My Husband With Me in London! Yay!

I have realized I go home in a month and 5 days. Wow! Where has the time gone? Over the last couple of weeks, I have been trying to soak up my favorite things about London, see new places that are my list to see before I leave, and take in a couple of shows. Last week, my husband was here visiting. While he was here, we hit some stuff I had been saving for his visit. Pics will be posted later, I promise.

While he was here, we did quite a few things. He arrived Saturday late morning. That afternoon we went to St. Paul’s, and then went to the Freemason’s Arms for supper and met some really cool folks. We ended up spending about 4 hours there; it was great! On Sunday, we went to church services at St. Paul’s. It is such a beautiful building; I highly recommend a visit when you come to London. Sunday evening we saw The Tempest at Shakespeare’s Globe. Amazing! After the play, we went to a special thing at the Tower of London. They do a ceremonial closing of the Tower called the Ceremony of the Keys. It was quite neat. After that, we headed back to our hotel for some much needed rest.

Our hotel was in BexleyHeath, which is about 1.2 hours from where we wanted to be in London most days, but it’s what we could afford. On Monday, we slept in a bit and headed into London around 10am or so. We spent some time walking around the area my flat is in and then went to a classic afternoon tea at the National Gallery Dining Room. We both dressed up for the occasion – he was in a suit and I was in a nice dress. It was lovely and we had a great view of Trafalgar Square. On Monday evening, we met up with my fellow library intern, John, and wandered through Chinatown looking for a good place to eat. We found one and it was fantastic. Mark was thrilled and it was really good.

On Tuesday, we went to The Making of Harry Potter. It was a pretty good hike to it; three changes on train and tube. It was in Watford Junction, of course the opposite direction of our hotel. But it was so worth it! We had an amazing time. Definitely worth a visit if you are any kind of a Harry Potter fan. They have the sound stages they worked on, props galore, an a/v guide that gives you some neat behind the screen access, and some really cool concept art. We spent about 4 hours there looking at everything and taking lots and lots of photos. The gift shop alone is worth a visit. If you are from Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, bring your wallet. They have as much of those houses as they do of Gryffindor or Slytherin. We acquired birthday and Christmas presents for my best friend and my sister who are Hufflepuffs. After our full day there, we headed straight back to BexleyHeath, where we had supper and went to bed.

On Wednesday, we headed back over towards my flat so we could tour Freemason’s Hall. It’s the home of the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) and an awesome looking building. They do free tours during the weekdays at various hours. We had scheduled the noon tour. It was pretty neat. There were only 7 of us on the tour so we had no problems hearing anything the guide said. It’s a beautiful building and I recommend a stop there if you are interested in Masonic history or movies. It’s been in quite a few films, more than I could list here. Afterwards, Mark and I had lunch the Freemason’s Arms again where he had his fish and chips. You must have that when you come to England. He came back to my flat and put on his suit so he could go to lodge. There was one meeting at 5pm, and he was able to go. I worked while he was at lodge. Felt like old times. He had a really good time, but isn’t sure his liver could survive being a Mason in England.

Thursday, we slept in and left BexleyHeath quite late in the day. We went to King’s Cross because we wanted to take our pics at Platform 9 3/4. Warner Brother’s now has a shop there and they will take professional photos for you, and you can take as many as you like with your own camera. What made it really cool, was the face they had house scarves there so we got to take our pics pushing the luggage cart with our house scarf on. I bought a hoodie that has the Platform 9 3/4 logo on it. Touristy, I know, but I had to have it. After we did that, we went to Westminster to go by Parliament and Westminster Abbey. Unfortunately, they had Parliament blocked off so we couldn’t get very close. However, we still got some neat shots of Mark in front of the building. Westminster Abbey was also closed, but we were able to wander around the outside of the building and in the exterior courtyard. Very neat. After we left there, we walked down Whitehall towards Trafalgar Square. We took Mark’s pic with the guard at the Horse Guards Parade and continued down Whitehall. Once we got to the square, I remembered a place that a friend recommended for whiskey – Albannach’s. We went to the downstairs bar and Mark had a flight of whiskies, and he ordered a pour of the one he liked the most. It was a nice way to end the evening.

The next morning, he flew out from Heathrow to go to NYC. We did get to have breakfast together at the airport before he left and I was sad to see him go. I’m going to miss London, but I’m looking forward to being home with my husband.

Easter in Rome Day Two – The Vatican pt. 1, Aventine Hill, and Colosseum at Night

So after a good night of sleep, we headed off to the Vatican to tour the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s. We took the underground to a stop nearish the Vatican. After emerging into daylight again, we briskly walked to the outskirts of the Vatican, where we met up with our tour guide for the weekend. I regret to say I don’t remember her name, but she is a native of Rome and has been a tour guide for 15+ years. While waiting to get under way, I snapped some photos of the exterior walls of the Vatican.

