Stonehenge

I too should apologize for being late on this post. It records the day of June 22 the days when we visited Bath, Stonehenge, and Windsor Castle.

Today we visited Stonehenge! We left the hotel this morning bright an early at 7:30am! We visited Windsor Castle first which was beautiful. Then we went to Stonehenge where we ate lunch first at Stonehenge Inn, it was a cute little restaurant.















When we finished we drove about 5 minutes down the road and there were these unusual mounds everywhere which come to find out are burial mounds! I was amazed how many there were.


Then we come over a hill and there it was the infamous Stonehenge! Which is almost breathe taking when you first see it. You see it in your history books, you don't believe really how it got to be there, but then when you see it, its incredible!




*If you look closely in the picture you can see all the people surrounding it! It really shows you the size of the stones! It was a spectacular day!

One thing none of us expected to see was a group of people called the Druids who were doing one of their rituals. Not going to lie it was strange!




When you are walking towards the stone you go under a tunnel which has some really interesting painting on the walls. One picture shows what Stonehenge looked like when it was first built. Another shows a large group of men pulling the large stone to the top of the hill!







We had a great day!!!

I know I can speak for myself and the rest of the students when I say thank you! Thank you to everyone at Ivy Tech that made this possible and to Kelly Cozart and Nancy Grammer for taking time away from there families and while there making sure we got the most out of every opportunity!! THANK YOU!!

Last day in London

Before beginning this post, I should apologize for being so late. This entry documents Tuesday June 23rd, the day right before we left.

This day has been an extremely busy yet typical and fascinating day for Ivy Tech's Humanities 250 class. First stop, The British Museum.

We have barley even stepped inside and I'm already loving this architecture! But there is much more to see than just that.

Let's have a look at the Egyptian exhibit, shall we?

First of all, here to the right is the Rosetta Stone. I remember always hearing about this thing in school or on TV but I never imagined I would actually see the real thing so close. As you can see, it was difficult to get a shot since we were not the only ones excited to see it. This is the thing that made everyone realize that Egyptian hieroglyphics are more than just spooky drawings. It is the key to the language.

EWW!!!!

I'm sorry but this is the part I find unnerving. Yes indeed it is fascinating and not many people get to see these things. I am glad that I was able to be there but I don't like Mummies. For some reason there was another one which was unwrapped for some reason, but don't worry. I'll spare you.

The jars on the left were used to hold the mummy's organs. The little men were also in the mummy's tomb to serve him in the afterlife.

Nice jewelry! I suddenly feel like shopping.

Here we go. Our last day abroad in the big city, so I guess Kelly decided to give us the opportunity to just really do whatever we want! So Carrie, Kristen, Kevin and I decided to go exploring. Our original goal was to visit Kew Gardens, so we took the subway. When we arrived, we realized that we unfortunately did not have enough time to actually go into the gardens. So we went back and just wandered around London, taking it easy. It was very nice to actually relax and take in the culture.

After all this we met back with the gang at the Tate Museum! Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside, but this was probably one of my favorite stops on the trip. If I ever come back to the UK (which I most definitely plan to) I will certainly visit this museum again. I loved the artwork and the varieties of artists here. It was even somewhat emotional for me to see these pieces by such influential artists like Salvador Dali, or Andy Warhol and many more. I loved seeing the different styles and statements. I was so moved that I could have just stayed all day examining every piece. Maybe next time. Probably.

Everyone is all dressed up for the theater, which was just as entertaining. We were not allowed to take photos in here either, respectively. The play was called The observer. I'm no critic, but personally, I give it about 5 Kylie heads. The acting, the story, the environment, I actually felt like I was apart of it all.

What a wonderful day to top off a wonderful journey. This is something that I will never forget and I feel much more cultured. I will certainly miss our adventures together and I hope to keep in touch with everyone!

The final Day

The final day in England was very hectic. Since going to the Theatre the night before we left, we were up too late and many of us worked really hard to stay up as late as we could so that we could sleep on the flight. Most of us were up by 4:30 am and all of us were in a cab headed to Heathrow Airport by 5:30 am. Customs at Heathrow went quick with no setbacks but our flight was delayed for twenty minutes. Once we got off that flight, we had to go through Customs in the Detroit Airport. This proved to be a little more complicated for some. I personally was picked for a random check right off the bat. They took me to another room and searched all of my belongings. They were very nice about it, but it took probably 10 minutes.

