Why hello there—long time no see/read : )
I hope you’ve not been in TOO much turmoil at the lack of blogging from my end of the world.
But if you have been in distress DO NOT FEAR your suffering is at an end—here is an account of our 5th week in LONDON FREAKING ENGLAND {that’s the official name over here ;) }
Monday the 25th of October
Stephanie and I decided that we needed to go and explore—we just needed to walk and not care where we ended up and so….WE DID!
After we grabbed some flat white’s {my new favorite coffee drink ever} at one of the numerous Starbucks’—we walked towards the River Thames.
As we walked we suddenly started to realize HOW FREAKING CLOSE WE ARE TO EVERYTHING IN LONDON! We walked maybe 5 minutes and came upon Leister Square—which is the location of the official half price tickets {TKTS} booth AND the location where UK movie premieres take place AKA red carpet, stars, paparazzi, etc.
It was very chilly outside so we popped into one of the numerous souvenir shops and purchased a 2-pound scarf—yeah I know. Cute. Convenient. Warm.
As we turned the corner and made our way into the actual “Square” we came upon A FAIR! Yeah I know basically a country fair in the middle of London—including games where you could win large stuffed dogs AND bumper cars…
But our bliss in glittering frivolity was interrupted when we saw AND heard a group of screaming pre-teens girls…we got closer and they were all holding Justin Bieber signs…..as we got ever closer we all realized they were screaming “JUSTIN. JUSTIN. JUSTIN.”
Steph and I looked at each other and ran over like, “WHAT? Justin Bieber is in London?” But after about 3 minutes we asked one of the girls what was going on—and she informed us that all of the screaming was not FOR Justin BUT in petition for Justin to come tour in the UK…so we still don’t know if they were screaming at Justin’s agent or one of the producers from the radio station that they were outside of…I guess it will just remain a mystery.
But it is funny that for just a second we thought we’d seen iconic preteen sensation Justin Bieber
Stephanie had wanted to seen “Flashdance” ever since she’d heard it was in London…So we left the screaming Bieber fans and headed to the half price ticket booth and got tickets to see “Flashdance” for that evening.
We both agreed that in under an hour it had turned out to be a pretty excellent outing BUT we continued towards the Thames and came upon the National Gallery WHERE there was another crowd. However this time there was no screaming or flyers, no blonde girls covered in glitter yelling for Bieber…it was a street performer! {ha ha}
He was funny. Crazy. But funny. Kind of reminded me of the type of person you would pick out to play Dr. Jekyl/ Mr. Hyde…yeah. So we watched for probably 45 minutes as he screamed and embarrassed and made several crass joke WHILE contorting his body in such a way that he ended up rolling around on the pavement…legs behind his head, arms flaying about…yeah.
So after we watched “Showtime” {the ‘name’ of his street show which he had tattooed on his back} we walked towards Big Ben, but then decided to take a detour to Buckingham Palace and walked around some of the parks in the area.
It was such a nice day—chilly but I had my scarf so I was good—there were kids everywhere a lot of ducks—it was just nice to be out in London.
And my Mom and I had ventured through this same park when she came to visit me after I went to the France program in 2008—so it was fun for me to relive those memories.
After we inquired after the Queen {she wasn’t home} we decided to go and look for this chocolate shop Stephanie had heard about…they make a lot of the chocolate in house and it is super gourmet AKA super expensive
So we hopped on the Tube {I cannot express to you how much I love public transportation} and made our way to the Chocoholics dream shop. Truffles, dipped fruits in chocolate, chocolate bars, chocolates filled with anything from Earl Grey flavoring, pepper {yeah I know but it was awesome}, raspberry, pistachio, chocolate covered almonds and cashews…it was great! And it was a super cute shop!
So of course we had to indulge! Steph went a little crazier than I did {especially since I’m still on the ‘no-sugar’/ ‘no-white flour’ life style…and yes it’s still going strong after over a year and a half}
Let me just say that I got 3 or 4 pieces {can’t remember exactly} and it cost me 3.50 pounds…the exchange rate for the pound to the dollar right now is .60 GBP to 1 USD….you do the math.
But it was worth it! They were excellent. I mean I would not suggest buying a box for Christmas or anything but if you have that kind of cash to spend by all means! Feel free to buy me some too ;)
After our chocolate excursion we headed back to the flat to rest a bit before we went to FLASHDANCE!
Now I will not linger on this topic long…it was not the worst show. It was ok. The main girl was pretty good. The main guy I was like “why is he acting?” but then again he kept me interested so he must not be too bad…but ultimately what made Stephanie and I hate it the most of the amount of unnecessary scantily clad women! We were not having the excess of skin that was going on—so with our eyes closed we got through those scenes and finished out the show.
The dancing was GREAT. But by the end we were a bit disappointed that we’d chosen to see Flashdance…sigh.
Tuesday the 26th of October
Trip day!
But this day was a bit different because the place we were headed to, Hampton Court, could be reached by the train/underground system easily. So we did NOT have to wake up at 8 a.m. to catch a bus/coach PRAISE! But we got to sleep in and leave around 10.30.
Hampton Court is one of Henry VIII’s most famous hangouts. It’s a huge royal palace along the River Thames about 45 minutes out of London via train.
After we arrived, in the rain, we looked down at the scheduled events for the day and realized that if we hurried we could make the court dance lessons that were being taught in the dinning hall! So we picked up our skirts…well not really, but if we’d been in Henry’s day we would have…and rushed to begin our lessons.
Only four persons from our group—Stephanie, Mindy, Lauren Knight, and I—wanted to participate! So we made Travis hold all of our stuff, while he and some of the other students watched us dance!
It was simple, fun ‘line’ dancing, and my favorite part was where we had to ‘whinny’ like horses…oh yes and we stomped our feet and brought our fingers to our heads to make antlers…yeah they actually did this in court! Ha ha oh Henry the VIII so funny of you.
We continued to wander about Hampton Court, which was also a home and hangout to monarchs after Henry, and eventually made it to the cloak room where we found…yes. Cloaks.
All day we had seen these kids and adults wandering around with coats/cloaks on—and we assumed they were wearing them because they were a group or a school BUT once we arrived in the cloak room we realized that the cloaks were available TO ALL GUEST in an effort to make us more presentable for the court ;)
So we grabbed a couple of cloaks checked ourselves out in the mirrors and headed back out into the rain! Ha ha
After a bit more wandering and a neccisary trip to the gift shop ;) we headed out in search of lunch…it was almost 3 p.m. by this time!
We found a Pizza Express, which is an excellent pizza chain over here, and enjoyed ourselves, immensely.
Aside from my feet and shoes being absolutely SOAKED it was a wonderful day!
Wednesday the 27th of October…..
I cannot for the life of me remember what we did on this day…but I DO remember that I got a ‘new’ fan—our flat is on the 4th floor and gets pretty hot—so in my excitement I faced it full on towards my face right before I went to sleep…and there it stayed all night…so unfortunately I woke up with a sore throat. Blah.
Thursday the 28th of October
As I mentioned I woke up with a sore throat and I attributed it to the fan being on my face all night…so I drank some tea and hoped for the best.
The group was getting pumped for our afternoon excursion to Westminster Abbey! We were supposed to have gone earlier in the semester but because of a private ceremony taking place inside we were unable to visit…so needless to say we were all ready to experience the Abbey ;)
They provided free audio guides, which is always helpful, so we partook and basically all dispersed. I saw people occasionally on our wanderings through the Abbey, but for the most part I was ‘alone’ from the group to wander. Which was nice, however after I had puttered around for an hour or two I decided it was time to find some tea…my throat had gotten worse. So I went to the gift shop to wait for people.
Gift shops are usually a good place to convene…however no one came. So I bought a few post cards AND a book “ Brief lives of the English Monarchs”—we’ve all been determined to figure out this monarchy family tree thing and so with the purchase of this book and Stephanie’s huge poster of the line of king’s and queen’s I hope to become an expert or at least become unconfused.
I found a Starbucks {I’m not joking when I say they are on every corner} and a spot to sit while I waited for the time when we were supposed to meet back up as a group.
It was kind of surreal because I sat by one of the statues on the side of parliament Square, I think that is what it’s called, the little square with Big Ben, Westminster, and the Thames surrounding it…yeah I just sat there and watched the cars drive by…read a little bit about William the Conqueror until it was time to go.
By this time I had started to deteriorate…I had a runny nose and my throat hurt…and I was getting a headache.
We headed to Covent Garden for dinner, but before we ate we had some time to wander around the shops and stores…after a quick trip to the excellent new Apply computer store with Stephanie I headed to a pharmacy and got stocked up on cold meds and cough drops.
Boo for always having a cold in the fall no matter what side of the world I’m on.
We ate dinner at a place called Gourmet Burger Kitchen—it was really good. The Burgers were massive but I wasn’t feeling too well so most of the night I just sat in a stupor and listened to the conversation around me.
Headed back to the flat and WENT TO BED!
Friday the 29th of October
I slept late because I’d woken up sick.
My cold had gotten worse and I was extremely tired so I decided I would just sleep it off…I got up and did a couple of things around the flat AND I watched the Halloween episode of the Office {duh nothing can keep me away} but in general I was a lazy sick bum.
Saturday the 30th of October
I got up in hopes of feeling better but that was not to be the case HOWEVER I could not stay in bed all day because we had a Halloween party to get ready for!
Lauren and Tyler were coming in from Oxford and Lauren had sent me a list to get from the grocery store—she had an awesome spread planned—so I woke up early to go to the store and then came back and went to BED!
I woke up expecting Lauren to be cooking, but she was no where to be found…her train got delayed because of engineering work and she didn’t get into London until around 5.30 almost 4 hours longer than her original plan.
But it worked out fine because some of the girls started cooking for me and then I started on some stuff---so we got it all done. And it was all great. But I was not feeling too hot.
BUT IT WAS HALLOWEEN AND I HAD AN EXCELLENT COSTUME SO I HAD TO BE ‘WELL’.
I was Hermione {and for those of you who are either oblivious or unaware she is one of the main characters from Harry Potter}. My mom sent me my brother’s graduation robe {she couldn’t find mine} one of the girls lent me her Gryffindor scarf, I know awesome that she had one, I teased my hair, grabbed a stack of books and I was ready to go!
Our party was pretty low-key. Food. A lot of food. Games. Dr. Organ dressed at the scary guy from scream, Travis with creepy green contacts in…yeah it was a fun night.
But I was for sure ready to go to sleep!
Sunday the 31st of October
Muahahaha all-hallows-eve ;)
I woke up to Stephanie telling me we were not going to church {her and I} because she had been up all night sick and she knew I still felt like crap so she intervened and called the shots—we were sleeping in!
And we did! I slept most of the day.
It’s not fun having to blog about days when you were sick…nothing happened and I feel lame having to tell you that all I did was sleep.
