Greenwich, and Abbey Road

Yesterday Jenny and I went to Greenwich, which is claimed as the "First City in the World" because it is the home of the Prime Meridian of the world. That is where the time zones start and stop. I stood with one foot on either side of the line, which meant that I stood in two different time zones! That was intense! We went to the Maritime Museum and looked at all the ships and stuff, then we went up to the observatory and looked at the clocks. There is supposed to be an amazing fish and chips place by the station for only 3 pounds, but it was so close to dinner time that I didn't want to ruin my dinner--especially since we were going to have calzones! I get fed WAY too good here!

Today we made the trek out to Abbey Road, for our Beatles pilgrimage. I wrote on the wall outside Abbey Road studios, and then we took pictures of ourselves walking across the Zebra. So much fun...though we went down wrong roads twice. And got whistled at by construction workers. Fun fun. You'd think they had never seen a female before.

I've been having a lot of fun here! Seeing plays (including Phantom of the Opera!) and trying to fit everything in that I can.

Love you all!

The Tower, Cambridge, and Cornwall

This last week was a mighty busy one for me, as are the weeks to follow! There's so much to do and I only have two weeks left! Oh no!

So I started off the week on Tuesday by spending the day at the Tower of London. Oh my gosh! Thank you LaMar! It was amazing! We went on the Yeoman tour, and our guide was really great. We had some problems with helicopters though--there was once when there were two helicopters just hovering over the Thames for about 5 minutes! He was going to talk to us outside, but took us into the Chapel instead. Of course, the minute we went into the Chapel the copters left. So the Chapel was really interesting. In Queen Victoria's time they took up the floors because they were in bad disrepair and they found over 1000 bodies! Some of them headless! Out of them they only identified 33. Among the 33 there was Anne Boleyn, Lady Jane Grey, and Catherine Howard (the one that haunts Hampton Court). They were given a proper burial and now rest under the altar in the chapel. Every week fresh red roses are put on Anne's grave.

After the tour we went off by ourselves and looked at the crown jewels, which were very shiny. I really liked the first room in the jewery. It had a chair for every known monarch of England as well as their crests. After the jewels was the White Tower. The first thing we saw was the place where the bones of the two young princes who were mysteriously kidnapped and murdered were found. Freaky. As we wandered through the White Tower (which is actually a palace) I was thinking how creepy it was that people actually lived there, but then I remembered that back in the day it wasn't creepy because it didn't have the history it does now. Then we went to walk around the walls, and I might have sat in the very window that Lady Elizabeth sat in when she was held prisoner there! You never know! The only thing that we didn't get to see and I wish we could have but I needed to get back for kitchen duty was the Beauchamps Tower. This was the tower that the princes were taken from before they were murdered. But it was a nice day out.

That night we went to see Pygmalion! That was awesome. It's so cool to see things that take place in England and know the places that they are talking about! Or to recognize something in the background.

Wednesday all of us headed out to Cambridge. We went punting on the Cam the very first thing and I think I would have been happy to just sit in the punt and go up and down the river all day! It was so relaxing! We saw a lot of bridges and most of the colleges! We ended up going during one of the worst times because it was exams! We couldn't go into any of the colleges! But we did see King's College Chapel which is the largest open nave in England, meaning that there are no pillars holding the ceiling up. It was a nice day out. That night my friend Jessi and I went to a show in the West End called Into the Hoods. It was AMAZING! It's a hip hop revival of Sondheim's Into the Woods. They told they story using popular hip hop songs (but not just hip hop, other genres as well) and the dancing was so cool. It was very original and the first of it's kind to get into the West End. Next time you're in London, you should try and see it!

The next day was the start of my free weekend. Three of my mates and I decided to head down to Cornwall and stay in Penzance. We went to St. Michael's Mount which is an island that you can walk out to if the tide is low. Unfortunately, the tide wasn't low while we were there, but we were able to walk on the beach, feel the sand beneath our toes, and the water around our ankles. And the castle on the island was fabulous. After that we went to Land's End where there is nothing. I did find out that from that point Provo is 5374 miles away. Sad! It made me a little homesick! But not for too long!

