A Photobook of Peep's Great Adventure

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Coming soon: Peep's photobook!

Two weeks after coming home from Paris and London and it still seems a little unreal not to be there. I absolutely loved my time abroad and my trip of a lifetime...and Peep had a great time too! I created a photobook to commemorate our travels and all the wonderful memories made, which will be posted soon!
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A digital film and a family connection

I devoted several pre-departure posts to pondering potential destinations for my free weekend in England. As an undergrad English major, I had lots of literary-related options, most of which unfortunately got ruled out. In the end, the family connections won out and I traveled solo to Devon and a tiny village called Chagford. I took oodles of pictures while there, but to commemorate the experience of seeing the village and area, at least, where my ancestors lived some fourteen generations ago, I wanted to film my journey as well. The following is a short digital film I created of my journey to Chagford and what I found there.

Family Connections: My Journey to Find Chagford and Family Roots
by Stephanie Brown

This digital film is 21.5 MB and runs approximately 2:54. I created this film using Windows Movie Maker with background audio adapted from Photo Story 3.

Although my time there was pretty brief overall and the transportation en route was an adventure in and of itself, going to Chagford is an experience I'll never forget. The contrasts between sleepy Chagford and bustling London were a huge surprise, but it was a pleasant little getaway, and finding family connections made the whole trip worthwhile. :)
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A Digital Story

After three weeks and seeing some incredible sights, I couldn't begin to choose one favorite place from my travels abroad. With all of the beautiful cathedrals, historic landmarks, and amazing museums and libraries, I really couldn't even narrow the field down to one favorite place in London and one favorite from Paris. I did, however, have a great final full day in Paris and, during our free time that morning, had the chance to visit the Musée d'Orsay with Joanna and finally get to see some Impressionist art. This digital story tells the story of that museum visit and how I finally found Monet. :)

Finding Monet: How Art Came to Life at the Musée d'Orsay
by Stephanie Brown

This digital story is 8.02 MB and runs approximately 4:00. I created this digital story using Photo Story 3.

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Saying goodbye...

With the approach of the first real work week after my three weeks abroad, it's definitely setting in that I'm back home again and my trip of a lifetime has concluded. Despite being back in FL for a couple of days, it still seems strange not to get up in the morning and head down to the hotel restaurant for our croissant breakfasts before a class trip out into the city. Even though I didn't always understand the French conversations and questions swirling around me, Paris was great and it was fun to be a tourist and stumble our way through ordering at restaurants. :)

I loved the whole three week experience in general, though, because it was great to take a face-to-face class and meet professors and fellow classmates in person rather than only online, and it was so much fun to see London and Paris. Thanks to FSU, Dr. E, and the whole LN85 group for making it a great class and trip! I miss everyone already, and it will not be remotely the same this fall when I go back to being only a distance learning student. It was so fun to meet and interact with everyone in person as we toured the cities and saw the sights; even though we stayed busy for three weeks, time flew by and I can't believe it's over already! I loved every minute of my three weeks in London and Paris, and I'm grateful to everyone in the program for helping to make it my trip of a lifetime...

Before I left, a lot of people mentioned various things I would miss while in Europe, from iced drinks to air conditioning to elevators. I will admit that it wasn't so fun at first to hike up to our fourth floor flat in London—at least not when we had to tote our luggage up or forgot something and had to head back up a second time—but that was part of the charm of living in a historic building, and we did learn to plan ahead. The whole lack of ice in drinks, no refills, and no air conditioning also never seemed to be much of an issue either. I did wind up missing decaf iced tea, but that was really to be expected since its not often offered in restaurants here either.

I think the big surprise for me, though, was that I missed driving. I'm not a huge fan of driving here, but I suppose I'm so accustomed to being able to hop in the car and drive somewhere if I need to go somewhere or pick up something that I missed that freedom. The city transportation systems of Paris and London are fairly efficient and inexpensive (and every person driving would be totally impractical), but I was sort of glad to be reunited with my car and be able to drive to the store or work or wherever rather than trying to plot out what bus, pedestrian, and/or underground routes would get me where I wanted to go. At the same time, though, I do miss the trains for distance traveling, and it's a definite shock to go from huge city back to quiet, suburban central FL.

Such a fun trip...so many memories...and so many pictures! (I won't know what to do without carting Peep around everywhere and stopping for photo-ops.) :)


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Home again

It's very unreal to be home again, although still nice, in a way, since the journey to get here was literally about 23 hours long and spanned three countries and currencies before we got home. It was quite the festive experience getting back to FL, and I can now say from experience that given the option, do not travel through multiple countries on the way back to the U.S. and that direct flights cut back on travel stress. Our Paris to London to NJ to FL journey was a study in modes of transportation and interesting signage, to say the least, and it was a nice relief to collect my suitcase at baggage claim A in Orlando and finally complete the last leg of our transatlantic journey...

My return voyage began with an early breakfast at the Campanile: i.e. one last chance to enjoy their croissants and the fun drink machine that made multiple hot beverages, including good hot chocolate that was super sweet in the end. Around 8 am Paris time, we (Robin, Laurie, and I) got a taxi to Gare du Nord to catch the Eurostar back to London. Even though Laurie wasn't on the same train as us, it was really nice of her to share a cab and one last memory of Paris since I'd never ridden in a car or taxi there. (Thanks again, Laurie!) Nonetheless, we made it the train station with time to spare, although the postings for admittance to the Eurostar check-in were apparently time suggestions only since people leaving on the 9:13 train were trickling in around 9 expecting to board and our train, the 10:13 to London St. Pancras, started check-ins practically at 9 as well. At any rate, we made it on the train, even though we were seated practically at opposite ends of the train, and, as is my usual special skill when traveling solo, I got a random seatmate who acted as though I'd inconvenienced him by showing up and claiming my seat. Nevermind the fact that basically the rest of our coach was completely empty except for this wacky family seated directly in front of me did provide some unusual, if unintended, entertainment for the rest of us passengers.

The train trip seemed shorter somehow heading back to London than when we rode the same trip to Paris, but at least my seatmate moved and thus, it was a quiet experience; I even had a window seat that actually had a window (unlike the trip down to Paris, when Sheila and I had the row with the faux window seat), so there were some picture opportunities. :) Unfortunately, once the train arrived in London, we had to figure out a way to get from St. Pancras to London Paddington, where we would be able to catch the Heathrow Express to the airport. Having never wrangled luggage on the tube in London, I wasn't overly anxious to attempt that, but at the same time, the underground is the fastest, cheapest means of getting there, so we topped up our Oyster cards enough to make the trip and caught the Victoria line to the Circle to get to Paddington. The subway was strangely empty for it being mid-day (I suppose I expected lunch traffic or something), but we made it to Paddington and, after buying our Heathrow Express tickets, got to experience a different kind of train ride out to Heathrow.

