Hey All!
Sorry I'm still a bit behind on updating. I have been home, in Saint Paul and in Connecticut visiting Rachel for the past few weeks. I will post about this when I get back to Oxford. Today, I am leaving for London to meet up with Grace and then we are meeting Lexi in Vienna and heading on a great Italian/Barcelon-ian? adventure.
Here's the itinerary for those of you interested.
Vienna - Palace Hostel, Apr. 9.
NIGHT TRAIN from Vienna to Venice April 10-11
Venice - Absolut Venice, Apr. 11.
Night train from Venice to Florence April 12
Florence - Hostel Veronique, Apr. 12-14.
early morning train Florence to Rome so we have the day in Rom
Rome - Ciak Hostel, Apr. 15-17.
Flight: around 2pm
Barcelona - Garden House Barcelona, Apr. 18-20.
Flight around 2pm Barcelona --> London, April 21st
Oxford hopefully the night of the 21st!!
If you are looking for more updated info, check facebook or follow me on twitter.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
End of Trinity: Family Visit
A couple days after Geoff, my parents and Alex arrived in Oxford. It was especially exciting to see Alex after his crazy travel plans. He was flying from Tennessee to Newark and Newark to London...unfortunately his passport was in Nyack. With Geoff and my help, we managed to help Abe find Alex's passport and get it to him at Newark Airport so he could get over here. Don't ask me how that worked.
We went to Jamie's Italian:
They had truffle chips. Need I say more?
The next day we went up Saint Mary's Cathedral tower, to get some great views of Oxford.
Wrong way, guys. You need to look over the edge for the view...(duh)
Then I had to go to my last tutorial of Hilary Term. We met in Cafe Nero and chatted about absurd theater, celebration and figurative feasts. It was a good conclusion to our work over the course of the term. Then I went back to the hotel where I was presented with a cake from the cake shop in the Covered Market.
It says Congratulations! It has a graduation hat but since I wasn't graduating, that seemed a little premature. Let's congratulate me on an Oxford term well done, and just being generally awesome. I decided to share the congratulations around.
The next day meant freedom! I was done with my work for term so we rented a car and drove to the Hundred Acre Wood. Not exactly, but it was a big old forest.
Then me and the bros got silly:
In the forest, there was a giant chair. No joke. Pics or it didn't happen? Ok. Here goes.
I'll explain. There was a walk through the woods with a bunch of these sculptures. Only it rained on us and this seemed like the only cool one so we kind of gave up on it. The chair was neat, though.
We got back to Oxford just in time to head over to New College for Evensong.
Evensong was beautiful and sung by a pretty impressive boys choir. After that, we met up with my friends for dinner on Cowley at an Indian restaurant called Aziz.
Charlie wanted to sit next to Momsie so they could catch up.
Understandably, everyone wanted their picture with the Willinghams!
You know we were having fun because we're hot and sweaty and holding alcohol ;)
I can't think of a better way to end Trinity term.
We went to Jamie's Italian:
They had truffle chips. Need I say more?The next day we went up Saint Mary's Cathedral tower, to get some great views of Oxford.
Wrong way, guys. You need to look over the edge for the view...(duh)
Then I had to go to my last tutorial of Hilary Term. We met in Cafe Nero and chatted about absurd theater, celebration and figurative feasts. It was a good conclusion to our work over the course of the term. Then I went back to the hotel where I was presented with a cake from the cake shop in the Covered Market.
It says Congratulations! It has a graduation hat but since I wasn't graduating, that seemed a little premature. Let's congratulate me on an Oxford term well done, and just being generally awesome. I decided to share the congratulations around.
The next day meant freedom! I was done with my work for term so we rented a car and drove to the Hundred Acre Wood. Not exactly, but it was a big old forest.
Then me and the bros got silly:
In the forest, there was a giant chair. No joke. Pics or it didn't happen? Ok. Here goes.
I'll explain. There was a walk through the woods with a bunch of these sculptures. Only it rained on us and this seemed like the only cool one so we kind of gave up on it. The chair was neat, though.
We got back to Oxford just in time to head over to New College for Evensong.
