I Have Seen More Than I Remember

Friday September 12, 2014

Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England

What is now known as Lincoln developed from the Roman town of Lindum Colonia. Lincoln's major landmarks are Lincoln Cathedral and Lincoln Castle, an 11th-century Norman castle. The field trip consisted of a sincerely depressing visit to the Castle, a small amount of free time to see the shops and local area, a tour of the Cathedral, and a walking tour of local Roman Ruins.

  

The castle must be an incredible site to see, when you can actually see it. A vast majority of the castle was under construction. Luckily we were still able to go onto a part of the castle that overlooks the cathedral. The view of the city from above was stunning.

Here are the small portions of the castle you can actually see (but not go into):

The beginning of the trip began as an opportunity for the group I was in to walk around the city. I walked around with Mckenzie and David, but we weren't able to go very far in the time we had. We just went down part of Steep Hill, which is very aptly named. At one point on the hill, which we didn't make it to, there are rails on the side for people to use because it's hard getting up without them. The hill is basically a runner's nightmare. I would never ever want to participate in a race up that hill. After visiting some of the super cute shops, including a gallery full of beautiful watercolor paintings, and a store FULL to the ceiling of books it was time to eat lunch. School lunches are not braces friendly: they gave us raisins (too chewy) and apples (can't bite into them.) But the rest of the food was edible and delicious! :)

After Lunch it was time for the Cathedral tour; my group was led by one of the professors, Dr. Bianca Leggett. Dr. Leggett is also my seminar professor. British Studies is a 6 hour course which consists of 2 hours of lecture and 2 hours of seminar (smaller group) every week. I am taking Honors British Studies, which means I also take a one hour tutorial session each week. 

The Cathedral tour began outside where Dr. Leggett pointed out some of the Romanesque architecture, such as the rounded arches, and some of the more Gothic features, such as the pointed arches and flying buttresses. 

 

We then headed inside to continue our tour. I was very ecstatic to learn that I was indeed able to take pictures! I overheard someone watching people take pictures say, "I really wish I enjoyed taking pictures more." As many people can tell, I do NOT have that problem. I take so many pictures. Everywhere. Of everything. 

 Gothic Style Ribbed Vaulting

 

Ribbed Vaulting (Gothic) and Stained Glass Window (Romanesque due to rounded features)

I cannot for the life of me remember what this is called. I do, however, remember that Dr. Leggett said it used to be the separation where only the Priests and higher could enter into that part of the cathedral- Common people were not allowed past the gate. She said it was rather impressive that it is still there because during the reformation most of them got knocked down. 

Another View inside the Cathedral.

After the Cathedral tour, we did a walking tour around Lincoln to see Roman ruins in the area. Parts of monumental gateways and walls can be seen but there are very few traces of public buildings remaining. The Newport Arch, pictured below, is the ONLY Roman gateway still open to traffic. The arch is part of the north gate of Lindum Colonia, the Roman town founded in the 1st century. It was rather interesting seeing other buildings built up around the scattered ruins.

 

Although it was disappointing that the castle was under construction, Lincoln was well worth the visit. Especially since it was a great trip that I didn't have to pay for. ;) Those don't make my heart hurt like paying for the other trips I'm planning have been.

"Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember and remember more than I have seen." -Benjamin Disraeli

Hampton Court Palace and Running away from Runnymede

Sunday September 7, 2014

Hampton Court Palace, Greater London, England
Runnymede, Surrey, England

Hampton Court Palace was built in 1514 and came into King Henry VIII's possession in 1529. Today the Palace is cared for by the Historic Royal Places charity. While I am more partial to our own Harlaxton castle, the Royal Palace was very intriguing. I liked how in each room they had a small history of the person or persons who inhabited it. There was a section of quarters belonging to King Henry VII and a section of quarters allotted to Prince William III. 

Details of a Ceiling within the Palace

Walls and ceiling surrounding a staircase

Interesting design on the wall created by swords and other weapons

Stained Glass Windows

View of the back of Hampton Court Palace

Of course my favorite part of Hampton Court Palace was the gardens. The gardens were immense and had a large variety of foliage. Flowers are always my favorite, there was a beautiful section devoted to roses.

