Percy threw his arms around her. They kissed, and for a moment nothing else mattered. An asteroid could have hit the planet and wiped out all life, and Annabeth wouldn't have cared.
  Percy smelled of ocean air. His lips were salty.
  Seaweed Brain, she thought giddily.
  Percy pulled away and studied her face. "I never thought--"
  Annabeth grabbed his wrist and flipped him over her shoulder. He slammed into the stone pavement. Romans cried out. Some surged forward, but Reyna shouted "Hold! Stand down!"
  Annabeth put her knee on Percy's chest. She pushed her forearm against his throat. She didn't care what the Romans thought. A white-hot lump of anger expanded in her chest--a tumor of worry and bitterness that she'd been carrying around since last autumn.
  "If you ever leave me again," she said, her eyes stinging, "I swear to all the gods--"
  Percy had the nerve to laugh. Suddenly the lump of heated emotions melted inside Annabeth.
  "Consider me warned," Percy said. "I missed you too."

She attacked him, and he laughed. She attacked him, and he laughed. So perfectly in character for the two of them. I don't think it would have worked if Percy hadn't laughed, though. Like I've said over and over again, he knows her. It's been six months that he's been missing and all she wants is something permanent, so of course she's going to have to get some pent up negative emotions out. It's just such an Annabeth thing to do that I don't think Percy could have expected anything else, and that's why all he can do is laugh in relief. She's still the Annabeth he remembers and loves. And what a dramatic contrast between this scene and the penultimate scene in the book, where Annabeth begs Percy to let her fall and save himself. Speaking of which...


#1 - Together

  Annabeth was dimly aware of the Argo II hovering to a stop about forty feet from the floor. It lowered a rope ladder, but Annabeth stood in a daze, staring into the darkness. Then suddenly Percy was next to her lacing his fingers through hers.
  He turned her gently away from the pit and wrapped his arms around her. She buried her face in his chest and broke down in tears.
  "It's okay," he said. "We're together."
  He didn't say you're okay or we're alive. After all they'd been through over the last year, he knew the most important thing was that they were together. She loved him for saying that.
~
  Annabeth's leg felt like it was pulling free of her body. Pain washed everything in red. The force of the Underworld tugged at her like dark gravity. She didn't have the strength to fight. She knew she was too far down to be saved.
  "Percy, let me go," she croaked. "You can't pull me up."
  His face was white with effort. She could see in his eyes that he knew it was hopeless.
  "Never," he said. He looked up at Nico, fifteen feet above. "The other side, Nico! We'll see you there. Understand?"
  Nico's eyes widened. "But--"
  "Lead them there!" Percy shouted. "Promise me!"
  "I--I will."
  Below them, the voice laughed in the darkness. Sacrifices. Beautiful sacrifices to wake the goddess.
  Percy tightened his grip on Annabeth's wrist. His face was gaunt, scraped and bloody, his hair dusted with cobwebs, but when he locked eyes with her, she thought he had never looked more handsome.
  "We're staying together," he promised. "You're not getting away from me. Never again."
  Only then did she understand what would happen. A one-way trip. A very hard fall.
  "As long as we're together," she said.
  She heard Nico and Hazel still screaming for help. She saw the sunlight far, far above--maybe the last sunlight she would ever see.
  Then Percy let go of his tiny ledge, and together, holding hands, he and Annabeth fell into the endless darkness.

My honest-to-goodness first thought when everyone climbed off the Argo II onto the crumbling marble floor was "What the heck are you idiots doing? Get Annabeth onto the ship!" Of course, a careful re-read brought it to my attention that although they lowered a ladder, Annabeth was too much in shock to climb up it. And I doubt Percy would have waited to see if she was coming. He knew she was hurt and terrified and alone and it was his only priority to get to her. The others must have simply followed his lead.

This is a masterpiece. I have no doubt that this was where Rick teared up while writing. All I can say is that the whole book was literally leading up to this moment. After everything Percy and Annabeth went through in the three books of this series, there was absolutely no way that he was letting her fall into Tartarus alone. It's heart-breaking. It's beautiful. Percy and Annabeth have taken over the top spot on my list of OTPs.

One can only hope that they'll be able to keep each other sane enough to find the way out. If nothing else, it's a comfort to know that Gaea's minions will certainly keep them alive if they're caught--until she's ready to rise, that is. Percy and Annabeth are her preferred sacrifices. That gives Jason and the crew a month to come up with a plan and rescue them, if that's what needs to be done.

Well, this was a long post of Percy Jackson goodness. The best part is that there are so many other parts that deserve mentioning! Mark of Athena is easily my favorite book of the series so far, but I am eagerly anticipating House of Hades or its follower to surpass it.

Mark of Athena

Rick Riordan predicted that there would be disgruntled readers starting around October 3rd. It's October 3rd, and here I am. Not disgruntled, though. Try deliriously happy.

...Well, okay. There's a little bit of disgruntled too. Needless to say, SPOILERS will be flying from this point on, so consider yourself warned!

Seeing as I am living at home and have three siblings concurrently reading this book, there's not a lot I can say or do without setting someone off. As the sibling who has finished the book, I am a dangerous liability. Anything I say or do could give something away. Literally. If I look at someone the wrong way, they are likely to burst into tears, claiming that I spoiled something.

And, okay, they have a solid reason for thinking that I might. I have to admit that my record isn't all that good when it comes to keeping secrets. What can I say? I get so excited when I finish something spectacular that I want to share it with everyone! I have this awful need to talk about everything: the good, the bad, the absolutely painful. I never mean to spoil anything, but...let's just say it happens sometimes.

So. The solution? Ha ha, blogging. I'm not expecting a ton of people to even see this, but it gives me the opportunity to get things out of my system without causing World War III in the Haddock home.

SPOILERS. For real, this time.

Am I disgruntled? Yes. But not in an angry, throw-the-book-across-the-room kind of way. (Ha ha, though I did slam it shut when I finished, but that was more out of excitement than anything else.) Funnily enough to anyone who has actually finished this book, the thing that disgruntles me most is the army of Romans gearing up to attack Camp Half-Blood. I know, right? Of all the things that happened, particularly that cliffhanger ending, that's the part that gets me upset? Let's just say I have a hyperactive sense of fairness and the Romans attacking the Greeks is so NOT fair. Oh, sure, I understand their reasons. But if Octavian has the power to work the Romans up into this kind of a frenzy, shouldn't Reyna have the same ability to calm them down? Not without risking her position, I know, but still. She's praetor. Octavian isn't. She should be able to do something. Something that doesn't involve unfairly attacking the Greeks while their leaders are on the other side of the world. And I want Octavian to get his comeuppance, too. He spent most of the book annoying me, though some of Percy's best moments were prompted by acts and words of idiocy from the Roman auger. Percy dumping him into the harbor in Charleston was easily in my top ten favorite scenes from MoA, and not only because Octavian was humiliated.

And that's a perfect lead-in to the deliriously happy.

Three words, my demigod friends: Percy and Annabeth.

The central focus of both TLH and SoN was getting Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase back together. Jason, Piper, and Leo didn't even know who Percy was, but their quest in TLH to free Hera (and Jason's personal quest to get his memories back) was the first step in figuring out what happened to Percy, even though they didn't know it at first. It was hidden deep in the background, but it was there. SoN brought that goal into sharp relief with the return of Percy as a narrator. Again, we were distracted by a seemingly random quest and the introduction of new characters with new problems, but Percy's drive to recover the fifth cohort's standard came from his desire to get back to Annabeth--even though he could barely remember her.

