I apologize for the poor upkeep on this newsfeed, but I have hardly had time to sleep the last week and have not been able to squeeze any blogging in. I do want to share, however, some of my favorite highlights :)
Since my last post, I have begun to settle in to my new semester home, London, and am actually starting to feel familiar and comfortable. I absolutely love the Daniel House where I live (other than the 99 stairs I have to walk up to reach my room aka the eagle's nest), and I really feel that our whole group here is becoming a family.
Some of the awesome adventures we have shared include touring the Tower of London (First built in 1078 by William the Conqueror) and seeing the Crown Jewels (awesome crowns, scepters, and jewelry worn by the royal families) and walking across the infamous Tower Bridge. We also were among a privileged few who got to tour Buckingham Palace (it is only open when the Queen is away, 6 weeks out of the year!) The inside of the palace was beautifully adorned with red, gold, and green, velvets, silks, and diamonds. It is just what you would picture of a palace, but with much taller ceilings. PS they have 240 bedrooms and 78 bathrooms. They can hold a lot of people! We also learned about the queen's infamous garden parties she holds several times a year. Apparently during each party about 12,000 guests attend and they consume about 27,000 cups of tea and 20,000 slices of cake. Sounds like my kind of party!
I have also visited the infamous Abbey Road studios where the Beatles made their magic, as well as climbed the 540 stairs to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral. I have visited Europe's biggest book store, Foyles, which is 5 stories tall, seen Big Ben, Parliament, and even attended a play at Shakespeare's globe theatre.
I have so enjoyed living in the center of so much history and activity, but one of my favorite experiences so far was my trip to Dover today. This morning 18 of us traveled to King's Cross Station and boarded a Eurostar to Dover, a small town about an hour outside of London. Dover is known both for the natural beauty of its white cliffs and the historical significance of the Dover Castle. On this overcast misty day, I saw the English coast to be even more beautiful than I had imagined. We were able to take a boat tour which gave us an amazing view of the white chalk cliffs. Afterwards, we hiked about two miles through a beautiful green hillside along the cliffs, to reach the South Foreland lighthouse. After that, we walked about three miles to the Dover Castle. I loved exploring the Dover castle not only for its Medeival significance, but its role in WWII. The castle has been used on and off since its construction by Henry II in the 13th century and today has been refurbished with Medeival furniture, clothing, and even talking holographic characters! My favorite part of the tour, however, was the secret tunnels underneath. Built first in 1797 for defense against Napoleon, they were expanded and turned into a major military hearquarters during WWII. The three levels of tunnels could hold at least 2,000 soldiers, as well as an underground hospital, kitchen, and communication centers capable of running the country from underground if need be. These tunnels are so significant because these were the actual chambers where Gen. Radford planned the attack on D-day and deployed his troops across the English channel to Normandy. Anyway, I don't mean to bore you with my inner history buff, but I just thought it was soo cool! I really was just in awe of my surroundings all day! After approximately 8 miles of walking today, I finally sat down for the first time at an English pub and had some classic fish and chips. Let me tell ya, it was heavenly!
After an eventful week, I am looking forward to a Sunday sabbath tomorrow. I am excited to visit All Souls church which I have heard so much about. I'll let you know how it goes.
-As the English say... Cheers!
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