Bath and Stonehenge

I'm pretty sure I was in Rome this weekend. The only thing that brought me back down to earth was the fact that everyone was still speaking English. Bath is a city in England that was built by the Romans back in 43 AD as a spa resort, being known as Aquae Sulis "the waters of Sulis." Sulis was worshiped as a nourishing, life-giving mother goddess. Excavators have found messages scratched into metal to her. These are actually really funny because they're all curses made on people who have done the writer wrong, aka stolen their clothes while they were bathing.

City of Bath:

River Avon:

The Pulteney Bridge:

The Circus (3 curved shaped buildings that form a circle):

Four of us went to Bath and had a pretty rough start to the trip when we had to wake up before 4am to catch a bus by 4:30, and a train by 5:25. But arriving in Bath and soaking up its beauty revitalized us (and maybe I'll give a little credit to the delicious bacon and egg on baguette breakfast I ate).

We had booked a 4-bedroom in the best hostel in the city (the YMCA). It was nice to share a room with only people you already knew. And especially great when we were able to pass out by 11pm and didn't get woken up at all during the night.

YMCA hostel:

View from front:

So obviously the main attraction to Bath are the Roman Baths. I'll let you see them for yourself, because describing them just won't do them justice.

Roman Baths:

Over the centuries, the popularity of the baths decreased until Queen Mary (who was thought to be infertile) bathed here and bore a son 10 months later. Soon after, Bath's waters were thought to have cured another Queen of disease. Due to these events, Bath's popularity soared. And for good reason, it's BEAUTIFUL.

We even got to try the baths' hot spa water. Interesting to drink warm water, but here's to hoping it gets rid of all of our colds!

Right next to the baths is Bath Abbey, the church where King Edgar had his late coronation in 973 (after taking over the throne in 959). While we were touring, the orchestra was practicing, it was lovely to walk around the church with music playing to your thoughts.

Bath Abbey:

Again, I love the ceiling, it reminds me of the one in Westminster:

We also went to the Fashion Museum, where the main exhibit of course centered around the Royal Wedding. They had wedding dresses through the ages, the oldest dating back to the 1600s. In one of the more modern exhibits, they had the scandalous Versace dress Jennifer Lopez wore to the 2000 Emmy's. Even though it won Dress of the Year, I for one think it's kind of ugly... you can decide for yourself.

The Fashion Museum:

Wedding dress exhibit:

Jennifer Lopez's Versace dress from the 2000 Emmy's:

On Sunday, we took a purple bus tour to Stonehenge, which is about an hour outside of Bath. We received commentary on the way as our bus driver pointed out a horse carved of stone into the hillside, thatched roofs, old jail cells, and crop circles (we didn't actually see any, but the pictures of them were crazy). This crop circle appeared right across the road from Stonehenge, apparently within an hour, don't know if I really believe that story though.

The Single Julia crop circle:

Proximity to Stonehenge:

Stonehenge was magnificent. It's absolutely amazing to look at something built around 2500 BC. And it's weird that no one knows why or even how it was built. There are ancient legends that it was built by Merlin the wizard, the Devil, and even aliens.

At Stonehenge:

Unfortunately, Stonehenge was maybe the coldest I've been here. I would run in circles/pace as I listened to the commentary around the edge of the rocks. And when it was done, you can bet I booked it inside. The weather overall was very sporadic during our trip. On Sunday it went from freezing to comfortable and hail to rain to sunny in a blink of an eye. My umbrella had no idea what to do.

Getting home was an event. We had booked a train, but since the train station in Bath was closed for construction, we had to take a bus to Bristol. We had a ticket for the 17:45 bus, and so did about 75 other people. Which wouldn't have been a problem, but there was only one coach available at the time, meaning only about 55 seats. Thankfully, we were able to push our way on, but I felt bad for the 20 people who didn't make it and you could still see in the station as we pulled away.

On a happier note, we started planning Spring Break today - Greek Isles anyone?

