Now in Edinburgh!

Phew! I finally caught up with my posts!

As the title says, I've made it to Edinburgh safe and sound. I got in yesterday (August 8th), checked into my hostel just fine, and met up with my brother Zach. I went to see their play "Chicken Bones for the Teenage Soup" which was HILARIOUS! Everyone was fantastic in all their scenes and parts. Simply well done and everyone in the audience loved it as much as me :)

After the show, I hung out with everyone while they waited for their bus to come pick them up. Some girls from another group came over to talk with us. While we were all talking, it reminded me of how much I missed my theater family. It was fantastic to see everyone again!

When their bus came, I took the local bus back to my hostel. I got myself settled in and worked on my posts while I waited to meet up with the group at 7:45. Around 6:40 I got a surprise visit from Zach and found out he told me the wrong time. Luckily I was pretty much ready so we headed out. After a long search, Zach, Evan, and I found a little restaurant to eat at. We didn't have a lot of time so we ordered the quickest meal they could cook up. Fish and Chips. I have to admit, they were not as fantastic as Brighton's, but I was too hungry to care and they were still quite yummy.

15 minutes later, we met up with the group for the ghost tour. All the girls were freaking out (well Allison was more excited then scared) and we took several trips to the toilet to make sure there was no chance of any trouser-wetting on this thing.

Our guide was Harry and he wore a black cloak. We all instantly thought Harry Potter. He was very friendly and chatted with everyone in the group. Things started to look up a bit. Then some of us (including me) saw a person dressed in friar clothing run from the Cathedral to the alley in the back. Yup, things got scary again.

The tour itself wasn't as scary as I thought it was. Harry was a fantastic story teller and the vaults we went to were indeed very dark, but nothing as frightening as I expected. Of course, all the modern day stories of tourists who had incidents happen to them all could be related to me. A girl traveling alone, someone staying in the old hostel, and so on. It really didn't help when Harry was telling the last story about a woman who was pushed to the back wall by invisible hands, everyone started moving away from that wall leaving me a clear pathway right to it. I just held on tighter to Karen Weis' arm and Haley's hand.

But the scariest part of all, I had to walk back to my old hostel alone. Luckily there were still lots of people out and about so I wasn't alone. When I got back to my room, people were still getting ready for bed so I got to fall asleep with the lights on. And a slept peacefully. SO grateful I was able to.

Well that's all for now. Ttfn, ta ta for now!

Bonding Time with Jo

Monday August 6^th:

I had planned to go to Cambridge but I ended up sleeping in WAY late. Like noon. I think my body is starting to take the hit of getting only 6 hours of sleep a night. Yes, 6 hours is a good amount of sleep but I’m the kind of person that usually needs 8 hours. I like my sleep time.

So instead, I went to the post office to mail some books and newspapers I collected. Sure they are fairly light, but I ne. The lady was incredibly helpful and helped me to find the cheapest price. I started with the option of paying 75 pounds and ended up only paying 44 pounds. Still a bit spendy, but WAY better compared to the original price.

After I got back, Jo and I went on a little road trip to Stamford and Bughley House. We walked around Stamford and saw a cute bakery with adorable cakes in the display window. The rain was coming down fairly hard so we took shelter in a shop. They had all kinds of fancy sculptures for decorations, silverware, high tea plates and trays, some purses, and very cute toys.

We went upstairs to the café to have a little scone snack. I had some hot chocolate and Jo got some herbal tea to go with our scones. Have to admit, it felt a bit strange to be needing to drink hot chocolate in August. Oh well, it was delicious.

The rain had stopped so we continued walking around. We went into a grocery store so Jo could buy a pork pie, a UK specialty.

We then drove to Bughey house and walked around the grounds. It’s not a house. It’s a mansion. It’s like the house-version of Kensington Palace! Anyways, as we were walking around the grounds some guys were putting down wooden planks for something. It looked like they were setting up for a horse jumping event.

After we got back to the house, we had some dinner and then had family night. We read some scriptures and played a game called… Something that started with an H and a long name. Basically, we played noisy charades. At first, Elliot and Ben were not for playing but eventually they got into it. It was boys vs. girls (3 to 2) and we really did make the strangest sounds. It felt like we were doing Sound effects from Whose line it is Anyway just without Colin and Ryan making hilarious comments (if you have time, look it up on youtube. The best ones are Tarzan, Indiana Jones, and Cops and Ducks. They’re all really good).

When we finished the game, Jo and I started talking about BYU. We ended talking for almost 2 hours about how the church numbers are in the UK and the USA, Malcolm in the Middle, how we like thriller books and not horror books, Jo’s incident at the movie Carrie with her sister, shared some stories of when our testimonies were tested and grew stronger, and confirmed details for tomorrow. Yeah, we talked about random things but it was a fantastic conversation full of laughs and spirit-filling moments.

Chatsworth House

Tuesday August 7^th:

The day started off pretty good. I got up on time, got ready, Jo took me to the station, and I made my train. The train ride was just fine and then we arrived in Chesterfield. I didn’t get up early enough so I had to wait for a huge line of little kids to go by and I was so worried the doors wouldn’t stay opened for me. Eventually I couldn’t stand waiting anymore, so I pushed my way through and got to the doors but they had closed. I kept pushing the button to open the door but then the train started moving. I missed my station. Suddenly for the first time in a LONG time, I got angry. Hulk –transforming angry. I was beating myself up (verbally) about it. “Why did you wait so long to get up? Why didn’t you just go to the other door? Why didn’t you push your way through earlier?” It was a very long ride to the next station.

Luckily, there was a train going back to Chesterfield 3 minutes after my train had arrived. When I got off the train, I began my search for the coach (bus) station. I asked a lady about my age if she knew where it was and she said that she and her mom were looking for it as well. We found a map of the town outside the station. The lady and her mom went ahead and I stayed to try memorizing the map. Then I saw a sign that said “To get to the coach station, follow the signs that lead to the tourist center” so I did just that. Found the coach station just fine, the lady helped me find the bus I needed and as I exited, the couple from earlier was entering.

We ended up going on the same bus and when we all got off at the same stop, I finally asked them if they were also going to Chatsworth house and they were. So we walked up the trail together and ended up spending the day together. Her name was Cheng and she had been studying in the UK for a year and her mom had come from China to visit her.

On the way up, we saw lots and lots of sheep doing sheep things like eat grass and sleep. That’s the life. We should have a sheep day where all we do is eat and sleep. That would be a fantastic holiday. Then again, that’s how I normally spend my Saturdays during the school year.

When we got to the house, I went into a Pride and Prejudice daydream. I was so excited to see “Pemberley” in real life! I was even more excited when the gate person said we could take pictures inside. AWESOME!

I think my favorite rooms were where scenes from the movie took places. I especially loved the sculpture gallery. I looked around for the Darcy bust and the veiled lady, but they were not there. That did make me a bit sad, but I wasn’t going to let it ruin my fantastic experience.

When we got outside, Cheng, her mom, and I took a lunch break. Cheng shared some Chinese Pork jerkey that was DELICIOUS. I hope they sell it somewhere in the states. Really hope they do.

We then walked around the gardens some. We spent most of our time at the Cascade fountain where I played in the water while Cheng and her mom climbed up all the way to the top. We saw the Trough waterfall (not a real waterfall. It was just a tiny stream. Bleh), a pretty pond with a gazebo overlooking it, some giant rabbit sculptures, the Emperor fountain, and some cool rock sculptures.

When we got back to Chesterfield station, Cheng and I exchanged email addresses, hugged then said our goodbyes.

Today defiantly had taken a turn for a terrible day, but it ended up turning into a fantastic time where I got to make a new friend. Just comes to show that the big guy upstairs knows what He’s doing :)

Sunday with the Contehs

Sunday August 5^th:

I went to Church with the Contehs today. During Sacrament, I sat with Alice and her friends. Since it was fast and testimony meeting, there were no speakers. They were all very nice and shockingly most of fairly short. The one that stood out to me was given by an elderly gentleman who talked about how we all can lose the ability to hear the Holy Ghost when we’re surrounded by the loud sounds of life. He said that it is important to put in our hearing aids and help them stay in good shape by doing the small little things of saying prayers, scripture reading, listening to the prophet, and so on.

