Buckingham Palace

So originally I was annoyed Friday because the school was taking a day trip to Oxford and I really wanted to go see what such a prestigious British university was like, but I had to go on a field trip for one of my classes and had to miss the Oxford one.  For class we went to the Banqueting House which is now used for banquets but once was part of a royal palace in which the kings and queens receieved important leaders of other countries.  The banqueting hall is basically one giant ballroom with a throne on one end where the king would sit.  This hall is also the place where King Charles I was beheaded, the first king to ever get beheaded by his people.  It was fascinating for about 15 minutes, although we had to stay for an hour.  Next we watched the Horse Guards Parade and the changing of the guards at Whitehall.  This is still done mostly due to tradition, but it was neat to see the guards in red (the Royals) and the guards in blue (the Blues) do their ceremony. 



ferret



It was a beautiful day so I decided to walk through St. James Park which sits in front of Buckingham Palace.  There was a beautiful pond and lots of birds in the park.  I also saw a man walking a ferret which was kind of interesting.  I got to Buckingham Palace just in time to see their changing of the guards which is also interesting to see.  There were thousands of people there and I tried to get as close as possible but it was hard to see over people's heads.  I worked my way up to the gates and took a bunch of pictures there, but to be honest I was a little disappointed by Buckingham Palace.  It doesn't look that much different than all the other old big buildings in the U.K.  They also were doing work on all the statues so they were all covered.  I couldn't get inside on any tours because none were currently being offered, but hopefully eventually I will. 

After I was finished I walked through Green Park and Hyde Park on my way home.  It was relaxing to be off of the city streets and near grass and trees.  There were tons of people playing soccer and kids running around, it was really nice.

Saturady the plan was to go to the sports cafe to watch the Syracuse game, but since we had to pay an expensive cover to get in, we bailed.  I was willing to pay but my friends weren't so instead we went to Chinatown.  We also went to the ferrari store.  I want one of them. 

Sunday we went to two markets.  London has a ton of markets and they all are really cool.  They had tons of jewelry, clothes, and other random things.  They are one of my favorite parts of London, because they have local stuff for so cheap. 

Bath and Brighton

Hey everyone! So this week was pretty eventful. On wednesday for class we went to Westminster Abbey. This was a really cool place to see and is very touristy, especially because it is where all the big royal events happen. There are also more than 2000 people buried there, including; Issac Newton, Charles Darwin, composers, musicians, inventors, royals, and a lot of other really famous dead people. Every hour they make an announcement for everyone to stop what they are doing and a prayer is spoken over the loud speaker. Westminster was a beautiful building, with really intricate architecture and beautiful artwork.

Center Court of Wimbledon

Then Thursday for my sociology of sport class we toured Wimbledon. Although most people in my class are not interested in tennis, I thought this was really neat since Wimbledon is one of the biggest sporting events in the world. The grounds were pretty even at this time of year and the courts were immaculate. We were not allowed to even touch the grass, let alone walk on it. The chemicals in our fingers could damage the grass. Heaven forbid! We got to see court 1 and Center court which of course are the big ones where the big matches are played, but we also got to see court 18 which was the one Isner and Mahut played the never ending game on last year. We also got to see the interview/conference room and the Wimbledon museum. I enjoyed it.

Roman Baths

Me and Cassie

Tea with  Mr. Darcy

Friday we went to Bath. We drove past Reading and through Pennsylvania to get there. I swear every state and city in the states is named after something here in England. Bath was a town built by the Romans because it had the only natural hot spring in England. The water in the Roman baths supposedly have a healing quality and are supposed to make people healthy. We toured the old Roman baths which was really cool because so much of it are ruins from Roman times. We were not allowed to actually touch the water because it is from the 1200's and is not purified. There was one spot where we got to try the water and it was nasty. It tasted like warm ocean water. I couldn't drink very much of it, either way I don't feel healed. After lunch at a traditional pub, we went to the Jane Austin Center. She is the author of Pride and Prejudice as well as a few other books. She lived in Bath for a few years and we took a tour of a house that was set up similarly to her house 100 years ago. She wrote two books, Persuasion and Nothanger Abbey while she lived in Bath about Bath, I bought copies of both of them as souveniers. Overall, Bath was a pretty cool trip.
Saturday the plan was to go to Buckingham Palace finally, but since the weather was bad I decided to postpone that trip so we just did some shopping and spent the day relaxing.

Royal Pavilion

Brighton Pier

With our Rock candy

Tiki alcoholic milkshake

Today I went with a few friends to Brighton. It was a great day and probably one of my favorites so far. We toured the Royal Pavilion which was an old palace that King Henry the fourth built. It was incredible, absolutly breathtaking. The design was based on Chinese architecture and designs. It was really cool to see. After this we had a relaxing lunch in an italian restaurant, we walked over to the Brighton Pier and the beach. Being on the beach was so relaxing and even though it was cold and the water was freezing, it was so nice hearing the waves and seagulls and smelling the salty air. It does not matter where I am, but the beach always manages to make me happy. The pier was really neat too and reminded me of the Ocean City boardwalk. It had rides and typical beachy food. We still had a little time to kill before our bus back to London so since it was cold, we sat in a bar and watched the Arsenal game. The day was really relaxing. When we got back to London we went to this bowling ally/restaurant that served alcoholic milkshakes. I got a passionfruit one with rum and it was amazing. I highly recommend them. It was a great end to a great day.


***My albums with the rest of my pictures are all posted on facebook!

Brussels has waffles, Amsterdam has weed

So I was really excited the Packers won the Superbowl.  Staying awake to watch the whole game was a little tough since it wasn't over til after 3 AM, but I'm glad I did.  Decided not to go to a bar because walking home would be horrible so I watched it in my apartment.  The broadcast was good, but they didn't show the commercials, instead some British guy, Tiki Barber, and some other guy talked during the breaks.