Once i got through that check, i went to the carry-on check where i was randomly searched for a second time. This also took about 10 minutes. Here they made me take off my shoes and my jacket and they also gave me a common body search to make sure i wasn't carrying anything on me. Once that was done, they looked through my bags again and put me in a sound wave machine making me stand in two different positions...Like a mime. By time i got through both checks it had probably been 25 minutes or so and i was finally off to join the rest of the group. I was not the only one in the group it turns out, that got randomly checked twice. Megan got searched twice and Kevin was searched once. Only a little bit of a nightmare but it turned out alright in the end.

In this last week, we've seen a lot of amazing things and I have taken pictures of everything. Here is just a taste of some of the things we saw on the trip and some shots of the other students that i think you might enjoy.

London Eye

Big Ben

Lincolnshire Cathedral

Harlaxton Manor

Stonehenge

Lincolnshire Cathedral (Again)

Bath Abbey

Lincolnshire Castle

Lots of travel time and staring out windows

Some classtime time as well.


Touching the water from Bath Abbey. Don't touch your eyes afterwards Megan.

Lots of waiting for transports.

The last night. Lots of tired faces.

The British way is evident everywhere. Loved England and i can't wait to go back one day. It's been a time i don't think any of us will ever forget.

Bath

Unfortunately there were problems with the hotel's internet yesterday, but one of the many places we went to was the city of Bath. But, more importantly, the Roman baths within Bath.

Romans liked to name streets and things after what you would find there it seems so it would only make sense for the town to be called Bath since it is the only hot springs in England. Today it is a very rich town still. Nicholas Cage has a house there as well as Johnny Depp. Also, all the buildings are made out of a honey colored bath stone. But, I digress.

the Roman baths were a place to go if you were important and wanted to be seen. You would spend the whole day there socializing and eating and, or course, bathing in the hot mineral water there. these Roman baths however were built on top of old sacred druid grounds. The druids believed it was a sacred place and thus the Romans built there not only for the baths but to try and break the druid nuisance as well. I was actually very interested in seeing these and Stonehenge that day because as sad as it sounds I was getting a bit castled out and it had a little more to do with my research topic (the druids).

I wish I had brought a usb drive to show you all pictures. The town was very lovely. I would live there too if I had the income. There were many statues of animal-human hybrids and street preformers that were interesting as well. the baths themselves were guided by an audio campanion and while it was a farly well devised one, I felt more like I was having fun just forgeting about it and reading and looking.

The bath water iteslf, as I said, was very rich in minerals and by those days standards it was good for you. They attracted many doctors to that area who would prescribe to you how much of the water you should drink a day. An artist community came as well but Bath ultimatly fell out of fasion when someone decided it was better to bath in the ocean. The Saxons later built there as well and even buried their dead there occasionally. Today the water is anything but sanitary. It had a murky blue green color that I knew meant stomach parisites were soon to follow if one were to drink it.

However, there you do have the option of drinking a more "purified" version of it for 50p or for free if you have a bath ticket. And Kylie, Brooke, and I all did. They both had other opinions but I thought it just tasted like a salty penny and downed the glass just cause I'm gross I guess.

If one were to ever visit the UK and had time, I would highly recommend you spend it in Bath. It really was facinating, fun, and (not that everything else wasn't exellent but) it is a somewhat refreshing sore thumb if you well in comparison to all the other cathedrals and castles one should visit while here.

Return Flight Information.

Unfortunately it's time to start thinking about coming home. We definitely want to see your smiling faces at the airport.

Our return flight information for June 24th is:

Delta flight KL #6781 Departing London-Heathrow @8:50 a.m. arriving in Detroit @12:15 p.m.

Delta/Northwest flight NW #2357 Departing Detroit @3:10 p.m. arriving in Evansville @3:36 p.m.

See you all on Wednesday!

The First Day in London

So, today is the day when we leave Harlaxton Manor and go to London. The day started with everybody having their last breakfast with desire of not wanting to leave, yet with some excitement to see London. Before leaving we took our lust group picture in front of the Manor, witch is to the left.

When we arrived at London after our two hour nap on coach bus the first thing we did was to try to check into our room, which did not happen. So, we gave our laggedge to the holding room and went to eat at the Pavilion Restaurant, where the food was awesome. After having lunch we went to check in our rooms and headed out for the bus tour of London, which was amazing. The streets of London are busy with people walking to their destinations and doing.
















As we were riding the bus we saw the gate of the Backingham Palace, but we were not allowed to go inside which was sad.























Then we saw the Westminister Abby where the coronation of King or Queen happens.













After that we saw the Marble Arch with the biggest statue in London at the top.














Then came the Piccadilly Circus, where they had the first light up sings. Also, the Piccadilly Circus reminds me of the Time Square in New York.

