Lake District, England

The Lake District was a chance to get in touch with nature and my adventurous side. The first day we decided bike riding would be a nice way to get around and see what all the area had to offer. Well it was nice, nice and hard. After a good 20 minutes riding around aimlessly searching- we finally found the entrance to the bike trail. We warned about "a nightmare of a hill" at the beginning of the loop, so naturally we went the opposite way. It started out as a relaxing time, riding next to sheep grazing in the pastures and couples taking an afternoon stroll but then our trail started to continually increase and that's when the real adventure began. We ended up biking in the mountains- discovering what gives a mountain bike its name. It was tough but rewarding and well worth the incredible views we were able to see.

The next day our endurance was even further put to the test. We went ghyll scrambling and rock climbing. Ghyll scrambling involved climbing an extremely long waterfall and getting extremely wet in the process. And as intense as that sounds- i was much more intimidated by rock climbing. Maybe because I was one of the last people to go so i got a lot of time to analyze how large the mountain was and how long it would take me to hit the ground if I were to fall. But I sucked it up and managed to make it to the top. and holy cow was it an adrenaline rush. not wanting to come down from my natural high- i jumped on another course and made it to the top in record time.

Mum and auntie come to visit

The first week of March I got a visit from two cute little american ladies- my mother and my aunt kathy!
i took the train up to London on Friday and met them at their hotel- i cant believe im saying hotel and not hostel. Upon my arrival I discovered they had already made best friends with the receptionist- not a huge shock if you know my mother. After many hugs and "omigosh i cant believe you're really here" we headed to the Tower of London. I thought going to see the Castle/tower was pretty cool because we've heard so much about it in my British studies class- a much more rewarding experience than I would've ever thought. But the coolest part of the tour, which we didn't go over in class, was the crown jewels. they were huge! one on a scepter was the biggest in the world- to give you an idea as to how big they were. i wonder if they would consider putting a couple of them on loan? After navigating our way through the under ground (i was a little nervous that I would lose one of them but thankfully they both wore their neon green and blue raincoats) we went to Harrods. omg best store ever! they had everything from a eye shadow to candy that looked like fruit(see the picture above if you don't believe me) to valentino to a fish market. The next day we went to St. Pauls Cathedral, where my mother struck a stunning pose in front of the Queen Anne statue. Then we went to Piccadilly for some shopping and Leicester Square for dinner. Sunday we went to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guards and a walk to Hyde Park. Then I brought them back to Harlaxton for a couple of days. It was refreshing to have them here a. obviously because I missed them b. there excitement over the manor renewed my own- things tend to loose their luster over time. But once I stopped to think "hey, i live in a castle" I was reminded of what a nice ring it has to it. During my class time, the two got to do some of their own exploring after which point a couple of my friends informed me they had to point the two in the right direction. But they seemed to manage because by the end of the two days my mother was once again on a first name basis with the receptionists. Monday night we took mum and kathy out to the Goose, the usual pub we go to. It was a fun night- good company, cheap drinks, and a good game of british trivia in which we knew absolutely nothing about. Tuesday they got a chance to explore Grantham on their own, which I'm sure took all of about a half hour but they seemed to enjoy it none the less. Then I joined them at Blue Hog for a farewell dinner. I greatly appreciated them hoping the pond to come see me because it ended up being a very enjoyable week with the girls.

