Three Day Weekend Trip Part 3 - Lacock and Oxford (Harry Potter Day)

(Sorry this is so late and so short.  Ireland blog will be up in the next few days.)

Oxford is amazing :)

After a longer than expected delay, here is the final day of our weekend trip!

If I thought it was hard to wake up on day 2, day 3 was about a thousand times worse.  We were super slow all morning.  Luckily, I had packed almost everything the night before, so after breakfast we grabbed our stuff and headed for the bus. 

We were heading to the village of Lacock to see the Abbey and places filmed in Harry Potter.  It was cold that morning, and after sleeping on the warm bus (of course), it felt even colder.  We headed immediately into the village and got to go inside a barn that hasn't been changed in over 600 years.  The only additions made were a few lights put in so people could see.  Next, we saw the house used in the first Harry Potter movie as Lily and James' house. 

There were other houses there also, and I'm sure the people who live in the town get pretty fed up with tourists taking photos.  I'm also pretty sure the people who live in the next house we saw probably want to move.

This is the Muggle house Horace Slughorn lived in for the Half-Blood Prince.  There was a car parked right beside it, so I assume people live there.  It would be so annoying to have tourists constantly at your gate getting pictures of your house.  It is a beautiful little town, though, so I guess that makes up for all the people.

Next, we went to see Lacock Abbey where more Harry Potter scenes were filmed.  It was a beautiful place, and Sam and I decided to walk further than everyone else to see where the road around the Abbey would lead.  I'm glad we did, because we got a beautiful view of the English countryside.  There was a small church I really wanted to go see, but we would have had to walk on a busy road, and we didn't have enough time.

After Lacock, we headed to Oxford.  The first thing you notice about the town is the architecture.  Every building is absolutely gorgeous.  There are 39 colleges at Oxford, and each has its own buildings.  I don't think there was a mediocre one there.  Walking around, we got to see the library where some Harry Potter scenes were filmed, and we were taken around different areas of the city.  Once the tour was over, we got to go on our own to look around.

We ate lunch at Cornwall's, and I had my first pasty since I've been here :)  It was awesome!  When we were done, we headed to New College where a specific Harry Potter scene was filmed.  We had to walk around a while because we couldn't find it.  I'm glad, though, because the campus was beautiful.  ISU has a nice quad I would say, but this is the Platinum level of a quad.  From the landscaping to the gates, everything was spectacular. 

Eventually, we found the area where the Harry Potter scene was filmed.  You can watch the scene here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lEb9ZPpJbg&feature=player_embedded .

After taking enough pictures to prove we were there (like the one above), we did a little souvenir shopping, and headed back to the bus.

The trip as a whole was great.  I enjoyed almost every minute of it, and I would definitely recommend it as a great tour for someone who has never been to England before.  I really had a great time!

~Taylor

 

Three Day Weekend Trip Part 2 - Bath

The Roman Baths!

Day 2 of the weekend trip - Saturday in Bath

It was really hard to get up on Saturday.  We were pretty exhausted, and I always think it is hard to wake up in hotels.  We finally dragged ourselves down and had our first real cooked breakfast since we have gotten here.  It was great.  We even grabbed extra croissants on the way back to our room :)  We finished getting ready and headed out to the buses to go to Bath.

Bus ride = nap time.  Always.  So we woke up as we entered the most beautiful city I have ever been in.  Bath is seriously gorgeous.  The city was founded by the Romans in about 40 AD.  Everything has the beautiful old architecture, and looking past the buildings you can see beautiful landscapes.

This was the first picture I took as we headed out for our tour with Andrew.  He is such a great tour guide.  I don't think I could do his job.  He has so much information stored away.  From dates to names to places, he knew everything.  This isn't the only tour he does either.  He has to memorize things about Scotland, France, Belgium, and Germany too.  It's amazing.

He told us about the Romans who founded the city, and apparently, most of them were lazy.  They spent their days at the bath houses just socializing.  The water is full of iron, and they used to drink up to a gallon of it each day because it was thought to have healing powers.  They also had people carry them around in little box-type seats called sedans.  They could literally wake up in the morning and be carried down the stairs and through town to the baths.  I feel sorry for the people who had to actually carry them.  That would be a terrible job.  

