A quiet(er) day and a few words on dogs...

Only two pictures today, I'm afraid, and both of food. Thought I'd give you fair warning. But that doesn't mean today was uneventful, not at all. Today was the the first free day we've had, no class, no planned excursions, so it was kind of a nice change. There were also only two of us here at the flat today; my friend Meredith and I. Our other two flatmates were both gone, one for the entire weekend visiting relatives, and the other just for today on a trip to Paris. So we went and walked around Portobello Market this morning. That place is wonderful, so many things to see, so many stands with food, clothes, antiques, you name it. I love just wandering around. And it's literally a block from where we live. This afternoon, we took the Tube to Camden Market, which is another market, quirkier than Portobello. I think I prefer Portobello, but Camden was an interesting place to be. And all these food places have extensive displays in the windows, so it's always tempting walking down the street. We took a few steps past one bakery, stopped, looked at each other, and immediately turned around and went in. They had so many things, it was hard to decide! But, I did decide (finally); this cheese, potato, and onion pie, which was completely delicious:

And this, which they called a "Truffle", but I don't know about that. The rest of it is sitting in the refrigerator right now. I haven't made up my mind about it yet. It's chocolate, but it's got raisins in it. And you know how I feel about raisins cooked in things. Anyway, I'll probably give it another try later this evening:

So I'm currently attempting to get some work done on my 3,000 word essay that I have to write for my class. That wasn't working so well this evening. So I went for a run. Didn't get lost, so that was an accomplishment, I thought. And then I spent some quiet time in our garden. I think I'm going to try and do that every evening. It's a great place to sit quietly and think, or meditate, or pray, or just enjoy the smell of the roses and the quiet. I love it.

This is slightly out of place, but I have been wanting to say a few words on British dogs. Which is important, I think, as someone who has spent extensive amounts of time around these creatures in the past, and as England seems to be a hub for dogs and dog-lovers. There are dogs everywhere. Everywhere. Now, there are lots of dogs at home. But American dogs are completely different from British dogs. First of all, the breeds here are very different than what I'd see at Petco everyday. Very few of these fluffy little shih-tzu/designer fluffball things. Lots of terriers, which is an automatic plus in my book. Terriers are one of the best types of dogs, in my opinion. They have brains, which is helpful. Large terriers, small terriers, smooth-coated, wire-haired, purebreds, mutts I've seen veritable herds of them around here (literal herds, I saw a guy walking 5 dogs the other day). The second important point about British canines. They are very typically British. Meaning, they are polite, keep to themselves, and comport themselves in an admirable manner. Many people walk their dogs without leashes around here. The dogs will sit outside the supermarket while their owners shop. When they are on leashes, there is none of this pulling and choking business. Well, for the most part; there are a few belonging to a particular German hound breed that I have seen that don't follow this pattern. But that is to be expected of them, as you well know. So that is my short dissertation on the Dogs of Britain. I am well pleased with them, and with their owners.

And that is all for today, I'm going to go work on my essay now, and hopefully make some headway with it. Thank you for staying with me on this adventure, you all are in my thoughts and prayers!! Ta ta for now!!

Not only about Jane Austen

Today, we went to Bath, on the train. I have decided that travelling by train through England is one of the most delightful forms of transportation. We arrived at Bath and had an extensive tour that included pretty much the entire perimeter. We saw the Royal Crescent, and toured through the Number 1 house, which was pretty much the fanciest residence in its day. We also saw this Church:

This is where Jane Austen's parents were married, and her father is buried here, and we saw his grave. This is also the church where William Wilberforce married Barbara Spooner.

Afterward these Austen-significant locations, the class went our separate ways, and we had lunch at a lovely pub:

I had sausages and mash again, so delicious. And, we chose a table at random, and when we looked up, there she was:

Jane Austen herself joined us for lunch. Bath also has some wonderful shopping opportunities, which we took full advantage of. I treated myself to a P.G. Wodehouse book, and it's one I haven't read, which is even better! We also went to Marks & Spencer, which is a fancy department store, but also a supermarket. They were selling four jelly donuts for one pound. I've always stayed away from jelly donuts, I don't know why. So I got some today. My life is changed. They were amazing.

We also saw this bridge in Bath:

Look familiar? This was one of the filming locations for Les Miserables. Russell Crowe jumped off this bridge. Pretty awesome.

Today was also sweltering hot, if you're going by British standards. Mid-eighties. So not very hot by Missouri standards. But, very few places here have air-conditioning, so it was a bit warm, particularly on the train home. But, it was beautiful and sunny, so it was worth it.

And that's that. I'm afraid I've been rather brief (although that's probably a relief for those of you reading this), but I figured it would balance out with the novels I've been writing on here these past few days. Love you all!! Cheers, and all that!