After that we saw the Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye, the Tower Bridge, and many more.

The Grantham Carnival(parade) and then home to pack

Yes! A carnival! That means cotton candy and corn dogs and rides and games and.... oh ya, we're in England! Here, there were kids running in the street and blowing whistles, parents lining up their strollers with their family pets all lined up to watch the parade!
So, there were no rides or treats of any kind. But it was a lovely way to experience a bit of their culture first hand. We left Harlaxton this morning assuming there was going to be this awesome carnival; instead, we got a parade! The first video is of a military group marching. They of course march a little bit differently than what we are used to as you can see.
The children marching at the end of this video dressed as knights are from the Sir Isaac Newton school.



Next came the amazing bagpipe players. Just think, this is normal for them!


This was one of my favorite things to see. The marching band! It was really great to see them and they sounded great.

This video is a little piece of what we heard at the church in Grantham. I just wanted everyone to hear how wonderful he sounded. Of course it was hard to hear our tour guide but it was worth it! After we had our tour we went back to town where some of us went home and others shopped for a bit and then headed home to pack and relax. Mind you, this was only about two-o'clock p.m. our time so we watched plenty of movies and just did laundry. We were all very sad to pack up and get ready to head out. Yet, we are all still so excited to continue our journey!

Ok, let it be known that the reason we had a tour of Grantham today was because there was to be a wedding reception held here at the Manor. Well, a bit after hours while I was working on this lovely assignment, I went spying and just had a blast! This is what we heard.
This is the wedding band's interpretation of Aretha Franklin's "Freedom." It was amazing. We filmed at the top of the cedar stair case in Harlaxton. And, if you look closely you can see me peeking around one of the large pillars of the staircase banister. I was lucky enough to see the beautiful bride! It was all very exciting. the next song of course was "Dude looks like a Lady" by Aerosmith I believe.

This was a perfect night cap and now I must be off to bed. I hope tomorrow runs just as smoothly.

Cheers!

Sandringham; Day 6

Today we set off for Sandringham, the Norfolk Retreat of Her Majesty the Queen. It was about a two hour drive from Harlaxton to the southeast coast of the United Kingdom where the manor house and grounds are found. As we pulled into the grounds I noticed that it was much like the parks in America, they offered picnicking and camping to visitors and had a welcome, family appeal.

Professor Cozart informed our class that when Prince Albert Edward VII bought the estate, called Sandringham Hall then, and its 7,000 acres, the people where upset that he would own so much land. Prince Albert Edward and his new bride Alexandria decide to make the grounds open to the public to use as a park. It was in 1977 that Queen Elizabeth II opened the manor up to visitors, she also installed a museum with displays of Royal life and Estate history.

As for the home itself, it is not set up like one would think a house of Royalty should be. The Manor is not a shrine to the Crown, but a home for four generations of Royal Blood. The Queen and her family spend every winter in the home, they are there from November to February. As we come into the entrance we were greeted by the docents who occupy every room and give explanations as to how the house is decorated and what some of the artifacts in the home are. In the family living room and the sitting room there are family photographs scattered about and precious oil paintings on the walls. Beautiful china and silver figurines adorn table tops and in the dinning room the Queen's china, silver and crystal are set out for a dinner party. In the midst of the table are two sets of gleaming silver pheasants, these were gifts to the Queen from her staff at Sandringham.

I had the chance to speak to a man named Peter Stanford while we toured the home. He told me that his wife is a member of the Queens staff. The people of Sandringham absolutely adore their Sovereign, as she adores them. Peter told me how every year the Queen brings every member of her staff into the sitting room separately and bestows a personal Christmas gift to them, they are also invited to watch films of her choice with her on several occasions while she is in residence. Every other year the staff and their families join the Queen at a private luncheon and also a ball. "The pay is not great, but the perks make up for it." Peter tells me, with the love for his ruler shining in his eye.

Beyond the Manor, the grounds have spectacular gardens, though the soil itself is not ideal for gardening. At one time the sea had covered the land that Sandringham Estate now resides. For that reason the soil is very sandy, this is were the name Sandringham originates, making it hard to grow flowers. There are very few flower beds on the premise, however the ones that occupy the North Garden are a spectacular flow of shape and color. In the English garden style the beds are very full and just a bit wild, with flowers ranging from proper English thistles to flowing purple variegated sweet peas.

To wrap up our tour we visit the church of the Queen when she is in residence at Sandringham. It is small but beautiful with ornately carved pews and wall hangings in memory of the Royal family whom have past. All and all the Manor, grounds and park where a lovely addition to our tour of the United Kingdom, I anxiously await comparing it to Windsor.

Lincoln Cathedral and Lincoln Castle: Day 5

Today we traveled by coach to Lincoln Cathedral and Lincoln Castle which date from the time of William, the Conqueror. The photo of Lincoln Cathedral gives a hint of its magnitude and majesty. Construction of the cathedral was begun in 1072 as ordered by the Norman ruler. Through the years, the cathedral has survived a fire and an earthquake, both times being successfully repaired. The design of the cathedral is Gothic, and it is 485 feet inside with Victorian stained glass windows relating Bible stories.
Within the walls are included a green man residing in a column, an imp between the arches in The Angel Choir, and graves stripped of all their copper and brass so the metals could be used to make weaponry.

Lincoln Castle was built by William, the Conqueror in 1068. He was not the resident, but sheriffs, tax collectors and other officers were housed inside. A wall runs all around the castle, and turrets served as homes, lookouts, and escape routes. The photo shows part of the wall and the Lucy Tower, which was the strong point of the castle. A short bridge and the steps leading up to the tower were originally made of wood. If the castle were attacked, those inside could run across the bridge. The last one up would torch the bridge. When they were all inside, the last one up would torch the steps, making an enemy attack up the 40 foot mound very difficult!

This is another view of the castle wall. On the left is part of the prison which was built in the complex at a later date. Both men and women were imprisoned and publicly hanged here. No longer used as a prison, the building houses one of the remaining 4 copies of the Magna Carta. (We did not get to see this document as it is currently in Los Angeles.) A judicial building is also within the walls.

On the return trip, we took "the backroads" instead of the highway and passed through quite a few villages with their homes, gardens, conservatories and old, old churches. It was another great day!

Lovely Day in Cambridge

Today we took the train to Cambridge. Once we arrived in Cambridge we took a walking tour of the city with a tour guide who was excellent. She was so funny. She took us around to different "hot spots" of the city. She took us to see a pub that had a lot of history behind it. It was the place that Francis Crick and James Watson were sitting when they announced that they had found DNA. It was also a place of meeting for airmen of WWII and there is still graffiti on the ceiling from them.

This is the outside of the pub. We also got to see King's College and the King's College Chapel. King's College Chapel is a very fine example of Gothic architecture and fan vaulting. This Chapel was starting to be built in 1441.

This is a picture of the inside of the chapel. Just amazing. We learned a lot of interesting facts about Cambridge University. They have no real admisson standards for the college, but then to get a degree you only have one test that determines whether you pass or not, and you only get one try at it. Talk about pressure!!! We also learned that after you get your BA from there after 3 years all you have to do is write a letter to the Master of your school and send a check for 5 pounds and you recieve your MA! How cool would that be!! Then after the tour of the city, we ate our sack lunches, and then did a little shopping. Then it was off to the Fitzwilliam Museum. This museum had anything from Eqyptian art to Spanish-Flemish paintings. My personal favorite are the French. Claude Monet, Renoir and Van Gogh just to name a few. It was awesome to be able to see something in real life that you usually just read about it text books. Then after the museum it was back to the train station to head back to Grantham. Then once we got back to Grantham we ate fish and chips at a local pub. Then it was back home to Harlaxton Manor. Another great day in England.

Day 3: York Minster and the Shambles

Entry to the Shambles

Dessert pastries!!

Aerial view of York Minster's cross shape (model)

A portion of the Nave

Entrance to York Minster

York Minster from a distance

Hello! Today was an adventure for our class. We took a train to York and had a lovely tour of York Minster, the famous Cathedral of the city, and then went shopping at the Shambles and the other wonderful shops down town!
York Minster is actually named the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of St. Peter. It is the seat of the Archbishop of York and the mother church of the Northern Province. By tradition, any church that had the name Minster accompanying it had been established by a missionary. The original York Minster was established by the missionary Paulinus, but the original location is unknown. The present building was begun in 1220 and was finished over 25o years later.
When looking down upon the structure from above it is easy to recognize the Cathedral is in the shape of a long cross in honor of the Lord Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for mankind. The central tower is 60 meters high and weighs 16,000 tons. The building can seat 2,000 people although originally they would stand during worship services. York Minster contains the oldest complete stained glass window. It contains grey and green "grisaille" glass with geometric patterns. This Cathedral is breathtaking! Photographing the inside was a bit tricky because it is so big.
After our tour we went down to the Shambles, an old area of town where there are lots of shops and such. We enjoyed spending time checking out the local shops, tasting wonderful meat pies and dessert pastries! It was a lovely day!