Most days we learn something... today I learned that London has some great roller coasters. You may say 'Kylee, you're on a STUDY abroad." My response is that every student needs a little fun, hence Thorpe Park. This would be one of the best days yet. Lindsey, Kaitlyn, Brady, Erika, Mark and I headed on a train, then a bus to Staines... yeah, Staines where the greatest park is. The size is that equivalent to Lagoon, only with a few roller coasters and water rides. Every ride was themed like Disneyland which made you love the wait, and believe me we did a lot of that. Approximately every 45 minutes we'd ride a ride. They were all completely worth it... Stealth (reminded me of Seth Cohen and was 0 to 1,000,000 in 1 second), Nemesis Inferno, Colossus (classic but good), and the best to come Saw. It was exactly like the movie and I loved every second of it, the fake blades, the twists, the loops, the speed. No words can describe how great it was. Look up a video and then you can believe the joy I experienced. There is not much to say about this day except that we did a whole lot of standing around talking, dancing to the themed music, laughing at our ridiculous riding motion pictures, and enjoying the break. Twas a blast. Cheers! (pictures to come when I get them)

Another day in the land of Scots. This time we chose to wake up early, 6 am to be exact. This occasion had a purpose being to go see the sunrise on the coast. Unfortuntely we had no idea where in the land we were so we headed on some random bus that said 'ocean terminal' thinking this would get us there. No such luck. Later on down the road we decided to just head until we found an ounce of water. This is to prove that we did find a beach and nice docking area. It wasn't quite the experience we wanted but we did get there and I did see the choppy blue waters of the ocean. We then just shopped on the Royal Mile (road which leads to the castle). My favorite moment was when we walked into a store and heard piping... Amanda and I walked right up to the desk and got that cd, called none other than The Red Hot Chili Pipers. Exhibit A, we were dying laughing, B. the songs were modern songs put into pipes. We've successfully listened to it 12 times since then.

Michelle and I then had to hurry to the train station to catch our train to Liverpool. We were pushing the time because we needed to get to Albert Dock by 2:30 to catch a tour and our train got in at 2:20. Needless to say our train was late and we were booking it to the dock that we had no coordinates to. We decided that it would be in our best interest to go to the information booth and see if there was another tour that we could take. The cute lady told us that the tour was at 4:30 too! I could not have been any happier than this moment... until later.

We entered the Beatles Story museum and quickly went through. It was so adorable because they had all these sets with wax figures, fake diaramas and even a fake yellow submarine. Super wanted to stay there for hours but we had a tour to catch. Here I am with the Magical Mystery Tour bus about to have the best tour of my life. The bus was vintage 70s with brown and pink seats. We saw all the boys childhood homes, Penny Lane, Eleanor Rigby's grave, the boys' school, the Cavern, and Strawberry Field. It fulfilled every fantasy I could have ever dreamt up about Liverpool and the Beatles lives. We listened to the songs and loved every second of it. Seriously life changing. We shopped and headed back on our train. Little did we know that our train would have a fatality and cause us a 5 hour trip instead of a 2 and a half hour one. Oh and PS the underground was half closed which led to four transfers and two sad, tired, and confused girls.

Land of the Scots

Who could be more excited for a free day? Yeah, that's me, and what do I choose to do with my free day... get up at 7 to get on the underground, to ride a train. Surprise, surprise. Good news was I was headed to none other than thee Scotland. My excitement could not be contained for the fact that we sporadically decided to do this and everything worked out perfectly! Let me introduce the players... Beccah Hardman, Mal Anderson, Michelle Paz, Amanda Colton, Julia Johnson, and myself. Plan of attack: Get to Castle in Alnmouth. We rode the train for about 3 hours before we got to Alnmouth which ended up being a huge train station, or lack thereof. I felt like I had been thrown into the back woods. Needless to say we had to transfer to a bus stop, not knowing where in the world we were going, hoped on a bus to Alnswick. We arrived in the town's center and took our chances by finding the castle. Lo and Behold we get to the castle and it is THEE Harry Potter castle! They had owls hanging out on the side of the lawn even. Definitely had to have a picture with the cute little birds even though one tried to bite my head off.

Next we went to the whomping willow (only pretend) and took some pics. Best moment was when Beccah really got whomped, fell off the tree for no intended purpose. Mainly I just laughed my head off and then realized what a jerk friend I was.