Ha ha but I did—and it was neccisary because apparently I had a pretty bad cold—because when I did get up and try to exhert myself…aka the Halloween party…I was worse for wear afterwards.
But anyways—Steph and I spent a leisure Sunday sleeping in and I read a lot…luckily this sick time allowed me to read almost half of my “Brief lives of the English Monarchs.”
For space sake and for your sake I’m going to end this post here and continue details about our 6th week on another!
Thank you for reading. Hope you’ve enjoyed!
Loves
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
our 4th week in London!!!
Hallo hallo from London Central—I’m coming to you from a crazy packed Starbucks {yes I know} off of Tottenham Court Road down the street from the British Museum and if I go outside and look up the street to the left I can see the London Eye, which rests on the banks of the River Thames…
So I believe I’m sitting pretty.
I would love to tell you about our 4th week in London; and hopefully I will be able to relate this week to you with more detail and more effectively than some of my other entries simply because this week has just happened! I am not writing two weeks out, I am writing directly after it has happened!
{on a random side note I just started a new blog…which I find very hilarious especially when I have found it so difficult to stay dedicated and on top of ONE blog…oh well we will see what happens ha ha}
Monday the 18th of October
A wonderful start to the week—after classes we all headed….
{On another side note if you are wondering what I do in the mornings when all of the students are in class I with a bit of shame tell you that I usually sleep in…unless I hear my alarm, which if you have roomed with me you will know is a miracle in itself…I have a nice breakfast, including and entire pot of tea; I sometimes run errands for Lauren in the city; once or twice I have headed to a coffee shop for some time alone…but mostly I just relax, read, or {this is the shameful part} watch “the Office”….I know I’m obsessed.}
so after the students’ got done with classes and after a quick lunch we all headed to the National Gallery—once inside we basically dispersed and I actually did not see the majority of our group for the rest of the day…the gallery is massive and wonderful.
It consists of paintings from the Italian Renaissance all the way to the Impressionist period including pieces by Monet, Cézanne, and Van Gogh.
I chose Mindy as my Gallery buddy, one because I know if I wandered off alone I would not see anyone for the rest of the day…which would have been fine, but I wanted a buddy to explore with. Mindy and I go through museums at about the same pace so we decided to team up {ha ha} We had fun looking at all of the works, and especially commenting on the creepy baby faces in the majority of the paintings….they painted babies with adult features so it for sure makes them look creepy because it looks like little weird wrinkly people floating around in all of these religiously solemn paintings. That might be an exaggeration…but if it is I do not think it is too much of one. ;)
After we made our way through the entire museum…I know right we did it! Took us about 2 and half hours…we headed in search of coffee! Well I looked for coffee Mindy is a tea lover herself.
We stopped in a chain bookstore, like Barnes and Noble, and settled down with some Costa Coffee (a brand over here). And I had the most excellent cup of coffee I have had sense I’ve been here: it is called a Flat White…now I do not remember if we have these in the States but I sure hope we do because I will get them all of the time!
Basically…at least as far as I’ve been able to figure it out…it is like a latte but with less milk and more espresso….so you still get the latte taste without all of the extra milk…you get more of the strong espresso coffee taste…which let’s face it is just amazing!
I also found a gluten free brownie there! {mom they are so gluten friendly here you would be in heaven} Mindy and I had some good heart to heart convo and just relaxed and talked for a while…which is just so nice and one of my all time favorite things to do…sit and just talk to someone over a great cup of coffee/tea ;)
After we indulged…Mindy got a huge hot chocolate and a huge chocolate muffin! ;)…we wandered about the city—at first in search of a Tube station but then we just kind of ended up wandering, which was great!
We finally found a Tube and headed back to the flat! A great day if I do say so myself.
{Another side note…man we have a lot of these…we do go out at night occasionally—however as strange as it sounds a lot of stores/places close pretty early around London…some as early as 9 or 10…so unless you are going to a Pub or a club there really are not too many places to go at night…aside from shows, ballets, plays etc…so most evenings we just hang in the flat, the girls do homework, the guys come over and we play crazy random group games! AKA picto-phone!}
Tuesday the 19th of October
Another trip day…where did we off to?
Dover Castle (including the cliffs) and Canterbury!!!
Our first stop was Dover Castle and surprisingly enough we did not go to the castle itself but underneath…we toured the tunnels that were constructed back in pre-Napoleonic times to house army troops…it was later used during the World Wars as a place of war operation and secret headquarters.
It was very interesting…reminded me a lot of the Churchill Museum in London; which makes sense because most of the exhibit had to do with WWII, which is obviously the war Churchill was involved with.
After the tour we headed to the beach for a quick look at the white cliffs of Dover! Oh they were beautiful indeed—that was the other weird thing about the tunnels was that could they are actually IN the white cliffs…back in the day they had doors that led out from the tunnels to the cliffs so the officers could see if anyone was trying to invade England from the Channel.
After the cliffs we hopped back on the bus and headed to Canterbury! Our goal in Canterbury, besides eating lunch, was to see the Cathedral where St. Thomas a Beckett was murdered…and obviously because of his murder he was Sainted by the Catholic church…so the sight because an ideal place for Christians to make a pilgrimage to back in the 12th-14th centuries! ---Hence the Canterbury Tales by William Chaucer…it’s all coming together now isn’t it!?
So we made it to Canterbury broke for lunch and this is when Stephanie, Mindy, and I began our desperate search for “fish and chips,” and finally with only about 30 minutes to spare we found a place that served it! We told our servers we only had 30 minutes, we told him what we wanted, and 15 minutes later we were eating our huge “fish and chips!’ ha ha
And then with only 3 minutes to spar we paid, booked it out of the restaurant and met up with our group ready for our tour of the Cathedral!
It was beautiful inside and it was basically a self guided tour however they had “guides” spread out all over the church ready to answer any questions we had about the building or the history behind it…we ended up talking to one man for quite some time; he was very informative and fun to listen to!
Lauren K, Lyndsey, Mindy, Stephanie, and I headed to find some coffee and dessert after we had had our fill of the Cathedral…it took us a while to settle on a place but finally we did---everyone got gelato except me, I got some coffee! : )
After another quick stop at H & M {there was a sale} we hopped back onto the bus and headed for London!
Wednesday the 20th of October
This day was an excellent day because we arose early…..{well 4 of us did} and headed to the Victoria Apollo Theatre to get tickets for WICKED!!!!! And did we get them at a reasonable price you ask?! Heck yes we got them for 25 pounds per person! And they were not bad seats at all! Two of them were 6 rows back from the stage and the others were front row…now that made a lot of us nervous {neck craning was not a desirable feat to be performed} but the front row seats, in general, were nice—they could see everything and enjoyed the show! Mindy and I sat in the seats a few rows back.
And earlier that day Stephanie, Mindy, and I decided to venture out and find the Twinning’s teashop! It is the only “official” brand shop in the city {I think maybe in the world…} I mean obviously the brand of tea is sold everywhere but this is the only official shop. After a bit of wandering we finally found it! And got a couple pictures and of course bought some tea!
But anyways back to Wicked…it was wonderful. It was my first time to see the show…I actually did not really know too much about the story line so I was a newby for sure! And I loved it! So wonderful. Great music. Hilariously funny. I have to say I really liked Glenda! Ha ha she made me laugh a whole lot!
So it was a great night full of magic and mystery of course ice cream…..it is still so funny to me how they serve ice cream and other snacks out of bags during intermission, like they do at baseball games! Oh my the British are funny funny people and I love them! : )
Also, back tracking to earlier in the day, Mindy and Stephanie were so kind to come with me to South Kingston! I had to go out there and find a restaurant for our group meal on Friday. So we headed out there and luckily there were several restaurants close to the Tube station so we headed into one called Café Chino…the owner was very kind and said he could accommodate 15 people for Friday night—so I said PUT US DOWN! Ha ha
I was a little nervous about the place just because we had picked it so quickly…but more on that later…
Thursday the 21st of October
Today was the day we went to the Museum of London!---it was quite an excellent experience.
The museum has artifacts from the time “before London” when it was inhabited by the original peoples, animals, etc, to the Roman times, then onto medieval London—complete with an interactive video about the black plague, the museum then covered the Great Fire of London, Victorian times—with a walk through “garden party”, and walk through “down town London” complete with shops; THEN (I know right) onto London during the World Wars with spoken memories from survivors of the London bombings; then they had modern London with artifacts such as a 1960s dress with the Beatles faces on it, to the Lord Mayor’s epic carriage…..whew.
A lot of stuff—kind of over whelming, but really interesting to see London unfold before our eyes in just a couple of hours.
They also had a great gift shop too! Ha ha and I don’t really remark on gift shops often because they are pretty much all the same BUT this one just had a lot of great stuff and a lot of variety from books to mugs and key chains. Ha ha
However my favorite part of the evening was when Stephanie showed me what she’d bought at the shop….a family tree poster of all the kings and queens of England!!!!! WE HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FIGURE OUT THIS MONARCHY LINE THING FOR A WHILE! Ever since we saw Henry IV at the Globe! Ha ha
So we spread out the poster on my bed and went down the family tree until we were satisfied in our understanding on the British Monarchy…who killed whom and who married whom…who stole the thrown from which cousin etc
Friday the 22nd of October
What an excellent day this was---Lauren Bryan Knight is an excellent chief, cook, baker, foodie WHATEVER you would like to call her…and in her excellence she picked a couple of recipes to make for the group to have as a late night dessert after we attended the Philharmonic concert.
So I was off on an early morning adventure to purchase the ingredients for the desserts!
I found almost all of the ingredients down the street at Sainsbury’s…but there were a few items that I had to go on the hunt for:
*Vanilla extract/flavoring
*corn startch
*apple sauce
*ice cream
They were out of our “favorite” ice cream at Mark and Spenser’s…and they did not have any of the other items either…so I went to Tesco’s—my 3rd grocery store of the day…but they are all in a very short walking distance so it was not too much trouble.
At Tesco’s I found the vanilla flavoring, but I asked 3 workers if they had corn starch and now of them knew what I was talking about…one lady pointed to the corn flour when I asked her where it was so….no luck on that one. Also the apple sauce…they apparently do not have apple sauce like we do in the States; at least not in the city…so when I asked one of the workers he led me to the jelly/meat dressings section…the apple “sauce” I got said “great with pork” on the front. Ha ha which it probably is…but the stuff I got is more like the cranberry sauce you have at grandma’s on holidays…. chunkier more than soupier…so it actually ended up being perfect for our APPLE CAKE! Because who doesn’t like a little bit of chunky apple in their apple spice cake with cream cheese frosting! : )
So I headed back to the flat and started doing some of the prep work for Lauren…Lauren arrived and started finishing up the dishes…we made an apple spice cake (as I said above) and a mixed berry cobbler…for time sake Lauren planned to leave the concert early and come back to pop them into the oven so they would be nice and hot when the group arrived.
