elliot in London

Goodbye London

2009-12-10T16:06:00.000-08:00

Everything about the centre reminds me that it’s time to leave. Suitcases are piled up along the long staircase, the walls in our rooms are bare, and Teresa seems unusually cheery. We can hear her singing throaty Irish songs as she rummages through the laundry downstairs. She’ll have no more loose hairballs to pick up off the ground for a few weeks. That is, until the new girls come.

Most of the lights in our stairwell and in our attic have burnt out. I suppose the staff decided there’s no point in replacing them at this point. All of these things make me so sad. I don’t want to leave London- except of course to see the people I love who are back in the states. But I wish that I could move everyone out to England with me.

I have miraculously fit everything into one suitcase and one carryon, except for a large print I’d bought Alexa from Portobello Road. Sorry Lex. I left it for charity. But don’t worry, I’ve got more awesome things.

This experience has been crazy. And amazing. Without a doubt, it was one of the best decisions I ever made to apply for the BYU London Program.

Thanks for reading!

The Highlanders (us)

2009-12-03T07:05:00.000-08:00

FINALS!

There’s really no time to blog about Scotland, which is sad because it was amazing. Blame final examinations. Our professors are trying to kill us.

So I’m just going to write some brief descriptions even though there's so much I want to say… sorry there are so many pictures. This Scotland trip was one of my favorite things from the last four months, and I wish more than anything that I had time to write down all of the details! So much happened!

We spent one day in Edinburgh, then took a three day tour of the highlands and the Isle of Skye (which I've been dying to do since July) and then spent our final day back in Edinburgh.

That first night we found the graveyard that inspired much of Harry Potter, including the names of McGonagle (sp?) and Tom Riddle. The Elephant House Cafe was one of the places where J.K. Rowling began writing her series. It overlooks this graveyard as well as a private school that looks like a castle... perhaps inspiration Hogwarts. Naturally we wanted to go in and see if the headstones, but we didn't have flashlights or any source of light. We still wandered between the headstones anyway, feeling the engravings with our fingers to get an idea as to what they said. When that proved useless we just began telling ghost stories. That was fun until we got a little too scared. I was in the middle of my story when a man with an umbrella emerged from the shadows. Rachel grabbed my arm and screamed. But of course the poor old guy was just trying to get home in the rain.

The next day we walked a few streets over from our amazing hostel to where we would be picked up by our tour bus. This was it:

There were 16 people on the bus, including we six girls; Sarah, Rachel, Brittany, Ashael, Haley, and me. We monopolized the back of the bus.

In front of us sat a young, adventurous Australian couple. They were fun to talk to. Then there was another guy from Australia who came on his own, and with a super nice camera. There were two college-aged Korean girls and then another family of four from another Asian country. I'm not sure which, but they were nice- they shared their Pringles with me.

Eddie was our bus driver. It just doesn't get more Scottish than Eddie. He was pretty old, but really lively. He knew everything- the date of every battle ever fought in Scottish history, the name of every plant that grows on Scottish land, and every Scottish myth and legend. Listening to him and his thick accent was awesome. Having to smell him... was a different story.

He stopped frequently for "photo opportunities"- which were amazing!!! We saw the natural settings for movies like Harry Potter and Stardust. I've never seen anything so beautiful. True, it was cold, but it was gorgeous. In the winter the highlands have a look that is completely unique.

Here we stopped to look for "coppa". They were just sitting there, shinning in the water. I took some home with me.

This dam is way prettier than any I've seen in the states.

The smallest lighthouse in the UK is at Loch Ness. Here is it!
And here we are walking along the dock at Loch Ness.
We spotted her!

If you can see those big guys in the corner- those are highland cattle. They're enormous and hairy- but so cool looking! They were everywhere in the highlands.

When I was collecting shells in front of one of the island castles I accidentally picked up one that was still occupied. I didn't realize this until I was back on the coach. Sooo, I waited until we got to our next watery destination to set him free.

Recognize this? It has been in many movies. See if you can think of any.

Chilliax.
Scottish rainbow.
Throwing rocks into the ocean- and Sarah throws like a girl. ;-p

Thanksgiving dinner!

It was the first Thanksgiving dinner I've ever had in my life without my family. I missed all of them a lot that night. Grandma and the rest of my family cook much better than the Scottish. No offense to the Scottish but... pig's blood?

The other girls tried the haggis and I tried the neeps and tatties. I'd already paid my dues with haggis and didn't feel the desire to repeat the experience. The tatties were great, the neeps were gross.

This is the Fairy Castle, in the Fairy Glen.

Some (or many) locals believe in fairies for real. This was considered very special ground, and Eddie warned us that if someone came running our waving a shotgun that we should just stay calm and smile, and that he would take care of it. This place isn't just something you can look up in a tourist map. The locals keep it secret.

A fairy pool!

The "gate".

Can we fit?
There is Eddie with his weird little Scottish hat.

There are the girls making an offering to the fairies.
I was the first one up the castle.
See some of the symbols created for the fairies?

And here are some of the offerings. People leave hairbands, thread, decorated feathers, glass hearts, and money as tributes.

Eddie warned us that if we made any deals with any fairies to remember that the spells only work for one year and one day. Sooo, I kept that in mind as I left my ratty old hair-tie in the center of the stone heart.

Fairy poo!

It was really REALLY wet, windy, and WET while we were in the highlands. But we honestly had so much fun running around in it. Even if we did end up looking like this...
Recognize this? Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed here. This is where the French are taunting the English etc. etc. "An African or a European swallow?"

Back in Edinburgh!
And sad to leave.

Party in Paris

2009-11-23T15:56:00.000-08:00

My first step outside of the UK in three months was on French ground.

And it was quite a surprisingly short step away, too. It only takes two short hours to get from London to Paris in a train, via the “chunnel” or Channel Tunnel. Or, in French, Le tunnel sous la Manche.

This awesome undersea tunnel reaches 250 feet below sea level and is 23.5 miles long, making it the longest undersea portion of any tunnel ever to exist. It’s been named one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.

Too bad I slept through it.

I wasn’t able to keep my eyes open for the experience. All I experienced was a load of uncomfortable ear popping. It was worse than any flight I’ve ever been on- I had to yawn to release the pressure every few minutes. Luckily I’m pretty good at yawning and sleeping at the same time.

Finally arriving in France was exciting. And confusing. It was a huge station with people streaming everywhere, and our gigantic group all trying to find the direction of our hotel. That’s where I had my first encounter with a French person. We were standing in line to get into the metro. I was turned and talking to some of the girls when I noticed in my peripheral vision that the line in front of me had moved up about a half of a foot. As I took a step to close that gap a couple of women decided to try to squeeze through that tiny space on their hurried way to who-knows-where.

Of course there wasn’t enough room for their entire bodies and my foot, so I ended up kind of tripping one. She stumbled, but caught herself. Instinctively I said, “Sorry!” She turned and sneered, “SOU-REE!” mimicking me, but with a ridiculous French accent. Then she stomped off with the other girl to wherever they were going. I couldn’t help but laugh. The rude French stereotype is true!

Sarah had a similar experience when we were in the streets making our way to the hotel. Everyone smokes in France. No big deal- unless it’s getting blown directly into your face. This was happening to Sarah, as the man beside her paid no attention to who else was trying to breathe around him. She unexpectedly inhaled a choking amount of smoke, and began to cough. The man only blew more smoke, and then as he walked away he turned and mimicked her coughing in a fake, high-pitched way. He then snickered at her and kept walking.

Those rude French!

But actually these kinds of people can be found in any city. London included. We also met some very nice people. There was a guy on the tube, for example, that was eager to practice his English on us. He was very avid about letting us know how beautiful France is, and tried to convince us that France is better than England. Monty Python?

We headed for the Sacré-Cœur Basilica, recommended to us by Dr. Soper. He served a mission in Paris, so we thought his idea was probably a good one. Before we left the hotel lobby he also told us to make sure we find a dessert called a mille feuille. It means a thousand layers. Psh- don’t have to tell me twice!

We found it! Look at how great it is!

And trust me, it tasted like Heaven. But it was hard to eat... by the tim I was finished with it I felt like I got all thousand of those layers scattered all over my jacket.

We did make it to the Basilica, which was beautiful. We had wandered the streets, trying to make sense of the French signs, and I was thoroughly impressed when we'd managed to find it without any mishaps. But I was also shocked when I realized I'd been here before- two and a half years ago! Somehow I seemed to appreciate it more this time.

The first time I came here I never went inside. That was a mistake! It was beautiful.

And if we turned around we had a view of Paris.

Our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. Impressive, I know...

I remembered a cool hill where artists congregated and practiced their art with the city stretched out in front of them. Some were so cute!

I loved the way we meandered through the streets of Paris. We generally steered clear of the touristy streets and saw Paris as it really is.