We headed down to Porthcurno beach. It was gorgeous! Nothing could do it justice, it's something you have to see for yourself, but I'll try. Beautiful white sandy beach, water that was a thousand different shades of blue, surrounding by cliffs that were green and red. I swam in the Atlantic Ocean! It was freezing! We ate real Cornish pasties on the beach, then walked up the cliff to see a play at the Minack Theatre. So this theatre was built entirely on a cliff, so as you're watching a play you have the ocean for a background. It was so beautiful.

Unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end, and on Saturday I returned to London. But I like London, it's almost becoming a sort of home to me now. I know that I will miss it when I return to the states.

Today I went to Samuel Johnson's house. He made the first comprehensive English dictionary! Cool guy, but a little obsessed with his cat...

I also walked the entire perimeter of Kensington Gardens. I saw Peter Pan, which made me happy!

Love you all and wish you could share in my joy! See you in two!

Hampton Court

Yesterday, being Wednesday, was our trip to Hampton Court. The way our professors were talking, we thought we would be there for a couple hours, but we ended up spending the whole day and were even late for dinner!

Hampton Court was built during the reign of Henry VII by Cardinal Wolesy (who fell from the King's favor when he told Henry he couldn't have a divorce). Wolesy told Henry that it was fit for a king, and therefore Henry took it over. We started our audio tour in the Great Hall, which I had always pictured as being bigger, but it wasn't that large at all. There were tapestries on the walls that Henry had bought to show off his money; they were made with real gold and silver thread. IT was hard to tell that fact, because they had become very faded over the years (as compared to the tapestries in the private rooms which were still bright and colorful). We went through all of Henry's rooms, in the Tudor part of the house, ending with the "haunted" passageway. When Henry accused his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, of adultery, the guards came to take her to the Tower of London to be executed. In that passageway it's said that she broke away from the guards and ran down it, begging her husband for mercy. She was eventually executed for treason, but her ghost is said to haunt the hallway. They have a video of it on Youtube, I believe, if you'd like to see her ghost. The ghost of Jane Seymour, who died giving birth to Henry's only son, is also said to haunt the the palace.

The house is built in several different parts. When Willliam and Mary of Orange became the King and Queen after Charles I, they liked Hampton Court so much that they wanted to add to it. So the front is Tudor and part was built by Christopher Wren (who designed St. Paul's Cathedral), and part if Georgian. In on of William's bedrooms (which had beds but weren't used so much as bedrooms as they were for meetings with the highs and mightys) there is a picture of Venus. It seems that she is looking toward the bed when you first walk in the room, but as you move across the room, she "follows" you and by the time you reach the opposite door, she is staring at the fireplace which is opposite the bed. That was pretty darn cool!

The last thing we saw inside the house was the kitchens. Did you know that geese were considered fish? I don't remember the reason, but I thought it was pretty odd. Our director's wife saw us as we were exploring the kitchens, and she told us that she thought cooking for 50 was bad, until she learned that the cooks at Hampton Court regularly cooked for 600 or more! And without the modern conveniences that she enjoys! Craziness.

After the house we went out into the gardens. The is a maze about a third of an acre in area, which is the only remaining part of the garden from William of Orange's time. The object is to get to the centre and back out again. It was a lot of fun, and we did make it to the center! We got stickers on the way out--hooray! We spent a lot of time in the rose garden as well, but then we saw that time and had to head home.

I'm still loving it in London, and I hope that everyone is having a great time back at home. Remember, if you want pictures, ask Mom.

Scotland and York

I would just like to apologize to everyone for not blogging in a while. To make up for it, here is a really long post about my four day trip to Scotland and York!

