Weekend Update

Once again, it's time for the photo update! I've been having a blast and here are some of the highlights during the last week or so. Enjoy!

We saw matinée of The Children's Hour on the last day it was showing. It's a drama that starred Keira Knighley and Elisabeth Moss, among others. The plot reminded me a lot of Doubt and kind of Atonement too. I liked it a lot; it was very thought provoking and the acting was so powerful. All of the actors were really, really good. And it wasn't Keira's stardom that blew me away on stage, it was the amazing passion that she put into her role. I'm really glad I decided to see this instead of a Broadway show that I can see in the US some other time. 

 

 This is some of us waiting outside the stage door at night after the evening finale performance. We tried to wait and get autographs after our show, but the bouncers told us none the actors were coming out. Lies! They basically all did, except for Keira. So we decided to come back and try and get a glimpse and hopefully a picture or autograph, and we did! We got there at 9:30 and waited for over an hour for the show to finish and the cast party to wind down before we finally saw Keira! We were front row behind the barricades, so we all held out our things for her to sign and luckily a girl in my group got good pictures. She was so cute and so nice, but her autograph is a scribble, haha. Unfortunately she didn't have time to stop and pose with us (and nearly 100 other people waiting), but she was right there, inches away and talked to us for a second, which was great!

Abbey Road!

Reenactment! -- I guess I'm Ringo

(we all ran and posed in groups of four when there wasn't traffic)

I signed the wall on Abbey Road!

Part of the group that made the pilgrimage 

(Nick, Jason, Catherine, me, Sydnie, Shelisa)

Portobello Road Market on a Saturday morning

(Nick, Andrea, and me)

The London Eye!

A group of us spontaneously decided to go ride the London Eye last Monday evening. It was kinda pricey, and a glorified photo op, but it was really fun still!

Me, Kelsey, Alison, Alexa, Hillary, Nick, and Sam

The Trip West: 

Stonehenge, Bath, Wales, Cotswolds, Durdle Door Beach, etc

This past Tuesday through Friday we left the city and headed west out into the countryside a bit. We traveled by coach (bus) and stayed in a pretty nice hostel in Bristol for three night but ventured out into little towns and the countryside by day to see some cool stuff. Let me just tell you, the English countryside is one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen. Seriously. If you ever come to England, do yourself a favor and get out of the city for at least a day. It's breathtaking. I didn't get a ton of pictures because I was just watching it go by, but everything is SO green. It reminded me of New England at times when it was more woodsy, and then there were acres upon acres of rolling fields and farmland. So pretty.

Shelisa, me, Amy, and Tara in our room in the hostel

We were lucky and got a bathroom and shower right in our room!

Stop #1: Stonehenge!

Stop #2: Avebury Circle 

(14x bigger than Stonehenge, predates it, and you can get up close to the rocks; pretty cool and the tour guide lady was hilarious)

Stop #3: Caen Hill Locks

(These are in the town of Devizes. Don't ask.

It was a 2 hour impromptu side trip because Dr. Miller really likes locks and walks)

Stop #4: Bath

We started out by going to see the Roman Baths and took the audio tour, which was interesting, but I get informationed-out pretty quickly. Overall, Bath was fun, but not for a whole day, just so you know if you ever go. There's the baths, the cathedral, shops, the royal crescent, some museums, a park, spas, and it's pretty touristy. Still, just seeing the ancient Roman baths was pretty awesome!

Me at the baths, and you can see part of Bath Abbey behind me

Stop #5: Tintern Abbey, Wales

This was, surprisingly, one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. We'd seen a lot of cathedrals, historical sites, etc, so I was kind of getting overloaded by the time we hit Tintern on day 3, but I was blown away by the scenery here. Tintern is the ruin of a Cistercian monastery that dates back to the 12th Century. The ruins were really neat, but I was awed by the beautiful wooded hills around it. It is nestled in a small valley that was exquisitely lush and green. The abbey and scenery were the inspiration for the Wordsworth poem "Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey." The whole time I was there I just thought of dad and how much he would have loved it -- for the beautiful sights and quiet peace of nature, the connection to poetry, and the rich history.  

Green!

The whole fam damily

Stop #6: The Cotswolds

The Cotswolds are a famous part of the English countryside that is known for the quaint, cozy villages with their cute tea rooms, pubs, and cottages. We stopped for an afternoon in one town called Chipping Campden. They set us loose to get lunch and explore, then later we went to another little town and from there started out on a 4+ mile hike/walk on one of the many public use trails that meander through rural England. It was great just to get out and walk after a few days of bus riding. Once again, I couldn't get over how beautiful the landscape was. We traipsed, Sound of Music-style, through grassy, rolling hills, Sacred Grove-esque woods, fields full of sheep, farmland, etc. I highly recommend doing a hike if you're ever in the English countryside. 

 One thing about England is that pretty much anyone can walk through your backyard if it's part of one of the national trails. We walked by this great country manor that was surrounded by pastures with horses.

Looking back down on the little town and the beautiful valley

Stop #7: Durdle Door Beach, Dorset County

Durdle Door was definitely another highlight. The beach is famous because of the awesome natural limestone arch. A steep hike up some cliffs and then back down again was required to get to the water, but it was absolutely gorgeous and worth it for the views, even though it was cloudy until we were leaving!

Some of the girls along the hike

Amy, me, Tara, and Shelisa on the beach

The trip was great, but it was equally great to get back to London and the comforts of "home," which include having the internet. Saturday I just went to the National Portrait Gallery for art class to do my sketches, did a little shopping on Oxford Street, and spent the night catching up on hw and stuff. It's taken me two days to get this all blogged, so enjoy!