After helping Lauren I rushed back to my room to get ready…I had only about 25 minutes….I’d say I clean up pretty well ;) then we headed to the concert!
It was fun because Nathan Guy (our Bible teacher who has just moved over here to go to school) and his wife got to come with us!
They met us at the restaurant which…sigh…apparently was supposed to be horrible. I looked up the phone number online that afternoon before our reservation to confirm with the owner that we were coming…and while online I stumbled across SEVERAL (4) really bad reviews about the service and the food… I was kind of freaking out. Ha ha
But the owner and the servers had been very kind when I made the reservations…there were a lot of people at the restaurant when I made the reservation…so I told a couple of people, but mostly just prayed that the food would be good.
Nathan Guy’s wife, Christina, even said something to Lauren right after she got there that she had read some bad reviews about the place…ha ha so we were all kind of crossing our fingers…..and…..
It ended up being great! Everyone was satisfied. It was a great price, and no one threw up after! ;) So it worked out well…and I’m pretty sure I asked everyone if their food was good! I wanted to make sure!
We headed to the concert hall…and seated ourselves ready for a night of musical entertainment! It was beautiful…so soothing…I will admit I almost fell asleep! Ha ha
And the interior of the building was also beautiful; it really added to the experience—and everyone was dressed up really nice, which was fun to see!
We headed back to the flat’s and while the dessert was finishing up started to play a little game…Kind Frog…yes this game consists of animals noises and motions and let me tell you that Dr. Organ can do an amazing impression of an elephant! Ha ha we had fun and play the game for a bit before the dessert was ready.
One of the highlights of the evening for me, however, was when we each had to show a talent or tell a story to receive our grocery allowance for the week…ha ha I did my little squeaky voice (Anna B. if you are reading this knows what I am talking about), there were some baton twirling routines, funny poo stories, some lame *cough* jokes….it was pretty funny.
A great night had by all.
Saturday the 23 of October
Ok I am really ashamed well kind of embarrassed by this day…ok I woke up and made whole wheat cinnamon walnut pancakes for every body! Because we had some extra ingredients from baking and what a better way to use them up than by making breakfast for your friends!
So I had so much fun making breakfast for everyone because they had a big study session for their mid-term at noon—a great way to send them off to study…after they all left I made myself some brunch and then put on a disk of “the Office”….I was super tired…which should not have happened because I’d slept in BUT then I realized…oh crap I ate WAY more dessert last night than I should have and the pancakes had sugar in them this morning as well…
I have not been eating sugar or white flour for over a year now…obviously I occasionally do but in general I try to avoid them for health reasons and because NOW since I do not eat them very often when I do they really affect me….and the sugar really affected me big time because I lied down to watch the office around 1 and did not get up again until oh about 5……….and I was STILL TIRED!!!
I just feel kind of drugged…basically a huge sugar crash! So I woke up watched the two new office episodes with Stephanie then pretty much went to bed on time….so today I feel better BUT I will not eat that amount of dessert THEN sugar pancakes the next day. For the love. Oh my body why are you so weirdly sensitive to foods!
Sunday the 24th of October
Great day. Went to Wembly Church of Christ again via the excellent route Nathan Guy told us about…came home. Ate. Hung out.
Then Stephanie and I went to Starbucks!!! She to study and I to write my blogs which I had neglected.
After Stephanie left to go to Bible class, I met too lovely girls from Hillsong Church who got my number and invited me to coffee! It was a really random thing…they were wandering around looking for a seat, I offered them my table because I was about to leave and one of the women immediately asked me, “Do you go to Church?” (Hillsong London folks just call it “Church” and the met right down the street from this Starbucks) And I was like, “No, I mean yes I do go to Hillsong, I just have not been today.”
They both just started smiling and talking; turns out they are on Hillsong London staff; one is from Malaysia and the other from South Africa! So we just had a nice little chat before I left to come back and get ready for 6 p.m. service at Church!
They got my number, texted me their’s, and said sometimes they go out for coffee after church and if they went they would call me! ha ha so sweet! What a blessing to meet some of my sister’s in a coffee shop in London! And all 3 of us are not even from the same country or speak the first same language! Wow I just love God and love how He is so universal!!!
And now here I sit…no longer in Starbucks (where I began this entry) but in my flat on Great Russell Street. Church was great. So encouraging I meet someone new and friendly and welcoming every time I go!
Thank you God for being everywhere and showing up everywhere even when we least expect it!
This next we is pretty bare for “planned” group activities…so hopefully we will find some grand adventures to partake in!
If you are reading thank you! Comments are always appreciated; I would love to know you’re experience this journey via blogspot with me!
Kisses hugs love
Caroline <><
So I believe I’m sitting pretty.
I would love to tell you about our 4th week in London; and hopefully I will be able to relate this week to you with more detail and more effectively than some of my other entries simply because this week has just happened! I am not writing two weeks out, I am writing directly after it has happened!
{on a random side note I just started a new blog…which I find very hilarious especially when I have found it so difficult to stay dedicated and on top of ONE blog…oh well we will see what happens ha ha}
Monday the 18th of October
A wonderful start to the week—after classes we all headed….
{On another side note if you are wondering what I do in the mornings when all of the students are in class I with a bit of shame tell you that I usually sleep in…unless I hear my alarm, which if you have roomed with me you will know is a miracle in itself…I have a nice breakfast, including and entire pot of tea; I sometimes run errands for Lauren in the city; once or twice I have headed to a coffee shop for some time alone…but mostly I just relax, read, or {this is the shameful part} watch “the Office”….I know I’m obsessed.}
so after the students’ got done with classes and after a quick lunch we all headed to the National Gallery—once inside we basically dispersed and I actually did not see the majority of our group for the rest of the day…the gallery is massive and wonderful.
It consists of paintings from the Italian Renaissance all the way to the Impressionist period including pieces by Monet, Cézanne, and Van Gogh.
I chose Mindy as my Gallery buddy, one because I know if I wandered off alone I would not see anyone for the rest of the day…which would have been fine, but I wanted a buddy to explore with. Mindy and I go through museums at about the same pace so we decided to team up {ha ha} We had fun looking at all of the works, and especially commenting on the creepy baby faces in the majority of the paintings….they painted babies with adult features so it for sure makes them look creepy because it looks like little weird wrinkly people floating around in all of these religiously solemn paintings. That might be an exaggeration…but if it is I do not think it is too much of one. ;)
After we made our way through the entire museum…I know right we did it! Took us about 2 and half hours…we headed in search of coffee! Well I looked for coffee Mindy is a tea lover herself.
We stopped in a chain bookstore, like Barnes and Noble, and settled down with some Costa Coffee (a brand over here). And I had the most excellent cup of coffee I have had sense I’ve been here: it is called a Flat White…now I do not remember if we have these in the States but I sure hope we do because I will get them all of the time!
Basically…at least as far as I’ve been able to figure it out…it is like a latte but with less milk and more espresso….so you still get the latte taste without all of the extra milk…you get more of the strong espresso coffee taste…which let’s face it is just amazing!
I also found a gluten free brownie there! {mom they are so gluten friendly here you would be in heaven} Mindy and I had some good heart to heart convo and just relaxed and talked for a while…which is just so nice and one of my all time favorite things to do…sit and just talk to someone over a great cup of coffee/tea ;)
After we indulged…Mindy got a huge hot chocolate and a huge chocolate muffin! ;)…we wandered about the city—at first in search of a Tube station but then we just kind of ended up wandering, which was great!
We finally found a Tube and headed back to the flat! A great day if I do say so myself.
{Another side note…man we have a lot of these…we do go out at night occasionally—however as strange as it sounds a lot of stores/places close pretty early around London…some as early as 9 or 10…so unless you are going to a Pub or a club there really are not too many places to go at night…aside from shows, ballets, plays etc…so most evenings we just hang in the flat, the girls do homework, the guys come over and we play crazy random group games! AKA picto-phone!}
Tuesday the 19th of October
Another trip day…where did we off to?
Dover Castle (including the cliffs) and Canterbury!!!
Our first stop was Dover Castle and surprisingly enough we did not go to the castle itself but underneath…we toured the tunnels that were constructed back in pre-Napoleonic times to house army troops…it was later used during the World Wars as a place of war operation and secret headquarters.
It was very interesting…reminded me a lot of the Churchill Museum in London; which makes sense because most of the exhibit had to do with WWII, which is obviously the war Churchill was involved with.
After the tour we headed to the beach for a quick look at the white cliffs of Dover! Oh they were beautiful indeed—that was the other weird thing about the tunnels was that could they are actually IN the white cliffs…back in the day they had doors that led out from the tunnels to the cliffs so the officers could see if anyone was trying to invade England from the Channel.
After the cliffs we hopped back on the bus and headed to Canterbury! Our goal in Canterbury, besides eating lunch, was to see the Cathedral where St. Thomas a Beckett was murdered…and obviously because of his murder he was Sainted by the Catholic church…so the sight because an ideal place for Christians to make a pilgrimage to back in the 12th-14th centuries! ---Hence the Canterbury Tales by William Chaucer…it’s all coming together now isn’t it!?
So we made it to Canterbury broke for lunch and this is when Stephanie, Mindy, and I began our desperate search for “fish and chips,” and finally with only about 30 minutes to spare we found a place that served it! We told our servers we only had 30 minutes, we told him what we wanted, and 15 minutes later we were eating our huge “fish and chips!’ ha ha
And then with only 3 minutes to spar we paid, booked it out of the restaurant and met up with our group ready for our tour of the Cathedral!
It was beautiful inside and it was basically a self guided tour however they had “guides” spread out all over the church ready to answer any questions we had about the building or the history behind it…we ended up talking to one man for quite some time; he was very informative and fun to listen to!
Lauren K, Lyndsey, Mindy, Stephanie, and I headed to find some coffee and dessert after we had had our fill of the Cathedral…it took us a while to settle on a place but finally we did---everyone got gelato except me, I got some coffee! : )
After another quick stop at H & M {there was a sale} we hopped back onto the bus and headed for London!
Wednesday the 20th of October
This day was an excellent day because we arose early…..{well 4 of us did} and headed to the Victoria Apollo Theatre to get tickets for WICKED!!!!! And did we get them at a reasonable price you ask?! Heck yes we got them for 25 pounds per person! And they were not bad seats at all! Two of them were 6 rows back from the stage and the others were front row…now that made a lot of us nervous {neck craning was not a desirable feat to be performed} but the front row seats, in general, were nice—they could see everything and enjoyed the show! Mindy and I sat in the seats a few rows back.
And earlier that day Stephanie, Mindy, and I decided to venture out and find the Twinning’s teashop! It is the only “official” brand shop in the city {I think maybe in the world…} I mean obviously the brand of tea is sold everywhere but this is the only official shop. After a bit of wandering we finally found it! And got a couple pictures and of course bought some tea!