Last week was a good week to be gone because our hot water at the Centre had stopped working on Monday. I found out the hard way on Tuesday morning when I hopped in on the shower. Jessi (a friend of mine that I met on the trip) and I decided to brave the coldness and take a shower at 3:30 Wednesday morning. I was out before her, and when she turned off the shower, she said, "Whitney? That was SO not worth it!" I wholeheartedly agreed!

We left at four in the morning, so the first hour or so on the train was me sleeping, but eventually I talked to Jessi, and Jenny (another companion on our trip) most of the way there and looked at the English countryside. When we reached Edinburgh, all fifty of us trudged from the train station to our Hostel. Our hostel was really nice; brand new, and HOT water! Yay! We dropped off our stuff in our rooms and made our beds before we went on a "small" hike that Dr. Talbot had planned for us. This included walking up to the Royal Mile, then down in until we reached the new parliament building, and on to the Crags. We walked up the hill to Arthur's Seat, from which we could see all of Edinburgh. I never knew it was so big! It was beautiful and the sun came out and shown in the blue sky for us! The only time we saw it the whole trip! After walking down the mountain, we just walked along the Royal Mile and looked in at shops. We stopped in at a Christmas Shop because Jenny collects ornaments and we found out that the shopkeeper is LDS! It was really cool to just randomly meet someone all the way over here that is a member of the church!

I went to a pub for dinner and I ate HAGGIS! We asked the bartender if he actually liked Haggis, and he said that "if it's down properly, it's gorgeous!" We were all too scared to actually order it, but he brought out some for us to try and it wasn't that bad! That was quite exciting and my first pub experience. There wasn't much to do after dinner because everything closes at five in Edinburgh, unless you want to get drunk (which we didn't), so we headed back to the hostel. Besides, we were exhausted!

The next morning we went to Edinburgh Castle to see the changing of the guards which they were doing because it was the Church of Scotland's general assembly. It was really cool! Bagpipes (speaking of which there is this CD for sale in all the souvenir shops called the Red Hot Chilli Pipers--bagpipes playing popular rock songs, very entertaining) and Scottish soldiers in kilts (speaking of kilts some of the boys in our program bought some and wore them that night)! After the changing were went to the Tartan Mill and I found the Salmon tartan! It's called the Perthshire District, and unfortunately I was unable to buy some because they said they would have to order it, but you can look at it here: www.scotweb.co.uk/edinburgh/weaving. It's the red one.

We just spent the day wandering around Edinburgh again. We went into New Town to eat lunch at Jenner's and to go to the National Gallery, and then we headed back to Old Town and went to the writer's museum were we learned a lot about Robert Louis Stevenson. Did you know that he spent some time in Monterey CA, and that is wife is American? And on his birth certificate his middle name is LEWIS, but he changed it when he went to France to LOUIS. I bought Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde while there since Stevenson is from Edinburgh. I ate sponge pudding, which isn't a pudding at all, but a cake, and then we headed back out on the town. The Scots are a lot friendlier than the English, but they still thought we were crazy! In fact, they probably thought we were drunk, we were singing songs and prancing down the streets. Funny thing about Edinburgh, it never gets dark! It was 9:30 at night and it was still REALLY light out. They said that in the northern part of the country is really does stay light all night long during this part of the year.

The next morning we had to wake up early again to catch our train to York. Our hostel in York was established in the 50s and I don't think anything has been changed about it in the past 50 years. We put our bags away and then a small group of us went with one of our professors and his family to go on a walking tour. At first, we were all wondering what there was to do in York for two days, but the walking tour was so amazing that all doubts were taken from our minds! We walked along the old Roman walls and learned how the walls were built on by several different groups of people. Very cool. And it was a good way to get to know the city. Guy Fawkes was born in York...on my birthday too! After the tour we ate at a cute little tea room on Shambles. I think I'm going to come home a little heavier than I left--there is way too much yummy food! Especially chocolate!