Enter the castle. So pretty, still lived in, and more of a modern classic baroque feel than all the other castles I've seen. I didn't focus much on the castle as per the ground were in Harry Potter, PUH-LEASE! This called for drastic measures and I had to buy glasses and a wand immediately. Next we took our first flying lessons on the lawns... people probably questioned our sanity.

We boarded the train and headed to Scotland, another 2 hour train. We were pumped and got in around 5 at night which left few options of things to do. We all checked into our quaint little hotel the Thistle, which was a god send, and decided to go on a sightseeing tour because we didn't have much time. The seats were most definitely tartan red and the sights of the city were phenomenal! I loved the architecture, both old and new. The city is framed by a large cliff, a valley, a hill in which the castle resides, and another valley. The castle shines above everything. Loved the tour, loved the city, loved the girls I was with. Good times. We quickly headed to an underground ghost tour with our guide Tanya who had bright pink make up, a black trench coat, and black boots. She fit the job description well. She took us to the underground city which was actually arches and vaults covered due to the expansion of the population and needing to grow upward. Hence they are haunted due to people's homes and shops being built over, lots of deaths, stories of ghosts, and guests being haunted. Beccah was scared out of her mind so I had to hold her hand as she was shaking. I have to admit that I was an ounce scared when she blew the candle out and shoved us back into the corner. Then I just said to myself Kylee, you don't believe in ghosts that can hurt you, only bad angels that give off a bad vibe. Therefore, I was fine and had such a fun little time with the girls being freaked out. We were starving at this point and headed to the nearby Hard Rock as none of us were up to the Haggis dinner temptation. You can always count on a decent meal, good music, and a good time there, which it was. Hotel time! Yay for Scotland.

the ladies day: baths, fashions, and teas

Today was originally supposed to be another one of those ride the underground, train, bus days, but at the last minute Susie and Darrin decided that we could have a sort of free day meaning that we can get to the designated place whenever, but to still probably do it. Like the natural obedient girl that I am, I assembled my troop and headed to Bath only an hour later than planned. We were big girls and got on the train by ourselves and figured out where we were quickly. Right when we got there a horrendous tempest rain storm came and hurled it's powers on the train station. This was a great sign for us, we all turned to one another and said, 'get back on the train?' Would the weather stop us? Clearly not. It's rained every day and we aren't afraid. Being the tourists that we are we got our information pamphlets and estimated where our intended plans would be located. Fearless leadership led us right to the Roman Baths which are the oldest standing baths in Europe. One thing about those Romans is that they like to have great grand building in the middle of the city, hiding until you are right up in the facade. It's incredible, yet hard to find sometimes. We paid our monies and got our little audio guided tour. We learned all about the building as it was actually a temple complex dedicated to the goddess Minerva. They had a grand pool right in the center with these great columns and reflections bouncing off them. Off to each side is either a hot bath or a cool bath. Now when I say bath you think a tub, but I mean more of a large pool or hot tub. On the east side were the hot baths, little round ones, and giant rooms for a sauna like feel. It's incredible to think that these were so old and that taking care of the body was such a sacred thing. There were even healing spas where people could get massages and magically healed through the gods. On the other side of the grand bath is a small circular bath which was a cold bath that is used to cool off. Most men would jump from the hot to the cold just to show off how manly they are. Wow how times haven't changed. My favorite bath was the grand bath because it had this algae green glow that contrasted beautifully against the yellow orange columns and statuary above. I felt like I was at the spa myself. That would be nice, my body is trashed. Perhaps the most memorable part was that we got to drink the bath water. It was included in our ticket and we felt obligated, slash honored to do it. Let me describe the taste to you. It tasted of 800 years of algae, heated by the sun in tinfoil, while some dirty Roman man sat in with his sweaty dirty body. It was so disgusting! Definitely not the fountain of youth or healing waters. I think I got an amoeba.

After this we headed to the fashion museum where they had an exhibit on The Supremes. It displayed all their costumes and how they were a fore runner to all pop girl bands now days with their fabulous costumes. I loved how all three were matching in every detail, every sequin and pearl was in place. They were so funky and fabulous! Sorry, no pictures but you can only imagine how beautiful and spectacular they looked. Also they had mannequins showing the outfit of the year up to 2007. It was unique to see how styles circle around. We also were lucky enough to try on some corsets and hoop skirts. I was a big fan of the corset myself. Loved the look of being sucked in and pushed up. Ha!

