We'll Carve Our Names in The Unknown

Well, it's been a while, and I've been on more adventures. On the 14th, I went to Salisbury and Stonehenge. It seems kind of silly to me that so many people can be so fascinated by a bunch of big rocks, but honestly, I thought Stonehenge was amazing. The whole thing was roped off, so you couldn't get close, which was a little disappointing, but I enjoyed it anyway. I also had Eddie Izzard jokes going through my head the whole time.



I also found out sometime around then, that the school has gotten all of the official signs for our back gate to be useable now, so we can walk through the school grounds directly into the park (down the little path that you can see in the pictures from my balcony). I took this path and was delighted to discover that flowers and trees are beginning to blossom, even though it's only February.



Tuesday was my 21st birthday. I'm sure all of you know that in the US, 21 is the legal drinking age. In the UK it's 18, so it didn't matter over here, but my friends and I went out to celebrate anyway. We went to a fun little pub called The Rocket, and had a great time. I found this sign a few days later and thought it was hilarious. I hope you're all pleased to know that this fate did not befall me or any of my friends after celebrating.



On Friday, Becky and I went to Windsor Castle. Windsor Castle is, I've been told, the oldest castle in the world that is still inhabited. The queen and the princes live there sometime, though none of them were in when we went to visit, as was made apparent by the Union flag flying, rather than the royal flag.



It was really neat to see though. The inside part of the castle that we got to see made me realize how incredibly ridiculous it would be to actually be royalty, and to own that much stuff that you'll never possibly have need for. The enormity of it doesn't really hit you until you see it... I couldn't get pictures of all those things though, because there was no photography allowed inside. Boo.

Becky and I also went exploring yesterday because the weather was uncommonly beautiful for London. It was sunny and about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. We were going to tour Westminster Abbey, but it was closed on Saturdays, so we walked about 2 and a half miles to Hyde Park, and then another mile or so through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.



Things were blooming here as well, and a lot of people were out enjoying the lovely weather. We found the cool Peter Pan statue in Kensington gardens as well. I tried to get a good picture of it, but it was difficult because there were a lot of people hanging around near it, and as soon as one group would move on, another group of people would rush up to it, making good photography difficult. That's okay, though, because I'm out of pictures for this blog anyway.

The weather is still fairly nice, close to 50 all week long, though the clouds have moved back in for a while. I'm going to enjoy the rest of my Sunday. Take care, all!

Edit: I can't believe I forgot to post a title on this! Fix'd!

I Think We're Going Somewhere

Sorry it's been a while. Things got busy, and then when they slowed down, I got a little homesick. But I'm feeling better now, and since it's a nice, quiet Saturday, but still a little too cold to go exploring, I'm finally updating. Let's see...

Maybe blogger will be nicer this time and let me put up more pictures.




Leeds Castle was gorgeous, and it had great gardens and such around it. Becky and I thought we made friends with a peacock, but he was just begging for handouts and when he found out I didn't have any, he tried to eat my leg. No good.

The next "adventure" was to the Tower of London with my English Country Houses and Palaces class. Our class mostly focused on the White Tower in the middle of the castle.



It was built by the Normans shortly after the Norman Invasion in 1066, so this building is nearly a thousand years old. After having the year 1066 drilled into my head in Latin class (It was turning point for language as we know it, apparently), it was interesting to be able to connect something with it.

There were lots of other neat things at the Tower. The Crown Jewels were unbelievably sparkly, but, sadly, no pictures allowed. Helpful signs showed you where you could do your shopping, find the bus stop, and, apparently, get beheaded.



Last weekend, I went on the school trip to the city of Bath. I was geeking out over all the Roman things at the bath, and even --yes, I'll admit it--bought a copy of Harry Potter in Latin.

The city was built around an old Roman bath on the hot springs in the area. The baths were dedicated to the goddess Minerva



Well... That's the main bath. I was going to put up a couple more pictures, but Blogger has decided that I've put up enough.

My theater class also went to see Spring Awakening last Monday (even with the crazy snow-- I'll have to post pictures of that too. I'll try and do another post tomorrow). It was a really neat show. I loved the music. It was kind of a shocking show; not what I was expecting, and not the kind of show you'd want to take your grandma to see, but I loved it.

I was going to go on an adventure today to find the part of London where some of my family is from, but it's a bit on the chilly side, so I might wait for the weather to get warmer.