Ireland ROCKS (punny, right?)

DISCLAIMER: I wrote this blog yesterday, but I haven’t had wifi to upload it. So here it is now!

Nope, don’t want to leave Ireland. What a crazy, fast weekend. We’ve been here two days and it feel like less. We got here Sunday morning at 6 after taking an overnight ferry, which looked like a cruise ship. It had bars, restaurants, sofas, and TVs featuring the World Cup. I slept, though, so I missed that. Oops. But nothing opens in Dublin until 9ish, so one might ask what we did until then? Sat at McDonald’s of course! We met this guy named Paddy (how Irish) and he talked to us for about an hour. He’s an actor, doing some show about vikings right now. He also gave us his number if we needed a tour guide and invited us to his BBQ! We didn’t contact him, but it was comforting meeting him first thing. Right at 9, we went to the information center to purchase tickets for a city tour, the Guinness Storehouse tour, and to see the Cliffs of Moher today!

Yesterday was crazy.. We didn’t stop at all during the day because we wanted to see as much as we could! We took the city bus tour that showed us everything we needed to know about Dublin. It was a hop on and off tour, so when you saw some place you wanted to go, you could get off then get back on the next bus that came. It ended up dropping us right off at the Guinness factory and picked us up, too. I literally don’t know anything about beer making. We got to see all the ingredients and how they harvest them, how it’s brewed in the factory, the history of the company, and even got a complimentary (which I use lightly because I’m sure I paid for it) glass of Guinness! The bar was on the top floor of the factory, the Gravity Bar, which overlooked the whole city. Interesting fact: back when Arthur Guinness first purchased the land, he paid 100 euros for 9,000 years (what a steal). After the tour, we ran to our hotel to drop our stuff off then left again. We went to Trinity College, which is one of their main attractions, and saw the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript in Latin containing the four gospels of the New Testament. It’s believed to have been created before 800 AD. Then we went to the library…. It was overwhelming. We got to the college 30 minutes before it closed so we didn’t get to read much but I still took tons of pictures. We then ran across town to see St. Patrick’s Cathedral, to find out we too had to pay for that and didn’t have enough time to see everything. So we went to the famous Temple Bar area and had dinner there. I got the cottage pie and finished with Bailey’s cheesecake. It doesn’t get more Irish than that!

Today was even crazier! We met our tour guide at 6:40 AM and we were off! It took about 2 hours to get to the coast but we made lots of stops before and after seeing the Cliffs of Moher. Honestly I could have spent all day there. It’s hands down my new favorite place in the world. We got back into Dublin around 7 and had our last meal, which was American breakfast. We had complete opposite ends of the spectrum there.. We leave at 8 in the morning so it’s going to be a long day again! But it’s now my bedtime, so I’m uploading pics then going to sleep! Oh, and I saw the Queen and Royal Family Saturday morning for her birthday celebration so I’ll upload pics of that as well. Cheers!

An Uncategorizable Post

Whoa. Just realized I haven’t blogged for 3 days.. Sorry! We’ve been so busy trying to cram everything in! It just hit that we won’t be in London after next week, so we are frantically trying to see everything we haven’t yet.

Wednesday, we toured the Globe! We had a neat little tour guide who is an actor, so he was able to give us the inside scoop and answer all of our questions. The Globe that is there today wasn’t originally there. The original was built in 1599 by Shakespeare, but went up in flames in 1613 during a production of Henry VIII (darn that thatched roof), then was rebuilt the following year. It was closed for good by the Puritans in 1642, but the now theatre was built in 1997 near the ground of the original. They constructed it as an academic approximation to the original based on available evidence. Later that night, we were able to see the production of Titus Andronicus! It was performed impeccably. The actors engaged the audience and performed many scenes in the crowd, as the actors did back then (in hopes of keeping the audience engaged). As the media has warned, there were 7 people that fainted!! I don’t know if it was from the “blood” or merely standing for 3 hours, but the actors kept going like nothing had happened. For lunch, we went to the Borough Market near the Globe, and wow. It had street vendors with every type of food and pastry/sweetie you could imagine. I tried authentic dumplings (which were delicious) and a prawn taco wrap from a soul food booth (which was also delicious). Then I finished it off with some macaroons! Somewhere in between there, we journeyed to the National Gallery Museum, where of course we couldn’t take pictures. We got to see incredible pieces of art by Van Gogh, like his famous sunflower painting, and Monet, with all of his water lilies. To get to all of this, we had to walk across the Millennium Bridge (made famous in Harry Potter, but no dementors were present, luckily).

