Long Delay Again

Hey All,

Sorry for the delay on the update again.  I've been keeping busy this week between finals and my mom being in London with me.  I made sure to see her as much as I could while she was here and most of the rest of the time I've been working on essays and studying.  I thought you weren't actually suppose to do school work when you were abroad (just kidding).  Luckily while my mom was here I had the chance to do some of the more touristy things.  The day after her and Kathy Lily arrived I wanted to take them on a walking tour of some of the best sights of the city.  So I took them on the tube down to Westminster and from there we went to Westminster Abbey.  I've been dying to go to the abbey as many of the UK's most famous rulers, authors, and politicians are buried there.  Some notables include Queen Elizabeth I, Issac Newton, James VI of Scotland who became James I of England, etc.  They don't allow you to take pictures of the abbey because it is a church but it is pretty awesome.  There are also quite a few memorials in the abbey including the tomb to the unknown warrior, a Winston Churchill plaque, and an area called poets corner that has dedications to Shakespeare, Dickens, etc.  Highly recommend a visit to this place as words can't describe its beauty.  I did manage to take some pictures of the outside though.

I have a few more stories and pictures to tell but I have to run because the "football" game is about to start.  I promise I'll update soon.

Weekend Trip Plus Field Trip

Sorry for the long delay again.  I actually had my first few assignments due at the end of last week and was bogged down doing them.  This past weekend though I came across last minute cheap tickets and booked a trip to Amsterdam with 5 other friends.  Amsterdam is by far one of the coolest places I have ever been.  The reputation of the city is all about the drugs and partying but what's hardly mentioned is the fact that it is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. 

The trip was a lot of fun.  I got to experience a hostel for the first time ever.  I also managed to get a bit of culture while there making stops at the Van Gogh Museum among other historical places.  One of the coolest things that we did was going to get Indonesian food.  I have no idea why Amsterdam has good Indonesian food but one of my friends heard that going in so we decided to try it.  I took a picture of the incredible spread that was brought out for us in what was one of the best meals I've had in awhile.

We also managed to find a pub full of English people to catch the England v Sweden game in the Euro Championships.  The game was a fantastic game and it was a lot of fun watching it in what was a semi authentic place.

After getting back to the UK I had a field trip on Monday.  This field trip was all through the historic financial area known as the City of London.  This part of the city is the oldest area and is one I haven't explored much as of yet.  I snapped a few pictures and afterward two of my classmates and I decided to check out some of the cool pubs we had seen along the way.  We pub hopped from a cool pub near the Tower of London, to one in the alley used as Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter films, before settling to watch the evenings football games in a pub that is in an old exchange house.  Here are the collection of pictures I took.

Bank of England

Diagon Alley

Again you can see the dragons which is the symbol of the City of London

Again

The Lloyd's Building.  The companies inside change frequently so they designed the building with all the utilities, elevators, toilets, etc. outside so that the inside part is very customizable.

A part of the Old Roman wall. 

View of the Tower of London from Tower Hill

View from Tower Hill

Again

Just of clarify the City of London is not the whole city but rather one of the borough just like how I live in South Kensington.  They even have their own "mayor"called the Lord Mayor of the City of London, who is appointed every year and lives in what is known as the Mansion House.  He is always a member of one of the old guilds in the City of London that still exist such as the candle makers, etc.  While London as a whole has had a mayor for less than 20 years the Lord Mayor of London has existed since the year 1189 which makes it a pretty cool historical office. 

The rest of this week should be pretty dull for me as I have quite a bit of work but I will update when I can.

Mickey

War Museum and Travel Plans

So today I managed to finally make it to the Imperial War Museum.  Being the history nerd I am I was absolutely in love with the place and thus only stopped to snap a few pictures.  England also had it's first game of the Euro Championship today but because I spent too much time in the museum I got back late and unfortunately all the pubs were too packed to even go watch a game in.  I'm really disappointed but in positive news I managed to get my hands on an Olympic Football Game ticket in August.  BU managed to get some tickets and offered them to us at a reasonable price and I managed to get one.  Here are the pictures from the museum I spoke of.

Sherman

P-51 Mustang

Spitfire

I also booked a trip for break to Split, Croatia.  I was a little apprehensive about going to Croatia at first but one of our RAs went there last fall and said it was by far his favorite place in Europe.  Apparently its sorta a hidden gem because its on a beautiful stretch of the Adriatic Sea but still dirt cheap because its not in the Euro.  Here's a picture of the town via Google.

Best Wishes,
Mickey

Hey all,

Sorry its been a few days since I last updated this.  Its been a very busy week between the diamond jubilee and the start of the Euro 2012 soccer tournament.  I don't have time to fill in the whole week but here's the pictures I've taken.  Most were during the Diamond Jubilee pageant and the British Museum.

Before the Pageant.  We were near the end of the route by the Tower of London.  I was trying to show how many people were here but the pictures don't really do it justice.  We were 7 hours early and waited in the rain and this is the best spot we got.

Again

Again

The first boat is just bells that ring at random intervals.  I don't really know how it works but it sounded cool.

Again

Blocked

Again

Boats

More boats

Again

Again

Again

Again

Again

Again

Again

All the flags of the Commonwealth

Queen's barge

Again

Again

Queen is the one in white.  Camilla (Prince Charles' wife) is the one in the confusing off white color.

Royal Barge

Again

Again

More boats

Again

Again

Again

Me

First trip on a double decker bus.  View from the front seat up top.

British Museum.  This is inside for clarification

The Rosetta Stone

Again

Pieces from Egyptian Temples

Pieces of the Parthenon

Again

Again

I forget

Piece of an Egyptian sarcophagus

Part of the wall

Mummies

Again

Again

Gold Cloak

Oldest known picture of Jesus.  Doesn't look much like the usual picture.

Medals for the upcoming Olympic Games

Again

Roman Statue

This vase was really important for some reason that I don't remember.

Samurai armor

Easter Island statue

Totem Pole

Pretty view crossing a bridge after

So I do have to share a few comments.  One, my pictures of the pageant aren't great I have friends who had great ones though so I'll try and steal those at some point to share on here.  Also the British Museum is unbelievably huge.  I'd say we got through like 2/3 of the whole thing and I saw a ridiculous amount of stuff.  Really goes to show how good the Brits were at nicking stuff from their colonies. 

I also want to share one story from the pageant.  This really nice old British guy was waiting next to us with his wife.  Clearly his wife was far more enthused to be there than he was as she was scrambling to get a good view as he was hanging in the back to explain everything to the confused Americans but one quote he had to me was quite good.  I made a comment saying something about how I didn't know how the Queen was going to handle the whole weekend of festivities at her age.  At which he responded, "Well when you've spent 60 of your years sitting on your arse (ass) four days of exercise ain't to much to ask for."

Cheers,
Mickey

PS: You can click the pictures to enlarge them