Unfortunately, neither of us thought of or knew to check which of the five terminals our return flight airline operates out of at Heathrow, so we took a chance and got off early at Terminals 1, 2, 3, hoping for some signage direction to where we could check in and ditch our heavy luggage. There are no signs explaining what airlines are at what terminals, though, and so we again guessed and followed the crowd towards terminals 2 and 3, which were paired together on the signage for the first three floors up and then magically became terminals 1 and 2. Thankfully, at terminal 2, where there was an underground connection option (I didn't know about this or we might've skipped the Heathrow Express leg of our journey altogether), there was a huge schedule of what airlines were located in each terminal. Here, we discovered that our flight left out of terminal 4, which wouldn't be an issue except that only terminals 1-3 share the building we were currently in and thus we would have to catch the free shuttle service train out to terminal 4. This meant carting our luggage back down three long hallways and three stories to where we got off our Heathrow Express initially. Sad times.

On the plus side, the shuttle train to terminal 4 is free if you've purchased the ticket out to Heathrow at all, so we just walked down and got on the next train out, which was conveniently waiting and ready to go shortly after we boarded. Once in terminal 4, it was pretty easy, actually, to check in for our flight and check our luggage, which only left security (which included a nice pat down from the female guard for everyone who walked through the metal detector carrying his/her passport because the passports triggered the metal detector). There were no announcements at the gate about boarding, so we thankfully happened to be paying attention when they were getting to the end of general boarding because you couldn't hear the guy at the gate telling what rows were boarding and the sign for our flight kept changing status from "open" to "boarding" to "closing," which was a little odd. I narrowly (by one person) escaped being the person chosen at random for the bag and body search pre-boarding, so that was a nice relief, and even though I sat next to vector Vicky for the whole 7+ hour flight, it was a pleasant stretch of the journey.

Once we landed in Newark, we had to go through passport checks, claim our luggage, go through customs, and then recheck our bags...or so we thought. The whole passport check process was a breeze compared to our two-hour wait at Gatwick, and even though the luggage was incredibly slow to ever arrive, there were no issues with collecting it, going through customs, and rechecking the bags. After those steps were completed, we expected to follow the signs for connecting flights and end up back in a terminal, from which we could locate our gate or transfer to another terminal. We did follow the signs, and they eventually, after three floors, led us to a security check, where we had to get in line and be rechecked along with all of the other domestic travel passengers who hadn't yet been on a plane that day. It seemed odd to have to go through security for a second time, but at least we knew not to hold our passports as we walked through the metal detectors and magically, we didn't have any issues the second time around. :)

It was another crazy long hike (a la Gatwick) to get to our gate despite the fact that we were in the right terminal to begin with and went through the central security checkpoint instead of one of the peripheral ones. We did make it to the gate with about thirty minutes to spare, but they began boarding super early (just like at Heathrow), so we basically sat for maybe ten minutes before we were back on another plane headed for home. Both planes were like refridgerators, so despite the 90-degree temperatures outside, I opted for a sweatshirt while other passengers wrangled for multiple blankets on the plane. Unlike our transatlantic flight, the NJ-FL one was pretty empty, and to help with weight balances, I volunteered myself and Robin to move up from our row towards the front of the plane, which was nice since the row where we relocated had way more leg room. :) Our tickets said our flight took over three hours, but on the plane they kept insisting it was 2 hrs. 18 minutes (I mean insisting...intercom lady had to have said it at least three times and then came on one last time to say "Two hours as in counting up from one, one, two hours and eighteen minutes"); I suppose other passengers hadn't believed her before, but in the end, we only arrived twenty minutes early, so someone's calculations were still wrong.

Thankfully, unlike in NJ, we waited literally only ten minutes for our luggage to appear, which was a nice surprise after a long day of traveling. We got to leave the airport at 12:15, which would be 6:15 am Paris time, which means our trip was basically 22 hours. Of course, home is a good hour from the airport, so in the end, it was a 23 hour journey home, but it was quite the experience and, I think, a fitting conclusion for my trip of a lifetime. :)

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Planes, trains, and automobiles

The journey home begins today and it's so unreal that three weeks have passed already. It seems like we were just in London taking the neighborhood walking tours to familiarize ourselves with the area and now our time in Paris is over! It's going to be strange and sad to get home and not have our group to travel, dine, walk, and talk with anymore. :( For added fun, the travel itinerary for today apparently includes just about every form of transportation, from trains and taxis to the underground and airplanes. If our calculations are correct, it's something like 22 hours of traveling (Paris time back to EST)—presuming that we make our connecting flight—so that promises to be an adventure as well. It's super early and time for breakfast before our departure for the Eurostar station, though, so updates for the journey home will have to wait until later. :)
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Anticipation...

Ever since our itinerary was posted back before the LN85 program officially began, Peep has been waiting for Notre Dame. After all, it is a beautiful and iconic landmark of Paris—definitely a must-see, despite the fact that I never officially drafted any kind of must-see list for Paris. So today, our final full day in the city, Peep got his chance to see the cathedral, which he'd clearly been anticipating even before we left for London...

Like many of the churches we've seen in London and Paris alike, Notre Dame was a popular destination, and there were the expected crowds of tourists on hand to see the cathedral. Unlike some of the other churches, though, photography (sans flash) was allowed, so we had the chance to document our tour through the inside and the incredible stained glass windows. Although we visited areas all around Notre Dame on previous walking tours of the area earlier in the week, it was neat to go inside. The gift shop was a bit odd to see—there was also one when we visited Sacre Coeur, so perhaps it's a French cathedrals thing?—but the interior was beautiful. Peep did not emerge for a photo op inside the church, but was suitably impressed with the size and scale of the cathedral from the outside (much larger than the model he posed with prior to leaving Florida). With some spare time after our interior tour—the lines were too long to climb to the tower for the super views—we got to wander around some, see the back and sides of the church, and visit a couple of souvenir shops too before our afternoon river cruise on the Seine. There were some scary people on the sidewalks around the cathedral and a surprising number of food vendors and nearly identical souvenir shops, but that made it convenient for grabbing a late lunch and picking up any last-minute souvenir choices before our group meeting for the cruise.

It's much bigger in person...

Peep admiring the architecture

Following our relaxing dinner cruise during which we had a chance to see a lot of famous sights along the Seine, the group went to a final farewell dinner. Peep missed out on our special dinner and chocolate mousse dessert, but it was a fun way to end the day and our time here in France. :)


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Finding Fréd on Bastille Day

Since we ended up missing the 4th of July back home in the States, it was nice to be in Paris for Bastille Day, although their festivities seem a little different than the standard 4th of July fare. We actually saw some street fair concerts and random troupe acts last night (July 13th) after dinner near the Bastille. It was strange, though, because they all seemed to be competing with one another and playing simultaneously, and by this morning (actual Bastille Day), the Place de la Bastille was back to normal (all of the food vendor tents were gone, traffic could use the roadways again, etc). So, I'm not really sure how the holiday is celebrated here beyond the special fireworks show later on tonight at the Eiffel Tower. I had heard previously that many stores and businesses would be closed for the holiday, but that didn't really seem to be the case—at least not to a large extent—throughout the day. Still, I imagine the crowds and transportation will probably get worse as sunset and the fireworks show near. National holiday aside, though, it was another sightseeing day in Paris, and today took us to Père Lachaise cemetery, where I could begin my search for Fréd...

