We're Painting the Roses Red

Every day we visit something that becomes my new favorite on our trip. As of today my new favorite building is Blenheim Palace (aka Blenim Palace). Queen Anne had it built for the Duke of Marlborough after he led the defeat of the Spanish in the 1700s. Therefore, the Palace is in the English Boroque style. The Marlborough family still owns Blenheim, and lives there, so when they're there the east wing is closed off for touring.

Once again, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but the gardens were amazing. We walked through the Rose Garden, and we came upon a patch of white rose bushes. Leslie mentioned that it reminded her of Alice in Wonderland when they were "painting the roses red." That song was stuck in my head the rest of the day.

We took a double decker bus to and from Blenheim Palace- it was awesome! We sat on the top, of course. :) It was a great view of Oxford from up there and we saw some very charming houses! Like the rest of London, the buildings are very tall and there's next to no yard; everything is very cramped together. But like I said, the houses were very charming.

We did have a pretty crazy experience in Oxford... we were all on the bus, looking down at the streets from the windows, and we saw a woman with her child on a leash. All of a sudden, She was glaring at us and I could see her lips forming all sorts of cuss words. I turned my back away from the window as soon as I realized she was shouting at us, but most everyone else kept looking. She was quite the sight. Apparently she started yelling "stop looking at my child!" well of course, we thought the whole thing was ridiculous. It was so ridiculous that we joked and laughed about it the rest of the way to Blenheim. But when we got there... Darrin (our professor) gave us a talking to. He told us how dangerous that could have been and how there are crazies out there and  how people are unfriendly in other countries. He warned us to be more cautious, and he basically scared us all enough that we were pretty quiet the rest of the day. I was pretty shaken. I'm just glad we learned our lesson this way, where we're all perfectly safe.

On that note, other than that it was a great day. The weather turned nice and sunny for once! And on our way home from Oxford, we stopped at Zizzi's, an Italian restaurant, for dinner. Leslie and I split a pizza and it was really good :) It definitely had a different taste to it than American pizza. The crust was very flat, and it had tomato sauce, mozzerella cheese, olive oil and basil leaves on it.

By the time we got home it was about 8:30- it was a looong day! But a good one :) I'll sleep well tonight!

Burghley House (aka Burley House)

Today we took the train to Burghley House for a private tour. It was incredible! It was the home of Queen Elizabeth's treasurer William Cecil, and it is HUGE. We went through 18 rooms out of 200 plus. There were a couple rooms with trompe l'eoil walls which I loved (pronounced tromp-loy). There were some amazing wood carvings done by Grinlin Gibbons and a couple of his closest followers.  Our tour guide also tipped us off that if you look closely, you can find secret doors in each room for servants' access. I even found some hidden behind different paintings or curtains. I thought those were only in mystery books and movies and such!

They wouldn't let us take any pictures inside, but I took a lot of pictures of the gardens I visited. I spent most of the little time I had in the "Garden of Surprises". This is actually a newer addition to Burghley; it's like a fancy water park. it was awesome! Once I spent some time in there I figured out how it got its name: many of the fountains go off randomly, and if you're standing under one or near one, you will be soaked with surprise. There was a fountain right across the exit that went off  when you tried to pass through!

 

Mental note: if I ever come back to England, I have to come back to Burghley House and see the Sculpture Garden. I really wanted to see it but only got to glance inside before it was time to go.

Also. We ate lunch at the Orangery Restaurant inside Burghley. I had a scone smothered in cream and jam and it was delish! :)

Before we took the train home we stopped by Stamford, a cute little picturesque town of stone, but most of the shops and things were closed for Bank Holiday (?) so we didn't do much there. Plus it had been raining so we didn't really want to be outside. So glad I have my raincoat :)

That pretty much took up the whole day. We came home around dinner time and I tried to get some sketches done. Ha.

Well I guess that's pretty much it for today. yep. :)

Sunday = Free Day!

