Yesterday we had quite a busy free day. We started out going to the Natural History Museum, and it was a lot more interesting than I had anticipated it to be. They had a lot of dinosaurs and hands on stuff. I was very surprised because this museum was free, and was of very high quality. As it turns out, most of the museums are free here, they just recommend donations.
Also, we went to get tickets for We Will Rock You, and right by the ticket stand is where Sex in the City was having their premier! At 10a.m. there were people already standing outside waiting in line to see the stars walk the red carpet! So anyways, after the Museum, we went shopping! I didn't get anything, but I had a lot of fun going through all of the shops that we don't have in the States.
We went to We Will Rock You, and it was a blast! It is about the greatest hits of Queen, and most of the songs (besides a few) were all Queen songs. I was kinds iffy about the plot of the story at first, but it ended up being a great show and I wish we had time to go to another!
Well, today is our last day in England, and we're spending it going to Wimbledon and going shopping to pick up a few things before we head home tomorrow. Our flight leaves Heathrow around 3, then we have a connection in Chicago and we'll land in Des Moines at 9:45.
Thanks for taking time to somewhat experience this trip with me! I've had a lot of fun and have learned so much! This has been a great experience :) See you all tomorrow!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
It's me again! Today we had a free day in London, so we decided to do a couple of things. First thing in the morning, we went to the London Tower. Here, they had a lot of the Royal stuff like crowns, swords, and china. They actually use a lot of the china that was on display because there were a lot of "in use" signs where they were missing. The china was really pretty because it was all gold, real gold I'm assuming! We also took a guided tour of the Tower which was really interesting.
After the London Tower, we went to Subway to have lunch. After Subway, we went to Ben and Jerry's! Yummy :). It was really hot again today, so ice cream just topped it off! We heard today that this may be the hottest May they've ever had here in England, and I believe it. I didn't pack any shorts, and I'm definately regretting that decision! Anyways..
We went to the Tate Modern which was pretty interesting also. I don't know too much about art, but I even found it interesting. It was even free! Well, besides the most popular paintings like Picaso! So, we didn't go in there, but we went to the rest of it.
After the Tate, we tried to make phone calls back home for Mothers Day, but it turns out that nobody likes to answer their phones! Moms cell phone doesn't take international phone calls, and Cathy was in church. (excuses, excuses) ;). Tomorrow we're going to go shopping for stuff to take home, and we're even going to try to make it to Wimbledon. I'm pretty excited to go to Wimbledon, even if it means just taking my picture next to the sign that says "Wimbledon".
Oh, I saw someone get arrested today while I was looking for a phone booth! I thought it was pretty cool! Well, I'm going to get going to bed, I'll see everyone on Wednesday or Thursday!
Friday, May 9, 2008
Back in London
Today we left Leeds around noon for a 2 and a half hour trip back to London. I had free WiFi on the train, so the time went pretty fast. We got to London and had free time for the rest of the night. We ended up going to Hard Rock Cafe, and it was a lot of fun. We got to go down to the "Vault" where we saw everything from a jacket worn by Elvis and guitars from Queen and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. There was even a rough draft of a song by the Beatles. This rough draft even had their handwriting and editing on it!
After the Hard Rock Cafe, we came back to the hotel to hang out for a while. We went and bought phone cards, made a couple phone calls, and got ready for our night out. We ended up walking to Camden Town, which is a music district in London. There are also a bunch of clubs too. Tiff and I decided that it looked too creepy around there, so we ventured our way back to the Royal National.
Today has been a laid back travel day. It's nearly 2am right now, so I'm headed off to bed. I can't believe that we only have like 5 days left in England! This trip has gone by so fast!
Until next time...
After the Hard Rock Cafe, we came back to the hotel to hang out for a while. We went and bought phone cards, made a couple phone calls, and got ready for our night out. We ended up walking to Camden Town, which is a music district in London. There are also a bunch of clubs too. Tiff and I decided that it looked too creepy around there, so we ventured our way back to the Royal National.
Today has been a laid back travel day. It's nearly 2am right now, so I'm headed off to bed. I can't believe that we only have like 5 days left in England! This trip has gone by so fast!
Until next time...
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Off to Leeds!
Thursday, May 8th:
We woke up this morning and ate another English breakfast which consisted of bacon, eggs, tomatoes, baked beans, and toast. It was sad to leave Sandra and Doug this morning because they were so welcoming to us. Sandra and Doug were the owners of the Pub/Hotel/Restaurant and the Hostel. They served us breakfast, drinks, and supper everyday that we were in Greenhead. They even kept us up to date on our news because we were away from a TV and Internet the whole time we were there.