As an undergrad student, I minored in music, which required courses in music theory and analysis. One of the projects for my second music analysis course involved a focus on a specific composer, and my group was assigned Frédéric Chopin. I'm not even sure what we really presented about—likely his mazurka in A-flat found in our analysis book—but I do remember that we concluded our presentation with information about his death in 1849 and burial at Père Lachaise cemetery. His was the only famous grave/monument I knew of at that cemetery prior to coming to Paris, even though I do also recall Père Lachaise appearing in French civ. as well. So, when I realized we would be going to Père Lachaise, finding Fréd became a must.

We unfortunately (or at least I unfortunately) didn't have maps of the cemetery really, and thus, after a group trip to find Jim Morrison's memorial/monument (which is seriously hidden amongst the others), I had to trek back towards the southern entrance of the cemetery to consult the large posted maps of all the various sections of the cemetery. The routes within are marked, but the pathways vary in size and some of the smaller ones do not really seem to have names or just dead-end into other monuments, so it is easy to get lost. I consulted the map and set out, only to follow one of the random little paths into nowhere and just about get lost again, so I retraced my steps to find a clearer route.

The second try was much more successful, and I did find Chemin Denon, the avenue, if you will, off of which Chopin's grave is located. The cemetery itself is packed with monuments of all shapes and sizes and eras marking individuals and families, so it's something of an adventure to find the right site even with directions and the correct "address." The more famous sites, though, seem to have either flowers or crowds—often both—and Chopin was no exception. I almost walked past the monument completely because it's not super large compared to those around it, but it is very bedecked with flowers, and there were a couple of people standing to the side apparently looking at it. When I circled back realizing that it was the monument I was seeking, though, I realized the two ladies weren't actually interested in Chopin at all but had instead picked the worst possible location to consult their map for finding some other site. A tour group was hedging in on the far side to get pictures while they pondered directions, and I could really only see the side of the Chopin statue because they were blocking the whole of the narrow little Chemin Denon, so it was an interesting little traffic jam temporarily.

The ladies did move on and the tour group ended up passing on without really noting Chopin at all, so I'm not sure why they were there at all, but I finally got to see the place I spoke about in my music analysis project and read the tributes to "A. Fréd Chopin." Some of the other people who eventually wandered over didn't know the story about his heart being buried in Poland, so I got to pass along some info too after my photo ops. It was time for the class meeting shortly thereafter, though, so I had to make my way back and try to find the correct way to the original entrance point, which was thankfully easier than I thought it might be.

The cemetery itself was beautiful, if crowded, and by that I mean with monuments and mausoleums, not tourists. I couldn't hear city noise of any kind practically until I was all the way back to the entrance point, which made the whole experience pretty unique for still being inside Paris. Plus, I got to see Chopin. Afterwards, we went to Sacre Coeur, which was beautiful inside (sadly, photography is prohibited inside the church), but the view of the city was wonderful, if crowded, and by that I mean with people. With only one full day left in Paris, I had to try the savory crepe for dinner (with a sweet one for dessert), so it was a pretty fun day all around, and the fireworks haven't even started yet...

Peep at Sacre Coeur admiring the view

A view of L'Arc de Triomphe on Bastille Day

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Journey to Champagne

Riding out to Epernay (in first class seats!) this morning reminded me in a way of my trip out to Devon (sans the first class seats for the latter), particularly as we left the large city/train station and headed out into more rural areas. The fields and vineyards were beautiful, but most of my attempts to capture them on film ended up with a nice glare from my camera reflecting in the train windows and/or some kind of blurring action in the fields. Nonetheless, Epernay was a charming little city and the weather was gorgeous, all of which made for a lovely day to tour Moët & Chandon and some more village wandering...

After arriving by train, we had some time to wander the city and eat lunch at this cute little pizzeria. Seeing menus for the past couple of days has definitely reminded me of my high school and early college French courses, when we would practice ordering random items and everyone would pick the easy-to-pronounce foods and drinks. Unfortunately, it's not practical to order those easy foods all the time (they're usually easier to say because they're closer to English names), so I got to branch out again with some new menu options and help a couple of my lunch companions decipher their menus. Pizza with tuna and egg was one such unusual discovery, but we all passed on that in favor of some more familiar choices.

There was some free time between lunch and our scheduled tour, during which I strolled around the city and found some cute little historical landmarks, none of which were really explained well but had their own historical marker designations. The only souvenir shop we could find didn't seem to have much in the way of souvenirs beyond postcards, pipes, or magazines, so that wasn't such a successful venture, but it was a curiosity. There were flowerbed everywhere, and lots of small park areas, so even though most all of the stores we found seemed to be closed—perhaps for the holiday tomorrow?—we did have a pleasant walk before the Moët & Chandon tour.

I've never been to a winery before or been in any kind of wine cellar, so the whole Moët tour was a new experience for me. The brief history of the company given upstairs (ground level) was interesting, but they definitely weren't kidding about people wanting a jacket or coat of some kind when down in the cellars themselves. It was rather brisk, even as part of a group of people touring together, and the maze of routes within the cellars was a surprise. Who knew they had 28 km of cellar space alone? At any rate, our tour path was a significantly smaller portion of that distance and yet the huge (for lack of a better word) stockpiles of wine we saw were impressive in their own right, let alone as a fraction of the total production.

The tour ended with a tasting that was very popular among the tour participants, but I really enjoyed the informational part more. I think I was probably the only one in the group that didn't know Dom Perignon is made by Moët & Chandon, and while that was not part of the tasting at the end, it was still neat to see the statue dedicated to him and one section of the cellar in which Dom Perignon is housed. Peep was impressed as well during the tour and came out for a photo op once, but since it was so cold and the poor guide would've thought we were all crazy to be taking pictures with random toys and pictures, Peep stayed hidden for the rest of the time. Epernay was quaint and pretty, though, and it was wonderful to visit such a cute little relaxing place (in great weather) and have a little break from the action, noise, and lights of Paris, if only for an afternoon. :)

Peep in an alcove down in the cellars

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The Sun King on a Sunday

Prior to our trip there today, I imagined that Versailles was akin to Hampton Court, but on a grander, more elaborate scale. It does, after all, house the fabled hall of mirrors, and, as they told us at Hampton Court, the French royal palaces set the bar for later Hampton Court renovations by William III. Still, it was so pleasant and relaxed at Hampton Court—a blending of historical significance, royal associations, and grand estates and gardens—that I anticipated our trip out to Versailles would be similar. If Hampton Court was popular for London, though, Versailles is the must-see for all of France...

