Thursday, March 29, 2012

Pictures and then this week

I got the pictures off of Lakens camera and she had some good ones of me and some good ones with more people infront of Stonehenge and such, they are at the bottom of the post.

This week: I had an amazing week!  We went on some pretty cool outings...
Monday, we saw Bingo for theater!  It was about Shakespeare's life by Bond.  It was depressing but pretty good.
Tuesday we watched Notting Hill for Media and Society to talk about class and we just went to Notting Hill so he wanted to show it to us.  For Culture by Design we did a tour of St. Pauls!  What an amazing church!  We had a great tour guide!  Yesterday was the best, we went to the David Hockney exhibit for art history.  If you dont know him look him up!  He now does work on his Ipad on the brush app and it was amazing but his paintings are great too!  Our tour guide took us through that and taught us so much about him.
I have 4 papers due at the start of next week so I have been working hard to get them done.  I am on 3 i think!  My parents come tomorrow so I will be heading to the airport in the morning to get them!  I am so excited to see them!
Pictures from last weekend are below..











Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Stratford upon Avon, Bath, Stonehenge and Windsor Castle!

Stratford upon avon.
We got to Stratford at about 4 30. It was this quiet pretty town that seemed so relaxed. We were going to see 12th at 7 15 so we had some time to wander around and eat dinner. After finding out that Stratford is an adorable city and walking past all the shops and buildings we ate then headed to the theater. We went ro the royal Shakespeare company and they did an amaing job! The play was long but really great! They had a pool in te corner of the stage because there are some parts involving water. After that we went back to the hotel and had a discussion with the actor who played sebastian. He was really cute and also really interesting to talk to. The theter class did that and we were askin alot of questions. At that point it was really late so we went to sleep.

Friday morning we had a tour of Stratford by this actor/writer/comedian guy and he was amaing! He was so smart! He took us to anne hathaways cottage, the church, and Shakespeare's Birth place, stopping along the way for information. From there we had lunch and a milk shake and then headed to bath!
We got here at about 5 and just walked around looking for food but also saw the city. We wandered for about an hour and eventually found a place that we wanted ro eat at and we had an adorable sit down 3 course dinner with some wine and then some complementary drinks at the end for 15 pounds? Was great! From there we went to this place called the mole which was a bar/music venue and there was live music which was cool!!

Saturday we woke up and did a walking your of bath. Our guide focused on alot about houses and the history of houses there which was really interesting. It was an amazing day, so warm! We went to the abbey and then we had a tour of the roman bath. The roman baths were cool because there was a museaum inside which was all the ruins. After that we went shopping and walking around some. Bath has amazing boutique shops! Bath is also known for ita thermae spa. This is a bath with natural water in spa form. We got the 2 hour spa treatment which included a steam room, 2 baths and a roof top bath. I have never been to the spa so I did not know what to expect but it was really relaxing! The steam room had 4 different rooms in it that all had different scented steams in it! It was difficult to sit in for a while. We went back and forth between the things. The roof top bath was amazing because you could see the entire city while in the bath! It was around 6 so we saw the sun setting while we were in it! It was an amazing experience! I felt so pampered. From there we went to dinner, it was our last dinner with our weekend trips. We went to an Italian place and it was really nice!

Sunday, we woke up and drove to Stonehenge! After a guided tour and a ton of pictures we went to Windsor Castle. It was amazing and huge. The queen was in the castle because the flag was up! We saw the doll house of queen Mary. It was a huge doll house and it has runnin water in it! Was te most amazing doll house ever.
From Windsor castle we headed back to London, got back at 6 30.
This was an amazing weekend! Every part was amazing! Bath was my favorite place we went to, such a cute city!
Stratford 

us in stratford!

anne hathaways gardens

in bath, attached houses

the abbey, in bath


the roman baths

our friend singing karaoke on the bus!

