July 26, 2009 -London

Hyde Park Chapel

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One more day of taking it easy. I did finally get to go to church for the first time on this trip. It was great. I have missed going so much. Singing the hymns brought tears to eyes especially when singing “Families can be together forever” it’s going to be good to see my family again. I came home from church and ate some lunch. Then took a nap. Later I got my blog up to date and started working on some sketches.

July 25, 2009 -London

Phantom Tickets

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Another relaxing day. I did go and get tickets for Phantom to go with my parents next week. Then later I went with Josie and Laura to Portobello Road. There were so many fun little shops and antiques. I spent the rest of the day working on homework and talking to my family. It’s been so nice to take a break so that I will be able to go strong for the last week and a half.

Portobello Road

Hotel along Portobello Road

July 24, 2009 -London

Exterior of my Flat

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Today was a relaxing day. I slept in until 11:00. Which is rare for me, but I have been so exhausted. Then I went with Allie, Erica, and Courtney to get tickets for a show and I did some grocery shopping. Then I went and found my parents hotel that they will be staying at when they get here. The rest of the day I worked on blogging.

Living/Dining Room

Kitchen


Bathroom

Bedroom

July 23, 2009 -London

Interior of the Second Church

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Today we got up nice and early again and made our way to Cambridge. It was quite the quant college town. There was lots of good shopping. I found a couple shirts, a skirt, jacket, and a ring. Also I got an umbrella that I have been in need of this whole trip. I even used it today. It likes to rain out of the blue here in England. It will be a bright sunny day and within ten minutes a storm will roll right in and be gone in a half hour. We started off our day in Cambridge with a tour of two churches. Both where very different. The first was quite small. It was originally smaller and then they added on. It was not built symmetrical and had tons of different patterns all over the walls. The second church was a lot bigger and the ceiling is extremely ornate. It is a fan vaulted ceiling with lots of detail making it look like spider webs. It was also full of stained glass helping bring in lots of light. Then we took a break for lunch. I brought a nice little lunch along and ate it by the little river with Erica, Allie, and Scott. There was lots of ducks that wanted lunch also. One duck in particular was not afraid to come up and take food right out my hand. After lunch we met up with our guide again to go through a museum. It by far had my favorite painting gallery that I’ve seen on this trip. The detail in all the different paintings was amazing. The work on the hands and the silks of the dresses on the paintings was amazing. I wanted to take pictures but you’re not allowed to in this museum. Later we went punting. Punting is somewhat like a gondola ride with a more relaxed feel. They took us down the river explaining the different colleges within Cambridge University. Along the river was the building that they filmed the scene in Harry Potter when they are learning to fly on their brooms. After punting I did some shopping and headed back to London. At the train station we went and took pictures by the 9¾ platform from Harry Potter. Then I came to the flat and worked on patterns all night

Patterns on the walls of the first Church

Me at Platform 9¾


Bridge along the river



Building used on Harry Potter

Our duck friend

Me, Scott, and Laura on our Punting Ride

July 22, 2009 -London

Train we took to Britains

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Got up at 4:30 this morning to catch the metro by 5:45. Then I took a train and then a bus. Taking the bus was kind of different. It was my first time riding in a vehicle on the left side of the road. Finally ending at Britain’s Carpets. Britain’s is a commercial and residential carpet company. They first talked about the different projects they have done throughout the years. Then the historian talked to us. They have carpet patterns dating back to the late 1700s. The old carpet patterns are hand painted. They also have old fabric patterns for inspiration and oriental stencils. Then a designer talked about the work that he does for Britain’s. The designers work on the computer coming up with pattern ideas and then tweaking them until they are just right to fit into the space in the building. After that we toured the plant starting with the yarn dyeing area. Then the yarn separation area. Finishing with the final product coming out of the loom. It was pretty awesome to see how such small strings of yarn weave together to make a very detailed pattern.

Bus ride on the left side of the road

Train

View from the Bus

Me on the Train

July 21, 2009 -London

St. Paul's Cathedral

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This morning we started at a museum that was in a home of an architect. He had collected many roman sculptures and placed them throughout his home. He even had a sarcophagus in his basement. Each room and ceiling throughout the house had a different style and color. After that I spent some time at the British museum. I liked this one. It had collection of all different time periods and countries. I spent some time sketching and took lots of pictures. Later I went with the group to St. Paul’s Cathedral. It was about the same as all the other cathedrals that I’ve been able to see. We did get to hike are way up the stairs to see the view of London from the Dome. At the base of the Dome you are still inside and if you whisper along the wall to someone they can hear you. The view at the top was awesome. Afterwards I did some shopping and got a couple shirts and some earrings. Then later I went out with Josie, Laura, Allie, and Erica to get milkshakes. I got Oreo and it was very good. I especially like the vanilla flavor here it’s a lot sweeter.

View from St. Paul's

Cool dishes at the British Museum



Pot at the British Museum

Egyptian Sculpture at British Museum

Veiw from St. Paul's

July 20, 2009 -London

Glass Sculpture at the V&A

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Went to two museums today. First to the V&A and then the Tate Modern. The V&A was awesome. There are so many different unique pieces of art. There is iron works, glass sculptures, building models, furniture, and much more. They had a lot of little areas where you could touch different artifacts. That was kind of fun because in all the other museums you’re not allowed to touch anything. The Tate Museum is another modern museum which I again didn’t enjoy as much as other museums. I hurried through making some sketches of a few things to create a pattern from one of them. Then I went back to the flat to get ready to go to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in London. It was awesome. Especially because I had just walked on the bridge that the death eaters rip apart in the beginning of the movie and had seen all the buildings surrounding it.

Me at the V&A

Piece of Art at the V&A

View of London

July 19, 2009 -London

Telephone Booth

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Today was another transfer day. Thankfully it is the last one until I come home. It’s no fun hauling all of my luggage from country to country. After going through customs we got on the Euro star and headed toward London. We went through the Chunnel. It didn’t feel any different it was just weird that we were under a body of water. Once in London we all got checked into our flats that we will be in for two and a half weeks. It is a great flat with two rooms, living/dining room, bathroom, and kitchen. Then we all went to the grocery store to get food to eat for the next week. Then everyone met to go on a walking tour of London. We saw Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, and much more. Afterwards I came back and cooked up some of my food. It was so nice to eat at home and know that the food was going to taste good and not cost a fortune.

Big Ben

Me at Big Ben


The London Eye



Some cool buildings

July 18, 2009 -Paris

Vaux le Vicomte at Night

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Woke up and after getting ready I went with Allie, Julia, and Amanda to the Catacombs. It was a good thing we got there early, the line got quite long as we waited for it to open. The Catacombs were created when they ran out of room in the cemeteries. So they took all the bones and stacked them up in different designs deep down in the ground. It was interesting to see but it was kind of a creepy place. Then I went to Les Invalides. This is where Napoleon was buried. His coffin is huge and is made out of marble. Then we made our way back to the hotel to meet up with the big group. We got on a bus and made our way to Fontainebleau. This is another palace that was used when the king was hunting. Here we used little information headsets as we went through the different rooms. It was really interesting to hear all the different details of each room. Then we went to a grocery store to get things for a picnic dinner once we made it to Vaux le Vicomte. Once we got there we set up our picnic in a little camp ground area. It almost felt like home and felt great to get out of the city for a little while. Then we went over to Vaux le Vicomte. It was supposed to be a candlelit tour but it starting raining. It was still beautiful though. It would be fun to live there.

Me in the Catacombs

Vaux le Vicomte


A room in Fountainebleau

Flowers at Les Invalides

Napoleon's Coffin

Me at Foutainebleau