No matter how weird they may be...
I have a few more pictures similar to this one. I think I saw four of these strange decorated faces sticking out of random walls. They were so lifelike, I almost though his eyes would open when I got close. I have no idea who did them, but I think they are cool!

Art was everywhere!

Even in the chocolate!

As we headed toward the Eiffel Tower we had some fun taking pictures.

The gang. (And Ashael is taking the picture. Thanks Ashy)
As we approached the Eiffel we realized that night was falling fast. Waay faster than we could walk. This was good for viewing the city from the top, but bad for taking pictures...

Hahaha!

The stand across the street from the Eiffel sells the best crepes in the world. They did in 2007 and they still do now!

Sarah, Brooke, and I spent almost an entire day at Versailles.

Marie Antoinette was a little high maintenance. She liked to listen to the symphony of frogs as she fell asleep at night, so servants were designated as frog-waker-uppers and spent the entire night rousing frogs. She also wanted to have her own little authentic French village that she could visit... but she didn't want people living in it.... That is how this village came about.

It looks like Disneyland, only real!

And this is Marie's Love temple.

Typical transportation. I saw more of this is Paris than I've seen in London. But that could be because more people want to avoid the metros here.

The Paris metro is nasty. The doors slam on you, you have to pull a lever to open the doors instead of them opening automatically, and the ride is rougher than it needs to be. London Tube= 10 points. Paris Metro= 0.

Champs-Elysees is the street with high-end shopping, and it also leads to the Arc de Triumph. But, according to these signs, Champs-Elysees was in three different directions. Sarah had a really fun time trying to figure that one out while I just laughed.
A Christmas festival was being erected on our last night in Paris.
And the new Twilight came out. But it was called "temptation" instead of "New Moon". Oh the French are so complicated! But blessed! New Moon came out two days earlier in France than it did in England AND the United States. We would have seen it but it was only playing in French.
The Arc!
The tunnel down to the arc so that we didn't have to brave the traffic!

Inside.
Up a billion stairs.

Me summer of 2007.

Me fall of 2009.

A guide once told me that if you were to spend one full minute in front of every piece of art in the Louvre, you would be there for three years.

Since I didn't have that kind of time, we tried to nail the things we liked the most. My favorite is this one, Nike of Samothrace.

Everything looks grander in person. The sculptures are more lifelike, the paintings are more vibrant... but you know what wasn't grander?
Mona? Please. Haha! Actually I'd seen her the first time I came to the Louvre and suffered the real disappointment then. She was much smaller than I expected and much plainer. Just look at the huge barrier between the viewers and the painting.
It makes the painting just seem that much more aloof and uninteresting. But here is another favorite sculpture of mine: Cupid and Psyche. I took it at an odd angle because the wings are what win me.

We also saw more art in the Musay de Orsay. I liked this museum as much as the Louvre, and recommend it to anyone who travels to Paris. It is much less intimidating than the Louvre and still has so many cool things.

Notre Dame!

Scary Quasimodo...

Ring the bells of Notre Dame!!!
Cool gargoyles.

The Moulin Rouge doesn't look like it does in the movie, but is still operates in a similar way which was portrayed in the movie. When we peeked into a Moulin Rouge shop around the corner we happened to get more of a peep than we really wanted...

But what was cool was seeing the super old photographs of some of the earliest Moulin Rouge girls. And the advertisements too.
Cute.
French food?

French cars for sale.

If you've ever heard rumors of Paris being dirty, they are true. However, they're getting better. Recent laws have been keeping the city cleaner! Well, for the most part.

Dirty streets, difficult metros, a less-than-impressive Mona Lisa... I seem really pessimistic in his entry, but realize that it could be because I am bitter at the amount of studying I must do for final exams this weekend, sad because there are only six days left of London, and tired because it is one o'clock in the morning.

So let me be clear- Paris was amazing. I saw and did everything that I wanted to, and had so much fun doing it all. However, it was nice to come home to London. We all felt as though we had been away for ages. London is so comfortable to us- and I simply love it!

The Children Are Coming! RUN!

2009-11-22T17:05:00.000-08:00

It was a dark and stormy night… er– morning… when we arrived at Hampton Court. As soon as we passed through the tall iron gates it began to pour. How foreboding.

We had hardly had time to stand in awe in the courtyard, looking up at the Tudor architecture with its crazy chimneys, before we heard the little monsters. We turned simultaneously to see them coming in hordes: Hundreds and hundreds of children.

A school day at Hampton Court is a crazy one. Every primary school in the UK and in France seemed to have sent their little kids to learn about King Henry VIII. They were seriously at every turn. We would be walking down an empty stone hallway just do be mowed over by a sudden gushing tidal wave of tiny bodies. Once you were trapped in the middle of them you were in danger of drowning! They weren’t afraid to step on you.

“Aaaah! The children are coming!” That became our warning cry throughout the day. If we walked into a room full of children we quickly turned and half sprinted in the other direction.

Hampton Court was home to a few monarchs, but the most famous (or infamous) is King Henry VIII. The old palace puts on a show, recreating the day that the King married his sixth wife, Kateryn Parr. So throughout the day we met ladies-in-waiting, servants, and even the King and soon-to-be Queen. I couldn’t help but notice how differently the English view King Henry. I grew up thinking he was a villain. But it seems that the English feel sympathy for him. I mean, the poor guy really could have used eHarmony, I suppose…

We explored the castle, although there is little left there from the Tudor period. The kitchens probably had the most artifacts. But we didn’t stay there long because… well as you can see, the children were coming.

But one part of the castle was still kept as it had been during the reign of King George II in the 1600s and early 1700s. Rope barriers protected most of the satin chairs, which had been sat upon by royal rears.

King George kept a few of Henry’s decorations around, such as his tapestries. The tapestries were the coolest. Made of silk, they were strong enough to hold up two double-decker buses when they were first crafted. Now, however, one tug could have them unraveled and bring them crashing down. They’re hardly able to hold up their own weight and have lost a lot of color, but they’re still awesome.

And for any of you history buffs out there, King George II’s grandson would have been to the palace also, and would have also been the King during the American Revolutionary War: King George III. He went insane before he died.

In the afternoon Sarah and I grabbed a medieval lunch of lintel soup with a very generous portion of partially stale bread. We even got to eat it in the same kitchen as the servants would have. Honored, really.

For dessert we bought some candy canes on the other side of the King's wine cellar. Have I mentioned Sarah loves Christmas?

Later we saw parts of William III and Mary II’s apartments. What was unusual about William was that he preferred to keep his life out of the public eye. I wonder what he would say now to know that his private toilet is on display for the world to see.

Looks comfortable, doesn’t it? But I would have hated to be the one to empty it. I prefer modern plumbing, velvet seat or no.

William and Mary of Orange had to have a room of oranges, of course. And here I am skipping down that room and imagining how good it would have smelled filled with orange trees. Better than William’s little private room.

Sarah and I had been left as the last ones to leave Hampton Court. We tend to stay longer at palaces. Even the herds of children had dispersed. It was getting dark and the wet had turned into ice. On our way our of a King Henry VIII exhibit, we were stopped by a blocky older man with a thin cane. He wore a costume and a nametag, and was obviously bored of his job. He had noticed our accents and wanted to talk about America. You know; Obama, Mexican food, Arizona’s sun compared to their “bloody cold weather”, etc. Slowly, Sarah and I tried to inch our way to the exit.

Nice old man… chatty old man too. He hobbled after us, determined not to let his company leave him. I’m thinking he may have been desperately lonely. So I began asking him deep and complicated questions about King Henry and whether or not what happened to his wives was fair. Apparently his initial divorce from Catharine of Aragon is generally seen as necessary. She had given birth to several stillborns and the only son that had made it into the world alive had died shortly thereafter. Henry needed an heir, so of course it was necessary for Henry to banish Catharine to Scotland and forbid her from ever seeing her daughter Mary ever again. Right?

After my head had been talked off, we were able to politely slip away from our old friend who told us that he would be happy to escort us to the train station if it weren’t for that old bad leg of his.

And no, this picture is not suggesting that we were willing to wheel him along for good company.

I got an amazing cup of hot chocolate to keep myself warm as we waited on the platform for our train back to London. They plopped a stick of Cadbury chocolate right through the thick whipped cream- the same stick that they use for my favorite soft served ice cream. But the hot chocolate was warm enough that the stick just melted in my mouth. Oooh… I’m considering going all the way back out there and braving the monstrous kids again just to get some of that hot chocolate.

That night we saw Phantom of the Opera. AMAZING! It was cool to see it on the original stage, in Her Majesty’s Theater. The effects were so cool and the phantom had the best voice I’ve ever heard. I’d go see it again in a heartbeat. So would Ci-Cong, who has actually already seen it four times since she has been here. I will miss the theaters.

