Castles, Cows, and Cobblestones

So apparently here in England, three times a year the nation goes on 'Bank Holiday'. During Bank Holiday all of the offices and of course banks in England close and the people of England go on trips and spend the day relaxing. Carrie and I decided we would take part in this vacationing and therefore we went on a tour of Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath.

Windsor Castle, weekend home of Queen Elizabeth II, was extravagant. There are portraits of royalty EVERYWHERE! While in Windsor Castle we toured the state rooms and St. George's chapel where several kings and queens, including the Queen Mum, are buried. And as were leaving the castle the changing of the guard occurred, most definitely on of my least favorite things about England.

After leaving the castle, we ate a mediocre lunch at a pub in Anover, England. Never heard of it? Well join the crowd. The pub was on the way to Stonehenge, which is in the middle of a field in the middle of NOWHERE!

But, despite its location it is extremely cool and mysterious. Around 5,000 years ago ancient peoples moved these giant stones over 200 miles to its present site. Without computers, engineering, construction equipment, etc., they managed to use manpower to place these stones in a specific arrangement. The craziest part about Stonehenge is that no one really understands its purpose or meaning.

Finally, our tour concluded with a visit to the ancient city of Bath. The Romans upon entering the ancient Britannia built a temple for their goddess Minerva amongst the natural hot springs. The ruins of these ancient buildings are still in tact, so we were able to experience and view the ancient Roman baths. Also in the city of Bath we discovered Jane Austen’s old house. She’s my favorite author so that was fantastic to see.

Our Bank Holiday was brilliant. Although Carrie and I did discover that the tour scene probably isn’t for us considering we’re not slow-moving or over the age of 65 (no offense!) . But I have decided that I love holidays in England, and the countryside here is absolutely magnificent! Goodnight world, love to all!

Sam

Hillsong and Dinosaurs

It's so hard to believe that we've really been here for over a week! London is still fabulous, and this weekend has been a lovely time to explore the town on our own.

This morning we got to go to Hillsong London! Here there are churches everywhere, but most people are very apathetic when it comes to faith. It was so wonderful to worship with so many believers this morning! It was a great reminder of how BIG God is and that He is the same God no matter where we are. Pastors Brian and Bobbie Houston of Hillsong Australia were in town today, so we got to hear Bobbie. It really was an awesome experience.

After lunch (Mexican!) we headed over to Brick Lane for the market. There were tons of University students, but we couldn't find any Bangladeshis which had been the whole point of our going, so that was disappointing, but we did gather a little information. We then headed to the Natural History Museum.

Although the museum is a little dated, the exhibits had some neat things in them like all of

the stuffed birds, the dinosaurs, and the human body exhibit. I think every family with small children in London was in line to see the moving T-Rex, but we waited and waited and finally got our turn to see him. One of the exhibits had all of the different carnival mirrors!

My little brother Evan is taking a mini-tour of Europe with his high school, and so for the next couple of days he is here in London! Samantha and I took the overground out to his hotel. It was quite a journey... His tube stop isn't even on either of our maps! We got to his hotel before he did, but we were able to stay entertained by the Anime Convention that is going on nearby. All of the people staying at the hotel

were in full costume! It was absolutely hilarious and very strange! We were having a hard time hiding our laughter. I wish I had pictures to show!

Once Evan's tour group got there, he got to come into the city and eat supper with us! The tube was shut down out in Egypt by his hotel, so it was a little difficult to get back but definitely worth it to see him. Our first stop was at Westminster so Evan could see Big Ben. He was just as blown away with the sight of it as Sam and I were the first time we saw it. Even though I've seen it a several times now, the beauty of it has not started to wear off.

By this time we were starving as it was past 8, so we headed back to our favorite French restaurant. We had a great meal and fabulous dessert to end our night!

Tomorrow we see one of the seven wonders of the world!

Watching All the Black Umbrellas Pass Me By...

This Saturday we woke up to a true London day, overcast and rainy. However, we pressed on despite the temptation to sleep the day away inside and we headed out to Portobello Road Market. Anyone ever seen Notting Hill with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts?

Well, if so, Portobello Road Market is in the movie and Carrie and I shopped there for over four hours today in the rain. It was wonderful, we found good deals and met designers who have had their jewelry and accessories featured in magazines like Vogue and Cosmopolitan. Notting Hill is my favorite area of London, and spending the morning there was absolutely ideal!