In Sunday school I sat with Elliot, Aly and Jo’s eldest son, and his friends John and Jamie. They were very fun and silly to sit with.  We were on lesson 30 (still in Alma. I think it was up to chapter 41) and we talked about why there are so many war chapters in the Book of Mormon and the Nephites’ attitude when they went into battle.

In Relief Society, the Young Women were visiting so I got to sit with Jo. The lesson was on Gordon B Hinckley’s talk from 1980 about Joseph Smith’s testimony of Christ.

After church, there was a meeting about the road show they are doing in September. It is not competitive and the them is “Once upon a time… and they lived happily ever after.” The director suggested the idea of everyone being scarecrows and the storyline possibly being about missionaries. Mainly the point of the meeting was to find out how many people would be willing to help and find out the theme so people could start brainstorming for the next meeting. Don’t know why exactly, you would want to know this. But if you have random free time it can be fun to come up with story lines and songs. Just for fun, you know ;)

When we all got back, I met Beth (the eldest child in the Conteh family) and her friend Matt. We all got changed and waited for the gold-medal tennis match. It was a good match, one set was SUPER intense because the scores kept changing from 40 all to Advantage for what felt like forever. When Andy Murray won the match point, Jo and Alice jumped in their seats and we all cheered when he won! Though I do have to admit that this match wasn’t was intense to watch as the previous match, but it was really cool to watch Andy Murray win.

Saturday - Introduction to Peterborough

Saturday August 4th:

Today was a relaxing day after a week full of daytrips. I spent most of my time uploading pictures on my computer and rotating them. Also worked on catching up with the blog (Still working on that).

In the afternoon, I walked with Aly and Jo into town. They went to run errands and I did some sightseeing. I went to the Peterborough museum and spent most of my time playing with all the kids’ activities and trying on the hats and costumes of course. They had exhibitions about the first people in Peterborough, the Romans, a section about animals in the sea and forests, and a 1900s version of Peterborough.

After the museum I went to the Cathedral. This was a first, I didn’t have to pay for admission but I wasn’t allowed to take pictures. Guess you can’t have both. When I walked in, there was an orchestra practicing so while I was looking around there was various soft and majestically loud music that would play. At one point, I started imagining I was in some sort of movie and the music was my soundtrack and I made up a scene with the music that was playing. The first take, the music was super soft and sneaky soundly so I pretended I was a spy looking for a secret artifact in a compartment in the walls behind a statue. The second take reminded me of Hunchback of Notre Dame when Esmeralda sings “God Help the Outcast” so I reacted that out. The last take happened when I was approaching the Nave. The music started soft like before but wasn’t sneaky. It was more like a prompting to go forward so I went where others just passed by. When I turned into the Nave the music grew louder and louder while the brass players made it powerful and the music was adding on the breath-taking beauty of the Nave.  It was so cool having a soundtrack while looking around the cathedral.

When I exited out of the cathedral, I decided to head back to the Conteh house.

Fun and musical tourist kind of day, haha :)

Friday - York

(Sorry but I'm running out of cool little introductions about how the following will be written as if it happened today but it didn't but I think you've caught on by now. At least hopefully you have. Yeah. This is starting to get awkward so I will continue now)

Friday August 3^rd:

Today was a traveling day bigger then normal. This morning, I finished packing up my last minute things, said my goodbyes to Juliet, Rufus, Marylin, Hardy, and Aticus, and then was off to Peterborough. I made it to the station and met up with Jo Conteh and her son Ben so they could pick up my luggage before I continued up to York.

The train up to York was PACKED. Probably because it was a Friday and there were quite a few families going on a weekend holiday. I ended up having to stand in the little section between the trains with a few people. There was a elderly lady, a middle-aged guy, and another guy who was about my age. Both guys and I chatted about where we were going, the weather being so sunny, what we were studying at university (the middle-aged guy talked about what he graduated with), and so on. Somewhere towards the end of our chatting, the guy thought that the young guy and I were traveling together and asked us if we were. We both said at the time that we were not. The guy also added that it was a shame too. Sadly we were going to different places, but it still was a delightful thing to hear :)

Eventually both guys got off the train and about 30 minutes later I arrived in York. After I got my map (free and it was a fantastic map), I went to see York Minster. This minster is famous for all the stained-glass windows, and there defiantly were TONS. All very beautiful. But the best part of the visit was that they allowed you to take pictures! I was SO grateful for that! So when I get the pictures posted, you’ll not only see York Minster, you’ll have an idea what St. Paul’s and Westminster Abbey look like inside. I got so carried away with picture taking, I didn’t see the one sign that said “No photography in the Crypt” Oops. Well, no one said anything so you guys will be able to see some of that as well :P

The then made my way to the Jorvick Viking Center. On the way, there were street performers I saw. Two girls were singing Green Day songs and a solo performer with incredible violin skills. The center was not so busy when I entered so I got my ticket real fast and went downstairs for the exhibition. The floor was made of glass so we could see the replica of what was found in the site when it was first discovered.  There were multiple screens with movies about the Vikings and windows displaying the different artifacts that were found from the shopping market ruins we were “standing” on.

Then I went on the ride. I timed it perfectly so I got to have a whole cart to myself. The beginning part was the whole time-machine feel of jumping back to the past. They had both still and animated figures of the vikings and had a commentator that spoke to some of them. The first one we “spoke” with was someone who made things from bones. He was finishing up with a comb he made and it looked like a comb today. Just a lot more decorative. The ride went into the village to see how people would build their homes, going through the market, and we went inside a house too. We “talked” with a guy who was making tools to build his house, a lady who was arguing with her husband about what they were having for dinner, and then lastly a guy who was using the toilet. When I was coming up to the toilet guy, I thought he was yelling at the chickens to get out of his field, but nope. I was way off. After the ride, I continued through the exhibition where they had more artifacts of different craftsmen with little videos of actors who talked to you about their skill, and they had some bones with fact sheets explaining what scientists learned from them. Finally, I talked with one of the staff about Viking money. He said that their curreny system was nothing like any modern day currency. They only had silver coins and if there was something cheaper then a silver coin, they’d cut the coin down to the right price. Then after I gave him 1.5 pounds, he made me a Viking coin and also gave me a special Olympic coin with a funny Viking guy on it.

After the center, I went to my last attraction. The Castle Museum, but it wasn’t really a castle. It was a museum about the Victorian era. I accidentally went through the one exhibit backwards so I’ll explain what I saw in the correct order. They had different sections about how different things evolved into our modern things. They had a section where they displayed what kitchens looked like, bathrooms, baby clothes, wedding dresses, and others. At the end, they had a huge section that recreated what a Victorian street looked like. They had carriages with a wax figured horse and carriage driver, shops with some you could into, a police station, boarding school, clock-maker’s workshop, and they had sounds playing dogs barking, cats meowing when it was “night” and then the lights changed to look like morning was coming and they played sounds of people walking through the streets.  It was super fun and awesome!

The other side of the building had an exhibit about both World Wars, more fashion, and a section similar to the Victorian streets but in the 60s. Can you guess what the last thing was for the exhibit? Yes, of course, York Dungeon. They didn’t have a way to go around, if you wanted out, you had to go that way. So I just sped-walked through it, trying really hard to not listen to the screaming girls, the scary sounds and figures. Luckily, it wasn’t a very long part of the exhibit. When I got closer to the end, I noticed a group of Italian students (what did I tell you? I’m being stalked by school groups) who were trying to get a group picture. I offered to take a picture, one serious and a funny picture. After that, everyone said thanks and the boys were being super silly with their thanks saying I was an angel sent to them with their hopeless problem. Though it was ridiculous, it was still entertaining to hear :P

Before the museum café closed, I bought a chicken roast sandwich and a cherry coconut pastry for a Linner (lunch/dinner). The pastry was SO yummy! But the sandwich was only OK. So you see kids, that’s why dessert comes after dinner. Because even if dinner lets you down, dessert always makes up for it.

When I got back to Peterborough, Jo picked me up from the station and we went back to her house. After I got my electronic stuff charging, got my things out for bed, we all had dinner and I got to see Aly again and officially met Alice and Ben. After dinner, we all watched the match that decided who would play in the gold-medal match or bronze-medal match. It was a fantastic and very intense game. Great Britain’s Andy Murray won and will play for gold. We all got excited about that (yes even I did).