Yesterday we went to the beach! Yes, you read that correctly. We went to the town of Brighton to watch a matinee performance of A Midsummer’s Night Dream (I’ll get to that later). There was a beach!! I just can’t get over it. There was no sand so it was just a good old pebble beach. Also, there was a pier, complete with fried delicious food, arcades, and roller coasters! It made for a great day. We ate lunch at Jamie’s Italian (one of Jamie Oliver’s restaurants), where I dined on a tasty steak and fries, then satisfied my sweet tooth on the pier with some ice cream. Now the play, on the other hand… It was an interesting interpretation. It had a strange carnival theme. The actors wore all white dress, their faces painted like mimes, and there were no women… I know that’s how it was in Shakespeare’s day, but it was strange. The theatre was also very HOT, so myself and others dozed off a few times. This is weird to say, but I prefer Shakespeare’s idea over this modern one.

Now to today! What a day it was. We went all over town to cross things off our list. We started with Abbey Road to get the iconic Beatles picture. Guess what? It’s a huge intersection now. It was hard to take pictures without cars running over you and being in a weird angle. But hey, we did it. Then we journeyed to Hard Rock for some lunch! I order a pulled pork sandwich and a watermelon margarita. Man, I felt like I was home! Then we traveled over to Westminster to get pictures with our friend Big Ben, and THEN went to Harrods. Oh man, I think I spent too much money in there.. But who know if I’ll ever get to go back, right?! Totally justifiable. For those that don’t know, Harrods is this ginormous department store in London that has everything you could ever imagine. It has high end designer clothing and goods, like Gucci and Prada, home goods, art galleries ready for buying, a bookstore, a toy store, many restaurants, and whole areas devoted to only pastries and only chocolate (which is where I bought a set of assorted truffles that has already been devoured). And that’s all we went by! We probably only discovered half of the store because it was so big. But we crossed a lot off of our list today so that’s cool! Tomorrow is the celebration of the Queen’s birthday. There is the Trooping of the Colours, which is where the Queen does her inspection of the guards, a 21 gun salute, and a RAF flyover for everyone to watch. And after that is over.. I’m off to Dublin for the weekend!! It’s weird to think that when I get back, I’ll only have a few days left in London then that weekend in Stratford, then I’m homeward bound. It went by too fast, but I’m still making every second count!!

STARSTRUCK

Only one word can describe the last two days– amazing. Literally. So much has been seen and so little time to blog. But have no fear! For I will update you as best as I can.

So yesterday. We had class to discuss the next few days, which are going to be hectic. We had a play last night, visited Hampton Court today along with another play, going to the Globe tomorrow and another play, then a day in Brighton AND another play. Crazy. The play last night, A Small Family Business, was pretty good! The play was wrote back in the 80s for this theatre, The National Theatre, and it has returned! It’s a quirky story about a family and their business they run, and about all of the troubles that come from it. The set was what really amazed me, though. It was a huge house, that looked like a dollhouse, for the actors to go from room to room, and the whole set rotated so you could see the front of the house and the inside. BUT. Before we saw the play, we attended a church service at Westminister Abbey. The cathedral was breathtaking, no pictures allowed obviously. We were able to hear the actual choir perform and what a treat it was. The cathedral is near Big Ben so there’s a pic of that as well! We also went to the Sherlock Holmes Museum! YAYY! I’m quite a big Sherlock fan, movies and TV show, but I have never read the books, so I obviously bought the set from the gift shop (sorry, mum). The museum was at 221b Baker Street, where the actual stories of Sherlock take place. It showed the rooms of Sherlock, Watson, and their land-lady, Ms. Hudson, along with the living and dining areas. There were replicas of items from the stories and wax figures of the characters created. Sherlock wasn’t real, sadly, but it was a great time. Then we dined at the Sherlock Holmes Pub and obviously ordered fish and chips. Oh, and made a pitstop at Platform 9 3/4 (pardon my white legs)!