 

Sadly we had to say goodbye to the beautiful grounds of the Hampton Court Palace and make our way to Runnymede. On the bright side, I got a glorious nap in, in between the two. In my opinion, Runnymede was not a worthwhile trip. Runnymede is where Magna Carta was signed. There is a memorial devoted to the event at Runnymede. But if you're interested in Magna Carta, you are better off visiting somewhere with an copy of it and more historical detail. Before the 30 minutes was up, we were ready to run away from Runnymede back to the coach to take a nap. ;)

Hopelessly Lost in London

Saturday September 6, 2014

London, England

Or, if you want to be like my group, just don't even pick up a map at all. On Saturday, I didn't take a map with me. I'm not really too upset with getting "lost." No matter what, you'll get somewhere, and eventually you'll find somewhere you're "meant to be." Unfortunately not all my friends feel the same, but I try to enjoy the journey, no matter where it takes us, or what we go through to get there.

The Plan for Saturday was to take the Tube to The Tower of London, get some postcards, then take the Tube to Westminster Abbey and walk to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guards. None of that happened. In our defense, we only got lost because of our own choice once. We weren't paying attention on the way to the first Tube stop. The nice gentleman at the Tube station that we ended up at kindly gave us directions on what stop would take us to the Tower of London. Supposedly. There was an unexpected Station closing where we were supposed to go, so we had to get off somewhere else. Our solution? We can just walk to Buckingham palace, and skip out on Tower of London. But alas, that was a lot longer walk than originally anticipated. By the time we were about halfway to Westminster we decided to drop by the National Gallery and wait for Tori and Mckenzie to get done with their tours of museums. But we weren't there long because we eventually were able to meet back with Tori and Mckenzie.

On our way to find somewhere to eat we ran into Shelby, Savannah, and Kristen, all from WKU and also attending Harlaxton. We all decided we would go eat at McDonald's since it would be quick and cheap. I was excited that they had cheese sticks, our McDonald's need to have them as well! After McDonald's the plan was to visit Westminster Abbey and do a tour, but we made it too late to go on the tour. Instead we decided we would just walk to Harrods.

The walk to Harrods was so long! Luckily there were small maps dotted along the way to help us make sure we were headed in the right direction. Even though it took forever to get there, I am so glad we walked it. We saw more of London than we would have ever seen from the tube! The houses closer to Harrods were all gorgeous, and we saw cars worth more than I will make in my lifetime. We got to the very "posh" section of town. We even passed through an area that houses all of the embassies. It was incredible to see!

Thank goodness for these tiny maps! 

We were so excited to see Harrods so close 

to the  15 minute walk circle!!!!

 

                         Of course we had to get the classic red phone booth photos!

Getting close!!!!

Finally there!

Harrods was huge! They had maps on each level letting you know what stores were on each floor. My favorites: Disney Store and Toy Land. We went to the Disney Store first. I loved seeing all the cute little girl dresses. There were dresses that probably cost over $1000. If I were younger and rich I would totally have gone to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and dressed up like a princess. Don't make me decide which one though, because I love them all. And of course we had to get a picture with the stuffed Mickey dressed up as a Royal Guard.

One of the dresses that probably cost more than I am worth.

You can tell something is expensive when the store

doesn't put a price tag on it. Not like I would want to see it anyway.

After the Disney Store we went to the floor with Toy Land. There were children and toys EVERYWHERE. Legos, barbies, remote control vehicles, dollhouses, and numerous toys I had never seen before lined the walls and tables. The most ridiculous part, a children's electric car that was 40,000 British Pounds. That's roughly 65,000 American Dollars. That's more than I will ever pay for a car. I could almost buy a house for that amount. I just can't even fathom spending that on a child's toy! The craziness. 

But anyway, moving on... After we left Harrods we took the tube back to the hotel to drop off our bags, rest a bit and look up where we were going for dinner. My Meet-A-Family, Steve and Val Twigg, recommended a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, so we had to find out how to get there. Walking into Chinatown was neat, they had paper lanterns everywhere and little shops all over the place.

We went to dinner at New Loon Fung. The servers were all very polite and the dinner was very good. Megan was funny because she had never had sweet and sour chicken before, which is what she ordered, so Brittany and I asked her if she liked it. She responded, "Yea, it's good," but her face said more like, ummmm, not so much. But, we'll train her to like Chinese food soon enough. I, however, enjoyed my noodles and meat. It was delicious.

Chinatown was our last excursion for the night before we retreated back to the hotel to rest up for the journey home the next morning. I would consider our first weekend in London a success, as it got most of us addicted to the beauty and excitement of the city. We are already planning to go back the last weekend of September and couldn't be more excited!