Till next time!

Wednesday: Stratford-Upon-Avon

The following is thoughts of the writer that will be presented in present tense when it is in fact WAY past tense. Have fun and enjoy.

Wednesday August 1:

Today I went to Stratford-Upon-Avon. When I got out of the station, I had to walk across town to get to the information center. I bought my tickets and a map then was off to be a tourist.

I came across this big Shakespeare memorial (I think it was the one used in “Gnomeo and Juliet”). In the center was a tall monument was a statue of Shakespeare sitting in a chair posing in an epic fashion. There were four statues surrounding the Shakespeare monument, all characters from plays. Two of them I didn’t recognize but the other two I knew. Lady Macbeth and Hamlet.

When I finished looking at the statues, I proceeded to New Place/Nash’s House. The place where Shakespeare spent the last several years of his life. It was pretty quiet when I walked in which meant I got to enjoy the house almost all to myself. In the back of the house, they had an archeological site of the original Shakespeare’s New Place (the house I was walking through was Nash’s House, either Shakespeare’s daughter or granddaughter’s husband’s house). I continued my way through looking at the garden and the exhibit they had about emotions and values in Shakespeare’s time (money/greed, love/lust/, and so on).

I then made my way to Shakespeare’s birthplace. As I was walking, I saw/heard some street performers singing/playing all kinds of music. One duo was playing some jazz, and another was playing a cool arrangement of Set Fire to the Rain. There were also some people doing tricks. There was one girl who was doing a trick where she sat and balanced on a bamboo stick! Mk I see I’m going to have to include a picture of this:

Sorry, not letting me rotate.

See? Oh c’mon, you’ve got to admit this is cool!

Anyways, I went to see the birthplace of Shakespeare. They first had you go through an exhibition about Shakespeare’s childhood and how he can to be the famous Shakespeare. Apparently there was a huge possibility that he could have been killed in his youth when a plague broke out killing mainly children. Somehow though, Shakespeare managed to avoid it. But can you imagine what the English world would be like without Shakespeare?

When the exhibition was over, we went into the actual house. Size-wise it was similar to the normal townhouses in London. The first room we entered in was rarely used. Its main purpose was to show off how wealthy the family was. The second room we entered was the father’s workshop where he made gloves. They had replicas that we could try on. One was like a mitten, another was like a normal glove we have today, but the last one was a bit different.  It was a three fingered glove used for riding. When I tried that one on, it was like my hand turned into a hoof but still with an opposable thumb. The rest of the house was similar to a modern day house, just you know old-fashioned.

I then took a small snack break before taking off to the final house I wanted to see. Anne Hathaway (no, not the actress. Shakespeare’s wife)’s cottage. As I was walking, I passed by what I guess is a popular statue of a jester. Took some pictures of him, then continued on. HOLY COW the cottage was far away. It was it’s own little village outside of Stratford-Upon-Avon. It rained a bit which was a nice cool down for me. When I got to the cottage FINALLY, I quickly went through it, and then had to book it back to the station to make my train.

Luckily, I made it in time for my train and got back to the Johnsons  just fine.

Tuesday - visit to Oxford

(Warning: the following shall be written as if it were Tuesday to help the writer keep her thoughts straight. Today is today in whichever time zone you are currently located in. Not Tuesday or July. You have been given the heads-up.)

Tuesday July 31, 2012:

Had a nice sunny/rainy visit to the beautiful university that is Oxford.

Like any other daytrip, the first place I visit is the information center. And like most information centers, they had me pay for the good detailed map. But at least it had a nice guide with pretty pictures inside so it was worth it.

There was a self-guided walking tour route that they had in the map guide so I decided to go with it. First place it takes me through is the shopping area. Took some pictures and moved right along before my mind could register all the "sale" signs in all the windows. I then proceeded towards Christ Church College and entered through its Meadow Gate to a beautiful looking (and smelling) garden. I walked into the college (after paying for admission) and came up to the stairs for the dining hall, but it was closed. Luckily it was to reopen at 14:30 so I continued walking through. I went inside the college cathedral and for the first time, I was allowed to take pictures. FINALLY.

As I was going through reading the fact sheets, memorials, going camera-happy, I came across a door. A rather small door that you wouldn't notice unless you stood in front of it. It was an elegant door. Didn't see any signs of "No entry" so I decided to go through it. I proceeded down the old cement steps with dim lighting from the poor lighting and when I got to the bottom. BOOM! All lights went out. Wish I could keep building up this awesome story but that's all. Turns out some kid was playing with the light switch and when his mom made him turn the all the lights back on, the room was just full of chairs and a TV to watch an informal video about the cathedral. Yup. But you have to admit it was a pretty cool beginning, right?

Well I ended up not being able to return through the door I entered in so i had to go back around to see the rest of the Cathedral. The elderly gentleman at the front looked a bit confused to see me again. "Did you like the cathedral that much to see it again?" Since I wasn't sure if I was allowed to go through that door, so I said, "Yes, it's really fascinating." The man smiled and replied, "Good to hear that some people still find history interesting." Well, it is fairly true :)

After looking around the rest of the college, I went through the rest of my self-guided walking tour. Eventually, I made it to the science museum and took a look. They had a Renaissance astronomy exhibit about the tools and discoveries from the time period. Outside of the museums were busts of what I'm guessing were famous people or well-respected historic figures but they had really funny expressions on their faces. I just couldn't take it seriously.

I then made my way to the Bodleian library and looked around the courtyard. Found out the section of the library I wanted to see most (Duke Humfrey's library) required going on a tour so I bought a ticket and decided to head back to see the Great Dining Hall at Christ Church College. Turns out lots of people had the same idea so it was pretty crowded. But it was SO worth it. What an amazing feeling it was to be walking up the steps the actors walked when they started their grand adventure of making the Harry Potter Films. The magical world became real!

Since the crowds were big, I didn't get to spend a whole lot of time in the hall, but I was content with all I got to see. So then I went back to the library for my tour. I walked into visiting info area, had my ticket verified, then proceeded into the Divinity School. The tour guide lady (Naomi I believe was her name) was super friendly and had a pleasant sense of humor. Random fact I learned about the school, a long time ago back when boys entered university at age 14 and had to take their final exams, they would have to have a debate with their professor in front of their class and head-master figure (he decided whether or not you passed and how long you would have to debate for. It was always for at least 3 hours). Never thought I'd say this, but I'm actually happy with how I take my finals.

We then proceeded VERY quietly to Duke Humfrey's library aka the restricted area of the Hogwarts library. Naomi did tell us a good amount of history but of course a good amount of time was talking about how the filming was done for Harry Potter. She guided us towards one of the far bookcases in the front to tell us about the security system. They used to chain all the books to a rod on the bookcase, but that was a problem since people wouldn't be able to go sit down with the book so they upgraded. Now that I think about it, Naomi never did tell us what the new system was. She just told us if we saw the first movie, we saw the security system when Harry Potter took a book off the shelf. Random cool fact: As Naomi was telling us this, she described how the candle Harry held was computer generated since there's ABSOLUTELY no fire allowed in the library and as she did this, she pointed out that I was standing right where Daniel Radcliffe stood when he pulled the book off the shelf. It was Legend - wait for it - DARY! Oh yeah :D

By this time it was getting late and my legs were tired from all the walking so I headed back.

Sorry the catching up is taking some time but I shall keep working on it!

Monday - Dover Castle

Hello amigos!

Guess it’s that time again. CATCH-UP TIME! Got a bit to write so I shall get started. Just ahead’s up, I shall be writing as if it were the day stated to help me keep my thoughts and memories straight.

Monday July 30:

Today I when I woke up at 6am (yes, I’m a crazy tourist who actually rose with the sun. Well actually about 2 hours after the sun but still that’s fairly early right?) I instantly checked the forecast. FINALLY a sunny day had come, so guess where I went? That’s right, Dover Castle.