MoA starts out from Annabeth's perspective (finally!) and Rick apologizes to his rabid fans for SoN's truly agonizing cliffhanger by getting straight to their reunion. I'm going to be brutally honest here: it was kind of a let down...at first. Rick's not a romance writer by any stretch of the imagination (and we wouldn't want him to be!) so Annabeth's thoughts when seeing Percy for the first time feel a little forced. But any misgivings I had about my favorite demigod couple were quickly erased when, after a long-anticipated kiss, Annabeth judo-throws Percy to the ground in a release of pent up frustration and worry. Percy can only laugh at this, probably because he wouldn't have expected anything else from Annabeth. She helps him up and, just like that, we know everything is back to normal. Pure brilliance. So perfect and in character that everything I spent the past year imagining pales in comparison.

And their relationship just got better and better. I won't go into detail about any more of their scenes here, but it was perfect. After MoA's cliffhanger ending, which also happened to be one of the most touching and heartbreaking things I have ever read, I don't see how anyone could come out of that book NOT invested in Percy and Annabeth.

I really can't help it. I've got to talk about Percy's "budding bromance" with Jason. I went into MoA with my fingers crossed, hoping that the two camp leaders would get along but afraid that there would be trouble (and for good reason too, after the scene of the two of them locked in battle was released as the cover for the book!). While in New Rome, things seemed to be headed in the right direction. Percy and Jason bonded over a shared distaste for Octavian and everything looked like it was going to be butterflies and rainbows until a hoodwinked Leo opened fire on Camp Jupiter, cutting negotiations short before they could really begin. That's when the tension between the seven started to show.

With a son of Jupiter and a son of Poseidon, there's going to be more than a little tension. And that's not just because one is Roman and one is Greek. Zeus and Poseidon (or Jupiter and Neptune, if you will) are brothers, but they are also rivals. Jason and Percy were both more accustomed to leading rather than being led, and bringing them together was bound to have consequences. At one point they both tried to sit in the seat at the head of the table and spent a few minutes locked in a staring contest. Fortunately, both boys had the sense of mind to surrender the seat to Annabeth, who had been acting as leader up until they made it to Camp Jupiter. Percy and Jason spent a lot of time working around each other and staying out of each other's way. Fortunately, their rivalry stems more out of their individual desire to prove that they are useful than out of any real negative feelings. It isn't long before they're forced to work together, and in summoning up the mother of all hurricanes with Percy's control of the ocean and Jason's control of the skies, they realize just how strong they are when they do.

Can I just say again how brilliant Rick is? The easy thing to do in this book would be to make the seven get along unnaturally well throughout or to make them butt heads most of the time. And, okay, Frank and Leo spent a lot of time butting heads. But let's not forget that Frank was also the first of the seven to give Leo the benefit of the doubt when he couldn't explain why he'd started firing on Camp Jupiter. NONE of these characters was one-dimensional. They each came across as their own complex, realistic person, and with seven of them to juggle, that's no easy feat. The seven started out willing to trust each other because of shared alliances and experiences. Then they met some hiccups and speed bumps that caused plenty of tension and even dislike. But they worked through that and came out on the other side, able to work as a team. They understood that they were stronger as a team.

Maybe that's what I liked most about this book: these characters worked through their problems rather than letting them sit and stew. Some people might say that the issues were resolved a little too easily, but that's not something that bothers me. In a book like this, I would rather see the heroes dealing with their problems and coming out of them in better shape than they were before, and all the better if it's done realistically, which I think Rick has pulled off. Percy and Jason learn how to work together. Frank and Leo are attracted to the same girl--not only that, but Leo's special talent is one that could snuff out Frank's life in a heartbeat. Long story short, they're both scared of each other, though neither lets it show. Despite this, they learn how to trust each other by the end of the book. Better yet, Leo comes out of it maybe a little better at dealing with people.

Leo's story was another one that almost broke my heart. He's easily my favorite of the five new demigods we met in this series, probably because he's the most like Percy (though as my sister said, Leo is far crazier than Percy). My heart just goes out to him--how determined he is to do the right thing and take care of the people around him, even when he's inherited his dad's inability to handle living things. The poor guy is a seventh wheel in MoA. Gaea spends most of her time working on his insecurities about dealing with people by telling him how he will never truly fit in with the rest of them. She has a point, at least from the couple viewpoint--the other six are paired off. But one thing I admire about Leo is that he refused to be brainwashed by Gaea's lies. Gaea says "walk away"; Leo says "I'm gonna face-plant you, lady." Gaea says "you're a seventh wheel"; Leo says "this is my family." He's clear-sighted when it comes to her manipulations, and I just LOVE that. That being said, he doesn't always see the truth right away. He spent a good portion of the book troubled about being that seventh wheel, wondering if he's going to fit in any more than just being the mechanic. I was so happy that he was able to see past Gaea's lies to the truth: they all care about him, not about his Hephaestus powers.

I think that's far and away enough for now. I haven't even scratched the surface here. I could go on and on about Piper and Jason, or better yet, Piper, Jason, and Reyna. I'm rooting for Piper and Jason, truthfully, but I'm also rooting for Reyna here. I want her to see that things CAN go right for her. I want her to be happy. I could wax lyrical about my love for Coach Hedge and his musical quirks. (Singing the Pokemon theme song, only using "kill" instead of "catch?" I died!) I could give any number of theories about what's in store for Hazel in the next book, House of Hades. But I think I'm going to have to stop here. It's time to get dinner ready. I'll be compiling that list of top ten favorite scenes in the near future, though.

Loved it.

And At Last...

...I'm coming home! What an adventure this has been. But since my brain has replaced the word "home" with "hotel," I think it's about time I returned to good old America. I'll see you all soon!

Disneyland Paris

I went there. I loved it. I was relieved beyond belief that my cast member comp tickets from 2010 actually worked. :)

I have this sneaking suspicion that the foreign parks have better shows because they aren't restrained by certain safety laws. Not that I'm complaining about safety laws. I did a little research before coming to Paris and found out that the big rollercoasters here (Big Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain) are supposed to be some of the best in the Disney Parks and I have to say--I might agree. Big Thunder is built on an island, but you board on the mainland. The train takes you under the water twice! And Space Mountain shoots you forward fast now, like you're blasting off. SM was a little too jerky for me, but it was still fun. They also have an Indiana Jones rollercoaster that goes upside down. It was fun. :)

Walked through the castle, took lots of pictures, saw a Tarzan show that was absolutely AMAZING (tumble monkeys!), and watched the 20th Anniversary Parade. Which blew my mind. Loved seeing Merlin and the Blue Fairy, who don't get out in the parks much.

We're doing the other park tomorrow, on our last day of this amazing summer. More from me then!

I Marathon My Way Through Paris

No kidding, either. We pretty much covered central Paris in one day. And our timing was actually pretty good! We started with a lovely walk through the bowels of the city: the catacombs. We got in line an hour before it opened which ended up being a really good idea because fifteen minutes later the line was four times as long and still growing! The catacombs are much deeper under Paris than the metro is, and they are actually quite extensive. They only let you walk through a small part. The first half of our tour was through a bunch of old passageways made of stone. There were exhibits here and there that talked about what the land was like billions of years ago. Then we entered the ossuary. I don't know the specifics, but I do know that they needed a place to put all of the bones when people were dying of the plague, so they decided to pile them up in the old catacombs. The ossuary is a giant mass grave where bones are piled on top of each other. As my friend put it, the whole time you're walking through thinking "this is really cool! ...I'm totally creeped out... I like this! ...No, I don't like this..." It was creepy and fascinating at the same time. I couldn't even guess at how many bones were down there. Millions of skeletons at least. It was crazy.