After walking around, we headed back toward the actual baths for our tour.  On the way, we passed the Jane Austen center.  She stayed in Bath for a time, so there are a lot of references to her in the town.  We walked up and were taking pictures with her statue outside when a man walked out dressed in 18th century clothes.  Apparently, he was supposed to be Mr. Darcy.  I would have gone along with that if it weren't for the fact that he was about 50 years too old.  Other people started to get pictures with him, so Sam and I decided to also.  That was when we figured out he was probably drunk.  We were deciding how to pose with him and he started yelling out, "Darcy in the middle!"  Then, while we were trying to get a good picture, he kept bending his knees and going down, then rising back up.  The whole time he was saying, "WooooOOOoooo!"  I wish I had asked them to take a video instead of a picture because it was a definite highlight of the day.  Our pictures are so funny because we are laughing really hard in them.

 After that, we finally made it to the Roman Baths.  We had to wait outside the building in a square for a while.  Once we got in, we were each given audio guides to take through with us.  They looked like big cell phones.  For each area, you would type in the number shown and press play.  It would then give you some kind of explanation or history about what you were looking at.  They also had a different number for a kid's version, so Sam and I tried that out.  We loved it so much, we used that version for every one after that.  They were just much more entertaining.

The baths themselves were really interesting.  When we first walked out above them, the view was pretty incredible.  The water was below us, and Bath Cathedral was towering above us. 

I have a ton of pictures from inside also.  A lot of them just look like pictures of old rocks, though.  It is really something you have to experience for yourself.  Standing in the middle of something that dates back almost 2000 years is a really weird feeling.  A few times our audio guides told us to imagine what it was like to be standing in that spot thousands of years ago.  I honestly couldn't, though, because it just seemed so weird.  It was an awesome place.  I really would recommend it to anyone.

After touring the Baths, we headed out to find lunch.  We looked around for a while, but eventually settled on Subway :)  We got to walk around after that and just take in the city.  We found the most amazing fudge shop I have ever been to.  Ironically, it was a company called the San Francisco Fudge Factory.  We saw a sign that said they shipped all over the world, so I may have to look into that.  I decided to go all out.  I got a piece of vanilla fudge on a stick that was dipped in chocolate then rolled in milk and white chocolate chips.  It took me more that one day to eat it, and it was amazing :)

When we finished there, we headed toward the center of the city where we had seen a lot of shops.  They have a great shopping area in Bath, and we spent the rest of our day going from store to store.  One of my favorite parts was when we found a Disney store.  I remember being so upset when the one at the mall was shut down.  We all walked through and got very nostalgic looking at all the stuffed animals.  I was so happy in there that I almost left with a stuffed Simba, but thankfully I talked myself out of it.  (My reasoning was that it was too big, not that I didn't actually need it.)  Disney has changed a little, though.  I had to pretend I didn't see the Hannah Montana merchandise because it was making me angry that it was in there with my Aladdin and Belle.  I want the old Disney back!

After going through a lot of nice stores, we headed back to the bus a little early.  Right next to our meeting place was an old book store that we decided to check out.  I fell in love with it.  There were some new books, but a lot of them were old or used.  The second floor had a room that was incredibly messy and disorganized, but I loved that about it.  It sounded so cliche, but I kept telling everyone that it had character :) 

The buses finally arrived, and we headed back to the hotel (sleeping most of the way of course).  Once we got back, Sam and I were ready to crash.  We didn't even leave the hotel the rest of the night.  We laid in bed, watched more amazing and hilarious British television, and slept.  It was a pretty uneventful night, but it was also really relaxing after two days of tours.

That about sums up day 2, so hopefully tomorrow will be the final blog from the weekend!

~Taylor

Three Day Weekend Trip Part 1 - Windsor and Stonehenge

Windsor Castle

I had an AMAZING time this weekend.  These blogs will be broken up into the three days.  Friday was Windsor and Stonehenge, Saturday was Bath, and Sunday was the village of Lacock and Oxford.  Here is Friday...

