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!

Buckingham and Big Ben

I can't imagine what it would be like to be the Queen of England and to have my home on display two months of every year. Granted, we weren't taken to the part where she actually lived (obviously), but still, most of the palace is in use most of the year, unlike alot of the other places we visited. Buckingham Palace is huge. There's an overall "white and gold" theme to the place, which certainly looks impressive. The place has something like 170 rooms, with an additional 78 bathrooms. We were taken through the state apartments where business is usually conducted. Highlights: -Green, Blue, and White themed drrawing rooms. -Balconies that overlook the extensive (and beautiful) gardens. -A music room! Andrew Lloyd Webber composed the Queen's song for her Diamond Jubilee, which made me laugh because I was just thinking about Phantom of the Opera yesterday. -There are two painting galleries and one marble statue gallery. IIt reminded me of Pemberley, actually. -I saw lots and lots and lots of diamonds. -The queen enters the white drawing room through this hidden passage behind a mirror. It was cracked open just slightly so we could see into it! I know I've joked about secret tunnels a lot, but that's exactly what it was. :) Once we got out of the tour, we had some time (read: 3 hours) before class was due to start so we decided to make our stay in London official and head over to Big Ben. We were already technically in Westminster, so it was a simple matter of hopping on the tube fore a two-stop ride. Big Ben is attached to the Parliament House, so we fllowed the signs to the subway exit that would lead us there. I think my brain was still stuck on "Wesminster" because the abbey was what I thought I was seeing when we came up the stairs. Once I remembered that we were supposed to be looking at the Houses of Parliament, I pivoted slowly, following the top of the building until I realized: we were standing right at the foot of Big Ben. It was one of those moments that I wish I could somehow capture and save. I knew Big Ben was the goal but I'd forgotten in my excitement, so realizing that we'd walked up the subway stairs with Big Ben literally right behind us was electrifying! I took a lot of pictures. After that we hunted down Westminster Abbey (not too hard--it's right next door, actuaally) and took some more pictures. We didn't go in today, but I am required to visit it for one of my classes, so I'll be back. My classes are kind of stressing me out, but I think it's going to be fine. One of my professors is very organized and easily understood. The other is a little scatterbrained and harder to decipher. I love them both for very different reasons, but I think I will have an easier time in the class that's organized. That sums up my day! Hope the drive went well, family!

Unfortunately, The Phantom of the Opera is NOT Here

If I'd been smart, though, I would have been where he is right now! Ah, well. Of the musicals we were offered, Phantom was the only one I could say I'd seen within the last two years, if at all. Les Miserables is another of my favorites, and as I've only seen it once, when I was very young, I couldn't resist the offer of discounted tickets to see it in London. In addition, I'll be seeing both Wicked and The Lion King while I'm here, so I think my broadway plate is full. (We got amazing group rates. I think the Wicked ticket was only 15 pounds!) We started classes today, and this will occupy most of my mornings for the rest of the next three weeks. We don't even get Saturdays off! But three weeks isn't a lot of time to cram six credits into, so I understand. We have class (and church!) in the Hyde Park Chapel/Visitor's Center. It's a beautiful building built into the middle of one of the busiest pedestrian roads in the world. Exhibition Road was hit hard during one of the air raids during World War II, and the church was able to find land to build one of its London buildings because of this. This made me think of the Provo Tabernacle burning down and the church turning it into a temple. It was rededicated this last week after undergoing extensive reservations to convert part of the building into a Visitor's Center for investigators. I spent some time today talking with the sister missionaries who are stationed there, most of them fairly new into the mission field. Classes did not go smoothly! My first class is at 9:00 in the morning (Varieties of English), but there is supposed to be one at 8:00 for the girls in another class. Unfortunately, the rooms we needed were locked and we had to improvise. They spent so much time trying to find a room that the 8:00 class didn't get to meet and my 9:00 class had only five minutes of instruction time. I have another class at 10:00 with the other director (History of English). I am grateful to have all of my classes in a block. This makes time for doing other things like exploring and riding the subway! We went and bought our oyster cards after class and now I have unlimited access to almost all of London through the subway and all of it on the buses. I just have to tap my card on a scanner and it lets me in! We then set out on an adventure: seeing if we could correctly navigate the subway system without getting lost. I am pleased to tell you that we made it to our destination, but it was by the skin of our teeth and a lot of luck! As opposed to DC, where you have seven or eight different subway lines, each with one final destination at each end, the various lines here in London splinter off to several different destinations. So you could be on the right line but the wrong train. The train we got onto splintered into five different destinations (and the map that I had gotten at the airport didn't make that clear!) so we did a little train hopping and searching for platforms. But all ended up well, and I think I've got it down now! Have I mentioned that I love subways? Navigating through them today was as much fun as touring the castles in Ireland and Wales! Our object in figuring out the subways (besides the fun of it and the necessity of learning it) was the tracking down of a most elusive target: the TARDIS. (That's Time And Relative Demensions In Space, for anyone out of the loop. :) ) As there wasn't enough time at the end of all our errands and chores to do much sightseeing, we decided to get this one out of the way so that we would be able to spend our longer days at some of the more famous sights (Westminster Abbey, anyone?) And we were successful! Right outside of the Earl's Gate Station, there's a big blue police box that the government put there in the 1990s in an effort to bring them back into use as a security device. That plan apparently fell through, but they left the box there for poor saps like me to take pictures with. A mother was passing with her little girl while we were there, and I saw her do a double take and stop right in front of it. She knelt down next to her daughter and said "Look! There's the TARDIS!" It was so cute! Anyway, photo with the TARDIS? Check! I'll rather shamefully admit that I didn't want to leave it, but we had to in order to get Alexis to Phantom in time. Tomorrow is a rather special day for us. Buckingham Palace is usually only open to visitors in August and September, but because of the Olympics it's opening early and we're touring it tomorrow! Of course, this means that I'll be sitting in class all afternoon, but I'm willing to do that. Maybe after class I'll go visit Baker's Street. Or maybe I'll do some homework. That's probably the better idea. On that note, to bed! II wish you all safe travels and sweet dreams. :)