Today was a full day! We started off by visiting Hampton Court palace. It was originally built for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, but then became the home of Henry VIII and his many wives. The following century, King William III began to rebuild after Versailles was being built. The building stopped in 1694, leaving the palace to be split into two architecture types, tudor and baroque. There are beautiful gardens around the grounds and a personal tennis court. Upon our return back to London, we rushed to the 50th anniversary showing of Zulu to see Prince Harry on the red carpet. We were literally 5 feet away from him. Then we raced to the other side of town to make it to our play just in time, Baskersfield Mist starring Ian McDiarmid (from Star Wars). The play took place in a trailer park in LA. The set was the inside of the trailer, and whoever designed it did their work. It was complete with Beanie Babies, a Dollar General bag, Hefty garbage bags, and an ACE Hardware sleeve from the newspaper (all things that aren’t present in London). The actors even came out after and signed autographs, and I got Ian’s! Man, I bet I could get a lot of money out of that… 🙂

Don’t Hassel the Hoff

I actually can’t remember the past few days. Nothing exciting really happened, so I’m just going to update y’all on what did happen. Two days ago, we had class, rested all day, then went to a play that night. The play was called A View From the Bridge by Arthur Miller (who also wrote The Crucible). It was pretty cool. It was a thrust stage with no props or scenery. The side panels rose and all that was there was a white floor. The play ended with blood coming from the sprinklers, so that was nifty. It starred Mark Strong. I had no idea who he was until I saw his face, then realized he plays the enemy in the first Sherlock Holmes movie, so I was happy. Yesterday, our group went to see the Churchill War Rooms. This is where he held his underground meetings during World War II. Everything is still left where it was then and we got to take pictures! All of the D-Day celebrations were happening right outside, but we missed them (so upset about it). Then we spent the rest of the day getting lost in London, aka shopping. We ventured to Soho/Chinatown last night. It was interesting.. The Chinese restaurant we went to had no motivation to serve Americans and the food wasn’t that great, but it was an experience. Today, we went to Gumball 3000! It’s this HUGE car rally, consisting of Lamborghini’s and Bugati’s and all of the like. The event travels from Miami to Ibiza. They drove from Edinburgh and Manchester today to London. The rally was started by Maximilian Cooper (who we saw driving with his wife Eve, the rapper) and it’s just one big charity event. It was exciting to see and be a part of. We got there at 12 to see tons of BMX riders and a stage with some interesting acts. I took a lot of pictures of the cars so I’ll just upload a few, along with pictures from the war rooms. David Hasselhoff and rapper Xhibit were present at the rally so you’ll see pictures of them. I know this blog is boring, but I didn’t want to get behind or y’all thinking I’m dead. I also got sunburnt today! IN LONDON! We had beautiful weather and I hope it’s here to stay!

I solemnly swear that I am up to no good

Brace yourselves, this is a long one. I haven’t blogged for three days now and some BIG stuff has happened. Let’s see if I can remember this stuff..

So two days ago we ventured to Windsor to see the famous castle there. I had no idea the Queen lives there. The tour quoted, “Buckingham Palace is her office, while Windsor is her home.” And she was there while we were! I didn’t get to see her, but it was still great. The castle is GINORMOUS. So much bigger than I had imagined. We only got to go in a little portion, for obvious reasons. Funny story, you can’t take pictures. That’s actually not funny, I’m just so used to it now. Which stinks because I can’t show awesome people like y’all what it looks like on the inside. The castle was built in the 1070s after the Norman invasion by William the Conquerer. Edward IV built St. Georges Chapel around 1470 and was completed by Henry VIII. Ten British monarchs are buried in the chapel. One of my favorite rooms, the Waterloo Chamber, was built by George IV in the 1820s to present portraits done by Thomas Lawrence to commemorate the defeat of Napoleon at the battle of Waterloo in 1815. We got to see the state apartments, which was open to public in 1845 under the reign of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. There was a great fire in 1992, during World War II. It took 15 hours and 1.5 million gallons of water to put it out. Nine principal rooms and over 100 other rooms were damaged or destroyed, and it took 5 years to restore it back to its former glory. Here are pics from the outside. Sorry that’s all I could do 😦

The Queen lives behind me!

