Latest happenings

First and foremost, if you've been following the international news, you'll know that a volcano erupted in Iceland on Wednesday, and the ash cloud has proceeded to cover most of Europe. Although this doesn't directly affect me, it has come at a very inconvenient time for most of my housemates who have now had to scrap their spring break plans for this coming week, since, due to the ash, almost all flights in the UK have been cancelled.

Fortunately, none of my spring break plans involve flying so it's still a go for our grand backpacking adventure through Wales and the English Midlands this week. If all goes as planned, my friend and I will be spending the next few days hiking in the mountains and exploring small towns before we work our way back to London through central England by train and coach.

Most of today has been spent getting ready, but yesterday I tagged along with a few friends on a day trip to Canterbury, about 2 hours southeast of London.

The town center was quaint and touristy, like most we've seen, dominated of course by Canterbury Cathedral.

Our plan was to do all the free things in the area... which turned out to be not very much. Using some free maps from the tourist info center, we walked through a few parks, looked at the ruined abbey from afar, and for lunch we had a picnic at another local park, enclosed by an old medieval wall.

In one corner of the park was a tall monument on a mound, which we all climbed to take in the impressive views. It's a decent city, but there isn't a whole lot to Canterbury besides the few ruins and the cathedral.

A little wind-blown Blue Tit!

Nonetheless, we managed to make a full day of it there and especially had fun walking along the medieval walls along the park. It's very strange to see something like that right next to a busy city road!

Eventually we came upon an old Norman Castle, which I thought was really cool. You could go inside of it, and even walk up the spiral staircase into one of the turrets. Again, it was really funny to have something like that sitting in the middle of a city, literally in some peoples' backyards.

A pretty canal in another garden.

Eventually, we ran out of free things to do, and, with 3 hours to kill before our coach ride back to London, we finally gave in and spent £7 to go inside Canterbury Cathedral. And boy, was it worth it! The cathedral was massive. There was an enormous nave, quire, chapter house, a dark crypt, and a great cloister outside. It was all just gorgeous.

Once we had seen all of the inside, we wandered around the back, where we found even more. There was an old monastery and garden, and several large, empty rooms. It was just spectacular, and incredible how old and well-preserved everything was. It was definitely worth £7 and made our day in Canterbury just that much more enjoyable.

Well, tomorrow I'm off to Wales so I probably won't post again until next weekend.

Until next time,

Cheers!

Rocks, Romans and a 200 mile journey

Early yesterday morning I found myself once again sitting in a large coach, this time hurtling down the M3 motorway through the English countryside. We were headed West towards Stonehenge and Bath for a class day trip, taking a private coach with a tour guide the entire way. As I have a strong disdain for buses and organized tours this would not have been my choice method of travel, but it turned out to be very informative and one of the most fun days I've had here yet.

The coach picked us up at the house and took us through London, while the guide pointed out various landmarks, most of which I have already seen. But before getting too far out into the country, we took a detour through Windsor where the queen is currently staying (as evidenced by a royal flag that was flying over the castle when we drove by). It was a gorgeous town.

The ride to Stonehenge was a little over 2 hours long, and took us through gorgeous countryside and farmland, over narrow hilly roads and through beautiful forests and hunting grounds. That part of England is very much as you would imagine it, and seems like it literally has not changed since about the 19th century.

As we got closer to Stonehenge, we started seeing these mounds in various fields. These are the burial mounds of the Beaker People who built Stonehenge. There is one person under each mound, buried with various artifacts.

And then out of no where, there's Stonehenge! It's in the middle of hundreds of miles of plains with a highway running past it.

There is a sheep field next to it as well, with some of the happiest looking sheep I have ever seen. I suppose I would be a happy sheep too, if I got to live at Stonehenge.

And at last, the rocks, famous for various reasons. They were moved here from hundreds of miles away around 2500 BC. This in itself is pretty impressive, but furthermore the rocks were erected to stand in a circle so that the sun shines through a different slot at the middle of every month. During the summer solstice it shines through the largest rocks in the middle, and in the winter, it shines through the shortest.

Most of the rocks at Stonehenge are actually underground, and the main circle is partially collapsed, so this is only a fraction of what it used to look like. There is also a large trench around it, in a perfect circle. No one really knows what it was used for, besides as somewhat of a giant calendar, probably for ritual purposes.

Just outside of Stonehenge is apparently a large British military base. There were 2 large helicopters flying low overhead, which was a little disturbing but kind of cool. Also nearby was an entire abandoned town that was used solely for British Army urban warfare training.

In addition to a few cattle crossings, they also had some tank crossing signs!