Also, almost forgot, very important:

Beware the Ides of- well, you know

It is currently 11:25 pm here, and 5:25 pm at home. The whole time difference thing still throws me off. Anyway, just got back from the Globe. But I'll get to that soon enough. Must begin at the beginning, which would be this morning. Except not much happened. We did go browsing in the shops and stands in Portobello Market, which was very fun. The fashion here is very Audrey, so that's always nice. Then we had class, of course, and today we gave our oral presentations. Usually, I do quite a bit of practice and preparation for speeches and such, this time, well, that didn't happen. But, I think it went really well. It was supposed to be at least 5 minutes long, and those of you who know about my speeches for my Communications class this past semester know only too well that this would be no problem for me. I actually finished, feeling like it was rather short, in fact, shorter than 5 minutes. But lo and behold, 8 minutes and 46 seconds. Typical Audrey. Once you give me the floor I am loathe to give it up. And I do have a video of the presentation, it's just a little rough because my head is basically cut off (would've been appropriate if I were speaking about Henry VIII, but not so much William Wilberforce). So if anyone has a burning desire to see it/ hear it, I can post it here later. Anyway, so first Uni assignment completed!

But, most importantly, today we went to Shakespeare's Globe theater to see a performance of Julius Caesar. However, first, we had to summon all our London smarts to reach our destination. Basically, we got to the Tube station, got on the Tube, and then had to get right back off, they were closing it down for maintenance. So, we had to find an alternate route to the place where we were meeting everyone to go to the play. We figured out which station we needed to get to, and how to get there, speed-walked the entire way, worrying we were going to be late and they would leave with out us. Got there 20 minutes early. Needless to say, we were pretty proud of our achievement. Anyway, tangent over. The Globe:

We had floor tickets, which meant that we stood for about 3 hours straight. But it was SO worth it!! We were so close, it was like we were really part of it! And the acting? I couldn't believe how incredibly talented each and every one of the cast was. And being so close made it that much better! It also meant that we got splattered with stage blood when they killed (the innocent) Cinna the Poet, thinking he was Cinna the political figure. Pretty awesome. Probably the best theater experience I've ever had.

And here's the outside:

Also, super exciting, I found out that my camera has somewhere around 20 different settings, which means I can now take awesome night photos, museum photos, and pretty much everything else. Took me three years, but I am now ready to usher in a new era of better photos! Also, St. Paul's Cathedral at night, from across the Thames:

While we were walking past St. Paul's, I was idly humming "Feed the Birds", one of the best songs ever. And then, a couple steps ahead, I saw this!

The Mary Poppins book bench!!

So that was today! Shakespeare in London! And tomorrow? Off to Bath, to spend more time with Jane Austen! But for now? Shower and bed. Night night!

So Many People!!

Today, we were supposed to visit Dr. Johnson's House in London, with our Jane Austen class. He was Jane Austen's favorite author. Anyway, although we boarded the Tube on time, some kind of weird time warp thing happened and we ended up getting to our meeting point late, and the class had already left without us. Sad. But, we had two hours until our actual class, so we decided to go to the British Museum. Which ended up being a bit farther away from campus than we had originally thought. So, as it turned out, we had about half and hour to spend in this enormous museum completely packed with people:

And the number of people in this photo is very small compared to how many people were actually there. Still, Kelli and I succeeded in seeing some of the most important things. The Rosetta Stone, for instance:

And this guy from Easter Island. Didn't ask me for any gum, though, which was slightly disappointing. I even had a pack of gum in my bag:

So, the British Museum in half and hour. I thought we did rather well, considering the amount of people there. It really is a gorgeous place, I feel like we didn't do it justice with our time constraint. I'd like to go back sometime and spend all day wandering around, it's chock-full of awesome artifacts. But, had to get to class. On the way back, though, I found the Agatha Christie book bench! Illustrated from a story I actually have never read (I know, shocking, right?), because it was part of a manuscript that was only recently discovered. Greenshaw's Folly, it's called. I need to pick up a copy of it. Someone was sitting on the bench, so I had the get a picture with the back of it. In the upper left corner you can see the James Bond bench as well. Pretty cool stuff.

After class, we headed to Oxford Street, which has tons of stores for shopping. It, also was absolutely packed. It reminded me of being at the Plaza in Kansas City, only about 5 times as many people. It was a lot of fun, though, and we got some good deals. They also had a Disney store, where we saw the queen!