Dubstep

I CAN'T HEAR WHAT YOU'RE SAYING. My ears are still ringing from last night. And pretty sure I've been shouting everything I've said since then. We went to Murkage night at South, where they play dubstep music with basses literally right up next to you.

Now dubstep has recently become a more mainstream genre of music. I'm not going to say anyone over the age of 30 would like it, but here's a little sample:

Mancunian side of life

People have such misconceptions of Americans. We were playing a game of Never Have I Ever... (then you say something you've never done) and one girl from Sweden was at a loss of what to say. So we told her to say something very American, since most of us playing were American and she'd get us all out. "Never have I ever made my own doughnuts." I don't know about you, but I do that on the daily? She legitimately thought Americans not only made their own doughnuts, but also ate them every day.

And everyone thinks we're loud. Can't really argue with that though.

One of my teachers is someone you would call a fruit loop.. or a space cadet. She's so organised that she's disorganised. She'll walk out of the room when people are talking to her. And to get us started on our group project, she gave us some "guidance" aka the following screenshot. She literally just typed the name of our project into the Google search bar, like what?

Google project search:

I have a lot of free time here since there's no actual commitments beyond class, such as the work and club commitments I have at home. I was nervous about being bored during the day, but I'm finding that I actually just have time to do things I want to do. I can go shopping on a weekday, or go to the gym, or hang out in a friend's room. Which were all activities that would have been cut from my schedule last semester.

There's a big event (or sometimes 3) every night of the week. It's really confusing at first because you typically need tickets to get in. So, if you don't know about something and try to go last minute, the tickets are almost always sold out. That's what happens when you live in a city of over 100,000 students. But I love that there's so many places to go, because you never go back to the same bar twice, it's always something new. Chapel Hill's going to have to step it up when I get home. 

Last night, one of my friends from my Catholic school days took me out to dinner. He's actually a student here, so he knows all the good places to go that I'd never find myself. I can't wait to get to know Manchester a little better through all his recommendations. 

I've had a request to show you my bulletin board's progress as I keep adding more and more flyers/ pictures/ etc. to it.

Here it is, 1 month into my stay:

And when London calls, you ALWAYS answer

The new life outlook is "If London calls, you ALWAYS answer". What can I say, it could be a banker. And you know we're all trying to marry rich and live in London. One of the Swedish girls on my trip learned what an American Express black card was last week and then met a 24 year old boy with one this weekend. And that's why you go to London.

Well, besides all the other great things...

Big Ben always seemed like a pretty cool big clock. But it's so much more than that, it's stunning. It has blue and gold embedded into its face that I'm sure would just sparkle if the sun ever shinned. Big Ben is connected to the Parliament building. Unfortunately, we were unable to sit in on a session because both houses were on recess.

Big Ben and Parliament:

Westminster Abbey is located across the street from Parliament. It's a work of architectural genius. Since the building isn't expanding in area, they have literally just cramped memorials and grave sites into every open space, with the Abbey now containing over 3,000 of them. My favorite room is the Lady Chapel, an addition Henry VII built in the 1500s which has an amazing ceiling.

Westminster Abbey:

Hidden garden inside:

The Lady Chapel (we weren't allowed to take pictures inside):

We continued our Harry Potter adventure by walking across the Millennium Bridge, the bridge that gets destroyed by the Death Eaters in the first part of the 6th movie.

Millennium Bridge:

We saw Buckingham Palace as we crowded outside the gates for the changing of the guards. It's literally a mad dash to watch the calvary parade on the street and then to transfer to the fence so you get a good view for the changing of the guards. I got some good pictures from pushing my way through. However, on Sunday, right outside the entrance to the Jewel House, we got to see a changing of the guards from literally 5 feet away! We just happened to have front row seats without even realising what was happening.