Evensong was beautiful and sung by a pretty impressive boys choir. After that, we met up with my friends for dinner on Cowley at an Indian restaurant called Aziz.
Charlie wanted to sit next to Momsie so they could catch up.Understandably, everyone wanted their picture with the Willinghams!
You know we were having fun because we're hot and sweaty and holding alcohol ;)
I can't think of a better way to end Trinity term.
Monday, April 5, 2010
"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it."
Do you know who that quote is by? Winston Churchill, yeah, and do you know where I read it? The place of his birth, Blenheim Palace! Geoff and I decided to spend the afternoon there even though I still had to write my last paper.
Tickets were expensive, but once we got in they converted our day passes to YEAR ones. That's right, they took awkward pictures with a webcam and printed laminated cards for us on site. Maybe when the weather's nice, I will make it back there. I feel like I have to since I went through all that to get the card.
We were inside first, but you can't take pictures there. We saw the room where Winston Churchill was born, lots of family portraits and a hand-painted dining room with a vaulted ceiling where the Duke of Marlborough and family still hold Christmas dinner every year. AWESOME.
After that we went to explore the grounds!
We are adorable, aside from the fact that my smile lines make me look oddly old in this picture. Moving on...
Sheep! And pheasants! We didn't hear about the sheep, but the pheasants are still kept on the grounds for the duke and his bros to go hunting. Later we saw one up close:
This is where Winston Churchill proposed to his wife:
As we walked, I started to hear running water so we poked around until we found this cool garden. By this point, however, I really had to pee from listening to that water for so long, but I tried to enjoy it anyway and take a few pictures before running back to the palace.
I'm sure the garden is much prettier in summer. Late March wasn't exactly prime time, but since I have a yearlong pass, I can go back anytime! And at least there were snowdrops:
During World War II, this area of England was bombed but not Blenheim Palace. Word on the street is if Hitler ever took over England, he wanted to set up house in the birthplace of his enemy, Churchill. Pretty twisted.
Then we saw something really curious...
Dude, does that hedge look like a duck?
Yeah, it totally does. For more objects that look like ducks, check out this cool blog: http://www.thispeanutlookslikeaduck.com/quack/ I stumbled on it awhile ago and it reminded me why I love the internet so much...because someone felt the need to share their love of things that look like ducks with the world and the internet allowed them to reach out to others who might share their love. Do you?
Tickets were expensive, but once we got in they converted our day passes to YEAR ones. That's right, they took awkward pictures with a webcam and printed laminated cards for us on site. Maybe when the weather's nice, I will make it back there. I feel like I have to since I went through all that to get the card.
We were inside first, but you can't take pictures there. We saw the room where Winston Churchill was born, lots of family portraits and a hand-painted dining room with a vaulted ceiling where the Duke of Marlborough and family still hold Christmas dinner every year. AWESOME.
After that we went to explore the grounds!
We are adorable, aside from the fact that my smile lines make me look oddly old in this picture. Moving on...
Sheep! And pheasants! We didn't hear about the sheep, but the pheasants are still kept on the grounds for the duke and his bros to go hunting. Later we saw one up close:
This is where Winston Churchill proposed to his wife:
As we walked, I started to hear running water so we poked around until we found this cool garden. By this point, however, I really had to pee from listening to that water for so long, but I tried to enjoy it anyway and take a few pictures before running back to the palace.
I'm sure the garden is much prettier in summer. Late March wasn't exactly prime time, but since I have a yearlong pass, I can go back anytime! And at least there were snowdrops:
During World War II, this area of England was bombed but not Blenheim Palace. Word on the street is if Hitler ever took over England, he wanted to set up house in the birthplace of his enemy, Churchill. Pretty twisted.
Then we saw something really curious...
Dude, does that hedge look like a duck?
Yeah, it totally does. For more objects that look like ducks, check out this cool blog: http://www.thispeanutlookslikeaduck.com/quack/ I stumbled on it awhile ago and it reminded me why I love the internet so much...because someone felt the need to share their love of things that look like ducks with the world and the internet allowed them to reach out to others who might share their love. Do you?
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