On to yesterday! What a day.

We first visited Kensington Palace. In 1689, William III commissioned Christopher Wren to improve the already existing mansion to a royal palace by constructing the Royal Apartments, a council chamber, the Chapel Royal, and the Great Stairs. Queen Victoria was born and brought up here, where she learned of her accession in 1837 (majority of the house is dedicated to her). She moved to Buckingham Palace after learning of her reign and never returned to Kensington. Queen Mary (grandmother of present Queen) was also born here. In 1981, work was done to create a residence for the Prince of Wales and Princess Diana, which remained her official residence after their divorce and until her death. Princes William and Harry were raised at Kensington. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge moved here from Nottingham in 2013. And in 2012, Prince Harry moved from his residence to a one-bedroom apartment here. We could take pictures of EVERYTHING, so get excited.

These gates became a public mourning place after Princess Diana’s death

The next few pics are all about Queen Victoria!

Featured pictures in the front room:

Now the rest of the castle:

There were gowns on display worn by Royals! Here were some of Queen Elizabeth’s, the present:

These were worn by Princess Diana:

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Last, and most certainly not least… THE WARNER BROTHERS HARRY POTTER STUDIO TOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s sad to say, but this has been the most exciting thing so far. I took 285 photos JUST here and then my camera died, or I would have taken more (oops). This was incredible. The whole tour was only 30 pounds and I would easily pay more than that and I would definitely go back in a heartbeat..like now (seriously). We had the palace tour in the morning so we booked our HP tour at 4. We were worried we wouldn’t have enough time, but have no fear cause we closed the place down, meaning we were almost the last group to leave at the closing time of 8 pm! It could easily be a whole day thing, but we saw everything we needed to see in a fair amount of time. Also, going later means there aren’t as many people so it wasn’t crowded at all and we didn’t have to fight people! We were also able to take pics without other people being in them which is a feat in itself. The tour started off with a short film in a theatre, with Harry, Ron, and Hermione welcoming us and telling us what we’re going to see. The film finished, the screen raised, and we were in front of THE ENTRANCE TO HOGWARTS, which then opened to the Great Hall. The tour was phenomenally done. It had every prop, outfit, wig, and almost every scene from the movies. Most areas had mini videos about how things were actually done there. Morgan and I got to ride broomsticks and take a charms class, learning how to cast the spells with wands! I just can’t say enough about this tour. I really thought it wouldn’t live up to my expectations, but it exceeded them beyond my imaginations. It truly was, well, magical. We then spent an hour in the gift shop. But hey, you only studio go once, right? Now, pictures… I’m just uploading some tops then I’ll put the rest on Facebook later. I also don’t want to caption all of these, but you should know what you’re looking at. So…. wands at the ready!!:

No pictures, please!

So I started typing this blog for the past two days and I realized I had no pictures or anything exciting to discuss. THEN I realized I had already forgot what I did yesterday cause it was actually a great day! I honestly have had no sense of what day it is since I’ve been in London. But hey, I don’t need to which makes it great, right? Sooo yesterday. I thought I did nothing, but I was mistaken. How could I forget that I went to the Tower of London?! One of the most famous monuments in London and I already forgot. Wow. How sad.. But it was cool! We did a group tour led by a Yeoman Warder. They were in place at the Tower to guard prisoners and the Crown Jewels, but now they’re just there for tourist purposes mainly. They all live on the grounds, though, and the gates (the same ones from the original building) close between 11 and midnight, so you better be back or you’re not getting in. I’ll put descriptions with the pictures later on!