After shopping, Carrie and I headed back to the hotel to get dressed for high afternoon tea at the Orangery. The Orangery used to be a greenhouse for Kensington Palace and now serves as a restaurant, famous for their afternoon tea. We ordered the Enchanted Palace Tea which included: chocolate tea, assorted finger

sandwiches, an orange scone with butter and jam, a clotted cream and raspberry heart-shaped pastry, and my favorite chocolate ganache cake. The whole tea was so elegant and delightful that we might just have to go back next Saturday!

Following the luxurious afternoon tea, we spent the afternoon visiting the true Enchanted Palace, Kensington Palace. Kensington Palace was home to Queen Victoria and Princess Diana. The exhibit told of secrets and stories of the palace's inhabitants, and the rooms and interior are splendid. While there Carrie and

I got to sit on a real throne, while one of the workers kindly offered to bow for us, Queen Carrie and Queen Samantha!

Finally, our day concluded with a lovely dinner with the group celebrating our wonderful professor, Dr. Sutherland’s birthday! He is quite the character and we really enjoy having him around!

Today, was by far our favorite day in London. We really were able to truly experience it: the rain, the markets, tea, and of course royalty! Today, was our first true free day to explore and it was fantastic. So from London, goodnight to all, tomorrow we’re going to HILLSONG LONDON for church and I can’t wait!

Cheers!

Sam

Bangladesh and Brownies

One week down! Today moved at a much slower pace than the packed schedule we have come accustomed to. Our day was free until 3:30 to spend time in our ethnic communities to get to know the people and area for our anthropology class, so that brought the two of us back to Brick Lane. One thing that we're studying is how the area has changed over

the past hundred or so years, and I think this picture really highlights that with the new minaret on the street with the church in the background.

We did have some really nice talks with several people Bangladeshi though. We also enjoyed a great meal and got to interview the mogul of Brick Lane.

At 3:30 we came back to the hotel to have a group time to all discuss what's going on in each of our interview and research processes.

After getting ready for the theatre for the second night in a row, Samantha and I headed to

get supper. We picked Cafe Rouge which turned out to be a superb French place. Out of all of the ethnic food we've eaten so far (Thai, Chinese, Bangladeshi, Italian, English, Turkish) it

was definitely our favorite! We were very sad, though that we did not have time for the mouthwatering brownies and ice cream dessert we had planned on getting because of the show.

Our whole group met up for War Horse. It's a

WWI story of a boy and the horse he raises that ends up going to war without him. It sounds cheesy, I know, but it actually was very good! There were huge lifesized horse puppets that really were incredible with how lifelike they were.

After the show, we were still sad about missing out on the brownie, but all of the places that could fix our sweet tooth were closed, so we went to the convenience store outside our hotel and made some dessert of our own. It was the perfect ending to our first week here!

History+Entertainment= A Brilliant Day in London

Samuel Johnson once said, "By seeing London, I have seen as much of life as the world can show.”

Well, this morning was a bit slow for Carrie and I in more ways than one. After the alarm sounded for the fifth or so time Carrie got up and I laid there, then it rang some more, and of course, I continued to lay there. And this story concludes with us running late and having to get breakfast at some cafe down the street because the line for the l breakfast was out the door. Why couldn’t we just stand in line you may ask? Well, according to our teachers we are apparently on a 'strict schedule here in London’. The morning was also a bit slow due to the fact that we were absolutely exhausted during our fifteen-minute walk and forty-five minute lecture prior to arriving at the beautiful British Museum.

The British museum is fabulous. Hundreds of collections, some from Britain, others pillaged from around the world and supposedly saved from vandalism and destruction. The British are so kind, right?!

We saw artifacts like the Rosetta Stone, mummies of all kinds, pieces of the Parthenon, statues, etc. My favorite exhibition was the Drawing exhibition with the original

sketches from legendary artists like Veruccio, DaVinci, Michaelangelo, and Raphael. The entire exhibit was absolutely breath taking.

Following the British Museum we had lunch at Covent Garden where we sketched, ate lunch, and shopped around for a while. And as a part of our architecture class, we visited the John Soane museum. John Soane, one of the most inventive architects of all time, especially in the western world, left his house to the public as a free museum. And, lucky for the public, the house is absolutely extraordinary, with spiraling staircases, skylights throughout, and unique ceiling and spatial effects throughout the home. (Sorry, no pictures, cameras weren't allowed inside, unfortunately!)