Well, more like Minnie Mouse dressed like the queen. Still pretty awesome, in my opinion. I also had an impromptu karaoke session because they were playing the Frozen soundtrack and I, of course, know all the words to pretty much every song. It was great.
Tomorrow is my oral presentation, which is finished, for the most part? There's a question mark because I still need to run through it and see how long it takes me. Also tomorrow, ISA is taking us to see Shakespeare's Julius Caesar at the Globe!! Which will be awesome!! Hope you are all doing well! Cheers until tomorrow!!

Entering the World of Jane Austen

Yep, that's pretty much what this day was all about. Jane Austen. Ergo, it was a fantastic day. We depart on a train from Waterloo Station this morning, heading towards Alton, which is in Hampshire, England. Jane Austen was born in Steventon, which is a small town not far from Alton, where she moved with her mother and sister, Cassandra, after their father died. Her brother, Edward, had been adopted by a wealthy aunt and uncle when he was in his early teens, and consequently inherited their estate of Chawton when they died. He provided the Austen ladies with a permanent place to live at Chawton cottage, charging them no rent. Chawton cottage is just down the road from Chawton House, where Edward lived and managed his estate. It definitely brings to mind the situation of the Dashwoods in Sense and Sensibility, with Barton Cottage, as it is the same kind of set up. Upon arriving in Alton, we first visited Chawton House, which has been turned into the Library of Early English Women's Writing. This is actually the back of the house, but you get the idea of how gorgeous it is.

Didn't get any pictures of the inside, because flashes weren't permitted, and I am so incredibly technologically brilliant, that I don't know how to turn my camera's flash off. So that didn't happen. But I got to sit at a dining table that Jane Austen sat at, and sat at a window where she used to sit. We had a wonderful tour of the house, and then out into the garden and the "wilderness", which is a garden designed to look like a small natural forest. Reference to Pride and Prejudice, when Lady Catherine asks Lizzy to take a stroll with her in the "prettyish bit of wilderness" outside Longbourne ("Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?"). And this is what we came upon at the end of the walk:

 There was a herd of sheep in this field too, they just weren't smart enough to get in the photo. Sigh. Then we had lunch on the grounds. So I sat and ate my peanut butter and Nutella sandwich and read the first chapter of Mansfield Park. Peanut butter and Nutella is my new favorite sandwich. I have one at least every day. Extremely yummy.

There was also a dog that joined us later when we were all sitting together discussing Jane Austen. Clear evidence that her work is universal. 

They also have horses that are actually trained to do classical farm work, like pulling a plow and such. This particular one reminded me of St. Louis. Clydesdale.

To finish up on the House, we saw the graves of Jane's sister Cassandra, and their mother.

We continued on to Chawton Cottage, where Jane actually lived. This also had incredibly beautiful gardens, of course. And I did get pictures of the inside on this one. Much smaller than Chawton House, but very quaint and charming. Most significantly, this was Jane's room:

We also had the opportunity to play dress-up, which clothes from the Regency period. I didn't get an pictures, but a couple of my friends did, so once they post them, I will share them with you all. Just wanted to give you a heads up to prepare you for the awesomeness. Not only that, but we learned how to dance a Regency dance today as well. The dance that Lizzy dances with Mr. Collins in the Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice? Yep, did that today. I wish I had a video of all of us, it was quite the little comedy. By the end, though, we had gotten pretty darn good.

I also took an incredibly huge amount of photos today, mostly flowers in the gardens, so you can check those out on Facebook if you so desire. I firmly believe that the English countryside has nothing to equal it, and it was absolutely lovely spending all day in it. And seeing these important places from Jane Austen made the stories come to life even more, and now, whenever I read them (which is practically all the time) I will remember this.

Until tomorrow, then!

Redcoats and Crown Jewels

Sundays are my favorite days here, I think. Everything is a bit quieter, things are a bit slower, everything closes early. Which is inconvenient in some cases, but also nice, especially for those who have to work. Today, I got up early and met up with my friend Jessi so we could attend Mass. We went to Westminster Cathedral. Which is different from Westminster Abbey. The Abbey is Anglican, the Cathedral is Catholic. Which brings me to something I've noticed since coming here, and I wanted to mention it before moving on, and that is the English's respectful treatment and views on Catholics. In the U.S., it sometimes seems like Catholicism is viewed negatively, and treated as such in the media. Here in England, I have not heard anything negative. I've listened to quite a few accounts of British history by now, what with my Jane Austen tutor, and our various tour guides on our excursions. They always present a shockingly bipartisan account of the history of the Church of England with Henry VIII, Mary, and Elizabeth, etc., acknowledging the faults on both sides. It's quite refreshing. Anyway, this is where we attended Mass today:

After Mass, we hot-footed it over to Buckingham Palace, to see the 11:30 changing of the guards. We got there early to ensure good location, and so ended up waiting about an hour and a half, but I think it was worth it.

