Pictures, blog below!

Royal Pavilion
Stone beach in Brighton with the Pier in the Background
Parliament from the Boat
My Favorite picture so far, Tower Bridge from the boat
The inside of a building of Greenwich University
Equestrian Fields with the Observatory on the hill

Straddling the Prime Meridian!

Brighton and Greenwich

First of all I would like to say thank you for all of the comments! Its so much fun for me to get to read people's reactions to what I am saying, keep it up!

This weekend has been a whirlwind! We started off bright and early Friday morning on our way to Brighton. This is just a short 1 and a half hour bus ride outside of London. Brighton is the home to the Royal Pavilion and Brighton Pier. It was gorgeous! Brighton sits right on the ocean with a stone beach leading down to the waves. It was a very odd sensation to be standing on a beach where flats, a coat and a scarf. We definitely couldn't complain about the weather though it was about 45 and sunny! We got a tour of the Royal Pavilion that used to be used by Queen Victoria's uncle. I can say with confidence that this was the strangest looking building I have seen so far in England. It looked like it was air lifted right out of India! The King had it designed in this manner because the Eastern cultures were fascinating to them at that time. After the tour we were set loose to look around the city ourselves. Karen, Lindsey, Andrea and I stopped at an amazing Italian restaurants and got pizza. After eating we walked along and did a bit of shopping. The day went all to fast it seemed and we headed back to London. Brighton is a very beautiful place that most people will vacation to for its closeness to the ocean. I'm very glad we had the weather we did but the summer months would make it all the more better. It also had an amazing pier that had all kinds of rides and attractions. It is comparable to our Coney Island in New York.

Saturday morning brought us to Greenwich. This was especially great because we got to take a boat all the way there. Greenwich is about a 50 minute boat ride down the Thames from Westminster Pier in London. The boat was really nice with seating inside but also an open top for sight seeing. We got to travel down the river Thames past Big Ben, Parliament, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, etc. Seeing the sights from this angle was absolutely indescribable. My pictures definitely do not do it justice but I tried! When we arrived in Greenwich our tour guide Brit, walked us around and took us to several different sites. We got to see the Old Naval Academy that is now part of Greenwich University. We then got to hike up to the Royal Observatory. This is where you can straddle the Prime Meridian! It was actually quite funny because once we got to the top we all hustled to the line only to find that we had to wait in line to stand on the line... haha. Irony? But anyways it was a very cool feeling to know that I my right leg was in the Eastern Hemisphere and my left was in the Western. After taking about 50 pictures we headed back down the hill. Our tour guide pointed out to us that the grassy areas in front of the observatory is where the Equestrian events for the 2012 Olympics are going to be held. After a long day of time travel we decided we needed a good old fashioned burger. We found a place called Gourmet Burger Kitchen, and boy did it live up to its name. You have no idea if you haven't traveled far the kinds of things you miss. I can tell you right now I would do just about anything for a chicken quesadilla from TBell... but anyways, the food was amazing. We decided to head back and got back on the boat and in a short 50 minutes were back in London.

This weekend as been an absolute blast but it seems to come as a precursor for the fun to follow. This next week sets the arrival of Spring Break. We leave on Wednesday for Athens, Santorini and the end in Rome. So bare with me because there wont be any new posts for about a week and a half but I promise to have some good material after this bit of traveling. Missing you all!

Love

There is a blog below, but here are some pictures!

This is where it all began!!!
At the Top, whew it was hard work!
We hiked a dormant Volcano, mountain called St. Andrew's Seat
Just one wall of the world's largest Whiskey collection
Alyssa, Karen and Lindsey in front of the Castle's Chapel
Me enjoying the view from Edinburgh Castle
One of the views from Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh, Scotland

First of all I feel as though I need to start this post off with some business...haha. I am making all of these entries with the hope that someone, somewhere out there is tuning in. However, there is no way to be sure of this since no one has commented. So now I am going to take you on a small tutorial of how to make a comment. First of all if you are not a member and do not log in to look at these posts skip this and move on to the actual blog posting below. You mus have a user name in order to make a comment.

To begin:
At the end of each individual post you will see a time and date stamp with my name. Next to that it says 0 comments. That is a link, click on 0 comments and a little box will appear. This is where you type. Type your little comment about how wonderful or charmingly witty you thought my post was ;). After you do this click post comment. Then your name will appear underneath the post with what you have to say. This is a good way to filter questions to me because I can also post comments. I have provided an example if you scroll down to the end of the Camden Market post. I hope this helps because I would love to know that there are people out there enjoying what I'm writing! Also its a great way to stay in touch!

On the the real business!!!

This past weekend 8 of us made a trip up the countryside into Scotland. We took a train for 4 and a half hours to Edinburgh. The train was really nice and the scenery was pretty. Karen, Lindsey and I had a table all to ourselves which was very nice. When we arrived we immediately set off for our Hostel. This was the first time any of us were staying in a hostel and lets just say we were very nervous. Karen, Lindsey and I were in a 12 bed female dorm and Alyssa, Kristina and Andrea were in an 8 bed mixed dorm. We didn't do much after checking in except decide we were hungry. We ended up eating just across the street at an adorable pub/restaurant. They have little vaults where big groups of people can fit and have their own little table area. We all got burgers and they were amazing! After this we walked back across the street and decided to get ready for bed. This is when the real experience begins... staying in a 12 bed female dorm is extremely intimidating at night. There were only 4 of us that went to bed at the same time leaving the rest to come home whenever. At about 2 am the door flew open and four french girls walk in. All we hear is French as they bustle about the room shining flashlights on each bed to see what is open. All three of us had out eyes clenched shut and were thinking in out heads, go to sleep, go to sleep! In reality it wasn't that bad but when it is 2 am and you cannot understand a word of what someone is saying as they are circling your bed, you are a bit out of your element. Overall though the hostel and the people were extremely nice.

