Arthur's Seat

When we got to Edinburgh we promptly went off to hike Arthur's seat. It was extremely windy. At one point I feared for all of our lives. After we'd been hiking for awhile a couple passed us and I asked them how much longer to the top and the guy said, "once you get up there, you have to hold on to something or you'll blow off." But we kept going and found out he was right.

It is a beautiful view of the city.

Here we are with our Professor, John Bennion. This whole Northern trip was his concoction. He's invented the study abroad at BYU where you literally hike across the UK. We got a little taste of it during this week.

Of course I wondered the mph of these winds, and a girl there said she'd worked on some mountain top over the summer that had 70 mph winds and these were stronger. So upwards of 80 or 90. It was crazy.

Hadrian's Wall

On Tuesday of our trip North we stopped by Hadrian's Wall. This wall used to be 8 feet thick, 15 feet high. Now it's just nubbiny. It was built as part of the mighty Roman Empire by Emperor Hadrian.

It was very rainy, cold and windy. Some peoples umbrellas broke, but I always make sure I put mine away when it gets too windy. Cause I'm not paying $16 for a new one.

Funny Story

This story is so funny to me, unfortunately I wasn't there. My friend Madeline recounted this from an experience at church yesterday. They were teaching in the primary about God's sheep. She told the kids that everyone is a part of God's fold and one little girl said (and say this with a little girl British accent) "Even Beyonce?" Madeline said "Beyonce isn't bad." The little girl replied, "Yes she is. She sings her songs to Satan." The little girl's brother then turned to her and said "No, that's Kesha."

Chatsworth

On Monday, on our way to the North, we stopped by Chatsworth House. Supposedly this is the house that Jane Austen used as inspiration for Pemberly, Mr. Darcy's house. As we pulled around the corner I saw it and thought- that also looks like the house they used to film some scenes in the 2005 film version. And lo and behold, it was! I think they filmed the scene in which Darcy sees Elizabeth peeping through the open door at Georgiana playing the piano, and he runs after her onto the porch. Unfortunately that porch was closed. So here is what the house looks like:

And here is what it looked like when we went. Awesome. Thank you 2012 London Olympics. Before we saw the house, our bus driver, Tony, said to us "and around this corner is a true countryman's pad... Ahh! It's wrapped in scaffolding!" (Say that in a British accent). Suffice it to say it was a little disappointing.

I think this ceiling was in the movie, when Elizabeth first walks into the house.

This sculpture room was for sure in the movie- from the scene where they're looking at the bust of Darcy. We watched the movie on the bus afterward, and they showed shots of some sculptures that we had fully just seen here. It was kind of exciting!

As were were waiting for all the girls to get back on the bus, a helicopter landed on the front lawn and a Landrover drove out to it. Tony got on the intercom and excitedly said, "that's a royal helicopter." Of course I couldn't help but freak out a little bit. I think the words "this is what we've been waiting for!" popped out of my mouth. Slightly embarrassing. How awesome would it have been if it was William and Kate though. Or Harry. Unfortunately I couldn't see who got out and got into the Landrover, but luckily the car passed right by our bus. I couldn't see, but Tony said he didn't recognize them. It would've been so cool if it had been a famous royal, but then again I would've felt a little slighted because I wouldn't have been able to actually see them from where I was sitting. Afterward Tony said that if it had been an important royal there would've been way more security. Still fun though.

Borough Market

This morning we went to Borough Market. We actually went because we tried to go on a Harry Potter tour that seemed kind of unreliable, and turns out it was. At this point I figure it's a couple college kids that want to make a couple extra bucks because the meeting point was next to a college. Perhaps a coincidence, perhaps not. Luckily the meeting point was also near Borough Market so when no tour guide came we headed over there. It is a big farmers market and had some really good smelling food. And some really bad smelling cheese.

The Tower of London

On Wednesday we went to the Tower of London. I'd never been before. There were a lot of cool things I learned about royal history and of course it was fun to see the Crown Jewels! My favorite part was the wall walk- where you walk along the wall and can see all around the compound. They used to keep prisoners and torture people there. (I wish there had been more about the princes murder but there wasn't). But it was mostly used by the royal family as a home. It's where they also kept exotic animals the king received as gifts! That was my favorite fact. I also read on Wikipedia that they executed people there as late as World War I and II. They killed 12 people for espionage.

The crown jewels were mostly things used for the coronation of the kings and queens- like crowns and staffs. There was a staff in there that has "the first star of Africa" on it- a 530 carat diamond. It's the largest flawless cut diamond in the world. At first I didn't think it could be real. This diamond and "the second star of Africa," which is in the Imperial State Crown, were cut from the biggest diamond ever found- 3,000 carats! Crazy!

For the Stirlings

My favorite part was reading about the animals. Henry III had a polar bear that they would tie on a long rope and take down to the river Thames to fish! Can you imagine living in London and seeing someone walking a polar bear down to the river!? If only I could see it now.

Baby armor! Why this was needed is beyond me.

Also I learned that when they used the bathroom it would just fall down the side of the building. They thought it dropped into a ditch that was washed away by the Thames. Apparently they were wrong and one day someone found a cesspit 500 years in the making.

Fashion's Night Out

Tonight we went to Vogue's Fashion's Night Out at Covent Garden. I knew about the one in New York, and hoped this one would be full of designers and celebrities too. Alas, it was not. This was its first year and it didn't seem like it had the following that New York has. It was still fun though. We walked to different shops and saw people drinking their free drinks and looking fashionable. It was just fun to get away and do something different that I would never get to do in Utah.

We came upon this shop that happened to also be a flower academy. It was a really cool work space and the lady who runs it was terribly nice. She told us about a promotion to take a hat making class for 90 pounds. We told her we were art students at a University then said, "Oh, then you're probably poor." She said she wished she could let us into the class for free. She was nice. There was also a picture of her with Camilla Parker Bowles on the wall- Prince Charles's wife. Classy.

The Betsy Johnson store was kind of fun. People were giving hand massages and doing makeup. Nothing too fancy.

On a less shallow note, we got to do something incredibly great today. We got to go to a private room in the British Museum to look at original Michelangelo, Van Gogh, and Rembrandt drawings. It was so so cool. They took us back to a locked room and we got to look at them up close. The room itself was also neat. It had high ceilings and the walls were flanked by rich dark wood bookshelves. There was also a balcony that had more ancient looking books. There were people with white gloves. It felt like we were in a movie. Being an art inspector/handler at a museum would be such a fascinating job.

We got to see one of Michelangelo's practice sketches for some images for the Sistine Chapel. There was a sketch he did for the famous Adam/God painting. You could see where he messed up Adam's leg and had to move it down just slightly. It was so cool to look at something that you know these masterful artists have touched. Peter said we could go back and look more. What a great resource that we get to take advantage of here.