It was about a 2 hour train trip from Victoria Station but it was a pretty one. For the first time, as I passed by the English countryside it was not being rained on. I got to see a whole new side of beauty. Amazing On the way to and from Dover, I actually could see Canterbury Cathedral. Pretty cool stuff :)

When I arrived at the station, I asked the first staff person I could find if she knew where the castle was. She had no idea but said to walk in a general direction. Luckily just around the scorner from the station was a sign pointing to the direction of the tourist information centre so I went there first to receive my free map. Thank goodness it was a free map, It was missing almost all the street names and pointed out only where attractions were. Thank goodness the lady working at the center provided me with more detail than the map did! As I was walking towards the castle, I passed by this GIGANTIC television they had set-up in the center of Dover so people could watch the Olympics. At the time, no events had started so I just took a few pictures, and continued on my way.

The walk was going pretty well and then I reached the steep killer hill. This hill made the RB steps at BYU look like an easy walk. Since I had a random burst of energy I started jogging up the hill. Don’t ask me why I did, frankly I don’t know why myself. About 3 minutes later I gave up. Afterwards I was thinking, “Holy cow I’m so lazy, I should have tried to jog for at least 5 minutes.” All of a sudden, a huge line of cars zoomed past me to go up. Didn’t feel so lazy after they had passed me.

I bought my ticket and proceeded up the hill to enter the might fortress. First thing I decided to see first were the War tunnels that were used during WWII. Sadly, a majority of the tunnels were closed off or not safe to go through. But they still had a nice exhibition to walk through. It was very small with sections about media propaganda, trying on uniforms (only for kids. Bummer), views to see out to the ocean, uniforms throughout the years, and – my favorite part – they had these telephone like booths were you could hear recordings from people from that time share their stories or actual BBC broadcasts. My favorite broadcast was the homecoming one. After listening to the heart-breaking stories, I’ll admit I got swept away and got all excited like the people in the recording were when they saw (in my case I heard) the soldiers come home. I got a nice warm fuzzy feeling inside.

After going through the tunnels, I went up to Admiral’s look-out and got to see the famous white cliffs of Dover. Of course, the moment I get to the top of the look-out a numerous gusts of wind come and (I’m not exaggerating) almost blow me off my feet. Yup, the view was just that mind-blowingly beautiful. I managed to get some pictures of the cliffs and then I went inside to look at this look-out. Instead of reading all the adult fact sheets, I spent most of my time doing the kid’s activities. I’m such a kid at heart :P My favorite one was trying to identify friend and foe ships and planes. That was entertaining.

I proceeded with walking around the Castle as I made my way to the Great Tower/Keep. I passed by lots of families having picnics and enjoying the sun (kids running around and some adults taking naps). When I entered the inner circle, there were two knights training little ones in the ways of jousting and swordsmanship. It was so adorable! After watching for a few minutes, I went inside the tower and started climbing up. Long story short, it was very nice and a medieval version of Windsor Castle. Along the way, the knights mentioned earlier took the knight trainees up to meet Henry II to be knighted. So I followed them up and watched as Henry II quizzed them and knighted them. Now I’ve seen Henry II and VIII! Awesome.

I then went across the courtyard to see the Princess of Wales’ Royal Regiment Museum. Very similar to the National Maritime museum but smaller and had this cool ship sailing section. After I exited, It started to rain, of course. So I made my way back to the station since I was  content with all I saw and experienced.

That’d be the end of my Dover adventures. Yup. So I’ll start working on the next one now.

Take care!

Olympics Kick-Off

Hello Everyone!

The last few days have been both incredibly awesome and relaxing.

I flew back to London on Thursday (July 26) from Norway and everything was just fine. In fact, it was oddly quiet considering the Olympics were the next day. But I did enjoy having an entire row of seats to myself on the plane :)

Friday (July 27) I went over to Charlotte's apartment to watch the Opening Ceremonies with her and some other people from Britannia Ward. Cortney brought some DELICIOUS cupcakes with the most incredibly yummy tasting icing in the history of icing (well, it's defiantly up there with Cinnabon's cream cheese icing. Don't know if it bet that classic taste) and we snacked on other foods like Toffee Waffles, Pringles, chips (fries), and juice to drink. As the ceremonies were proceeding, Amanda was telling us some fun facts about random things about the set, the animals, and the actors/performers. She is a volunteer with the Olympics so she was at the stadium while they had some rehearsals!
We all got a kick out of the Children's literature section of the ceremonies and especially when Mr. Bean was playing the keyboard for "Chariots of Fire" xD

As the countries were being announced, we all commented on their outfits. Well most of the time, the girls were just picking out which country had the most cute guys :P

When the fireworks went off at the end of the ceremony, we actually got to see them from the window which was so cool! Sure they were still quite a ways off, it was fun to see them live instead of through a TV.

Yesterday (July 28) I went up to Fulham Road to watch the kick-off from the Men's Road Cycling Race fairly early in the morning (9:15am). I thought there would be a small crowd starting to form by the time I got there, but no. I got to pick my spot from a whole lot of options. The crowd didn't start forming till about 9:45. As we all waited for the race to start, we saw all the country cars with the bike racks on their roofs, the press cars, and security cars. There were some policemen riding their motorcycles that passed as well. Some gave high-fives to the crowd, a few tried to get the crowd cheering, but mostly they all just smiled and waved. one policeman stopped right in front of me to have a cheer contest. My side was like "WOW OOOOOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and the other side was like "...Uh, what?" Guess it was still pretty early for them. The cyclists passed by in thirty seconds and about two minutes later, everyone walked away. Short moment, but it was a awesome moment.
After that, I went back to the Johnsons' to figure out my plans for the day but I ended up taking a long nap. Darn.

Today (July 29) was a great Church meeting! During sacrament I sat next to a lady who just finished her study abroad with BYU. She and I didn't talk a whole lot since she wanted to catch up with her journal writing but I did find out that she took Politics and British Literature classes while she was in the program. She also seemed very surprised to find out I had finished only my first year at BYU. Not the first time someone thought I was older then I am, but I find it entertaining when that happens.
after Sacrament I met two ladies who were visiting, Tipee (a great Thai name that I have no idea how to spell) and Jessica. We ended up hanging out the rest of church which was fun. They both graduated from BYU but will still be working in the area when we all return so I might be able to see them again! We managed to add each other on Facebook so we all have our contact info in some way.
After Church, we walked to South Kensington tube station together and Tipee gave me her spare Travelcard for the day so I got to save some money today! We had to take different lines so we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.

Till next time!

Take care everyone

Roadtrip!

Phew! Finally caught up with the posts!

Today (July 25), Amanda and I went on a road trip to lovely little town up north named Norheimsund. We stopped to see a waterfall (called Steinsdalsfossen) that you could hike up to and go behind it. It was B-E-A-U-TIFUL! When we climbed back down, I wanted to go to the bottom to get some more pictures. As I was walking towards the bottom of the waterfall, the ground was getting REALLY wet and muddy, but I was walking on the stones to avoid getting my shoes dirty. Amanda managed to get some pictures before I lost my balance and moved my foot to catch myself. When I pulled my foot up, my shoe had come off and was in the mud. Lost my balance again and my sock went into the muddy pit. I gave up so I just walked straight through the mud. Had myself a nice mud bath for my feet. Amanda went inside the gift shop to buy some cheap socks and get some plastic bags. So I spent the day in my brand new socks and shoes. My shoes being plastic bags. Yup, totally going to be the new fashion.

When continued up to Norheimsund and we had our lunch break there. We found a nice bench to sit and busted out our sweet pastry-like bread. Shortly after this, birds started gathering around us. We started feeding the ducks and the seagulls and little birds started coming like crazy. Eventually a baby duckling came out with its mother (so adorable!). We kept trying to find him, but the seagulls were VICIOUS. One looked like it was going to kill the baby for trying to go for the bread but the mama duck was a fighter. It was intense. So eventually we worked out where I'd throw a piece of bread in the opposite direction to distract the seagulls and then Amanda quickly tossed a piece to the baby duck. Luckily the plan worked. I also got to feed some of the small birds. Some of them ate right out of my hand! Don't worry, I washed my hands twice afterwards.

Amanda and I then got some slushies from a store and were on our way back to her home. On the way to and from we were playing Bruce Springsteen CDs (yup, we really loved that concert). We stopped by where Mona worked so I could see her one last time before I flew out tomorrow.