Moving on! After the Tower, Morgan and I went to eat at this place called Byron Burgers. And OMG it was delicious. It had HUGE American burgers, chips (fries, duh), and a milkshake to top it off. Needless to say, we’re going back.. Soon. Last night we ventured out to Richmond to see a couple one act plays and the Orange Tree Theatre. The first was called Squirrels (it was very squirrelly) and the second was The After Dinner Joke. I would like to tell you was both of these were about, but they were very absurdist, so they were open to interpretation. Squirrels were about a couple of writers writing a play about squirrels (clever). The second was about politics and charity, and how the worlds differ. The second was very interesting compared to the first, but I didn’t really care for either!

Today, we had class and discussed the plays we saw last night and tonight. After class, we went to eat lunch in the park and they had GELATO! No, I didn’t get any, but I will be going back (obviously). We then hit up the British Museum again to see the Vikings exhibit that was there now. We didn’t have enough time to see everything the first time, so we went back again! And guess what…. You couldn’t take pictures. So no pics from that experience! But it told the whole history of how the vikings came to be, their dress, money, language, religion, architecture, and fighting equipment. It was information overload. I know nothing about the vikings and still probably couldn’t tell you, but the stuff was pretty neat! It also had a HUGE replica of a viking ship with some of the ship present that they found. A couple interesting things I learned though: the term “going berserk” and Easter eggs come from vikings. There were people called Berserkers, and they would fight completely naked, so I hope you think about that if you ever use the phrase. The vikings also began to convert to Christianity. They symbolized eggs and began to think they looked like Jesus in the tomb. Therefore, Easter egg came about.

After the museum we went to see a modern interpretation of King Lear at the Royal National Theatre. I’m not a Shakespeare fan, but this was impeccable. Simon Russell Beale, a super famous actor, played the lead of King Lear. We had the privilege of getting to tour the theatre backstage before, and we got to see him warm-up and rehearse his lines. On that note, it was super cool to see backstage. Our tour guide knew everything you possibly could about the theatre and shared all of its secrets with us. But the play was very well done. I felt Shakespeare always needed to be done in proper dress of the time, but this really helped me to understand it on today’s terms because it kept the same script, but used modern dress and situations. The cast also had other famous people, including actors from Harry Potter, Skyfall, the TV series Sherlock, and the movie Les Miserables. When the play started we kind of looked at each other and thought a lot of the people looked familiar, so we googled them all during interval and sure enough, they had all been in something. Not all of them had big roles, but if we were able to notice who they were. Tomorrow we’re going to Windsor Castle so lots of pics will come from that. Here’s stuff from yesterday though. Cheers!:

The Bell Tower, 1190. This is were the more well-off or important people would be in prison. They were up higher so that the other prisoners couldn’t get to them as easily.

Awww look how cute he is!

Traitor’s Gate, where prisoners entered so they couldn’t escape like they could on foot.

This is where the beheading of important people were, like Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard (two of Henry VIII’s wives). They weren’t done publicly as to save some of their dignity (some being the keyword)

St. Peter ad Vincula (St. Peter in Chains) chapel on the Tower grounds. This is also the burial site of all that were beheaded, with Anne Boleyn being under the altar.

Some royal figures, like the resident governor, stay on the grounds, which is why they still have the royal guards present.

THE CROWN JEWELS! Yes, I saw them. And yes, they were exquisite. It featured all of the previous jewels from kings and queens and stuff that is still used today, like the dishes that are used for royal baptisms. The two largest diamonds cut from the Cullinan diamond are housed here, one being 530 carats (found in the scepter head) and the other 317. The legend says that when the Royal Jewelers come in to clean them, a man can’t touch these diamonds or they will crumble, so a woman is in charge of cleaning those. No pics were allowed, so here’s the sign and guard!