We got out of the catacombs on schedule and decided to take a look at Paris from the sky: our next stop was Notre Dame. Again we waited for about an hour, but then we got into the North Tower and climbed a bajillion steps up to the top. It was really cool. The gargoyles are awesome and the view is fantastic! We also got to see the biggest bell in the cathedral: it's called Emmanuel. Apparently, back in the day, there were twenty-some bells in Notre Dame. Now, howver, there are only eleven. We have French revolutionaries to thank for that. They took ALL of the bells down. The eleven we have today are all replacements. We heared them chiming on the hour a couple of times.

We went inside after coming back down, and it is definitely beautiful. They let you take pictures as long as your flash is off, but they ask you not to talk so that you don't disturb the worshipers while you're there. The stained glass is beautiful and so is the organ. I loved it. And I have to say, Disney did a fabulous job portraying it in their Hunchback movie. 

We had expected a longer wait for Notre Dame, so we were delighted to have enough time to visit the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Eiffel Tower, all in quick succession. We didn't go inside the Louvre, but we took pictures outside of it. It was fun. :) I think this is the first day that my camera has actually run out of batteries--we did a lot and took a lot more pictures than usual. I also ate two crepes today, and they were both incredibly delicious. 

And now we're turning in. It's not quite seven, but our feet are exhausted and we have an even bigger day tomorrow: Disneyland Paris! 

I'll check in with you all after that. :)

I Set A New Personal Record

I have never, EVER been so exhausted, and that includes when I was jetlagged. I think the reason is just that in addition to a great deal of physical stress, I've been feeling a considerable amount of mental stress just worrying about getting to Paris safely. Well, we made it, and we didn't get lost or anything.

Let me give you the abbreviated tour through my day: I spent sixteen hours traveling or waiting to travel, staring at 4:00 this morning and ending at 10:00 tonight. I was worried about luggage weight right up to the very last, but I got in with 19 kgs, which is just under 44 pounds (the limit over here on small planes). Our plane was delayed for a little bit. I slept a lot en route. I realized that I'm not very comfortable being in a country where people speak a language I don't understand. :) I felt a little bit lost when I was trying to understand the train station. I worried that we wouldn't get to our hotel until after dark (but we just made it!). I lugged my suitcase and two carry-ons onto a train and on two different metro lines and up several staircases before finding the hotel. My poor hands are developing blisters.

And yet, Heavenly Father has been with me all day. Even though I was nervous and stressed, he heard my prayers and his Spirit was with us as we traveled. I feel so incredibly blessed to have made it to my hotel without any horrendous mishaps (I'm so good at imagining worst-case scenarios...). I cannot say enough how much he has helped me today.

Well, my whirlwind tour of Paris starts tomorrow, so I need to get to sleep. I have wifi in my hotel now, so I'll be able to contact all of you for the rest of the trip! I'll be back tomorrow with stories of the catacombs and Notre Dame, among several other famous landmarks. Good night!

Edinburgh and Glasgow

Well, I spent the last two days in a hostel in the middle of Edinburgh (pronounced eh-din-burr-uh). Apparently they have this yearly festival called the Fringe where a bunch of artsy people get together and put on various plays and comedy routines and stuff. It's almost impossible to walk down High Street this time of year because you're bombarded by people trying to get you to come to their shows and handing out flyers. Not my favorite thing in the world, but we managed somehow. We got into Edinburgh Friday around four and were given two hours to wander around before going out to a big group dinner at some fancy restaurant that the trip payed for. I was sitting across from our coach driver and spent the majority of the time asking him questions about where he's been (he travels all of Europe with his coach, taking people around). He doesn't get holidays off ever, so he has to spend time with his family late in September and early in March. I also managed to ask him a few questions about the royal family and what they actually do. Contrary to my uneducated assumptions, they don't just sit around being fabulously wealthy. They still have the ultimate power over what happens in the country (though parliament can check them if they feel it necessary) and they make the important decisions (or the Prime Minister does it for them). Also, the Queen apparently started a ton of companies over the years and was at one point making about 30 pounds per second. Yuck. I also learned that England does NOT want her son Charles to be king (something about how he treated Diana? I think they loved her a lot over here), so the Queen is planning on abdicating and nominating her grandson Will for the crown. After that, parliament votes and then the country votes (and common consensus is that they'll all vote yes--they love Will as much as they loved Diana). I thought this was all very interesting. What time was  not spent in conversation was spent watching Michael Phelps win his swimming races by coming up from behind in the last 50 meters. He was behind six people when he turned around and then all of a sudden he had the gold medal.

O.O

And on that note, I'll stop rambling about royal families and the Olympics and tell you about edinburgh. It's beautiful. It's like Rohan and Gondor combined. There's a giant castle in the center of the city on a rock that sits above everything else. The rest of the city is built into and around the surrounding landscape, so you could be in the center of the city but have a mountain two streets away. It's really cool. We spent most of our time in Edinburgh window shopping and wandering down streets. Alexis and I found a street where her ancestors owned a shop and she got to take a lot of pictures there. We also found another cathedral and just sat in it for a few minutes. Another find? The Elephant Cafe. It's the place where JKR created Harry Potter on the corner of a napkin. She was dirt poor and would buy a coffee and drink it really slowly so she could just sit inside. I didn't eat there, but my friends did. I took plenty of pictures, though.

Saturday night, we finished up our trip with one final show: the Edinburgh Royal Military Tattoo. Oh my goodness, it was amazing, especially for a band nerd like myself. Tere was a lot of marching and a lot of bagpipes and even some traditional dancing. I took videos of most of it because it was just too cool. The highlights, though? USA's military european band doing a medley of superhero songs, the fireworks accompanied by live music, the exhileration of hearinga hundred pipers accompanied by drums, the Norwegians marching like nobody's business, the drum corps with the drums that lit up when you hit them, and last but not least, hearing a selection of music from Brave and then being told that the composer, Patrick Doyle, was in the audience with us that night. He also composed the music for Harry Potter 4! The tattoo was amazing and I would come back during the Fringe again if it meant being able to see it again too.

Today? We went to church in Edinburgh and attended at YSA sunday school class with a bunch of Scottish boys and one African boy who looked like Wayne Brady. It was like being in a high school sunday school class again. Then we had a wonderful Relief Society lesson on Charity. After church, we took a brief trip to Loch Lomond before heading to Glasgow, which is where I am now. And I'm sad to say that this concludes the British Isles portion of my adventure. Tomorrow we all fly out--most of us to the US, but four of us to Paris. I'm excited (and a little bit nervous) about the rest of this trip, but I have to say that I am going to miss this place, and especially the people I've seen it with. I'm sad to leave it behind, but I'm also really excited to come home. And to go to Disneyland. :)

This is me, signing out from GB for the last time, guys! It's been amazing.

I Completely Disregard My Common Sense About Germs

I would like to take this moment to say that I have reached a milestone in my existance: I got my picture taken while frolicking through a field of heather. Words can't express how happy this made me.