After breakfast, we walked to catch a bus to take us to Haltwhistle where we got on a train to head to Leeds. Our train ride today was gorgeous! We went through the Pennine hills and through the Yorkshire country.
We are now in Leeds, and this is a lot different of a city than we are used to. It’s modern and full of people our age! There are around 75,000 university students here, and the town shows of it. We were walking to find somewhere to eat tonight, and there was trash everywhere. We had a bad first impression of it here, that’s for sure. We don’t know if there was some sort of a festival going on before we got here, but the garbage cans were over flowing and it just looked dirty.
We are only here for a night, and we’re headed to London for our final stretch of the trip. We are going to have a busy last 5 days of our trip because there’s so much that we all want to do! We just don’t have enough time or money to do everything we want!
I also noticed today that I’m breaking out from something, possibly the water. I have red blotches all over certain areas of my skin, but it might just be from all the sun we have been getting over the past 3 days. O well, I’ll hopefully live!! =) Well, it’s off for a night in Leeds, I’ll see you all back home in 6 days!
Oh, and all of you back home will be happy to know that I’m going to take a little trip out to Wimbledon! Yay!
Housteads Site Survey
Wednesday, May 7th:
Today we went to Housesteads to do a site survey of a Roman fort. My group consisted of Maren, Jayson, Alisha, and myself. We took charge of the Commanders house, and the Hospital. Again, they were so technologically advanced for their time! The commander had his own bath, and his own person bathroom which was really odd for this time period. They believe this fort was built around AD 120. The hospital also had a drainage system which would carry the blood from the surgery room, and possibly a bathroom, but we weren’t quite sure if the hospital had it’s own bathroom.
Today was a really warm day and most of us got burnt, but I just got a really good tan! When we got back from Housesteads, we went to the Pub/Hotel/Restaurant again for supper where I had my first Fish and Chips experience! It was pretty good, but their tarter sauce was really strong and tasted like it had a lot of vinegar in it. Oh, and I also had Sticky Toffee Pudding, and this was heaven! We went back to the hostel and discussed what we had discovered about the site.
We discovered that this particular fort was mainly for military use. This is because it was right on the wall, close to direct fire. The Romans wouldn’t have wanted their families that close to fire. The other group decided to hop over to Scotland for a minute, and discovered that Hadrian’s wall was effective because it was very difficult for them to climb the wall back over to England.
Tonight we met a backpacker from England and one from Holland. We were all out there as a group eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Oddly enough, they had NEVER heard of such a thing! So, we decided to let them have some of ours, and they absolutely hated it! Weird, huh!? We also taught them how to play some card games, and they seemed to catch on really fast. Hopefully we gave them a good American impression!
Today we went to Housesteads to do a site survey of a Roman fort. My group consisted of Maren, Jayson, Alisha, and myself. We took charge of the Commanders house, and the Hospital. Again, they were so technologically advanced for their time! The commander had his own bath, and his own person bathroom which was really odd for this time period. They believe this fort was built around AD 120. The hospital also had a drainage system which would carry the blood from the surgery room, and possibly a bathroom, but we weren’t quite sure if the hospital had it’s own bathroom.
Today was a really warm day and most of us got burnt, but I just got a really good tan! When we got back from Housesteads, we went to the Pub/Hotel/Restaurant again for supper where I had my first Fish and Chips experience! It was pretty good, but their tarter sauce was really strong and tasted like it had a lot of vinegar in it. Oh, and I also had Sticky Toffee Pudding, and this was heaven! We went back to the hostel and discussed what we had discovered about the site.
We discovered that this particular fort was mainly for military use. This is because it was right on the wall, close to direct fire. The Romans wouldn’t have wanted their families that close to fire. The other group decided to hop over to Scotland for a minute, and discovered that Hadrian’s wall was effective because it was very difficult for them to climb the wall back over to England.
Tonight we met a backpacker from England and one from Holland. We were all out there as a group eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Oddly enough, they had NEVER heard of such a thing! So, we decided to let them have some of ours, and they absolutely hated it! Weird, huh!? We also taught them how to play some card games, and they seemed to catch on really fast. Hopefully we gave them a good American impression!