We were set to leave at 8:30 in the morning, so I woke up at around 7 to finish packing and get ready.  It was so early for me!  We were split onto two different buses to leave from Augustine House.  It was almost 2 hours to Windsor, so naturally everyone fell asleep.  We woke up just in time to pull into a coach car park.  There we met our tour guide for the weekend.  His name was Andrew and we got to be in his group all weekend.  I didn't know until later, but I was really lucky because he was the best.  He will be there for our trip to the Christmas markets in December, so I am even more excited about that now.

We split the groups, and our group walked toward the Thames River.  When we got there, we were met by a group of birds.  Ducks, swans, and seagulls were all mingling in the water, and they swam right up to us. They even jumped out of the water and walked up right next to us.  I'm sure they thought we had food for them.  Once we walked down a little further, we came upon a huge group of them.  I had never seen so many swans in one place before! 

We walked a little more and came to a bridge that led to Eton College.  Eton College is one of the oldest and most prestigious boys' schools in England.  Most notably, both Prince William and Prince Harry went to school there.  (We could have gone there during lunch, but we were really hungry, so we ate instead.) 

Next, we headed toward Windsor Castle.  As we walked up, we caught the very end of a guard change parade.  We weren't going to be able to go in the Castle, so that was kind of a bummer, but it was good to look at from the outside.  We walked around to the gate and saw the "Long Walk" which is a three-mile long road that the royal family would use for horse riding.  When looking through the gate toward the castle, I finally got a glimpse of a real royal guard.  He had the red suit and fuzzy hat and everything!  After that, we had a break for lunch so naturally we went for fish and chips :) 

After lunch, we had a little time, so we went into a few gift shops.  I didn't plan on getting anything in Windsor, so I was just looking around when Will told me to come look at something.  When I looked at what he was pointing at I freaked out a little bit because it had the Mind the Gap sign on it.  It took me a second to realize it was a thong with the sign on it.  I was tempted to get it because I have been looking everywhere for something that says Mind the Gap, but it was 7 pounds, so I decided not to.  After that, we met up with the group, got back on the bus, and headed for Stonehenge.

The drive was pretty long, so again, everyone fell asleep.  They woke us up when we got close so we could get a first look at it from the bus.  In reality, there is a road that goes directly next to Stonehenge, so people really don't have to pay money to see it close.  They could just take a picture from the road.  Andrew gave us the whole history and background of the monument, so when we were offered audio guides at the site, we didn't take them.  Everyone from ISU brought our study abroad shirts to take a picture with and send back to the International Studies Office.  We all decided Stonehenge would be a good place for a picture so we all took off our jackets and took pictures in the freezing cold in our very obvious American shirts.  It was the most "touristy" I have felt the entire time I have been here.  The pictures did turn out pretty good though, so I'm happy we did it.  Hopefully we end up on an International Studies poster or something :)

As for the monument...it was a little underwhelming.  I understand there is a lot of history behind it and everything.  It's a really famous place that I have seen pictures of, so it was cool to get my picture with it.  In the end, though, it is really just a group of rocks.  All there was to do was walk around and take pictures from different angles.  Still, no matter what the angle, they were still a bunch of rocks.  We walked around, took a bunch of pictures, and headed to the gift shop.  For a really famous landmark, their gift shop was super tiny, and when we all crammed in there, it was packed.  I decided not to get anything there, and we just headed back to the bus.

We headed to our hotel (asleep for the ride of course) and got there in the evening.  Sam and I were one of the first ones to get our room key, so we headed up to our room.  We were really excited to sleep in different beds for a couple nights.  When we got in the room, we had one minor issue - we couldn't turn the lights on.  We had a little box for our card key where the light switch was, so we tried putting the key in a few different ways, but nothing was working.  Finally, after giving up and asking Will what to do, we realized we hadn't pushed the key in far enough.  We had to leave the key in the lights whenever we wanted them on. 

The rooms were really nice, but the hotel was in the middle of nowhere really.  There was one restaurant, a McDonalds, and a Sainsbury's (like Wal-Mart).  We went to dinner at the restaurant then headed to Sainsbury's for drinks and snacks.  After that, Sam and I spent the rest of the night watching British television in our room.  We were pretty exhausted, so hanging out in pajamas and watching TV was great.  British TV is pretty awesome.  We found a channel with a lot of game shows that were really fun.  We were trying to decide when to go to bed when the announcer said the next show was about Mumford and Sons.  That made our decision for us because there was no way we were going to miss that.  (Seriously, if you haven't checked them out yet, you NEED to.  They are absolutely amazing.)  Once that was over, we realized how early we had to get up the next day, so we crashed.