Lord Mayor's Day

2009-11-21T22:00:00.000-08:00

This will be a short entry, much to the relief of... whoever actually reads this blog...

Due to my class assignment, I need to record my experience at St. Paul's Cathedral and the Lord Mayor Parade.

That day it was just Sarah and I. We headed over to St. Paul's as a class assignment, but we had picked the perfect day to go: Lord Mayor's Day.

This pageant has been around since 1215. It was the day that the mayor of London (whoever it was that the public chose) was to be presented to the King for approval. His traveling to the King with other men on horseback got more elaborate every year until... well... it became a parade.

Today the Lord Mayor just goes along with the parade. The King doesn't really need to "approve" of him, but it's just a tradition and holiday. St. Paul's is open to the public for free on this day, which is why it was the "perfect day to go."

When Sarah and I arrived at St. Paul's, the square was alive with activity. Families were out to see the festivities.

St. Paul's is immense. I first laid eyes on it when I was with Mom. She and I were able to sneak in a look around for a little bit. I have no idea how we did that since you normally have to pay to get in. This time there was no sneaking necessary for Sarah and I.

The cathedral wasn't very crowded because everyone was outside waiting for the parade. It is so neat inside. The dome is so high it's almost impossible to believe. I was most impressed, however, by the high altar. That area was directly hit in the Blitz during World War II, and so it is a newer part of the Cathedral, having been redone since the damage. Behind the high altar there is an area dedicated to the United States and to those who fought in World War II. Intricate wood carvings depict fruit, plants, and birds found in America. Wow, I had never been so filled with American pride as when I looked up at our bald eagle perched at the highest point of the memorial. I was very happy that England recognized us so beautifully, and in such a spectacular building.

Sarah and I had finished exploring the main floor before we started hearing the crazy ruckus outside. That was when we decided to climb to the top to see the parade from there.

London is an ever-growing city. As is made obvious by the view from atop St. Paul's Cathedral.

The view was great. And... well it obviously shows that London is an ever-growing city...

The wind was insane. There were a few times that I was worried I would be picked up and thrown over the roof. I was able to lean into the wind until I should have fallen... but the incredible strength of the gusts kept me up. It was fun.
In this picture you can see a part of the huge parade. We enjoyed watching it snake around the cathedral from our perch on top. It was too windy for us to watch the whole thing, though. It lasted well over an hour.
And there were lots of random fair-type rides for kids. Or at least they seemed to be for kids but the illustrations depicted on them were questionable.
Hopefully you aren't sick of these random British holidays already. They're not over yet!

Greenwich is Not Pronounced the Way You Are Pronouncing It. There Are No Witches.

2009-11-20T03:50:00.000-08:00

I thought I’d seen all of London. I was confidant that I knew my city.

Psh- not even close!

A group of us traveled around Greenwich, which is the most southeast part of London. I didn’t even know it existed before our trip. And it is pronounced GREN-ITCH. You know how the British like to ignore certain letters sometimes…

Several of us went to the London Trinity College of Music and explored around at a music festival. It was taking place in a cathedral that was on campus. The painted hall was where most of the instruments were. All of the music and the instruments were Baroque, and therefore rare to me. I mean, it’s not every day that you meet someone who plays the lute. I thought the instruments were all quite unusual! When I tried to make that comment to a recorder player as I examined his display table, he seemed to be offended. I’m sorry that baroque instruments are rare to me… sir…?

I plucked at a few harps and beat a few drums but my favorite instrument there was the harpsichord. I’d never seen one in person before. They are so dainty and some of them were so beautifully decorated. As I admired them on the far side of the painted hall, a few white-haired men came at different times to try out the different harpsichords. They would lean over the little things and whip out a Chopin, no big deal. They were trying them out to see if they wanted to purchase them. But to me it seemed like they just were really anxious to show me how cool it would be to play a harpsichord. Maybe someday I will, when I have white hair myself.

After that we all went to a market to find some food. At that point we all split up due to food preferences and not to mention shopping preferences. Naturally, I ended up with the people who were drawn to old books. Sarah, Rachel, and I looked at some old books, and I even found some Harry Potter books that were only two pounds each! It was tempting to buy them, just for the sake of having British copies. The art is different, and even the text is a different style. But in the end I decided I needed to save space in my suitcase for the trip home, because I will already have too many books.

We ate at a Japanese stand, which was actually super good and deliciously cheap. I’ve become quite skilled with chopsticks during my stay in London. Lots of cultural experiences.

Finally, we headed toward the Royal Observatory.

Established in 1851, this has been a place of much astronomical study. We were able to see some huge old telescopes.

But most importantly, the Prime Meridian passes right through it.

Sarah is in the Western Hemisphere and I am in the Eastern.

Since the Observatory is situated on top of a big hill, there is a pretty view of London.

And here is England’s oldest public electric slave clock in front of Shepherd gate at the observatory. Woot!

It was a long trip all the way back to Westminster, so during our travels we were sure to look out for those bag thieves…

Quick Catch-up!!!

2009-11-20T02:33:00.000-08:00

The closest England gets to Thanksgiving is the Thanksgiving Act, which has nothing to do with pilgrims or turkeys.

The Thanksgiving Act basically gives Englanders (and at the time, all those in the commonwealth) an excuse to light fireworks and celebrate something. They call it Guy Fawkes Day.

Guy Fawkes was a Roman Catholic resorationist during the early 17^th century. He was the leader of a gunpowder plot that aimed to displace Protestant rule. At the time, Catholics sustained loads of persecution. So Mr. Fawkes’ solution was to blow up King James and the rest of the government.

His plan was foiled, but just barely. When caught, he was hanged, drawn, and quartered.

That’s where the Thanksgiving Act of 1605 comes in. The common people were given permission to light fireworks and have controlled bonfires throughout the country (the colonies were included, including the little colonies of America). Traditionally, people create effigies of Guy Fawkes and burning them throughout the streets. During the day children parade around their “Guys” and ask for some pennies to help burn him. Lovely children’s activity. The money usually goes toward sparklers or other fireworks.

If you’ve seen V for Vendetta, the mask that guy wears originally comes from Guy Fawkes. I’ve never seen the movie, but Guy’s mask can be seen a lot on Guy Fawkes Day.

George Washington put a stop to the holiday in the colonies because it represents loyalty to the British Government, but we basically just moved our holiday to the 4^th of July instead of the 5^th of November and renamed it Independence Day.

It seriously felt like 4^th of July to me, despite the nippy weather. And yes, I’m backtracking and covering a few random events from the passed month.

The streets were crazy crowded that night. We planned to go to a park to get a good view of some of the bigger fireworks, but we weren’t positive as to the park’s location. Luckily for us, all we had to do was follow the giant mob of people. We ended up at a place where tents were set up where they were selling fish and chips and ice cream galore. There was also a jumping castle and other games for kids. We really just walked around to see everything. Kids ran around with sparklers or glow sticks while the adults stood around with their drinks socializing and allowing themselves to step out from behind their proper British façades.

What we really loved, however, were the fireworks. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fireworks show so loaded before. The above picture really doesn’t do it justice, but it was impossible to capture.

Here is a Guy Fawkes Day song:

A traitor to the Crown by his action,

No Parli'ment mercy from any faction,

His just end should'st be grim,

What should we do? Burn him!

Holler boys, holler boys, let the bells ring,

Holler boys, holler boys, God save the King!

A penny loaf to feed the Pope

A farthing o' cheese to choke him.

A pint of beer to rinse it down.

A fagot of sticks to burn him.

Burn him in a tub of tar.

Burn him like a blazing star.

Burn his body from his head.

Then we'll say ol' Pope is dead.

Hip hip hoorah!

Hip hip hoorah hoorah!

Sad, huh?

Well... on that note...

Here's the night we went to the London Temple.

It is about an hour’s train ride to get to the London Temple from the Victoria Station. I spent the ride swimming in and out of consciousness. I tend to do that when I’m traveling. It was pouring rain when we were trying to nab taxis to help us complete our journey. Dr. Paxman shoved ten pounds in my hand and shoved six of us out to get one. We crammed into a sketchy looking van. I kept looking for some kind of liscense like they are required to display in New York, but I didn’t see one- nor did it look like the taxis in the city. But we figured since we were on our way to the temple we would be kept safe.

The ride there was painfully quiet. The only thing I could listen to was this weirdo techno music he was playing. Europeans love their techno-ish music, but this was like techno classical… painful.

But the actual temple experience was, of course, fantastic. We all left with high spirits, despite the fact that the rain was coming down twice as hard as before.

There was a day, though I can’t remember which particular day it was, that we went to Covent Gardens with a purpose: to eat Ben’s cookies. Mmm… Ben’s cookies… I don’t think I’ll ever be satisfied with American chocolate ever again. And putting that chocolate into warm, chewy cookies just can’t ever be matched anywhere.

