But I decided to start today with England! I've been to England twice, the first was the summer between 9th and 10th grade and then again during winter break of my Sophomore year of college. The first time I went was with a Student Ambassador group called People to People and we spent 3 weeks traveling to England, Ireland and Wales. It was amazing, there will be more to come of that trip! The second time I went during Winter Intersession and got some credits for my Visual Arts major. My friend Krista convinced me to go (it didn't take much) and we also took a weekend trip to Paris!!!!! I've wanted to go to Paris since before I can remember, and it was everything I expected and more. Look for a whole post devoted to just that weekend. But without further ado, let's get down to it!
Oh, I've Done That: UK Version
29. Go to Hampton Court PalaceThis was the first thing we did on the trip right after getting off the plane, notice we are still in our "People to People" uniform of blue shirts, khaki pants and name tags. This picture is of my friends Julia, Rebecca and me standing in front of the palace. I remember the palace was really beautiful and had people dressed up and walking around. Fun fact: Some movie with Reese Witherspoon was filmed here.
There was also a maze at the palace made of giant hedges, it was like the movie Labyrinth with David Bowie! I feel like that should be something on the list, finish a maze made out of hedges. Let's make it official, shall we?
30. Finish a maze made of hedges
Check! I don't remember exactly how long it took us but we definitely went in a few circles. I believe this is us after the ordeal, alive and well.
31. Go to Bath, England
Bath is a really cool place, if you ever get to England I recommend that you go. It's a cute little town that is actually called Bath, named for the Roman-esque Bath built there! I believe it was built on some kind of natural spring that you could actually drink out of. My facts may be all wrong here, it's been a while, but here is a picture of Tammi, me, Julia and Rebecca sitting in front of the bath.
There are a ton of shops in Bath too, but the only thing I remember is that Julia and Rebecca bought really cool slippers. When I went there again I'm pretty sure Krista and I bought scarves. But I could be wrong, we did a lot of shopping on that trip!
32. See a Tudor house
Come on, these are awesome! I believe this was taken in Chester, and as I recall, I LOVED CHESTER! There were Tudor houses everywhere and it just looked like a really adorable and wonderful place to live. However, there was a Disney store in the middle of it so it's probably a huge tourist trap. But still, who doesn't love a good Tudor?
33. Squeeze as many people as you can into a British phone booth Okay, so there aren't that many people in there, but there were only 5 of us at the time and somebody had to take the picture! Even so, it was a tight squeeze with Tammi, Rebecca, me and Julia in there. We probably looked like such loser tourists, but could you really resist doing this? I didn't think so.
34. See Stonehenge
This I've actually done twice. Apparently anyone who plans a trip to England for students thinks it's really important that they see it. It's in the middle of nowhere and is surrounded by goats, but that's what makes it really interesting. It's literally not close to ANYTHING, and the real mystery is how the Druids got all of those heavy stones there, let alone on top of one another. The first time I went we had to listen to the audio tour guide which seemed to only ask questions, not answer them. But the second time we opted to skip the audio tour and just walk around and draw our own conclusions.
The best part about this, I think, is to compare how the quality of my cameras and my ability to compose a photo changed between the first and the second time I went. There were different weather conditions both times, the first time was pretty overcast and hazy while the second time was nicer with a bright blue sky, but really, what a difference.
 |
| 10th grade |
 |
| After several photo classes |
Let's take a break from the list real quick and watch Julia and me go from rags to riches and back again:
Just thought that was fun, back to the list!
35. See the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace
Okay, so you can't see much, but neither could we. They do this EVERYDAY but still a ton of people were there to see it. They play music and the guards march, but other than that I can't really tell you what else happens. However, while we were on our way to a park we did see a whole troop of them marching down the road, not sure where they were going because the ceremony had ended, but at least we got to see them up close!
36. Have tea time in London
What a lovely tradition! We couldn't go to London and NOT have tea. As a red-blooded American, I am a HUGE fan of coffee, in fact I don't think I could have graduated without it, but tea is also delicious and better for you and really awesome when you drink it in London!
37. See the London Bridges
Another thing that London should be known for are its awesome bridges. Some old, like The Tower Bridge
The London Bridge, as in "is falling down"
(I took this picture while on a boat crossing the Thames!)
