Transport Museum

Last Thursday we went to the London Transport Museum for our history class. It was all about the evolution of transportation from horses and carriages all the way to the modern day Tube (subway) and double decker buses. It was pretty interesting and there were some fun things to do.


You know me. Always helpful.

He said something offensive to one of the girls, so I had no choice but poke his eyes out.

Hanging out in a train car with Marika and Elise.

I totally would have been a train conductor back then. Dashing, huh?

Or a bus driver. I look pretty good, but I like the train better. Okay, so the uniforms were for kids to try on. They were pretty tight. Gotta make it fun!

It was a good life.

A couple versions of the double decker bus.

Gasp! I'm alive! And don't I look good in a scarf? Yeah, I know.

I have pictures on my camera that I still need to get off. More soon! I did this post during out discussion of the play we saw, Women of Troy. Don't bother. It was bad. Okay, back to class!

A Good Trade

When I travel to places with exciting landmarks or see really awesome things, I really want my picture taken in front of them. Of course. We all want that. A picture with me in front of Stonehenge is so much cooler than just a scenic picture. The problem with that is always getting someone to take the picture. You give you camera to someone else and they take your picture. Then you swap and take their picture with their camera. This is how it's always been.

I've worked it out with my friends here that we simply take pictures of each other with our own cameras and send each other the pictures. It's so much easier! I just got a fresh batch of pictures with me in them, so here they are.

Some of us in front of St. Paul's Cathedral

In front of the Prince Albert Memorial

There was some question as to whether or not I was allowed to be in this courtyard area, so the picture was taken quickly and I hopped back onto the path.

Finally! A real British phone booth!

The Tower Bridge

Big Ben!

The London Eye. Didn't really taste like chicken.

From the courtyard of Westminster Abbey. You can't take pictures inside.

Thoughtful stance in the entryway of Warwick Castle

The highest point of Warwick Castle. Sporting my beast of a jacket, fur and all.


Warwick Castle from the back.

Maddie and I.


I changed the comment system on here, so you don't have to have an account to leave a comment. Mom emailed me and said half the church among other people know that i wore a pair of socks for three days running, so I know there's a bunch of people reading this. If you wouldn't mind leaving a comment, even it's just a hi, and signing your name just so I know who's reading this, that would be awesome. Thanks! Hope you're enjoying it.

Response to comment: Yes, I have changed my socks.

Platform 9 & 3/4

Today has been a bit of a kick back day. I learned that our washer and dryer is kind of broken. Instead of having both a washer and a dryer, the UK has these TINY combination washer/dryers. My clothes got washed, but wouldn't dry. I ran it again and then the door wouldn't even open. On the 5th time running the unit, the door finally opened. My clothes were completely soaked. The dryer cycle didn't even run. So I had to wring out all my clothes and hang them over the radiators around our flat. Hopefully they dry, because I've been wearing the same socks for three days.

Two weeks ago I went on a little outing with some Harry Potter fans. In the movie, Harry boards a train from Platform nine and three quarters, which the author obviously made up. But because of the series great popularity, Kings Cross Station put up this sign between platforms 9 and 10. We took some pictures there.

Running through the wall to the train platform.
Marika and I chillin'

Not as comfy of a seat as it looks.

Well it's dinner time, so I'm gonna go make myself a burger. Good night everyone!

A Week Out of London

Monday morning we left our flats at 9:00 for Stratford-upon-Avon, the hometown of William Shakespeare, the bane of most English classes. After a few hours on the bus, we saw:
Me and will.
Shakespeare's Birthplace. They make a big deal about this house because he grew up in it. The house that he lived in as an adult was burned down by the second owner because he was tired of people wanting to tour the house where Shakespeare lived.
Day 2. Warwick Castle.


I got invited to a Royal Party at Warwick Castle. This is me shaking hands with the butler. I think his name was Andrew.

Putting out a fire on the first floor, which is the second floor according to an American. There's the ground floor (which is 0 on an elevator) and the first floor is the floor above it.

I think that I should own a castle.


A Trebuchet. It's kind of like a catapult, but bigger, less mobile, and with much great range. In short: AWESOME. You can almost see me at the base.

