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So finals are over now and our class has all left Rome. I’m not back in the states yet though, because I’m traveling around for two weeks with Catherine and Colleen. Assuming the volcano doesn’t disrupt our flight plans, we should be home on May 21. (*edit* the volcano did not erupt and I am back in the states now!)
After spending a last day wandering around Rome and seeing some last Churches and seeing a few important monuments for the last time, Catherine and I took a night train to Paris. Colleen flew ahead to spend some extra time in Oxford until we got to London. Once in Paris we made our way out to Versailles where my French cousins the Turners live. They had hospitably agreed to host us for the weekend in their house. That Friday afternoon Catherine and I explored a tiny bit of their neighborhood and then had dinner with my cousin Frederick. On Saturday we explored the Chateau and royal grounds of Versailles, and some more of the city itself. When we got back to the Turner’s house, Frederick’s kids Leah, Guy, and John were having a party for Leah’s 22nd birthday. They invited us to come, so we joined in the French party for a few hours and got to meet some of their friends.
Then on Sunday we went into Paris itself and did the ‘how-to-see-Paris-in-less-than-12-hours-without-a-map” tour (which we made up ourselves. Armed with only a metro map and a list of things we wanted to see, we went to a Gregorian chant Mass at Notre Dame, the Louvre, San Germain (the oldest Church in Paris), the Church of the Miraculous Medal, the Basilica of Sacra Couer in Montmartre, the Arc de Triumph, and the Eiffel Tower. Plus we just did a lot of wandering the streets.
On Monday we took the Eurostar through the chunnel (the tunnel under the English channel) to London. There we met up with Colleen at our hostel. Then we went out to explore some of London for the afternoon. First we got some sandwiches at Pret (my new favorite restaurant- I’ve eaten there every day I’ve been here… they are like every couple blocks here). Then we saw Westminster Cathedral and then Westminster Abbey. It normally costs about 15 pounds to get into the abbey, but we just went to the Evensong service and we got in for free. It was also really cool because we got to hear their choir. We also saw Big Ben and the Parliament buildings, which were right outside. Then Colleen and I wandered along the Thames River for a while and then went and walked along Fleet Street and then through the Temples area before heading back to the hostel for the night.
On Tuesday Catherine had some stuff she wanted to do on her on, so Colleen and I went on a free walking tour of the Royal London area. It was a really great tour and we saw all the Royal palaces and a lot of other stuff too, plus we got a lot of great history and stories. Then we wandered up to the British Museums to meet Catherine. In the British Museums we saw a lot of the decorative elements from the Parthenon (in Greece!) that they moved to Britain so that they would be better protected. I also got to see the Rosetta Stone, and quite a few other cool things. We explored some used book stores for a little bit after that. Then that evening we got 15 pound tickets to go and see the Les Miserables musical that is playing in London, which was amazing! Definitely worth it.
Wednesday. Catherine and I went out to Oxford. Since Colleen had already gone while we were in Paris, she spent the day going to museums the two of us didn’t want to go to. In Oxford I saw a few of the colleges that would let me in for free, and I paid to get into Christ Church college. It actually has a cathedral inside of it and is just really beautiful inside (and out!). I also explored the Christ Church meadows, went in some churches, looked in shops, climbed a tower from the 10th century, visited the first examination hall in Oxford (the divinity school), and went to Mass.
On Thursday Colleen and I spent more time exploring London while Catherine went to Birmingham. First we went to the replica of Shakespeare’s Globe Theater and bought tickets to their performance of A Midsummer’s Night Dream for that night. Then we went to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guards and then ate lunch in Hyde Park and explored the park a little. After that we hopped on a double decker bus and sat on the second story! We rode it to Covent Gardens, where we looked around, before taking a walk through the older part of London and the more downtown area. We saw London Bridge and Tower Bridge (which is the bridge that most people actually think is London Bridge), the Bank of England (which is absolutely huge) and the Tower of London. Then we headed back to the Globe Theater. The performance was really cool. Since it was like it was in Shakespeare’s time, a large portion of the audience was standing room only in a large crowd in front of the stage. That was where Colleen and I got our tickets for. It was really cool though because the characters would sometimes come off the stage and run through the audience or pull someone out of the crowd and pull them onstage. One really unique thing about the performance is that the costumes and props all looked like they were from the 20’s, the play itself is set in ancient Athens, and we were in the replica of an English theater from the 15th century!