stonehenge! i have a ton of pictures of me with stonehenge on my friends camera, i will get them off of her 

windsor castle

Thursday, March 22, 2012

This week

Just a quick post about this week before i head to Stratford, bath and Stonehenge! 
This week we had great outings! Monday for theater we did not see a show because we are seeing 12th night in Stratford so that should be great! We have a discussion after with one of the actors which should be fun! 
Tuesday we had our first outing to the design museaum where we looked at the exhibition going on which is a contest for the best design of the year. There was everything from houses to furniture, clothes, cars, vacuums, ambulance designs and so much more. After that for Media and society we went to notting hill and got a guided tour around the neighborhood of notting hill focusing on films that were produced there. This neighborhood has countless productions in it because it is near the big film stations and it is also just a diverse area of housing so it is easy to make it a set. That night they got us tickets for charlton football club to go to their game. They are in league one which is a league below west Ham (lees team). The guys in our group were hillarious and painted their
a few boys from our group all painted. the one with the white shirt on did full body paint, he had not taken of his shirt yet!
body's red and got really into it, even though in England they don't do body paint or stuff like that to snow their support, they are just dedicated to the game. That being said, we got some weird looks but it was fun!! They won 3 to 0 so it was a great atmosphere! Yesterday for art history we went to the national gallery and looked at impressionist work! It was amazing! The national gallery has such an amazing collection of it all, from monet, manet, van gough and degas! It was amazing to see it all! My internship has been great! I have been designing a dining table and drawing it on th computer and today I have a meeting with the builder who is going to build it and make it so I have to go over my designs and finishes with him! At 2 today we leave for Stratford! Friday and Saturday we will be in bath! Then Sunday we are doing Stonehenge, then Windsor castle! Going to be a great weekend! 
It is warming up nicely here too so that is always nice! No more pea coat! 
My parents come next weekend so I  looking forward to that!! 

Monday, March 19, 2012

Paris Weekend

So I typed this all and it got deleted...round 2!
So we got to Paris after taking the Eurostar at about 10 pm. From there we checked into our hotel after figuring out the complicated Paris metro system.  Our hotel was really nice!  We then went out wandering for a few hours.  We walked 2 minutes outside our hotel and saw the massive eiffel tower!  We were so close to it!  We then walked down the champs ellise!  It was great that Lee had been there before because he kindof knew where some things were.  He was great with directions!
First night in Paris.  Down the Champs Elisse looking at the Arc de Triumph  
Arc De Triumph in Paris!
 The next day, Friday, we woke up early and had our nice hotel breakfast and then went to the Louve.  We walked around the nice artwork and I found where the parts of the museums I wanted to see. We then went to the Egyptian art part because Lee likes all that stuff.  He was such a trooper with me and my art museums.  He asked me questions about the art and was really interested in it.  He wanted me to explain stuff to him which was really nice.  After that we had to take the classic pictures of the pyramid and touching the top of it.  It took a while to get it right but here are the results below!  Friday was a summer day, people were wearing shorts and it was so pretty!  We had such great weather Friday we were so lucky!
Lady painting in the Louve

Lee outside the Louve

Me outside the Louve
 We were on our way to climb the eiffel tower and go up to the top but there was a long line.  After watiging about an hour to take the lift up we were at the front of the line.  Lee, who is very scared of heights, was starting to get scared, and I didnt tell him then but i was freaking out too.  He had us go all the way to the top ( there are 3 platforms) and then we were going to work our way down so it was less anticipation to the tip top of the tower.  We got to the top of the eiffel tower and he was pretty scared but did so well and even went to the edge of the top to take a picture with me!  We walked around that level then started working our way down to the next level.  We took alot of nice pictures of the setting and then kept working our way down.  Once we got to the bottom he was so relieved, and I was too!  It was nice to be back on the ground!
eiffel tower in the background

at the top of the eiffel tower

halfway back down the eiffel tower

looking up at the top of the tower
 After that, we did not have too much time left because I booked a boat cruise for 6 30 so we had to go back and change and check in by 5 45.  We had just enough time to go to Notre Dame.  We walked around the left bank some, which is known for some art and then went in the Notre Dame.  It was so nice inside and was great to see the inside of it!
in front of notre dame 


inside notre dame 
 From there we went to the boat cruise!  The inside of it was so nice and we had a 3 course dinner with a bottle of wine!  It was so nice to see the Siene and be on it and then see the sites from there!  We enjoyed a nice dinner and some wine and there was great music on the boat.
our boat cruise

lee enjoying his wine on the cruise


on the cruise, near the eiffel tower

statue of liberty and eiffel tower, great view!

