So here are just some snapshots of some things I've done inbetween all the big trips I've gone on:
[ Me, Brit, Mary on the Millennial Bridge ]
So one of my classes is a Culture in Community class and one of our assignments is to do these mapped out walks around London so we can soak up the city sights. This walk was the South of the Thames walk. The Thames kind of separates the city of London. Some of the major things south of the Thames is the Globe, the Tate Modern Museum, and Borough Market (best market ever). This bridge goes from the Tate Modern over to St. Pauls. If you are a Harry Potter fan, this bridge is the bridge that gets blown up in the high speed broom chase in number six.
[ Dorm 4 ladies]
So Valentines was on a Sunday this year so our house had a party to celebrate on the following Monday. As a part of the social committee I planned a little game for everyone to play. In order to get into the party you had to be wearing valentines colors. The game was everyone was assigned one half of a famous couple, it was taped to their back so they didn't know who it was. Everyone had to mingle and ask questions to figure out who they were and then to find their match. (ex. Shakespeare and Anne Hathoway) People got mad at me because apparently the couples I chose aren't well-known enough. I actually got yelled at by someone. It is because the first place prize was a gift card to the Hummingbird Bakery. After the game we decorated sugar cookies and watched a mushy mushy movie.
[ Kitchen Crew ]
So we are divided into groups of about six people and each group takes a week to help with kitchen duties. My kitchen crew is called the Marblearchers. We set up breakfast and help cook dinner and wash the dishes. That big shiny thing is called Hobart. He cleans the dishes for us and then we dry them and put them away. Most nights we jam and dance around to the radio while we clean up so it's actually really fun.
[ the crew at the YSA dance]
So we were forewarned that the Young Single Adult stake dances are the place to be. Nearly the entire group, that's about thirty five of us, got all dressed the impress (that's the theme) are marched into the cultural hall of the Hyde Park building. We made up more than half the crowd. The room was all decked out for valentines. We all boogied all night long.
[ me getting down ]
I got this dress for the dance in Camdentown. It is the punk rock part of town. They have a great market on the weekends. So much good food, especially the salt and pepper chicken from the chinese man. I got it in a little boutique. I was trying it on and picking out the color I wanted to get when the little asian lady that ran the place asked where I was from and I said the States and she dropped the price down ten pounds just cause I'm American. I made the sleeves out of tights.
[ St. Ausgustines ]
On one of our day trips we went out to St. Augustines which is an old abbey ruin. We also went out that way to Dover. The cliffs really are white. During WWII this huge tunnel system was built underneath Dover castle. It was used as a military headquarters. We took a tour of them. They are called the Secret War Tunnels. Ironic name huh. They have it all set up like it was still the 40s. Not going to lie it was a little bit creepy but still pretty cool to see.
[ me caitlin and two stiff dudes ]
This was on our day trip to the gorgeous Windsor Castle. We had a grand ole time walking around the grounds and looking in all the state apartments. They are all so fancy. Its a shame the queen is only there on the weekends.My favorite part was the giant dollhouse that is a perfect replica of the palace, with little mini minute details. I want one. That afternoon we got a quick bit to eat at the gourmet restaurant McDonalds. It's true, its so fancy in Europe. There are fresh tulips on every table. And that is where we found these handsome fellows.
[ Stratford-upon-Avon ]
On yet another daytrip we made our way out to Stratford-upon-Avon, birthplace and deathplace of good old Billy Shakespeare. We visited Anne Hathoway's house and Shakey's birthplace. The church pictured above is where he is buried. I give it one thumbs up. That night we went and saw the Royal Shakespeare Company perform King Lear at the Courtyard Theatre. I forgot to include that in my list of shows that I saw. It was really really good. We sat in this stool like seats way up high, but it was great cause then we could see down onto the stage and see how all the actors were choreographed. The story is about King Lear and how his poor actions eventually lead to his demise. The director did a really good job of portraying the destruction of the character of King Lear by having the set literally fall apart as things get worse and worse (walls fell apart and lights flickered and crashed). It was really cool, if you want to know more just ask, I wrote a paper on it.
[ me at London Fashion Week]
There is this private collection of art at the Sommerset House ( i think someone fancy lived there once) and Brit and I wanted to go see it) So one afternoon we walked out to it and it just so happened to be hosting London Fashion Week. We knew it was in town then but not where. We were walking up to the sommerset house and upon entering we were given a free tote bag full of goodies. There is a giant courtyard just as you walk in the gates and right in there a structure was built to house the runway. It was the middle of the day so there were no shows going on plus we didn't have passes to get into them anyway. We walked around and saw all the racks of clothes lined up and trendy fashion interns whizzing past us. It made me feel all fancy.