Happy Independence Day!

"And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free..."

This song has become something of an inside joke for us since one of the girls pointed out that "where" is grammatically incorrect as it doesn't agree with "American." This is what I get for going on a study abroad with a bunch of English Language students! (Coincidentally, my friend Alexis and I realized that this is our song because of this line: from the lakes of Minnesota to the hills of Tennessee... :)

So, July the Fourth (or as I've titled it this year, the Fourth Day of my Celebration of American Independence...in Britain!) We got on the bus this morning and Nigel promptly wished us a happy Independence Day. When someone (read: Heather) cheekily said "you too!" he laughed and replied that England was relieved to get rid of us. And so our day was off to a great start! We had one stop today, and it was Windsor Palace! Kind of like that other summer home for the royal family. We spent four hours touring the grounds, watching the changing of the guard, walking through the palace itself, and finding a nice little place for lunch in the city of Windsor. I took great pleasure in watching the guard pace very ceremoniously back and forth. The fife and drum "band" was fun to watch/hear!

Our first stop in the palace was St. George's Chapel, and what a stop it was! I love these religious sites best of all and St. George's did not disappoint! Give me a moment to gush. Enormous stained glass windows. An organ with pipes that are painted in floral designs. Flying buttresses! A choir of stone angels, shown from the waist up and holding a long scroll, circles the entire congregation from about halfway up the walls. But the coolest part of all was in the actual "choir" (room at the front of the chapel). England has it's secret little society called the Order of the Garter (started by some cheeky king who had a crush on some girl who lost her garter at a ball--MYTH! Not fact. But the king was certainly cheeky! There are 24 knights in this order currently, along with the Queen and the Prince of Wales, and each of these knights has a little "shrine" in the choir. At the top is his banner, a "mannequin" head upon which sits his family's helm. A half drawn sword represents his willingness to serve the Queen at a moment's notice and his personal brass plaque sits on the wall underneath it all. There were several empty mannequin heads, indicating a knight who died without a successor of some kind. The woodwork in this room was exquisite--really defying all description. Fortunately I was able to find a postcard, since I wasn't allowed to take pictures! Plenty of English monarchs were buried in this chapel. At least, they have tombstones there. It's always a little sobering to walk where actual historical people are buried! (And it's totally cool, but I'm less inclined to admit that. :) )