us after dinner
 After that it was about 8 pm so we figured we would do what the locals do and perch on a platform near the eiffel tower and relax and enjoy the view.  It was such a nice night so it was perfect to relax after a long day!  We were exhausted by this point, we did a ton Friday!  It was an amazing day!
a massive building that lights up...and sparkles
 Saturday!  We woke up and had another wonderful hotel breakfast.  Obviously I was still craving another chocolate croissant ( they only gave us 2 at breakfast, one for me and one for him) so I got one off the street!  It was amazing!  We went to the Musse de l'Orangerie.  It was really cool to see all the Monet work and there was a Debussey exhibit going on then.  I played some of his work and had no idea he was an artist so that was cool to see!  We spent some time in that museaum and then went on to the next thing.
the best chocolate croissant ever!
 Our next stop was the stairs of the Arc de Triumph.  We went up the stairs and got to the top after our legs were really tired!  The view was really cool because you could see the Eiffel tower too.  At the top there is a panoramic site view so it points out where everything is! we really liked looking at that and finding everything
climbing up the stairs of the arc de triumph 

view from the top of the arc de triumph 


WW1 memorial at the bottom of the arch de triumph 
 After that we went to the Sacre-Core ( part of the Montemarte village).  This is another famous church.  There were so many stairs to get to the church but from all the food I had been eating I needed the exercise!
me in front of sacre-core ( montemarte village) 
 The area around that is pretty artistic so there was a square of all artists doing and selling their work.  We had a nice look at all of it but none of it was the art I wanted to buy.  I wanted a paris-y scene but done nicely, these were all fine artists.
montemarte village, so many artists 
After having a delicious lunch in this area we figured we should walk to the MOulin Rouge.  Luckily it was only about a 10 minute walk because it was not impressive.  Just a windmill, pretty boring!    
moulin rouge

St Patricks Day
After wandering around shops around there and stuff we headed back to the left bank to look at the street artists and also to go to the Latin Quarter.  I found a beautiful painting and then we stumbled across this bridge.  I had heard about them in Paris and Italy but had no idea where there were.  It is a bridge where you "lock in your love" to the bridge with a padlock.  This bridge was so full of the locks.  Lee and I felt obliged to do it!  So we bought a lock from the street vendors and wrote on it and then locked it onto the bridge!  It was really cool!
The lock bridge, where people "lock their love onto it"

we made one!

its in paris locked there

 Saturday, was not as nice day, so we decided to warm up and have a nice hot chocolate.  It was a nice way to take a break for a few minutes!  Everyone in Paris seemed to just relax with a nice drink about half way through the day.
afternoon hot chocolate!
 From there we walked around the Latin Quarter and wandered around the Left Bank some more.  It is such a cool area we loved it!
 When it got to dinner time ( also St Patricks day) we found this nice restaurant but we had just had a crepe right before so we were not too hungry.  We got duck meat fondue and split it. This was the first time Lee had had fondue so it was really fun!  It was so delicious!
Lee's first fondue, dinner our last night in Paris
 From there we found an Irish pub, it was only apporpriate seeing as it was St Patty day, and hung out there for a bit!  It got to be late and we were exausted form our day so we headed back to our hotel!
St Paricks day evening!
Sunday morning we had our hotel breakfast and then checked out of the hotel.  Our train was at 10 15 so we didnt have time in the morning but we had gotten pretty much everything done so we were happy about that!   We got back to London with enough time to go grocery shopping and do my work!  
My weekend was amazing!!  Paris was awesome! 
Onto Stratford, Bath and Stonehenge on Thursday!