But anyways back to Wicked…it was wonderful. It was my first time to see the show…I actually did not really know too much about the story line so I was a newby for sure! And I loved it! So wonderful. Great music. Hilariously funny. I have to say I really liked Glenda! Ha ha she made me laugh a whole lot!
So it was a great night full of magic and mystery of course ice cream…..it is still so funny to me how they serve ice cream and other snacks out of bags during intermission, like they do at baseball games! Oh my the British are funny funny people and I love them! : )
Also, back tracking to earlier in the day, Mindy and Stephanie were so kind to come with me to South Kingston! I had to go out there and find a restaurant for our group meal on Friday. So we headed out there and luckily there were several restaurants close to the Tube station so we headed into one called Café Chino…the owner was very kind and said he could accommodate 15 people for Friday night—so I said PUT US DOWN! Ha ha
I was a little nervous about the place just because we had picked it so quickly…but more on that later…
Thursday the 21st of October
Today was the day we went to the Museum of London!---it was quite an excellent experience.
The museum has artifacts from the time “before London” when it was inhabited by the original peoples, animals, etc, to the Roman times, then onto medieval London—complete with an interactive video about the black plague, the museum then covered the Great Fire of London, Victorian times—with a walk through “garden party”, and walk through “down town London” complete with shops; THEN (I know right) onto London during the World Wars with spoken memories from survivors of the London bombings; then they had modern London with artifacts such as a 1960s dress with the Beatles faces on it, to the Lord Mayor’s epic carriage…..whew.
A lot of stuff—kind of over whelming, but really interesting to see London unfold before our eyes in just a couple of hours.
They also had a great gift shop too! Ha ha and I don’t really remark on gift shops often because they are pretty much all the same BUT this one just had a lot of great stuff and a lot of variety from books to mugs and key chains. Ha ha
However my favorite part of the evening was when Stephanie showed me what she’d bought at the shop….a family tree poster of all the kings and queens of England!!!!! WE HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FIGURE OUT THIS MONARCHY LINE THING FOR A WHILE! Ever since we saw Henry IV at the Globe! Ha ha
So we spread out the poster on my bed and went down the family tree until we were satisfied in our understanding on the British Monarchy…who killed whom and who married whom…who stole the thrown from which cousin etc
Friday the 22nd of October
What an excellent day this was---Lauren Bryan Knight is an excellent chief, cook, baker, foodie WHATEVER you would like to call her…and in her excellence she picked a couple of recipes to make for the group to have as a late night dessert after we attended the Philharmonic concert.
So I was off on an early morning adventure to purchase the ingredients for the desserts!
I found almost all of the ingredients down the street at Sainsbury’s…but there were a few items that I had to go on the hunt for:
*Vanilla extract/flavoring
*corn startch
*apple sauce
*ice cream
They were out of our “favorite” ice cream at Mark and Spenser’s…and they did not have any of the other items either…so I went to Tesco’s—my 3rd grocery store of the day…but they are all in a very short walking distance so it was not too much trouble.
At Tesco’s I found the vanilla flavoring, but I asked 3 workers if they had corn starch and now of them knew what I was talking about…one lady pointed to the corn flour when I asked her where it was so….no luck on that one. Also the apple sauce…they apparently do not have apple sauce like we do in the States; at least not in the city…so when I asked one of the workers he led me to the jelly/meat dressings section…the apple “sauce” I got said “great with pork” on the front. Ha ha which it probably is…but the stuff I got is more like the cranberry sauce you have at grandma’s on holidays…. chunkier more than soupier…so it actually ended up being perfect for our APPLE CAKE! Because who doesn’t like a little bit of chunky apple in their apple spice cake with cream cheese frosting! : )
So I headed back to the flat and started doing some of the prep work for Lauren…Lauren arrived and started finishing up the dishes…we made an apple spice cake (as I said above) and a mixed berry cobbler…for time sake Lauren planned to leave the concert early and come back to pop them into the oven so they would be nice and hot when the group arrived.
After helping Lauren I rushed back to my room to get ready…I had only about 25 minutes….I’d say I clean up pretty well ;) then we headed to the concert!
It was fun because Nathan Guy (our Bible teacher who has just moved over here to go to school) and his wife got to come with us!
They met us at the restaurant which…sigh…apparently was supposed to be horrible. I looked up the phone number online that afternoon before our reservation to confirm with the owner that we were coming…and while online I stumbled across SEVERAL (4) really bad reviews about the service and the food… I was kind of freaking out. Ha ha
But the owner and the servers had been very kind when I made the reservations…there were a lot of people at the restaurant when I made the reservation…so I told a couple of people, but mostly just prayed that the food would be good.
Nathan Guy’s wife, Christina, even said something to Lauren right after she got there that she had read some bad reviews about the place…ha ha so we were all kind of crossing our fingers…..and…..
It ended up being great! Everyone was satisfied. It was a great price, and no one threw up after! ;) So it worked out well…and I’m pretty sure I asked everyone if their food was good! I wanted to make sure!
We headed to the concert hall…and seated ourselves ready for a night of musical entertainment! It was beautiful…so soothing…I will admit I almost fell asleep! Ha ha
And the interior of the building was also beautiful; it really added to the experience—and everyone was dressed up really nice, which was fun to see!
We headed back to the flat’s and while the dessert was finishing up started to play a little game…Kind Frog…yes this game consists of animals noises and motions and let me tell you that Dr. Organ can do an amazing impression of an elephant! Ha ha we had fun and play the game for a bit before the dessert was ready.
One of the highlights of the evening for me, however, was when we each had to show a talent or tell a story to receive our grocery allowance for the week…ha ha I did my little squeaky voice (Anna B. if you are reading this knows what I am talking about), there were some baton twirling routines, funny poo stories, some lame *cough* jokes….it was pretty funny.
A great night had by all.
Saturday the 23 of October
Ok I am really ashamed well kind of embarrassed by this day…ok I woke up and made whole wheat cinnamon walnut pancakes for every body! Because we had some extra ingredients from baking and what a better way to use them up than by making breakfast for your friends!
So I had so much fun making breakfast for everyone because they had a big study session for their mid-term at noon—a great way to send them off to study…after they all left I made myself some brunch and then put on a disk of “the Office”….I was super tired…which should not have happened because I’d slept in BUT then I realized…oh crap I ate WAY more dessert last night than I should have and the pancakes had sugar in them this morning as well…
I have not been eating sugar or white flour for over a year now…obviously I occasionally do but in general I try to avoid them for health reasons and because NOW since I do not eat them very often when I do they really affect me….and the sugar really affected me big time because I lied down to watch the office around 1 and did not get up again until oh about 5……….and I was STILL TIRED!!!
I just feel kind of drugged…basically a huge sugar crash! So I woke up watched the two new office episodes with Stephanie then pretty much went to bed on time….so today I feel better BUT I will not eat that amount of dessert THEN sugar pancakes the next day. For the love. Oh my body why are you so weirdly sensitive to foods!
Sunday the 24th of October
Great day. Went to Wembly Church of Christ again via the excellent route Nathan Guy told us about…came home. Ate. Hung out.
Then Stephanie and I went to Starbucks!!! She to study and I to write my blogs which I had neglected.
After Stephanie left to go to Bible class, I met too lovely girls from Hillsong Church who got my number and invited me to coffee! It was a really random thing…they were wandering around looking for a seat, I offered them my table because I was about to leave and one of the women immediately asked me, “Do you go to Church?” (Hillsong London folks just call it “Church” and the met right down the street from this Starbucks) And I was like, “No, I mean yes I do go to Hillsong, I just have not been today.”
They both just started smiling and talking; turns out they are on Hillsong London staff; one is from Malaysia and the other from South Africa! So we just had a nice little chat before I left to come back and get ready for 6 p.m. service at Church!
They got my number, texted me their’s, and said sometimes they go out for coffee after church and if they went they would call me! ha ha so sweet! What a blessing to meet some of my sister’s in a coffee shop in London! And all 3 of us are not even from the same country or speak the first same language! Wow I just love God and love how He is so universal!!!
And now here I sit…no longer in Starbucks (where I began this entry) but in my flat on Great Russell Street. Church was great. So encouraging I meet someone new and friendly and welcoming every time I go!
Thank you God for being everywhere and showing up everywhere even when we least expect it!
This next we is pretty bare for “planned” group activities…so hopefully we will find some grand adventures to partake in!
If you are reading thank you! Comments are always appreciated; I would love to know you’re experience this journey via blogspot with me!
Kisses hugs love
Caroline <><
3rd Week in London
I have no memory of what we did as a group or what I did as an individual on the 11th Monday of October…I will chock this up to the, apparently insignificant, day being over two weeks ago, however I would prefer to blame Will Smith and his red-flashy thing…but I will not go there, because
#1 it’s dorky
#2 it’s improbable
AND
#3 if it did happen I would not remember anyway…
On that note—why don’t I tell you about my 3rd week in London!
Tuesday the 12th of October
We headed out on a cold and frosty morning (well more cold than frost) to Warwick Castle…which was kind of interesting because it is an actual 13th castle that was held by a Duke and his lady for centuries; however it has been transformed into a type of medieval throwback theme park…they allow you to tour the interior of the castle as it would have appeared in the late 19th century, but they also have a Princess Tower where you can dress up and become a princess for the day, a Dungeon reenactment complete with creepy guards, authentic “catapult” reenactments, and do not forget the random villagers in full medieval costume wandering the grounds.
So needless to say it was a bit of a campy experience, close to something you might see in oh Branson, Missouri aside from the fact that you actually are IN ENGLAND and on the grounds of an ACTUAL CASTLE.
We spent the morning at Warwick, climbing up steps and fighting small children for a chance to be a princess for the day {sadly we were never allowed into the Princess Tower because they had reserved it for the school children who were visiting…. we were upset to say the least}
After a quick lesson from some young knights about our response to the question “Are you married?” {Which we found out the answer to be “Yes,” especially when asked by a stranger, because if you are older than 15 AND unmarried you could be suspected of witchcraft or just being ugly/un-marry-able} A quick lunch in ye ‘ole Medieval dinning hall then BACK TO THE BUS and on to…
STRATFORD-UPON-AVON…yes the birthplace of the one the only:
The William Shakespeare.
We quickly stopped by his wife’s, Anne Hathaway’s, home but only to take a picture or two of the outside.
Once we got into town we headed straight for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and began our “introduction” tour of the home and of Shakespeare’s life and works.
After the video introduction we were allowed to explore his childhood home and talk with people throughout the house who were appropriately dressed for Shakespeare’s time…they were also very informative and fun to listen to.