I suppose I didn't anticipate large crowds because it didn't seem like there were many at Hampton Court and for some reason, I very much equated the two in my mind, despite their scale and time period differences. I don't think, however, that I've ever seen that many tourists in one place, aside from actual theme parks, which are a completely different category and experience altogether. Versailles, with its Louis XIV-XVI and Marie Antoinette connections, has quite the appeal, though, and tourists from all over definitely turn up to see it. Logically, of course, Hampton Court wouldn't have the same audience draw as even Windsor Castle or Buckingham Palace in England, so I don't know why I thought it would be similar at Versailles, but nonetheless, we made it to Versailles and after a little wait in a very polite queue, got to tour the estate.

I have limited experience touring large estates, whether here or in the U.S., but it still seemed odd and a little hectic to have so many people crammed into these elaborate rooms trying to take everything in while simultaneously ignoring the "no flash photography" directive; I've definitely never seen that many people packed into little rooms before, although the presence of the audioguides cut down on most conversation too. The audioguides provided were great, but I think at one point they caused a traffic jam because people were waiting for the tape to stop speaking but it was tiny corner room and there just wasn't space for people to loiter. Still, even the occasional crowd couldn't detract from the beauty of the rooms and all of their gorgeous artwork. I'm not sure if it was something we were supposed to notice or if it is just part of the interior design, but while touring the "History of France Galleries," there was this one view down a long hallway that connected at least six or seven rooms together that allowed pedestrians to see the doorframes and a small portion of that room's decor. Looking down that corridor from one end to the other, you could literally see a rainbow of room colors and textures in the wallpapers and tapestries. It was a really interesting and colorful effect, although difficult to photograph since people generally wanted you to move into the next room so they could stay with the audioguide.

Some of the sections of the palace seemed to prohibit photography in general, although again, not too many people seemed to mind the signs warning against cameras, and the guides/guards didn't respond either. Thankfully, though, the famous hall of mirrors, though crowded, was not one of these photo-free zones, and even Peep got a photo-op in among the chandeliers lining the hall. All of the state apartments had great views of the gardens, and even though there wasn't a maze to wander around in (a la Hampton Court), the weather cleared up nicely and it was sunny again at Versailles, which seemed fitting for the sun king.

Since I couldn't take pictures downstairs (there were signs everywhere that appear to prohibit cameras) and we didn't get to tour the gardens themselves, we left Versailles after lunch and headed back towards the center of Paris. Our walking tours for the past two days covered a lot of ground and basically included most of the landmarks to see that we won't be visiting as a class, but we did find another, perhaps lesser-known item of interest to visit: la statue de la liberté. Smaller than the American one and apparently hanging out in the middle of the river on a sandbar-esque island, this replica Statue of Liberty doesn't seem to draw the crowds, at least on a Sunday afternoon, but it was pretty neat to see, especially since I've never been to the Statue of Liberty in NY. It's dinnertime here now, although I'm strangely not hungry after our French Tex-Mex lunch (also an adventure of it's own...). :)

An Eiffel Tower view en route to la statue de la liberté

La Statue de la Liberté

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Practicing French and pizza

Although I knew we would have a free day in Paris to see the sights, travel, or do whatever we individually wanted to do, I didn't actually plan anything specific beforehand (i.e. no real must-see lists for Paris like in London). So, there wasn't much of a plan for today's free time beyond wandering down to the Champs Elysees and l'Arc de Triomphe after breakfast and likely repeating our Paris-by-foot tour of the center of the city. Being out in the city for most all of the day--including two meals--also meant a chance for souvenir shopping and eating at cafes, all of which provided me a chance to practice using French and, at the end of the day, reminded me of a silly little French song we once learned called "Je suis une pizza"...

Taking the Metro down to the Champs Elysees was actually very easy, and we were kindly directed by signs to find nearby monuments and attractions. Unfortunately, we headed right, towards the river, when in fact the metro station we exited literally faced the Champs Elysees and we could've found l'Arc de Triomphe by heading out to the left instead. Nonetheless, we got to see le petit and le grand palais and walked down to la Place de la Concorde without really planning to. It was exciting to cross the streets there because the street crossing signals were all taped off/not functioning and the streets were all major intersections. We had some interesting calls with lights changing suddenly, but managed to survive long enough to circle la Concorde and head into a little park that parallels the Champs Elysees. Because of the eventual advent of the Tour de France up the Champs Elysees, we couldn't walk up part of the avenue since they had it roped off and were setting up stands/bleachers for future spectators.

When we did get to the CE, it was crowded, of course, but had tons of interesting shops, and we kept running into other program people who had also wandered down that way during our free day. We had some serious issues finding the correct route to actually get to the l'Arc, mostly because all of these little brown signs kept indicating that it was underground and then the metro directions popped us out at the same station, which, thanks to crowds and our apparent inability to see the giant entrance, kept seeming like the wrong place. We seriously circled a couple of times before finally spotting the real entrance, but we did make it there and Peep got some souvenir pictures to prove it.

After heading to the Latin Quarter, finding La Sorbonne, and eating a cute little street cafe, we wandered some more, ending up in le Jardin du Luxembourg (we were intending to head towards the river, but obviously got turned around) and then over to Ile de la Cite. There was quite the line for Sainte-Chapelle, so we admired its stained glass windows from the outside in passing, but didn't try to see Notre Dame since we'll be going there for class next week. After a brief stop on Ile de la Cite, though, we headed for Marais, which didn't really seem to have any notable landmarks as we passed through, and then all of a sudden it seemed like we were back at the Bastille, which is very close to our hotel.

I'm not sure how far distance-wise we walked, but it was a good little trek around the center of the city. When added to yesterday's journeys around the Louvre area, I feel like I've seen a good bit of the interior portion of the city traveling by foot, but then again, it's a good way to see what you want to see and you definitely get to see people and interact on a more personal basis. Most of the merchants do still end up helping us along with English if not just using English from the start, but it's definitely a learning and relearning experience to be reading maps and signs, listening to locals around me talking, and try to order items in stores.

After our super walk, we thought we'd try the hotel's restaurant only to find that it doesn't exist for dinner, meaning we had to have a backup plan. The backup plan became ordering a pizza, but since the menus for said pizza places (as provided by the front desk) were all in French, I got to help navigate the options and ultimately ended up placing the order online, which was another fun adventure. It was a little gratifying to have the ordering process work out, although admittedly, it wasn't a complicated order, and it was an inexpensive dinner. :) The delivery was crazy fast and to our hotel room door, though, so that was a pleasant surprise and a fun dinner en suite. Tomorrow we travel to Versailles(!), which means a little trip to the local grocery is in order for some water, if not dessert following our little pizza dinner. :)

Me ordering pizza online in French (and it worked!)