Day 2 began with a tour of Edinburgh Castle. This castle pales in comparison to Windsor in almost everything except the view. I probably took 30 pictures from the castle as it looked over the whole city and the ocean. We toured this for a few hours seeing their crown jewels and great halls. We then set off to try the Whiskey Experience! I think the only thing it taught me was that Whiskey... not really for me haha. We got to sample and smell different types of whiskey and got a cup! It was really fun and I bought a few souvenirs for my dad as well as for Vince. We also learned here that Scotch and Scottish Whiskey are the same thing, in case like us you didn't know. We also saw the largest Whiskey collection in the world! This turned in to a fairly long day. We stopped at a little Italian place for dinner and then had a few drinks in a pub later that night. We discovered a Belgium white beer called Fruli, I highly recommend.

Day 3 continued with a hike to St. Andrews Seat. Little did I know that the hike to the dormant volcano mountain was going to turn into a hike up the dormant volcano mountain. All dressed up in our uggs, trench coats and purses we started up the mountain. Lets just say that the shape I am in physically leaves something to be desired so it was not an easy climb! I somehow fashioned my purse into a backpack leaving my hands free in case I would go plummeting to my death. Reaching the peak was incredible. This is where I took basically the rest of my pictures. We could see in every direction for many many miles. The hike down was scarier than the hike up but we made it down just fine. After this we headed back into the city. Half of the group decided to go on a ghost tour while Karen and I headed for J.K. Rowling's place of inspiration. We were in pursuit of The Elephant House. This is where a poor J.K. Rowling began the best book series in the world, Harry Potter.

Overall the weekend was a blast. I never thought I'd go to Scotland and I can say knowing what I know now I would have regretted not seeing all the things I have seen. Edinburgh is beautiful and full of history. It was the perfect place for us to take our first weekend away from London.

Love

Camden Market and Oxford

A few weeks ago we visited the most wonderful market. It was part of one of our day trips on the program. We first got to go to a place called Little Venice where people literally live on boats on a man made river. We then got to take our own boat for about a 50 minute ride to Camden Town Market. This has by far been my favorite market so far. When we arrived we first had to take an hour to warm ourselves up in a local coffee shop because now 40 degrees is absolutely freezing (feel free to be jealous). As we began to explore the market we realized how hungry we were. Just as that thought was implanted in our heads we entered the food...Oh. My. Gosh! There was everything! From Mexican to Chinese, donuts to fudge. Everything was real, fresh and best of all cheap. Lindsey and I decided we wanted some real Chinese, so we went up to a stand and it was only 5 pounds for whatever we wanted. After getting my chow mein, chicken and veggies we literally got it down in about 10 minutes. It was unbelievably good. Now that we were feeling good and fed we decided to browse the market. Every single stand had something either handmade, handpainted or just something incredibly beautiful. I fell in love when I passed a stand with oil paintings. The woman selling knew that she had already made the sale before I even asked. I purchased three beautiful oil paintings from her. One is a black and white of the city with a red phonebooth, another is all different bright colors representing the London Eye and the last and my favorite is another black and white of Big Ben and Parliament along the boardwalk with a single pink-leafed tree. We ended up hanging my paintings in our room so they wouldn't melt in their rolled up state but they also make it a bit more homey in our little room. After my purchase I decided I really had to get out of there today before more damage to the pocketbook was done. But I have every intention of going back.

This weekend we took another day trip to Oxford College. Or as I like to call it The Halls of Harry Potter. I'm sure by now you are sensing a theme of what I think is most important in the sights of London haha. Oxford is everything you think of when you think Oxford. Several times I found myself staring at people in awe as they walked past just thinking, "geez they must be smart." Needless to say I got some strange looks in return, probably reference to my strange looks and gawking in amazement at them. We first visited Christ Church College in Oxford. In case you are like me and didn't know, there are actually 38 colleges within Oxford itself. So if you ever ask a person where they went to school and they reply Oxford, well first you gawk and then you ask what college? Christ Church is the most tourist friendly college because it is the home to the Great Dining Hall in Harry Potter. When we entered I was shocked to see the size because it is actually quite small. It was also weird not to have the pictures move...haha. The second bit of Harry Potter history is the staircase that Professor McGonagall stands at the greet the first years in Book 1. I took many, many pictures that I will hopefully post soon. Overall the day in Oxford was fun but completely unexpected. Oxford is a college town but not a "college town" if you know what I mean. Madison is a "College town" Oxford is more like a little town that happens to have beautifully historic buildings and a ton of smart students in it. There was no campus feel to Oxford. We spent the rest of the day searching for Oxford gear. I purchased a T-shirt and a few other gifts for people.

London's damp has begun its attempt to take over my health. I have been battling a bad cold for about 2 weeks now. The weather here is usually raining or now we still had a little snow today (not like DC). I'm sure I'll win out but wish me luck! The rest of the week is getting ready for Scotland time. Expect a lengthy blog about our trip sometime after this weekend.

Love