You Can Sit in America.

In London, you don't stop moving. I couldn't even tell you how much we walked this weekend. What kept us going was the amazing sites we saw along the way.

This blog entry is the tale of my first day in London. Of getting lost and finding my way. But mostly it's the tale of a learning experience. I'd say everyone who attended the trip was guaranteed to learn at least a little something.

Things I have learned:
1) You can never plan too much.
2) PLAN to throw half of your plans out the window.
3) Spontaneity is fun.
4) Communication is key.
5) Make the most of your mistakes.

I'll be honest, I didn't do much planning for this trip, I let the school do the travel booking, and left our schedule to Megan, Brittany, David, Tori, and McKenzie. You could say I just went along for the ride. They planned out a wonderful schedule for Friday and Saturday including all the major tourist attractions.
The school sponsored trips to different museums and attractions. While McKenzie and I went to the Tower of London, the rest of our group went to see the British Library. After the Tower of London I split from McKenzie and joined another group of girls from Harlaxton. We took the tube to Westminster Abbey and came out RIGHT IN FRONT OF the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. It was a splendid surprise!

After walking around the Houses of Parliament and past Westminster Abbey, we made our way towards Buckingham palace. 

Houses of Parliament

More about Harrods to come on my next post.

Best Picture EVER.

      

                                                          Westminster Abbey

  Buckingham Palace

After seeing Buckingham Palace, I met back up with Mckenzie and we headed to Trafalgar Square. We even got to pass some lovely London cityscapes on the way there. :)

The main thing we did at Trafalgar square was go to the National Gallery. But of course McKenzie needed a picture by the big blue chicken first (The locals call it a cockerel.)

It's interesting how everything connects. For example, prior to this blog post, I had no clue what the meaning of the Blue Cockerel was. But in my Gender Women Studies class we were talking about being curious and how too often we accept not knowing what something means because that is the easy way out. Gaining knowledge can be time consuming, sometimes even difficult. But in today's world all you have to do is Google it. So that's what I did. The artist, Katharina Fritsch, who designed the sculpture, says it is "a feminist sculpture, since it is I who am doing something active here – I, a woman, am depicting something male. Historically it has always been the other way around. Now we are changing the roles. And a lot of men are enjoying that."
I found it interesting that my London trip connected directly to one of my classes here at Harlaxton. It's crazy what sorts of things make the world go round!

The National Gallery was amazing. They had so many incredible artists including some of my favorites: Monet, Van Gogh, and Manet, as well as a few I discovered there: Canaletto and Pissarro. We actually thought we weren't allowed to take pictures so sadly I have no pictures to show you from here. :(

After seeing just a fraction of the National Gallery, Mckenzie and I had to leave to meet Megan, Brittany, David and Tori to pick up our tickets for the London Eye. The London Eye was by far my favorite thing we did the entire weekend. Our arrival was times perfectly, just before the swarm of people who also schedule their "ride" for 7:30. We had a very short wait before we were able to get into the bubble- like passenger capsules we would go up in. The London Eye is a giant Ferris Wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames. Fun fact I just learned, the passenger capsules represent the thirty-two principal subdivisions of the administrative area of Greater London.

Sir Richard Rogers wrote of the London Eye in a book about the project:

The Eye has done for London what the Eiffel Tower did for Paris, which is to give it a symbol and to let people climb above the city and look back down on it. Not just specialists or rich people, but everybody. That's the beauty of it: it is public and accessible, and it is in a great position at the heart of London

A view of the London Eye from a nearby bridge.

Close up of the passenger capsule next to us.

Passenger Capsule.

Passenger Capsule.

Look at how cute they are. :)

Yay group pictures on the London Eye!

More pictures of the London Eye. Just not from on the Eye.

 

The London Eye was by far the best money I spent on this trip. The views from within only get better as you go up. London is beautiful and I loved being able to look out and get a different perspective of all the places I had been earlier in the day. I'd highly recommend this experience to any first time Londoners.







After our sad exit from the London Eye (we didn't want to leave) we found the perfect place for pictures with Big Ben and took advantage of it.

You don't realize how much fun you had on a trip until you can't fit into a single blog post! Look for my next post on the many adventures of Saturday September 6th: London Trip Day Two.

"Life is too deep for words, 

so don't try to describe it. 

Just live it."

-C.S. Lewis