We had a lovely, rural day in the Highlands of Scotland. We went to Culloden Battlefield and walked around where the Jacobites tried to fight for their freedom and failed miserably. The ground was spongy and covered with heather. I can imagine how hard it must have been to try to run across that terrain while carrying heavy weapons.

After the battlefield, we went into a national park where we got out and hiked up a mountain and through even more fields of heather. We got up pretty high and had some beautiful views. I haven't seen Brave yet, but I imagine that what we saw was similar to what they put in that movie. The whole hhike helped me to realize what I think Scotland reminds me of : Yellowstone. We drove along curving roads that were lined with evergreens or winding through giant hills. I even saw some elk-like animals with huge horns! At the top of our hike, we stopped at a crystal clear, bubbling stream. We took lots of pictures, and then I did something I would NEVER do, EVER. I drank the water.

I shudder just thinking about it. I don't know what got into me. But it tasted good. :)

We finished off the day by watching a real-life shepherd show us how he trains his little sheep dog puppies. He had seven or eight dogs running around herding sheep, and we found out later that he had six even younger puppies too! It was really interesting. He talked about how he and his family were one of only two left in the area who knew how to herd sheep when there used to be sixty. Since they supply the meat for most of Britain, this is a real problem. He works all day, every day, with his wife and three kids to run his farm. All of the animals are incredibly docile--the sheep came running up to us, hoping to get petted or fed. So part two of my germ-ridden day was that I actually petted a lamb for a little bit. I felt really gross afterwards and sanitized my hands twice before I got home, where I washed them too. I'm not big on the "let's pet farm animals" thing, but that little lamb was awfully cute. One thing that was interesting about the whole thing was that this shepherd was anti-environmentalist. It was an interesting change from the norm.

It was a beautiful day! We leave Inverness tomorrow for the penultimate stop on our British tour: Edinburgh.

I Distract Myself From A Crisis By Talking About Ridiculous Things

Said crisis is why I didn't blog last night. It is also impossible for me to do anything more about it until 9:00 this morning (it is 7:32 right now), so I will fill the time with a little blogging.

We drove for nine hours yesterday. But we made several fun stops in the middle, so it wasn't terrible. Plus we watched How To Train Your Dragon for the first two hours, which is a solid start to any road trip, but especially to one through Scotland.

Scotland is beautiful. I've said that about every place I've been, but I think I really love Scotland the most. It's a lot of stone and deep hues like evergreen and navy and black. What a drive! There was always something to look at, so we were never bored. I had fun watching the plants and trying to figure out which ones were heather. I still don't know! I should probably look it up.

Now for the ridiculous things! The second one is really cool, but the first is not: I had to pay to use a bathroom yesterday. Europe is big on conservation and maybe they really do need to conserve water and paper with how little space they have for so many people, but come on. You can't help having to go to the bathroom. It's cruel and unusual to force someone to hold it just because they don't have any spare change on them. I wonder if they'd prefer it if people did what they do in Paris and just go to the bathroom wherever they like, such as in the metro, simply because they don't want to pay. I'm told that Paris smells really bad.

But that's my personal feeling on the matter. On to the other cool thing: we were at the head of Loch Ness at the time! We drove all the way around Loch Ness and got out of the coach in a couple of places to take pictures. No sign of Nessie, but supposedly it has to be hot and sunny for her to show up. I got to touch the water in one spot and it's really cold.

Have some facts about Loch Ness that our coach driver told us:
It's the biggest lake in Great Britain. It's not very wide, but it's about 23 miles long and really deep. All the other lakes in GB could fit inside of it. After about five meters, the water turns pitch black because of all the silt that comes in from the seven rivers that empty into it, so you can't see anything below those five meters. Very recently they discovered a huge cavern underneath Loch Ness that runs the entire length of the Loch. (Convenient, no? This is where they think whatever's down there has been hiding.) For the size of the loch and the volume of the water it holds, the number of fish that live in  it is ssignificantly lower than it should be. I don't know if that's related to the level of silt in the water or if it means something's eating all the fish (which is what the locals want you to believe). And finally, they have a series of gates in one of the rivers that allow them to get boats into and out of the loch by controlling the level of the water between each gate. in 1967, the gate closest to Loch Ness was damaged by something underwater overnight.  


They think that whatever is down there is around 100 meters long, but they've never gotten a clear look at it, so there's no real way of knowing. What do I think? Well, I know one theory is that they found a colony of giant squid living in Loch Ness a few years back. On hot days they come up to the surface and sometimes even break it with their tentacles, looking suspiciously like the head and neck of a large underwater dinosaur. But considering our lack of knowledge when it comes to what lives in the deepest parts of the ocean, I would like to think that there could be something there that we don't know about yet. Still, there's no doubt that most of the hype has been just that: hype, made up by people who want to believe.  Or get attention. 


Anyway, Loch Ness was amazing! I had a lot of fun and took lots of pictures.

Now I REALLY Make Some Random Comparisons!

I meant to do this in the last post and completely forgot. SO. Yesterday when we were driving through the Lake District, one of the girls asked me if it reminded me of Minnesota because of all the lakes. I looked at the rocky mountainous hills and said no. First of all, there are far more lakes in MN than we saw at the Lake District. Secondly, our hills are softer and more rolling. If anything, the Lake District reminds me of West Virginia because of the Appalachian-like mountains with the really winding roads and trees everywhere. But the area around Preston DOES remind me of MN. It had rolling farmlands with patches of trees every so often. For anyone who's interested, I'm told that Ireland is a lot like Oregan with the green everywhere and the trees and bushes and wet weather.

Also, if the Irish were Airbenders and the English were Earthbenders, then the Scotish were Waterbenders. Making America Republic City (ha ha, because we broke away from the Earth Kingdom and formed our own little melting pot). I'm...going to go now. :)

I Make Some Random Comparisons

We are officially in Scotland! We spent two nights in Ambleside (in the Lake District) and then set off this morning on a beautiful four-hour drive north. Yesterday we spent the morning visiting famous literary sites in the Lake District: Dove Cottage, the home of William Wordsworth and his family, and Beatrix Potter's farm house. William Wordsworth's home looks out on a beautiful vista of lakes and mountains, which apparently inspired him when he was writing his poems. We drove past the little two bedroom building that WW was born in on our way to Dove Cottage: it was a two-story broom cubboard built on a bridge. Apparently WW's father was trying to avoid being taxed by any counties by building his house on a bridge over the river that split the two counties. Instead, he ended up bing taxed by both! Beatrix Potter's farmhouse has beautiful gardens and a cute little paddock where they keep sheep and rabbits. Also, if you look closely into the garden you can just see Peter Rabbit's ears poking out of the greenery!  It was very fun. I learned that Beatrix Potter also did all of her own illustrations. They had her books open to certain pages by every window, and if you looked closely you could see that the illustration in the book matched the view from the window! We spent the rest of the day watching gymnastics and swimming and synchronized diving. :) Too bad for our men's gymnastics team, but I feel worse for the Ukrainians, who thought they were going to get a medal for all of five minutes. Also, the BBC could learn a few things about Olympic coverage from NBC. 

Our one stop today was Stirling Castle in Stirling, Scotland. It was basically the seat of power in Scotland, set exactly halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh. It's kind of like the Rock of Cashel in Ireland: set on a giant rock in the middle of the city where everyone can see it. It had a lot of great views and pretty rooms. Our tour guide had a broad Scotish accent, which was fun. Also they were having a bagpipe concert while we walked by, so I got to listen to a Scotish accent with a background of bagpipe music for a little bit. :) Also, the girl at the grocery store asked me if I wanted a "wee bag" for my groceries today. 