Well, that's Friday.  Hopefully tomorrow I can get up a blog about our Saturday in the beautiful city of Bath!

Night!

~Taylor

"There is no lovelier place in the world than Canterbury" - Virginia Woolf

It's just so beautiful...

Virginia Woolf is so right.  Canterbury is just amazing.  Sam and I spent most of today walking around throughout the city.  We went to different areas we hadn't seen before.  It was fun during the day to see all the people bustling around.  Then, we had a sort of "girl's night" tonight.  We went out for dinner for a change.  There is nothing like wine, italian food, and ice cream to just make you feel good :)  (Lesson learned though, rosé wine does not compliment spicy things lol)  After our trip to McDonald's for Aero McFlurries, we came back, but we were still restless. So, we went back out to just walk around.  There really is nothing like walking down beautiful old streets at night and hearing Cathedral bells ringing.  I think no matter how long I am here, turning and seeing the Cathedral lit up in the darkness will never fail to take my breath away.  It is just too gorgeous.  That also brought up one not so happy part about the night...

It finally was mentioned.  I think we have both been thinking about it lately, but it was put into words tonight.  We have to leave here eventually.  I know it sounds weird that saying that freaks me out, but it really is hard to think about.  Sure, we have about two more months left, but that seems like such a short time.  We decided that three months is probably the worst amount of time to spend somewhere.  If it were three weeks, we could say, "Hey, that was a good vacation.  Now we can go home with this great experience."  If it were a year, I would probably be ready to go home at the end.  Three months is different.  It feels like we will be able to start to fall in love with everything and really start to get to know people, then we have to leave. 

Now don't get me wrong, I do miss home.  I think Skype is the best invention ever, because I am able to keep in touch so easily.  I just really love it here.  Sam jokingly said, "Let's just stay here forever."  I know in my mind I can't do that, but it honestly makes sense.  Everyone kept telling me that this would be a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity, and I always agreed excitedly.  Now, that term makes me incredibly sad.  The idea of leaving in December and never coming back to see these places and people that are so familiar now is unimaginable to me.  I am starting to realize just how much I need to make every day count.

Anyway, onto something less depressing :)  We leave bright and early tomorrow for a three-day trip to Oxford, Stonehenge, Bath, and Windsor.  We get back on Sunday, so expect pictures on Facebook on Sunday, and a blog around Monday or Tuesday!

Talk to you then!

~Taylor



Dover Castle and the White Cliffs

Dover Castle

Lessons from Friday:

1. I would not do well fighting a war.  I am such a chicken, I could barely handle the simulated bomb noises and flickering lights.

2.  I am getting better with my fear of heights.  I guess I'm okay as long as I am not in a huge Ferris wheel :)

3. They are called cliffs because you have to CLIMB them.

We went to Dover Friday.  We met at the campus to take a coach (charter bus) at 9:15.  Getting up to catch that bus was one of the earliest times I have gotten up since I got here.  That's when you know you have a good class schedule :)  On the way, we had no idea what was beyond the side of the road.  The fog was so thick it looked like a gray wall was put up on the side of the road.  I was very worried we would get caught in the rain and not see much of anything.

When we got there, it was still very foggy.  A few of the others started talking about the movie Shutter Island because the fog made the castle look like it was straight from that movie.  I tried to get pictures, but none were very good.  Once we got onto the grounds, we were able to look out over the English Channel, but again, it was too foggy to see much of anything.

We went directly to the Secret Wartime Tunnels, and were brought right into a small room to watch a video.  It gave some history on the tunnels, and it told us what to do in case there was an emergency while we were in them.  (After the whole "terror warning" thing, I found myself paying much closer attention to this.  I am my mother's daughter!)  We were also told we could not take pictures while in the tunnels.  That kind of bummed me out, because I really felt they were one of the most interesting parts of the day.  That's saying something because we had a pretty interesting day!