And, of course, all the horses were beautiful, but this one particularly, dark bays will always be my favorite, as you well know:

The crowds were immense at this thing, but we were lucky enough to get out just before it ended and just before it started pouring rain. This afternoon, ISA took us to the Tower of London. Awesome.

One of the first things we saw when we went through the gates were the ravens. They always have six ravens in residence, and each one has a wing that is clipped, so they can't fly away, although according to our tour guide, a couple years ago one did flap over the walls and ended up loitering around in front of a pub.

The first thing we saw were the Crown Jewels. No cameras were allowed, so no pictures, but they were absolutely stunning. We saw everything from Henry VIII's mace to Victoria's crown, and the fabled Koh-i-noor diamond set in Queen Elizabeth's crown. I remember that from Agatha Christie, The Secret of Chimneys, I think. So that was fun.

We also saw the area devoted to torture, which was surprisingly small. Only 48 of the 72-ish (can't remember the exact number) of the Tower's prisoners were actually tortured. But what there was was pretty brutal. The rack, of course, but then also a machine that was the opposite, they put the prisoner in it, and slowly made it smaller and smaller until the prisoner was completely doubled up. And, of course, the prisoners at the Tower were usually of more noble blood, traitors to the crown. Which meant that they probably weren't criminals, but just happened to disagree with the monarch of the time. St. Thomas More was one of these. I could go on and on about all the stuff I learned today, but I'm afraid it would make this far too long. In fact, that's pretty much been the story everyday, with Brighton, Canterbury, and Dover as well. So just make sure to ask me about it all when I return. 

And, to finish off the day, we got ice cream. Other than a chocolate bar and Nutella, this is the first dessert I've had here, so, of course, I had to take a picture.

I realized that yesterday marked the one-week anniversary of my being in London. All I can say is that I hope the next two go just as well, and I learn just as much, or more than I did this week. It's been an incredible adventure thus far, and I'm trying to take advantage of every opportunity for expanding my mind and experience. Basically, I'm having a blast. Ta ta for now!

Canterbury and Dover

We awoke bright and early this morning to meet our ISA group at the tube station to depart on our bus trip to Canterbury and then to Dover, both areas in Kent. Canterbury is about 2 hours east of London, and is, of course, the site of the martyrdom of Thomas a Beckett, making it a hotspot for pilgrimages, featured in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. During Medieval times, Canterbury was completely surrounded by stone walls, and every evening they would ring the bells to announce the closing of the gates in fifteen minutes. After that, you wouldn't be able to get through until morning. So anyone riding their horse, heading for Canterbury, would hear the bells, and know how much time they had to get there. Galloping would tire the horse out before reaching the destination, and trotting would be too slow, so they would pick up a pace in between a trot and gallop. Thus, from the town of Canterbury, we get the term "canter" as the name for that gait that is between a trot and a gallop. Who knew?

It is a beautiful town with plenty of old architecture, beautiful gardens, and a canal flowing through the center of it. We had the opportunity to take a boat along this same canal; it was so peaceful and pleasant.

We had lunch in a lovely garden near the ruins of Greyfriars Abbey. After Henry VIII threw a fit and the Anglican Church became a thing, many of the Catholic churches were  claimed by the Anglican Churches. Thus, Canterbury Cathedral became Anglican, and they were going to destroy Greyfriars Abbey, only it also served as the only bridge at the time. So rather than destroy and then have to build a new bridge, they left it alone, after, of course, ransacking it and stealing any important artifacts.
For lunch, I had cranberry sauce and Brie cheese on a whole-wheat baguette. I think it has actually been one of the best meals I've had here yet!

We moved on to Dover, about a 30 minute drive from Canterbury. Dover Castle is stunning.

There was so much to see that of course we weren't able to see it all, but we saw the bulk of it. Of course, we climbed up to the highest turret. The view was absolutely incredible, and the air was fresh and there was a wonderful breeze.

We also went down to the gift shop, where they had free samples of preserves, and wine, and, of course, free samples are never to be passed up. I tried a tiny bit of Marmalade Vodka, apparently the drink voted #1 by some big convention in the U.S. I spluttered and coughed; it was terribly strong. I also tried a sip of Elderberry wine, and that was enough. Didn't like that either. But, I can say now that I've tried it! 

Also, the White Cliffs of Dover? Take a gander at this:

I know I said yesterday that Brighton is my favorite so far, and I hope you won't think that I am fickle if I say that our excursions of today were even better! I loved seeing the English countryside; so green and peaceful! The air is just as fresh as Brighton, and it smells like the wildflowers that cover the rolling hills. It was wonderful.

And as if yesterday and today weren't enough, tomorrow we'll be visiting the Tower of London! Cheers, everyone!