Prague

Hiya! time has been flying by way too fast and I have once again found myself to be quite behind on my blog updates. my apologies. So to jump right into things- Prague or Praha as they say, was very a interesting city. Our first day we went to the Charles Bridge. The bridge was about a mile long stretch of painters, street vendors, jazz players, biblical statues, and fabulous views of the city. It was very unique and one of my favorite parts of the city. After crossing the bridge and climbing a hill that rivals the one at Eau Claire, we made it to the Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral area. We saw a lot of dogs, a movie or maybe it was a commercial?- well something being filmed, a lot of puppets which kind of creeped me out, and an absolutely incredible view overlooking the entire city (which until then i hadn't realized what a populated and large city it is)! The city had a lot of fascinating architecture, as well as a lot of natural/nature aspects, so it was really cool to see all of it from one spot. At night we made our own dinner at the hostel- not to brag, but we made some damn good pesto- and then we went to an absinthe bar. Absinthe is apparently "the drink" of Prague and happens to be illegal in the US, so naturally we had to have a shot. It was absolutely great watching the guy prepare it- which involved fire, a sugar cube, an absinthe spoon, and a very intricate mixing process- but taking the shot was absolutely disgusting. It tasted like I was drinking burning hot black licorice- yummy right?! haha ya im glad i tried it but I think I'll be ok if i never have it again. Finally we went to Lucerna to dance the night away. The next day we went to the "old town" part of Prague. First stop was a huge market, where I was tempted to buy a lot more than I actually did, simply because you feel like you're using Monopoly money (1,000 crowner= about $50). Then we went to the Jewish Ghetto (during WWII they made all the Jews live in this part of town which purposely was the lowest part of town and often flooded). I've never seen anything like it- the tombstones were literally stacked one on top of the other- very sad. Afterwards we wandered around some more and went back to the hostel by sundown. We were so impressed with out pesto making skills, and it was extremely cheap to make, that we decided to make it again for dinner. Then some of us went out with some boys from Holland that we met at our hostel. At the bar we ended up meeting some boys from France which I was excited about thinking they would be impress with french speaking skills, but once I actually had to recall my francais I found it to be much more limited than I had anticipated so we resulted to a lot of hand gesturing. it was great fun.

Ireland

For a different type of traveling experience in Ireland we decided to do the Paddywagon Tour. It was basically a tour bus, complete with a tour guide-Joe in our case, that took us on a 3 day tour of southern Ireland. The first day we started in Dublin, where the Guiness factory happens to be located, and traveled to Galway. Along the way we stopped at Clonmacnoise- the sight of a really old monastery and castle. Next, we drove along the countryside some more and then ended up in Galway for the night. We had a couple Guiness at a more low key bar and then moved on to a more lively/younger crowd bar. While listening to Bob Marley and Led Zeppelin at "King's Head" we made friends with some Aussie's who were on a similar Paddywagon Tour (no matter where I go- I seem to meet more Aussies than natives). Looking for a taste of some traditional Irish music we headed to a pub called "Traditional Irish Music"- thinking we might find what we were looking for. And it was- we barely could move because it was so packed with people listening to the band in the corner playing some Irish and Celtic tunes. I was finally able to chat with some Irish people, thank god, who were lovely and ended up buying us a round- of Guiness no less. The next day we rode along the Atlantic ocean as we cruised down the West Coast. We made a pit stop to run around the lunar landscape of the Burren before gazing in awe at the cliffs of moher. The cliffs were absolutely intimidating and absolutely incredible. And I dear not say how close we got to the edge (huge adrenaline rush) for fear of my mother reading this and having a heart attack. Once we left there we headed to Killarney, where we went to another Irish pub with some more traditional music. This time everyone was singing along to the band, well mainly the Irish people who knew the words and a few drunk people who thought they knew the words. We also got to witness some authentic jigging this time-one was riverdance reminiscent and the other was called the "Brush dance" or maybe it was bush? Eventually we did some singing and some jigging of our own-after some Guiness of course. It was a feck'n terrific night. The next day we went to kiss the blarney stone and headed back to Dublin. Ireland was definitely "happy days"- a line used often Joe.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam was a very interesting trip to say the least. We arrived Thursday night at our hostel "Durty Nelly's", which later earned the name durty because i was woken up in the middle night to some roommates screaming about a mouse in our room. ya that was fun. Friday we went to the Van Gogh museum. I think we spent 3 hours there, and when i say we i mean 5 Midwestern boys too, so you know it had to be quite good. One of the things that stood out to me- they had a floor of all his inspirations and sketches leading up to his final masterpieces- who knew brilliant artists had to practice too?! After that we went to the Anne Frank house. Its been awhile since I've read the book but it is just as i had pictured it. It was kind of a morbid experience but it was neat to be a part of history like that. It was perfect weather all weekend so we walked everywhere we went. The city was filled with beautiful canals, trendy people sipping their lattes outside and speaking languages I have never heard of, kids playing in the park, and french fries vendors on every corner (I have a new found love for french fries with ketchup and mayonnaise. i know it sounds weird but I swear its delicious). The city during the day is absolutely fantastic and the city at night is well, flashy, for lack of a better word. All the creepers decide to come out- whispering drug offers as you go by. And walking through the infamous red light district- well there is a whole different breed of creepers there. My friend jenny and I decided to prove we were strong independent women so we headed out by ourselves one night and much to the guys surprise, as well as our own, we managed to survive "hell's circus" as i might describe it (i forgot to mention that our hostel happened to be located in the red light district- the guys preference).