So as I began to munch on my orange chocolate cookie (my favorite) a big crowd was gathering for some performers. We thought we’d stick around for once. We never really pay these guys any attention. Check out the guy balancing a ladder on his head. This is legit! A completely ordinary ladder was placed on his head and he was able to do pushups with it. Later, while his loud and flamboyant partner juggled apples and knives on an unusually tall unicycle, he balanced a bicycle on his forehead. Random- but I thought it was cool and wanted to share.

One day Sarah and I took a walk around a part of the University College London campus. It wasn’t as obviously ancient as Oxford, but it still had some amazing architecture going on. I certainly wouldn’t mind going to school there.

Yet there’s always something weird, right?

Meet Jeremy Bentham.

This is his old body, with a wax head placed on top of the spine. The real head is in the university vaults. Bentham was an English philosopher- and a conceited one at that. In his will he asked that his body be preserved and dressed in his own clothes, sitting in his own chair, as he would have been doing in life. Oh- and kept on display so that all could admire him.

Well… soon his deteriorating head wilted right off of his neck. The disgusting head was then placed between his legs and continued to be displayed… that is, until students began trying to steal the head to use it for football (soccer). So much for admiration, huh? So the head is now safely in the university vaults. I saw pictures, but I wont subject you to any.

So there you have it… a quick catch-up on a few notable events. I wish I could record everything, but it’s utterly impossible. The Wellcome museum, teaching Sunday school for the cute but rambunctious 4-7 year olds, falling down the stairs in the Centre… there’s just too much. But I do what I can.

The Queen & I

2009-11-16T04:00:00.000-08:00

One would think that being with the Queen of England would be intimidating.

But actually it wasn't intimidating at all. Of course this may have been because she was quiet, motionless, and made of wax.

** The Royal Family and I **

When Sarah first told me about how excited she was to go to Madam Tussad's, I was doubtful. What's so exciting about looking at fake waxy faces of people I've never met? Meh.
But, trying to be flexible, I pretended like I wasn't dreading it. Wow– I can't tell you how surprised I was to actually like it! A lot!
These things are so real looking it's kind of creepy. But the fun wasn't looking at them... it was taking weird pictures with them.

We got up close and personal.

One creepy thing was the fact that their hair was real. We couldn't help but touch it.

An Early English Christmas

2009-11-09T00:58:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving serves as a very important buffer between Halloween and Christmas. It’s the transitional holiday- still celebrating fall, but moving into the sentimental aspects of gratitude, familial relationships, etc.

Britain has no buffer. Therefore– it’s officially Christmastime in London!

The season kicked off last Tuesday with the World Premier of the latest Disney movie, A Christmas Carol, starring Jim Carrey. Now, if you know my family well, you know that we are all pretty big Carrey fans. And if you know me at all, you know I’m also a Charles Dickens fan. So combining Jim Carrey and Charles Dickens just sounded like the greatest idea in the world!

I woke up Tuesday morning stoked and ready for the premier and London’s festivities. It would be the 50^th anniversary of the Oxford Circus lights, which would be switched on by honorary guests from the film. This caused a little bit of a division in the attic, since some wanted to go to Regents Street to see Colin Firth and some wanted to go to St. Paul’s to see the other guy who obviously isn’t important because I don’t know his name. I, of course, wanted to go to Oxford Circus itself- where the main event would take place and where Jim Carrey and the director of the film, Robert Zemeckis, would light up the main street.

So I after my run I dutifully started my laundry downstairs and then started getting myself ready for the big day. Before we could do anything else I had some school assignments to complete at the British Library and Sarah wanted to go with me just because it’s a cool place. Knowing that we needed to hurry in order to get good spots on Oxford Circus, I opened the drawer under my bed to find some jeans. Oh…

“Um, I just realized that I put every pair of jeans that I own into the wash,” I told Sarah, who promptly laughed and made fun of me for a straight five minutes. That is, until she gasped and said, “Wait… crap! All my jeans are in the wash too!”

We’re both geniuses.

Having no time to wait around for hours for our clothes to get through the laundry, we settled for skirts. I’m not the biggest fan. Somehow we both ended up in grey and Sarah said, “We look like Jehovah's Witnesses!” We thought everyone in the room was dead asleep, but at that comment Alex burst into laughter from her top bunk.

To avoid anyone else on the street having the same reaction as Alex, Sarah graciously changed into a different sweater.

Once that was settled we went to grab some lunch at my favorite restaurant in the world: Nandos!

Nandos is Puerto Rican food turned European. If you like spicy, Nandos is the place for you. No- they aren’t paying me to advertise. They don’t even need to advertise- they are that good. Their peri-peri sauce is legendary, but I have been slowly spreading a beanie pita craze around the Centre. It’s vegetarian, but all of the meat lovers who have tried it have fallen fast in love with it and have abandoned their chicken wraps, peri-peri sauce and all. And I am obsessed with their grilled corn on the cob. Ask anyone in the attic, whenever the question, “Where should we eat?” arises, I am always suggesting Nandos. I could eat there every day for the rest of my life and die happy.

After I got my Nandos fix we took the Circle line to King’s Cross and headed for the British Library. This is seriously one of my favorite places in all of England. The building isn’t super old, like you would expect it to be, because the library has always been in the British Museum up until the last few decades.

The Library has over 150 million items in every known language and every known format ever to exist. The only library that beats this one is the American Library of Congress. But their collection of books is growing every day because the Library receives copies of all books produced within the UK and the Rep. of Ireland. Basically, you can find anything at the BL.

I filled out the rest of my notebook as I looked at the sole surviving manuscript of the original Beowulf or the original The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland, which was really just story written in a notebook for a little girl with no initial intentions of publication. They had ancient Qur’ans, Bibles, religious Egyptian scrolls, etc. that dated back to 300 BC. One of the three surviving Magna Cartas has it’s own special room. But one of my favorite things was an old parchment scroll that had different coats of arms pained on it to list all of the upper-class families in the medieval era. For a brief moment I felt like Heath Ledger was going to show up in his Knight’s Tale attire. That would have been sweet.

Sarah and I spent three and a half hours in that one small section, even though my actual assignment only took me about ten minutes. The only way thing that eventually tore me away was the fact that I didn’t want to miss London’s Christmas kickoff.

So we got back on the tube and fought our way through the crowded streets and toward the giant screen in the middle of Oxford Circus. Bobbies in their yellow jackets and funny hats were blocking off the roads in preparation. I couldn’t believe how many people were there. But once we made it to the actual stage it wasn’t so bad. There were five or eight rows of people casually spaced in front of the stage. I was tempted to wander between these people until we could get all the way to the front, but Sarah talked me out of it. She’s too sweet and thoughtful.

Nah, but it was probably a good idea to stay put. And by the time it started getting dark I realized what great places we had.

I really only have two shots where you can begin to grasp how many people were there. Here is the video… look how many people are behind us- and this is still an hour before the show started.

I really only have two shots where you can begin to grasp how many people were there. Not even a stitch of asphalt was visible- there were about 14,000 people present with the adjacent streets combined. And we were just a few rows back from the best stage!

Cameras kept swinging over our heads and we decided we wanted to be seen. So I got out the glow sticks that I had leftover from Mom’s Halloween package and we made ourselves necklaces and bracelets. If you ever see footage of this night look for the pink and blue glowing things. That’s us.

We had planned to meet up with some other girls, but it was so crowded that everyone was body to body. I’m pretty sure we would have started a riot if we tried to get a friend to wiggle her way to the front. I couldn’t hear anything on my cell phone either. We just had to be content with the Christmas music being played throughout the streets and messing with our glow sticks until the event started.

If you’re tired of reading, click here for the video of the event.

http://www.thenewsmarket.com/london?bcpid=9787667001&bctid=48000166001

If you aren’t tired of reading, click it anyway. It’s a good depiction of what it was like.

We got to watch the cast of Sister Act sing and dance around a bit, followed by three UK pop star groups. One group was basically like a modern Spice Girls. Sarah hated them, but for me it brought back great memories of my first concert- haha!

But this guy named Taio Cruz was actually really good. We were singing along with him by the end. There were some other famous people that we’d never heard of because they aren’t famous in the U.S. Luckily for us, this guy next to Sarah was more than willing to explain anything and everything into her ear…which she then passed on to me! The stars were from British TV shows etc.

When Jim Carrey came out on stage to pull the switch I was pretty excited… until I saw the growth on his face.

What the?

I wasn’t a fan of the giant bush, but maybe it was for a movie he’s currently filming… maybe he’s playing an ugly mountain man?

But of course he was goofing off and being hilarious the whole time he was up there. He kept pretending he was going to pull the switch at the wrong time or he kept leaning into the microphone when someone else was speaking. He reminded me of Zac… weird.