The Ravens. The myth goes they were once to be killed because they were being pesky to the people on the grounds. The king ordered them to be killed, but the chaplain said you can’t, cause if you don’t have 7 ravens present at all times, the White Tower (in the center) will crumble. So they now keep 9 just to be safe. They are free to roam about the grounds, but they stay because they get fed better than anyone on the grounds. There is also the Ravenmaster, the special Yeoman appointed to keep count at all times.

So the center tower, the White Tower, now houses the fighting armor and other treasures that were given to kings.

Strawberry Fields FOREVER

I WENT TO LIVERPOOL TODAY AND OH MY GOSH. It was incredible. Beatles mania, y’all. I guess I sort of skipped yesterday.. But all I did was shop and go to a classical concert, and the concert was awesome. The orchestra was amazing. I’ve never cared for classical music, but now I’m a fan. Anywho. Back to today! We did the Magical Mystery Tour. It’s put on by The Cavern Club, which is where The Beatles had there start in Liverpool. The tour guide was impeccable. He told us everything you could possibly know about The Beatles and their lives in town. We learned about how the band formed, including the early members that didn’t make it to the legendary band we know today, the bands early name, The Quarrymen, where they all met, went to school, and got together after, and of course all of their homes they grew up in and iconic landmarks from their songs. The pictures don’t even do it justice. I am a new found Beatles fan and I have a whole new appreciation for them. Like if I ever wanted to know their whole backgrounds and life stories, this was the place to learn about them. We went to The Cavern Club after the tour. There is live music 24/7, 8 days a week. Not only The Beatles, but many artists have played their first gigs there, like Queen. Seriously, so much history in such a small town. It’s crazy to think that we were standing where they stood. I can’t even put into words how great today was, and not just the tour.

We got to explore Liverpool after but I didn’t want to leave when it was time for our train to depart. I will definitely be going back someday. It’s exactly like London but on a smaller scale. The “scouse’s” were great (what Liverpool residents are called, and later learned from our chums that it comes from a soup). We had some time to kill before our train so we popped into this pub, just hoping to sit down for awhile by ourselves, but then this couple talked to us. Their names were Alice and Bryan, they’ve been married for 51 years. I asked their secret and Alice just laughed and said, “We met when we were 16, and I don’t know how I could even function without him by my side.” They preceded to tell us about their grandchildren, showing us pics, and saying their youngest, who’s 9, had his first communion today. At least, I think that’s what Alice said. She was hard to understand with her fast paced, Liverpoolian/Irish accent. They INSISTED on buying us drinks, and recommended a Black Russian. They operated pubs so we trusted them, and good thing cause the drink was delicious. I asked Alice if she had ever seen The Beatles perform, and she said no but she got to know Frank Sinatra when he came to Liverpool (whoa). They could tell we were from America and said they wanted to visit New York, but Alice also said Nashville. Our group laughed and asked why and she said because of the music. Funny, isn’t it? Such a small world we live in. They recommended a Chinese restaurant to us, which was wonderful, and we parted ways. I think we tend to overlook people when we travel. In a town like Liverpool, the older generation has seen so much and it’s cool to get an account of their lives. I wish we could have stayed to chat longer, but it was great while it lasted. It’s going to be hard to top today, but if any town can do it it’s London. I’m excited to see what else this trip has in store! Now, the moment that everyone is waiting for… PICTURES. I’ll put descriptions otherwise y’all will have no idea what you’re looking at. Hope you all enjoy as much as I did!:

MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR!

Terrible pic, but this is the street Ringo Starr lived on

Quoting the song here.. “In Penny Lane,”

“Behind the shelter in the middle of the roundabout..”

Enough of that song. This is where George Harrison was born! In that front room with the window.

The building where Paul McCartney and John Lennon met!

And where the iconic Eleanor Rigby is buried (yes, she was a real person)

And of course, the Strawberry Field. Where John Lennon was inspired to write I Am the Walrus and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

Another terrible picture, but this is the home where John Lennon spent half of his life

The childhood home of Paul McCartney (his room was above the door)! When he comes back to Liverpool, this is where he stays. He was here 3 weeks ago! We missed him 😦

Me and my boyfriend, Mr. Lennon

The famous Cavern Club!