One of the most interesting facts that I heard was the reasoning behind dressing up young boys as girls…yes. In many pictures of little boys from the period, you will notice that up until they are about 12 or 13, they would many times be dressed to look like little girls.
I have heard two reasons for this action:
#1 In wealthier families boys were dressed as girls to avoid their being captured; there was a generally held fear among wealthier families that their sons could potentially be stolen and used to gain a ransom. So they reasoned that if they dressed the boys up as girls no one would steal them…because {as we all know} girls we not valued as boys were back in the day…..
#2 Baby boys were less likely to survive childhood than baby girls…less wealthy families dressed their boys up as girls to “confuse” the devil from taking them away at a young age. They did not want their baby boys to die young so they dressed them up as little girls…
Yeah I know right…but what are you going to do. Huh?
So there in lies the reason behind why little boys looked like little girls in younger portraits of themselves.
After we explored the home we exited into the courtyard to find a couple of actors ready to perform Shakespeare scenes by request…several of us were very excited so we started to yell out different plays for them to perform from…after listening a couple they finally settled on a scene from Hamlet.
So we set ourselves down and just let them go for almost an hour! It was fun listening and watching to them. They even did the famous “Romeo. Romeo” speech from Romeo and Juliet…the woman player even went up into the house and hung out the window! Ha ha
It was really fun getting to watch them.
After we indulged in their acting talent we headed for coffee THEN Stephanie and I found this amazing little teashop filled with beautiful teapots…so of course we each bought one!
{And yes I have used it almost everyday since I bought it!}
Then we hopped back onto the bus and went home to London!
I also do not remember what we did during the day on Wednesday the 13th…but I remember what we did the night of the 13th…
Several of the students went to see “Les Mis,” so Stephanie, Mindy, and I went to the next best place:
The Texas Embassy Cantina
That is right my friends I am in the middle of London, England and I went to a “Tex-Mex” restaurant. But I am here to tell you that it was far from authentic American “Tex-Mex.”
{However they did have free refills on soda which was actually one of the reasons we went….oh the Europeans and their non-refilling ways}
So I ordered cheese dip…I had already eaten a late lunch so I wasn’t too hungry…but I tell you that this was on of the worst food mistakes of my life because I was not brought a bowl of amazing excellent meaty awesome cheese dip….wrong. I was brought a nasty bowl of melty runny cheese wiz….blah. So I was a bit upset…I mean I ate some of it but after a while it was just impossible to even down…so thankfully Mindy had ordered a HUGE double bacon cheese burger, that she could not finish, so she allowed me to finish it off for her.
It was possibly one of the best burgers I’ve ever had…so I let myself forget about the cheese wiz incident and enjoy the end of Mindy’s burger.
While we were in the Texas Embassy Cantina we made friends with a couple of American gentlemen, our Dad’s ages, who happen to be seated next to us. It was fun to hear a familiar accent and take some time to talk with other American’s in London.
After dinner we headed out into the London air to explore the city a little bit! We walked all the way from Piccadilly Circus to Westminster then across the bridge to Waterloo! I know probably that means nothing to you but we walk a ways. Ha ha good thing for the Tube system because we just hopped on at the Waterloo station and headed back to our flat.
Thursday the 14th of October
After classes we all headed out to tour Westminster Abbey, however when we got there we discovered that there was a “private ceremony” going on in the Abbey, so we were unable to enter.
A quick change of plans and a quick hop back on the Tube and we arrived instead at St. Paul’s (which we were schedule to see anyways).
It is a beautiful cathedral; very ornate and filled with history. You can walk all the way to the top of the dome to the outside and see the entire city; the walk is very long and high and I do not like heights…and my asthma has not been my friend in London (due to the pollution) so I did not end up walking the whole way up; I did walk up to the first part of the dome however and tried my luck at the “whispering wall.”
The design of the dome is such that is you sit on opposite sides of the dome and whisper in the wall the people on the exact opposite side of you are supposed to be able to hear what you are saying…Courtney and Lauren G. went to the other side to see if we could hear each other. Lauren B., Lyndsey and I whispered and whispered….and then when we least expected it I heard Lauren! Ha ha
So we proved that it is not a hoax the whispering wall is actually real…you just have to be very patient and whisper extra loud.
After we all explored the cathedral we met on the steps and headed to group dinner!
And the place we went is actually frequented by the creator and original genius of the British “the Office” Ricky Gervaus…it was an excellent Indian restaurant and we came earlier, so they would give us a deal, and we just had a ball talk and eating spicy food! We did not see Ricky though…I was severely disappointed.
Friday the 15th of October
This was an excellent Friday…and it began with a bang because I had several errands to run.
The errands were for our afternoon Jane Austen high tea extravaganza! ☺
I had to get an extra teapot and milk dishes so we could make sure to be extra fancy and make Jane herself proud.
Lauren arrived in the afternoon and we both headed to the grocery store to gather our goodies for the tea; and we got a lot! Cakes, brownies, scones, cookies, sandwiches, and strawberries—I know we are too good to the HUE kids aren’t we?
After a quick set up we started to steep the tea and we awaited our guests; everyone had a wonderful time. We had an excellent set up in one of the FSU facility rooms down stairs. It was perfect.
Jane Austen discussion was not the main topic of conversation, as planned, but we did get some good comments in about the novels and about writing in general—so we were all pleased.
Friday night Stephanie, Mindy, Lyndsey, and I very excitedly ventured off into the night to see a BALLET!
It was a “three part” ballet consisting of a more traditional set, a more theatrical/musical set, and then an athletic modern dance set.
It was completely amazing—we were all in raptures and none of us wanted to leave! We had so much fun just indulging in the talent of the dancers and listening to the musicians.
After the ballet we were starving so a quick stop at Burger King and a couple of “reenactments” later we were home.
Saturday the 16th of October
Stephanie and I decided to venture once more to Portobello road…it was not the first time and I dare say it will not be the last either.
It is so fun heading down with the masses to explore and search the treasures and junk that is at Portobello Road.
AND I discovered a new talent while I was there…I guess I knew I had this talent, however I did not realize how much I enjoy it until Stephanie pointed it out…I am an exceptional barterer. Yes. Barterer.
I love talking people down on prices, chatting with venders, asking them about their wares and their business. I bought a couple of gifts and other things while I was there and I did not pay the original/listed price on anything…I talked every single person down. I even helped Stephanie buy some stuff and I got all of those people to go down on their prices as well…
This is so funny to me; but I just love it! I don’t know what comes over me I just jump in and start charming away…and if you had known me even two years ago you know how strange this is…I can be loud and in front of a crowd of friends or even strangers, but in general I am not the one to interrupt or impose my thoughts on anyone or any situation if I think it will in anyway make someone else uncomfortable…aka co-dependent. Ha ha. But I mean I’ve been growing God’s working {always} and perhaps one of my new skills is this bartering thing! Ha ha
So if you ever need someone to negotiate on a price for you…I’m your girl ;)
We had a lot of fun…but my most favorite purchase is my new authentic hand made leather bag! That I got for oh 35 pounds!!!! Talked her down from I think 40 or 44….I know right! It is wonderful. I love it so much.
Sunday the 17th of October
This was our first Sunday to venture out as a group to the Wembley Church of Christ…which is the Church the HUE group has been involved with for years. Different events and schedules have kept us from going out there as a group so we were all excited to see and be with the congregation at Wembley.
It was an interesting trip out there because the Tube line that we would need to get out there has been un repairs during the weekends…so we had to find, well I had to find, and alternate bus route there…it was interesting and a little nerve racking trying to figure out the bus system BUT eventually with some help from Dr. Organ I figured it out! And we got there on time! After a 45-50 minute trek from central London to the suburbs….
It was a great service. The congregation was so welcoming and so sweet. Mindy and I made a sweet friend, an older woman who is originally from India. She just talked our ears off and we loved it!
Nathan Guy and his wife told us about a different/shorter route that we should take back sooo…. We did and it worked out pretty well. No Tube changes, just one bus and one tube which was nice and we are for sure using it again to go to church when the Tube’s are down…which they probably will be.
So that in a nutshell…a pretty long nutshell was our 3rd week in London.
We have a lot of fun together and all of us girls love living in a flat together…I won’t lie it gets a little crazy with 7 girls, 2 bathrooms and 1 kitchen but we are making it work and we are learning to love each other and the younger girls are learning to be cleaner….I am a bit of a stickler...in the kindness R.A way possible…ha ha
With a lot of love from London
Caroline <><
#1 it’s dorky
#2 it’s improbable
AND
#3 if it did happen I would not remember anyway…
On that note—why don’t I tell you about my 3rd week in London!
Tuesday the 12th of October
We headed out on a cold and frosty morning (well more cold than frost) to Warwick Castle…which was kind of interesting because it is an actual 13th castle that was held by a Duke and his lady for centuries; however it has been transformed into a type of medieval throwback theme park…they allow you to tour the interior of the castle as it would have appeared in the late 19th century, but they also have a Princess Tower where you can dress up and become a princess for the day, a Dungeon reenactment complete with creepy guards, authentic “catapult” reenactments, and do not forget the random villagers in full medieval costume wandering the grounds.
So needless to say it was a bit of a campy experience, close to something you might see in oh Branson, Missouri aside from the fact that you actually are IN ENGLAND and on the grounds of an ACTUAL CASTLE.
We spent the morning at Warwick, climbing up steps and fighting small children for a chance to be a princess for the day {sadly we were never allowed into the Princess Tower because they had reserved it for the school children who were visiting…. we were upset to say the least}
After a quick lesson from some young knights about our response to the question “Are you married?” {Which we found out the answer to be “Yes,” especially when asked by a stranger, because if you are older than 15 AND unmarried you could be suspected of witchcraft or just being ugly/un-marry-able} A quick lunch in ye ‘ole Medieval dinning hall then BACK TO THE BUS and on to…
STRATFORD-UPON-AVON…yes the birthplace of the one the only:
The William Shakespeare.
We quickly stopped by his wife’s, Anne Hathaway’s, home but only to take a picture or two of the outside.
Once we got into town we headed straight for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and began our “introduction” tour of the home and of Shakespeare’s life and works.
After the video introduction we were allowed to explore his childhood home and talk with people throughout the house who were appropriately dressed for Shakespeare’s time…they were also very informative and fun to listen to.
One of the most interesting facts that I heard was the reasoning behind dressing up young boys as girls…yes. In many pictures of little boys from the period, you will notice that up until they are about 12 or 13, they would many times be dressed to look like little girls.
I have heard two reasons for this action:
#1 In wealthier families boys were dressed as girls to avoid their being captured; there was a generally held fear among wealthier families that their sons could potentially be stolen and used to gain a ransom. So they reasoned that if they dressed the boys up as girls no one would steal them…because {as we all know} girls we not valued as boys were back in the day…..