Exterior wall of the Vatican

When you see the wall, you realize this was a fortified, defensible wall from the time of siege machines and upheavals. The Vatican is so identifiable with Rome, that many people forget it is not part of the city. It is inside of Rome, but not of Rome.

Thanks to our tour group, we got to bypass the long line to enter the Vatican Museum. Once inside, we got our tickets and our guide gave us a brief history of the museums and the Vatican itself.

Entrance to the Vatican Museum

View of the dome of St. Peter’s from the courtyard of the Vatican Museum

After she finished the introduction, we went into the Museum. It is truly massive, and it was packed with people. The only problem with going to Rome for Easter is that thousands of other people had the same idea. Everything we went to was really crowded, but still glad I went. Anyway, we toured the museum, and I got some really great shots of some of the art in the various rooms. The Raphael room was amazing. I wanted to peel the School of Athens off the wall and take it home. The Sistine Chapel is part of the museum and seeing it in person was just as amazing as I thought it would be. I was disappointed we couldn’t take pics, but it is now stored in the memory banks. The ceiling was captivating, as well as the Last Judgment. I hadn’t expected to be as enthralled with the Last Judgment as I was. Truly impressive piece of artwork especially when you consider that Michelangelo considered himself a sculptor first and foremost. Painting helped pay the bills.

Pinecone from the Pinecone Courtyard

Giant globe in the center of the Pinecone courtyard

Art over an entryway

Frieze of the Nine Muses

Statue of the Roman goddess Minerva

Statue of the god Apollo

One of the most famous statues of antiquity – Laocoön and His Sons

Statue of the Roman goddess Artemis

The School of Athens by Raphael – probably my second favorite painting in the world

Raphael inserted famous figures of the day in his painting – this is the detail that includes Michelangelo

After we left the Sistine chapel, we were supposed to go St. Peter’s. Unfortunately, they closed it early to prepare for services. I was sad that we didn’t get to see it, but I got some fantastic outside shots. It is a truly massive building.

The Basilica of St. Peter from the square

Another shot of St. Peter’s

After leaving the Vatican, we climbed Aventine Hill. The views from the top and on the way to the top were amazing. I was so glad I went up there, even though I had sprained my ankle two days before and it was not happy about all the walking. I don’t know when I will make it back to Rome and wanted to see as much as possible. It was truly beautiful.

Panoramic view from the Aventine Hill

View from the Aventine Hill with yours truly

The view through trees

After leaving the Aventine Hill, we grabbed a bus back to the hostel to chill a bit before heading off to supper with the entire group. I took advantage of this to charge my camera battery, which I had totally drained by the end of the afternoon.

After arriving at the restaurant, I found out our group would be taking up the entire bottom floor. It was a good supper. I had grilled fish with tomatoes and a salad. Quite tasty. After our supper, we walked to the Colosseum to listen to Stations of the Cross with the Pope. Unfortunately, we got there too late to really get a good view, but I got some amazing shots of the Colosseum at night.

The Tiber at night

A church with a very tall tower

Rotunda I saw on our walk

My first view of the Colosseum

Another view of the colosseum

The fiery cross through the colosseum

This is probably my favorite shot of the Colosseum.

After taking my shots, I headed back to the hostel to get some much needed sleep for our early day on Saturday. It was a great day and the next day promised to be good as well.

 

Easter in Rome Day One

So I got the opportunity to go to Rome for Easter this year. I went with Weekend Student Adventures because I didn’t feel comfortable going on my own and I’m really glad I chose them. My plane arrived at the Fiumicino airport outside of Rome on Thursday afternoon, April 28th. By this point, I had been awake for over 24 hours with the exception of a short nap on the plane. My airline, Alitalia, had a shuttle that took us straight from the airport to the Termini station in Rome. I, of course, took pictures out the shuttle window heading into Rome. The hostel our tour group was staying was the Yellow Hostel. It was about 4 blocks from the Termini station, so not a bad walk.

After arriving at the hostel, I sacked out for a couple of hours. More folks arrived over the course of the afternoon and evening, and by 9pm my three roommates were in the room as well. We met up with Andy Steves, Rick Steves’ son, and he took us around some churches that night and showed us the area we were staying in.

All in all, a great first day in Rome. More to come – the Vatican, St. Peter’s, Aventine Hill, Colosseum, etc.