We didn't do much today but it was fun and relaxing. :)

A group of us walked to church together. Lucky for us, it's just a couple blocks away! I was really excited to go. And today was a stake conference broadcast for the U.K. so L. Tom Perry and President Monson spoke! It was really neat; the Spirit was so strong. But I was so tired I was falling asleep the whole time- very frustrating.

Ergo, after lunch I took a nap. I felt a lot better afterwards and  did a couple sketches, then chatted with a few of the girls. Then Leslie, Jesse, Benae and I decided to go on a walk, which turned into a full-out photo shoot! It was a blast.

Today was just what I needed: an easy-going day to get ready for a new week. Tomorrow we'll be up bright and early! :)

Fish and Chips and Mushy Peas

We went to the V&A today which was AMAZING. The V&A, or Victoria and Albert Museum, is "the world's greatest museum of art and design." I saw a lot of furniture that I recognized from my history class, but unfortunately my camera died about 30 minutes after we got there. Benae let me use her camera to get a couple more pictures, but there's so much we still wanted to see that we'll probably go back. I just hope we don't run into the same worker we met today.... he was nice but he would not stop talking! We finally got away after 45 minutes because he had to go on break.

Next we went to the Tate Modern- a museum for modern art. We only spent about 30 minutes there... we tried. We really tried. But sometimes modern art is a little too abstract for me. I also don't understand the kindergarten drawing style.

Next, Susie took Benae, Jesse, Leslie and I to the best cupcake shop in London: the Hummingbird Bakery. A-mazing.You can buy their recipe book and I'm determined to go back and get it.

Since my suitcase has now been gone for 3 days, we went to an H&M clothing store so I could get a couple things. They have the cutest clothes! I just might get all of my back-to-school shopping there before I leave.

By then we were all starving, so for dinner we went to this great little place called Billy's. I tried fish and chips  for the first time and I loved it! The guy working there was really funny, too. While we were standing in front of the restaurant, he came out and said "Are you deciding whether to come in or not? Because you should come in." Later he took a picture for us and said, "show your American smiles!"

At about 8 all the shops were closing (the stores in London close really early) so we headed home. We had saved our cupcakes from the cupcake shop so we sat on the steps outside our apartment and ate them. Divine. We talked and laughed as loud as we could as to annoy our posh neighbors as much as possible ;)

Once it got dark we went back in, and guess what I found at the reception desk. My suitcase!! It was found and delivered this afternoon. I have clothes! and makeup! and my sketchbook! and my Triscuits- which was a pleasant surprise because I thought they'd be confiscated when they went through customs.

And now I'm dressed in my very own pajamas and I'm headed for bed :)

Hampton Court

I'm beginning to discover that photographs are NOTHING like the real thing. 

Today we toured Hampton Court- a castle built originally in Tudor times but it was continually added onto over a time period of 500 years. As a result, different parts of the castle reflect different time periods. We learned about it in my history of interior furnishings and architecture class this year. I had seen pictures of Hampton Court, but the real thing is incomparable. First off, I didn't realize that Hampton Court is so huge! Second, it is beautiful. I was amazed by all the detailing- how did they manage to do that all by hand??

                              

I am proud to say that I recognized some furniture in the rooms as William and Mary. I was so excited! Funny how I can get so excited over a chair.

After we toured Hampton Court for a few hours, our group was given the rest of the day to ourselves. So I made plans with my awesome friend Averyl Dietering! Averyl is also studying abroad in London but she's with a different school. So Benae and I met up with her at the metro station and we went to watch Much Ado About Nothing at the Globe Theater. But when we got there the tickets were sold out! So we toured downtown London for a few hours. We saw Calatrava's Millennial Bridge, St. Paul's, the Wellington Arch and Buckingham Palace. So it was fun. Mostly it was just great to see Averyl!




When we finally got back, the trip up the stairs to the 4th floor was BRUTAL. I can see blisters forming on my feet. I am completely EXHAUSTED.

No news today about my suitcase, so tomorrow Susie is going to take me shopping for a couple things. I hope it gets here soon!