Spring Break

I have a good number of blogs to post about Spring Break and everything that's happened since then, along with photographs. It's a big project - there's lots to cover - but keep checking back. I'm posting each of the blogs according to date, but you can also click on the links below as they appear:

Venice: http://autumnslondon.blogspot.com/2007/05/venice.html
Cinqua Terra:
Rome:
Paris:
Mom and Hannah in London:
Bath Weekend:
Winchester:
Taming of the Shrew:
Bristol: http://autumnslondon.blogspot.com/2007/04/bristol.html
Hampton Court: http://autumnslondon.blogspot.com/2007/04/hampton-court-palace.html
Stratford-upon-Avon: http://www2.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=36818805&postID=1231340673487694512
Paris:
Rennes:
Dublin:
Belfast:
Cardiff:

Hampton Court Palace

I think I can safely say that, before coming to London, the one thing I really wanted to do while here was go to Hampton Court Palace. Hampton Court was built by Thomas Wolsey from 1515-1521. It was such a beautiful and modern palace that Henry VIII (and nobles) often visited. When Wolsey began to fall from power (for not securing Henry VIII’s divorce from Katherine of Aragon from the Roman Catholic Church) he gave the palace to the King in a bid to secure favour. Henry VIII soon moved in and began rebuilding the palace, making it even grander. Though the Royal Court would frequently move from palace to palace around the country, Hampton Court was Henry VIII’s favorite. So much Tudor history is connected to the Palace – that’s, of course, why I so desperately wanted to visit. Hampton Court remained a royal palace until George III ascended the throne (1760) when the Palace fell out of use.

Charlotte and I took the train out (it’s only 11 miles west of central London – probably 30 minutes by train) and made a day of it. We wandered throughout the (acres of) gorgeous gardens and ate our lunch in The Wilderness Garden and explored the maze and went on four 30 minute costumed tours of the Palace throughout the day. Our first tour was just a general orientation of the grounds, given by one of William III (1650-1702)’s nobles, the second was of Henry VIII’s apartments and was given by Henry VIII’s doctor and Lady (Lady Jane Grey’s mother) and the third was of William and Mary’s apartments and was given by one of Mary II (1662-1694)’s ladies-in-waiting. But the fourth tour! Thomas Seymour (who was, incidentally, Jane Seymour – Henry VIII’s third wife – ‘s brother) began by telling us he was about to go propose to Catherine Parr. Then, as he was about to leave a noblewomen came and took us along with her to Catherine Parr’s apartments to deliver Henry VIII’s marriage proposal where we met, of course, Catherine Parr and her brother. As she was contemplating Henry VIII’s proposal Thomas Seymour burst in with his proposal… but of course one can’t refuse the King. All three of the tours were a little silly, I suppose, but they were great fun – the last tour most of all. (Catherine Parr did eventually marry Thomas Seymour after Henry VIII’s death but soon afterwards died in childbirth.) Even though the gardens were absolutely gorgeous, the Tudor kitchens immense, the Georgian rooms and King’s Apartments impressive, I, of course, liked the Tudor rooms best.

Charlotte eventually tore me away and we went to Martin (our program director)’s house in north London for a St. George’s Day BBQ. (St. George being England’s patron saint). Most people painted the English flag (with St. George’s red cross) on their faces, but Martin had the biggest and reddest cross.

Photographs: to be posted soon

Bristol

We left Paddington Station (after taking photos with the bronze statue of Paddington Bear) for a two hour train ride to Bristol (115 miles west of London) early Friday morning. Upon arriving we walked to the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum, spent two hours inside perusing and then walked down to the Avon River and boarded a canal boat for a two hour tour of the city from the water. We docked just in front of the ss Great Britain and the replica of the Matthew, touring both ships and the museum. The ss (steam ship) Great Britain was the world’s first iron hulled, steam powered ocean liner. After serving for 92 years it was abandoned in the Falklands and was just recently brought back to Bristol and restored. She appears to be floating, but the water around her is actually just resting in a glass pool, so you can climb down underneath the pool and see the hull and propeller. The Matthew, in comparison, is incredibly small. It’s hard to imagine how all 15 sailors crowed on deck with John Cabot as they traversed the Atlantic Ocean and discovered Newfoundland (1497). Next we walked to St. Mary Radcliffe, a gorgeous gothic church which Queen Elizabeth I called “the goodliest, fairest and most famous parish church in England” (I especially appreciated the wood carving of Queen Elizabeth I from the 1600s inside), and after that we walked to Queen’s Square and sat outside a pub there and drank our Pimm’s while we waited for the train to take us back to London!