#2 Baby boys were less likely to survive childhood than baby girls…less wealthy families dressed their boys up as girls to “confuse” the devil from taking them away at a young age. They did not want their baby boys to die young so they dressed them up as little girls…
Yeah I know right…but what are you going to do. Huh?
So there in lies the reason behind why little boys looked like little girls in younger portraits of themselves.
After we explored the home we exited into the courtyard to find a couple of actors ready to perform Shakespeare scenes by request…several of us were very excited so we started to yell out different plays for them to perform from…after listening a couple they finally settled on a scene from Hamlet.
So we set ourselves down and just let them go for almost an hour! It was fun listening and watching to them. They even did the famous “Romeo. Romeo” speech from Romeo and Juliet…the woman player even went up into the house and hung out the window! Ha ha
It was really fun getting to watch them.
After we indulged in their acting talent we headed for coffee THEN Stephanie and I found this amazing little teashop filled with beautiful teapots…so of course we each bought one!
{And yes I have used it almost everyday since I bought it!}
Then we hopped back onto the bus and went home to London!
I also do not remember what we did during the day on Wednesday the 13th…but I remember what we did the night of the 13th…
Several of the students went to see “Les Mis,” so Stephanie, Mindy, and I went to the next best place:
The Texas Embassy Cantina
That is right my friends I am in the middle of London, England and I went to a “Tex-Mex” restaurant. But I am here to tell you that it was far from authentic American “Tex-Mex.”
{However they did have free refills on soda which was actually one of the reasons we went….oh the Europeans and their non-refilling ways}
So I ordered cheese dip…I had already eaten a late lunch so I wasn’t too hungry…but I tell you that this was on of the worst food mistakes of my life because I was not brought a bowl of amazing excellent meaty awesome cheese dip….wrong. I was brought a nasty bowl of melty runny cheese wiz….blah. So I was a bit upset…I mean I ate some of it but after a while it was just impossible to even down…so thankfully Mindy had ordered a HUGE double bacon cheese burger, that she could not finish, so she allowed me to finish it off for her.
It was possibly one of the best burgers I’ve ever had…so I let myself forget about the cheese wiz incident and enjoy the end of Mindy’s burger.
While we were in the Texas Embassy Cantina we made friends with a couple of American gentlemen, our Dad’s ages, who happen to be seated next to us. It was fun to hear a familiar accent and take some time to talk with other American’s in London.
After dinner we headed out into the London air to explore the city a little bit! We walked all the way from Piccadilly Circus to Westminster then across the bridge to Waterloo! I know probably that means nothing to you but we walk a ways. Ha ha good thing for the Tube system because we just hopped on at the Waterloo station and headed back to our flat.
Thursday the 14th of October
After classes we all headed out to tour Westminster Abbey, however when we got there we discovered that there was a “private ceremony” going on in the Abbey, so we were unable to enter.
A quick change of plans and a quick hop back on the Tube and we arrived instead at St. Paul’s (which we were schedule to see anyways).
It is a beautiful cathedral; very ornate and filled with history. You can walk all the way to the top of the dome to the outside and see the entire city; the walk is very long and high and I do not like heights…and my asthma has not been my friend in London (due to the pollution) so I did not end up walking the whole way up; I did walk up to the first part of the dome however and tried my luck at the “whispering wall.”
The design of the dome is such that is you sit on opposite sides of the dome and whisper in the wall the people on the exact opposite side of you are supposed to be able to hear what you are saying…Courtney and Lauren G. went to the other side to see if we could hear each other. Lauren B., Lyndsey and I whispered and whispered….and then when we least expected it I heard Lauren! Ha ha
So we proved that it is not a hoax the whispering wall is actually real…you just have to be very patient and whisper extra loud.
After we all explored the cathedral we met on the steps and headed to group dinner!
And the place we went is actually frequented by the creator and original genius of the British “the Office” Ricky Gervaus…it was an excellent Indian restaurant and we came earlier, so they would give us a deal, and we just had a ball talk and eating spicy food! We did not see Ricky though…I was severely disappointed.
Friday the 15th of October
This was an excellent Friday…and it began with a bang because I had several errands to run.
The errands were for our afternoon Jane Austen high tea extravaganza! ☺
I had to get an extra teapot and milk dishes so we could make sure to be extra fancy and make Jane herself proud.
Lauren arrived in the afternoon and we both headed to the grocery store to gather our goodies for the tea; and we got a lot! Cakes, brownies, scones, cookies, sandwiches, and strawberries—I know we are too good to the HUE kids aren’t we?
After a quick set up we started to steep the tea and we awaited our guests; everyone had a wonderful time. We had an excellent set up in one of the FSU facility rooms down stairs. It was perfect.
Jane Austen discussion was not the main topic of conversation, as planned, but we did get some good comments in about the novels and about writing in general—so we were all pleased.
Friday night Stephanie, Mindy, Lyndsey, and I very excitedly ventured off into the night to see a BALLET!
It was a “three part” ballet consisting of a more traditional set, a more theatrical/musical set, and then an athletic modern dance set.
It was completely amazing—we were all in raptures and none of us wanted to leave! We had so much fun just indulging in the talent of the dancers and listening to the musicians.
After the ballet we were starving so a quick stop at Burger King and a couple of “reenactments” later we were home.
Saturday the 16th of October
Stephanie and I decided to venture once more to Portobello road…it was not the first time and I dare say it will not be the last either.
It is so fun heading down with the masses to explore and search the treasures and junk that is at Portobello Road.
AND I discovered a new talent while I was there…I guess I knew I had this talent, however I did not realize how much I enjoy it until Stephanie pointed it out…I am an exceptional barterer. Yes. Barterer.
I love talking people down on prices, chatting with venders, asking them about their wares and their business. I bought a couple of gifts and other things while I was there and I did not pay the original/listed price on anything…I talked every single person down. I even helped Stephanie buy some stuff and I got all of those people to go down on their prices as well…
This is so funny to me; but I just love it! I don’t know what comes over me I just jump in and start charming away…and if you had known me even two years ago you know how strange this is…I can be loud and in front of a crowd of friends or even strangers, but in general I am not the one to interrupt or impose my thoughts on anyone or any situation if I think it will in anyway make someone else uncomfortable…aka co-dependent. Ha ha. But I mean I’ve been growing God’s working {always} and perhaps one of my new skills is this bartering thing! Ha ha
So if you ever need someone to negotiate on a price for you…I’m your girl ;)
We had a lot of fun…but my most favorite purchase is my new authentic hand made leather bag! That I got for oh 35 pounds!!!! Talked her down from I think 40 or 44….I know right! It is wonderful. I love it so much.
Sunday the 17th of October
This was our first Sunday to venture out as a group to the Wembley Church of Christ…which is the Church the HUE group has been involved with for years. Different events and schedules have kept us from going out there as a group so we were all excited to see and be with the congregation at Wembley.
It was an interesting trip out there because the Tube line that we would need to get out there has been un repairs during the weekends…so we had to find, well I had to find, and alternate bus route there…it was interesting and a little nerve racking trying to figure out the bus system BUT eventually with some help from Dr. Organ I figured it out! And we got there on time! After a 45-50 minute trek from central London to the suburbs….
It was a great service. The congregation was so welcoming and so sweet. Mindy and I made a sweet friend, an older woman who is originally from India. She just talked our ears off and we loved it!
Nathan Guy and his wife told us about a different/shorter route that we should take back sooo…. We did and it worked out pretty well. No Tube changes, just one bus and one tube which was nice and we are for sure using it again to go to church when the Tube’s are down…which they probably will be.
So that in a nutshell…a pretty long nutshell was our 3rd week in London.
We have a lot of fun together and all of us girls love living in a flat together…I won’t lie it gets a little crazy with 7 girls, 2 bathrooms and 1 kitchen but we are making it work and we are learning to love each other and the younger girls are learning to be cleaner….I am a bit of a stickler...in the kindness R.A way possible…ha ha
With a lot of love from London
Caroline <><
Saturday, October 16, 2010
our 2nd week in London
alright here you got the second installment...again so sorry it came so soon after the first and so near the 3rd..... ;)
Monday the 4th of October
There was a planned Tube strike for this day…so we knew that we would be unable to get anywhere in the city on the Tube…and the buses would have been crazy so we had a couple of morning classes but other than that the day was free for the students.
Many chose to go back to the British Museum to continue exploring but Stephanie and I decided to find some free wifi to load pictures!
We were successful and found a nice little chain coffee/sandwich shop just down the road…we spent a couple of hours there just enjoying the internet, chatting, and reading. Sigh. Got to love those times!
OH! And We also made GUACAMOLE! Ha ha I know that is random, but not really, because you see when we were in Portobello road we bought a ton of avocados and a ton of limes for just 2 pounds…so per Mindy’s suggestion we made Guacamole!—I love guacamole…and we bought some diet coke and squeezed the extra limes in it! Wow so great! Ha ha
So all in all even though there was a tube strike it was a wonderful day.
Tuesday the 5th of October
Tuesday’s are trip days.
And our destinations were Blenheim Palace and Oxford.
Blenheim Palace was built for the Duke of Marlborough after he won the battle of Blenheim against France; the Palace was built between 1705 and 1724.
The grounds were awesome and the Palace was also very impressive. The World War II British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was born in the Palace, because the Dukedom belongs to his family; his cousin was the Duke of Marlborough during Churchill’s lifetime.
We spent the morning exploring the Palace and going on an excellent guided tour; after exploring the grounds briefly we hopped back on the bus and headed to Oxford!
Lauren was really excited to go to Oxford because she and her husband just moved there, because Tyler (her husband) is in graduate school getting his MBA.
I have been to Oxford before with my Mom and loved it; it is a great college town, buzzing with student activity. When we went it was “fresher week” which is the week when all of the 1st time students come and have orientation basically—so it was SUPER busy.
We had lunch at “the Eagle and the Child” which is the shop where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien met with their writing “group” the Inklings back in the day to write, share and discus! So wonderful! Lunch wasn’t too bad either! My mom and I ate their when we visited so it was fun to go back, made me miss my mom but fun to be there again.
We had a guided tour of Oxford with our new good friend Jo; he was hilarious and informative—the perfect balance for a tour guide (as I’m sure I’ve stated before)—he took us around to some of the colleges and talk about some of Oxford’s history.
The system at Oxford is COMPLETELY different from the states or actually completely different from the rest of the world (save Cambridge). There are colleges in the University and you belong to a specific college…so when you apply you do not just apply to Oxford but Jesus College at Oxford. You “pref” your colleges’ (just like when you’re rushing a sorority/fraternity or social club)…and whichever on you get accepted to is where you live, attend classes, eat, play spots for/with, and each college has it’s own library. SO in essence when you go to Oxford you really GO to a more specific college WHICH does not necessarily have to be for a specific major or area of study…yeah I know kind of confusing right!? Ha ha
We had some time to explore after our tour THEN we headed back on the bus to London! Great day!