The rest of the visit involved walking around the State Apartments and admiring the general splendor. One of England's Queen's (Anne, I think) had a dollhouse of Windsor Palace made that was easily ten feet tall. And it was for display only! We got to look at it and everything was quite beautiful, but I can't imagine having such a big thing around. It would completely fill the space in my living room! Queen Elizabeth II is celebrating her Diamond Jubilee this year (60 years of being queen) so we got to look at a photo gallery of her, then we headed into the State Apartments. Lots of beautiful rooms. The cool thing about Windsor Palace is that it looks like the other castles we've seen from the outside, but it's still in good repair inside! One of the few that are still active, I suppose. I'd like to take this moment to say that we walked through a room called the king's bedroom, but we were told that he didn't actually sleep there. He just held his daily "I'm waking up, come watch me do it!" parties there. And people would come watch the king "wake up." I can't imagine wanting to do such a thing.

So now we get to the best part of the day--maybe of the whole trip, I'm not sure--moving into a flat in London. I am in a basement flat with two other girls and we share a kitchen with four other girls in the flat nextdoor. I have a bed and two little nightstands and a nice big closet/dresser that will be mine for the next three weeks. I have a key for the outside door to our building and a key for my individual flat's door. We have a patio that we share with the neighbos too: a square of pavement with walls on all four sides and scaffolding up above. Not the greatest view of London, but I don't much care about that. What we DO have is the tube! We hear the subway passing by at regular intervals--it actually shakes our flat! I'm told this doesn't happen all night, just until the tube stops around midnight, but I'm certainly loving it right now!

Let me give you an idea of the neighborhood I have moved into. When we were driving up, Nigel said we were in a "swank" part of town. And I don't think truer words have ever been spoken! Sure there are a lot of student housing buildings for international studies, but most of it consists of flats, and apartments that are in pretty high demand. (Our Resident Life Manager, James, said that Our neighborhood is probably one of the most sought after living places in the world.

Have some figures.

The most recent apartment to be sold in this area went for 350 Million pounds.
People who rent around here do so at the rate of 20,000 pounds. Per week. (No, this is NOT what I'm paying!)
It's not a figure, but Kensington Gardens (and thus Kensington Palace) is literally right up the street? My new neighbors are Will and Kate! (Or at least the royal couple is moving there soon.) I think my jaw hit the floor. This little area is called Kensington at Chelsea. I've taken a little walk around the block, bought some groceries that weren't just bread and cheese (I have a refrigerator now!), found the Hyde Park Chapel where we'll be having classes starting tomorrow and church on Sundays (just a 10 minute walk away) and then returned home for our Fourth of July hot dog party. When the girls went to buy the hot dogs, the employees at the store didn't know what a hot dog was--they're called frankfurters here! We all convened in our kitchen, which is the biggest of the lot, and ate a "barbecue" of hot dogs, chips, fruit, soda, and red, white, and blue chocolate strawberries. We sang (sometimes only vaguely) patriotic songs together and watched a breathtaking fireworks display on youtube. And there was much dancing. Many of the girls have confessed to feeling more patriotic here than they ever have in their lives, maybe because we have to do it or no one will, for once. We have a great group. Tomorrow classes start and we get our Subway cards. And most of the girls are going to see Phantom of the Opera (which I did not sign up for because I've seen it recently, but I am now regretting that choice. Phantom is one of my very favorite musicals!) I'll get back to you with more then! Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

In Which Several Strange Things Are Mentioned

1. While driving through the English countryside I saw a field of what I thought was strangely lopsided cows. Each cow had its own little hovel and patch of land. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the animals were really pigs that were just the SIZE of cows. I knew they existed, but I had never seen one before, let a lone a field full of them.

2. We were sitting outside of Windsor Palace today waiting for our bus to show up. We were on benches in front of a crosswalk, so it was easy to peoplewatch. In the middle of my solitary observations, I noticed a fat black pidgeon walk up to the crosswalk, pause for a moment, and then cross the street with the handful of people who had been waiting to cross. It was quite amusing to see the fat little guy waddle his way across the road.

3. England is famous for the royal guards who must stand with a straight face, completely still(unless pacing), no matter what! We were walking through Windsor Palace and I happened to look out the window onto an empty courtyard with a solitary guard at the guardhouse. As I looked at him, I noticed that he was fiddling with his coat, thinking he was alone and out of sight. This may have been part of his "pace for a bit and then stand for a bit" routine which uses a lot of 90 degree knee lifts and flapping arms, but I was still amused.

