A Lack of Color

Just a short thought...

There’s something extraordinarily disconcerting about grocery shopping in a foreign country. It’s a little like being lost in a new city, but multiplied. It’s so simple and familiar, yet there are a thousand nuances changed.

There’s more produce, better fashion. You’re expected to bag your own groceries. There are new and different flavors of Fanta that actually taste good. Of course, they’re flavours, and you’re in a shopping centre, where there will probably be a pudding aisle with cake mix and ice cream and a hygiene aisle with nappies and actual French shampoo. Locally grown foods feature the Union Jack. Your change will be an incomprehensible handful of coins, likely given to you by a person whom you’ve held an entire conversation with while having no idea what they were saying.

The weirdest thing, though, is blending in. No one stares at you like they do a loud group of tourists. And why would they? Like you, they’re just trying to get out with their bagels and apple juice as fast as possible (which seems to be quite a bit slower in English groceries…). It’s so incredibly mundane that it’s easy to forget you’re 4500 miles away from home—and when you remember, it’s all the more incredible.

A Tour of the Grounds

Well, this is my first weekend at the Manor, and it’s kind of relief. This week was a five-day week (Oh no! Working Monday to Friday?! Blasphemy!)  and I haven’t had a breather since arriving. I got more than eight hours of sleep last night!

So, pretty much, I’m in a fantastic mood.

Yesterday was interesting. We were visited by Nick Boles, the Member of Parliament for the Grantham area. We got to discuss politics and economics, especially the differences in the British and American system, and also the complexities of Britain’s spot in the European and global stages. All in all, an interesting hour. Even better, he wasn’t trying to get our votes!

 Today I took a break from paper-writing to put together a tour of the grounds for you.

 Starting at the side entrance, we exit to the Pegasus courtyard.

 From here we walk through the gate towards the Carriage house, but stop at the Smoker’s Lounge.

(It's that little bench over there. A swanky kind of place. Smoking anywhere else on campus is a 250 pound fine.)

 
From here, rather than turning left towards the CH, I’m turning right. Back here are interesting views of the Manor and some really nice trails.

Okay, enough of that. Heading back up to the side entrance, we’ll walk around to the front.

We have quite a driveway.

 

Partway down that driveway is the football (“soccer”) field, which I’ve kind-of almost pictured in the background of this much more interesting picture of a wall and some trees.

Okay, back up the driveway to the south side of the Manor to see the real gardens!

 Once in the main circle, we go up these stairs to get to the manicured grounds.

And then up some more stairs…. And then up a hill…. and finally...

Incredible Views!:

The Italian Garden:

The Reflective Pool:

Okay, and back into the Manor, because my shoes have soaked through at this point. At some point in the future, I may follow up with a tour of the indoors. Be waiting for updates, especially Rome, where I’m headed next week! Until then~

Soulshine

Just back in from Edinburgh. This is undoubtedly one of my favorite cities in the world, and I was very excited to go back.

Having already been there, it was harder to stay busy because I’d already seen all of the tourist attractions. So instead I mostly wandered the city, bought gifts, ate good food, got lost, and lounged. It was still a fantastic weekend.

After the six hour bus ride (and thank God because it’s the only reason I got my homework done…) we arrived in the rain to Prince’s Street and our hotel. On the first day I walked the Royal Mile start to finish, ate at The World’s End pub, and went to another pub later for drinking and dancing. I slipped into a graveyard that a few of you who know me might remember. We still arrived back at the hotel early.

View from my window

Gate of the castle

Scottish Parliament. In the background is Arthur's Seat, an extinct volcano.

The castle from Prince's St

The next day was adventurous. This hotel included an actual hot breakfast, but we had to wake up at 8 for it. The only problem with that was that the National Gallery, my destination after breakfast, didn’t open until ten.

A group of us was supposed to meet up after that and failed utterly. So, instead, a friend and I took a cab to the Harley Davidson of Edinburgh because his parents collect T-Shirts. That cab ride was…a harrowing experience. I was certain the car wouldn’t fit down some of those alleys, especially not with so much speed.

 After that we found lunch and tried to walk to the Botanical Gardens. Of the five or so maps they gave us, not one included the city that far north, so that was…interesting. We only arrived about an hour late, though. The inside was worth the adventure.

Some apartments we wandered through while lost.

Us being horribly lost at the apartments.

Finally to the Gardens. This is the Glasshouse inside.