When he was finally given the microphone he personally thanked Britain for producing a writer as amazing as Charles Dickens. I agreed with a cheer. Then he told us all to “beam our Christmas spirits up to that satellite” and he pointed over his head, “so that the world can feel it.”

Very inspiring, Jim. Nice.

Then we began the countdown. It felt like New Years! 3…2…1… and then the street was suddenly blazing and confetti was flying everywhere. Cheering and jumping around- it was crazy!

And here is what London looks like now that the lights are on. Courtesy of google images.

Everyone calmed down once Andrea Bocelli flashed onto the giant screen. He was preparing to sing from St. Paul’s with the St. Paul’s Cathedral Choir and was being broadcasted live and about 20 feet tall in front of us. The audience was asked to join in, and so 14,000 voices sang Silent Night throughout the streets of London. It was incredible. I’m positive that not all of those people were devout or weren’t even Christian, but still they were singing and no one was throwing a fit about how the song was about Christ. I definitely felt the Christmas spirit then, with all of us singing together from all different backgrounds… don’t forget, London is a melting pot. Sarah and I both absolutely loved it.

We made a new World Guinness record! The Guinness Records man came out on stage and informed us that we were the most people to ever sing a Christmas carol. Then a plaque was presented to… well to us, but I doubt I’ll ever see it again, haha! So if you get the book for 2009… Sarah and I are in there! Glow sticks and all!

We hurried through the dispersing crowd toward Leister Square, where the Premiere was being held. There were three theaters that were showing it, but only one had a big red carpet.

However, as we walked (and avoided overly-forward guys) we were distracted by a tall toy store with the cutest Christmas display windows of all time. Hamley’s is a famous toy store with like 8 floors! We skipped the elevator and went straight up the stairs, which was like a journey through Narnia. Sarah was following me with a camera through my adventure.

We decided to grab some dinner in the café on the top floor. Too bad the girl working there was a pain in the butt. In the end we overpaid for little scraps of sandwiches with crisps (or chips). But it was good to have something in our stomachs. We meant to take the escalators quickly down and out but we seemed to get distracted on every floor. Floor 6: girl’s toys, floor 4: toddler toys, floor 2: soft toys, etc.

When we finally got to Leicester Square there were only a few people still on the red carpet. They were people in glittering dresses that I didn’t recognize. We stuck around for a little while, but Bobbies kept moving us along so we couldn’t stay. Instead I took a picture with Jim Carrey’s plaque of his remarkably small hands. (My size!)

When we were getting some gelato down the street we heard screaming… so maybe someone super famous was walking down at that moment? We missed it. But it was worth it. Mmmm raspberry!

And then we snagged a cardboard poster off of one of the fences. It now decorates our attic. What? Everyone was doing it…

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Since I am on the topic of Christmas, I will be skipping forward a few days to the Christmas parade on Saturday morning.

Sarah absolutely loves Christmas like no one I’ve ever met. Obsessed. It’s great! Even if she does wake me up in the dark hours of 5:30 to go to a parade…

All jokes aside– I’m glad that we did! We walked through Hyde Park to Basil street, right on the corner of Harrod’s, which is the most popular (and expensive) mall in London.

The purpose of the parade was to welcome “Father Christmas” to Harrod’s. Of course, to actually be able to go into the mall and sit on his lap you have to book an appointment-, which was completely booked out for this season. Isn’t that crazy?

But we weren’t there to go into the mall; we just wanted to experience an English parade. It started at 8 but we were there by 6:45 to stake out a good spot. Amazingly, there were already people lined up and we barely found a little section of fence for us to lean against. Sarah quickly gave up her spot to a cute little kid who spent the next few hours making sure his balloon was smacking me in the face at all times.

So with Sarah behind me, it was up to me to take pictures. But everything was so funny in person I ended up taking tons of videos. I hope you enjoy them!

Remember what I said about no barrier between Christmas and Halloween? The result: they melt together.

A lot of people had a red dot on their nose, which confused me. Christmas tradition in England? Or maybe it relates to Harrod's? Anyone know?

People kept letting their balloons go, so the sky was dotted with them. Unfortunately, the little kid beside me had a really good grip on his. I was super tempted to rip it out of his hands and let it float away... but I figured that wouldn't have been very nice to do at a Christmas parade.

They have out free candy and stuff! Yay! Oh- and notice the fake snow.

Lots of carriages and random people in wigs...?

Ever wonder what Santa's secret service looks like?

He may look tough, but he isn't doing a very good job. I mean look– Mr. Harrod is karate chopping Santa in the head!

This video makes Sarah and I crack up every time. I mean... what kind of person is a present for a day job? He really wanted me to take a picture of him so he stood in front of me waiting for a flash from my camera for like a full three minutes.

After the parade was over everyone was flooding into the building. Sarah and I got caught in the waves of bodies and ended up inside as well. It was m first time inside and I can't believe what I've been missing! Harrod's is huge and so cool! I mean, just look at the little doormen they have!

There was an entire floor dedicated to pets. So if you ever want a diamond collar for your cat or a 1,200 pound "master bed" for your dog, I would recommend Harrod's.

We went to Christmas Land on the fourth floor for a little while but we really needed to get moving since we had planned to go to the wax museum that day. Sarah and I want to go back soon. Another adventure for another day.

weirdo...

Happy Christmas! Hope Father Christmas comes to your home this year!

Ha-Ha-Halloween

2009-11-05T04:10:00.001-08:00

Halloween ended up being one of the drop dead funniest days of the semester.

But let me begin with two days before the funniest day…

The whole BYU London Centre got together for a party- costumes mandatory. Most people grabbed what they could find around their flats: bed sheets, pajamas, hair ties, etc. Thanks to my amazingly thoughtful and creative mother, I only had to look in my “boo package” to find something suitable to wear.

Donning my new t-shirt, tights, and hat, I went downstairs for caramel apples and pumpkin carving as a “good witch”.

Theresa and Natalia had decorated the whole Centre, which was so cool. After posing in front of these decorations for a trillion and a half pictures with Greek Goddesses and black cats, Sarah and I got started on our rock awesome British pumpkin. Oh! And she was dressed as a nerd. Like I said, we grabbed what was available… and of course Sarah had all the nerdy necessities.

I suppose what made our pumpkin British was that it was super wimpy! Sarah and I bought it at the Whitely’s mall, right next to the lovely pig and lamb slaughterhouse in front of the Gap. Our selection was pretty pathetic– back in the states we must inject our pumpkins with steroids or something. We picked out the one with the least amount of tumors to take home to transform it into this!

The eyes are thanks to Mom’s incredible package. There were plastic Easter egg-type eyeballs that we shoved into the pumpkin’s sockets. It took a while for us to figure out how to get the oddly shaped candle into the pumpkin without scorching our fingers, but the end result was pretty awesome (if I do say so myself).

One of the faculty’s wives made homemade caramel for us to dip our apples in. Then I covered mine in crushed Hobb Nobbs- my favorite British sweet. It was heavenly. We also were given baggies filled with sweets! Way thoughtful of the faculty’s wives. Unfortunately someone else lifted mine. But I wasn’t too bummed. There are no Reeses here, after all. Anything else, in the end, is just a waste of calories. Yes, that’s what I kept telling myself.

On the actual holiday there were no calories to worry about. In fact, we intended to crack down on schoolwork and be productive. We needed to see two “riveting” Shakespeare plays for our class. We’d had our Halloween fun, right? It was time to be serious.

Apparently I’ll never grow up.

As we were figuring out which exit to take at the London Bridge station, I heard a deep, menacing voice echoing from the top of one set of stairs. So I picked that exit. We came above ground to monsters on stilts and bloody clowns juggling on unicycles. Before we knew it, we were being sucked into the London Dungeon, completely forgetting about Shakespeare.

The winding line was about a 45-minute wait, but we knew it would only get worse as the day wore on so we jumped in. Scary and gruesome actors were weaving in and out of the crowds and one of them decided that he wanted us to take a picture with him. He pulled my arm through his and thought he would look real cool in our picture.

When we were nearing the front of the line, tragedy struck.

First, Sarah squealed. Jokingly, she said, “Either it’s raining or a bird just pooped on me.” She obviously was not expecting the look on my face. “Wait- seriously? SERIOUSLY?”

She started freaking out, tilting her head forward so that her soiled bangs wouldn’t touch her forehead. It was disgusting, but so funny that I couldn’t stop laughing long enough to help her. The rest of the people in line couldn’t hide their smiles either. Her jumping around and trying to pick out the pieces with a pamphlet was more entertainment than the fire breathing or the creepy actors.

When I finally had composed myself enough to speak, I told her to move out of the line of fire. Sure enough, the bugger went again a few minutes later- but even worse. Luckily Sarah was out of the way, but still everyone that had been watching the fiasco let out a big “Uuuuuh!” in unison. It was pretty funny.