Greenhead: Day 2
Tuesday, May 6th:
Today we took a trip to Vindolanda. Vindolanda is a Roman Fort built a mile from Hadrians Wall. Here, there were archeologists still digging, which was really cool to watch. We decided since the Fort was a mile from the actual Hadrians Wall, this was a family site. As a little side note, we found out that they actually celebrated birthdays, and women were educated, and we know this because they were writing letters that were actually discovered in the ground!A lot of the site is still underground. You can tell where stuff is underground because of the way the ground “flows”. It’s really bumpy where they have yet to dig.
We went to the museum, and we saw everything from written letters to chicken dinner remains. It’s so amazing how everything is preserved when it’s nearly 2000 years old. Who would have thought that someone would have been digging up remains from supper 2000 years later?! It’s so crazy because these people were so advanced in about everything. For example, they had “central heating”, and running water. These people were very technological advanced for their time considering we didn’t even think about this kind of thing for years later.
When we got back to Greenhead, we ended up going back to the Pub/Hotel/Restaurant and then back to the Youth Hostel. We went to bed early because we were due to wake for our site survey early the next morning.
Today we took a trip to Vindolanda. Vindolanda is a Roman Fort built a mile from Hadrians Wall. Here, there were archeologists still digging, which was really cool to watch. We decided since the Fort was a mile from the actual Hadrians Wall, this was a family site. As a little side note, we found out that they actually celebrated birthdays, and women were educated, and we know this because they were writing letters that were actually discovered in the ground!A lot of the site is still underground. You can tell where stuff is underground because of the way the ground “flows”. It’s really bumpy where they have yet to dig.
We went to the museum, and we saw everything from written letters to chicken dinner remains. It’s so amazing how everything is preserved when it’s nearly 2000 years old. Who would have thought that someone would have been digging up remains from supper 2000 years later?! It’s so crazy because these people were so advanced in about everything. For example, they had “central heating”, and running water. These people were very technological advanced for their time considering we didn’t even think about this kind of thing for years later.
When we got back to Greenhead, we ended up going back to the Pub/Hotel/Restaurant and then back to the Youth Hostel. We went to bed early because we were due to wake for our site survey early the next morning.
Greenhead
Monday, May 5th:
Today we arrived in Greenhead and went for an excursion! We had an assignment where we had to find a castle, Hadrians Wall, the mile marker, and the old Hadrians Fort. This assignment was really tiring at first because we had to walk up a huge hill. This hill was a killer!
At the beginning of this assignment, halfway up the hill, we followed a sign that took us straight through a field that was filled with sheep. We found out half way through the field that this was the wrong way, and the sign was probably moved. So, we continued to the Roman Army Museum where an employee told us where to find all of our assigned places. She told us that the Fort wasn’t there anymore, so we simply took a picture of the sheep filled field. So, after that we trekked our way to the top of a huge hill where Hadrian’s Wall is. We complained the whole way up this hill, but once we got to the top it was amazing. The view was absolutely spectacular! Plus, we got to see Scotland which was right on the other side of the Wall. Next, we found the Mile marker and had a group photo taken here.
Next, we had to walk through a bunch of fields to make it to the Thirlwall Castle. Here, we climbed the remains and took a lot more pictures. This place was so peaceful! We came back to have supper at the local Pub/Hotel/Restaurant. This town of Greenhead was so small and probably had a population of 50! Although we weren’t too thrilled when we got here, we all fell in love with the people, landscape, and the peacefulness.
Today we arrived in Greenhead and went for an excursion! We had an assignment where we had to find a castle, Hadrians Wall, the mile marker, and the old Hadrians Fort. This assignment was really tiring at first because we had to walk up a huge hill. This hill was a killer!
At the beginning of this assignment, halfway up the hill, we followed a sign that took us straight through a field that was filled with sheep. We found out half way through the field that this was the wrong way, and the sign was probably moved. So, we continued to the Roman Army Museum where an employee told us where to find all of our assigned places. She told us that the Fort wasn’t there anymore, so we simply took a picture of the sheep filled field. So, after that we trekked our way to the top of a huge hill where Hadrian’s Wall is. We complained the whole way up this hill, but once we got to the top it was amazing. The view was absolutely spectacular! Plus, we got to see Scotland which was right on the other side of the Wall. Next, we found the Mile marker and had a group photo taken here.
Next, we had to walk through a bunch of fields to make it to the Thirlwall Castle. Here, we climbed the remains and took a lot more pictures. This place was so peaceful! We came back to have supper at the local Pub/Hotel/Restaurant. This town of Greenhead was so small and probably had a population of 50! Although we weren’t too thrilled when we got here, we all fell in love with the people, landscape, and the peacefulness.
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