Then Amanda and I went to the grocery store to meet up with her mom to buy ingredients for dinner. Her sister and niece were also with her mom talking. They got a kick out of my new shoes, especially Amanda's niece. She kept asking Amanda, "Did she really wear those outside?" Yes, yes I did :P

For dinner we had tacos! The taco spice tasted like curry so we ate some yummy curry-tasting tacos. For dessert we ate chocolate ice cream with brownie chunks inside and frozen strawberries^^ Amanda's mom also gave us some chocolate called "Hobby" which had a marshmellow-like tasting foam with a jam-tasing jelly all covered in chocolate. It had a unique, very sweet taste to it.

Well, that's it for now. Hope all is well! I'll work on posting pictures soon :)

Events on Tuesday

On Tuesday (July 24), Amanda and I went to the flower shop to pick up some roses. We then went down to the cemetery to meet up with Amanda's family to lay flowers down on her dad's grave. It was three years ago that he had passed away. As the family was talking, I just looked at Amanda's dad's tombstone and all the other tombstones in the cemetery. Whenever I visit a cemetery, I especially pay attention to the older tombstones that rarely have any flowers and are covered by wild plants. Seeing those tombstones makes me wish to learn about those people's stories for some reason. I said a silent prayer to myself and then we left.

Amanda and I went to pick up Mona from her house and we went back into town. Since we didn't have any cash on us at the concert, we went back hoping to buy a Bruce Springsteen concert. When we got there, we saw Bruce and the band rehearing for the concert that night! It was at a distance but it was still cool! We asked one of the security people if we could go in to buy a shirt, but he said no. Amanda then asked a security lady if she could buy us the shirts if we gave her the money and she said yes! Amanda and I got the same shirt and we were so excited to have them!!

On our way back to the car, we got distracted with a tourist shop. Mona and Amanda wanted to feel like a tourist in their own town so we explored the shop. We tried on the crazy hats, sunglasses, and played with the moose themed objects.

We then went to the stores that Mona wanted to stop by at. We went into a store called "Lush" that is similar to Bath and Body but all the products are made from all-natural ingredients (meaning you could eat a lot of them). We spent a lot of time in there smelling the different hand soaps, bath explosions, lotions, and such.

Afterwards, we went inside a store called "Kicks" which sold perfume, make-up, lotions, and such (I guess it's most like the make-up section in Macy's). There was some INCREDIBLY nice perfumes but of course they were ridiculously expensive. Darn. Mona got herself a round brush and Amanda got some hand lotion that was on sale.

For dinner, we went to a Chinese restaurant. Yes I know that's not Norwegian but we all were craving some Chinese food. After we finished eating our dinner and desserts we tried out the massage chairs in the waiting area in the front of the restaurant. All three of us took turns with it (total time was 7 minutes which was pretty good). Mona kept playing the the remote so half the time it was nice, the other half was very painful >.<

We originally planned on going on a road trip but we got distracted... But it was still a very nice day :)

Bruce Springsteen Concert

Monday (July 23) I got to see a spectacularly phenomenal concert!

So Amanda, her mom, and I drove into Bergen to meet up with some family and friends that were also attending the concert. When Amanda's aunt and uncle came, we went our separate ways. Amanda and I went to meet up with Mona, Juni, and Juni's friend (who looked very much like a doppelganger of Julia Stiles).

There were TONS of people making their way towards the park where the concert was being held. It was raining a lot going from light to hard rain every other minute. Since the concert was in a park, there were no seats so we had to stand. Yup, we stood for almost 6 hours (3 hours just walking around and waiting for the concert, the other 3 was the concert) but it was well worth it.

Bruce Springsteen was AMAZING!! He was super fun and hilarious! He kept coming up to the audience to let them touch his hands, guitar, and he picked up some signs to show what song they'd play next! The hotel next door to the park had some people who got to watch the concert for free (grr). One guy had a big poster that said "Bruce" on his window and he got to be in the spotlight for being so enthusiastic. Bruce kept teasing them saying he needed a place to stay for the night, haha.

Here is the list of songs he sang:

Who'll Stop the Rain (Perfect kick-off song)
Downbound Train
Cover Me
We Take Care of Our Own
Wrecking Ball (Tour Title Song)
Death to my Hometown
My City of Ruins
Spirit in the Night
Seaside Bar Song (he let a lady sing along with him on the mic)
This Depression
Atlantic City
Because the Night
The Promised Land
Darlington county
Shackled and Drawn
Waiting on a Sunny Day (he let a little boy sing the chorus with the mic by himself. So cute^^)
For You (he played on the piano by himself)
The River
The Rising
Radio Nowhere
Badlands
I'm on Fire
Thunder Road
Born in the USA (got so excited he played the one song I knew!)
Born to Run
Bobby Jean
Dancing in the Dark (Amanda and Juni's favorite song)
Tenth Avenue Freeze Out
and the big Finale song: Twist and Shout 

After the concert, Juni's friend went off to meet up with her family and the rest of us went to our meeting point with Amanda's mom. We had to hold hands because it was PACKED trying to get out of that park. When we got out, Juni and Mona left to go find food and we said goodbye. There was a huge herd of people walking on the roads with random groups singing songs from the concert. It was so fun!

It took us awhile to get out of the parking garage but after what felt like hours (probably just like 30-45 minutes) we finally merged into the long conga line of cars and another few hours (less then an hour really) we got out and were on the highway back home.

Sunday BBQ

Sunday (July 22) was a nice, relaxing day.

Originally, we planned to have an outdoor BBQ but since it was raining hard and the wind was quite strong, we had a indoor BBQ. Amanda's friends Juni and Mona came over and we had a fun time. We ate cheese burgers, pork chops, fish cooked with carrots and onions wrapped in aluminum foil (camping style, oh yeah), potato salad, homemade toss salad, and boiled potatoes. I think that's everything. We had a feast. And for dessert, I showed everyone how to make S'mores! It was a bit different since they don't have graham crackers over here so we used cookies that I guess would be like bigger versions of waffers (hopefully that's what they're called). Juni, Amanda, and Amanda's neice really loved it! Mona doesn't care for marshmallows but she still tried it. She asked me questions about what a graham cracker tastes like, what it looks like, and such.

When we finished up eating, we moved over to the sofa to watch some episodes of "How I Met Your Mother." Amanda and her friends LOVE this show so I decided to give it a try. I can see why they love it so much. It's pretty hilarious. For those of you who don't know what it is, long summary short it's a newer version of Friends combined with Seinfeld. Need more detail? OK then, it's about a guy named Ted and he is telling his kids how he met their mom. He talks about the crazy adventures he has with his friends Marshal, Lily, Barney, and Robin along with the women he dates. If you have some spare time, I'd recommend watching it.

After we watched eight episodes, we watched the Hangover (edited). It was... Interesting. I liked the Doug/Tiger Song the best.

When the movie was over, we spent quite a bit of time on Youtube. I showed everyone some BYU Divine Comedy videos and they LOVED them. They really liked the videos "Good" and "Class Can't Even Handle Me". I also showed them other BYU videos like "New Spice", the car sharing commercial with the zombies, "Gotta Be Scholar", and others. We then proceeded with watching some Ryan Higa videos (Bromance, Nice Guys, Movies in a Minute - Chronicle), Weird Al videos, and KevJamba videos. Youtube surfing is the best :)

We ended up staying up till 3am and decided to call it a night.

Old Bergen and At-Home Gourmet

Had a nice fun day with everyone!

I went on a little road trip with Amanda, her mom, and her niece to the older part of Bergen (now it is a museum). It was raining on and off but luckily it was light plus we all had our rain equipment. We walked around the towns, went through some of the buildings, talked with the "locals (actors/actresses who played merchants, maids, family of a book keeper, and such)", and played a lot with the random things they had. They had a little playground set up with swings, a toy boat pond, swings, a tight rope, and some little shelters. Amanda, her niece and I took turns on the swing and helped each other on the tight rope (was too cold to play with the toy boats). We also took some silly pictures in the shelters :)

Later on, we found some... Wow, just had a brain fart. For now I will call them "walking sticks." Anyways, we had fun attempting to stand on them and trying to take a step with them. Eventually it turned into a pole vault jump contest. The joys of being silly.

After we finished walking around, we went to visit Amanda's grandparents while we were in the neighborhood. The adults didn't know a whole lot of English but they tried as best they could. I ended up playing with the niece since she was restless and the adults wanted to talk. She taught me some Norwegian, I taught her some English and Japanese, and we made funny faces and noises. Oh yes, we were very mature.