First view of the Italian countryside

Rome at Easter and Scotland in April

I know I’m dreadfully behind on posting to my blog. Schoolwork and illness have dreadfully cut into blog posting time. I plan on trying to get up pictures and thoughts on my trips over five different posts – one for each day in Rome and one for the weekend in Scotland. Please bear with me, and know more thoughts and pics are coming.

Stonehenge and Salisbury

This past Tuesday we (FSU folks) went to Stonehenge and Salisbury. The standing stones at Stonehenge are very impressive. It was cloudy and cold on the plain. The stones looked quite eerie under the grey skies.

Stonehenge with the sky featured.

The only thing I regret is not being able to actually touch the stones and wander in them. You’re not allowed to get close to them.

Stonehenge and Me.

We were at Stonehenge for just under an hour. That’s just the right amount of time to see the stones.

After we left Stonehenge, we headed to Salisbury to see the cathedral there. The city of Salisbury is in the plain under Sarum. The church used to be there, but in 1220 AD they elected to build a new cathedral in Salisbury. It was built in the Gothic style in just over 30 years, which is immensely impressive. In the 14th century, the towering spire was added. For those who love the Pillars of the Earth series – the series was loosely based on this cathedral building.

The view of Salisbury Cathedral as you come up the walk.

The cathedral is just as beautiful on the inside, and I highly recommend a trip here. I have a few shots from the inside I will share here.

Tomb detail at Salisbury Cathedral.

Sign detailing the medieval mechanical clock.

One of the oldest functional medieval clocks in the world. It rings on the hour, every hour.

Model of the building of Salisbury Cathedral

View down the nave from the back of the church.

Cathedral banner

Tomb of John Blyth. He was Bishop from 1494-1499 and a sometime chancellor of Cambridge University

The large stained glass at the end of the nave.

An exterior hall at Salisbury Cathedral. So pretty.

Two stained glass panels at the cathedral.

I could have spent two days in Salisbury exploring the museums and shops there. I had to settle for 3 hours. Most of my time was spent in the cathedral. Something I really enjoyed seeing, but could not photograph, was one of four surviving copies of the Magna Carta. The British Library has two copies, and the cathedral in Lincoln has the fourth. The copy at Salisbury Cathedral is the best of the three I’ve seen. Very even handwriting and done all by one scribe.

I left the cathedral after buying the requisite souvenirs, and meandered my way slowly back to the bus, stopping at various shops along the way. As I got closer to the bus, I noticed the Parish Church of St. Thomas and St. Edmund. It is quite an old church, built prior to the cathedral, but the fabric inside dates to the 15th century.

Parish Church of St. Thomas and St. Edmund

On the inside, they have a painting called the “Doom Painting,”and it was painted in 1475 as a thank offering for a safely returned pilgrim. My camera battery had died at this point, so I was unable to get any pictures of it. Quite sad about it, because it was very impressive. Oh, and a Jane Eyre is buried at this church – obviously not the fictional one, but neat nonetheless.

Thus ended my day in Salisbury. It was beautiful, except for the downpour after I left the parish church.

Here are links for the sites I visited:

Stonehenge

Salisbury Cathedral

Parish Church of St. Thomas and St. Edmund

London Meanderings

View from Trafalgar Square on a March night.

The London Eye on a March night.

Big Ben and Parliament on the same March evening.

Statue of King Richard I (the Lionheart) on horseback in front of Parliament.

Parliament

Westminster Abbey as seen from Parliament.

I love how this shot of Big Ben and the London Eye lined up. The weather was amazingly beautiful on this day – March 5, 2013.

A night view of Nelson’s Column at Trafalgar Square.

 

It’s been awhile since my last post, but I’ve not been slacking… really, I promise.  The Museum of London has earned two visits from me, I’ve also been to the National Gallery of Art twice. Amazing art there and they are open until 9pm on Friday nights. Woot!

Work is going quite well. I’m learning a lot of stuff, and my boss is cool – bad puns aside. My flatmates are pretty neat as well. I went on my first pub crawl with a couple of them this past weekend. Educational experience.

The above pics were taken within an 24 hour time period. The night ones were taken on March 4th while I meandered around. I was feeling kind of blah and needed to get out of the house, so I took bus 24 to Trafalgar Square. While there, I took photos of the two views of Trafalgar Square. Considering all of these photos were taken with my iPhone, they didn’t come out too bad. After I left Trafalgar Square, I walked down Northumberland Avenue to the Thames. It was a bit cool, but a nice night to wander. There is a Sherlock Holmes pub tucked off the road which looked really neat. Definitely will go back and pay a visit.