After desperately trying to look like we belonged, we went inside to see the collection. It was really quaint place with a big variety of work. The highlight of course was seeing the Folie Bergeres by Manet. I love that painting. I learned that day, through Brit, that it is more well known as the Woman at the Bar, but I had never heard that. But it was gorgeous.
[ heath walking]
Brit and I like to go on adventures. While most the girls go out shopping, Brit and I go adventuring, which usually results in a little shopping anyway. On one particular day we headed out to Hampstead (borough of London) and explored that part of town. It is a little commuter part of town just outside the central city. It was so cute and posh and I would move there in a heartbeat when I have a family. Right in the middle of town there's the heath. In the middle of this huge heath is the Kenwood house which was our main destination for the day. This fancy manor house out in the middle of a meadow came to fame for being used in a lot of films, for example its the house in Notting Hill when Anna is filming the Henry James movie. Everything on this trip seems to always relate back to Notting Hill, I wouldn't suggest watching that with me any time soon unless you want to hear Hey I've been there, or I totally know where that is, the whole time. Anyway we started hiking through the heath. We turned out to be very unprepared footwear wise; it was much muddier than expected. So we decided to just take our shoes off and have a therapeutic walk through the mud. Then we got lost and cold and didn't find the Kenwood house. A few weeks later we went there as a group and I wore boots that day.
[ The great hall ]
We got the mormon hook up. As a group we ventured out to Oxford and Roger just happens to know the the PR director for King's College is mormon. Well they all arranged this before hand, but the director gave us a private tour of the univerisity, including some behind the scenes things, including going into the library where I took a book (don't worry the sign on the shelf said i could). Then after that we went into the Great Hall where we were giving a "tea" service. PR man actually had it arranged so that we had tea pots of hot chocolate. Now you harry potter fans, this is the Great Hall. All those scenes are filmed here at Oxford, and just outside those doors is the main staircase, where in the first film they all waited to be sorted. Pretty sweet. After "tea" we had a BYU alum who's getting her masters at Oxford do a little Q & A for us. She made the whole British university system sound rather unappealing to me, it was really complicated. So I just daydreamed about Harry Potter.
[ aMAZEing]
On this particular day we went out to Blenheim palace. That is where the duke of Malborough. Winston Churchill was the grandson of the duke. The palace is huge and immensely decorated. There is a section otf the house dedicated to the Churchills, particularly Winston. We saw his bedroom which had a lock of his strawberry blonde hair framed on the wall. The best part of the palace was the grounds. They have so much land. After a walk through this huge meadow we found the hedge maze. We ended up getting there with about a half hour till we needed to get back onto the bus, so we figured that we could do a quick run through of the maze. We were running and then we made it to this puddle. Don't worry guys, I didn't get even a little bit wet.
[ Cameron, Brit, Calvin, Me, and Caitlin ]
One of my goals while here in England was to go see a football match. That goal was not realized, but I came close. So the biggest match while I've been here was Manchester United vs. AC Milan. The are a few things of significance about this game. First the Man U team has about half the England National team, including the great Wayne Rooney. Next, Beckham is on loan to AC Milan for the season, and Beckham started out playing for Man U back in the day so it was his return to the stadium. And lastly, not only is Beckham on loan to AC Milan, but Ronaldino is also. Anyway it was the game to see And since it was turns out the game was completely sold out. Bummed, I searched the internet for some way to see it. I found on the AC Milan website that if I sign up for their fanclub than I would get VIP tickets to their London party for the game. So i thought, close enough, and signed us all up to get tickets. The party was at this huge two story sports bar in the West End. We got to the building just as the game was starting and it was packed. We didn't think we would get in, but when we flashed our VIP tickets at the door they rushed us in and up the stairs to the real party. It was really fun. It was decorated and packed full of fans. There were games and prizes and free stuff. I got a burger from the bar and watched the game. It was a blast, minus the fact that the commentary was in Italian.
[ tea]
On this saturday Brit and I went on another adventure full of daintiness. We attempted to go to an antique market, but it was closed, then we went to finish going through the Wallace Collection. The Collection is in one of King Henry's ( I think VIII) houses in London. It has a a lot of Dutch artwork, including Fragonard's The Swing, which is a very dainty painting. Then we went back and walked through Kensington Gardens and on to palace grounds. Kensington Palace was the home of Princess Diana. On the grounds there is the Orangerie, which is the green house like tea room. We went in for brunch time tea. We ate croissants and tea and scones and a slice of Orangerie Cake. All very delicious and dainty.
[ waiting for camille ]
Our last big day trip was out to the town of Cambridge. Of course we started the day with Christ's Church College tour. I was particularly excited for this day because my BFF Camille is moving out to Cambridge for the summer. We went through the cathedral in the college and then we were released to explore the town. While still on college grounds I had to find Bodley Court, where Camille is going to be living. Above is me posing in front of Bodley Court and in two months Camille will take a similar picture and we'll photoshop them together and we'll be at Cambridge together.