...dinner! (to the tune of "Je suis une pizza")

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Arts and Leisure

After our introduction to the Metro yesterday, we got to ride the bus today en route to the Louvre and see some of Paris in transit. Traveling around the city and seeing/hearing familiar names and terms definitely reminds me of l'hexagone and 'the spiral' from French civ., but unfortunately, when we were tested on which famous landmarks were found in each arrondissement, the associations didn't always come with visuals; therein, I've discovered that I can be staring at a famous landmark and not really recognize it by sight at all, but instead, only by name. That seems odd, but it was definitely the case as we visited the Louvre today (one of the iconic ones easily recognized) and then walked all around le premiere arrondissement. It was a combo of arts and leisure, with some firsts and interesting experiences thrown in along the way...

Walking through the various galleries in the Louvre was a little like having my humanities book come to life, especially as we toured through the 13th-15th century Italian painting galleries. It was neat to see in person some of the works we'd studied and/or written papers about in the past, even though the collection is much larger and more varied than my few humanities classes could ever cover. The sheer size of the galleries and their interconnectedness make it easy to get turned around and/or lost within the maze of rooms, which is how we briefly turned up in the medieval exhibit in the basement. Still, I knew going in that I wanted to see the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo, so those were definite must-finds (and were thankfully fairly well marked out).

I had been told prior to coming that the Mona Lisa is actually much smaller than you might imagine, and thus, I expected something along the lines of an 8"x10" framed portrait. Signs everywhere throughout the museum also prohibit flash photography, so I was surprised first to discover the Mona Lisa is somewhat larger than I thought it might be and second, to see the swarm of people surrounding it using their camera flashes all while the guards stood by watching. We joined in the group trying to take pictures (but refrained from flash photos), and then set off to hunt down Venus de Milo. There were similar crowds there as well, and one kid in particular who kept jumping into other people's shots. He was not popular with the crowd, especially when he would pop up from behind or around the statue since no one was really taking any photos of it except from the front. I suppose he'll have to be edited out of the one picture of mine he managed to appear in, but then again, that adds to the memory of the day, and I did manage at least one shot that he didn't jump into.

After a little more touring/wandering/trying to find the correct exit in the Louvre, we headed out to scope out restaurants for dinner. In the process, I got to eat my first crepe, which was delicious and the guy making them was quite the interesting character. We walked all over the place in le premiere arrondissement, including Pont Neuf, Place Vendome, Opera Garnier, and the periphery of Notre Dame. It was fun to tour the city, although admittedly, I was tired after the sugar high from my crepe wore off. I did, however, pick up some postcards and two popular children's books from a little bookstore: Alice au Pays des Merveilles and Madeleine, both of which are fun to try and read in French. :)

We returned to the Louvre for a little more touring later on, and then I came back to the hotel, where there ended up being an issue with the room key. The desk clerk said they didn't have the key, but as it turns out, my roommate did leave our key there this morning when we left, so we don't know what happened to it in the interim hours that it was MIA when I returned. Thankfully, though, they issued us a new one and deactivated the old one, so we can once again access our room and have a little leisure time at the end of our day exploring and appreciating art. :)

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A day of surprises

Since we had to officially check out of our flats before 9 am this morning, it was an early morning trying to get last-minute items packed and taken downstairs, clean up/inspect the flat, and turn in keys in time for class. With our lovely three flights of stairs, getting the luggage down, taking out the trash, and getting everything squared away involved a lot of stairs, but in the end, we were done with time to spare. It was a little sad, though, to leave London because it's been so much fun and it does not seem like it's already been two weeks. Nonetheless, before we left on our Eurostar trip to Paris, we had one final stop in London, a location that was one of my top must-see places: the British Library! (see more behind the cut)

The British Library may sound like a nerdy choice for a must-see place in London, but I've actually wanted to go there because of their "treasures" collection of rare and ancient manuscripts, including a ton of Shakespeare works, a Gutenberg Bible, and drafts, books, and/or manuscripts by Austen, Hardy, Handel, and R. Vaughn Williams to name a few. I particularly enjoyed hovering near the sixteenth century English authors cases since so many of those texts, along with earlier works (i.e. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight) were common reading selections in undergrad. It's incredible to think those documents have been preserved and survived for so long, particularly the Sir Gawains of the group. I had heard or read somewhere that there was a Beowulf manuscript kept there, but couldn't find it, so that was a little disappointing (Beowulf was a quite popular selection in high school and college English courses alike), but I'm really glad I got to go, especially since there was also an original handwritten copy of Alice's Adventures Underground with the Carroll illustrations, so that fit perfectly with my LC quest at Oxford. :)

After picking up luggage and hailing a cab (my first taxi ride in London!), we made our way to the Eurostar station, picked up lunch, and were on our way to Paris! The ride was quiet and basically uneventful, although we lost an hour time-wise coming from England. Getting our luggage and everyone to the hotel was a fun experience, largely because the Metro in Paris has some definite differences from the tube in London, the most important to me being that the individual stops are not announced, only posted outside on the walls, and you have to open your own door to get in or out (odd...). At any rate, we made it to our hotel after a couple of direction checks and got settled into our clean but tiny rooms. They remind me of a microtel, which is totally fine, but it is a little comical trying to locate and utilize the randomly placed plugs in the room and navigate our giant luggage in the walkway space; to capitalize on that space, one of our desk chairs ended up temporarily in the bathroom, while the other is sitting on top of the wardrobe/closet, so we have an unconventional setup going. :) The internet works in the rooms, though, and my cell phone works here sans the drama it caused me in London, so that's always a relief.

We wandered the neighborhood directly around our hotel after settling in and managed to find an ATM (a necessity since none of us had any Euros), and I got to practice my French skills at a boulangerie, where we picked up dinner before our group trip to the Eiffel Tower. The Tower was beautiful at sunset and especially when it was all lit up at night; I wished I'd brought a sweater given the definite change in temperature, but I did have a light jacket handy, which helped. Atop the Tower, we were wondering if we'd see much of Paris at night since it is the "city of lights" and yet most of our traveling/exploring is done in the day. However, there was an interesting scene with one or more people running from the police when we were at the bottom of the Tower waiting to cross the street (the guy got caught), so perhaps I won't miss not seeing much of the city at night. :) I was definitely glad to be with a large group at that point too.

It's still kind of surreal to be here, probably because it still doesn't seem like our two weeks in London should be over and partly because I always equated traveling to France with a school program with trying to speak in French all the time (i.e. one of my hesitations in studying abroad in Avignon as an undergrad). The remainder of our time here promises to be interesting, fun, and full of new experiences, though, and I'm looking forward to the Louvre tomorrow.