4. I get the most fabulous looks when the breakfast waiters offer me tea or coffee and I politely refuse. Eyebrow twitches, double takes, you name it.

5.European Conservationism. Of course, I can't really speak for the rest of Europe, but the British Isles are astonishingly concerned about the environment. You pay money for your plastic grocery bags, the faucets and showers are all on timers and there is neither sight nor sound of paper towels for drying your hands. Most of the lights are on timers and every single outlet has a switch so you can turn the electricity off when you aren't using it. They seem to have a prejudice against regular drinking water because I've seen two drinking fountains total since coming here, and one of them was in an airport and the other was in our church building. In public parks? Nope. It's not like water is important to your survival or anything. But I think the gold medal goes to the hotel where we stayed in Bristol. In order to turn the lights on at all, you had to insert your room key into a special slot and leave it there. Without the key in this slot, you couldn't use electricity at all. I assume this was to ensure that you never left the lights on when you left the room, but I thought it was simultaneously ingenious and ridiculous. This same hotel only changed the sheets and towels every three days so that they didn't waste water washing unnecessarily. Seening all of this should inspire me to do my part to protect the enviroment and preserve our resources, but Europe's working so hard that I wonder if there is anything left for the rest of us to do. ;)

6. I heard this today: if you're driving alone, Hitler's driving with you! It was propaganda for conserving resources during World War II. I think it's a fabulous mental image. I will now go and type up my actual blog post for the day, and believe me, it's a bit of a doozy! I just felt the need to get all of this down first as I've been collecting these little tidbits of information since the trip began. I am leaving you all with this wonderful thought to ponder: imagine the irony of being an American in England on the Fourth of July. It's been quite a source of amusement.

I Stare At Some 3,000-Year-Old Rocks!

From Bristol to Salisbury to Chawton to Windsor. I am in the Manor Hotel, quite close to Heathrow Airport. We go to London tomorrow. (At least further into it!) For the first time I feel like time is flying by!  I think the reason the past two weeks have felt so long is because every day felt like two days packed into one. We'd ride the bus somewhere, get off and look around, get back on, ride it somewhere else and repeat. Since the bus is so relaxing, each new stop is like a new day! Apparently that will no longer be the case. :)

So our first stop today was the one and only Stonehenge! It's this big circular formation of standing rocks set up in two large circles, one within the other. Apparently the stones line up perfectly with the sun at the winter and summer solstices. They think it was built sometime between 3000 BC and 1500 BC, but that's about all that they know about it. All I know is that I grew up hearing about Stonehenge and seeing pictures and so this was a big moment for me. They don't let you walk right up to the rocks, but they have a path that you walk on that gets pretty close. That path goes all the way around! I took so many pictures of Stonehenge from so many different angles that when you scroll through them quickly it looks like the whole thing is rotating! Then there were a few with me in them, or of me and friends with Stonehenge. :) And now that it's over, I wish I could go back and stare at it for a few hours. And you could, too. This is another location with an audio tour, but we didn't get to hear most of it. They have a lot of theories about how these prehistoric civilizations built such a huge monument/temple, but I think my own theory is probably the correct one: they were earthbenders.

Our second and final stop of the day was at Chawton, where Jane Austen lived when she published all but one of her books. We toured around her house and wandered around the bookstore (I found three books that I wanted to buy for my sister but I resisted the temptation!) and then chased some sheep around in a neighboring field while the more literarily inclined of our group went on a tour of Jane's brother's manor, where some historic library is. The only had room for two people in the tour, so they took the English Lit majors. I was a little bit bummed because we skipped the Salisbury Cathedral to do things in Chawton. But it worked out in the end. Obviously we have wifi in The Manor Hotel! I also have my own room for the first time since this trip began. It's small, but I have a big bed and my own bathroom. As I have found in many buildings in The British Isles, this building is a maze. I filmed myself tying to find my way from the my room to the front of the hotel. You go up and down lots of little staircases. I love it! And I got sang to again today, and they bought a cake in honor of both my birthday and Dr. Eddington's which is today. Fun stuff, though it's a little mortifying to me to be the center of so much attention. :) The people on this trip are so amazing. :) That's that, guys! Unless something unexpected happens, I guess the next time I update will be from my flat in London.