When we finally got into the damp, dark London Dungeon we rushed through the cobwebs and scary music and headed straight for the bathrooms, where Sarah stuck her head in the sink. While she was dousing her bangs in soap I had a good laugh at the toilet stalls.

Once she was good and clean and had her wet bangs pinned back, we began our tour of the dungeon. It was just as historical as it was spooky. England never fails to share its rich (and sometimes awful) history. So we were taken through the sickening years of the black plague/black death, all the way through to Jack the Ripper.

When we were experiencing the witch trials, Sarah and I were both picked out of the crowd to be judged. We were led up onto a caged platform together. The judge appeared high above us and asked us our names and our crimes. As soon as I said “Elliot” I knew I was in for it. I should have said “Ell” or “Elli”…

“Elliot? Well that’s a blokes name!” he exclaimed. Everyone laughed. “Well we know this one’s queer, don’t we? I’d be willing to bet she’s guilty!” So my name condemned me. I was told to come back the next day with my own rope and tree.

Another favorite part of mine was our hanging. It was one of those drop rides, but in the dark.

When we were strapped in we went up until we were level with two moving wax figures: one was reading our sentence and the other was wearing a black mask and ready to pull the lever. I seriously didn’t expect to drop that fast… it was so awesome!

But at the end of the tour we walked into a room where our pictures were being displayed on a big screen. Mine was so bad that even the guys who work there- the guys who see hundreds of these pictures every day- were gathered around mine and laughing at it. OK- it’s true, my eyes kind of bugged and I was screaming bloody murder. My eyes actually hurt for about an hour after that… I think they almost popped out!

We left happy. Getting the snot scared out of us was way more festive than going to a Shakespeare play.

Next we hit up Borough Market for some grub. I’d been there with Roy before, but it was crazy crowded today. We looked around at every stand and took all the free samples we could get our hands on.

Well… not all that we could get our hands on…

I found cheese-lovers paradise. It was the most amazing cheese sandwich, grilled to perfection. Sarah got a bratwurst with some special sauce that they don’t have in America. Curry ketchup? We ate our lunches in front of the Southward Cathedral. It’s the super old one that Roy and I discovered.

Then we looked around the stands again for some good dessert. We settled on brownies. The British don’t like to cook their food all the way through, which I normally find disgusting- but I’m totally all for doughy centers of brownies! It was super thick and really delicious.

It was getting dark as Sarah and I headed for the London Eye. By now the tube was filled with freaks. Even throughout the day we kept passing people on the sidewalk with a random streak of blood across their shirt or something. But now it was just out of control. My favorite was this whole family dressed as Kiss. Even the little girl in the stroller had her face all black and white.

Now, I’m aware this is a horrible picture, but it’s the only one that shows the kind of capsule we were in. Sarah and I shared a capsule with about eight other people. The London Eye is the largest Ferris wheel in Europe. It lifts you up 443 feet to see the whole city. It’s basically England’s shot at their own Eiffel Tower.

At night we got to see all of the lights of London. It was amazing. Big Ben and the Parliament buildings were just across the Thames and reflected in the water. The city lights seemed to go on forever. Sadly, it did not make for good pictures with a camera like mine- but I got video that I may post on this blog eventually. It was awesome.

We passed up the tourist traps once we were on the ground again, and we went home for our Attic Halloween Party. We basically had invited flat 1 up to the attic for games. What would I do without my mom and her awesome ideas?

We played pin the eye on the monster, boo bingo, and then watched a few episodes of Goosebumps. By the way… Goosebumps made me miss the 90s! So ridiculous. We have been quoting it ever since.

All in all… a successful Halloween in London.

P.S. RAT UPDATE: the traps are catching me better than they're catching the pests...

Cymru aka Wales

2009-11-02T16:06:00.000-08:00

The morning Roy left I got up at 6 am to see him off at the Queensway station. It was depressing to watch his elevator slip underground and to know that our ten-day London adventure was over. I wouldn’t see him again for almost two months. But I didn’t have much time to pity myself…

Thirty minutes later I was on a bus headed for Wales!

Welsh is still so alive that all of the signs we saw were written first in Welsh and then in English. Our bus driver told us that roughly about 25% of the population of Wales still speaks Welsh as a first language. I witnessed it firsthand in the museum parking lot. I passed a woman with her small toddler, and they were both speaking Welsh. It’s really cute to hear a baby learning to speak, but hearing them learning to speak Welsh is somehow twice as adorable.

By the time we made it through the parking lot I had figured out what we were doing. That is, visiting an outdoor Welsh history museum!

This little piece of country located Worcestershire has been left almost exactly as it was when it was still called “home” by centuries of Welsh families. Now it has been left for the education- displaying how life once was for the people of Wales. Here is one of its last residences:

Cute, right?

The town has a small church, a kiln, a shop, a recreation center, but it is still untouched by the modern hand. It was cool that we got to just walk around through the homes and shops without any barriers or restrictions. Some homes were decorated as they would have been in the 1900s and some in the 1800s. But even the most primitive examples were there, representing what the area would have looked like 2,000 years ago.

These are reconstructions of Celtic huts. The insides were decorated with paint along the walls like you would expect to find in a native cave in Arizona. In fact, I kind of felt like I was in a tee-pee. There were shields and baskets and other reconstructed materials that would have been seen inside the huts during that time.

We wandered around for a few hours and saw all kinds of sweet things. I’m glad I didn’t live back then. I like electricity and plumbing… but that lifestyle is still cool to look at for a while.

Right before we left we found a castle. Sadly, I don’t remember what it was called or why it was there… but I got some pretty pictures of it!

Cardiff was our final destination for the day. We stopped at our hostel to drop off our bags. Of course, I was assigned a room with Ci-Cong, our only BYU student that is not from North America. She is from Mainland China, and is one of the most interesting people I’ve ever talked to. In fact, someday I want to write the story of her life, if she’ll let me.

And our bedroom was funny. When I stayed in Germany two years ago all of the accommodations were exactly like this. Although I told Ci-Cong I would take the top she wouldn't let me. I felt even worse when she discovered pinkish stains all over her mattress. Ew.

We filtered out of the hotel in groups to go find stuff to do. The outdoor shopping center there was enormous, and I quickly got into Christmas shopping mode. We got student discount prices on the play based off of Roald Dahl’s “BFG”! I love how the UK looks for ways to give students discounts. I wish the US would do it a little more.

The play was certainly cute- but the giants were kind of scary. I was surprised I didn’t hear any kids screaming. Can you imagine if I’d been the only one screaming? I’m supposed to be an adult! But apparently I’m entertained just like a child, considering that I’m always seeking out these kinds of things.

But honestly, their masks were so ugly and they roared so loud… it was convincing! And the part where they ate the children consisted or ripping off doll’s limbs. Violent! But it was really way different from any other performances we have seen thus far and I enjoyed it a lot.

The next day we had our religion tour with Peter. This is him.

The first meetinghouse in England still stands, and we also went to the Benbow farm where many of the early baptisms for the LDS church took place. It was here that Wilford Woodruff converted almost the entire religious group (called the United Brethren) in that area. It was cool to see, and Peter is fun to listen to, although I think that Tony gets jealous sometimes.

Oh- and at the end we climbed Herefordshire Beacon in the Malvern hills. Wilford Woodruff would go here sometimes to meditate- to get away from the world. Well… it sure is away from the world… and that guy must have been in good shape. We were all huffing and puffing before we even reached the halfway point.

But at the top… the view was what left me breathless.

Cute little old couple enjoying one of the most beautiful views... I know I seem like a stalker taking pictures of people I don't know, but I thought that there could be a lot of hidden meaning in this picture.

Here are some of my sad attempts at being an artsy photographer while on the trip.

Yes Lynn... these ones are for you...

Roy

2009-10-29T19:01:00.000-07:00

It was the longest tube ride of my life. I had made only one change and then I was to stay on the Piccadilly line for what seemed like hours. I brought Charles Dickens along to keep me company, but in my anxiety I found his sluggish plot development impossible to focus on that morning. When I realized I was reading the same line over and over again I finally tucked Dickens away in my purse and settled for just looking out the window at the suburbs of London and letting myself worry about customs, passports, and possible flight delays.

Since most of the people on this particular tube were headed to the airport as well, much of the narrow space was occupied by duffle bags and saran wrapped suitcases. Luckily it was 7 am on a Sunday in October– not very crowded. One excruciating hour later I zipped off the tube and followed the signs toward the “arrivals” door.

There was a large waiting crowd standing behind a metal bar, watching as updated flight information flashed on the screens on either side of the door. I still had an hour until his plane landed, but I was too excited to sit. I strategically placed myself so that I could absolutely not be missed by anyone who planned on exiting the airport. I’d managed to squeeze up to the front of the waiting crowd to stand beside all the men holding up signs with names like “Jacobson” or “McDowell Family”. I felt like I should have one too: “Roy!!!!!”