Our adventures next took us to the Jane Austen Center. This is the city in which she was born and raised and generally got all of her stories from places located close. Upon our arrival we ran into two gentlemanly callers dressed in their full gear. Naturally we had to snap a few photos and laugh on our way in. The gift shop was great and we spent quite some time there. After this we could not pass up the opportunity to have tea and scones in true Austen fashion. The cafe was so quaint and adorable. Our waitress was in full costume and so sweet. I tried tea for the first time, a raspberry cranberry mixture. This will also be the last time I have tea. Not a fan. Not one ounce. The cake, sandwiches, and scones were to die for though! Not only did I get my own cute little tea pot, I got a cute serving tray. It was such a blast to play tea party that we didn't make it to our intended train. Luckily we barely caught the next one. It was worth the extra running just so we could spend time at our ladies tea.

Megan and I rushed back to meet Susie, Terri, Beccah, and Mal to walk to Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. We hustled our little buns across Hyde Park which was simply beautiful, a smaller version of a Central Park, river and all. We arrived in this clearing where a huge white tent shot up out of nowhere. The tents were large and actually gave a nice ambiance. Beccah, Mal, and I shared a bag of candy because we HAD to have the gummy crocodiles in honor of Peter Pan. After walking in to our seats we noticed that it was in the round, and our seats happen to be the worst seats in the house. The play was really great though, the sets were unique and different. The best one was the lost boys home with tunnels, and tree trunks, and smoke coming from everywhere. One thing I absolutely hated was the Tinkerbell. She was a Russian grunge punk who only knew one word, ass. Not appealing. When she drank poison I almost hoped she would stay dead. Good point to mention, Captain Hook was the actor who played in Titanic, and as the hunter in Jumanji. He was brilliant. I loved Peter's outfit, very Rufio off Hook looking. I also loved the crocodile puppet that was two person life size and made out of clothespins. They sure flied a lot, which was nice. Also, it was extremely different than our Walt Disney because they added all these odd things in and a crazy bird puppet. Not a fan of that because it created really awkward scenes at the end. I absolutely loved when all the little kids in the audience chimed in and started whispering 'I believe in fairies' while ringing their cute little bells. Tear. All in all, it was a good time. Lots of laughs and great memories.

Being human, we were hungry and headed to the Planet Hollywood for some good grub. It was 11 by this time. We ate quickly and enjoyed the trashy music videos that were showing all night. Quite different than our restaurants. Good times, good food, great fun. Another night of not getting anything done! Mind the Gap, this isn't making sense and is definitely rambling on about a whole lot of nothing. It's late here and I'm behind. Here we are trying to catch up before I head to Scotland for the weekend, no such luck! Enjoy the weekend all my lovely readers, know that I love you, and I will be back for more great story telling on Sunday.

deers and dessert delights

Guess what we did today? Yep, you got it a underground ride to the train station, a train to a bus station in Stamford, and a bus to another stately home. Days are starting to get mixed and my mind is starting to diminish from all that I learn and do in one day. Here is one such beautiful home called Burghley House. You may recognize it from Da Vinci Code when the cardinal pulls up to the house to discuss business. You pull up to the huge lawns and see the gate below the home, but the best part is you see all these deer and think 'what the?'

The family owns their own heard of deer that have bred and bred for hundreds of years and continue to live on the grounds. I was so excited and followed those deer around, clearly they were afraid. What comes to my mind, I have pretzels in my bag and deers like pretzels! I walked on over, stuck out the pretzels and they came a running. It was so fun to have them be that tame and that close to all of us. I tried to film it but it came out only 2 seconds long. After my bag was gone, I walked in to the house for our tour only to discover I had become a victim. Hand bloody I ran to the bathroom and cleaned that right off. Hopefully the deer don't have diseases.

Our group split into two and headed into the home of the Earl of Exeter, the Lord of Burghley, the Cecil families home, the Burghley house. The home was first given to William Cecil who was the treasurer for Queen Elizabeth I. It's a major palace decorated in every square inch with beautiful gardens and incredible history.We first walked in to the kitchen which was about the size of two family rooms, just a huge space with two fireplaces that used to be run by little boys. The other side had huge copper platters above two bread fireplaces. Another cute little story is that back in the day eating turtle soup was a delicacy and since they didn't live near an ocean they had to have them shipped in warm sea water to the house. They had to quickly make the soup or it would turn hard incredibly fast. How cute is it that they even served it in these massive turtle shaped bowls? They knew how to party.