I love Scotland.

No, Really, Today Was Amazing!

We started out in Preston, where we went to church and sang a musical number we'd been preparing over the past few weeks. They celebrated the 175th anniversary of the Preston ward/branch this year. It is actually the longest running active branch of the church in operation today, since the churches started in America kept on moving until they hit Salt Lake. We went to the Preston temple and walked around the grounds before picking up the architect who designed it. He gave us a tour around Preston, pointing out the various church history sites. We saw the apartment the first missionaries lived in (it's shut down and boarded up now, but it's still there!), the site of the first church meetinghouse, which was a place for rooster fights before the church bought it, the plaza where the missionaries preached to crowds of around 3,000 people, and the river where the first baptisms were performed. We also got to see the apartment where President Hinckley stayed when he was first a missionary. At the end of it all, our guide told us the story of how they managed to build a temple in Preston when there was significant opposition in the government and the community at the time. The story was amazing! I knew it was a story my family would want to hear and I was lucky to remember that I had a voice recorder shortly after he started telling it. I missed the opening minute or so, but I still managed to get most of it. We then enjoyed the beautiful drive from Preston up to the Lake District. We'll be in Ambleside tonight and tomorrow and then we're headed for Scotland! One week left of the British Isles and then it's off to Paris before heading home. I'm definitely ready to come back home. I think the Olympics happening while I'm here has accelerated this--all they talk about is Team GB, and rightly so, but I must confess I'm more interested in the American athletes. Plus it'll be nice to not have to use converters to plug everything in and it will REALLY nice to have water fountains and water in the toilets again! But I'm still looking forward to Scotland and especially to Paris and Disneyland! More tomorrow!

Liverpool, the Olympics, and...the Beatles?

Yesterday we wandered around the Liverpool docks! It...was actually kind of depressing. We went to the Maritime Museum where there was a huge exhibit about the Titanic, the Lucitania, and the other passenger ship that sank at about the same time. They had a list of all the passengers that was color-coded accordng to who survived and who did not. It was quite sad. But what got me the most was the little plaque about the eight musicians who died because they were trying to keep everyone calm for as long as possible. When you're standing there, looking at the plaque, the speakers are playing "Nearer My God To Thee." I had to get out pretty quick. As my friend says, it's important to know what happened but not to dwell on it, but some things are really hard for me to think about. We were then entertained by a walk through "The Beatles Story," where I probably doubled my knowledge of the Beatles (not hard, as I didn't know much) and then got harrassed for my lack of interest in the subject by some of my traveling companions. If I had known that it was a crime to go to England without a thorough understanding and love of the Beatles I would have brushed up on them before coming over here. :) The rest of the day was walking around the docks and taking pictures and going out to eat as a group at a buffet where everything served was spicy. You'd think I'd have realized that when I saw the name of the restaurant: Red Hot. It was delicious, but a little too spicy for my tastes. So then we watched the Olympic Opening Ceremony. There was a lot of cheering coming from our room during the athlete's entrance into the stadium, particularly during the Team USA entrance. I enjoyed Kenneth Brannaugh's performance and the forging of the olympic rings in the middle of the stadium. I also rather enjoyed an army of Mary Poppins's beating off Voldemort (???) and the lighting of the torch. But my favorite part of the night was Mr. Bean crashing the London Symphony Orchestra playing Chariots of Fire. I watched on BBC, of course, so they had nothing but praise for the "extremely British" opening ceremony, but I read later on that many people were confused and had trouble following. It was certainly different (and at times a little awkward) but it was still pretty cool. It's interesting watching the events in GB because the focus is so often on Team GB. Of course, they're also pretty good about following Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte. (Speaking of which, WHAT a disappointment for Michael Phelps today! US still got gold, but he should have at least PLACED!). In other news, I'm feeling incredibly patriotic again. :) Go Team USA!

If Music Be The Food Of Love, Play On!

We're celebrating Shakespeare today in Stratford-upon-Avon! We saw the house where his wife grew up and then the one where he was born. His wife's house was surrounded by a beautiful garden with flowers of all kinds and colors! The floors in that house are stone, which was unusual for the time. They were laid down by Anne's grandfather, so we were walking on the same floors that Shakespeare himself walked on when he was courting Anne. At Shakespeare's childhood home, we walked around and listened to stories from the guides. I learned that the beds were all so short because people slept in the sitting position to protect their souls from the devil. Children slept in their parents's room until they were able to pass the "candle" test, meaning they were able to carry a candle all the way around the house in the dark without setting anything on fire. They were also in the habit of dressing their young sons like girls until they passed this test because it was well known that the devil was only interested in little boys. Fun stuff. The best part about Shakespeare's childhood home was the actors in the garden. A boy and a girl were acting out various famous scenes from Shakespeare. When we showed up, they were doing the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, and they then proceeded to regale us with Beatrice and Benedick from "Much Ado About Nothing," a scene from "MacBeth," one from "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Hamlet's famous soliloquy, Richard III's big opening speech, and a fun little scene from "The Taming of the Shrew." These guys were amazing! You would shout out a scene or a play and they would jump right into it, acting it out flawlessly. We had a lot of fun watching them, and we got a pretty extensive tour through Shakespeare's major plays! My favorite Shakespeare play is "Twelfth Night," and that was sadly lacking from our mini-performance this afternoon, but that's okay because we're going to see the whole play tonight at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. I'm massively excited about this. Unfortunately, I know already that I won't have internet tomorrow night, barring any unforseen miracles, so I'll have to report on our Liverpool exploits at a later date. Saturday we go to Preston fro two days before heading up to Scotland! I only have a week and a couple of days before this whole thing is over! Time has certainly flown by.