But I just took out my study material instead. Midterms started the next day and I had been working diligently to get most of my studying in before my boyfriend’s arrival. You know how distracting boyfriends can be.

It probably would have looked more normal if I would have sat in a chair behind the crowd and held my papers in my lap. But I didn’t want to leave my post, so I just let my papers hang over the metal bar. Travelers coming through the arrival doors would sometimes look for their names on the signs that the men on either side of me were holding and then would try to look at my papers like I must be hiding their names from them in the folds.

No. I’m not your driver. Do I look like a driver?

I wish I could say that in that hour of waiting I had have been able to memorize every single name of every single painting on my study sheet. I’m sure I could have if I hadn’t happened to stand beside such friendly people. Mainly I was oh so graciously distracted by this brother and sister that were waiting for a cousin from Australia. They’re countryside Englanders but they’re just in London for “Uni”. (University) They insisted I pass the time with them picking out which travelers were Americans. The men in baggier pants, plain t-shirts, and baseball caps were easy giveaways. If they seemed to lack fashion sense we quickly dubbed them American. The women we could pick out because of the way they carry themselves. And then, of course, the British are easy to pick out because they always look “pissed off”.

After debating about whether or not a tiny bewildered woman was Russian, I looked up and saw Roy.

I kind of stuttered a goodbye at my friends and then half-ran around the crowd to Roy. After our huge first hug he pulled back and said something… what was it? I had no idea- it just didn’t register. He had to drag me out of the way of traffic because I seemed to have forgotten how to use my legs as well. All I could do was look at him stupidly like I’d forgotten English. Has that ever happened to anyone else? Is this normal?

Eventually I remembered how to speak, and we boarded the tube with huge slaphappy grins. We headed to the center, where he briefly met the attic girls (my roommates) and then we left his suitcase in an obscure corner of the living room and hit the town.

Well before we delved into the actual city I took him to one of my favorite places in England: Hyde Park. We walked around in the fall colors (holding hands and still unable to keep the smiles off our faces) and I showed him my favorite fountains and sculptures hidden within the park. I had some Hobb Nobbs handy and, after I made Roy try them, we fed some to the geese.

Mom wanted some fall pictures. Hyde Park is so gorgeous right now.

I had an assignment for my English 300 class that required I go to the National Gallery. So… we left the park behind for Trafalgar Square. He got to see a little bit of the famous square before we climbed the steps to the art museum. For the next two hours we navigated our way through the maze of paintings, trying to find what my teacher wanted. He dutifully helped me analyze the paintings, and then we skipped next door to the National Portrait Museum. I’d heard about an exhibit they had with visual renderings of all of the Presidents of the United States, and I thought Roy might think it was cool.

We entered with only thirty minutes before closing, and without bothering with maps we began whizzing passed photographs of the Harry Potter cast, giant paintings of the Beatles, busts of famous scientists, etc. But we never found a so much as a scrap of an American in there. We tried dodging the security for a while to buy ourselves more time to find our exhibit. Eventually we were cornered and forced to leave.

We walked over to Leicester Square where we passed red carpets and bouncers. We were too hungry to bother to stick around to see what celebrities were going to be gracing them. We found a little Italian restaurant– well actually, they found us. The waiter came out into the street and lured us in with his promises of half priced meals. The food was actually really good!

That was when I told Roy all about my plans for Scotland. I had planned out the whole trip with Jenny and Alex and we were going to leave on that Tuesday. After we were full of yummy, cheesy pasta we left the restaurant. I was amazed that Roy hadn’t just toppled over yet. By that time of night I had expected jet lag to have gotten the best of him. But he was still wide awake, which was great! We explored more of the night life of London, which on a Sunday night it’s usually that exciting.

It wasn’t long until we were back at the Center, where I was called into the teacher’s office and told that we couldn’t go to Scotland. It was sad, but the professors were nice about it. Despite the separate rooming we had and the rest of the group that was going with us- it wasn’t okay. It would have been fine if I’d declared him a “friend”. But “boyfriend” immediately threw everything out of balance.

Meanwhile, Roy had been outside meeting more girls from the center who had been waiting weeks to get a glimpse of him. I waited until they dispersed to tell him the bad news. He took it really well. Better than I did, at least. And as my mom put it, it’s really hard to feel bad for ourselves when we’re in London!

And in retrospect, I’m glad we stayed in London. Nothing could have possibly been better– it was the best week so far! We had so many cool experiences and did tons of awesome things that just couldn’t be done anywhere else. Not even Scotland.

For Example:

Saw two plays: Les Mis and Oliver!

The British Museum

King’s Cross Station and Platform 9 ¾

Sherlock Holmes on Baker Street

The Tate Modern

The Imperial War Museum

Covent Gardens and Ben’s Cookies

Leicester Square

Saw the movie UP in 3D on “Britain’s biggest screen”

Saw the touristy sites, like Big Ben

Discovered Borough Market and an old cathedral where Shakespeare worshiped at during his lifetime.

National Gallery

National Portrait Gallery

Had Hyde Park adventures

Portabello Road (we did the whole road!)

The Science Museum

Checked out Notting Hill (yes, the movie was filmed there)

Went on a Jack the Ripper tour at night

And we even hopped onto a bus and went to Oxford for a day!

Being with Roy made everything twice as fun because he doesn’t mind that I like to read every last plaque or that I take hours at museums. In fact, he’s right there reading with me- so it works out perfectly.

Roy and I are different travelers. I like to have things planned out. I write down what I want to do, I look up the information, etc. Roy likes to pick a direction and just go and do whatever looks interesting. He’s converted me. We saw so many cool things that aren’t advertised. For example, the cathedral that Shakespeare worshiped at. I’d never heard of it but it was originally built in the 10^th century, and some of hat original wall is still up and you can touch it! It had quite a few ancient things in there that I really liked.

Roy coming here was fantastic. I wouldn’t have wanted to spend my week break any other way or with anyone else.

Oxford library
Tae modern... we enhanced the "art".

The bobbies!
Super old obelisk!
Inside a plane in the Imperial War Museum.

Really cool Natural History museum in Oxford.
Oxford
Cathedral in Oxford... I'm not entirely sure we were supposed to be in there...

Oxford is so pretty!
I had the chills the whole time we were on Oxford's campus.
The Oxford Castle- which was the coolest castle tour I've ever been on.

And this was once part of Oxford Castle when it was a prison, up until the 90s. Not it is a hotel. Creepy, isn't it?

Oxford
Oxford

Our hangout spot in Trafalgar Square at night when we had nowhere to rest.

Roy's hostel was a little sketch. The pillows had hair and stains all over them. Ew.

Historical Stonehenge and the Buns

2009-10-16T08:57:00.000-07:00

This being my second visit to Stonehenge, I found myself reminiscing about the time I spent here with my mom, grandma, and aunts a month and a half ago. Back then it was still August and still tourist season. There had been loads of people here, with traffic jams as we tried to park out car. In fact this fenced area had been opened to allow for even more parking. The sheep had been penned somewhere else.

To spare everyone else from our American driving, we parked our Volvo waaaaaay out in the field where no one else was. It was kind of hysterical. I had another laugh about it (wishing my family were there still to laugh with me) as we walked through the now empty parking lot. When we first arrived we were the sole group. In this circumstance, Stonehenge somehow seemed much more ancient and real.
Some of the other BYU girls were complaining about how "anticlimactic" they found stonehenge to be. "It's not as big as I thought it looks in the pictures."

I laughed and thought of the typical rule that I introduced in my blog a long time ago. Americans think that bigger is better. The British think that older is better. I think Stonehenge is kind of big and old. A skyscraper would dwarf it, of course. A skyscraper is modern and built with machinery. Considering that it was somehow dragged hundreds of miles by primitive people over 5,000 years ago... I think it's amazing.

Has anyone been dying to see what our bus looks like? Here it is. As I approached the bus I called to my English professor, "Dr. Paxman, I need a picture of the coach, would you like to pose with it?" He immediately tore off his baseball cap, chucked it inside of the bus, smoothed the few hairs that are still on his head, and then struck this pose. It is now the most popular picture circulating within the Center. I love this guy- you never know what he's going to do!

Bath was another second visit for me. I really love this city, and was stoked to go back. On my first visit, Diane had told us about the famous "Sally Lunn's Buns." After seeing the Roman baths we rushed through the narrow streets to find this- the oldest house in the whole city, dating from the 1620s. When we squeezed into the little hallway we were told (ever so rudely) that the buns had all been sold for the day.

My family was devastated. They made me promise that when I returned to Bath I must get ahold of a Sally Lunn bun and describe to them, in excruciating detail, exactly what it tastes like.