When we got back home, we watched a little TV. There was a Swedish movie about a young boy and girl who run away from home to live in a mountain fortress together. Had no idea what was being said but it looked pretty cool.

Amanda and I then went to her friend Mona's house for dinner along with their other friend Renathe (hopefully the spelling is right). Mona cooked us a stunning and very delicious meal (pictures will be posted on another page) and we had fun chatting about American TV shows like the Simpsons, How I Met Your Mother, and other random things that came up with we watched some TV. Mona then showed us her newly decorated room but then we got a bit cold so we went back upstairs and watched a bit of "Just Married."

It was a nice chill day :)

Arriving in Norway

 

Hello! Sorry for the delay in new posts. Been recovering from a cold (doing a lot better now :D)

So I am in Norway now and it's been pretty fantastic thus far! I had a nice somewhat short flight and met up with my pen pal Amanda just fine. We had a nice chat during the drive back to her house while she pointed out some things in her town. It kind of reminds me of Sandy, small but still fairly large. When we got to her house, we watched an episode of "How I Met Your Mother", "Phineas and Ferb", and I showed her the movie "Kiki's Delivery Service" since she had never heard of Miyazaki before. Met her mom and she is so friendly! She is always smiling and is just so cute :)

On Thursday (July 19), I slept in the longest I've ever had so far (till 11am). For breakfast we ate some bread with lots of different things to top it with. I tried some Norwegian cheeses, a chocolate topping (it was a mousse-like version of nutella but no hazelnut taste. it was still DELICIOUS), some little fish, and showed Amanda the American classic combo of PB and J. After we ate, Amanda and I went to the mall to look for a European adapter for my electronics and I met Amanda's friend Mona while she was working. We got some ice cream and chilled in the Solbrod cafe while we savored our ice cream (I attempted to make a Winnie the pooh sculpture with my ice cream. Looked nothing like him, but I tried). Amanda and I then looked around the mall while we waited for Mona to get off work. We spent most of the time in the Body Shop (the "Bath and Body" of Europe) and Mona met up with us there.

Amanda then drove Mona and I to a city at the coast named Glesnes and we had some snacks while we talked about things that were the same or different in Norway compared to the states.

We all then went to the super market to pick up some stuff for another friend named Juni. Afterwards, we went to Juni's house to pick her up and we drove around to the little islands. After our mini road trip we went back to June's house in hopes of seeing a dolphin. He didn't show up but we all had a fun just hanging out.

Yesterday (July 20), Amanda took me to see Bergen. We saw a juggler named Bob do some cool tricks, we went on a train that went up to the top of a mountain for a phenomenal view of the city, went a on guided tour in a museum about the old merchant and fisherman lifestyles back in older Bergen, walked through the fish market, played for some of the lobsters and dead fish, looked at some funny hats, and spent a lot of time looking around in a  bookstore.

When we got back to Amanda's house, her aunt and cousin were there for a visit and they were pretty nice. 

Working on posting the pictures now, hopefully they'll be all rotated this time.

Good night everyone :)

Temple Trip

Last Saturday (July 14th) was a wonderful day!

The day started pretty early with me going over to the library. I returned some books and decided to check out Great Expectations. After checking emails, reading a bit of my newly borrowed book, and humming along with the kids singing their songs I decided to head out.

 I got to Victoria station about 30 minutes earlier then the meeting time (I was meeting with some members from the Britannia ward) so I decided to grab a brunch. I found this little cafe just down the street and got a hot chocolate with a bacon and egg sandwich. I went back to the station to eat my meal and to look out for anyone else who came early. When I finished the first half of my sandwich, a beggar women came up to me asking if I had any spare change for food. I told her I had no spare change, but I had half a sandwich if she didn't mind. She looked so surprised and said that was plenty good. She couldn't stop saying thank you and God bless you dear one. It warmed my heart to see how sincerely thankful she was to receive such a simple meal.

When it was 1pm (the intended meeting time), I went inside the station to the ticket counter where we were suppose to meet. I waited about 15 minutes in the Victoria tube station. Since no one was showing up, I went across the street to the Victoria train station and found the group. I was introduced to Wendy, Tom, Bishop Gill, Simon (in the bishopric), Edward, and the Bishop's niece Bethany and her friend Hannah. We all got out tickets and boarded the train.

Turns out the temple was much further than I had thought. After the hour long train ride, we had to take a cab over to the temple. I chatted with the cab driver about the Salt Lake temple, the wet England weather compared to Utah's sunny weather, roundabouts, and whatever else randomly came up.

When we pulled onto the temple grounds, almost instantly I was filled with wonderful warmth. The temple grounds looked like a cute little village. Wendy and I both started singing "Belle" as we walked over the the temple.

As we waited for other members of our group to show up, I realized that I actually recognized a lot of people and shockingly more people recognized me. I got to chat with lots of people, the temple workers shared their words of wisdom and some people shared their thoughts on temple work. The warm feelings just kept on growing :)

When we went back to the train station, my group was SO close to catching the :44 train. Our ride had pulled up when the train was still there. Tom, Bethany, and I were booking it to make it to the train while the rest of us were trying to catch up. But the train started leaving when we passed the gate. Oh well, we made a good effort.

While we waited for the next train, I spent most of the time talking with Natasha and we were just being silly. She was complaining about the new shoes she was wearing so we switched one of our shoes so I could feel how painful they were. Well, I tried them on but I thought they were the most comfortable shoes besides fuzzy slippers. And Natasha thought the same about my shoe so we stayed like that for awhile. Both of us wearing one of each pair of shoes :P

Eventually our entire group was reunited and we boarded the train. Natasha and I played thumb war, rock paper scissors (apparently in Singapore they call rock "stone" instead), and eventually switched our shoes back before we forgot. Natasha got off early so I was left to listen to Simon and another guy (never found out his name) about investing in stocks. Though I was a bit confused, I did occasionally find it to be interesting.

When we got back to Victoria, I talked with Amanda as we made our way over to the tube station. I told her about my earlier experience with the beggar women and also mentioned, "To be honest, I was still hungry but I wanted to help her in some way" and Amanda replied "That's very good, Reminds me of a quote that goes something like, 'You know you've given enough when it hurts a little.'" I believe she said the quote was by C. S. Lewis.

As we waited for the tube train to arrive, Amanda, Charlotte, and I were teasing Richard who was waiting on the platform across the tracks from us. We were trying to convince the other to come over to our platform and overall just being silly :)

A very fun and spiritual kind of day.

My visit to Battle and Rye

First sunny day of the week! Decided to take advantage of the nice weather and headed out to Battle and Rye.

I went to Battle from London Charing Cross station and got there without any problems. The station was so small and abbey-looking. As I was looking at the tourist information they had, the station staff asked if I was going into town. He then gave me easy directions to the center of town. Super friendly and fun guy. About twenty minutes later (yes, the station actually was that far. I didn't get lost. Promise) I made it to the Battle Abbey. I bought my ticket, picked up my audio guide, and was off. The little intro exhibit was really cool. They had a video that talked about how the Battle of 1066 came to be and what happened during the battle that led to William the Conqueror's victory. The had a section that compared the English weapons and shield to the Normans' weapons and shields. Both swords and spears were pretty light but MAN those shields were heavy. Especially the Norman's.

After exiting the exhibit I made my way to the fork in the road. One way was the short version of the tour that just went around the Battle Abbey site. The other was the long walk around the entire battlefield and abbey. I chose the latter. It was actually a very nice walk. There were some little paths that most people just passed by and I got to see some really pretty greenery and even a water lily pond. Plus there were some great shots of the abbey from a distance. I really loved it. Both the history and scenery were amazing.

When I made it back to the abbey site, I explored the ruins. Again, I found some pathways that people didn't see (or thought they weren't allowed to enter) and got to climb up some cool spy/archer towers. Even found the old lavatory aka bathroom. I'm glad it's been freshened up over the years.