The next day, Friday, we took a train up to Edinburgh, Scotland. By the time we got settled into our hostel it was almost 5, but we went out and got dinner and wandered around the Royal Mile. Then in the evening Colleen and I went on a ghost tour (no ghost sightings though :P) that went around the streets a little first telling creepy stories of old Edinburgh, and then into the supposedly haunted underground vaults.
On Saturday morning we went into a park and climbed up to the highest point in Edinburgh. There were some amazing views but it was also incredibly windy! I was a little afraid of getting blown off the hill. Then we wandered around town the rest of the afternoon and went to Sunday vigil Mass. Then we went and got dinner in a pub before heading back to the hostel kinda early in the evening.
Then Sunday we hopped on another train with our destination being Keswick, England. First we had to take a train to Penrith, which was delayed over an hour. Once in Penrith we had to take a bus. We got into Keswick pretty late, and since it’s a small town and it was Sunday, stuff was starting to shut down. So we wandered around the town for maybe an hour and then went back to the hostel to cook dinner and settle in.
Monday, since Keswick is in the Lake District of England and there is lots of nice hiking/walking around, that is what we did. Catherine wanted to do a much more intense hike than Colleen and I, so she went off on her own. Colleen and I went on a shorter hike in the afternoon which was really cool because it took us through woods, across sheep pastures, and along the coast of the lake. On our way back into town we walked by their “Theater by the Lake” and saw that the Welsh Ballet Company was performing Giselle there that night. We looked closer and saw that if you were under the age of 26, you got free tickets! So we went to the ballet for free, which was amazing! I really missed ballet this semester and the company was really good.
Tuesday was pretty much just a travel day. We left the hostel at seven am by bus, and then two trains, a ferry, another bus, and a short walk later, we were at our hostel in Dublin, Ireland. And it was seven pm! So we pretty much just went to a pub and got dinner that night.
Wednesday we explored Dublin. We went to Mass and a few churches in the morning. Then we headed to Trinity College which is where they have the Book of Kells displayed. The Book of Kells is an ancient manuscript of the Bible which was hand copied by Irish monks. It has really really intricate decorations and pictures on the pages and is considered to be the most intricate hand-illuminated manuscript. And it certainly was! I could have stared at just one of the illustrated pages for an hour at least. After seeing the book they let you go upstairs to their old library, which was also amazing! Sadly I couldn’t take pictures, but I had never seen so many old books in one place before. Then we wandered around Dublin some more, went in an old medieval church, and then went to Evensong at St. Patrick’s Cathedral (which is Anglican).
On Thursday Colleen and I went to explore Howth peninsula, while Catherine went on a tour to the Cliffs of Moher (which are on the complete opposite side of Ireland, which is why we didn’t go). Howth peninsula is about a half hour by train from Dublin. There’s not a lot there in terms of the town, just a really small fishing village with a lot of seafood restaurants. But there’s some cool beaches, a castle, some rhododendron gardens, and some really amazing paths along the cliffs on the coasts. Definitely a very beautiful place to spend the day! When we got back into Dublin we had one last celebratory dinner at a pub to celebrate our last night in Europe.
Then today (Friday) we got up in the morning, hopped on a taxi, went to the airport, and got on a plane. Now I’m sitting in the Newark airport waiting for my connecting flight to Kansas City. I had an amazing time this semester and visited 11 countries! The guy at customs was even impressed when I handed in my form. But I’m still glad to be going home to see my family
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