And some new, like the Millennium Bridge, which I just found out (from Jamie) was nicknamed the "Wobbly Bridge" because it was originally built as a suspension bridge but they didn't take into account that people naturally walk in a similar rhythm to one another so the whole bridge was swaying up and down. It was closed for two years to make renovations, and now, I can tell you, it does not wobble.
38. Ride the London Eye
Okay, here's something I can't believe I've done. I HATE ferris wheels. Hate them. I don't go on them. It's too high up and everything sways and moves and makes me feel wildly unsafe. However, when I went to England the first time we all got tickets to go on it and I thought hey, this won't be so bad.
No, I was wrong. I was TERRIFIED. I'm super afraid of heights, even getting too close to the railing on the second floor of the mall freaks me out. As adventurous as I am when it comes to traveling, heights are not my thing. Although surprisingly enough I'm not really scared of airplanes, weird.
So the only pictures I have were taken by Julia (beautiful work!):
Because I was like this:
Sitting perfectly still, holding my breath with my eyes closed. I don't even think I knew she was taking this picture.
I also missed out on another thing during that trip when everyone repelled down the tower of a castle. Yea, it sounds awesome doesn't it? Well I thought I could do it, the people in charge of the repelling tower program spent hours talking to us about how we can do and be anything we want and we don't have to be afraid of anything and blah blah blah. So I got the helmet on, I got the harness on, I did some more sitting and staring....and then started to cry. Yup, I'm a big baby. I might be a little more inclined to do it today, but I doubt it. There will be no repelling for me any time soon. Oh well. :/ I prefer to be close to the ground, or under ground:
39. Ride the Tube
We actually got pretty good at learning the different lines, we didn't even need the map after a while!
40. See Big Ben
That's a given, how could you miss it?
41. Go to Trafalgar Square
42. See the London Museums
We actually went to roughly 10 museums the second time I went to England. Let's see if I can name all of them:
Tate Modern
Tate Britain
The British Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
The National Gallery
National Portrait Gallery
The Serpentine Gallery
Tower of London
Shakespeare's Globe Theater
I'm pretty sure that's not all of them, but we also went to The Louvre and Musee D'Orsay in Paris during that trip, but I still think I'm missing two. Anyway, I saw some really amazing work, here are just two examples:
This was at the Tate Modern, every year a new artist transforms the entryway however they see fit. Someone even put in a bunch of slides one year! But the year we were there Doris Salcedo's "Shibboleth" was there. From what I can remember, a "Shibboleth" is a way to determine who belongs to what race or class, depending on how they pronounce or use a language. I think "Shibboleth" was actually one of those words used to determine where someone was from and therefore what class and race they were. So a crack in the floor seems pretty appropriate right? Splitting the hall into two separate sides. Well, it was cool to look at nonetheless.
And oddly enough, the other image I chose also deals with language and stone. The Rosetta Stone! I swear I didn't mean to choose two things that fit together so nicely, I just thought they were cool.
43. Go to the Globe Theater
This, however, is not the original Globe Theater. The original burnt down some time ago, but we went to the original spot as well.
But the first picture is of a pretty exact replica of the original theater, except that it's not made of thatch like the first, so it won't burn quite so easily! We didn't get to see a show in the Globe Theater, but we did see an AMAZING show in London called "War Horse" if it comes around here, I'm going. It's a play about a horse that goes to war, except the horse is a wooden marionette controlled by a person dressed in black, but the best part is that after a while you don't even notice the person! It was very cool, and very moving. See it!
And here's a fun picture of Krista being silly in the Globe Theater.
I couldn't resist!
I also did a ton of other things in London that I, for some reason, don't have pictures of. I went to Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare; Portobello Road, the place they sing about in Disney's "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" (one of the greatest movies ever!); and tons more. But unfortunately, they are not documented, the only images I have are in my mind. But a special thank you goes out to my good friends Julia and Krista because I used some of your pictures in this post and in the posts to come! Thanks for putting up with me while we traveled! I had so much fun with you guys, you're awesome travel buddies!
Well there's lots more to come from us, whether we did it in the past or we have plans to do it in the future. Thanks for sticking around and reading about us! We really hope people are enjoying it and being inspired too! So until next time, good luck exploring the infinite abyss.
Love always,
The Go Getters
looks like you guys had an amazing time! I plan on going to London one day just to see it. I adore your posts, they make me want to live my life more fully.
ReplyDeleteHooray! That's exactly what we want!
ReplyDelete