Wednesday the 6th of October
An exciting day of outings:
We went to the Tower of London! And had a tour with a “beefeater” which is basically one of the Queen’s special soldiers whose sole responsibility is to live in and protect the Tower of London and the Queen (mainly for ceremony these days)—but the beefeater’s or Yeomen Warder’s are distinguished and well decorated men and women of the British armed forces who apply to become warders after (I believe) 25 years of service to Queen and Country.
The tour was fun—I mean not joyful because you see where Ann Boylen and other men and women were beheaded; BUT we did get to see the crown jewels!!!
We had a small window of time before our dinner reservation SO we decided to go to the London Eye! (we had planned to go earlier however because of the tube strike we could not make our original appointment). While the rest of the group waited for a couple of people to show back up I rushed off to buy our tickets for the eye! It was fun “rushing” (not really) through the Tube stops and maneuvering lines to complete my mission! Ha ha
We got on the eye with barley NO time to spare BUT not after a few of the girls ran into Ina Gartener or “the Barefoot Countessa”—yes the famous foodie of the food network! I was super jealous—so let’s talk about it…
The Eye was fun—my mom and I also did this when we were hear last BUT it was great to see the views again! ☺
After the eye we rushed off to make our dinner reservations, which luckily the Organs and their family were able to get there early and “hold” our large table.
Dinner was excellent—Pizza Expresses are everywhere in the city. So I was a little nervous about the quality of food because of it’s chain status but it was SO GOOD! And well priced too.
Thursday the 7th of October
We had a free long weekend so after classes Stephanie, Mindy, and I went off on an adventure to see what the price for “Les Mis” tickets would be—then after that we stopped in at a Starbucks, journaled and talked for a bit THEN we walked around Hyde Park for a couple of hours! It was beautiful and so nice AND we got to see the Peter Pan statue! Mindy said it changed her life! ;) Now that’s a powerful afternoon if I do say so myself.
Friday the 8th of October
Mindy, Stephanie, Lyndsey, and I headed off for a day in Cambridge!!!
Oh my Cambridge I have a special place in my heart for this place…but that is another story for another time…if you would like to know more just ask please! ☺
Ok so we got up not too early because I mean come on it’s a Saturday and we hopped a train off to Cambridge. It is about an hours train ride from London…not bad at all.
We started off our adventure by stopping for coffee at a little shop called “le Gros Franc” or in English the Fat Frenchman…bahahaha
After our little stop for caffinee and a little conversation we continued our walk to the center of town…I knew basically where we were headed (aka look for the old tall buildings) but we had to paused a few times to look at the map BUT we eventually made it!
Cambridge, like Oxford, is a collection of different colleges and one of the colleges was built or commissioned by the monarchy—and because it was commissioned by the monarchy it is known as King’s College. And one of the things you must see if you go to Cambridge is the King’s College Cathedral……………..
Beautiful.
It is Gothic and huge and the stained glass is excellently bright and it is just a beautiful place to be ☺
We also walked the ground of King’s College, which were so so green especially against the grey English sky.
Oh.
But before we could walk the ground it took 9 people to figure out HOW to open the freaking church door! NO joke it was actually pretty hilarious watching all of these grown people try and figure out how to open this huge wooden door. Finally one of the men who was trying to open the door went and got one of the workers to help us….she figured it out pretty quickly but she also had some trouble which made us all feel a little better I think.
But my goodness I wish you could have seen it; I was trying not to laugh which was difficult because even the smallest giggle just echoed throughout the whole place.
We did not go putting…which is ridding on one of those flat boats that’s pushed by a pole…but we did watch people who were punting. We actually waved at a cute little boy who was in the boat…he waved back…but so did the young college guy who was pushing the boat. Yeah we had a good laugh after that one as well.
It was a bit passed lunch time SO naturally we headed to tea—which as we discovered later does not necessarily mean JUST tea. “Going to tea” can actually mean “going to dinner” or to an entire meal…. yeah I will tell you more about this later…
But anyways we went to tea…and I had Lady Grey tea, which is my ALL TIME FAVORITE TEA! ☺ so that was quite lovely
After tea and a couple of egg sandwiches we continued our wanderings through Cambridge—we headed towards one of the HUGE book stores and basically indulged and reveled in the shop for over an hour…I’m a sucker for books and book shops.
After our book store stop (which also has a soft place in my heart…connected to that story about Cambridge that I told you to ask me about if you’re really interested….that was a mouth full)
Ok I digress…
We started on our way BACK to the train station…which proved to be a much longer walk than we remembered from the morning…along the way we stopped at a little market, the grocery store, and of course the Gap where Mindy got some excellent new jeans!
We FINALLY made it back to the train station…our feets were a bit sore but our return tickets worked (we had been preciously a bit nervous about our return tickets we had bought in the morning working before a certain time in the evening) so we hopped on the train…I sat next to a random sleeping man BUT all in all it was a wonderfully magnificent day.
Saturday the 9th of October
Oh this day was a great day NOT only because it was the weekend BUT BECAUSE Stephanie and I went to a Ladies Breakfast put on by the Church that I have previously mentioned; the lady, Jen, whom Steph and I had coffee with invited us to come to their annual “Full English Ladies Breakfast”
So of course we said “YES” because who doesn’t like free food and who doesn’t love fellowshipping with amazing Christian women!?!
We headed out around 9 a.m. and made our way to Chris and Brian’s (Chris is a woman) apartment! Found the apartment quickly and easily and made our way down (they live on the bottom flat) into their precious living room.
It was so fun to actually BE with “normal” Englishmen and women…we weren’t in a touristy place, which don’t get me wrong I love those, but we were in a person’s home and we got to spend real face to face time with everyday people. It was wonderful.
A few of the men from the church made the entire breakfast, which was so sweet of them, and so good of them because it was amazing.
NOW a “full English Breakfast” is not too different from what we Americans would call a Sunday brunch or just an “all out Saturday morning feast”.
There are eggs, bacon (their bacon is WAY BETTER here than the states…yeah sorry USA), sausages, chunky potatoes, beans, “grilled/baked” tomatoes, mushrooms, toast, juice, tea, and coffee. No jelly or jam…just butter—but maybe that was just this group of people’s preference however in the other places I’ve been that have served breakfast jelly or condiments are not as abundant as I have found in the states…
EXCEPT
At a “tea”—there are a lot of jellies etc at a “tea”---ok this was one of the topics of conversation at the breakfast table…just like in the states (at least in the south) some people call the evening meal—supper; while others call it—dinner BUT this can be confusing sometimes, especially to the older generation, because they call the afternoon meal “dinner” and the evening meal “supper”…
Ok so you get the cultural implications here…different words meaning different things to older generations but meaning the same exact meal to others…ok this is where the “tea” conversation started.
Europeans, including the English, have different eating schedules shall you say than Americans do---they eat the evening meal WAY LATER than we do. They have either huge breakfasts or huge lunches which causes the evening meal or the earlier meal (depending on which you eat in the larger portion) to be moved around to avoid overeating….or to avoid eating because they are not hungry yet
Ok I’m explaining this WAY too much. The point is because they eat earlier or later etc sometimes when an English person asks you to “tea” it does not necessarily mean just “a pot of” or a “cup of” it can mean a substantial mean during the in-between meal times…so tea can actually mean dinner or excuse me supper.
I know right.
Ha ha so we talked with Jen about this a little more; and Jen (who is from the States) said when she first moved over here and people asked her to tea she would be so confused as to if she needed to eat something before she went or if she would be fed there SO she just had to point blank as them what they meant by the (apparently) universal word—“tea”
Well now that you’ve gotten WAY move information that you wanted (I just thought it was so interesting that something SO SUBTLE could cause so much misunderstanding) I will continue the account of our day.
After breakfast with these wonderful welcoming and just joyful women Stephanie and I headed to Primark to make a “wardrobe” stop…Steph said she was sick of her jeans and wanted more tights (which are basically all anybody wears over here) so we had to stop for some…and we had to fight the crowds but it was worth it because we both got cute CHEAP head bands. ☺
Headed back to the flat to relax…
Mindy was super sweet and made dinner for us—her famous spaghetti sauce AND then after dinner a couple of the students reminded me that I had found a Jazz Club where they have live jazz music!!!! So in a true moment of spontaneity we Mindy, Stephanie, Travis, and I headed of to Ronnie Scott’s---the famous London Jazz Club where greats such as Duke Ellington have preformed!
We were so excited to hear some great music!---but we got there a bit too late and the live music house was full….but the upstairs bar and jazz DJ were not….so we headed up there.
At first we were like “what are we doing here this is not live jazz, it’s not bad jazz just it’s a bunch of people sitting around drinking….” We finally got a seat, hung out, ordered a plate of olives (yes olives) and then something amazing happened…a group of girls hopped onto the dance floor and started to break it down! Ha ha
Eventually the dance floor filled up and so we joined them! And it was so fun because it was just fun goofy dancing, some awesome partner jazz/swing dancing, and just fun!
So we were all glad that we chose to go listen to the jazz DJ (ha ha)
Sunday the 10th of October
Chill day.
Lauren and I went to Hillsong Church in the morning and we just hung out and relaxed the rest of the day. It was perfection ;)
THANK YOU for reading this installment of my London Adventures : ) there is more to come do not fear---even though I’m sure you’re eyes are tired and your brain is a bit weary from my rambling ;)
With a lot of love!
Caroline
Monday the 4th of October
There was a planned Tube strike for this day…so we knew that we would be unable to get anywhere in the city on the Tube…and the buses would have been crazy so we had a couple of morning classes but other than that the day was free for the students.
Many chose to go back to the British Museum to continue exploring but Stephanie and I decided to find some free wifi to load pictures!
We were successful and found a nice little chain coffee/sandwich shop just down the road…we spent a couple of hours there just enjoying the internet, chatting, and reading. Sigh. Got to love those times!
OH! And We also made GUACAMOLE! Ha ha I know that is random, but not really, because you see when we were in Portobello road we bought a ton of avocados and a ton of limes for just 2 pounds…so per Mindy’s suggestion we made Guacamole!—I love guacamole…and we bought some diet coke and squeezed the extra limes in it! Wow so great! Ha ha
So all in all even though there was a tube strike it was a wonderful day.
Tuesday the 5th of October
Tuesday’s are trip days.
And our destinations were Blenheim Palace and Oxford.
Blenheim Palace was built for the Duke of Marlborough after he won the battle of Blenheim against France; the Palace was built between 1705 and 1724.
The grounds were awesome and the Palace was also very impressive. The World War II British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was born in the Palace, because the Dukedom belongs to his family; his cousin was the Duke of Marlborough during Churchill’s lifetime.
We spent the morning exploring the Palace and going on an excellent guided tour; after exploring the grounds briefly we hopped back on the bus and headed to Oxford!