We made it, and we got our bun. First, a little history:

In 1680 a refugee from war-torn France came to Bath and found work with a baker. Solange Luyon must have been too difficult for the English tongue, because she soon became known as Sally Lunn. It was she who helped the bakery become famous when she introduced to the bakery some French tricks. Her recipe was kept a secret, and kept people coming back for more- even the rich and famous.

This is what the kitchen looked like when Sally was baking in it. (That's right, England has museums for everything.)

In the 1930s Sally's recipe was discovered in a secret cupboard over a fireplace. So now it has been resurrected, although the recipe is still kept a secret and is passed down only with the deed of the house.

So here is me eating it. Because it is absolutely enormous, Sarah and I split it. The thing cost three pounds. Apparently if you dine in then they will do all kinds of fancy things to your bread. They can glaze it in almost anything, it sounded like. We just bought it and ate it plain.

Here's the detail:

Despite the size it was light and fluffy. Imagine the best French bread you've ever had. That's what it tasted like. Nothing extremely different about it except that it was extremely good. It was French bread perfected. I can't even imagine how good it would have been with butter or a glaze of some kind.

As we walked around Bath we kept seeing this guy. He would juggle around a little bit... mostly just dropping his torches every other second... and then pack up and move down the street further. I guess he kept hoping to catch a new crowd that hadn't seen him biff it earlier. He was everywhere.
Back at the baths!

This is Stourhead.

If you can, click that picture and take a closer look. Or even google the place and look at pictures taken by people who actually know how to use a camera. Stourhead is, without a doubt, the most beautiful place I've ever seen.

It is the location of the part of the film Pride and Prejudice with Kira Knightly, when Mr. Darcy first proposes to Elizabeth. If you have ever seen it, it is raining and they are standing under what looks like a temple. It is called Apollo's Temple, and it is here. We actually didn't get to see it because it is currently hidden behind scaffolding. At first I thought this would be a bummer but the rest of the place was so gorgeous that I didn't even think twice about it.

These gardens are very old, but I love the way it was done and how it is still maintained. We were asked to compare it to the gardens of Versailles. We haven't gone as a group yet, but I actually had the privilege of going there almost three years ago.

I remember learning that Crazy King Louis XIV wanted to see something different every day when he looked out into his grand, geometric gardens. And so every night the servants would be digging up plants, replanting them, trimming them- every night to appease the king. And although the gardens there are beautiful, the hand of man is clearly evident in the design.

At Stourhead the idea was to simply enhance the beauty that nature already provides. The little grotto there seems to just be part of the nature, made of stone and keeping the statues hidden in nooks with waterfalls. Everything just fits. It's the perfect garden.

Wait... This Isn't America...

2009-10-15T01:53:00.000-07:00

England is pretty much the same as the United States. After all, we speak the same language, what could possibly be so foreign?

Hahahaha… anyone who thinks this would be in for the shock of their lives if they tried to hang out in the UK for a few months.

In all of its similarities it is easy for little things to jump out and catch you off guard. I thought I’d share a few of my favorites.

Something Fishy about This Mall:

Just a block away from our flat stands the first department store ever to be erected in England. Naturally, the outside is adorned with sculptures and fancy pillars. The inside, however, is much like the malls in the states. There’s a cinema, restaurants, and retail stores. You’re almost convinced it’s American until you take a good whiff on the ground level. An overwhelming waft of fish is almost enough to knock you over. There in the middle of the mall is a little fish market. Fish heads stare up at you from behind glass and their scaly bodies are split open, freshly gutted. Adjacent to that is a fruit smoothie stand. So if fish gets you craving smoothies it is a perfect setup. There is also a slaughtering stand for pigs, chicken, and sheep. The skinned bodies hang from hooks for everyone to walk by as they try to go to their favorite Tea Shop or the GAP. No big deal, right? Just a slight jolt to remind you that you’re in England.

Astounding Advertising:

I’ve yet to see a billboard in England. Seeing as large signs and lighted signs are not allowed in London, most advertising is done in the underground stations or in store windows. But sometimes people get a little more creative. Bubbles completely filled Leicester Square when this guy drove past us singing over the loudspeaker on his car.

Buskers and Touts:

Walking through areas like Covent Gardens it is common to see street performers. Some completely paint their bodies to make themselves look like statues and then they stand perfectly still. Of course they will suddenly find themselves able to move when someone tries to steal a picture without paying. They will cover their faces or turn away. We’ve seen fire jugglers, magicians, musicians, and even this weird guy done up as a dog. He kind of creeped me out. Watching can be really interesting, but the thing you have to watch for are the sneaky hands that will slip into your pockets or bags as you watch the performers. If you don’t willingly tip, usually buskers find another, less honest way to earn their pay.

School:

Every morning when I go out for my run I pass loads of school kids. Some on are bikes, some take the tube, and the smaller ones are usually being dragged along by their nannies. What really gets me are the little outfits they call uniforms. Sometimes the girls have those straw hats with a ribbon dangling off of the back, and the boys have little wool knickers with high socks. I wish I had some pictures to show you, but I would feel kind of weird stalking little kids and sneakily snapping photos of them. Yeah, England really likes to keep its heritage alive.

Service:

When going out to eat you will find that your waitress or waiter is kind of… rude. Gratuities are usually included in the bill, so apparently that leaves no reason to be polite. Today Alex and I ate at a Chinese restaurant (which was legit Chinese, I have no idea what I was eating, and we didn’t have forks- only chopsticks) and our waitress seemed to find it extremely taxing to have to explain to us what was scribbled in Chinese on our menus. Even refilling our cups was a horrible thing for us to ask her to do. It’s like this at most places. It has made me really appreciate customer service in the states.

(The two pictures above were taken in China Town)

Facilitating the Public:

Usually public “loos” have a fee. You either insert coins and the door will open for your own private stall, or sometimes there is a person sitting behind glass who will take your money. Can you believe having that job?

“What do you do?”

“Oh, I collect pounds in front of public loos.”

I’m sure that looks just great on a résumé.

Anyway, it is also common for public grassy areas to be covered with sleeping people. Who needs to get a hostel, right? This picture was taken in Trafalgar Square in front of the National Gallery. Sweet dreams…

Weird Encounters

2009-10-12T13:18:00.001-07:00

Hyde Park is literally just across the street from my neighborhood. Although the park is over 130 acres, I practically have the place memorized. I get so comfortable here and in the area around the Centre that I have no problem going places by myself. However I sometimes find myself unavoidably shocked when the weird happens.

On one of my jogs through my favorite park a white-haired man in a newsie hat passed me on a rusty old bicycle. He basically looked like a blast from the past. People have interesting fashion sense here in London so I didn’t really think twice about it… until he whipped around and started heading straight for me.

I slowed in order to be ready to spring out of harm’s way if I needed to, but he skidded to a halt right in front of me.

“Excuse me,” he said in his naturally polite British accent. I was still reeling from my close encounter with his skinny old bicycle tires, but I stopped and took out my headphones. “Do you happen to know if squirrels eat horse nuts?”

I answered that I had not the slightest idea.

“Alright, thanks anyway love,” he flashed me a smile and away he went on his bike.

I started my jog again but hadn’t regained enough composure to start my iPod up when suddenly I caught sight of him wheeling past me yet another time– only this time on the opposite side of the trail, his tires a safe distance from my shins.

He waited until I made eye contact with him before he laughed and said, “Who would?” His funny little giggle made me start to laugh until I wasn’t sure if I would be able to keep running. He just rode off, no doubt to find someone in the populated park who could inform him whether or not squirrels preferred horse nuts.

Jogging a few days later I decided to try to find a little recess of the park that I had perhaps not noticed before. It was dark with clouds and I began exploring a part of the park that was even darker, hidden behind a thick growth of trees. I stopped for a minute to examine a bench with an interesting inscription on it’s back. At that moment I realized a group of people was heading toward me.

From my peripheral it looked to be a bunch of teenagers and I didn’t pay much attention to them. When they strayed off the path and headed toward my secluded bench I turned a little. What the heck were they doing? They couldn’t go passed me unless they planned to climb the huge chain-linked fence that was behind the bench.

Just then two of the shady figures slipped directly behind me, and the other four stayed in front of me. They were literally close enough to touch me, and there was no one around.

My phone had already been in my hand so I lifted it and began to punch some numbers into the keypad. This had an immediate effect– the group changed direction. The two people that had snuck behind me returned to the group and they all gradually migrated back to the path that would take them down to the other side of the park by the Albert memorial.

The group did not consist of teenagers, in fact they looked like they could be in their mid 30’s. The five guys all had dreadlocks of different lengths and were hardly clothed. The girl, who was one of the people who had slipped behind me, was wearing a top hat with colorful rags tied around it. She also wore a bright vest, bandanas tied around her arms, a scrap of a skirt, and rainbow stripped leggings with tall black punk boots.

Basically… I was almost abducted by the circus.