Sunday, May 18, 2008

London Week 3

Monday and Tuesday started out kind of slow here. On Monday I had kitchen duty, which took up a chunk of time in the morning and evening, and our English class had really awkward hours--we went from 10-12 and then 130-3--making it impossible for us to do anything substantial in between breakfast/class, class/class, and class/dinner. It was really annoying. Tuesday was better because I have no class, so I spent the morning at Kensington Gardens drawing for my art class, and then a group of us went to get train tickets for our free travel weekend. On the way back we stopped at the National Gallery, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

On Wednesday we left super early (4:40am) for our trip to Scotland! Scotland was really beautiful and highlights include hiking arthur's seat, shopping along the Royal Mile, eating at a pub, drinking hot chocolate at a cafe, Edinburgh Castle, Craigmillar Castle, Rangers football game, touring parliament, Scottish guards marching out of the palace in kilts playing praise to the man, and buying a really great T-shirt. I really loved Scotland. Friday morning we took a train to York (it was another early morning). In York it was really cold and we were all pretty exhausted, so we wandered around a lot of the time. Highlights include the shambles, the farmers market, really cheap bakeries, the roman wall, seeing the Scarlet Pimpernel (really entertaining...worth the five pounds, but not much more), and drinking hot chocolate and drawing by the river. Lowlights: our hostel, the cold.

Now we're back at the London Centre and it felt really weird at first to be here and be riding the tube around again, but now it feels like we never left. Here are some pictures:


This is me, Ethan (one of our professor's sons, and Rachel at the train station on Wednesday at 5am.


This is Edinburgh Castle. We decided not to go inside, and opted to travel down to Craigmillar Castle and go inside that one.


This is from the top of Arthur's Seat--we had some really amazing views, and the sun was coming out on our way down, so the sky got bluer and bluer as we hiked.


This is Rachel and me from the top of Arthur's Seat.


This is some Scottish band/guard group that was marching out of the palace as we were walking by. Perfect timing.


This is a picture of the outside of the Parliament building. It's supposed to represent boats, leaves, and branches. All the materials that make up the very modern are from Scotland.


We got a tour of parliament from a BYU intern (Michael Wilson), and he got us tickets to question and answer with the First Minister. It was really entertaining.


This is Craigmillar Castle from a distance. We walked the three miles to get there rather than taking the bus. I don't know what we were thinking, but we took the bus back.


This is a closer picture of Craigmillar Castle.


This is Yorkminster in York.


This is a picture of the Shambles in York--it was a really quaint street, but not much to do on it.

14 comments:

Chelsea said...

I love it so much. Remembering my own study abroad and living vicariously through you.

Rachel said...

I love how in my tiredness I'm not even looking at the camera. Good job, Rach.

Miriam said...

Kristin! How's L-town?? It looks like you are having a blast and I'm jealous!

Anonymous said...

this is christie . . . testing 1, 2, 3—how can i do this unanonymously? je deteste l'ordinateur

Kristin said...

Christie! congratulations. it worked.

Unknown said...

Brilliant. Blimey, Scotland sounds amazing. I am most certainly living vicariously through you. Good job going to London and everything.

Chelsea said...

How is it having professors' kids there? There were a couple on my study abroad and they drove me crazy. I avoided them.

Kris and Megan said...

Kristin! How awesome you're in London! I am jealous but it looks like you're having a blast! So there's a lady I work with at my school and her daughter is in London right now too for a study abroad through BYU, so maybe you know her... Mckelle Walker?!

Chelsea said...

Happy Birthday in London! Hope it was awesome.

Kathryn Pepper said...

okay krisitn. I understand you are in a different country and what not but do you remember always (ALWAYS) nagging me to update my blog? Well, my firend, it looks as though the tables have turned and you are the one slacking. What a twisted world. Now update!

Unknown said...

Remember when I was living vicariously through you? Good times...

Kristin said...

I have failed so miserably! Please don't judge me.

Chelsea said...

Just a little tiny update... pretty please?
Sorry, I'm not trying to make you feel guilty. Just myself feel better for wasting time checking blogs... :)

Chelsea said...

I just noticed that dude in the picture of Shambles in York... Looking right at the camera. Hahahaha