Paris - Week 1

So I realize that I haven't posted anything about France and I've been here almost a week. Hmm, maybe because it has been crazy, but you probably figured that one out. Staying at the hotel the first two nights really kind of sucked. You can't really relax in a hotel, it doesn't feel like you can settle in. I always feel slightly in limbo in hotels. It was nice when we finally made it to our host homes. My roommate and I have the cutest little french lady as our host. She speaks mostly french to us, except when we really can't figure out what she is saying.
The French is coming along, slowly. My teacher spent about an hour with me going over pronunciation. That was helpful. I'm not very good at talking. It's a little sad. My teacher also asked how I was doing with the reading because I probably have the least experience reading at the level we are reading at. Fortunately I have a few tricks that help me understand the text. (Yeah, that would be reading the text in English either before or after).
Ok, it was definately a surreal feeling walking up to this. I honestly never thought I would get to see the Eiffle Tower in person. So surreal.



Yeah, and this is looking up from underneath the Tower.



We didn't go up. We almost walked up the stairs, but we went on Sunday and we decided we would come another time when we weren't all in our church shoes.

London - Day 2

Anyone know how to make my pictures face the right direction?
Sorry, most of them are sideways!!



Here's a picture to show, yes I really was in London. PS. I don't know how to PhotoShop it, so unless I hired someone else, its real.


Westminster Abbey. Pretty cool!



Buckingham Palace. I don't think the queen is in.


Tower of London. I know I said it was my favorite place in all London already, but its still true.



Traitor's Gate. Oh, so much history!!



Tower Bridge. It was very exciting to cross. I think I took fifteen pictures just on the bridge.


We ran into the other three girls from our program on the South Bank. Small world!


The Globe. Of course I had to visit it. I'm just sad I didn't make it to Stratford-Upon-Avon.


St Paul's. This is where I actually got the chills. It was just such a great day. After St Paul's we went back.


But not before I found my favorite statue. It's called Young Lovers and I have no idea why I liked it so much, but I did. Statues don't normally speak to me (expect in the British Museum) and I don't really like the whole anonymous lovers statues, but this one I did.

London - Day 1

Alright, back to my stay in England. Its taking a while to upload the pictures to the site, maybe I should make my pics smaller. We went into London after resting in Colchester. We went in with a group from Colchester, they showed us how to use the train and metro and we split a family pass with them because it was less expensive. It was cool. Travel buddy and I wandered down to Notting Hill Gate, which was fun, and up Portabello Road. Then I had that song from Bedknobs and Broomsticks stuck in my head all day. I think that was one of my favorite movies as a child. Travel Buddy had no idea what I was talking about.



We met up with a friend from the program and went to the British museum. What a treasure!! It was amazing! We only saw a few rooms, but they were so amazing! I was able to hold a bead from the first or second century and a little bronze man from somewhere between the first to fourth century. That was so neat! Here are some highlights from the Museum, in no particular order.


Some English school children on a field trip. All in their uniforms. Not something you see often in the US.


The Rosetta Stone! This was one of my favorites. They had a replica you could touch in another room.


A little piece of Egypt. They also had one arm.


I think these were called Neriads, but I'm probably wrong. I loved! the Greek statues!


This lady is a caryatid. She was used in place of a pillar to support the roof. Apparently the other ones that were not moved to England have been removed from the original site, moved to a different museum and have been replaced by replicas. I think she is beautiful.


These statues were so cool! I couldn't believe I was actually there seeing them! I was actually quite sad that they were supposed to be in Italy, but their bodies were in England and some of their heads were in Germany. Not sure I'd like that if it were me.
I think I could spend two days at the British Museum, probably longer. We didn't see Africa or China, Korea, India, Japan, or anything but Greek, Roman, Egypt and a little of Europe. They had so many mummies! I loved the Museum. Just so much stuff!!

Oh. Whoops

Apparently it won't be as easy to get online as I had hoped, so the pics will be long coming, and my blogging won't be as frequent as I was planning. Saturday, we rode into London on the train and met up with two of the other girls in our program. We took a little detour to the train station next to the Eurostar station because we were right next to King's Cross and Platform 9 3/4. So I have pictures of the platform. They have a trolley halfway through the wall outside-ish so you don't have to buy a ticket to see the platform. Probably wise because everyone wants to see it.
I fell asleep on the Chunnel before we went underwater. Oh well, it was really just dark anyway. I sat next to a nice gentleman who was a conductor of a symphony and choir. We took a taxi to the hotel and found a couple other girls and we went to get crepes. Then we met up with the directors and found out what was going on.
This morning, we got ready and travel buddy was rooming with another girl and they did not wake up before breakfast. They were like ten minutes late. We went to church and they spoke french the entire time. Quel suprise. I actually understood quite a bit, but not everything.
I'll have to catch up later because someone else needs to get on the internet, but I had to drop something real quick!!

I love England

We went into London again today. I'll have to upload the pictures later. It was so fun to see so much, and we still just barely got to the tip of the iceberg!! By far my favorite is the Tower of London. That was the coolest thing I've seen. We didn't get to go inside because we got there too late. We got there too late for everything, but it was still really cool. We ran into the other girls in our program walking along the South Bank. It was totally crazy! So all of us were in the same place at the same time. It sure is a small world!!
Anyway, there are more pictures to come, but its really hard to get them uploaded right now and I am really tired. But they are coming soon!

More Colchester!

This is the shoulder of a whale. It was used for the sign of an inn. It was in the Natural History Museum. I just thought it was cool.


This is Colchester Castle. It was built over the Roman Temple of Claudius. It is also the largest keep ever built by the Normans. It is now a museum, surrounded by a park. The Roman wall of the last post is part of the Park also. The park is beautiful, it also has a sensory garden where you can smell the herbs planted all around.

A Day in Colchester

Wednesday, we decided to not go in to London, but to spend a little time in the city we are staying in. Colchester happens to be the oldest recorded town in Britain. Pretty cool!!
First we stopped by the Natural History Museum. It was pretty neat, it was a converted church and we could see the old stain glass windows. They had life size pictures of a mammoth and a mastodon. I just don't compare


We also found a little door, but it appears that no one was home.


We saw lots of sculptures of the Lion and the Unicorn. Travel Buddy didn't know what I was talking about when I told her there was a poem about it, but I looked it up for her later.


A view looking down a cool street in Colchester

This Roman wall was built in 120 AD! I was so excited to touch something that old.


I've got more to show, but the computer isn't letting me upload right now. I'll be back with more, plus today's trip to London!! (And I'll figure out how to flip those pics around!!)