Peep had some fun on the train ride over here

Peep at the Eiffel Tower with the light show

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Last full day in London

Today was our last full day in London (sad times), but we got to see and do some cool things and play the quintessential tourist for awhile too. From playing on the Princess Diana of Wales' Memorial Playground with Peep to strolling in Hyde Park and eating lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, it was a laid back kind of day, at least for the first half, followed by a mini shopping marathon...


I'm not sure I knew or perhaps had forgotten that we'd be going to the playground this morning during adults-only time (I know, it seems a little odd that there's special playground hours set aside for adults only), but it was actually pretty cool. The weather was pretty cool too, and I made the mistake of wearing a skirt, so it wasn't so easy to be climbing around on the big pirate ship or the platform playgrounds, even for fun photos. There were cute little school kids in uniforms—think twelve little girls in two straight lines—walking near the playground when we left, and a line of parents waiting to get in, but it was neat to be able to see and walk around in the playground when it was virtually empty. (In this Peter Pan picture, look for Peep on the lower right side towards the middle.)

After playground time, we wandered towards the Peter Pan statue and fountains in the park. There was a nice little cafe/restaurant that had amazing hot chocolate, and given the breezy cool weather outside, I was definitely glad for a hot drink. I also had a super huge blueberry muffin, which made for a nice late morning snack/early lunch. :) The park was strangely deserted for the most part, perhaps because of the weather, but following our snack we split into separate groups pending whether people wanted to go to Harrod's or the Hard Rock Cafe. The last Hard Rock Cafe I've ever been in was literally half my life ago in Washington, D.C., so it was fun to see the London one, which is also apparently the original Hard Rock. Merle was nice enough to split one of their huge burgers with me since the muffin put a damper on my appetite for lunch. Still, the food was good and it was a nice change (free refills!). The real touristy fun began after lunch, though. :)

We headed down as a group of six to Harrod's but basically gave up on the idea of sticking together in such a huge store. I had a mini list of souvenirs to locate, if possible, which happened to match up with some of Joanna's, so we navigated five stories together, including toy world and the book area (of course...a must for librarians). On a random side note, one strange thing I noticed, besides the poles that block people from taking strollers on the escalators, is that the sales people consistently check i.d. This is likely because my credit card doesn't have the special chip that cards here seem to, but still, it was kind of nice in a way that they do want to confirm you are the right person to be using that card. At any rate, Harrod's was quite the experience, especially the food halls (I got a picture of giant cupcake! Peep would love it).

My souvenir to-buy list was not satisfied at Harrod's, so we went on a quest to find a bunch of random stores and items that took us up and down Oxford and Great Russell to find everything, and I think it was successful. The crowds of people by the Oxford Circus underground station were totally insane; I think I was dreading huge and immovable crowds like that everywhere from the start, so we've really been fortunate not to have had major crowds and pedestrian traffic as we've toured the city. Now that the shopping blitz is over, I'm the proud owner of a bunch of random London knickknacks to commemorate the trip (a la charm bracelet charms, a tea towel, etc), but it is fun to be a tourist and do touristy things sometimes; we definitely see our share back home...

All in all, the shopping was fun, except that we were for some reason very hurried and walked at a pretty frantic pace. There was no schedule for the afternoon, so I'm not sure why we were in such a rush, but it did speed up the process and got us back in time to make dinner, do laundry, and pack for Paris! The dinner is going to be pretty special too, if the prep is any indication, because our baking directions want me to cook the quiche for twenty-five minutes and then let it cool for thirty, so I'm not sure how that's going to work out in the end since the "cooking" part is really just a reheat anyway. Oh well. It's one more fun memory for today. :)

Peep eyeing my muffin and hot chocolate

Giant cupcake!

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An amazing time at Hampton Court

Aside from a trip to Hampton Court Palace, we were challenged today to tell a story in five pictures (sans the captions I do love to add). Below is my five-picture story, titled "Reunion" ( and you can read more about my fun times at Hampton Court behind the cut). :)

Reunion

Trains and palaces! We took a train from Waterloo Station this morning to get to Hampton Court Palace, which was once home to Tudor king Henry VIII and later, King William III and Mary II. Having heard about Hampton Court from various English courses and reading several of David Starkey's books about Henry VIII and his wives, I was excited to see it. The grounds are huge, though, and it is very possible to get turned around, even with a somewhat guided audio tour...

The guided audio tour was excellent and, pending which section of the palaces you were in, provided extensive coverage of the history. There were strolling reenactments of King Henry VIII's marriage to Kateryn Parr (the last of the six wives), and we even had the opportunity to bow/curtsy before him during several photo ops. My touring went awry after viewing the chambers of Henry VIII and previewing a very interesting (though not commentated) exhibit in the palace dubbed "Henry's Women," complete with portraits and info about each of the six wives and some personal artifacts associated with them. Unfortunately, photography wasn't allowed in that room or I would've had a ton of pictures to post. After that tour, though, the self-selecting audio guide didn't exactly prompt which direction I should head, and so I found myself wandering down hallways lined with pictures, eventually moving towards an exit. The exit didn't have any special signage to indicate how I might find the next audio point of interest, and the audio recording relies on the user to tell it what section you want it to discuss; the directions is provides are somewhat in order if you started in the palace kitchens, but since I did not, I got to stroll in the light drizzle and try to figure out where I was.

After unintentionally finding the kitchens, I caught up with that audio tour in time to get mowed down by a group of tourists sans audio guides that were rather impatient to get to the next area of the palace. The kitchens tour itself is extensive, judging by the audio guide, and so I wandered in and around the various kitchen stops, ovens, etc. listening to the food historians' perspectives (I never before knew that was a specialty) until I found myself in the colonnade once again, which was familiar territory. I wanted to see the William III/Mary II tour, which was quite different from Henry's court, but the audio tour started to become very detailed and I felt like I was blocking the path since the audio for each room was at least three minutes bordering on five. All of the information was interesting, particularly in explaining the progression of public and private rooms (and all the weaponry in the guard room!), but by the time that tour was finished, it was raining again and lunchtime.

Lunch was a quiet affair (an indoors picnic since it was still raining), and I managed to stay with others and/or on marked paths so I didn't again get lost accidentally in the afternoon. I did get to walk the maze on the grounds, which was more fun that I thought it might be. When first entering the maze, it appears to be unicursal, which isn't so much a maze to me as a garden path. We did come across a fork in the road, so to speak, rather quickly, though, and wove around without knowing how large the maze really was. I thought the goal was to get to the end, but apparently, you are supposed to go to the middle and then find your way back out. We got to the middle without any real problems, but then got a little turned around trying to find the exit because we didn't know the entrance served double duty as the exit as well. On the plus side, though, we made only two wrong turns (as in choosing dead-end paths), and got out of the maze literally right before it started to pour rain again, so it was fun.