Goodbye London, Hello Hogwarts! ...Sort Of

So London didn't want us to leave. At least, that's what I'm going to tell myself for the rest of my life. We were checked out of our Kensington flats around 9:30, expecting to board a new coach and leave by 10:00, but London had other ideas. The Olympic hype has kicked up several notches, and with the sudden appearance of summer weather last week, the tube has had to shut down a line or two when it gets too hot. And then there are the sheer numbers of people! Every train that passes is packed full; you're lucky if you can squeeze into the door, let alone find a seat! And the roads are extra crowded because they've turned all the bus lanes into "Olympic" lanes and forced all the buses and taxis into the normal lanes. So our coach got sideswiped en route to us and lost a mirror. We were waiting until almost 11:00 for him to get a replacement mirror attached somehow before picking us up, and then we had to brave the inching traffic on our way out. We were all sitting around outside with our suitcases and backpacks, but it was nice because Alexis and I had time to run past the crepe restaurant Dad recommended and to buy a couple cookies from Ben's Cookies. Our new coach is nice and big and (thankfully) doesn't smell like cigarette smoke like our last one did. Our driver lived in Inverness for several years and has grandchildren in the area that he is excited to visit while we're there. At this point I realize I have made an egregious error in that I completely forgot to mention that we saw The Lion King Broadway last night! It blew me away, though they cut a few songs and a few dance numbers and added a dance number in the middle of "Be Prepared." Rafiki and Mufasa were the stand out performances vocally and the puppetry was absolutely mind-blowing. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast wasn't quite up to snuff, and Rafiki was the only one who could authentically pull off the clicks found in African languages. Simba's only big number is supposed to end with this soaring, hopeful note that is easily my favorite musical moment on the whole soundtrack, but they cut it out almost completely. The pit was goosebump-raising and they had one of the boxes filled with the African drums needed for the performance. I have been wondering if the cuts and changes were made to appease a British audience as opposed to an American one. This is one show that makes good use of all the space available to them, including the aisles in the audience and the boxes on either side of the stage. I think I'm going to have to see it in America now. So, coming back to today, I was in an understandably Disney mood so I put in my headphones and napped for an hour and a half while we drove to Oxford. Our first stop was at the Oxford University Press, where we learned about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary. I spent some time looking up words on their online database and came across something rather cool. My name comes from a flower that grows mostly in Scotland. There are a lot of different kinds of heather, and one of them is called lyng. Heather-lyng, Heather Lynn. :) Also, "set the heather on fire" means to make a disturbance and "take to the heather" means to become an outlaw. I had a little too much Next we took a walking tour around Oxford. Our guide showed us a ton of different buildings and told us plenty of stories about famous people who have attended Oxford over the years. He also took pleasure in telling us about all of the riots that happened between the students and the villagers, especially how much the street was covered in blood. I saw the room where Halley discovered Halley's Comet and I walked over the top of a library filled with eleven million books.  But the best part? Many of the Harry Potter movies filmed scenes at Oxford. I walked around in the courtyard where Harry tells Cedric about the dragons in Goblet of Fire (and stood under the tree that Malfoy was randomly sitting in during the scene!) and I walked up and down a staircase that they used for several other scenes throughout the series. We also saw the dining room that they were considering using for the Great Hall but eventually decided against because it was too small. It had four long tables going along the length of the room and one long one up front on a raised platform. And to finish it all off, we saw the room where they filmed all of the infirmary scenes! I'm going to have to watch these movies again when I get back. :) Well, I can't post this tonight because of the lack of internet that plagues me now that we're on the road again, but I'll have this up as soon as possible. We had a fun day!

I'm Alive!

I've had another week of London since the last time I posted, but it has been a rather unfortunate one: I got a cold! A bug has been going around the girls and I was one of the lucky few who caught it, despite my efforts not to. So that means that most of the last week was spent recuperating and trying to breathe. Fortunately, this cold came when everyone else went to Paris, so while I did miss out on some more London time, I didn't have to worry about being in class while I was sick or about missing out on group trips like some of the other girls had to do. And honestly? I still got out of the flat at least once a day to go see things or follow Marie around while she shopped. I consider myself incredibly blessed. So...Here's the quick notes version of what I've done this past week: -Walked by West Ham Football Stadium -Talked to some missionaries in South Ham (one was frrom St. George and the other was foreign) -Went with Marie to the Primark again so she could buy more clothes--she really appreciated the discounted prices. -Attended an evensong service in St. Pauls Cathedral (it's a prayer service they do every evening that is half singing and half sermon/prayer.) -Saw Dark Knight Rises, again because Marie desperately needed to go and wasn't allowed to go alone. I will say that I enjoyed the movie, despite the purseful of tissues I had to bring along. -Toured Westminster Abbey and saw Handel's grave in Poet's Corner. It was BEAUTIFUL. Easily my favorite thing to do in London so far! -Ate duck for the first time in Chinatown. It was delicious! -Saw the giant Olympics countdown clock in Trafalgar Square -Climbed all over the giant lions in Trafalgar Square I love London. I know I said this on Facebook, but London may be my favorite place in the entire world, barring, of course, Disney Parks. London is beautiful.

Adventure Is Out There!

Wednesday! Or, as I like to call it, yesterday. We went to the Tower of London! Toured the grounds, saw some torture chambers, took pictures of some ravens and some ancient Roman walls, and stared at the crown jewels. (Of course, I was thinking of Sherlock the whole time, imagining Moriarty breaking into the case!) There is a legend that if the ravens ever leave the Tower of London, then England will fall, so they always make sure that they have at least six on the property. We saw some in cages, but was saw a great deal more around the grounds. Ravens are big. And fuzzy. We learned more about the two princes that Richard III supposedly killed and we walked around looking at old armor and fake animals like horses and elephants. The rest of the group left for Paris shortly after the tower, so Marie and I set out on our own little adventure: navigating the tube and buses to locations we'd never been before. Our tube cards only work in the innermost two of London's six zones, so we had to use buses anywhere we traveled outside of Central London. The destination was the Who Shop, located inconveniently in Zone 3. Miraculously, we got on a bus that took us to a giant bus stop like the one at University Mall, where we were able to locate the exact bus we wanted and get there safely. I would like to take this moment to say that I had my picture taken with a real, life-sized Dalek yesterday. It was completely awesome. Marie wanted to go to a store some of the other girls had found on Oxford Street that sold clothes and shoes for cheap, so we hunted that out too and spent two hours walking around looking at stuff. I am now of the opinion that US department stores grossly overprice everything, as first Penney's in Dublin and now Primark here in London has sold their merchandise for significantly smaller prices. (I'm talking 3 pounds for a purse and 5-6 for a shirt. translate that into dollars and it's still cheaper than most of the clothing and accessories you find in America's department stores! No word yet on whether quality suffers because of the price, though. And now we're up to today, which I have spent doing more hoework and ctching up on my blog. I'll do my best to update again tonight, after I've actually done some stuff. :)