Buckingham Palace:

Palace gates:

Changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace (huddled outside the gate):

Changing of the guards outside the Jewel Tour (up-close and personal):

We explored Harrods, one of the first ever department stores, being founded in 1834. You could probably live your life there as it has everything from tea to Oscar dresses to workout machines to live animals. They  even used to sell lions. One was bought by 2 men in 1969 and their reunion story was front page news back in the day.

Harrods:

Christian the Lion story, very touching:

After Harrods, we ventured to stores we could actually afford and I bought my first ever romper... we'll see how that goes.

One night for dinner, we decided to go to Piccadilly Circus, the Times Square of London. After passing 3 sex shops, we found real Mexican (of course that's where it's located). I loved this restaurant though because they had 400+ hot sauces from all over the world, including Texas Pete - which is a product of Winston-Salem, so I of course spotted it from across the room.

Piccadilly Circus:

Wall of 400+ hot sauces:

I even got to see one of my friends from preschool/ summer camp/ high school while in London. She's studying there through her uni, Boston University, and lives in one of the poshest neighborhoods of London, Kensington.

After a long weekend, we were treated to a first class train ride home (which actually proved to be cheaper than standard class), and was a great ending experience to our London trip. After an exhausting weekend, we were served duck, crisps (American chips), fruit, pretzels, cake, wine, and tea. I could get used to first class.

And my one life lesson of the trip: certain types of strangers take better pictures than others. Go for moms with kids in the 5-12 range or Asian couples. With other people, you just end up with huge picture fails. I want a picture of all of us with the MONUMENT, if I just wanted a picture of our group, I could take it in a bathroom for all I care.

One of the strangers we asked to take our picture was completely wasted (he told us)... at 1pm. Let's just say I was scared for my camera's life. He surprisingly knew how to take a good picture though.

Group picture (with monuments!!):

I've already planned my next trip to London, with my beautiful roommate from UNC, Maggie. I can't even wait!

London calling

Best weekend of my life. London is magnificent. I've always heard it's comparable to NYC, but both cities have completely different personalities. Not to mention, London's a cleaner, safer, more historic version and a trillion times better. New favorite city.

Before I get into the details of all the tourist traps I went to, I'm going to set up the stage a little.

Our hostel was an older cottage-like house on the north end of London. We walked in, saw the pretty architecture and nice bar/dining area, even the staff was friendly and invited us to events, so we're feeling pretty great about our choice. Until we get to our room. Try a closet size room for 12 girls, with the bunks stacked 3 high. Terrifying, but I guess all part of the hostel experience.

Bunk beds:

The escalators for the tub lines are also obnoxiously tall. I didn't even realize until I looked straight down from the top, and from then on, I focused my eyes on the eye-level billboards running all the way down on both sides. If you can't tell, I don't care much for heights.

Escalator from the bottom, you can barely see the top!!

London Fog is a brand because it is literally ALWAYS foggy. It's not a nasty metropolitan smog though, it's truly just how the weather pans out.

Being a tourist is exhausting. We packed so much in to the few days we were there and learned that we needed to take it a little easier on later trips.

Okay, now on to the tourist traps. I'll start with my absolute favorite, the Tower of London. Interesting in itself to see another castle and where they held prisoners, etc. But, it's also where they keep all of the Crown Jewels. King Edward had a scepter made with the Star of Africa, the largest piece of the Cullinan Diamond at 530.2 karats (the original Cullinan Diamond was 3,106 karats before being divided into multiple parts because it was "too big" making the owner "too conceited"). Julie and I went down the conveyor belt that passes this scepter, as well as other crowns, rings, scepters, three different times. Yes, we were THOSE girls. But hey, I've never seen so many kinds of jewels that big in one place.

The Tower of London:

Part of it from the inside: 

We saw the Tower of London on a day when we were very active tourists, fitting a lot into the schedule. We also saw the remade Globe theatre, an open-aired theatre built in 1599 by Shakespeare. I enjoyed seeing the actual place where most of Shakespeare's plays had performed after visiting his hometown last Sunday. Today, you can still attend performances there and even buy a groundling ticket, which are the tickets for the standing section right in front of the stage. Back in the day, these were the lower class tickets, but I can't wait to experience a play like this during a later trip to London!