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Parks and Recreation

Unfortunately, I subbed out my rain jacket for my umbrella this morning, thinking it would leave more room in my bag for Peep, my picnic lunch, and my un-assembled kite. Rain jackets or coats are more preferable in actual rain, though, since the wind can and will invert umbrellas, and my mini umbrella—conveniently purse-sized—is also conveniently small enough to get either my bag or me wet, meaning poor Peep got a little damp. The rain didn't last for long, though, and we did have nice, cooler weather for walking around Regent's Park and lunch on Primrose Hill.

Prior to today, I haven't actually been inside of any of London's parks, so it was nice to be able to walk around and see all of the beautiful flowers and gardens. The street noise is surprisingly muffled and the park seemed very quiet and relaxing. Seeing all of the flowerbeds, arrangements, and the occasional small topiary reminded me of Cypress Gardens in the old days, and I almost expected to see some strolling belles appear to greet visitors. They, of course, never appeared, but the most people I ever saw, aside from the group of children playing cricket on the sports fields, were in the rose garden, which was a highlight of the day for me...

It did start raining while we were strolling among the rose beds, but it was still beautiful and smelled wonderful. I always think of rosebeds as containing a variety of different rose bushes since ours does at home, but the massive rosebeds in Queen Mary's Gardens were each devoted to one particular kind of rose, so there were these blankets of pink, then red, then golden yellow, then white, then blush, etc. With the breeze from the approaching rain shower, the buds and blooms were all swaying and waving. It seems almost prettier that way than they might appear in average weather with direct sunlight all around. At any rate, the gardens were gorgeous and I spent lots of time photographing the name of each rosebed's variety before getting some shots of the blooms themselves. This earned me some strange looks from another couple roaming the grounds, but I think it's nice to know the name of the flower too, especially since some of them were actually familiar to me.

After our garden tour, we walked to Primrose Hill for our picnic lunch and kite flying. I don't really remember if or when I last flew a kite, largely because I think all previous efforts failed due to a lack of wind. There was no shortage of wind atop Primrose Hill, though, and it was really fun to fly my little owl kite after a quick lunch. The sky was bright blue again, so all of the kites from class really stood out, and it was neat to look around and see ten or so kites flying around and trying not to cross. I'm not sure why or how Primrose Hill got its name since I didn't see any flowers on or around it specifically, but it did provide quite the observation point to get a panorama of London. (I tried taking some panorama shots with the help of my camera, so hopefully those will come out and I can add them to my London pics slide show in the side column.)

We're all going to see Billy Elliot the musical tonight as a class, which should be exciting since it's always fun to see shows and Billy Elliot has won so many awards and is much acclaimed. I did see the movie when it came out, so I'm looking forward to seeing the stage adaptation too. Since we'll be out later going to and coming from the show, I'll even have a chance to get some more evening shots around London to pair with my daytime shots of activities and attractions.

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Traveling in London

My first few days in London, I was more than glad to be part of a group traveling around. Aside from the 'safety in numbers' adage always flashing in the back of my mind, it was nice to have some guidance as I transitioned into London transit options. I don't think I have some horrible sense of direction that would've gotten me lost had I branched out on my own initially, but London is a big and bustling city, and for awhile, I felt like I was in the locals' way, whether on the pavement or boarding the tube. Although I asked a lot of pre-departure questions of friends and co-workers who have traveled abroad before, it didn't occur to me to ask about transportation or get any tips for getting around the city. Thus, for other inexperienced newcomers and/or novice travelers like myself, I created a short podcast of tips and examples for traveling in and around London.

Surviving London: A Novice Traveler's Tips for Navigating the Foreign World of Transportation in London
by Stephanie Brown
recorded July 5, 2009 at Flat #10, 102 Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London



This podcast is 4.83 MB and runs approximately 5:16.
For anyone with difficulties loading the embedded player, the podcast can also be retrieved from http://www.divshare.com/download/7834842-620

Recording the various traffic sounds for my podcast was entertaining, partly because there was no shortage of traffic to observe and partly because I caught myself breaking one of my own rules by standing in the middle of the pavement (semi-blocking the flow of pedestrian traffic) just to record them. It was fun to catch screeching tires and sirens amongst the zooming cars and pedestrian chatter, and thanks to my experience traveling around London with our program, I feel more confident now about public transportation and solo travel too. :)

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It's moor fun in Devon

London is fascinating to me because I've never really been in huge cities before, and I've definitely never lived in one for any period of time. The lights, the noise, the constant activity, the completely foreign transportation system, the vast numbers of people are all completely new to me and, though occasionally intimidating, are still interesting. On the other hand, though, I come from a small city in a somewhat rural/agrarian county, and thus it's neat to get outside of London's maze of streets, sights, and shops to see some smaller and/or more rural areas of England. Our class trips to Stonehenge, Salisbury, and Oxford were all fun excursion day trips, so I wanted to travel outside the city once, if possible, during the free weekend.

Prior to departing for this trip (as seen in earlier blog posts), I debated what activities or places I might want to do or see. The ancestral connections won out, though, so I headed southwest to Devon and a little village few people know exists...

Chagford is an incredibly small little village. The B&B owner who met me and helped facilitate my trip to Devon provided me with a map that basically outlines maybe six streets in the entire town. All of the buildings are circa 16th or before, many with thatched roofs, and the roads into and out of the village are small, winding country lanes with high hedgerows and stone walls. When I arrived, I half expected to see James Herriot pop out from one of the many footpaths toward the River Teign, it's that idyllic. From my room in the little B&B, I could hear sheep bleating out on the moor, which was cool and a little odd at the same time. After all, it's quite the switch from traffic noises and people talking to wind, sheep bleating, and birds everywhere.

In a way, since Chagford is off the beaten path, as they say, it feels a little like stepping back in time. Everyone was very friendly and very curious to know why I was visiting and how I'd heard of Chagford. Nonetheless, I arrived in time to watch the weekly cricket match and got invited to come to the bazaar in front of Endecott House in the town square the following morning. As it was a bed and breakfast, I also got to eat my first full English breakfast, or rather, I also had a chance to eat a full English breakfast. It's quite a lot of food, but it was lovely sitting out in the garden to do so.

Coming from Florida, the moors are incredible to me, and it's fascinating to watch the low, fast-moving clouds cross them. I didn't particularly notice a change in weather from said clouds, but it was definitely much cooler and windier in Devon, and I finally had occasion to use my rain jacket because it started to rain as I was scheduled to leave. It was a lovely place, and their ancient stone church, though much smaller and less grand than the beautiful cathedrals we've seen during class trips, was charming in its own right. It would be fun maybe to return someday with more of my family (they could appreciate the ancestry connection more), but I'm glad to have gone during my free weekend. (They even had an Independence Day celebration with "American-style" food at one of the local pubs—The Globe—so I had a chance to commemorate the 4th of July sort of in England.) :)

St. Michael's Church

Sunset over the moors (note those low clouds)

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Finding Lewis

I've been looking forward to our group trip to Oxford practically since it was announced on our group itinerary. Since I've never ridden a real train—by real I mean a train that isn't a slow scenic one just for tourists—it was exciting to go to Paddington Station and ride a real train, By far, the train is my favorite transportation method now, although I'm not sure how that might be affected by taking actual luggage along with me besides just a purse. Nonetheless, we had a fascinating tour of the Bodleian Library in the morning, which was cool because I heard about that library all through undergrad from my various English professors who would visit there while on sabbatical. It was neat, then, to see the stacks and the reading rooms and even a small part of that massive collection personally since I've heard their stories before and now know a little more of the history too. Cool Bodleian aside, though, my anticipation of going to Oxford centered on one goal: finding Lewis Carroll...

