We have been on quite a few trips...
The first was to Stonehenge and Bath on Sept 10th. I have wanted to visit Stonehenge since I saw it on the screen saver on our computer and of course I have wanted to visit Bath ever since I knew that Jane Austen had lived there... There have also been quite a few movies in which Bath has been used like the BBC version of Persuasion. I have decided that Stonehenge is beautiful and I am really interested to find out one day what it was used for and how it was built. When we were in Bath I visited Bath Abbey which has a beautiful example of fan vaulting. Then as a program we visited the Roman Baths and "partook of the waters." The waters was horrible and tasted really strongly of sulfur and minerals but I did taste it but I have no idea how people could come to Bath just to "take the waters." We also visited the Royal Crescent and then went into Number 1 Royal Crescent which is set up how it would have looked in the 1800's and saw The Circus. Both of these buildings were designed by the great John Wood and John Wood the Younger. We also visited Jane Austen's home and learned a lot about how her stay there influenced and appeared in her novels. In all it was a wonderful experience!
The next day, Sept 11th, we went and saw 39 Steps. The movie by Hitchcock, of the same name, is based on the play. This play only had 4 people that played over 50 different characters and man was it entertaining!! I have to suggest that everyone should see this if they happen to be in London!
On Sept 12th we had a tour of The Houses of Parliament aka the building attached to Big Ben! We were able to go inside the House of Commons and the House of Lords and saw a lot of their common rooms. We were shown how the parliamentary system works and how the monarch fit in with everything. The history of the building and their traditions within it were so interesting to become aware of. I am really excited to see the opening of Parliament by the Queen in December!
Sept 17th - 19th was our trip to the West of England!
The first day we got up at about 5 am to eat breakfast, make lunches and be on the coach by 7am. From London we headed to Stourhead house and gardens in Warminster, Wiltshire. Stourhead is an example of Palladian houses and gardens. The gardens, the lake, and the Temple of Apollo are shown in the new Pride and Prejudice at the proposal scene and it was just as beautiful as it was in the movie except it wasn't raining!
The next stop on the trip to the West was Thomas Hardy's cottage in Dorset. Hardy is a English novelist, short story, and poet which set his stories in this setting. The land was beautiful but the house had really, really short doorways and Professor Benfell hit his head quite a few times... you think that he would have learned as he does have his doctorate but it was really funny to observe!
That night we stayed in Penzance, as in the Pirates of Penzance, (don't worry I didn't know the story either!) in our first hostel! The hostel was a YMCA and it actually was not as bad as I was expecting... the sheets were in plastic that had been steamed closed and surprisingly that made me feel better. We arrived at the hostel at about 7pm and then decided to go out and see the town but it was really sad because everything closes in small towns at about 5:45pm so we walked along the levee and I touched the ATLANTIC OCEAN for the first time and I ALMOST slipped on the rocks and fell in... The breakfast in the morning was the classic English breakfast... croissants, baked beans, eggs, fruit and cereal.
Sept 18th in the morning we went to the Land's End Beach and went on a beautiful hike along the coast and thoroughly enjoyed the cliffs and the ocean! Along the path was a ton of blackberry bushes that had the most luscious berries that I have ever tried! This beach is also the place where the telegraph cable is buried that goes from England to the USA and was also a place where England was attacked during WWII because of the cable. The water was a little cold but we still waded and a few in the group went swimming.
The next place that we arrived was at St. Michael's Mount in Penzance. St. Michael's is an island at high tide but is attached to to the land during low tide. St. Michael has a castle and a village just like it did during the 13th century! The Mount is stunning to see from far away surrounded by water with just the silhouette showing. On the walk to up the hill to the castle their is a stone in the pathway that is shaped like a heart and the story goes that their was a giant that was terrorizing the people that lived in the village but was caught by a boy in a hole. Because the giant died within the hole it became his grave and his heart is said to have raised to the path... pretty good story!
From Penzance we headed to Exeter and ended up eating at this really cool restaurant that was along the channel 'quay' (pronounced 'key') with a beautiful channel and boats in the background. Me, Lindsey, and Natalie shared a margarita pizza (don't worry it doesn't have any alcohol in it... just sauce and cheese.) The hostel that we stayed in was out in the middle of no where so we played card games, did homework and chatted in the hostel for a good portion of the night... what do you expect with 40 girls and 1 boy.
The next morning, Sept 19th, we headed to the Exeter Cathedral which was started back in the times of the Norman invasion in 1066 and it continued to have construction until the Victorian times. The Cathedral was massive! In my humanities class we are learning about architecture and it was really interesting to see all of the different types of architecture building on each other and forming the building.
