London by Night

Parliment and Big Ben

The London Eye

Tower Bridge with Uni Friends

Edinburgh

Edinburgh city street. All the streets look like this. This is a view of the city streets and below is a clocktower at dusk. We were lucky, as the sun showed itself each day we were there, even if it was only four a couple of hours.

Edinburgh Castle is the perched on top of a distinct volcano. Until the time of Scotland and England uniting as one nation, the Edinburgh castle was home to Scottish Royal family. Today it still houses the Scottish crown jewels. Although it these crown jewels don't contain the largest diamond in the world (which the English crown jewels do have), the were still quite impressive.



The Scottish Royal Coat of Arms (above). We also saw at the castle one of only two dog cemeteries in Scotland. They also had on display the dungeons which were used as bunkers for soldiers in the world wars.

A yes, the stereotypical scottish getup. This gentleman was playing for money near the center of town.




This gentleman was our tour guide for the Edinburgh Underground (Vaults) Tour. This was a great. They were built in the 18th century due to overcrowding. The vaults were used mostly by merchants and craftsmen that had businesses on South Bridge for storing wine, dairy and other products and were guarded by underground caretakers. Families also lived in some of the rooms of these vaults but with no sunlight or ventilation and with the issue of waste disposal, these vaults were barely habitable. The vaults in Old Town Edinburgh were not properly waterproofed and soon became uninhabitable. They were then filled and their existence erased from public records. They were rediscovered recently, excavated, and opened for tours to the public. There are many ghost stories that surround them.

In addition to the vaults, our tour guide took us around and told stories of punishment methods such as pinning your ear to a wall, cutting tongues out, and hangings. He also told of how "body snatchers" would kill or steal recently buried bodies to sell to the medical school for a year's wages per body.

Brighton

Brighton is the biggest beach getaway for people in London. It is a small city about an hour by train from London. A US friend teaching in London and I went to Brighton to see what all the fuss was about. Unfortunately Alyse wasn't feeling very well, so I did some sightseeing while she rested in the hotel

Brighton Pier

I was limited to what was within walking distance of the hotel, luckily i had the pebble beach, pier, and palace nearby.

A doughnut shop on the pier. Never seen a free standing doughnut shop before. Forget the seafood, the british prefer their ice yogurt, lollies and doughnuts!

The Royal Pavillion

King George IV became Prince Regent in 1811 when his father was thought to be mad, and was crowned in 1820. He died in 1830 leaving a rich art collection and an architectural legacy including Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and the Royal Pavilion.

The Royal Pavilion grew over 35 years from a simple farmhouse to a spectacular palace. In 1787 Henry Holland extended the original farmhouse into a neo-classical building know as the 'Marine Pavilion'. From 1815-1823 John Nash used new technology to transform the Pavilion into the Indian style building that exists today. He enlarged the building and added the domes and minarets that characterise his design by superimposing a cast iron framework over Holland's Marine Pavilion.

Museums

In England all the Museums are free to visit. I plan to add pictures of the museums I see to this blog. So far I've only visited one of MANY Museums in London.

Victoria & Albert Museum






My friend and classmate Sasha and I went and visited the Victoria Albert Museum in London.














This is a walkway between museum buildings. It is a completely enclosed courtyard

Little girl having some fun in the water.











The rest are photos of some of the things inside the museum.

Statue of Handel the composer.









In London, they cannot forget the influence of fashion. There is an entire section of the museum devoted to fashion as far back as the 1800s.














Um okay I have no clue what this one is.








Blown glass chandelier in the entrance of the museum.



















These next two photos are a view of the restoration room. All the items being restored are kept here. The room was enormous and as you can see they have several different items like statues, paintings, furniture, etc.









This display is of old band instruments. They were all unwanted instruments no longer fit to be played. So they were smashed flat and put on display in the museum. I thought it was very creative.

