April Showers at Burghley House

Today I woke up and saw that it was pouring rain. While I had expected to see LOTS of rain during my semester in England, we haven't had much because Lincolnshire is experiencing a serious drought. Anyway, I was a bit sad to see the rain because today was our Honors field trip to Burghley House.
Burghley House is a country house (similar to Harlaxton Manor) that was built in 1555 for a nobleman's family. While the architectural style is similar to Harlaxton, the interior was much grander. I really enjoyed seeing the original furniture and beautiful painted ceilings. Burghley House once welcomed Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as guests, and it was also used during the filming of the 2005 film Pride and Prejudice. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside so I'm going to have to find some...

This is the front of Burghley House. It is surrounded by beautiful gardens, but I didn't feel like traipsing through the rain to enjoy them.        
(http://www.bridgemanart.com/Media%20library/IMAGES/NEWS%20AND%20FEATURES/EN-US/ARTIST%20AND%20COLLECTION%20HIGHLIGHTS/CASTLE_123660_FULL%20STORY.JPG)

This is the famous "Hell Staircase." The ceiling and walls depict  many mythological characters and grotesque  images. 
(http://masudhaq.com/photographs/2009/2009_Visiting_UK/files/UK%20%20021.jpg)

In contrast to the hell staircase, I got to see the "Heaven Room." The paintings were continuous between the walls and the ceiling. If you look at the corner of the room in this picture, you can barely tell where the wall ends and the ceiling begins! It was absolutely beautiful.
(http://asset1.homesandproperty.co.uk/handp/media/Heaven-Room-350x300_959.jpg)

After touring the house, my friend and I stopped for afternoon tea in the Orangery. While I'm not a huge tea drinker, I enjoyed a cup of coffee, some tea cakes, and a delicious scone with clotted cream and strawberry jam. Yum!

Field Trip: London

On Friday, all of the Harlaxton students took a field trip to London. We got up early and took a three hour coach ride to our destination. First, I was supposed to go to the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery in Trafalgar square. I'm not a huge art connaisseur, but it was kind of cool to see the paintings that we've been talking about in British Studies class in person. I was also excited to spot Monet's water lilies and several Van Gogh paintings.
After the art museums, my friend and I ate out packed lunches outside. The weather was beautiful, but I didn't enjoy being surrounded by pigeons!
Next we walked for half an our and made our way to St. Paul's cathedral. On our way, my friend and I were excited to find a little sweet shop that sold American sodas and candy. We've been craving our American goodies! :)
At 2pm, our professors gave us tours in St. Paul's. The cathedral was absolutely beautiful! I wish that I could've taken pictures. The ceilings had beautiful mosaics. I climbed a spiral staircase to reach the Whispering Gallery (Which is a balcony level that is near the top of the dome). The curved walls allow you to whisper to someone on the other side of the dome.
After grabbing some dinner, we walked along the Thames and hopped on our coaches back to Harlaxton. It was my last trip to London for the semsester, and I'm going to miss it very much.

St. Paul's Cathedral

On Saturday night, we had a costume ball at Harlaxton! My roommates and I had fun getting dressed up and seeing everyone's costumes. After dinner, we danced the night away in the Great Hall.

Adventures in Edinburgh

After several hours on the train, my friends and I finally reached Edinburgh, Scotland! 

The scenery on the train was beautiful because our train took us right along the coast.

On Saturday morning, we hiked up a mountain called Arthur's seat just after sunrise. The climb took quite a while, but the view was worth it!

The view from the top of Arthur's Seat. We could see the entire city!

We enjoyed touring Edinburgh castle. It sat on top of a large hill, and we could see it from our hostel window. 

Inside the castle. It was really cool to see how all of the buildings were literally built into the mountain.

We stopped for a snack at the coffee shop where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book. The entire cafe was elephant theme, so there were elephant decorations everywhere.

On Saturday night, we took a ghost tour of Edinburgh (which is known to be a very haunted city). The next morning, we went back to this graveyard because some of the names on the tombstones served as inspiration for J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter characters such as McGonagall and Thomas Riddle. 

And yes, I did see a real life bagpiper wearing a kilt!
I had a wonderful time in Scotland. There were lots of beautiful old buildings in Edinburgh, and we were blessed with beautiful weather. My one regret is that I didn't get to go and search for Nessie the Loch Ness monster. Oh well, guess that means I'll have to go back someday! :) 

York: my new favorite city in England!

After spending last weekend at home at the manor, I decided that this weekend would be the perfect opportunity for a day trip to spice things up. I had talked to several friends who had been to York before and they all had wonderful things to say about it. So, my decision was made!
My friend Danyelle and I grabbed some breakfast at Harlaxton and made our way to the Grantham train station. After spending the last 2 months in England, I've gradually gotten used to using the trains. After some minor issues (our tickets didn't tell us where we needed to get off and switch trains!) we made it to York. One of the nice things about this trip was the fact that we didn't have an itinerary. We wandered around the city and enjoyed the beautiful spring weather.

We stumbled upon Clifford's Tower by accident. It is all that remains of the Norman castle build by William the Conqueror in 1068. The daffodils surrounding it were in full bloom, so it looked beautiful.