Putting on my armor and getting ready for battle.


Don't take a picture of me on the toilet!
British language lesson: You don't say restroom, bathroom, or what not. You say toilet. Like: "Where's the toilet?" or "I'm going to the toilet." It's weird, but that's how it is here.


This is another Shakespeare property. It was some family member's farm. This picture is for Meg. Sheep.


This was a falconer and Becky the falcon. He talked to us for a while about falconing and also let us hold her. Falconers would use the falcon to hunt rabbits and other small animals for food.


Day 3. Bath.

There was a random stone head that was excavated with the Roman Baths. I tried to imitate its expression.


Here is the Great Bath, where the Romans and Britons would come to bathe. It's a natural hot spring, which is why the Romans built a big temple around it.


Bath Abbey. We didn't actually go inside because we didn't want to pay.

Day 4. Stonehenge.



It was REALLY cold. There was a little bit of rain, but it subsided after a few minutes. It was the craziest wind I'd ever experienced. And I have experienced some intense wind, before.

It wasn't quite as epic as I was expecting, but it was really awesome. I definitely think everywhere who comes to London should see it. It's so legendary that it's worth seeing for yourself.


Here you go, Meg. More sheep. They were all over the hillside next to Stonehenge.


Finally, we stopped in Salisbury. It wasn't a very exciting city. And we were all really tired and this point. We saw the Cathedral there, which held one of the four original Magna Cartas (an important medieval British Constitution-like document. We couldn't take pictures of it, though, so the only picture I have from Salisbury is below. In case you didn't know, in England, you don't spend Dollars, you spend Pounds. We called this Two Dollar World.

I have a couple more things that I still need to post on from the last two weeks, but I'll fill those in at some point in time. It was a fun four days, but I'm really glad to be back in London. Enjoy!

Darts

It had been fairly uneventful day. I had history class in the morning (every Tuesday and Thursday is only history classes). Then, made some mac and cheese for lunch. I tried to get people to go out and do something, but all we did was hit up an ATM, which was fun because it was a nice walk in the rain.

I hung out in the second floor flat all afternoon. Wrote some emails, facebooked, nothing exciting, but we had fun. For dinner, Brian fried up some burgers, that was really good. The BBQ sauce I brought made it that much better, too. Around 8:00 I figured I would just call it a night; head down to my flat and do some reading before bed. I figured wrong.

The girls from floor 3 came knocking wanting to head out to a pub. We went to the Robert Browning, a 3 minute walk from our flats. Grabbing a cider, we sat down and noticed the new dart board. We had played about 2 minutes before we had some older, portly gentlemen start giving us tips. After all three of us had played, I played Jon, an ex-dart player. It took a bit of luck, but I beat him. Paul bought us another round and he and Jon played a few games. It was quite a fun night playing darts and hanging out. It's my new favorite pub and I plan on spending a few more slow nights over there working on my aim. I meant to take my camera, but I forgot it, so I'll get some pictures of the place later.

We're touring Tower of London in the morning. Good night!

British Museum

Last night, four of us went to the British museum to see the Enlightenment exhibit as a class assignment. I didn't exactly understand what we were supposed to get from the exhibit, but there was some really cool stuff in there.

This is Hercules

and his dad Zeus.
I forgot what it's called, but it's a pretty sweet little solar system diagram.
Don't touch the Rosetta stone! Noooooooooo! Oh, it's just a copy? Okay.
I really wanted to sit on it's lap, but I figured best case scenario they'd yell, but it would probably lead to me being arrested or something.

Ganymede wresting with the eagle of Zeus. I just thought it was cool.


This was a sweet little pottery statue in the next exhibit.


Monica, Marika, and Elise (left to right) in front of the Easter Island statue.

A gorgeous picture from the steps of the British Museum

Contemplating something on the steps of the British Museum

The museum posse hanging out at "The Ultimate Burger" for dinner

My food


Not the best burger I've ever had in my life, but it sure beats the sandwiches I've been making. We toured Westminster Abbey today. I got some great pictures of some sights in the area, but you can't take pictures inside the Abbey. I'll post them another day. Enjoy!