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.

Week 3

Taxi!!! The official taxi of London. You only want to get into a licensed black cab if calling one off the street. I haven't used them very often because they are super expensive.


I spent some time checking out Central London sites this week. It was such a nice day, we did all the sight seeing from the outside, leaving the inside tours for a cold and/or rainy day.



The well known Westminster Abbey. Very nice, except for the pigeon that almost took my head off! Thanks to Alyse I saw it and ducked in time.


China Town. The lanterns let you know when you have reached it. Of course we stopped for some yummy chinese food!
Piccadilly Circus. Reminds me a lot of Time Square...except for the big red buses.

String quartet playing in a shopping center



Westminster from the edge of the Palace Gardens


Alyse and I also visited the Buckingham palace and surrounding attractions



Gates outside Buckingham Palace



One of those soldiers that don't move. A younger boy touched another one of the soldiers and he shouted "Step away from the queen's door!" It was quite scary. They are funny looking in those hats, I couldn't help but laugh



Fountain just in front of Buckingham Palace.


There she is-Buckingham Palace! Flag was up so the Queen was in. Unfortunately we didn't see her or any of the royal family. Maybe when we come back for a tour inside.




Palace Gardens





A walk through the gardens surrounding Buckingham Palace is dedicated to the memory of Princess Diana. It was a beautiful walk.