July 29, 2009

Today we woke up and went to Stamford which is a cool town just outside of London. We were able to visit the Burghley House which was lots of fun. The house was so beautiful on the inside. But once again we were unable to take photos. So I took a few of the outside. The outside was nice and humongous with beautiful gardens...imagine that...a house we visited with beautiful gardens sounds a little too familiar. Anyway the house has it's own deer and they are really friendly and they would come up to you and let you pet them. They were sassy little deer but I guess I would too if I got to just roam around the grounds of the Burghley house. After we toured the inside of the house which was stunning such marquetry and beautiful beds, rugs, artwork you name it. Our professor Darrin was really excited to be there he made the tour fun because he pointed out all of the things that we normally would have overlookd. And Erika made the best comment ever saying to Susie that Darrin is so horny for Pride and Prejudice which is a movie that was filmed at the house. We laughed and Darrin has such a good sense of humor he too found it funny. We may have a surprise brewing for him in the future. Anyway after that we went to Stamford and walked around the town and went shopping and I got a couple of cute items. After that we went back to London, and Erika and I went out to this pub by our flat and we meet some nice people from Japan, and Italy, and the food conniseour of London. Then we came back to our flat and all the people from Temple were having a party so we hung out with them for awhile and then went to bed. I met a really nice girl named Tonya also from Temple studying broadcasting and she was fun to talk to. We had a really good day.

July 28, 2009

Today was nice we had a shorter day and we went to Oxford. While in Oxford we went to Blenheim Palace. We took a tour through the Palace but were not allowed to take any pictures of the inside. But Blenheim Palace is very beautiful on the inside. We saw a bunch of historical pictures with Winston Churchill and the baroque style that the palace was decorated in was absolutely amazing and very regal. After we did the inside tour of the Palace we ended up leaving. But before that we had time to go to the pleasure gardens which are a part of the palace grounds that are so cool. They had a miniature golf course and Erika and I putt putted around. it was alot of fun. After that we went and did the hedge maze which was kind of confusing for a bit but it reminded me of the movie Labrynth. We had lunch at this cute little cafe and just looked around at how pretty everything was. We also found a butterfly house and we were able to go inside and there were butterflies everywhere and birds. It was so cool I really wish that my nieces could have been with me because I just know they would have loved it. While inside the butterfly house we were not allowed to touch anything because some of the plants are toxic. Now I don't know if that' true but I didn't want to find out the hard way. We just sat in there and let the butterflies and birds fly around us. They also had little ponds in there that had coy fish swimming around. After that we caught the bus back to our flat and that brings me to the present. It's kind of early so I think I'm gonna shower and then go out for awhile. Anyway that was all I got today.

July 27, 2009

Today was an early morning but it was ok I wasn't as tired as I thought I would be. We all met at the train station and headed to Salsbury. We went to the Salsbury Cathedral and had a tour. They could only take a certain amount of people on the tours and so one person had to go alone so I volunteered and I was happy I did I met some really cool Norweigans and a cute couple from California. The tour was to take us up through the inside of the church like up in all of the rafters and up inside the spire and then once you got to the top of the spire you could go outside of it and check out the view of Salsbury. I was really struck by the stained glass because I really love all of the colors and the detail. I found the tour to be so interesting, kind of tiring because of all of the stairs but the view was completely worth it. I took some pics of the inside of the spire and the way that they constructed it just blew my mind. It took a full century to build which is actually pretty quick for those times. After the tour we had a little bit of free time so I found a bench and took a little cat nap and then woke up and sketched the Cathedral. Afterwards we took taxis over to Stone Henge which was fun. I never really thought that I would actually see it in person but I was so glad that I did. It is out in the middle of nowhere and to try and figure out how they transported the rocks to the site was crazy because they said that the rocks came from Wales which is quite a trip especailly lugging around rocks that way several tons. I still prefer to believe that they were built by aliens. He He. Anyway we headed back to London and then Erika and I found this fun sports bar not too far from our flat and just relaxed with some drinks and talked about our adventures.

July 26, 2009

Some how I got off a day on my blog so it skips from the 24th to the 26th to get me back on track. Anyway sunday the 26th it was time for us to travel back to London. Nothing that exciting happened today that didn't happen the day that we traveled to Amsterdam. It was the same train rides except on the way back to London. We ended up leaving Amsterdam a little bit early because we wanted to make sure and catch the train from Brussels to London. We ended up eating big cheeseburgers in Brussels and then we wanted to have drinks but all of the atm's were out of service for awhile. It was really weird being in Brussels that day it was like the city had shut down, much similar to Logan on a Sunday. Anyway I took a few pics of Brussels from the South part where we were and then we boarded the train and fell asleep and woke up in London exhausted. We took the metro back to our flat and crashed and were so excited to sleep but not excited to wake up at 5:45 the next morning. Arghh

July 24, 2009

Waking up so refreshed and actually able to slee in was the best thing ever. When we finally pulled ourselves out of bed we took our sweet time getting ready and just watched the city come to life from our hotel window. It was really nice, and we could have sat there all day but we had more exploring to do. We left the hotel and set out to find the sex museum. We were happy about this museum cause it was a nice break from all of the other museums that we have been visiting and this one would actually make us laugh. Honestly make us blush is more like it. The museum was very interesting to say the least. There was a Marilyn Monroe tribute statue which was pretty tame. The other pictures that I took may not be suitable to be uploaded but we shall see. After all of the sex viewing we could handle we went to look for the Van Gogh Museum but again became very lost and we ended up not going because we couldn't find it. So we just walked around the city exploring some more. When it got dark we went out and had dinner at this cute little Thai resaurant. After that we went to a gay bar and had cocktails and chatted and met a white cat that lives in the bar that was really funny but the cat hated Erika. We decided that we better check out the red light district and that was quite the experience. All these girls in there windows only a pane of glass seperating you. They were right on the sidewalk and the first one I saw actually scared me because at first I didn't know that she was real until she started moving. Ha Ha anyway we ended up just mozying back to the hotel and falling asleep.

July 23, 2009

Let the good times roll. Finally it was our first free 3 day weekend. Erika and I woke up early and began our trek to Amsterdam. It was a really long day we started with a 3 hour train that took us to Brussels and we missed our first train from there to Amsterdam, and then our second train was cancelled so they say three times the charm and yes it was. It took us another 3 hours to get from Brussels to Amsterdam so we took a bottle of wine and a bottle of champagne onto the train with us and had some drinks to kill the time. When we got to Amsterdam we were really releived and so excited to check the city out. Everyone was so mellow and it wasn't at all like I had anticipated. It was very clean and had canals everywhere and lots of boats and of course lots of cafe's. So we walked around for awhile trying to find our hotel and we became a little bit frustrated becase we had been traveling for so long. Then in the distance we spotted the mellow yellow cafe so we went in. And this is where the fun began. It was so strange to be in a city that is so liberal. So we sat down and indulged and laughed alot. We decided we better get a move on if we ever wanted to find our hotel. We walked and walked and walked so more and still no hotel, but at least we were in good spirits. Finally when we thought that we couldn't walk anymore across this canal all lit up so beautiful was our hotel and we rejoiced and took pictures went and checked in. Our hotel inside was so nice and it was relaxing to be just the two of us with no agenda. We were going to go out but when we got to the room we just layed down and both fell asleep and that is the end of that day.

July 22, 2009

Well we got up early again today and met at the train station around 6:30 A.M. We boarded our train and headed to Cambridge. Once we got there I fell in love with Cambridge it is this hip little college town and there was a much yonger crowd. We had a little bit of extra time when we got there so we went shopping and I picked myself out some new Puma shoes. My feet totally thanked me. We then went to All Saints Cathedral and looked at the architecture and had a tour guide explain everything about it to us. It's a gothic church and it had these beautiful fan vaulted ceilings and tons of stained glass. It was interesting because it was unlike any of the other churches that we have visited. Our tour guide was really nice too. We then went and looked at the different colleges at that was cool because the students don't just go to one campus they are seperated into their special field of interest and each one has it's own college building. I think that it would be awesome to go to school there if you were smart enough or could afford it. So after that Darrin, and his wife Carolyn, Erika and myself went to the Eagle. The Eagle is a pub and they had amazing fish and chips and refreshing beer. It is said that Watson and Crick during their research of DNA used the Eagle as a place to relax and drink after they had researched during the day. I thought that was pretty interesting. We then went to the Fitzwilliam Museum and looked at some more artifacts and pretty much fell asleep while walking cause I was so tired but it was still really cool. Then on to punting. Punting is when you travel around in these flat boats that look like gondolas. We got the tour of that backside of the colleges and visited with Darrin, Carolyn, Susie, and susies friend Terry. It was nice and quaint. Our punters Roymond was so funny and nice to talk to. He even did a handstand on the bow of the boat for us. I really enjoyed punting and took some amazing pictures. Now I'm just laying in bed ready to tackle our next adventure Amsterdam for the next 3 days I'm so excited.