July the 2nd (Or, Internet at Last!)

Well, so ends the second day of my Celebration of American Independence...in Britain! I have decided that the first five days in July will be marked by the wearing of very patriotic socks. Thus, five days of patriotic pride!

FINALLY I have Internet again, though it is limited to 30 minutes at a time in the lobby of our hotel in...Bristol! That's right, we crossed the border into England today! We were sad to say goodbye to Wales (it is truly beautiful there, and who doesn't love a country with a dragon on it's flag?) but we've been eager to get to England most of this trip. And now we're here! As far as birthdays go, I'd have to say this ranks pretty high, seeing as how I've wanted to come to the British Isles since High School. We woke up in Cardiff and were given an extra three hours to do some shopping, so I got a few postcards and a t-shirt. We then boarded the bus and headed off to England, where the first stop was in Bath.

I didn't realize how excited I was to see a real Roman Bath until we were there and I started recognizing things. They gave us each a little audio player and we walked around looking at displays and signs and listening to the explanations. I took a ton of pictures. The building was built over the ruins of the bath. The Romans chose this spot because there was a hot spring and they thought that was sacred. Apparently the spring is still active, though no one would want to bathe in the water now! There used to be a roof over the spring, but it has long since fallen. Now the water is green and full of unmentionable things. But it still steams and bubbles!

Highlights of the Roman Baths:
-recognizing the "hot" room from pictures in my Latin textbooks. It's a bunch of little pillars that held up a second floor so that the hot water could warm the room from underneath.
-purchasing a little gift for my brother in the gift shop :) I kept on finding things that I thought he would love because of the Latin involved (and we found Harry Potter written in Latin, which we started translating once in Latin class in high school!).
-this amazing fresco that's in pieces. The spring was dedicated to Minerva, but the face on the fresco was distinctly male. Of course, my first thought was that it was Neptune and sure enough, the audio explanation said that the sea god was probably the one represented. Then he proceeded to point out the little ornaments around the face of Neptune, the first of which was an owl, the symbol of Minerva (Athena, in Greece). Three guesses where my brain went then: Percy Jackson. This little invented allusion made my day. Needless to say I bought a postcard of the fresco for Michelle. :)
-drinking the spring water! Some of it is purified and since the Romans believed that drinking and bathing in the water would heal you, they now allow the guests to sample the spring water. It's hot and slightly sulfuric and not at all appetizing, but I did it!

After the baths we were given ample time to walk around Bath. I was unaware that Bath is a location that is significant to Jane Austen, but apparently she spent a lot of time there. Also, she seemed to hate it. We went to the Jane Austen center and walked around the shop and I found there a little gift for my sister! (and for an old roommate who happens to be fond of a certain Mr. Knightley... :) )

I had my birthday dinner in Bath in a restaurant called The Slug and Lettuce. You can cringe and squirm all you want, but the fact of the matter is that we were fed giant plates of quality food, all for half price because it happened to be Monday! (Apparently most Mondays they sell everything for half price.) I celebrated my birthday by eating fish and chips (the fish was Haddock for the first time!) and then a cheesecake with berries. Yum! What an amazing find. Once everyone got on the bus, one of the girls made me stand up and they all sang "you've got a birthday, shout hooray!" When they asked how old I was and I answered, I was met with the usual shock and awe. "Really?" "No, wait. Really?" "She looks nineteen!" :) And, now we're in Bristol! I only get thirty minutes to upload three blog posts, check email and Facebook, and catch up on other internetly things before I am again confined to the void that is no internet, so that is that! I love you all! Happy July!

