Salisbury Cathedral

Today we went to the lovely town of Salisbury which is home to the Salisbury Cathedral built in the 13th century!!!  Just unbelievable!!!!!

Here's a taste: 

This is in the entrance portico, on the ceiling - there were 3.

My roomate Merle in the Cloisters (courtyard).

The Midieval Clock - wow!

A female statue on the west front of the cathedral.

Rooftops and Tea (for Rachel)

Well, while I may not have seen quite the same rooftops of London that Mary Poppins and Bert from the London Eye, I think I may have found them in Salisbury (love Salisbury btw, it's like being in Williamsburg except older, bigger, and just more, I don't know just more... so fun).

Later I actually had my first cup of original English tea on the patio of a pastry shop; very yum (though I missed you Rachel) and very relaxing.  Tea is not as prominent as I thought it would be, but I am only a tourist!

Stonehenge (This is for mom :-)

Hi mom, went to Stonehenge today and got some great pics of the circle - there was one stone in particular that I looked at and immediately thought of you - can you see why???

Yep, the face. I got lots of photos though to show you when I get back, but here are a few...

  

Oh, and of course the beautiful, luscious, rolling hills of Salisbury (reminds you of Kansas, right?)!

The London Eye & Wicked!

Both were really very cool.  You can see everything from the London Eye, though I must tell you that the rooftops of London have changed quite a bit since Bert and Mary Poppins were "stepping in time".  

Wicked was just phenomenal - oh the voices and costumes - absolutely LOVED it!

Westminster Abbey

Do you know where the saying "robbing Peter to pay Paul" comes from?  Well, when King Henry VIII reformed the British Churches and founded the new Church of England; he absorbed all of the churches wealth into his estate.  In order to keep peace within London (the old city) and to gain popularity for the movement, he gave much of the earnings and estate wealth from Westminster (which is also known as St. Peter's) to St. Paul' Cathedral in downtown London...  here are some pretty cool pics from today's outings...

Ben Franklin's House

What do I want to write about first...  hmmm; to be perfectly honest, my favorite part of today was the Ben Franklin House!  (Oh and Wicked!!!! More on that in a few)  This was a complete accident; we were taking a walk after lunch (during free time) to find ice cream (of course) and happened to walk by Ben Franklin's House and I was like - what???  Everyone knows Ben Franklin lived in Philadelphia, duh.  But actually, after he retired from being a printer, he moved to London to do political work in favor of the colonies... while here he rented rooms; he had a parlor and a study.  The house still has the original flooring and staircases, along with most of the wood paneling and shutters.  Some of the fireplace mantels and harths were original as well (marble).  They started to tell us about the paint colors within the rooms, (I already had some background knowledge thanks to my Williamsburg field trips :-) though there is a reason behind the paint - London was so sooty that they began to paint the walls colors so that they didn't look as terrible when blackened; the colors caught on as high fashion, but truth be known, there was a real reason before the trends/styles.  The 2 victorian era stoves that were built into the fireplaces were put in later after Ben Franklin returned to the colonies permanently, but they were still cool! 

Portobello Road!

On Saturday a few of us went up to Portobello Rd.  SO COOL; Loved it!!!  I wish I was here on a shopping vaca; but due to space constraints I will need to be frugal :-)  It's true though, anything and everything a chap can behold, is found on Portobello Rd!

My favorite booths were the fresh food (fruit, veggies, pastries, and bread) booths! There was one with all these olives - so cool!

This telephone booth would really have come in handy during Bye Bye Birdie!!!

Cupcakes

So I've only been here 1 day and was pointed (without asking might I add) in the direction of a bakery with "the best" cupcakes in London! (Am I in the right place or what?!?!) It's been a lot of fun so far and I like my roommates! I'll update more in a few, but for now here are some pics :-)

This cupcake was blueberry cheesecake; it was more like a blueberry muffin with filling not a cupcake but it was still good and the topping was awesome!

"Are you Excited?"

Well it’s been quite a whirlwind of a month! But yes, I AM excited for my trip; though I must admit at times my nerves did get the best of me (I must have been tired)… There is a lot that one must think about when traveling across the pond; thank goodness I had a lot of help from friends!!! I am leaving for London on Wednesday, right now I am looking at all that I want to pack and wondering if I will be able to get it all into my 1 ½ suitcases, but I am sure I will do some creative packing; if need be, the rest I will just have to pick up when I get there.
So many gadgets to pack and keep track of; I am taking a multimedia/digital photography class which will help me to track my trip much better than I normally would. This blog is part of the class, so make sure to tune in for updates and pictures! Alright, I am off to look at my empty suitcases yet again…