Oh p.s. the picture of the building with all of the ivy on it is where they filmed part of the Harry Potter movies? I wouldn't know because I've never seen them but supposidly that is where he discovers he can fly or something like that?

July 22, 2009

Today was such a long day. We woke up at 4:45 A.M. to be at the train station by 5:45 let me tell you how enjoyable this was. It took me like 4 cups of coffee just to feel normal. As far as energy goes I was diggin deep all day long. Anyway we went to Brintons Carpets which is in Birmingham. I guess this town is famous for carpets for a really long time but Brintons is the most successful. They are know for the capability to do large casinos and having cutting edge style and execution. We were broken up into groups and we did a 4 part tour. Our first section was in the archives with Yvonne who was fabulous. She showed us some patterns that were so old I don't even know if people were alive back then but this stuff was really dated, but super cool. Then we went to the designers and had a question answer time where we just picked their brains and they told us new things that they were working on and I thought it was really interesting. After that we had a lunch that they paid for and it was full of sandies and chips and o.j. very nice gesture, these people definitly know what's up. Then we had the cutest old man give us a tour of the lumes and we really hit it off. It was just him, Erika, and I we laughed and he made some dirty jokes but it was hilarious. Then we met with John and he just basically spoke about the history of Brintons. It was very interesting but honestly I caught myself falling asleep several times and I'm pretty sure he caught me too. Oh well. Other than that Erika and I have purchased our tickets for Amsterdam and we are leaving Friday morning and will not be back until Sunday. The break is going to be awesome can't wait. We also had an assignment to design some fabric patterns that were inspired from the museums that we have visited over the past two days. As of now just sippin on a beer and Erika is making us a salad for dinner. Good Night. long but fun day.

P.s. if you look closely at some other pics I have added then you will see where I channeled my inspiration....it's like a game. try it out.

July 21, 2009

Oh no woke up late today had to rush in the shower but still made it on time so all good. As a group we went to The British Museum and I checked out some cool Egyption mummies. The museum was fun we didn't have the most time to spend there so I tuned into my ipod and got my walk on trying to see as much as I could. After that we went to this other museum/house called Sir John Soane. Talk about cluttered. I mean it was cool but kind of weird. It was kind of like going to somebody's house that is a pack rat and just looking around at all of the things that they have collected. It was pretty cool but after an hour I was ready to go. We weren't allowed to take pictures in there, but even if we were I don't know what I would have taken a picture of. Maybe a clean house and then showed them how they could spruce it up. Then we went to St. Paul's Cathedral and that was really big and cool pretty much like every other church that we have see. I think I got the only picture because I didn't know that we couldn't take pictures in there until it was too late. Then we were free to do whatever we wanted. So I went to get my haircut and was going to go shopping for shoes but it started raining and Ididn't feel like playing in the rain at that moment. Anyway I have a fresh new doo and I'm ready to tackle tomorrow. So good bye for now.

July 20, 2009

Oh it was nice to wake up this morning and I slept so well. Today we got to go to the V & A Museum and checked out some more art. It was really cool it had different countries and photography and their was a fashion section that was really cool. We had to look through the museum and gather inspiration for some fabric patterns that we will be designing in groups. It was fun to have this assignment because it took just normally going through a museum to the next level and we were searching really deep to find unique and different things that inspired us. There was a really cool glass section that was so pretty and full of color, I really liked it. After we finished going through the museum we went out on the courtyard area where they have a fountain and we found a table and sketched our designs out and ate some lunch. Our next stop was the Tate Modern museum and it was so cool. I love the modern art and we saw pieces of art from Richard Serra, Warhol, Picasso, Monet and several others. We had the same assignment in this museum and it really made the experience enjoyable. Erika I went t the gift shop and bought some posters to decorate our flat. They are very colorful and they give the room just enough flare. But we're not done yet. After we got home we got our drink on and went out to the theater to see Bruno. We laughed our asses off and stumbled home around 11:30. Just as we were getting settled down and ready to fall asleep the fire alarm went off and we all had to go out to the street and look like idiots. Not really sure exactly what happened but either way it was a false alarm. Came back in watercolored some turtles and went to bed. nite nite.