I have arrived!

Whoa. The first few days have been CRAZY! Yesterday we woke up to have a sightseeing tour of London, along with the famous changing of the guards. Our view wasn’t that great though, so I’m hoping to go back and see it again before I leave. After our tour yesterday, my friend Morgan and I decided to hit up The British Museum. It has history from all different continents, with an exhibit on mummies (super cool pics to follow). We saw our first play last night called Jeeves and Wooster. It was HILARIOUS. It’s this comedy about a man telling a story with the help of two butlers, and it’s only them three for the whole play. I strongly suggest everyone seeing it if you want a good laugh! We had our first class this morning, then we went to the Natural History Museum this afternoon. The museum has the history of all of the animals and dinosaurs so it was great. They also had a special exhibit on mammoths and they featured a baby mammoth they recently found that was fully preserved. It showed how it was preserved, found, and cleaned back to its condition. We couldn’t take pictures, but it was still nifty to see. Sorry I haven’t blogged yet! I can tell this is going to be a fun and fast-paced trip so I probably won’t be able to blog as much as I’d like, which just means when I do they will be jam-packed and AWESOME (hopefully). Here are some pics. I haven’t taken many yet, so I hope y’all enjoy for now!:

Buckingham Palace!

The Queen is in 🙂

The Rosetta Stone is housed at The British Museum!

At the Natural History Museum:

How ’bout these mammoth bones?

Round 2: London Calling

“It won’t be long, yeh!” is what I’ve been singing all day. Tomorrow I will be studying abroad for the second time (whoa) and in case you missed the title, I’ll be in London, England! I am so incredibly lucky to have this opportunity again. This trip will be a completely different experience from the last. Italians are sort of, um, unorganized (to say the least), and this trip is already more together than last years ever was! It’s a theatre program, and no it doesn’t have anything to do with my major, but I get to see cool plays almost every day! We’re planning to travel elsewhere throughout the area, but time is short and London has so much to offer! We’ve already booked tickets to go to Liverpool and learn everything about The Beatles, do the Harry Potter studio tour, and see Les Miserables on the big stage! And of course, we’re seeing the main attractions like the Tower of London and a play at The Globe (yay for Shakespeare). I’m hoping to record all my journeys here again, but the itinerary seems pretty packed so I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to write. I’m super excited and can’t wait to show y’all everything I get to see!

My Last Weekend: Tuscany and Pisa!

Well guys, it’s June 23. That means this is my last week in Italy! I’m very sad, but also super excited to get back home. You really don’t realize how much you take for granted until you’re somewhere without those things. I miss my family, along with my car (so I don’t have to walk everywhere) and the food (you can’t imagine how different everything is here). It’s such a bittersweet moment, but I’m making my last week here count!
To start it off, for our last weekend we journeyed to Tuscany and Pisa! We wanted to see the countryside because we haven’t been to that area yet. I also got my first taste of wine, which wasn’t what I was expecting at all. Probably didn’t help that it was the real stuff, but at least I can say my first wine tasting was in Tuscany! Pretty cool, if I do say so myself. We went to Siena and some surrounding towns on Friday, where we got to see the cities and eat on the wine farm! The food was all produced there. We stayed the night in Florence and got up the next day to see the bronze hog! That was a must because we missed it the first time. Then we finished on Saturday with Pisa! The pictures turned out great from this past weekend! Took LOTS of cheesy pics, but I think it’s a must when you’re here!
Made it back to Rome last night and we just went to see the Pope because he blesses the audience on Sunday’s, so y’all will get to see those pics, too! Enjoy!

Pics from Siena:

This is considered to be the oldest bank in the world!

The center of Siena where the Palio di Siena is held. It’s a HUGE horse race held two days a year (first on July 2). Riders and horses represent 10 out of the 17 district of Siena. The whole thing is pretty cool to learn about. Look it up if you have time!

Getting into Tuscany territory now! Wine tasting and Pisa:

And then our journey back to Florence:

Lastly, we stumbled upon Michelangelo’s house! Crazy.

Pope sighting!: