Cambridge and Two Anecdotes of Disappointment

On Saturday we took a little bus trip up to Cambridge. It's a really cute little town that I could definitely see myself living in. Perhaps I will apply to Cambridge for Grad school!

The "backs" of one of the 31 colleges that make up Cambridge University. I want to say this was King's College, but I'm not 100% sure

The river and a lovely bridge. They do this thing called punting there, where you go down the river on this skinny, flat boat. I kid you not, we were accosted at least a dozen times from students trying to make money taking people punting.  

An entrance to St. John's College. The way its set up is a bit confusing, but basically, you apply to the university and individual colleges based on the subjects you want to study. The college is your home base and you live within its community. 

The Round Church (or maybe it was called the Circle Church), but either way, its a great example of Norman architecture.

A lovely open area.

This is the church where the Reformation began. No big deal.

Grasshopper clock!

This creepy guy is actually only accurate once every 16 minutes. But its good for having a general sense of the time.

The Eagle! This is where all the super smart scientific students hang out. Its also where Watson and Crick "discovered" the double helix!

(Editor's Note: its not known whether they actually discovered it here, or whether they just came to this pub to celebrate, which is why "discovered" is in quotation marks.)

The best part! A definite must see!

Large tortoise.

I don't remember taking this photograph, but apparently its of some barnacles that Darwin collected!

Darwin's beetle collection. They have a whole cabinet dedicated to Darwin and his studies. Lots of really cool stuff there!

Honey badger don't give a shit.

Around the museum's lowest level are skeletons of various animals. This one is a polar bear!

Giraffe.

This is what Lauren wants for Christmas (Hippopotamus)

Porcupine! He reminds me of my Bear.

Elephant (and Lauren)

Lauren and/or Sarah: do you remember what this is?

Edit: This is a GIANT SLOTH! Thank you Sara!!

Killer whale

Narwhal!! I was surprised to see this one has two horns

Elephant seal

A collection of stuffed tropical birds

Cock of the Rock rockin' a mohawk.

Bird of Paradise #1

Bird of Paradise #2

Bird of Paradise #3

Yellow Spotted Lizard

 Close up shot of the two-horned Narwhal.

Nasty salamander

While we were in town there were several street markets going on that had lots of awesome homemade goodies, food, crafts, clothes, jewelry, and anything else you could think of. I HIGHLY recommend a visit to Cambridge. Some of the colleges are open to the public (for a small fee) so you can look around inside. There's so much history here: Isaac Newton studied here (and the apple tree he was supposedly sitting under when he discovered gravity is on the campus), the atom was first split here, Watson and Crick, the list goes on and on.

Now, for two short anecdotes of disappointment.
Disappointment #1: Any sort of American food is crazy expensive here. I saw Lucky Charms for £10 ($15) and Poptarts for £6 ($8). Ben and Jerry's ice cream is no different. Its usually about £4-6 ($6-8) for a pint. I like to splurge on some Chocolate Fudge Brownie every now and then, but this last pint I purchased had previously melted and refroze (before I bought it, so I had no idea it was like this). Now, if you are an ice cream aficionado like myself, you will know how this completely RUINS the texture of the ice cream. To top it all off, there were ice crystals frozen throughout the entire thing that made it crunchy. I still ate the entire pint (not all in one sitting, mind you) but I did so with a look of contempt plastered across my face.

Disappointment #2: I locked myself out of my room for the first time today. We are allowed 3 free reopenings from the front desk before they start charging us (lame). So I went downstairs to ask to be let back in and I filled out the forms, ect. ect. and the guy came up with me to open my door. Now you must understand that the dorm rooms here are controlled by a key card, much like you would find in a hotel. AND THE FRONT DESK GUY'S KEY WOULDN'T WORK. He tried 3 different keys before giving up and calling for a master key or something. After 20 minutes of waiting around he finally came back up with a stack of keys, WHICH DIDN'T WORK EITHER. Finally one worked and I was let in. But by this time I was starving (as it was almost 6 p.m) and I get grumpy when I'm hungry. But I whipped up some chicken fajitas and all was right with the world.

Long Time, No See!

Its fairly obvious that I haven't been blogging much (or at all) lately. To make a long story short: I'm lazy. Creating a blog post takes a lot of time and effort and my head just hasn't been in it lately because I've been doing actual school work. I know, I know, its crazy! Sometimes I forget that I'm here to go to school and not just romp around London. 

The main highlights of the past few week are as follows:

Kensington Gardens and Palace

(Where Will and Kate live!)

This is a statue of a nice naked man who Lauren said looks like is doing the "Dougie" 

(I'm still not really sure what that means)

The public entrance to the Palace. We were unable to locate the residential area, but I'm sure its hidden from the public.

Is that a palm tree in England?

Why, yes, it is.

Tower of London

Probably one of my favorite visits so far. I am obsessed with the Tudors, and Anne Bolyen in particular, so getting to see the place where she was imprisoned and beheaded was insane. There is so much history in this place and it serves more functions than I thought! Somewhere around 150 men and their families live there full time. Can you imagine growing up INSIDE the Tower of London? I would probably die of excitement.

We went on Halloween and there was a gun salute going on that we were able to catch the tail end of. I am not sure why they were going a salute that particular day, but it would have to be an important event! You can read about them here. 

The cannon

The Tower entrance!

An iron polar bear because the Tower used to be a zoo!

(Please note the chains on his hind leg)

A lovely building.

Musicians!

Coolest instrument ever.

We saw the Crown Jewels. They are even more magnificent that I was expecting. I can only imagine how much they are worth!

The Royal residence inside the Tower walls.

I seem to have forgotten whose desk this was, but he was able to have it while imprisoned in the tower so that he could continue his work. Quite the luxury, if you ask me.

Alas, that is really all that I have done that is of any note. My days are mostly filled with class, reading, and netflix, which really keeps me busy. This weekend brings a trip to Cambridge and a visit to the Old Spitalfield markets so expect a post or two about those! (if the lazy doesn't catch up to me again).

Cheers!

Alien Encounters of the British Kind

Today was an action packed day. We (Lauren, Sarah, and myself) went on a bus tour to Stonehenge and Bath. We got to learn about all the conspiracies behind Stonehenge and see a few celebrity homes in Bath! All-in-all, I'd say it was a successful day.

Here we have Stonehenge. It's thought to be over 5 THOUSAND years old, and is the most recent stone fixture to be in this spot. The theories for what Stonehenge's purpose is are as follows:

1. A calendar- The positioning of the stones would have told the time of year and, as they are situated on a hill, would have been visible to the entire area. 

2. A temple- There is a large platform looking rock in the center of the surrounding rocks that looks like an alter, which is why the professionals think it was used as a temple to worship the sun god. It's located at the top of the highest point in the surrounding area, so it was closest to the sun. Seems plausible.

3. An alien landing platform- This is obviously the most scientific and realistic explanation for these gigantic slabs of rock. 

My own personal option? I think the aliens put it here on earth to serve as a temple for the humanoids to worship their intellectually superior galactic creators AND is also a calendar to tell when they will return to earth to collect their mutant offspring. Totally logical.

Now the crazy part about these rocks (as if aliens aren't crazy enough) is that this type of rock (Blue Rock) isn't indigenous to this particular area of Britain. It would have to have been moved over 140 miles from Wales to its current location. 

Some clever scientists tried to recreate the process of building Stonehenge with the materials that would have been available 5000 years ago. They built a boat over in Wales and when they loaded it up with some slabs of blue rock, the boat immediately sank to the bottom of the ocean. Now, please tell me how the heck these thousand pound hunks of rock could have been moved without the use of modern technology? Answer: superior alien technology, that's how!

Another view of Stonehenge. There are only so many pictures you can take of a rock formation.

(Editor's Note: the original plan for this post was to paint the different theories right onto the pictures to make them more exciting, but the author's computer hates her and decided to not allow her to be creative with the paintbrush. Damn you, Apple!)

Here we are!

An actual known function of Stonehenge was a burial ground. Scattered around the formation are these mounds that are burial sites for important people in the ancient community. This one in particular must hold a very important person given his proximity to the formation. Most of the other mounds are much further away.

Here we have the heel rock. It just marks the end of the Stonehenge Area. 

After we spent an hour looking at these lovely rocks, we headed over to Bath. Let me tell you, Bath is BEAUTIFUL. It is by far my favorite place we have visited thus far. Its an old town and lots of famous people live/have lived here.

 Jane Austen's flat!

Oh hey, even Nicholas Cage generates trash! (Besides 90% of his movies)

Sup, Johnny Depp?

(He lives on the top floor)

The Jane Austen Centre. Here's a little Jane Austen trivia for you: Ms. Austen hated living in Bath. While she was here her father died, her best friend was killed in an accident, and she was jilted at the altar. Poor, Jane. Now I know why none of her novels have anything good to say about Bath.

This one's for you, momma!

This is the Bath Museum (or maybe it was the thermal spas. I can't really remember). Either way, all of the buildings are that same honey-colored facade because the first prominent English man who moved to Bath bought the stone quarry and required everyone to buy his stone, thus all of the buildings look vaguely the same. I personally love it. It's got an old, quaint feel to it.

Now that is skill!

Trivia Time: in order to perform for money in the streets of Bath, each person must perform in front of a panel that grants a license to perform on the street. So all of the people who do their thing are legit. One woman we went by is a famous opera singer and performs all over the world in sold out concerts.

Here we have the Bath Abbey. They were preparing for a service when we went inside so we weren't allowed to take pictures. It was really pretty inside though and its know as the Abbey of lights because most of its walls are made of windows.

Another view of the Abbey.

Here is a view of the typical street. There are lots of shops and cafes. I could definitely see myself living here some day. Its just so beautiful and peaceful.

This is the obelisk dedicated to Queen Anne. Whenever a member of the Royal family visits Bath, they erect a obelisk in honor of them. Anne came to Bath in hopes that the waters would heal her inability to bear a son. The waters are known for their healing properties and its not just a farce. The water contains over 50 minerals that are proven to be beneficial to one's health. It tastes terrible because of all those minerals, but I guess if you come down with Leprosy, I'd be willing to put up with the bad taste.

Another street

A nice courtyard and some more buildings.

Alas, that ends our trip to Stonehenge and Bath. I am super glad we decided to do this trip (thanks, Sarah!). I learned so much and I will definitely be returning to Bath in the future. I highly recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity to visit. Just remember your foil hats incase the aliens decide to come back while you're there!