In York I went to see the minster (which is the fifth church to be built on that site, and it took over 400 years to be built) during evensong, and to see the Scarlet Pimpernel at the Royal Theatre. I only paid 5 pounds and it was 5 pounds worth of entertainment, unfortunately. I also had my first real English breakfast! It was really good! And for lunch the second day I had a Cornish pasty. I can't believe that I hadn't ever had one before!

As fun as this trip was we were all excited to get back "home" to the Centre. I wanted to take a shower, but we learned that there wasn't any hot water yet! Oh no! So I had to take a shower in the professor's flats. A lot more happened, and if you want, e-mail Mom and Dad and they can send you pictures and a more detailed account.

Love you and miss you all!

Big Ben and the London Eye

So yesterday we walked around Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and Lambeth. It was so beautiful, and the day was gorgeous (which from what I hear is a lot better than I can say for Utah!). It did rain, but I have decided that God meant London to be wet, because as beautiful as London is, it is more beautiful when it's wet.

We walked along the Thames, and even though I don't think it is usually called beautiful, I think it is. We were able to walk along the Tower Bridge, and the London Bridge, and the Lambeth Bridge, and the Westminster Bridge. I was able to get several views of the London Eye, from several differen bridges. I also got a lot of beautiful pictures of Parliament and Big Ben. I even heard Big Ben chime!

Congrats Lloyd on your new granddaughter! She is beautiful! I would love to hear anymore exciting news!

The London Centre gets Wicked

Hey everyone! So, I wanted to share a little bit about where I'm staying!

The BYU London Centre is an old building in Kensington that has served many uses. Shackleton lived here, and it was a hospital during WWII and even survived the air raids when many of the surrounding houses were damaged. It's a beautiful building, about five stories high (unfortunately for our boys who have to live on the fifth floor). My room is just off the front entrance. There are rumors of a hidden treasure, and a ghost! (Sorry about the picture...I'm still trying to figure this whole blogging thing out!)

Yesterday we all went to see Wicked. It was an amazing musical. My favorite part was probably during the end of the song "Defying Gravity" and Elphaba was hoisted up. All that was lit was her face and upper body, and it was very haunting.

I'm getting the hang of the Tube system now, and even rode on my first double decker bus yesterday. I'm starting to recognize some places, but I've been around a lot of London, and everytime there is something new and exciting to see! On my next post I will put up some more pictures of the things I saw today!

Love you all!

Salt Lake, Atlanta, and London

To all my family and friends! 'Ello from London! Here is just a brief glimpse of what I have done the past two days. The first picture is of my companion April and I at the Salt Lake Airport as we waited the arrival of our plane to take us to Atlanta, Georgia. The flight from SL to Atlanta took us about 3 and 1/2 hours. I saw the new movie "The Golden Compass," though the book was easier to understand. The BYU Living Legends team was also on the flight with us and I sat next to a girl on the team. They were on their way down to Chile for tour. I loved watching the world go by and marveling at the beauty of this world. God is an awesome artist.

We arrived in Atlanta, got something to eat, and met up with some more members of our group. The second picture is of my friend Maria, and I right before we got on the plane to come here, London! We had some nasty turbulence during "dinner" which was served at 11:30 Atlanta time. It was terrible. Our inflight movie was once again "The Golden Compass," so I decided to try to fall asleep during the movies. I only got 3 hours of sleep, but it was all good. Most of the flight was me trying to sleep, or trying to concentrate on something else, which was nearly impossible because I get airsick! Just discovered that...

This last picture is of my first view of England out of the airplane window. It was pretty cloudy, and we had just dropped beneath the clouds as we were going in for the landing. Everything is green and beautiful here. The first moment I actually thought "Oh my gosh, I'm in London" was when I first saw Hyde Park. It was so green and beautiful. It is pretty crazy being here; sitting here in my dorm room, I still can't believe it, but it's true. I love and miss you all, but mostly I'm just tired!