The Globe theatre:

The reconstructed stage:

The Tate Modern, a modern art museum run by the same company as the Tate Liverpool we went to last weekend, was located right next to the Globe. Between this museum, and The National Gallery, we saw van Gogh's, Monet's, Warhol's, Picacco's, Degas's, Cezanne's, Rembrandt's, and so many other talented artists. I was in love viewing these paintings up close because I learned so much about the artist's techniques during my years of art classes.

Since my trip to London was so jam-packed, I'll leave you with this for now.. but stay tunned for a first class train ride experience among other events!

Stratford-Upon-Avon

I love how my weekend filled with Beatles love songs and Shakespearean love stories led straight into Valentines Day. Except my Valentines Day was less about romance and more of a singles bash. I dressed to impress in pink and went out in Deansgate, the more upscale part of Manchester, to their big Monday event - Pout, which I think is very appropriately named for Valentines Day. Just think big red pouty lips and you'll get the idea.

I spent Sunday in the countryside of England in the town of Stratford-Upon-Avon. The one word I have for this town is quaint. The only big thing going for it is Shakespeare. They market 5 tours of Shakespeare's hometown, but it's really funny because some of them are the house of like Shakespeare's granddaughter's husband's cousin's minister's hairdresser. Shakespeare's actual house no longer stands.

Stratford sightings:

City centre:

River Avon:

Stratford-on-Avon District Council building:

We toured Shakespeare's father's house, Shakespeare's birthplace. This one was my favorite because it included the main museum and live actors dressed for the time period. It's amazing how many people shared a 12x20 bedroom. That's the size of my old dorm room, which 2 of us shared. But back in the day, Shakespeare and his family and servants all slept in a room about that size, with those not in the bed sharing floorspace.

The Birthplace:

Then we toured Hall's Croft, Shakespeare's daughter and son-in-law's house, and Nash's House, Shakespeare's granddaughter's first husband's house. They both are typical country houses that have been furnished for the time period. Nash's House has an absolutely stunning garden, that's something I'd want to see again in the springtime.

Hall's Croft:

Nash's House:

The garden (mind you, it's raining):

We decided to walk to Anne Hathaway's cottage (Shakespeare's wife, not the actress). It's famous for its thatched roof. However, right as we decided to perform this mile trek through suburbean England, it of course started to pour rain. Good thing I wore my rain boots. It was very interesting to venture through a small town though, since I've mostly have been visiting cities.

Anne Hathaway's Cottage:

We even saw Shakespeare's grave, which is in the mist of a beautiful church dating back to the 1200s. Even though a lot smaller, I liked this one more than the Liverpool Cathedral because of its old timeyness.

Holy Trinity Church:

Shakespeare's grave:

One thing about England - when you're not eating in the dining hall, there's amazing food. Anything that says English traditional or homemade and I'm in. At this one cafe, I had a homemade cake-like dish covered in cream.

And they really do drink tea all the time, and being a southern girl who doesn't even drink sweet tea that often, I'd never thought I'd say it - but I've started having tea (English breakfast, Eral Grey, or peppermint) at least once a day.

Another interesting part of my Sunday was after I came home. Try being in the shower for all of a minute when the fire alarm gets pulled. Brought me back to my freshman days in Granville West when people would sometimes pull the fire alarm twice in one night. However, people don't exactly just go around pulling the fire alarm here, especially at 10 on a Sunday. So, after much debate, I did get out, change, and didn't even make it down the steps when it stopped. Of course.

Today I found a great website that streams movies for free. Even movies that are still in the theater. I'd been wanting to watch Eat.Pray.Love. since I finished the book on my flight over here. The Italy section is making me so excited to visit over my Spring break!