I Stalk A Young British Barbershop Quartet...Among Other Things

Tuesday, was it? Yes, Tuesday was a rather significant day for me, first because it was the morning I woke up with a sore throat. A lot of girls have been sick this past week but since I don't live with any of them, I had hoped I'd be able to avoid this mini-plague. Unfortunately, that was not to be. However, this cold has been riddled with miracles! Somehow I had the forethought to bring my last few alka seltzer cold tablets when I was packing for this trip, so they have provided me with a great deal of relief. But second, and perhpas the more significant, I'm not miserable with this cold. I had a day and a half of a sore throat and I've had to blow my nose a lot, but the misery that normally accompanies such colds has been completely absent. Hopefully I'm not speaking too soon here, but things could have been a lot worse! Anyway, Tuesday. It was our last real day of classes and once we were done we went as a group to St. Pauls Cathedral. It is THE cathedral of London (meaning the center of the church in London) and also the second biggest naturally built dome in the world. The first is St. Peters in Rome and the third is the Capitol building in Washington DC! I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside, but it was a beautiful building. These cathedrals are typically built in the shape of a cross, with the altar in the east, pointing towards Jerusalem. We were given a tour of the main floor of the cathedral and the crypt beneath it, where several prominent people are buried, including the man who built the cathedral, Christopher Wren. Next to his tomb is a slab of stone that someone found on the beach years ago. It had Wren's symbol etched on it, meaning that he'd chosen that stone specifically for use in the building of St. Pauls, but they ended up not needing it and the stone was abandoned and lost. Now it sits in the cathedral, as close to Wren's grave as possible. I thought it was a pretty cool story. As far east as you can get in the cathedral, there is a little chapel. After World War II, the English dedicated that chapel to the 28,000 American soldiers who died fighting with the English. There is a giant book in which the name of every fallen American is written (it was open to the "G's" while we were there) and the three stained glass windows depict the state emblems for all fifty staes. I found Utah's emblem with the beehive, but I couldn't find Minnesota's and not for a lack of trying! Our tour guide pointed out a carved rocketship that was cleverly hidden behind some floral carvings in this little chapel. He said it was made by an Englishman who had such faith in America and its space program that he put the carving there to commemorate their putting a man into space long before we actually achieved it. I don't know how true that story is, but I saw the rocket for myself! Sitting in this little chapel that the English had dedicated to our war heroes was very touching. But the absolute best part of St. Pauls was climbing to the top of the dome. Well, the climb itself wasn't that great, but being at the top was amazing! 250 steps took us up to the whisper gallery, which is the lowest point on the dome. This is a little walkway around the dome's interior where you can hear whisperes from the otherside of the vast room. It's also open onto the main floor of the cathedral, so you can see the people wandering around on the floor below you. From there it's a series of increasingly smaller and narrower staircases until you reach the second landing, which is outside the dome. You can see much of London from here, though it is surrounded by a high stone wall to keep anyone from falling off. And from there, it's another ten spiral staircases that take up up to the very top of the dome. Before going outside, there is a little window in the floor through which you can look and see the floor of the cathedral. It was so far down that I got a little bit dizzy, even though there was no way I could fall through. Then you go outside and get a breathtaking bird's eye view of London and the Thames. Add this to the growing list of places in London where I would stay forever if I could. Words really don't do this building justice. It was homework time after St. Pauls, and my roommates and I spent a few hours finishing up assignments and papers before we headed out yet again, this time for the Globe Theatre. We spent the evening enjoying Shakespeare the way it would have been performed in his day, at the reproduction of his theater. The Globe is pretty cool, and we had seats around the edge of the theater, so we didn't have to stand for two-and-a-half hours, which was nice, but the seats weren't all that comfortable so it was hard to enjoy the play. They had a traditional band playing traditional music and they had men playing all of the women, and when it started to rain on the people who were standing, I was grateful for my seat even if I did have a numb behind. The play we saw was Richard III, who is mostly known in history for being the most likely culprit in the disappearance and murder of his two nephews, both of which stood between him and the crown. No one knows who really killed them, but their bodies were found at the Tower of London a few years ago, and Richard III was most certainly the one responsible for locking them in the tower. But more on that later! We left the Globe and headed out across the Millenium bridge, which is just as cool at night as it is during the day, towards the tube station. Most of the theater-goers were using the station behind St Pauls, but we returned to the station we had come from, which was a little to the right. It wasn't long before I realized that we were following this group of guys that were all dressed to the nines and carrying suitcases. A little after that, they started singing in perfect barbershop harmony as they walked to their train. I will be the first to say that I pulled out my camera and filmeed as much as i could. They easily had some of the best unaltered voices I have ever heard. And that...was Tuesday!

Heather's Playing Catch-Up

I've been sadly behind in the blogging this week, but in my defense, I've been running a little ragged. We had our second (and also last) week of classes and there were papers to write and required sites to visit and rampant colds to fight off, but most of the rest of the group has gone off to their weekend in Paris now, so I'm left with some time to myself at last! So, without further ado, here's Heather's week so far. Monday. Classes were cancelled, so we decided to try and fit in as many things that we hadn't done yet as we could. Of course, it was windy and raining (and my umbrella turned inside out!) so this translated into two things, and only one of them outside. In the morning we went to the Victoria and Albert museum. I thought this was going to be a museum entirely about Victoria and Albert, so I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was infact a collection of treasures and paintings from around the world. They have a gallery with huge Raphael originals, several statue galleries containing statues I've studied over the years, a glass gallery with lots of mirrors and crystals, and a recreation of a Tudor-style music room that looks like it was plucked out of whatever home it had been in before and insereted into the museum. There was a whole lot more than these things, though--ancient wooden spiral stairways that would probably break if you tried to walk on them, huuge galleries of art and treasures from China, Japan, Korea, and India, and an exhibit on fashion through the ages that had lots of cool dresses. My favorite part? Learning how to tie a cravat and singing songs from the Scarlet Pimpernel with Alexis while doing so. Second favorite part would have to be the chairs in the museum's foyer. They're like tops. You sit on them and then you roll around in circles on them. We had entirely too much fun. Second stop of the day was to the one and only Tower Bridge! The olympic rings are currently hanging from the bridge in honor of the games starting up next week. We walked across it twice and took some fabulous pictures. We sealed the deal with fish and chips and ice cream before heading home to call it a night. For FHE we had a crepe party and I ate nutella on my crepe. Have I mentioned my sudden love of nutella? I don't know where it came from; I didn't even like it when I had it in the States, but it's different now. Maybe it's because nutella was all I had to put on my toast when we were living in hotel after hotel after hotel. I don't know. MOre to come, more to come! ("I said brief, not infinitesimal!")

I Ride A Coach Around Kent

We spent thirteen hours on the road yesterday, visiting various important and significant sites that are outside the range of London's tube or buses. A two-and-a-half hour drive took us to Battle. Battle is this little town built on the ancient battlefield of the Battle of Hastings. We walked around the fields and hills where the Normans, under the leadership of William the Conqueror, defeated the English troops and killed King Harold. English gained a lot of its "almost synonyms" because of this--basically it assimilated thousands of French words because the Normans were in charge. Years later they built an abbey on it, and we got to walk around in the stone ruins. We detoured down to Dover to get a brief glimpse of the white cliffs from our bus. The cliffs are white because of the chalky composition of the rocks, and they served as a landmark for fighter planes during the World Wars. The pilots knew that once they saw the white cliffs, they were safe. They're very beautiful, but the best way to see them is from the actual ocean, so we didn't get the best pictures. There's a nice big castle in Dover too, high up on the hill. This too we only saw from the bus, but we had a long way to go and a pretty important destination: Canterbury Cathedral! The Archbishop of Canterbury has always been a significant position in the Church of England and there is a magnificent Cathedral right in the middle of the town. Canterbury is something of a pilgrimage site because Thomas Becket, a devout archbishop who fought for the rights of the church, was martyred there. King Henry II made some offhand comment to his knights about the archbishop running mad, and they took ths as a call to arms and rode off to Canterbury to take care of the problem. Thomas Becket was declared a saint almost on the spot and Henry II, who definitely hadn't wanted his friend dead, was forced by the pope to pay for indirectly casuing the smartyrdom. The cathedral is beautiful, and we were allowed to take pictures this time, so I got plenty on the hone camera. Especially of the stained glass windows. And the high ceilings! There really isn't anything like these cathedrals in the states; they're so beautiful and old! And today? Well, today we mostly wandered around Kensington. We found Portobello Road! That's...about it. It occurs to me that this was a bit of a boring ost, but it's a true one nonetheless. :)

Tower of Terror in London

I forgot to say that we almost very nearly died today. Exaggeration, yes, but we were still scared and a little bit panicked. Long story short, we got stuck in an elevator with a large Spanish family at the museum. It started rising, stopped abruptly, then bounced like the Tower of Terror, and when I say bounced, I mean it fell about a foot before some kind of emergency lock kicked in. And then the calm British recording announced that the lift was out of service while we all exchanged looks of shock and horror. Fortunately Alexis and I kept our heads enough to try to fix things. The elevator somehow returned to the previous stop and let us off, at which point I realized I was shaking rather violently. The poor Spanish mother collapsed against the wall in relief. Have I mentioned before that lifts here don't have weight limits? I may never use one in Europe again. That sort of thing isonly fun at WDW. So I am grateful to be alive. :)

And My Kitty Died and My Pants Won't Stay Buttoned...