This is the York Minster (cathedral). We didn't see much of the inside, but we did get to see some of the medieval stained glass. You can pretty much see this building wherever you are in the city.

There were beautiful flowers everywhere.  The city of York is surrounded by stone walls that you can walk on. The original walls were build by the Romans to protect the city. We walked on the walls for quite a while and enjoyed seeing  the sights from above. 

These are the ruins of St. Mary's Abbey. They are located in the Museum Gardens. Since it was such a beautiful day, the park was filled with people having picnics and enjoying the spring weather. It was so cool to see the backbone of this gothic building resting in the midst of so much life. 

York was a beautiful city, and I'm so glad that I got to see it. Now, it's time to cram for my upcoming British Studies exam! Luckily, there's a light at the end of the tunnel... next weekend I'll be in Scotland!

Guten Tag München!

My trip to Munich began early on Friday morning when my two friends and I hopped on the train to London.  From there we took an hour-long plane ride to Memmigen, Germany (which was the closest town to Munich where we could find cheap plane tickets). We took a taxi from the airport to a nearby train station. My first glimpse of Germany was the picturesque little white houses with red tile roofs. Next, we took a train from Memmigen to Munich. While it was a long train ride, we enjoyed seeing the countryside and were incredibly excited to see the beautiful Alps off in the distance!
I finally arrived in Munich and we were able to easily locate our hostel where we'd be staying for the weekend. Exhausted from a full day of travel, we still made time to visit the iconic Hofbrauhaus (one of Munich's most famous beer halls). I enjoyed a traditional German meal of a bratwurst, sauerkraut, and the most delicious soft pretzel I've ever eaten. The atmosphere in the Hofbrauhaus was incredible, with a live band playing German folk songs and every table full of people enjoying, drinking, and having a good time.

My delicious dinner!

The inside of Hofbrauhaus

The next day, my friends and I took a free walking tour through the city. Our first stop was the Marienplatz, where we watched the Glockenspiel and saw the new and old town halls.

The Glockenspiel. At certain times of the day, music plays and the characters move.

Marienplatz and the Old Town Hall

The new town hall

We got to go inside some beautiful churches, including one where the current pope is from. 

The Munich opera house, which is right next to Residenz (the former residence of the German monarchs).

One of the many beautiful old buildings.

One of the famous towers on St. Mary's Church. Sadly, the other one was being renovated when we visited so it was covered in scaffolding.

My friends and I had a great time exploring Munich. I wish that we could have stayed longer, but it was still great to get a little taste of German culture!

Chester, Llandundo, Caernarfon, Llanberis, Betws y Coed... A Weekend Adventure in North Wales

After weeks of planning independent trips with friends, I was very excited to go on a school trip to North Wales where all of my transportation and lodging were planned for me. All I had to do was show up! 

We left at 8:30am and made our first stop in the town of Chester. 

 

We explored the shops and saw the cathedral and the 2nd most photographed clock in the UK (2nd to Big Ben). After several hours in Chester, we hopped back on our coach and drove several hours north to the seaside town of Llandundo where we would find our hotel. Our hotel was on the street directly in front of the coast but, to our dismay, it was mostly rainy and cloudy when we arrived. However, I was excited to see that my friend and I had managed to get a hotel room with a view of the ocean! Llandundo was a quaint little seaside town and its status as a popular retirement town was reinforced by the fact that the entire town closed promptly at 6 pm! Not exactly an ideal situation for college students, but it made for a relaxing weekend.

The next morning greeted us with pouring rain! Luckily, it cleared up right when we reached the village of Caernarfon. I had a great time exploring Caernarfon Castle with some friends. The castle contained many stone spiral staircases, many of which were so steep that you had to cling for dear life to a rope railing! We climbed up into many of the towers and the ramparts provided a beautiful view of the sea and village. 

View of Caernarfon from the ramparts of the castle 

Next stop was Llanberis! We drove through Snowdonia National Park to get there and the mountains were absolutely beautiful. 

On the day of our departure, we were very happy to finally wake up to a sunny morning in Llandundo! 

On the way home, our coach made a stop at Swallow Falls. We hiked down the steps to view the waterfall. 

We also stopped for lunch in a little town called Betws Y Coed. It was fun to hear people speaking Welsh during our trip. All of the signs that we saw were in both Welsh and English. We sometimes tried to pronounce the words but it was difficult because a lot of the words didn't have any vowels! 

Betws Y Coed

Peterborough

Yesterday I went on an honors field trip to Peterborough. The main purpose of our visit was to see Peterborough cathedral, which was built in the 12th century. The inside of the cathedral was very impressive, especially the painted wooden ceiling. We also got to see the tomb of Catherine of Aragon, who was the first wife of Henry VIII and the original burial place of Mary Queen of Scots. It was cool to see these because we have been learning all about these people in our British Studies class.

Here's the cathedral! I don't have any pictures of the inside because I didn't feel like paying for a picture license.

This was in the center of town. After visiting the cathedral, we just walked around and looked at the shops.