Visiting Christ Church wasn't scheduled, but since we had a lot of free time after our Bodleian Library tour to eat lunch and explore the city, I got to go. I think I was probably the only one who was interested in the Lewis Carroll aspect of going to Christ Church—after all, scenes from the Harry Potter movies were also filmed there—but it was still fun. We got a student rate on our tickets and had the chance to wander on a self-guided tour (with pamphlets) that took us to the famous dining hall, familiar to Carroll and Harry Potter fans alike for different reasons. Since I'm not a super huge fan of the Alice books, it might seem strange that I would be excited to see Christ Church at all, but it all stems from undergrad, rather like my interest in the Bodleian Library.

The summer between my junior and senior years of college, I researched and wrote a SURE grant paper about Carroll, his symbollic logic and mathematics, and the Alice books. While it was tedious sometimes to read his journals, I learned quite a bit about Dodgson (Carroll) that summer and always wanted to see where he lived and worked. Our student tour didn't take us to his cottage, but seeing the famous dining hall, Christ Church cathedral, and the grounds was more than enough to make me feel like I'd found Lewis. The city is even hosting a special "Alice's Day" this Saturday, when it appears they will be celebrating all things Alice and Carroll. I might just have to check that out too since the events include visits to the cottage and perhaps more about the Liddell family too. I was surprised but glad to still be able to recognize his picture when I spotted it across the dining hall. :) Their little gift shop was fun, as was seeing oodles of Alice stuff (I was expecting a lot around Oxford, so it was nice to see at Christ Church), but I tried to limit myself. :) It was also cool to see that John and Charles Wesley were actually ordained in Christ Church cathedral, so I took lots of pictures of their memorials as well.

It's Lewis! This was the picture I spotted across the dining hall while following the walking tour through. I had to circle round and cut through to get close enough for a picture.

The famous dining hall...Harry Potter fans (on the tour) were excited to see this too

A shot of the beautiful grounds at Christ Church College

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Ups and downs

What a day! We didn't have the early wake-up time this morning like yesterday (and tomorrow when we head out early for Oxford), but our travels today presented a different set of challenges and highlights. I quickly learned that I am fairly horrible at taking action shots, or rather, thanks to my camera's kind attempts to be sophisticated and compensate for any blur or jarring in a given shot, I am fairly horrible at taking action shots. We had some free time in Trafalgar Square this morning before the National Gallery opened to take some photos and capture transportation and motion in the city. There is quite the mix: the usual cars, motorcycles, and bikes, along with more city-oriented mass transit like buses and taxis, and (my favorite) mounted police. As a pedestrian, it seems like traffic is constantly bustling around you and you'll get plowed over if you attempt a crosswalk against the light. Enter Murphy's Law...

Standing by said crosswalks to capture moving vehicles today, it seemed like every shot stalled out because of a red light. Perhaps it was the time of day or a poor location choice in the Square on my part, but I got some rather unusual shots and probably some strange looks since the tourists usually turn and face the buildings rather than traffic for their pictures. Nonetheless, it was a learning experience and really drove home for me the major differences in traffic and transportation here compared to IPC. It was also an interesting opportunity to people watch and listen to the sounds of the city. I did have to relocate after awhile because the beeping of the crosswalks every time it's "safe" to cross can get a little shrill after awhile, but it was still an interesting way to experience London and definitely a new experience for me.

After touring the National Gallery and eating lunch in the Crypt of St Martin-in-the-Field (so cool), we got to my favorite part of the day. I enjoyed touring Westminister Abbey despite its picture ban and really liked Salisbury Cathedral (and the Magna Carta!), despite not knowing of or about it really beforehand. Both were great cathedral tours and fascinating architecture, but by far, my favorite place I've been has got to be St. Paul's. The outside, which we saw on our bus tour on Sunday, was impressive enough, but the inside is absolutely beautiful. I'm not so familiar with the famous royal wedding staged there since it happened before I was born, so St. Paul's wasn't on the radar for me as a must-see. I was very pleased with our "supertour," though, and really enjoyed seeing all of the monuments and chapels inside. I was surprised but glad to get to sit in the choir area and then see the chapel behind the altar area dedicated to American servicemen of WWII. Not knowing what the Florida symbol would be in the stained glass windows, I couldn't definitively spot it, but I did immediately find Indiana's, along with Kansas and Nevada (which the tour guide lady thought might be Texas but actually spelled out NEVADA around the points of the star). It was a fascinating tour, and we concluded with the chance to climb up to the galleries, which were something akin to observation platform/walkways in the central dome of the cathedral. The whispering galley was the lowest (and had a view of the inside), while the stone gallery was higher and exterior and the golden gallery, some 528 steps or approximately 85 metres above the cathedral floor, topped out the gallery viewing tours.

I think living on the fourth floor here helped with making the trek up, because after the whispering gallery, the stairs get steeper and narrower and become one-way. Of course, when I was climbing the last 152 steps between the stone gallery, there was one lady who freaked out one flight of stairs into our climb and insisted on going back down. With the narrow staircases, this didn't work too well, and even though I was able to let her pass, I think the group of tourists behind me was giving her a bit of a hard time about it, which was kind of sad. Two seconds later, though, we reached a "mind your head" sign that was not exaggerating. The guy in front of me who was a head taller than I am, hit his head and backpack while climbing up this super short final set of stairs. He was teetering around on the stairs and I had visions of him falling backwards onto me, which would then send me down the rest of the staircase to the landing some thirty steps below. Not a happy thought indeed. He recovered, though, and we made it to the top; it was definitely worth all of the winding steps, even if the top gallery was super narrow and crowded. (Peep made the climb as well, but given the height and wind, did not come out for a photo op beyond the stone gallery level.) It's amazing to think of how old those staircases are, though, and what they might have been used for. It was also good exercise and helps me to appreciate that we have only 59 stairs up to our flat. :)

An illuminated Book of John in the Crypt of St Martin-in-the-Fields

Winding staircase in the south tower at St. Paul's

Peep in the staircase

Peep on the Stone Gallery level of St. Paul's (afraid to get too close to the edge because of the wind and the fall)

A view from the Golden Gallery

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