British Fashion & Food

Fashion

Feast your eyes on the largest department store in the world. You're looking at the original Harrod's shopping center. They have everything from furniture, to food, sports goods, perfumes, clothing, hot tubs. I think the only thing I didn't see for sale were automobiles










Okay so the next part will be of random people I take photos of their clothing to show that people wear pretty much everything in London.

Pink Tights and black "trash bag" looking dress along with a thick bracelet and large beaded necklace.


Food

My brother says quite often that I went to school to "major in food and eating". I do love learning about different cuisines, so here are photos of the feasts I've had in the UK


Chinese Food - YUM!! First time I had crunchy seaweed. It was delicious!!! Also we've got on this plate some cold beef, yellow rice, cashew and broccoli, pot stickers, noodles, and sesame balls
Chinese Food II - YUM YUM!!! Here we've got more rice, potstickers, noodles, sushi, spring rolls, and frut for desert.


The quick english meal when you have nothing else to eat - baked beans and toast. It is also a cheap meal for the poor students.










Traditional English Fry Up. It's what breakfast is all about!! Way more meat than I am used to!!



Traditional English Roast. We have some English Pudding, vegetables, roasted potatoes, green beans, and swede. It was quite tasty, but the only meal I required all day!! Thank you Sue and

Rich for the amazing meal!

Hot Cross Buns! Yummy

Scottish Meal: Toti scone, roll, fried tomatoes, baked beans, and hash brown potatoes.

Cambridge

Cambridge is approximately an hour North of London. Home to many prestigous universities and some beautiful outdoor areas. Some of the schools include Trinity College, King's College, Queens College, University of Cambridge. You heard of any? Alyse, her coworker Jena and I met there to spend the day exploring. Luckily it was warm and sunny all day.


Recognize this piece of land? If you have watched the Harry Potter movies it should be familiar - this grassy area was where Harry Potter learned to fly his broom.

King's College and Chapel

The next few photos are of King's College Chapel in Cambridge. It was founded by Henry VI in 1441 and is home to the largest fan vaulted chapel in the world. It is decorated with carved wood and stone featuring heraldic beasts, coats of arms, and a carved screen bearing the initials of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Sorry, no photos allowed inside.







Side of the Chapel. During the World War II, there was concern the Chapel may be bombed, so all the stain glass windows were taken down and stored underground around Cambridge. All the pieces survived the war. When it was time to put the stained glass back in the windows the realized no one kept track of where the pieces went. Essentially they had the largest puzzle to put together. They eventually figured it out by putting the puzzle together on the courtyard outside the chapel.



Bridge of Sighs
Modeled after the bridge of sighs in Venice that prisoners walked across to be executed. Don't know why they would choose to name the bridge after something so sad. I guess because students walk from the dormitories on one side to take exams on the other.




We spent part of the afternoon enjoying the fine art of punting. If you are like me, then you will have no idea what punting is. If I were in the US I would call it canoeing with a designated driver. It looks like the boating in Venice with the men who stand at the back and push the canoe with a big stick. Unfortunately our guide was not keen on singing.







American Cemetary Ground just outside of Cambridge. You're looking at American soil in this picture on it the site of approximately 4000 graves of pilots, sailors, and other American soldiers who died in the World Wars. There is also one grave of an unknown soldier.


A protest on the street in Cambridge. There were some signs like this one and some people sitting at a table. I did ask them what it was about but I gathered it had something to do with the Chinese Government. Any of you Chinese readers know what this says?

The rest of the photos are just some photos from around town of nothing in particular, just thought they were nice.










Farm and windmill outside Cambridge.

If you wondered what the British countryside looks like, here it is. Not much different than a country drive in Kansas.


Mathmatical bridge or Queen's Bridge at Queen's College. Apparently legend is Sir Newton designed the bridge without supports, then after his death professors at Queens College took the bridge apart to figure out how it worked. But they were unable to put it back together without supports. Today it is held together with big metal bolts. I don't know about you, but I would not be walking across the bridge if it didn't have them. Nice story though.