Lauren was really excited to go to Oxford because she and her husband just moved there, because Tyler (her husband) is in graduate school getting his MBA.
I have been to Oxford before with my Mom and loved it; it is a great college town, buzzing with student activity. When we went it was “fresher week” which is the week when all of the 1st time students come and have orientation basically—so it was SUPER busy.
We had lunch at “the Eagle and the Child” which is the shop where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien met with their writing “group” the Inklings back in the day to write, share and discus! So wonderful! Lunch wasn’t too bad either! My mom and I ate their when we visited so it was fun to go back, made me miss my mom but fun to be there again.
We had a guided tour of Oxford with our new good friend Jo; he was hilarious and informative—the perfect balance for a tour guide (as I’m sure I’ve stated before)—he took us around to some of the colleges and talk about some of Oxford’s history.
The system at Oxford is COMPLETELY different from the states or actually completely different from the rest of the world (save Cambridge). There are colleges in the University and you belong to a specific college…so when you apply you do not just apply to Oxford but Jesus College at Oxford. You “pref” your colleges’ (just like when you’re rushing a sorority/fraternity or social club)…and whichever on you get accepted to is where you live, attend classes, eat, play spots for/with, and each college has it’s own library. SO in essence when you go to Oxford you really GO to a more specific college WHICH does not necessarily have to be for a specific major or area of study…yeah I know kind of confusing right!? Ha ha
We had some time to explore after our tour THEN we headed back on the bus to London! Great day!
Wednesday the 6th of October
An exciting day of outings:
We went to the Tower of London! And had a tour with a “beefeater” which is basically one of the Queen’s special soldiers whose sole responsibility is to live in and protect the Tower of London and the Queen (mainly for ceremony these days)—but the beefeater’s or Yeomen Warder’s are distinguished and well decorated men and women of the British armed forces who apply to become warders after (I believe) 25 years of service to Queen and Country.
The tour was fun—I mean not joyful because you see where Ann Boylen and other men and women were beheaded; BUT we did get to see the crown jewels!!!
We had a small window of time before our dinner reservation SO we decided to go to the London Eye! (we had planned to go earlier however because of the tube strike we could not make our original appointment). While the rest of the group waited for a couple of people to show back up I rushed off to buy our tickets for the eye! It was fun “rushing” (not really) through the Tube stops and maneuvering lines to complete my mission! Ha ha
We got on the eye with barley NO time to spare BUT not after a few of the girls ran into Ina Gartener or “the Barefoot Countessa”—yes the famous foodie of the food network! I was super jealous—so let’s talk about it…
The Eye was fun—my mom and I also did this when we were hear last BUT it was great to see the views again! ☺
After the eye we rushed off to make our dinner reservations, which luckily the Organs and their family were able to get there early and “hold” our large table.
Dinner was excellent—Pizza Expresses are everywhere in the city. So I was a little nervous about the quality of food because of it’s chain status but it was SO GOOD! And well priced too.
Thursday the 7th of October
We had a free long weekend so after classes Stephanie, Mindy, and I went off on an adventure to see what the price for “Les Mis” tickets would be—then after that we stopped in at a Starbucks, journaled and talked for a bit THEN we walked around Hyde Park for a couple of hours! It was beautiful and so nice AND we got to see the Peter Pan statue! Mindy said it changed her life! ;) Now that’s a powerful afternoon if I do say so myself.
Friday the 8th of October
Mindy, Stephanie, Lyndsey, and I headed off for a day in Cambridge!!!
Oh my Cambridge I have a special place in my heart for this place…but that is another story for another time…if you would like to know more just ask please! ☺
Ok so we got up not too early because I mean come on it’s a Saturday and we hopped a train off to Cambridge. It is about an hours train ride from London…not bad at all.
We started off our adventure by stopping for coffee at a little shop called “le Gros Franc” or in English the Fat Frenchman…bahahaha
After our little stop for caffinee and a little conversation we continued our walk to the center of town…I knew basically where we were headed (aka look for the old tall buildings) but we had to paused a few times to look at the map BUT we eventually made it!
Cambridge, like Oxford, is a collection of different colleges and one of the colleges was built or commissioned by the monarchy—and because it was commissioned by the monarchy it is known as King’s College. And one of the things you must see if you go to Cambridge is the King’s College Cathedral……………..
Beautiful.
It is Gothic and huge and the stained glass is excellently bright and it is just a beautiful place to be ☺
We also walked the ground of King’s College, which were so so green especially against the grey English sky.
Oh.
But before we could walk the ground it took 9 people to figure out HOW to open the freaking church door! NO joke it was actually pretty hilarious watching all of these grown people try and figure out how to open this huge wooden door. Finally one of the men who was trying to open the door went and got one of the workers to help us….she figured it out pretty quickly but she also had some trouble which made us all feel a little better I think.
But my goodness I wish you could have seen it; I was trying not to laugh which was difficult because even the smallest giggle just echoed throughout the whole place.
We did not go putting…which is ridding on one of those flat boats that’s pushed by a pole…but we did watch people who were punting. We actually waved at a cute little boy who was in the boat…he waved back…but so did the young college guy who was pushing the boat. Yeah we had a good laugh after that one as well.
It was a bit passed lunch time SO naturally we headed to tea—which as we discovered later does not necessarily mean JUST tea. “Going to tea” can actually mean “going to dinner” or to an entire meal…. yeah I will tell you more about this later…
But anyways we went to tea…and I had Lady Grey tea, which is my ALL TIME FAVORITE TEA! ☺ so that was quite lovely
After tea and a couple of egg sandwiches we continued our wanderings through Cambridge—we headed towards one of the HUGE book stores and basically indulged and reveled in the shop for over an hour…I’m a sucker for books and book shops.
After our book store stop (which also has a soft place in my heart…connected to that story about Cambridge that I told you to ask me about if you’re really interested….that was a mouth full)
Ok I digress…
We started on our way BACK to the train station…which proved to be a much longer walk than we remembered from the morning…along the way we stopped at a little market, the grocery store, and of course the Gap where Mindy got some excellent new jeans!
We FINALLY made it back to the train station…our feets were a bit sore but our return tickets worked (we had been preciously a bit nervous about our return tickets we had bought in the morning working before a certain time in the evening) so we hopped on the train…I sat next to a random sleeping man BUT all in all it was a wonderfully magnificent day.
Saturday the 9th of October
Oh this day was a great day NOT only because it was the weekend BUT BECAUSE Stephanie and I went to a Ladies Breakfast put on by the Church that I have previously mentioned; the lady, Jen, whom Steph and I had coffee with invited us to come to their annual “Full English Ladies Breakfast”
So of course we said “YES” because who doesn’t like free food and who doesn’t love fellowshipping with amazing Christian women!?!
We headed out around 9 a.m. and made our way to Chris and Brian’s (Chris is a woman) apartment! Found the apartment quickly and easily and made our way down (they live on the bottom flat) into their precious living room.
It was so fun to actually BE with “normal” Englishmen and women…we weren’t in a touristy place, which don’t get me wrong I love those, but we were in a person’s home and we got to spend real face to face time with everyday people. It was wonderful.
A few of the men from the church made the entire breakfast, which was so sweet of them, and so good of them because it was amazing.
NOW a “full English Breakfast” is not too different from what we Americans would call a Sunday brunch or just an “all out Saturday morning feast”.
There are eggs, bacon (their bacon is WAY BETTER here than the states…yeah sorry USA), sausages, chunky potatoes, beans, “grilled/baked” tomatoes, mushrooms, toast, juice, tea, and coffee. No jelly or jam…just butter—but maybe that was just this group of people’s preference however in the other places I’ve been that have served breakfast jelly or condiments are not as abundant as I have found in the states…
EXCEPT
At a “tea”—there are a lot of jellies etc at a “tea”---ok this was one of the topics of conversation at the breakfast table…just like in the states (at least in the south) some people call the evening meal—supper; while others call it—dinner BUT this can be confusing sometimes, especially to the older generation, because they call the afternoon meal “dinner” and the evening meal “supper”…
Ok so you get the cultural implications here…different words meaning different things to older generations but meaning the same exact meal to others…ok this is where the “tea” conversation started.
Europeans, including the English, have different eating schedules shall you say than Americans do---they eat the evening meal WAY LATER than we do. They have either huge breakfasts or huge lunches which causes the evening meal or the earlier meal (depending on which you eat in the larger portion) to be moved around to avoid overeating….or to avoid eating because they are not hungry yet
Ok I’m explaining this WAY too much. The point is because they eat earlier or later etc sometimes when an English person asks you to “tea” it does not necessarily mean just “a pot of” or a “cup of” it can mean a substantial mean during the in-between meal times…so tea can actually mean dinner or excuse me supper.
I know right.
Ha ha so we talked with Jen about this a little more; and Jen (who is from the States) said when she first moved over here and people asked her to tea she would be so confused as to if she needed to eat something before she went or if she would be fed there SO she just had to point blank as them what they meant by the (apparently) universal word—“tea”
Well now that you’ve gotten WAY move information that you wanted (I just thought it was so interesting that something SO SUBTLE could cause so much misunderstanding) I will continue the account of our day.
After breakfast with these wonderful welcoming and just joyful women Stephanie and I headed to Primark to make a “wardrobe” stop…Steph said she was sick of her jeans and wanted more tights (which are basically all anybody wears over here) so we had to stop for some…and we had to fight the crowds but it was worth it because we both got cute CHEAP head bands. ☺
Headed back to the flat to relax…
Mindy was super sweet and made dinner for us—her famous spaghetti sauce AND then after dinner a couple of the students reminded me that I had found a Jazz Club where they have live jazz music!!!! So in a true moment of spontaneity we Mindy, Stephanie, Travis, and I headed of to Ronnie Scott’s---the famous London Jazz Club where greats such as Duke Ellington have preformed!
We were so excited to hear some great music!---but we got there a bit too late and the live music house was full….but the upstairs bar and jazz DJ were not….so we headed up there.
At first we were like “what are we doing here this is not live jazz, it’s not bad jazz just it’s a bunch of people sitting around drinking….” We finally got a seat, hung out, ordered a plate of olives (yes olives) and then something amazing happened…a group of girls hopped onto the dance floor and started to break it down! Ha ha
Eventually the dance floor filled up and so we joined them! And it was so fun because it was just fun goofy dancing, some awesome partner jazz/swing dancing, and just fun!
So we were all glad that we chose to go listen to the jazz DJ (ha ha)
Sunday the 10th of October
Chill day.
Lauren and I went to Hillsong Church in the morning and we just hung out and relaxed the rest of the day. It was perfection ;)
THANK YOU for reading this installment of my London Adventures : ) there is more to come do not fear---even though I’m sure you’re eyes are tired and your brain is a bit weary from my rambling ;)
With a lot of love!
Caroline
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