I spent some time in the gift shop playing with the toy swords and debating whether I wanted to buy some jam and biscuit cookies. Decided not to. I also looked at all the books they had. There were about five I was seriously tempted to buy. Three of them were history documentaries about Medieval England or The queens before Bloody Mary and Elizabeth I. The other two were novels both taking place during Queen Elizabeth's rule. One was a thriller about a spy working for the queen to find out about the catholic rebels' plans to assassinate the queen to return England back to its former Catholic state. The other was about what happened to Elizabeth after her mother was executed. Hopefully the library has copies.

When I was officially done with my visit in the Battle Abbey, I went across the street to ask directions on how to get to Rye. The lady asked if I was driving or taking the bus and I told her I was walking. Her eyes popped out a bit and she replied, "You sure about that deary (thought of Mr. Gold from "Once upon a time" right there)? That is a very long walk. It'll take you a few hours." Even though she kept saying things similar to that, she eventually did give me directions. After walking around the outside of the abbey and looking at the scarecrows from the scarecrow contest, I decided to take the train to Rye.

I boarded the train and got off at Hastings and took another train to Rye. On the second train, as the conductor was going around for tickets, he checked my Britrail pass and then asked me where I was from. I told him I was from the Northwest part of the states and he said he actually went there once. We then proceeded to having a nice chat about how when he was younger he traveled the midwest/northwest of the states and about my travels. His phone cut our conversation short but it was still a fun talk :)

It was a good thing I took the train to Rye. When I exited out of the train, it was raining (lightly though so it wasn't bad). Since I got there late, everything was pretty much closed but I still went on a walk around the town. The rain started coming down a bit heavier and soon there was hardly anyone walking on the streets. It was a quick self-guided tour but I managed to see The Mermaid Inn, Mermaid Street, St. Mary's Church, the tower, the Lamb House, and the landgate.

When I boarded the train back towards Hasting, I ran into the same conductor as before when he went around for tickets again. We didn't talk, but we exchanged some laughs at seeing each other again so soon. The train ride back was nice and without difficulties. Sadly, the tube ride back home was not so nice.

I got stuck at Picadilly Circus due to the Picadilly line having problems. I waited 40 minutes watching tube trains go by but not taking on passengers. I gave up waiting and took the Bakerloo line to Embankment and then the district line to Fulham boardway (The stop for home). And when I exited the station, it started raining. At first it was light, but it quickly got heavier. I ran about halfway then sped walked the remainder of the way home.

It was interesting how people were all whiny and complaining about the rain while I was all smiling and humming in the rain. I'm pretty sure the locals think I'm officially strange. Oh well.

Visiting Brighton

Bit of a rough day, but it was still super fun.

When I got to Victoria station. The departure board said that the 10:36 train I had planned on traveling to Brighton on was cancelled. There was another one for 10:50 so I waited around the area. Check the board again, it got cancelled. I went to the information desk to ask what was going on with the trains traveling to Brighton. Apparently an earlier train was having problems and was blocking the path so other trains could get by. So then I asked for an alternative route and the info lady said I could take a train to Hove and take a local train over to Brighton. When I asked when the next train for Hove was leaving, she replied in 4 minutes. I had to speed walk (the people wouldn't let me run for fear of a collusion) like no other to make it in time. Made it right when the doors were starting to close.

I managed to find a seat and was starting to get comfortable when the speaker announced that when it reached Haywards Heath, the train would split and you needed to make sure you were on the right part of the train. Whoopee. As I was studying the little map in my book to figure out which part of the train to get on, the French lady behind me asked if she was in the right part to go to Gatwick Airport. I told her that yes she was in the right coach and she thanked me. I finally figured out that I needed to be in coach 1-4 to go to Hove. I was in 10. Not going to lie, it was actually pretty fun to walk through the train. Sure it was less thrilling compared to the scene in the Anastasia movie, but I couldn't help playing that scene in my head as I was walking from coach to coach.

When I got to Hove, there was a HUGE thunder storm. The rain was coming down hard, the lightening was flashing brightly, the wind was blowing, and the thunder was LOUD. Luckily there was a waiting room. As I waited, there was a little family with a little boy who started singing "rain, rain, go away". That made me smile.

About 20 minutes later I arrived in Brighton. Luckily, the thunder storm wasn't over here but it was still sprinkling. I got a map from the travel info centre and headed straight for the Royal Pavilion. As I went through the main gate to the ticket office, there were some French students on a school trip to the Pavilion (seriously, why do I keep running into these groups?). I went through a bit slower then everyone so I could actually see everything. I was expecting to see something similar to Windsor or Hampton Court when I went inside, but nope. Nothing like that at all. Instead, I was in China. Almost everything in the Pavilion was Chinese decorations. The Long Gallery had all sorts of bamboo decorations in the furniture and on the walls. There was some cool illusions going on.

The banqueting hall was GORGEOUS. There were Chinese paintings everywhere, bird sculptures, dragon sculptures, and just numerous beautifully crafted decorations. The center chandelier was absolutely stunning. The ceiling had painted palm leaves with 4 actual pal leaf sculptures coming out for the illusion effect. Then a huge dragon sculpture holding the giant chandelier. Towards the bottom were four dragons that had lotus shaped lanterns in their mouths with lights inside. It looked like the dragons were breathing fire! That room was defiantly my favorite (gave the detailed description because I wasn't allowed to take pictures T_T).

After I finished walking around the rest of the pavilion, I decided to go eat some lunch. When I went outside, the rain was coming down a bit harder. I tried using my umbrella but the wind was picking up so I put it away since the rain wasn't too bad. About five minutes later, the rain was getting worse. Decided to try the umbrella one more time. But the wind was getting stronger and cause my poor umbrella to break (not just the wind blowing it inside out. The little metal supports actually snapped and broke). I thought that the restaurant wasn't too far so I could not get too wet. Boy was I wrong. The restaurant was a lot farther than I realized. The rain by itself would've been alright but the wind was blowing it so hard it felt like bee-bees being shot in my face. I eventually had to use my sunglasses for goggles. As I was walking I kept thinking "this restaurant's fish and chips better be worth this" (my guidebook highly recommended the place). When I finally got to the restaurant, a lot of the customers were shocked by my appearance. I was soaking wet, but just the front part of me. My back side was almost completely dry (very funny wind). The service was super quick so what felt like 15 minutes later, my food was out. Best fish and chips I've ever had. Defiantly worth going through bee-bee gun rainstorms for.

When I went back outside, the rain had lighten up so I went inside a store that sold some umbrellas. Of course when I went back outside, it was bright and sunny. Like it never rained at all. Oh well, I needed the new umbrella anyway. I gazed out over at the wild waves on the beach (they were HUGE waves btw) and enjoyed the lovely scenery.

I then made my way over to Brighton Pier to see the rides and such. I ended up playing at the arcade. After an hour of gameplay of Bejeweled, Fruit ninja (I knew all that training on my phone would be worth something!), a hammer hitting game, and deal or no deal (I actually won the 100 tickets once!! The other time was 70) I earned 528 tickets. When the couple behind me saw how many I had from the counting machine, the girl said "Honey, she beat you by like 200 tickets" and the guy replied with "oh be quiet." Sweet victory. After much pondering, I decided my prizes. I got a I love London keychain, a karate rubber duck, giant mickey mouse pen, a foil art thing, a incense kit and two lollys. Was pretty tempted to get the glowing shoelaces but the rubber duck was just calling out to me (haha).

Just a heads up, I don't have a whole lot of pictures of Brighton due to lame "no photography" rules and the weather. And I didn't get to take a picture of the life-changing fish and chips. My stomach did the thinking on that one.

Take care, and remember: You are great.

Visit to the British Library

I went down the street to Sally's to get a straightner and a small thing of hairspray. My hair just hasn't been cooperating much so I decided to tame it. It was a bit strange walking into a store I was familiar with back in the states but it was very different. Kinda like when I went to a Denny's restaurant in Japan. Except no food. The set-up was basically the same, but all the brands were British/European. Did not recognize a single one. So I shall see how I like this "Schwarzkopf - Silhouette" brand.

When I got to the tube station, I thought I'd actually explain inside. There was an accessory store, a store called "Joy" that sold expensive clothes, crafts and strange greeting cards, a grocery store, a convenient store, and some restaurants that all had yummy smells coming from them. There's also a gym and a cinema on the upper floors. Cool stuff.