When you are first brought into the tunnels, you are warned that there will be loud bomb sounds, and the lights will flicker and go out.  You are also told what to do if you feel too uncomfortable to go on.  I got a little nervous then.  I didn't even think about being too scared to continue through the tunnel.  I think that's the power of suggestion.  Luckily, I was never that scared. 

The tunnels begin with a tour of the medical ward.  The walk-through is accompanied by a recording.  You walk through the rooms following the path of a wounded RAF pilot as he is brought into the ward and taken to surgery.  Each room has its own recording of typical conversations that would go on in that part of the tunnel.  The further we went, the more nervous I was getting.  I was okay during the bomb sounds, but wen the lights went out (for only about 5 seconds) my heart started racing.  I couldn't help but think of the people who actually spent the war in those tunnels.  Hearing bombs going off and not knowing what kind of horrible things could be happening just outside would be absolutely terrifying.  I would never make it. 

The second part of the tour was further down into the cliffs.  It was where a lot of military planning went on.  Most famously, it was where the "Miracle of Dunkirk" was orchestrated in 1940.  One of the first things we saw in that level was the military telephone exchange room.  It had a lot of switchboards women would sit at and use to connect calls between Dover and the many different military and government offices.  The guide told us the summers would get so hot and humid, water would actually drip from the walls and ceiling.  Then, the women would have to wear coats in the winter because it was bitterly cold.  Again, I don't think I could handle all that on top of being afraid for my life in the actual war. 

Next, we got to watch a short movie on the Dunkirk evacuation, and see where that plan was created.  Then we saw the rooms in which actual war planning took place.  There were replicas of tables and maps that would have been used to track targets during the war.  With little models on the maps and even a red telephone used to talk to Churchill in the corner, it was easy to just imagine men shuffling papers and pointing at maps talking about hitting targets and evacuating men from the field.

Once we left the tunnels, we had almost four hours of time to ourselves.  We headed over to the actual tower part of the castle to explore.  Basically, the tower is a very high spiral staircase that leads to different levels and rooms.  We started by walking all the way to the top and walking onto the roof.  Each corner of the roof had a place that let you go even higher.  Surprisingly, I wasn't really scared of the height on the roof.  I was able to walk right to the edge and look out without a second thought.  I'm getting better about that I guess!  There was one point when Sam wanted a cool picture of one of us leaning out while the other took a picture, and I was a little afraid to do that.  I was more worried about being the one to take the picture for fear of dropping her camera.  At that point this really rude lady I didn't know said, "Um, that's what the strap on the end is for.  You wrap it around your wrist."  As if I didn't already realize that?  I'm not an idiot, and I hate when people talk to me like I am...ugh.  Anyway...

After touring around the castle, we ate lunch and decided to go see the White Cliffs.  It took a while for us to figure out how to get there.  We had to walk down a very large set of stairs, and then walk even further downhill on a path.  We figured out how to get to the town, and decided to walk until we could see the cliffs.  We finally saw some, and I started taking pictures thinking that might be it, but we continued down the street to try and find a better view.  We ended up walking down what seemed to be a back alley, and I was a little nervous.  It was like an old alleyway with these huge majestic cliffs behind it.  Finally, we found a pedestrian path and decided to see how far we could get before we had to go back.  

The path up was insane.  I didn't realize when we started, but it was actually taking us to the top of one of the cliffs.  It was a pretty steep uphill climb that seemed to last forever.  When we finally got to the top, though, I realized it was definitely worth it.  The view was amazing.  We could see other cliffs on both sides, rolling hills and Dover Castle in the distance behind us, and the Port of Dover and the English Channel in front of us.  It really was great.

The walk back down was a lot easier than the walk up :)  When we got back toward the Castle, though, we had to walk back up the pathway and stairs we came down in the beginning.  It really was uphill both ways!  When we finally made it back to the Castle, I got to take better pictures without as much fog...

 

...They were much better :)  In the end, it was a very exhausting, but incredibly amazing day.  It was great to be able to see in person a place I have heard my Dad talk about.  It is yet another place I've seen that is so rich in history.  It won't be the last, either, because next weekend we have a three-day trip to Stonehenge, Bath, Oxford, and Windsor.  I can't wait!

~Taylor

A bunch of random stuff thrown together and called a blog.

This puppy is to assure you that everything is going to be fine :)

First things first...yes I know about the terror threat for tourists abroad.  It is all over the UK news websites, and all American students got letters today from the State Department about the Travel Alert.  I am not worried about this at all, so no one else should be.  I am here to experience everything, so I will still be travelling to different places across Europe.  I would have been vigilant about knowing my surroundings before, so it will be no different now.  I'm here to have the time of my life, and no one is going to get in the way of that.  I promise everyone that I will be incredibly safe, so there is no need to worry.

Happier things!  Sam and I have started to look seriously into trips we will be taking in the next couple of months.  The last week in October is known as "Reading Week" here, and it is a week-long fall break.  Most people have family coming that week, and Sam's family will be here!  I can't wait to see them!  They are leaving the 27th, and then Sam and I have decided to spend the rest of that weekend in Ireland!  That means I will be spending my 20th birthday there!  I am so excited for that, I can hardly stand it.  It will be amazing!

We are also looking going to Paris near the end of November when hopefully the Christmas decorations will be going up :)  That should be awesome.  Then of course there is the Belgium and Germany trip in the beginning of December!  I am also hoping to squeeze Italy in there somewhere, so we will see!

Sam and I have found some pretty cool new friends here.  It is amazing how much we can learn about differences in culture by just having a few conversations with people our age.  For example, Sam and I already knew they do not have regular lemonade here.  Their lemonade is Sprite.  Apparently here they have "cloudy" lemonade.  We still have to go looking for that to see if it is the same.  They also do not have any idea what Kool Aid is.  I never thought about it before, but explaining Kool Aid to someone really does show how bizarre it is.  "You see, it's this flavored sugary powder stuff that you mix with regular sugar and water.  Also, the mascot is a giant jug of Kool Aid that bursts into people's homes."  I can completely understand why they thought we were crazy when we told them about this.

We have learned things from them too.  Sam had never heard the phrase, "take the mickey out of someone" before.  (I was too embarrassed to say that I only knew it because they said it in the Harry Potter books.)  It usually means to pick on someone or give someone a hard time.  Also, football (soccer) here is very important.  I have now learned the names of two teams.  I already knew Manchester United, but I am supposed to also know Arsenal now.  Because of all the rain, we learned in the last few days that rainboots are called "wellies".  That goes very well with "brollies" (umbrellas).

I'm sorry this blog has been sort of a cluster of things, but I thought I would make up for the lack of blogging lately.  On Friday we are going down to Dover Castle and the secret war time tunnels.  Then on Saturday, Chris Stupples and her husband, Pete, are coming to get me and show me around their town near Dover.  There will be a lot of stories and pictures I'm sure!

Cheers! (A way to say thank you or goodbye :) )

~Taylor

They aren't kidding...

I wish I shared those feelings.

It rains here. 

A lot.

That's all.

~Taylor 

Blogging for the sake of blogging...

One of the few pics from the last few days

I fell behind on the blog again.  Sorry.  I had a full day of classes on Wednesday, then we went out that night.  Being old enough here to get into pubs and clubs has a lot of positive aspects, but the main one for me is the ability to meet so many people.  It seems I am meeting a ton of new people every day.  I knew that would be part of this, but I didn't realize just how many cool new people I would get to know.  Everyone is super nice here too.  I just love it.

I was reminded today that I only have ten weeks left.  To some that may seem like a long time, but looking at it now feels like I only have about ten seconds.  We have started booking our trips, and I know that adding those onto our schedule will make it go even faster. 

I just booked a three-day tour of Christmas markets in Belgium and Germany.  It sounds like so much fun!  Being my mother's daughter, I absolutely LOVE Christmas, so I really can't wait for this.  Here is a link to that trip if you want to see it: http://www.internationalfriends.co.uk/brussels-christmas-market-aachen.html  I am really looking forward to it, but again, after that trip I will only have a few days left in Europe.  Crazy to think about that. 

Better go make the most of it while I'm here!

~Taylor