This is the Westbury White Horse, the oldest of 14 white horses carved in the ancient hill forts around the area. This one was really far away, and we only got a glimpse of it from the bus on our way to Bath.

Town of Bath. Many famous people live and have lived there in the past, including Jane Austen, Thomas Gainsborough, and Johnny Depp, who currently lives there and whose house we actually walked passed.

The Roman Baths. I would NOT want to bathe in there, especially considering there were signs that said not to touch the water...

Cool statues and architecture!

The baths were quite extensive and the path led in and out between outdoor pools and enclosed excavated portions of the facility. Although the actually building was built in the 1800s, the baths themselves were built by the ancient Romans who discovered a natural hot spring in the area. The water stays at a constant of about 114 degrees at the surface.

You think we find interesting stuff in our pool drain sometimes -- this is the stone from a Roman-era ring or jewel of some sort, with a carving of a discus thrower. The picture looks deceiving, but it is actually about the size of your pinky fingernail!

Standing in front of the main pool.

More of the interior. I wish we would have had more time, but we had about an hour and a half to see the whole thing and have lunch. It was definitely a cool visit though!

The town of Bath was just gorgeous and it was a beautiful day. Sunny, warm, and absolutely perfect.

After lunch, our tour guide took us through the town, pointing out various landmarks and giving us tons of information.

The River Avon

All too soon we had to leave for a 2 1/2 hour drive back to London. The scenery was spectacular though, and the day was clear enough we could see all the way to Wales (on the horizon in the picture).

It was an exhausting day, but just incredible in every way.

Tales from zero degrees longitude

Be forewarned -- this post may be very long. It'll be heavily made up of photos though, so hopefully it won't be too boring.

Yesterday my class took a field trip to Greenwich, led part of the way by the British Politics professor who insisted we get there by boat. I have never had this professor for any of my classes, but he is apparently very popular and has connections all over England. It sounded like a great opportunity.

As it turned out, our boat got stuck under a bridge and arrived over 40 minutes late to take us to Greenwich. Noneheless, everyone was very good natured about everything. I mean, really, how can you complain while you're waiting for a tour boat under the watchful London Eye on one bank and the regal Big Ben tower on the other, with a bagpipest is playing Scottish tunes somewhere in the distance?

Eventually we got off the dock and the tour boat began its slow progression own the Thames. It was freezing cold and windy, but I sat on top anyway to take in the views.

Shakespeare Globe Theatre

We crossed under many of the landmarks I've seen from the shore -- it's really interesting to see them from the water, as it gives you a new perspective on where things are in relation to one another.

Picture courtesy of Christy Wright

Tower Bridge was one of the main highlights of the boat ride. I've sort of come to feel that, like the London Eye, Tower Bridge is just a little overdone; that said, it's still a beautiful and recognizable icon of London.  

Tower of London is another major attraction -- again, an impeccable piece of architecture and feat of ancient engineering, but overpriced and a bit overdone. Definitely a cool feature of the skyline though.

Prof. Mortin talking about the Hall

We arrived in Greenwich about an hour after we'd left London. The professor took us up to the Old Royal Naval College and into one of the most remarkable buildings I have ever seen. Appropriately named "Painted Hall," every square inch of the interior was adorned with massive murals. Unfortunately, we didn't get to stay very long at all, so I wasn't able to learn much about the building or its history.

Next we were swept off to the Chapel, which resembled some of the other churches I've been in recently. Again, it was gorgeous and very peaceful, but we didn't stay long.

We had lunch in Greenwich Street Market, which sold lots of antiques, silks, and vintage items. I took a picture of this booth for Ellie -- it had quite a few very old mounted animals! They didn't look nearly as good as hers, but I thought she'd get a kick out of it. :-)

For some reason, I thought of Dad when we found this place. Think of the movie Chocolat, only with every kind of candy you could imagine! Ironically called "Mr. Humbugs," the store was like stepping back in time to some Willy Wonka scene. The guy could tell you everything about every kind of candy he sold, the history of candy, and even what kinds of candy you would like.

All too quickly we were swept off again, up a tall hill, and to the Royal Observatory wherethe Prime Meridian can be found.

The famous line, above, indicating the Western (left) and Eastern (right) hemispheres!

Had to get the classic picture standing in both at once...

My whole class at the Prime Meridian (Photo by Christy Wright)

By the time we made it to the meridian, we had very little time left before we had to catch the ferry back to London. I went through the little museum at the observatory which had information about the first telescopes, clocks, and navigation systems. I didn't have time to check out the planetarium or the maritime museums though, so I think I'm going to take the Tube back sometime to check those out.

Greenwich was totally a worthwhile trip -- I just wish we could have had more time there. Great experience though!