As I walked over to the tube entrance, there were some people trying to advertise a new make-up that they had coming out soon. Since no one was really paying attention to them, I decided to talk with one of them. I ended up having a nice conversation with Lauren. She talked about the make-up (of course), but mainly we talked about traveling and where we both have been to. After chatting for about 20-30 minutes I had to leave, but Lauren gave me a free treat bag with some of the make-up she was selling. See? Being nice can be a bonus :)

Found the library easy enough. I know I use this word a lot but the library was HUGE. There was a big courtyard with a little cafe and a big statue/artwork. When I went inside, I noticed there was a restaurant (can you believe that? An actually restaurant INSIDE of a library!) and decided to have some lunch. I got a egg and cheese sandwich and some herbal tea to warm me up (been raining literally almost everyday lately). After lunch, I went up to the information desk to find Aly Conteh (friend of my dad's who I will be staying with later on). We confirmed some details and chatted about what I've seen/where I've been along with some comments about the weather. Apparently it's never this wet in July over here. Aly then asked if I'd be interested in seeing an exhibit the library had about British writers and I said yes. So he got me a ticket for the exhibit with his work ID, said our farewells, then parted.

The exhibit was actually quite fascinating. I did recognize some authors but it was still really intriguing to learn about other British authors (except Edgar Allen Poe an American. Still pretty cool that he was part of the exhibit). They had lots of displays of first editions, drafts, and manuscripts of books. I got to see one of the only remaining first drafts of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (the author got the story idea from a frightening dream he had and wrote it down when he woke up. His wife though, was worried about her husband's mental health and she was just really terrified of the dream so she kept burning his drafts), the last pages of the manuscript for "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", and some letters that Edgar Allen Poe wrote to someone who was asking for his advice about a story.

The exhibit was divided into the different parts of England based on the type of land. Country side, Big city, by the sea, along the river, and so on. With each area, they displayed the different authors and the description boxes talked about the author's connections to the type of land they wrote about.

When I went through all the exhibit, I figured out one thing for sure. My reading list grew much longer.

The fun (and wet) day at Bath

Saturday I took a day trip over to Bath!

Got my Britrail validated quick and smoothly, got through the ticket gate fine, boarded the train fine, but we were delayed 30 minutes at the next station in order to fix the headlight that got flooded from the heavy rain. At the following station, they had all those going to Bath and other stations get off since they'd head straight to Bristol to attempt to make up the lost time. Almost all the train passengers got off then. I was worried I wouldn't be able to get a seat on the next train. Luckily, Britain trains have long coaches with plenty of seats. While on the train, I finished reading Northanger Abbey so I was officially ready for Bath. Jane Austen style.

I arrived at the Bath station and waited for the HUGE crowd of people to exit while looking at some tourist stuff in the tourist info booth. Once the crowd was gone, I exited the station and made my way over to the visitor center to get a map. After I left the center, I was going to hit the Roman baths first, but there was a HUGE line for it. Tried the Bath Abbey but it wasn't open yet. So I then made my way over to the Assembly rooms and Fashion museum.

As I was walking, I passed by lots of stores. Once I entered that street, you could divide the crowd into two groups. Shoppers and tourists. Didn't know Bath was popular for its stores. I did see a Disney store. I went inside. Don't judge me, I can't simply walk pass a DISNEY store without looking around. I love Disney too much.

After my short visit to heaven (hehe ;P), I found the Assembly rooms. It was open and there was few people there. Seeing the rooms was free since one of them was in use (Score!) I got to see the Great Octagon, The Ballroom, and the Tea Room. All were gorgeous and I could see the scenes in my head from Northanger.

I then made my way down to the Fashion museum which was interesting. Lots of it was displays of contemporary outfits and were pretty funky. Most of them I couldn't really tell if they were meant for guys or girls. The Victorian clothing was super fascinating to see. I actually liked a lot of them and probably would wear one today. They had a section where you could try on Victorian clothes but since it was too popular, I moved along with the exhibit.
I then went through the little history section about what importance certain Victorian clothes and accessories meant back in that society. Then the museum ended with some new dresses that were designed including one that won Best Dress of the Year 2011. Guess the contest hasn't happened yet for this year.

Next, I went to the Jane Austen Center. It was actually pretty fascinating to learn about Austen's family, her relationships with her siblings, her personality, and so on. the exhibition itself was fairly similar to Ben Franklin's house. Just a lot more displays and less acting with special visual effects.
I spent a lot of time in the gift shop. There were so many books I wanted to buy, but I resisted since that would be heavy in my suitcase when I fly back. There was a poster that said, "Keep Calm and Read Jane Austen" which is a rip-off (for lack of a better word) of the Churchill ad in the Second World War. Again, very tempted but decided not to get it either. So I debated with whether I wanted a huge car sticker, key chain, or pin that said "I <3 Darcy". After a long debate going on in my brain, I decided on the pin.

I walked behind the Royal Crescent (a semi-circle of fancy Victorian homes) as I made my way back towards the Roman Baths. The Baths were pretty incredible. So much history and beauty in the craftsmanship. It was breath-taking. I got to see the main bath, the only hot spring in the entire UK, the drain system underneath, the sacred spring, and other archeology findings. I even got to taste the bath spring water. It was warm which wasn't super tasty, but I'm sure if it were chilled I'd like it a lot more. When I finished up my self-guided tour, it was already 6pm and decided to head back to the station.

The ride back had no troubles with rain or anything so I made it back to London quickly and safely.

Hope you all are well! 

Friday: Lego day

Friday was a busy busy day.

Juliet, the kids, Ruby (a friend), Ruby's son Henry, and I went to Legoland in Windsor!

We left at 9:30 in the morning and had a easy time finding the place (not to difficult finding the lego deer, "Welcome" sign, and people scattered around the entrance).

When we got in the park, we went to see Miniland where they built small models of cities out of legos. IT WAS SO COOL!! Here are some pictures to show you what I mean:

Juliett, Marylin, Hardy, and Aticus admiring the models.

Yup, that's all made from Legos. Well just the buildings.

Even the tube train is made of Legos!

Hardy, Aticus, and Marylin getting wet from the rain.

Mont Saint Michel

Trafalgar square.

The Space Shuttle. Pretty much all the USA stuff they had.

An Italian village. A Lego wedding is taking place.

Since it was raining, we then went to see the puppet show in the covered tent. A lot of people had the same idea but luckily we were able to get seats. We ate our lunches as we waited for the show to start. They acted out The Three Little Pigs. It was pretty cute :)

After the show, the rain was coming down harder. We moved on to the 4D movie theatre and watched a Lego movie called "Spellbreaker." Which I guess was the more "big kid" movie so the little ones got scared with more surprises "popping" out of the screen. But they still liked it a lot.
Afterwards, we went to see the Star Wars Miniland. Same thing as Miniland, but Star Wars themed. I think the kids really liked all the little moving bits (it was indoors so they had more Legos moving without having to worry about them getting wet from rain). Here are some pictures:

A submarine ship that spun around when you press a button.

This one had cool laser sound effects.

Naboo. The ocean city of Jaar Jaar Binks.

What are you looking at?

That's Lego Obi-Wan. Awesome.

Marylin went through a tunnel to the little observatory dome.

Lego Luke doing epic stunts.

The Lego musicians playing the catchy tune.

We then went to ride around on some trains. One was a transportation one where the strollers could get on and the other was an actual ride that went around the park. We got squirted in the face several times (I didn't care since I was already wet. And I'm also part duck). After the train ride, the kids had several gos with the "desert chase" aka the merry go round. Afterwards, Marylin went to "driver's school" and got to drive around in a little Lego car. She kept crashing into the median but she eventually got the hang of steering.

Tiger cubs we saw on the train.

You can sort of see the snake that squirted water at us.

A dragon, a dragon, I swear I saw a dragon!

Marylin getting ready for her first driver's ed class :)

We moved on to the Atlantis ride where you go in a little submarine into a aquarium. It was super cool even though we didn't get to see much (we got the less exciting side I suppose).
The park was about to close so we went around the corner to the dinosaur ride. Marylin and I went on it three times and the final time she went with her mom.
 

Before the restaurants closed, we ran inside to buy quick dinners for all of us and ate outside right when the rain finally stopped.
 Finally, we waited about 30 minutes in traffic trying to exit Legoland and then it was smooth sailing back home.

Fun stuff :)