Playing tourist: Day trip

Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath...in one day.

Windsor Castle is the Queen's residence. It's gigantic, old, and lovely. And it has some of the most crazy beautiful interior decorating I've ever seen. Unfortunately, it also has a strict no photo policy inside the castle, so you don't get to see any of that. But the exterior is nice too.

As our tour guide said, "When we get to Stonehenge, some of you will be having deep and profound thoughts, while others of you shiver and drink coffee. It means different things to different people."

Bath is such a pretty little town. And we were lucky enough to see it in the sunshine. It's famous for its hot springs (and the Roman baths that made use of them), but I was probably most enamored with the impressive stone architecture.

Snow.

Heathrow cancelled almost 400 flights, trains were delayed, and panic ensued this weekend, as London was crippled by a fierce snowstorm that brought the city its first snow this year.

Now, based on the chaos it caused, you might be picturing something like this:

  

Notice that the ground floor apartments are barely visible...

But you would be wrong. That picture is the entrance to my apartment complex in Illinois after the Snowpocalypse that hit our area and surrounding states a couple of years ago. We got a foot of snow in one afternoon, and I still went to work the next day.

No, this was the snowfall that wreaked havoc throughout London over the weekend:

A whopping several inches. Enough snow to make a footprint, and yet somehow enough to cause Europe’s busiest airport to grind to a halt.

Still, snow does make London look particularly picturesque. My parents were in town, and we decided to brave the “blizzard” and play tourist while the rest of the city hid indoors. 

I’m glad we did, because this is what we saw:

Isn't it lovely? It certainly makes winter feel worthwhile.

 

Frozen.

Apparently, there are a lot of spiders near my bus stop. I wasn't really aware of this until this morning, when it was so cold that their webs froze, and all of the sudden their presence was very noticeable. The webs that weren't perfectly formed (more like strands strewn all over the place) made it look like the bushes were covered in white silly string. 

Weird.

Anyway, I realized something as I was standing there shivering in the cold, looking at this frozen web: I'm gonna need to buy some thicker socks. 

Happy winter!

 

Don't lose your sense of wonder.

“I need wonder. I know that death is coming. I smell it in the wind, read it in the paper, watch it on television, and see it on the faces of the old. I need wonder to explain what is going to happen to me, what is going to happen to us when this thing is done, when our shift is over and our kids' kids are still on the earth listening to their crazy rap music. I need something mysterious to happen after I die. I need to be somewhere else after I die, somewhere with God, somewhere that wouldn't make any sense if it were explained to me right now. At the end of the day, when I am lying in bed and I know the chances of any of our theology being exactly right are a million to one, I need to know that God has things figured out, that if my math is wrong we are still going to be okay. And wonder is that feeling we get when we let go of our silly answers, our mapped out rules that we want God to follow. I don't think there is any better worship than wonder.”  -Don Miller

  

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The only time I ever wear a watch is when I go running. I keep the timer going because I can be a tad competitive, and I like to see if I can beat my previous time. When I go running, I don’t like to stop. But about two summers ago, I started stopping.

I was living in a small town in the Midwest. Just around the corner from my house were these wide open fields – mostly farmland, but occasionally grown over and untouched. I’d go for runs down that way in the evenings, especially during the summer, when it was still light well past 8pm. There was one stretch of road bordered by these giant flowering trees, and you could smell the flowers as you ran past. Fireflies frequented the area, and around the bend, you could pretty much guarantee you’d see deer – I once saw around 20 in one evening – along with the occasional family of skunks.

I always stopped for these things. I’d pause my timer and then try to catch a firefly or laugh at the baby skunks or pick a dandelion to wish on. I’m sure I looked silly, childish even, especially when I was chasing after those fireflies. But I didn’t mind.

I’ll gladly cross the street to walk in the sunshine. I’ll go out of my way to step on a crunchy looking leaf. Whenever I go outside at night, the first thing I’ll do is look up.

I don’t know what life’s like for you, but it seems to be going very quickly for me (how is it December already?), and it doesn’t look like it will be slowing down anytime soon. But I don’t care how rushed or busy or pressed for time I am, if I see a sunrise like the one I saw this morning, I’m going to stop. Because one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received is this: “Don’t lose your sense of wonder.”

And I don’t intend to.

 

Let the games begin.

When I first got here last September, I took this picture:

At that point, the Olympics seemed forever away. But all of the sudden, this has happened:

Zero days. Can you believe it? They're here! The opening ceremony is tonight. And even though I'm not venturing into Central to watch it (tickets for Hyde Park tonight are £60, and that's just not going to happen), I'm excited to be here, nonetheless.

Get excited, world. It's time for London 2012. 

(Oh, and go USA!)

 

Oh deer.

First things first: apologies for the cheesy title. I just couldn't help myself. 

Remember when I told you about Richmond Park? I said I'd like to visit it again. Well, it took me almost five months, but I finally made it back. And even though one of my housemates pointed out that it could be a dangerous decision, I'm glad I did.

The largest of the Royal Parks, it also happens to be the biggest enclosed space in London. Its 2360 acres are home to a wide variety of flora and fauna, but it's most famous residents are probably the deer. Oh, and the reason it exists in the first place is because Charles I didn't want to get the plague.

Fun stuff.

Anyway, the last time I visited was in February. While I definitely enjoyed myself, it was still winter, so everything (well, except for the deer) was kind of dead. This time was different. Sure, the skies were still grey. But this time, everything was green! And there were flowers! It was lovely.

It's crazy how just stepping through the gates seems to take you straight out of the city. It's so quiet and peaceful, and with all the wildlife, you don't really feel like you're in London anymore.

(But you are.)

There's so much to see, and we only made it through about a fifth of the park. But since it's only a 5 minute bus ride from where I live, I plan to go back and do some more exploring soon.

Who knows? Maybe there will even be sunshine.

Third time's a charm.

  

Happy America Day!

Happy birthday, America. I'm bummed that the thousands of miles in between us this 4th of July will mean that I won't get to see any fireworks. But don't worry. I'm still celebrating you.

Here's how:

And a fellow American here in London is having a little Independence Day bash.
So that's fun.

Happy 4th of July! And if you happen to be celebrating in the States, light a sparkler for me.

(Please and thank you.)

To market, to market.

We decided to check out the markets at Camden today. The Northern line was half closed, so that made things a little interesting, especially since we had a limited amount of time to explore before church. But we made the best of it, sprinting through the Underground like true Londoners.

And once we finally made it to the markets, it was all worth it.

Such a fun little area! Great food, quirky shops, and the best people watching. 

I'll definitely have to go back soon.

Friday photo frenzy.

A look at Italy, so far.

Yes. I've taken a ton of pictures. And this is only like half of them. But I can't help it.

This place is just so photogenic.