I have a small obsession with taking photos of benches.

Biiiiiig leaf.

Getting out, we were just as lost as going in, so this time we finally hailed the last cab of the day.

 Now we were at Grassmarket St, supposedly famous for its hole-in-the-wall shopping. How disappointing that the row was almost entirely pubs. Nonetheless we managed to have a good time, and somehow find the people we were supposed to meet up with earlier. We did what little shopping we could and saw the Castle from its other side.

Back to Prince's St--a band in front of the National Gallery. Guitar, drums and bagpipes.

After a break at the hotel we all met up again to find dinner. Despite the fact that we were all starving, it took us probably an hour to find a restaurant 15 minutes from our hotel. We were wandering in and out of shops and alleys, buying souvenirs and browsing the restaurant menus.

We finally came upon the best pizza I have ever had.

For the second night in a row, we stayed up in the room laughing until nearly midnight.

The next morning, after a blessedly hot breakfast, we boarded the bus. Saying goodbye to Edinburgh was hard. I hope to return.

 The trip was not over at Edinburgh, however. We stopped at three places on the way back. The first was the Scotland-England border.

His facial expression never changed...

After that brief photo opportunity we went to Hadrian’s Wall and the Housesteads’s Fort ruins. Built around the year 122 AD, the Wall was meant to keep the Picts out (I believe it was still the Picts at that time?) and enforce the area of Rome’s control.  

It seems like everywhere I go there are still traces of Rome.

North Gate of the Fort/Wall

...Even if those traces are covered in sheep dung.

The last stop was in Durham for lunch. We also walked up the hill to see the famous Cathedral, which was once used as a refuge for fugitives of the law. They were given a little over a month to get their affairs in order before they had to turn themselves in or flee the country.

There wasn’t enough time for us to see the castle, as well. However I did learn an important lesson in this town. “Marinara” in Europe is literal. There is seafood.

I ate it anyways.

Another stint on the bus and we were home. Overall, a full weekend. I can’t believe how much we’re doing! It seems like far longer than a week since I was in Stratford, longer than a few days since Lincoln. It’s a testament to how busy we are and how intense the academics and travel is that time has taken on an alien quality to most of the students here.

The Long and Winding Road

Today was our school trip to Lincoln, and also our Meet-A-Family dinner. Needless to say, no homework got done today.

Lincoln was a cool town. The shops were nice. Steep Hill was…an experience.

The shallowest incline on Steep Hill.

The castle itself, a Norman, was cool. There was a statue of John III completed and dedicated in his lifetime. Also, Lincoln Castle was where the ‘long drop’ was developed, or the actual humane way of hanging a person to death. Lincoln Castle has been a place of judgment for centuries, and was a place of capital punishment until it was outlawed in the UK. Within the castle I also saw one of four extant copies of the original Magna Carta. No photos allowed, of course.

View from the battlements

Grounds

Tower inside the castle.

 Across the road from the castle is the cathedral. I found the cathedral much more impressive. It started out Norman and goes up to the Decorative Gothic style. There is a lot of history contained within those walls.

View of Cathedral from Castle

Initial inside: "Nave"

Side of Nave

Tomb of Queen Eleanor, Wife of Edward 1. Actually this is her first tomb, containing most of her organs. The rest of her is at Westminster. I think if I'm buried I want to be in one spot.

Tomb of St. Hugh

A Room where the Da Vinci code was filmed... I stood where Tom Hanks did!

A spire, one of many. The story goes that a swineherd devoted his life savings to rebuilding the Church after an earthquake. The Bishop was so impressed that he told the Swineherd that one day they would be equals. Now, a statue of the Swineherd and a statue of the Bishop stand on equal steeples on either side of the Church. This is the Swineherd; the Bishop's side was being cleaned.

 Funny note about British churches: there are dead people in the floors everywhere. My American sensibilities tell me I am never to walk on a grave under any circumstances, but that makes it rather difficult. Oh, cultural differences.  

Lincoln was also a Roman Colonia, or a kind of soldier’s retirement home. There aren’t many extant ruins, but the ones there give a sense of how massive the fortress must have been at one time, for the time.  

The most noteable being this one, one of few Roman arches still in use.

My Meet-A-Family group was awesome. We’re planning on having dinner a few times per month. Hopefully all of my visiting family will get to meet them.

So.... that was my Wednesday! See you next time!