Finally, as for my favorite part of our day, Carrie and I purchased

tickets to see the terrific, Les Miserables. The musical was just perfect. We could not have asked for a better way to spend a Thursday evening in London. So to all our readers cheers from London and love to all!

Best,

Sam

Dr. Sutherland, We love your Oxford

Oxford.

Words and pictures really cannot describe how beautiful it is. Our professor Dr. Sutherland received his undergrad and doctorate from there, so it was really great to have him show us all around the university and part of the town.

Oxford as a school has been around since somewhere around 1100 and all of the stone buildings are stunning. They’re all this pretty sand-colored stone… It’s so hard to believe that all of this was around hundreds of years before Columbus ever sailed across the Atlantic!

From the top of the theatre we could overlook all of the campus. The University of Oxford is divided in to different college. Dr. Sutherland attended New College… it’s new because it was built in 1379 haha. It was amazing!

The dining hall looked like it came straight out of Harry Potter! (This trip just might make me a fan!)

New College’s chapel was breathtaking. At the end of the aisle there are 48 life-size statues on the wall… All of the prophets, the disciples, Jesus, God, angels… It’s incredible! Every building has big stained glass windows.

Each college also has its own garden! They are HUGE! Hills, benches, flowers, trees, stone pathways... Everything a garden should be all protected by huge walls so that only the members of each college can use each garden.

Our train to Oxford left out of Paddington Station! They even have a Paddington Bear Statue!

Barbie and Skipper Hit London

"Y'all remind me of Barbie and Skipper..." - Claire, fellow group member :)

Apparently we remind our group members of Barbie and Skipper, because we're 'put together and perfect all the time'. Not sure if that's exactly true, but it was a funny quote for the day.

This morning we headed to the Tower of London and London Bridge, two of my mom's favorite places in all of London. The Tower of London was full of treasures like all of the armory artifacts and our favorite, the Crown Jewels! We also got to read and look at all of the towers that held prisoners and tortured individuals for information. And of course, the London Bridge is absolutely splendid!

Following the morning's adventures we spent mid-day walking around 'the City' (business district) enjoying the architecture and design, then grabbing lunch at an

Italian restaurant in Leadenhall, where we also enjoyed a delicious chocolate cupcake as you can see! After lunch we looked at the strangest building in all of London, the Gerken Building, and then our group made the trek out to our Anthropology

field site 'Brick Lane' to learn about the ethnography of the area.

For dinner we enjoyed Turkish food (Cara Tynes, if you're reading this we went upon your recommendation and it was delicious!) with some of our new friends. And finally, we wrapped up our evening with our favorite American ice cream with the 31 flavor choice, Baskin Robbins. Tomorrow we head to Oxford, so goodnight world! Love to all and Cheers from London!

I do believe in fairies... and Harry Potter

Day 3! Our group started out the morning with a walk through Hyde Park. We saw Kensington Palace and the beautiful gardens! This is the palace where Queen Victoria was born and lived until she became queen as well as where Princess Diana lived.

We ended our Hyde Park walk at the Prince Albert Memorial. Queen Victoria built this and the Prince Albert Hall after his death. We can see both of these from our room! Our room view is so wonderful! We overlook Hyde Park and can also see the London Eye!

Continuing the Victoria and Albert theme of the morning,

our group headed to the Victoria and Albert

Museum so we could start our sketchin

g for the architecture class. Sketching buildings in great detail is quite difficult we soon learned. We had lunch in the courtyard and sketched the museum and worked on our tans during this not

so lovely heatwave that

we seem to have brought with us to London.Once our group split up, Samantha and I took off our shoes and "paddled" through the water just like all of the little kids! It was the perfect way to cool off!

After the museum, we headed to Brick Lane for a few hours to study

the Bangledeshi people for the Anthropology part of this class. We had a very good Banglodi dinner, and our waiter was so kind to answer all of our questions!

Then the magic began! Samantha LOVES Harry Potter, so we headed over to King's Cross to see Platform 9 3/4! I'm not much of a fan myself, but it was very cool to see! We must have looked like Harry Potter fans because the

station workers kept pointing us where to go even without our asking. It was slightly embarrassing, but at least we got there!

We ended our night with gelato and a walk through Hyde Park to see the Peter Pan statue! It was movie perfect! We continued our walk to Diana, Princess of Wales, Memorial Garden and then decided to call it a night!