London, Day Six: There's Life Outside of London

Today was the last full day I'd spend here in London. It also happened to be the first, and only, time I journeyed outside of the city and into the countryside to see what there was to see. And I have to say the rolling green hills were truly breathtaking...especially on the gray drizzly day we had today. Every once in a while there were small town or beautiful old farms with hills dotted with sheep and cows but in between there were wide expanses of big, beautiful...nothing. It was really very relaxing. KC had some great driving music on (including that Brett guy Lisa mentioned in her most recent "What I Love" entry!) and I just stared out the window for miles and miles.

About and 1.5 hours from London we reached our first destination - Stone Henge. The peaceful enigmatic beauty was mesmerizing. Here's a picture of me in front of it looking like a complete nerd with my audio tour guide thing (and there are actually a couple of other pictures of me in this entry...happy, Shane?).


And here is a picture sans me...



My aunt and I...


From a little farther away so you can get a good look at the whole thing...


The audio tour was really great too because it sort of, in a really weird way, helped to reveal the mystery of this amazing landmark by telling me more about it. It's almost like the more you know the more questions you have. This structure is at least 5000 years old. 5 THOUSAND years! Think before Jesus, folks, when pyramids were being built in other areas of the world. I've never seen something so old. So for any of you that heard this structure may be linked to the Druids...well that is actually most likely false. I guess historians researching it believe it existed well before the Druids and may have even already been in ruin before they were in the area. How it was made is a complete mystery...seriously, how do you lift rocks that way as much as 7 elephants (literally) that high without modern machinery? What it was used for is a complete mystery as well...though many believe it was used for either religious or scientific purposes...used to study the heavens and the movement of the sun and moon.

This is a poor attempt to capture the beauty of the countryside near Stone Henge. This photo really doesn't do it any justice at all.


So pretty...we drove through about another 1.5 hours of this over to the aptly named Bath to see the Roman Baths. But first we had some lunch at this great little place...


I believe the building is from the 1400's and the food was great (thank goodness). I guess Jane Austen and Charles Dickens used to hang out at this place back in the day.

Then we went to the Roman Baths, which were amazing in all of their glorious oldness as well. This picture is of the main bath area where people used to come and lounge in the healing waters.


Here's a close-up of one of the statues that was standing on the roof overlooking the bath.


And this pool was called the "cool plunge" because men would sit in extremely hot saunas and then jump into this cold pool. The bottom of this one was covered with coins and there were movie projections of half-naked, and sometimes fully naked, men getting in and out of the pool (no full frontals though...I know you're wondering...pervert). Oh my...


Here is a cool shot looking through the open area above the main bath.


This pool was originally sectioned off as the private pool for the gods...then was later used as a healing pool by monks. They brought sick people here to help them get better. I don't know how effective it was...


Here is me with the pool of the gods.


A little while later we headed back to the car and then back to London where we grabbed a quick bite to eat at Whole Foods then came back to the apartment to pack and get ready for tomorrow's trip home.

And so ends my blogs from across the Atlantic series. I will most likely do a reflective blog once I get home. This has truly been a wonderful experience and I hope to do much more traveling in the future. The only question is...where to next??? See you all across the pond. ;)

London, Day Five: The First Day of Rain

So in an amazing turn of events we had our first day of rain on the fifth day in to our trip. Before I came here I was under the impression that we would probably have rain just about every day. We got incredibly lucky! And I think Ann Marie and I are seriously starting to hit a wall...every day it gets a little harder to keep hoofing it around this city. I think I've done more walking this week than I have ever walked during any given week in my entire life. We've been getting very very lazy...which is evidenced clearly in at least a couple places during the course of this blog.

This morning we started our day by heading to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. Here is the gate in Green Park right before you get to the palace...


And right across the street from here is the one, the only, Buckingham Palace...


There were tons of people there despite the rain. This statue was out in front of the palace.


But there were so many people and the rain was so incessant...and the changing of the guard was apparently running late...that we left without seeing it. Lazy moment number one.

Then we went to the British Museum...thoroughly soaked by the time we arrived.


Which happens to be home of the Rosetta Stone.


(You can see my reflection in the glass in this next one...Shane, this is your picture of me for the day.)


After viewing the Rosetta Stone we walked around and looked at some other Ancient Egyptian artifacts...




And then we went to lunch in the museum cafe and I had the first disgusting meal during my time here. I was going to get a baked potato but the toppings they had to offer were: tuna fish, coleslaw, corn, and some shredded cheese...and the cheese didn't look all that good. Yuck. So I got the vegetable soup, thinking I couldn't go wrong with soup. I was very wrong...


I could not eat this soup. For some reason it tasted and smelled like fish and by "vegetables" apparently they meant "slivers of carrot and some little green things." Luckily I had a little bit of French bread and a cookie too so I managed to survive the afternoon. After lunch we saw a little more of the museum but then left. Lazy moment two.

Then we went to St. Paul's Cathedral. I'm convinced this is the place where the old lady from the song "Feed the Birds" in Mary Poppins sits and sells birdseed to feed the pigeons. "Feeed the biiirrddss...tupins a bag. Tupiinnnss, tupppiinnnnss, tupins a baaaaggg."


But you had to pay 11 pounds to actually walk around inside...so we poked our heads in, had a look, and left. We'd already seen St. Martin in the Fields and Westminster Abby so we felt we'd seen enough churchy stuff. Lazy moment three.

We then went over to Notting Hill to do some shopping on Portabello Road. I believe it is when we arrived at the Notting Hill tube station that we did the one non-lazy thing all day. As a matter of fact it was so non-lazy it was outright stupid. The station was pretty crowded and we needed to take an elevator to get to street level...or take the stairs. I hate crowded elevators so I was willing to do just about anything to avoid it. Ann Marie cautioned me that she saw a sign saying there was a whopping 193 steps to the top, but I just said "I bet it's not as bad as you'd think."

Dear lord was I wrong. I think I nearly killed my poor aunt. I managed to power through the stairs and nearly had an asthma attack at the top...I couldn't even feel my quads...and Ann Marie had to stop twice to rest. I felt so bad I couldn't stop apologizing. She was about ready to strangle me.

But we still had a good time shopping and walking around Notting Hill...here's a view of the shops on Portobello Road...


This one store, Alice's, was almost like a museum. It was packed with really cool, strange antiques.


During our journey we also stopped by a bakery KC had recommended to get some cupcakes. It was called The Hummingbird Bakery.






Alan and Amanda - suprising they had NO hummingbird cupcakes! They did, however, have red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting...


Naturally, I unhinged my jaw and ate the entire thing in one bite.


Then, when we were lesiurely strolling back to the tube station, we passed by this very unassuming looking building.


Which turns out to be the former home of George Orwell.


I LOVE the book 1984 so this was a very exciting discovery. This little round plaque was the only thing denoting the house as a historical site. You could very easily miss it and I'm so glad we didn't.

Also on our way back to the tube station we saw a very interesting storefront display. It contained two live bunnies.


So cute! I know in this picture it looks like that maniquins foot is crushing the poor thing but I promise you it wasn't. He was hopping around happily and nibbling on some hay.

After that we went way out of the way to Covent Garden to do some more shopping and then we headed home for a relaxing eveing of pizza, wine, and Semi Pro. Although this movie is definitely NOT one of Will Farrell's best, it was a vast improvement over last night's selection.

Night all! I have to rest up for my last full day here in London... :'(

London, Day Four: Westminster Abby, Fish & Chips and Victoria Albert

We slept in a bit too late this morning and missed the changing of the guard. Damn. So we'll be doing that tomorrow and decided instead to head directly to Westminster Abby. As we've done for the past couple of days, we jumped on the Picadilly Line and headed East towards Trafalgar Square...


There I took a picture of the St. Martin in the Field church that we went to yesterday but I was too lazy to take a picture of. I love the blue clock face at the top.


From this picture you can also see the beautiful, clear blue sky. Somehow we have had utterly beautiful weather all week so far. Today it was almost 70 outside!

I also took another picture of Big Ben just so that all my lovely readers can get a better feel for how tall it is. This provides a less deceiving perspective. Here you can clearly see that the tower is much more than 1.5 bus lengths long.


Then we went to Westminster Abby. We had to pay 12 pounds to get in (yikes) but then could get a little audio tour guide free of charge. Unfortunately I couldn't take any pictures inside but take my word for it...it was beautiful. The cloisters in particular were nice because of the wonderful, sunny weather.

Here's the entrance...


And a closer picture of the door...


Detail pictures of the door...



A picture of the huge stained glass window from the College Garden...


Another part of the Abby...


Westminster Abby is the final resting place of so many people it's ridiculous...they're actually even buried under the floor. Everyone from Queen Elizabeth I who has a huge ornate tomb to Charles Dickens who has a very simple engraving on the floor and that's it.

After leaving the Abby we saw a familiar face...


Mr. Lincoln was a comforting, so-there-Americans-don't-suck-after-all, sight to see.

Then we grabbed some lunch at a little pub called The Old Shudders.


What did I get, you ask?


Why fish and chips of course! It was very good...not too greasy at all, nice and light. It came with some mushy peas too (that green stuff) which was kind of interesting.

After that we headed back from whence we came to go to the Victoria Albert but first stopped by the church we went to for Easter Mass to snap a few shots of the exterior.


And THEN went to the Victoria Albert...




We looked at some Chinese and Japanese artwork along with some sculpture and a fashion exhibit then headed out to the grocery store to buy some things for dinner.

And that is where I really had my breath taken away. I literally gasped when I saw this...


Aero bars are freaking amazing. They're available in Canada and used to be sold in New York City until they mysteriously disappeared from store shelves. I love these things. I immediately bought three of them and plan on bringing at least one home.

Then we headed back to the apartment, cooked and ate dinner, and are now watching Match Point which I'm hating a little bit because the main character is a freaking horrible slime ball and I can't stand him. Ew. Don't watch it. Well anyway...more fun ahead for tomorrow!