Photographs: to be posted soon

Dr. Daud Abdullah and Whipping It Up!

Yesterday Dr. Daud Abdullah, the Deputy Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, came to our class to speak to us about Muslims in the UK. As always, Professor Share gives a good overview which you can find here: http://upspolitics.blogspot.com/2007/04/professor-share-on-muslim-council-of.html. Our politics class also recently saw Whipping It Up, a play about parliamentary whips and their role in government, and you can read the review here: http://upspolitics.blogspot.com/2007/04/whip-it-uk-style.html.

Back in London and Bath

Mom's account of our time back in London and of our trip to Bath:

We left Paris via train to Calais, then ferried across the English Channel to Dover, then took a bus into London with just a few hours to spare to get Autumn back to school after her spring break. Hannah and I stayed in hostels for the next four nights, while Autumn went back to her host family. We met up with her before, in between and after classes, zigzagging across London on the tube, going to all kinds of great sights: Buckingham Palace and it’s beautiful gardens, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, the London Eye, boat ride on the Thames, Hyde Park, two shows at grand old theatres, Trafalger Square, more museums than I can remember, Greenwich (outside of London) and much, much more.
Autumn had a three day weekend, so we took the train to Bath and spent two nights at a nice hostel and had a room all to ourselves. Bath was great fun to explore, including the Jane Austen walking tour, the ancient Roman Baths, the fashion museum, Good Friday service at Bath Abbey and so much more.

We made it back to London, on yet another train through more scenic countryside, where we parted ways again, only to meet up in the morning to go to Easter service at the huge and beautiful Westminster Abbey. It was a wonderful, sunny day and we played tourist again along the south bank of the Thames River where, in addition to the many street performers, we saw all kinds of interesting sights and went on the London Eye, giving us a birds eye view of the city.

The next morning we met up with Autumn again and she showed us around Harrow, a suburb of London, where her host family is situated. Afterwards, she escorted us to Heathrow Airport where Hannah and I barely got on our flight home.

Photos: to be posted soon

Back in London and Bath

Mom's account of our time back in London and of our trip to Bath:

We left Paris via train to Calais, then ferried across the English Channel to Dover, then took a bus into London with just a few hours to spare to get Autumn back to school after her spring break. Hannah and I stayed in hostels for the next four nights, while Autumn went back to her host family. We met up with her before, in between and after classes, zigzagging across London on the tube, going to all kinds of great sights: Buckingham Palace and it’s beautiful gardens, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, the London Eye, boat ride on the Thames, Hyde Park, two shows at grand old theatres, Trafalger Square, more museums than I can remember, Greenwich (outside of London) and much, much more.
Autumn had a three day weekend, so we took the train to Bath and spent two nights at a nice hostel and had a room all to ourselves. Bath was great fun to explore, including the Jane Austen walking tour, the ancient Roman Baths, the fashion museum, Good Friday service at Bath Abbey and so much more.

We made it back to London, on yet another train through more scenic countryside, where we parted ways again, only to meet up in the morning to go to Easter service at the huge and beautiful Westminster Abbey. It was a wonderful, sunny day and we played tourist again along the south bank of the Thames River where, in addition to the many street performers, we saw all kinds of interesting sights and went on the London Eye, giving us a birds eye view of the city.

The next morning we met up with Autumn again and she showed us around Harrow, a suburb of London, where her host family is situated. Afterwards, she escorted us to Heathrow Airport where Hannah and I barely got on our flight home.

Photos: to be posted soon

Spring Break

Spring break was absolutely wonderful.! I picked up mom and Hannah from Heathrow Airport and we went to Alice for tea and to rearrange our bags, then flew from London to Milan and took a bus to Venice. We spent two days in Venice, then took a train to Cinqua Terra, spent two days there, took another train to Rome, spent three days there, then flew to Paris and spent two days there before flying back to London. I am posting photographs and more detailed entries about our adventures by date, so those can be found by scrolling down to the late March and early April entries.