For my architecture class this week, we went to the Tower of London.  This was really cool, but we didn't have time to see it all so I plan to go back at some point.  The place is huge and my professor told us a lot of cool stories about the old castle like the legend of the ravens, the old moat, and the lions that were kept near the entrance.  We got to see the crown jewels which were amazing, but I obviously could not take pictures of.  Here we also got to see London Bridge and the Tower Bridge.

On Friday, I got up at 4 AM to leave for Brussels.  The plan was to take the underground, but since that ended up not being open, we took the bus.  The train ride to Brussels was pretty cool because we got to go under the English Channel and although my ears kept popping because of the pressure, I enjoyed the trip.  When we got to the train station to wait for the other group, we went to the bathroom.  We had to pay 50 pence to use the bathroom.  Its crazy.  Eventually we took the tram across the city and found our hostel.  It really wasn't too bad.  The four girls got one room with two bunks and a bathroom.  We went to a restaurant for lunch.  In Brussels they speak French so reading the menu was difficult, but luckily, one of the girls with us, Vanessa, spoke fluent French.  I got a Belgian waffle with strawberries and powdered sugar.  It was really good.  Next we wondered around for a while and went to a place called Beer Planet.  Beer Planet is this little beer store that has over 100 different kinds of beer.  After this we went to a brewery and everyone took a tour, but I sat this one out because I felt sick, plus I had already toured Guiness and how different could  breweries be?  We then went back to the hotel to rest.  Everyone else went out to dinner and to explore more, but now I was feeling really sick so stayed back at the hotel to rest so I would be better the next day.  The next morning we went to see the Royal Palace.  This was really cool, although since I was sick I ended up throwing up in the park next to the Palace which I believe used to be part of the Royal Gardens.  My other issue was my feet.  The shoes I was wearing ripped apart my feet and gave me about 8 blisters on each foot.  I wore the shoes in Ireland and they were fine so I am not completely sure what the problem with them was.  Although by this time, I could barely walk.  Leave it to me to have medical issues my only weekend probably ever in Brussels and Amsterdam. When we got to the train station, I went to the pharmacy and bought $50 worth of medicine and band-aids, the medicine helped, the band-aids didn't.

Beer Planet

Royal Palace

We took the train to Amsterdam which was a nice break for my feet and after getting slightly lost found our hostel.  This hostel was also pretty nice.  We again had a private room with our own bathroom.  One thing I did notice was that the hostels always have one or two cats wondering around on the inside.  I like to pretend that these cats are just hostel pets and not there for any other reasons.  We went out to dinner at a pancake and steakhouse.  Amsterdam is known for their pancakes and they have them everywhere.  My pancake was huge and had cheese, bacon, and mushrooms on it.  It was okay, not as good as the waffle.  Next we wondered through the red light district.  This was an experience.  The red light district is full of prostitutes who stand in windows advertising themselves to passerbyers.  They are scantily clothed.  There were some men trying to negotiate services with them but most were just looking.  There are also tons of sex shops and adult theaters in the area.  The other big thing about Amsterdam is that weed is legal.  There are stores that sell it as well as weed cafes where you can buy it and smoke at the bar or buy weed baked goods.  They don't serve alcohol here because you cannot sell both.  This was also a very interesting experience.  We went to a few other bars, but mostly just wondered around, got lots of food and took in the fine culture that the red light district offers.  By the end of this night my feet were on fire and I could barely stand, I was looking forward to being able to go to the hostel to sleep.

Amsterdam sign

Pancake

Weed Store

The next morning we went to the Van Gogh museum.  This was pretty cool, there were three floors of mostly Van Gogh's paintings.  Then we went to the Anne Frank House.  This was my favorite thing we did.  We got to tour the different floors of her fathers' company and then the different floors of the secret annex.  There were still pictures and artifacts left behind from when the Franks occupied it.  I couldn't take pictures, but it was an awesome experience I really recommend.  I skipped dinner to go back to the hotel to rest my feet.  The next morning (Monday) we took a flight back to London.  Overall the trip was pretty good, I wish my feet would not have been messesd up, but I still enjoyed the experience.  Now I have tons of work to catch up on for this week of classes :).

Red Light District

Anne Frank House

Weed Seeds

Titanic, Chelsea, and the Eye

I booked Spring Break!!! We are first going to Athens and spending time there, then we are going to spend some time on the Greek Isles and then fly to Rome for a few days and then finish our trip in Venice.  I am so excited, although the trip will be extremely busy.  I think there are about 8 of us going.  Planning it was really stressful, but now that its planned, I can't wait. 

Love London was this weekend. Its a long weekend where the SU faculty plan tons of events all over London for the students to participate in.  On Friday we went to a Titanic exhibit at the O2.  The O2 is this huge arena, where some of the 2012 olympics are going to be held.  The exhibit was really cool and had all these artifacts from the ship.  There were stories of passengers that were really sad.  When you enter they hand you a boarding pass of a real passenger that was on the ship then at the end you see if you survived or not.  I was an Irish woman who although 3rd class, did survive.  It was neat. 

Then yesterday I went on a tour of Chelsea stadium.  It was pretty neat.  I would love to go to a game, but tickets are hard to get and really expensive. I don't know much about English football but maybe I will pick Chelsea as my team to root for.  We are going to tour Arsenal in a couple of weeks so I guess then I will decide.

Then in the afternoon we went to the London Eye.  It is like a giant ferris wheel that takes 30 min and you get to see a lot of the city. It was a great experience, especially since our pod was all SU students.  After it we got to see this 4D show which was also pretty cool. 

Going to a bar tonight to watch the Superbowl. Go Packers!