Edinburgh

hello from the mother land! well a couple weekends ago I made my first voyage out of England and into Scotland, more specifically Edinburgh. And I believe that Edinburgh is actually the "windy city", not Chicago, and add a lot of rain and you have the lovely weather we endured on our first day. Hood up and boots flooded, we went on a walking tour of the city. First stop we went to see Friar Grey's Bobby (a dog that stood on his masters grave until his own death- i promise its alot better story when told in detail) and the graveyard where he lay. This lead into the introduction of Edinburgh being the most haunted city in Britain (maybe why RL Stein began and finished writing the Harry Potter series there?). We went to see the castle then ended our day like it began with another tour underneath the city where plague victims were found. The next day we did our own, less scary, exploration of the city. This exploration included bumping into "William Wallace", numerous bagpipers, St. Giles Cathedral, and Dolly the sheep in the Scotland Museum. That day also happened to be Australian Day, oh i forgot i think half the population might be Australian. But the part of the population that is Scottish well tell you exactly how proud they are to be Scottish and that they wanted to association with England- I eventually learned to fail to mention where I was going to school due to the latter. Our final day we climbed Canton Hill to reach a breathtaking view of the entire city. It was a creepy, yet fantastic weekend.

London, Lincoln, and Nottingham

Hello all. Sorry I'm so slow at posting things. Life abroad has proven to be a lot more busy than I had anticipated. But to dive right into things.... two weeks ago I went to London and it was a great place to start my travelling. There was so much to see, new and old, and so much to do, during the day and at night. We arrived Friday and I made a point to head directly to the National Gallery(bottom picture). It was incredible, from the water fountains outside to the DaVincis and Turners inside. The next day we managed to get up early to go see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. It was quite the parade(video at the end). Then we went on to see Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. Westminster was absolutely breathtaking and inspiring. Even if you're not a religious person you have to be an awe of it's grandeur and artistry.

The following Friday, January 18th, we went on a school field trip to Lincoln. It was interesting because we got to see some of the historical sites we are learning about in our British Studies course, such as Lincoln Castle and Cathedral (middle picture). In the castle they had one of the original four existing copies of the Magna Carta. It's hard to fathom something that old is still legible today. Last but not least, I had my first tea party there and chatted with two older ladies who shared there stories of living in the english countryside. It was a lovely day trip.

Leaving directly from Lincoln, I headed to Nottingham with some anxiety for my first hostel experience. Thankfully, I was travelling with a bunch of classmates so we ended up taking over most of our 12 person room. However, one of our random roomies was an Australian mate who became our tour guide to Nottingham night life. The next day we had intentions of going to Nottingham forest, home of Robin Hood, but we were told it would be a 45 minute bus ride to get there. So for future reference, Nottingham forest is not actually in Nottingham. But not all was lost- Nottingham had a ridiculous amount of shopping. So needless to say we did a little bit of shopping that day. On Sunday we decided to do some more wondering around the city before we caught our train. We found this fabulous place called the Pitcher & Piano, which was a cathedral that had been turned into a classy bar(top picture). So I was able to tell my mom that even with all this travelling and studying, I'm still able to go to church on Sunday. haha well until next time- i miss you all and I hope you're all staying warm! cheers!
P.S. just in case some of you are not familiar with the world of blogging (I certainly wasn't until recently) you are able to write comments on my blog if you would prefer that instead of writing me emails. But I get excited to hear from everyone no matter what form its in!