I thank my dad's family for teaching me that no matter how bad things get, things can still always get worse. That's kinda the day it's been, though there were some good things too. We went to the British Library and the British Museum and saw a lot of really old things--manuscripts, styli, helmets, music. OH, the music collection at the library! I got to see Handel's copy of the Messiah, along with some Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, and Ravel's Bolero! I think I spent more time at the music exhibit than anywhere else at the library! I did also get to see some original manuscripts from books I cherish: the Hobbit, Winnie the Pooh, and Harry Potter. There was a lot of walking and a lot of smoke in the air, but the bright side was that we were around King's Cross Station the whole time, so we went to get our pictures taken at Platform 9 3/4 (yes, you CAN do that, but it's not technically where it should be. You have to pay to actually get on the platforms, so they came up with a way to satisfy the Harry Potter fans by putting the entrance right outside the ticket barriers. I got the picture. Of course, immediately following that I dropped my camera on the ground and now it's broken. The trip's barely half over, and we haven't even hit the big things in London yet. Kinda put a damper on my day, though I'm trying really hard to be grrateful that all the pictures are still on the card and I still have the phone to take pictures with. It still stinks. Dispirited, I came home to find that my toothpaste was gone. Our rooms were cleaned today, and whoever was wiping things down forgot to put it back. Needless to say, I'm not having the best day. I think I shall go read for the rest of the evening to get my mind off of things. Sorry for the downer post. We're going to Canturbery tomorrow! It's another cathedral, at last! I think the white cliffs of Dover are on the agenda too. :)

One Short Day in the Emerald City

Fortunately, July 11 is an easy one. I did laundrey. I went to Wicked. It was everything I hoped it would be (though I did not cry like I did in Les Mis.) The end. (P.S. Elphie and Galinda are as much fun as Watson and Holmes or Jean Valjean and Javert. I love their personalities so much! Yeah, it was fabulous.)

I Do Things Joe Would Want To Do... Without Him... Again

This happened once before, when I was at WDW on Joe's birthday. I celebrated by doing all of the things that I thought he would most like to do. But seeing as he doesn't really care for WDW, it was no big. This time, I got to the end of the day and realized that I'd spent it entirely doing things that he would want to do if he were here. So, I hereby dedicate July 10 in honor of Joe. Here's how it all went down. After class we hopped on the tube and headed for the Sherlock Holmes Pub for lunch, where we had fish and chips (surprise, surprise, right? Actually, Joe doesn't like fish, so he can ignore that last part.). We then trucked on over to 221b Baker Street and spent some time in the company of Sherlock himself. Well, in his gift shop, anyway. I got a picture of the plaque over the door. There's a museum there now, and you can go in for 6 pounds, but seeing as none of us are truly die-hard Sherlock fans, we opted out. (You know, I say that, but then I remember my love for BBC's Sherlock and Detective Conan...I guess you could call me a fan by association? I like Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law as Holmes and Watson...heck, I love a good bromance more than a lot of other things. Sorry. Anyway...) I got Joe (and another roommate!) souvenirs and we walked around Baker Street for a while longer (found a Chipotle, of all things) and then headed back home. But the day was only half done at this point. At 6:00 we headed out, dressed pretty spiffily if I say so myself, and headed off to the Queen's Theater, where we spent the evening watching Les Miserables. (That was the point where I realized I'd done "Joe-stuff" all day.) Holy Goodness, it was incredible. On principle, any man who is able to sing Jean Valjean, and do it well, is pretty much a hero in my book. The cast was as good as you would expect for a West End production. Let me here have a moment of silence in honor of Javert's bass, which I felt resonating inside of myself. By far, my favorite scene was the confrontation between Javert and Jean Valjean at Fantene's death bed. The actors had fabulous chemistry and the entire scene was electrifying. I would go back and watch just this one scene again if I could. For a show that translates roughly to "The Miserable," there is actually an incredibly bright message of hope, redemption, forgiveness, and love. The love of God can change our hearts and help us to learn how to be more like Him, and a life of trying to love and show mercy will be rewarded in the end. As Fantene the Angel puts it right at the end, "to love another person is to see the face of God." But enough of that. I know I went on and on about Les Mis, but it truly was a highlight of the trip, and my thoughts are a little scatterbrained at the moment (secondhand smoke headache right here. Thanks, Europe!) More updates coming soon! This was for July 10, so I obviously have a couple more days to cover.

London Bridge is Falling Down...

My apologies for the lack of updates these past few days! I have two excuses: first, for some reason I've been falling asleep around 8:00 pm and have therefore lost precious blogging time. And second, a couple of negative things happened this past week (one hilarious after the fact and the other decidedly NOT) and it has taken me a little time to get my emotions back under control. In an effort not to offend anyone, I won't go into any more detail than that here. Just know that I am okay and that Heavenly Father has everything well in hand. (I noticed in church how certain other experiences this past week had been directly leading up the the larger one and that I had been well prepared to handle it when the time came. And immediately after realizing this, we had a Sunday School lesson on how sometimes our trials are meant to prepare us and so we just have to have faith because we never know what Heavenly Father will be able to use to teach us later on. It was a good Sunday.) So! Where was I last? Saturday? Not much to say there. We went to the National Portrait Gallery and learned a lot about English history. I will say that it is interesting to look at things like the Revolutionary War and the World Wars from another country's perspective. It amuses me how solemn and matter-of-fact the British are about the "American Declaration of Independence" when in the States we're decidedly more enthusiastic about our country's birth. We had other plans for Saturday that were unfortunately thwarted by circumstances beyond our control, so we finished off the week with a grocery store visit. As mentioned above, Church on Sunday was amazing, though there were easily as many local Americans there as there were English. We had a leisurely day that mostly involved walking up to and around Kensington Gardens. It's beautiful! Kind of reminds me of the Gardens at Thanksgiving Point. We saw Kesington Palace, a lake filled with swans, a double rainbow, dogs of all shapes and sizes, beautiful flowers, some Italian-style fountains, some gorgeous views, and a statue of Peter Pan. All in all, it was quite serene and enjoyable. That leaves us with today, I suppose! Classes, as usual, followed by a visit to the Imperial War Museum. I think I can say with certainty now that I don't much care for War Museums, though I understand why we have them. I just don't think that I need the constant reminders of how horrible people can be to each other. There was an extensive and thorough Holocaust exhibit that you couldn't go through if you were under 14. It was a very heavy visit, to say the least, and we all felt the need to lighten things up when we left. ...So we flagged down a doubledecker and hopped a ride to the Millennium Bridge. This was our first time on a doubledecker, and we got seats at the top right in front. I have decided that I very much like public transportation in London. When you're not being crowded by people, the tube and the buses all feel a little bit like Disneyland rides. (Random side note: the tube is expecting a million extra passengers per day during the Olympics. Sheesh!) Now, the Millennium Bridge. It's the pedestrian bridge that the death eaters destroy in the Half-Blood Prince movie. And it's awesome. From there we walked to London Bridge and too more pictures, then took the tube to Big Ben for a friend who hadn't seen it yet. I also got a few London postcards. Here's a recommendation to everyone to check out the trailer for Rise of the Guardians. It's Dreamworks's next movie, coming out in November. I think it's going to be amazing, but my interest could stem from Jack Frost's design and dialogue reminding me a lot of Hiccup. Go watch!