My Last Day of Being 24

For the first time, I feel that I don't have much to say on the happenings of the day. We went to church in Cardiff, in a ward this time, rather than a branch. There was a significant difference in amount of people between Cork last week (was that only a week ago? It feels more like a month!) and Cardiff today, but both congregations were thankful to see their buildings so full. The bishop here and the branch president last week were both incredibly young; I'd say late twenties, early thirties for both. They were also very knowledgeable about the gospel and the doctrine. In Cork, the branch president conducted, gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting, AND taught Sunday School. I've already mentioned how small that tiny branch was, but the members were so humble and so faithful that it hardly seemed small. The same is true here in Cardiff, though the numbers are considerably larger. I am so impressed with these people who are so in the minority as far as religion is concerned yet they are so devoted to this gospel. How impressed and humbled I have been to be in the presence of such strong saints. On a similar note, one thing that struck me as we had testimony meeting was how very constant the church is. I'm halfway around the world and yet church meetings are being conducted in the same manner as they are back home. What a joy it is to know that the gospel is the same, and the church is mostly run the same way, no matter where you are in the world! There is so little uniformity in the world of religion that I consider this to be one of the biggest blessings (and testaments of the truthfulness of the gospel!) of all.

We went to St. Fagan's after church, which is a manor-like castle surrounded by a little village that kind of gives you an idea what life was like back in Medieval Wales. The setup was quite similar to Bunratty Castle in Ireland, though the castle itself was from a different time.  We wandered the grounds and gardens and found some wonderfully picturesque places to pose in. :) We found the little chapel where church services were held then, and I was struck by the similarity it held to the little church in which Mr. Collins gives his sermons in the more recent Pride and Prejudice movie. We had some fun there and I'm pretty sure Alexis got some interesting photos of me. :)

After St. Fagan's, we wandered Cardiff. Believe it or not, our bus driver took us on a surprise visit to the Millennium Centre so that we could all get pictures! I think I have around ten total of that building, but it's just so cool! Our directors are both very into BBC (or at least their wives are!) and so they were as happy with the surprise as we were. (Someone asked whether Doctor Who was fiction or non-fiction (obviously someone who's never seen the show!) and when our directors replied with the obvious answer, the bus driver immediately jumped in and said "Doctor Who's NOT fiction." :) )

Aside from that, our wandering took us to Cardiff Castle (it was closed, but we got some nice pictures from outside), which has been compared to Disney's castles. It may have even been a model for Cinderella's castle in WDW. Alexis saw a rat running along a wall outside of the castle, so we didn't venture too much closer. :) After the castle was the Millennium Stadium, where Rugby is played. And then back to the hotel. Still no internet, though I am hoping to rectify this as soon as possible. Plans have changed yet again for July 2! We are spending the morning in Cardiff so people can buy their souvenirs and then going straight to Bath where we will tour the Roman Bathhouse. Considering my interest in all things Roman, I am very happy with this plan. Plus it gives me time to find a postcard from Cardiff for Michelle.  More later!

From Cardiff With Love!

We spent the morning on our tiny little coach bus, driving from Bala to our first destination. It was the longest bus ride we've had thus far (usually it's around 40 minutes from one stop to the next--Wales really isn't that big--but this one was four hours long. I entertained myself by reading Pride and Prejudice the whole time. :) We visited another mine today, though this one was for coal rather than slate. Wales has three main resources: slate, water, and wool. Coal used to be on the list, but they've stopped mining for it because it's no longer profitable. If I have learned anything this week, it is that I am SO glad that I do not have to mine to survive. People did it because they had no other choice. If they didn't mine, they didn't get the benefits from the government that fed their families. And it wasn't just the men. Entire families had jobs down there. You went into it knowing that it was going to kill you too. Even if you were lucky enough not to be killed in some kind of accident, you eventually contracted black lung (coal dust on the lungs) and were dead by 30. But it kept your kids fed.  This mine was called Big Pit. When it closed down, all the workers up and left, so it is still pretty much in the condition that it was back then. Before going down they gave us each a hard hat and a headlamp, battery pack, and gas mask (though we didn't have to wear the gas mask--it was just there because it was on every miner's belt. Plus I think it's the law that you have to have one if you go down there.)

We all piled into an elevator and descended 300 feet. The whole time all I could think about was the Hunger Games and how Katniss's father died in an explosion in a coal mine. Cheerful thought, I know. This was the first and least severe of the many fears I faced in that mine: old elevators. Going down there reaffirmed something else for me: I can get claustrophobic, especially in spaces where I can't fit on all sides without touching the walls. The ceilings in the mine were low enough in places that I had to stoop down to walk through. Add to that the constant nagging thought that I was under several tons of earth and stone and would be crushed instantly if it all fell on me. This was much worse than the slate mines because it was small, cramped, and old. The slate mines were old, but the caverns were huge and the walkways easily passable. The worst part of the tour was in the lowest part of the mine, where they were actually cutting the coal out. The ceiling was too short for me to stand up straight in and the tour stopped for a few minutes to talk about the process of mining. (They used a giant chainsaw and put the broken pieces of coal onto a conveyor belt.) I don't know how men that were taller than me managed it, though it was possible that they spent much more time sitting down than I did. 