The final stop on our trip was in Lyme Regis. Lyme, as it is commonly called, was where the wealthy in Victorian England would go to holiday and look for fossils. We visited because Lyme is a significant place in Jane Austen's Persuasion. In Lyme we walked along the stony beach and along the levee and pretended to act out the scene from Persuasion when Lydia falls and hits her head but we didn't have a Captain Frederick Wentworth to try and catch us... just a Michael and he can only be in one place at a time. While in Lyme I also decided that I was going to try FISH and CHIPS... the British way. For those of you that do not know I am not a fan of fish and so this was a real adventure for me to participate in. The Fish and Chips came in the classic way... wrapped in paper. I added ketchup, salt and a little bit of vinegar and dug in! The fish actually wasn't that fishy and was the best that Professor Wimmer said he had ever had! I thought that it was quite good but am almost scared to try it again somewhere where the fish is not as fresh. But I will admit that Lyme fish and chips are delicious!
On Sept 12th we had a tour of The Houses of Parliament aka the building attached to Big Ben! We were able to go inside the House of Commons and the House of Lords and saw a lot of their common rooms. We were shown how the parliamentary system works and how the monarch fit in with everything. The history of the building and their traditions within it were so interesting to become aware of. I am really excited to see the opening of Parliament by the Queen in December!
Sept 17th - 19th was our trip to the West of England!
The first day we got up at about 5 am to eat breakfast, make lunches and be on the coach by 7am. From London we headed to Stourhead house and gardens in Warminster, Wiltshire. Stourhead is an example of Palladian houses and gardens. The gardens, the lake, and the Temple of Apollo are shown in the new Pride and Prejudice at the proposal scene and it was just as beautiful as it was in the movie except it wasn't raining!
The next stop on the trip to the West was Thomas Hardy's cottage in Dorset. Hardy is a English novelist, short story, and poet which set his stories in this setting. The land was beautiful but the house had really, really short doorways and Professor Benfell hit his head quite a few times... you think that he would have learned as he does have his doctorate but it was really funny to observe!
That night we stayed in Penzance, as in the Pirates of Penzance, (don't worry I didn't know the story either!) in our first hostel! The hostel was a YMCA and it actually was not as bad as I was expecting... the sheets were in plastic that had been steamed closed and surprisingly that made me feel better. We arrived at the hostel at about 7pm and then decided to go out and see the town but it was really sad because everything closes in small towns at about 5:45pm so we walked along the levee and I touched the ATLANTIC OCEAN for the first time and I ALMOST slipped on the rocks and fell in... The breakfast in the morning was the classic English breakfast... croissants, baked beans, eggs, fruit and cereal.
Sept 18th in the morning we went to the Land's End Beach and went on a beautiful hike along the coast and thoroughly enjoyed the cliffs and the ocean! Along the path was a ton of blackberry bushes that had the most luscious berries that I have ever tried! This beach is also the place where the telegraph cable is buried that goes from England to the USA and was also a place where England was attacked during WWII because of the cable. The water was a little cold but we still waded and a few in the group went swimming.
The next place that we arrived was at St. Michael's Mount in Penzance. St. Michael's is an island at high tide but is attached to to the land during low tide. St. Michael has a castle and a village just like it did during the 13th century! The Mount is stunning to see from far away surrounded by water with just the silhouette showing. On the walk to up the hill to the castle their is a stone in the pathway that is shaped like a heart and the story goes that their was a giant that was terrorizing the people that lived in the village but was caught by a boy in a hole. Because the giant died within the hole it became his grave and his heart is said to have raised to the path... pretty good story!
From Penzance we headed to Exeter and ended up eating at this really cool restaurant that was along the channel 'quay' (pronounced 'key') with a beautiful channel and boats in the background. Me, Lindsey, and Natalie shared a margarita pizza (don't worry it doesn't have any alcohol in it... just sauce and cheese.) The hostel that we stayed in was out in the middle of no where so we played card games, did homework and chatted in the hostel for a good portion of the night... what do you expect with 40 girls and 1 boy.
The next morning, Sept 19th, we headed to the Exeter Cathedral which was started back in the times of the Norman invasion in 1066 and it continued to have construction until the Victorian times. The Cathedral was massive! In my humanities class we are learning about architecture and it was really interesting to see all of the different types of architecture building on each other and forming the building.
The final stop on our trip was in Lyme Regis. Lyme, as it is commonly called, was where the wealthy in Victorian England would go to holiday and look for fossils. We visited because Lyme is a significant place in Jane Austen's Persuasion. In Lyme we walked along the stony beach and along the levee and pretended to act out the scene from Persuasion when Lydia falls and hits her head but we didn't have a Captain Frederick Wentworth to try and catch us... just a Michael and he can only be in one place at a time. While in Lyme I also decided that I was going to try FISH and CHIPS... the British way. For those of you that do not know I am not a fan of fish and so this was a real adventure for me to participate in. The Fish and Chips came in the classic way... wrapped in paper. I added ketchup, salt and a little bit of vinegar and dug in! The fish actually wasn't that fishy and was the best that Professor Wimmer said he had ever had! I thought that it was quite good but am almost scared to try it again somewhere where the fish is not as fresh. But I will admit that Lyme fish and chips are delicious!
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