Once I got to the Thames, I turned right and walked along the Thames. That is where I got the excellent shot of the London Eye at night. I will never ride it (too scared of heights), but I bet the views are amazing, and it just looks so neat in the London sky. I also saw a monument to the heroes of the Battle of Britain. It was too dark to take good photos, but I will also go back there again. As I got to Westminster Bridge, I took the neat, but slightly blurred shot of Big Ben and Parliament. After I took these, I caught bus 24 again and headed home feeling much better about life in general.

I worked 9:30am to noon the next day, and took advantage of my afternoon off to wander near some of the areas I had been near the night before. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, the prettiest and warmest I’ve seen in London so far. I took the fantastic shot of Big Ben and the London Eye while walking around. While meandering, Parliament caught my eye and I was able to grab the shot you see above. The statue of King Richard the Lionheart also was visually appealing and had to take a photo of it. One my best shots from that day is the bare tree with Westminster Abbey behind it. Beautiful.

Thanks for reading about my day and hope you enjoy the pictures. More to come now that my new camera has arrived.

 

A Saturday in Paris

This past Saturday I went to Paris for the first time. My day started at 4am, I had to get to  St. Pancras station by 5:30am to check in with my tour and board the Eurostar, a high speed train. The Eurostar trip over took just over 2 hours and went thru the Chunnel. Once we got off the train, I had to go find my tour bus. Unfortunately, that took a bit longer than anticipated. Yay language barrier. I finally found where I needed to be and grabbed the open air tour bus. Though, looking back an open air tour bus on a 30° Fahrenheit day was not one of my best ideas. It was freaking cold!!

I did get to see some neat sights on the bus tour. It was a hop on/hop off kind of tour, so we could get off, take pics, wander around, and get another bus. They also had headphones so you could plug in to the audio tour in the appropriate language, which explained not just the main sights, but other roads and things you saw along the way.

I got some fantastic shots of the Arc de Triomphe, Paris Opera House, the Eiffel Tower, exterior of the Louvre, and Notre Dame. Unfortunately, my camera disappeared somewhere on my Metro journey to Sacre Coeur. Very sad about that, but I’ve already ordered a new camera and I did get some pics with the iPhone. I guess I’ll just need to go to Paris again.  ;-) Here are the best shots I got with the iPhone at Notre Dame de Paris.

Virgin and Child Statue on site dedicated to Notre Dame de Paris.

Stained Glass Window in Notre Dame de Paris

A drawing of Notre Dame de Paris from the Treasures of Notre Dame exhibit.

Closeup of Three Decorated Bibles and Prayerbooks in Treasures of Notre Dame exhibit.

Framed Illuminated Manuscript from the Treasures of Notre Dame exhibit.

Here is one section of cameos of the popes. They have cameos of all the pope here, really cool. It is in the Treasures of the Notre Dame exhibit.

Stained Glass from Notre Dame de Paris

After I left Notre Dame, I went on a quest for my husband. He wanted a photo of the plaque at the site where Jacques de Molay was burnt at the stake. For those who do not know, Jacques de Molay was the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar. Mark belonged to the Order of DeMolay named after this last Grand Master, and it is sponsored by the Freemasons. I had pretty decent directions to it, but was unable to find the exact plaque. I did find this sign however…

Since I couldn’t find the plaque, I snapped this memorial.

I guess we will have to go back one day and look for the other plaque.

After I took this, I took my ill-fated trip on the Metro, but I did make safely to Sacre Coeur.  BTW, the metro stop Abbesse has a ton of stairs going up. Wow. I now know why I didn’t see any out of shape Parisians. Since I got my stair climbing out of the way leaving the Metro, I took the Montmartre funicular up to Sacre Coeur. What a beautiful church! We were not allowed to take any pictures inside, but I highly recommend a trip there. If you go to Paris – I recommend this over Notre Dame. Notre Dame was beautiful, but it was a zoo, and totally packed. Not quiet or reverent at all. Sacre Coeur was much more quiet and reverential. I wish I would have had time to attend a service here.

Outside shot of Sacre Coeur. Beautiful.

Outside of Sacre Coeur, there was a place to take in a lovely view of Paris. Unfortunately, it was rather cloudy and you could not see as far as you would like. I did get a nice shot though.

View of Paris from Montmarte.

This is my last shot from Paris, by the way – it was snowing when I took this picture. After I took this, I went back down all those stairs at the Metro, and made my way back to the Gare du Nord to catch my train back to London.

All in all, it was a good day. I wish I had managed to keep a hold of my camera, but I still had a great time. I would like to go back when it is not so cold, and I would like to have some time for the Louvre next time.

Au revoir Paris.