They actually kept horses down in the mine. We saw all of the stalls. These horses were in charge of pulling the carts. They were brought there when they were four months old and often never saw the sunlight again. Eventually the horses were granted a week's vacation once in their lifetimes, but they had to be gradually readjusted to sunlight after so long in the darkness and they put up a huge fight when they had to go back down. Speaking of darkness, it is pitch black down there. You turn out all the lights and you cannot see a thing. We were standing at a split in the road with a wooden door in one direction and a long corridor in the other. I was right next to the long dark corridor and it was making me nervous with the lights on. When we turned them all off to experience the darkness, I was supremely more uncomfortable than I would have been had I had four solid walls around me or had I been surrounded by people on all sides. I guess my fear of the dark intensifies when I know I'm not boxed in. When the mine was operating, The youngest child was left at the wooden gate in this blackness in order to open and shut it for the the mine carts. I can't even imagine being a small child left alone in the darkness.

There are still gases that they have to check for twice a day: methane at the top of every chamber and black gas at the bottom. You do so using an old fashioned lantern. If the flame turns blue and burns higher, there is methane. If the flame is smothered, there is black gas. But there has been so little coal left that the amount of gas is minimal. (And good thing, too! Our tour guide made sparks in the tunnel on purpose to show us how explosions happened!) Because of the gas, we weren't allowed to bring anything down there that ran on dry cell batteries. They confiscated phones, watches, and cameras (all of which I had on me) so that the dry cell batteries wouldn't create sparks. I don't think we were in any danger, but it's the law still when going down in the mines.

There were these delicate little white mushrooms growing all over the place. I thought they were spider egg sacs at first, but they had stalks connecting them to the walls and ceilings. They were creepy. And, last on my list of mentionable things about Big Pit, at the end of the tour we came to a divided road again and stopped to talk about questions. The guide pointed his light in the direction of the machinery down one of the hallways and I noticed that there was a mist on the floor. Of course this grabbed my attention (I love mysterious misty things), so I spent the rest of the time trying to see it again without the guide's light (mine was too dim). The next time that corridor was lit up, the mist was completely gone. Even now i think it's possible that I imagined the mist, but I don't know.

After the doom and gloom of Big Pit, we stopped briefly at an actual "fairy tale" castle, meaning some guy in the 1800s remade it so that it was more fairytale than defensive fort. It was beautiful! Being me, I was soon labeling rooms to fit into the various Disney princess stories. There was a long stairway that led to a bedroom over the kitchen that reminded me of Cinderella, a room with a spindle-like contraption for Sleeping Beauty, an endlessly tall tower for Rapunzel, and a couple of dungeons for Snow White's evil stepmother. I think I am addicted to spiral staircases. And castles.

And last, but certainly not least, we wound up in Cardiff. After checking into the hotel and getting all of our stuff situated, a handful of friends and I set out on the one thing I wanted to do in Cardiff more than anything else: find the Millennium Centre and take a dozen pictures. Let me explain the significance of this building to anyone who isn't a Whovian: The Doctor returns to Cardiff every now and again to "recharge" his space/time ship ("TARDIS") and whenever he's there, they inevitably show this sweeping shot of the Millennium Centre. I now have a picture in front of this building and I am quite pleased with myself. (ACTUALLY, Doctor Who is filmed mostly in Cardiff, so if you know where to look you can find a bunch of places that showed up in the series. I don't know where to look, unfortunately. But that's fine with me! The Millennium Centre was enough for now. :) )

 Tomorrow's church (in Cardiff! Sorry, I'm just really thrilled to be here. Besides the whole country of Ireland, this is the first major location that I've been waiting to see!) and then Monday's my birthday. Perhaps I will celebrate by getting fish and chips somewhere. I think our plan now is to go to Tintern Abbey on Monday, which is just fine with me, as I've loved the religious sites the very most so far. No internet tonight, sorry. I'll post this at the next available opportunity. Good night, all!