This family seems to be so modern, that may be due to the fact that they still live there. It contains a huge library, a billiard room, many bedrooms (around 80), and drawing rooms. Not for art drawing but where the royal woman would draw together in a single room for female time. My favorite room was the Heaven room which contained massive murals of roman gods and goddesses painted by the family friend. In the center of the room is a massive 290 lb. pure silver wine vat that looks somewhat like a bathtub on high legs. One of the bedrooms was set up for Queen Victoria and Albert when they stayed there. The bed could fit 10 people on it which was too large, and so they had to scale it down, and added more bling because the Queen loved bling. They also added turtle doves to the top because she was in love with her husband and produced 7 children. Everything about these houses is grand, and nothing is left undecorated. Oh to have that kind of wealth. It was gorgeous though. Also, Pride and Prejudice was filmed in parts of these rooms as well as Young Victoria. I get angry because I don't get to take pictures to show, but it was beautiful and gorgeous and everything you could want in a stately home.

Not to mention the gardens are sure beautiful with fountains, ponds, and flowers. Too bad it was raining so bad that we couldn't see them. We did however eat lunch at the cafe, scones and cream. Best thing I've eaten yet here! SO good. It was our own little tea party. We finished our visit to the house and headed to Stamford to hang out and shop for a little while. I was not so interested in wandering the streets as it was raining, I was tired, and completely shopped out by this point. Needless to say we headed on our long journey back home for the night and here we are, yet again, every night, doing homework, loving every second. Cheers!

secret pleasures

It seems to be the norm now days that we get up super early to go ride a train to some other city outside of London and spend the whole day there. Today was such a day in which we got on the train to head to Oxford. Naturally the train put me to sleep, the lull and hum just does something to me. I'm sure I look fabulous with my head back, arms at my side, and mouth wide open. Blackmail pictures may be coming. Naturally we made it to Oxford and rode a bus, not just a bus, but a Double Decker bus! It was a very different experience to not be able to see the driver and have the people on the sidewalk be 5 feet below you. We took this bus to Blenheim Palace which is the home of the Dukes of Marlborough. The family that owns this happens to be the Spencer Churchills', yeah that Churchill. The history behind this building is that during the battle of Blenheim, John Churchill won the battle and the king gave him the land as a victory prize. The style is English Baroque, heavy, strong, and beautiful. The style was super traditionally modern. We walked through the state rooms and saw Winston Churchill's birth room and all his memorabilia. I love things like this. Knowing he lived there and this building inspiring him to be the man he became. Upstairs they had Disneyland historic room style, similar to Vaux, only full on mannequins moving and talking and exploding things. It was intense and I only learned that John Churchill was a slut and slept with the kings wife and got a promotion to be the general of the army. I don't know. Besides the creep play upstairs we went down into the gardens which were GORGEOUS! The small group of us probably spent 4 hours in the gardens taking pictures and enjoying every minute of being outside. Totally ANTM amateur hour. (America's Next Top Model for all those out there who don't share this guilty pleasure) The secret garden was incredible and exactly how I'd imagine my dream garden looking. Fountains, grasses, trees, benches, paths, and flowers everywhere. I could have spent all day there but unfortunately we had to get a move on with our lives. It was nice to relax and enjoy things on our own times. The scenery was amazingly beautiful and picturesque.

Due to the fact that I am a fan of Churchill and WWII in general, we naturally headed to the gift shop. They were selling these beautiful books about him for only 3 pounds! But they weighed 50 lbs. and I couldn't pack that.

For my daddy

After about 6 hours here we wanted more! They have an adorable little train that takes you to these other 'pleasure' gardens. Pleasure meaning games and fun times. They had a butterfly house, lavender gardens, mazes, giant chess and checkers, and miniature golf. Needless to say we spent quite a lot of time here. SO much time in fact we missed the gates being closed and had to walk around the entire lawn to the other side of the palace to get out. We then missed our bus and almost missed the last train into London. Thank goodness we made that because all of us are tight on money and had no real idea of where we were or how else to get back to our shelter.

After the train ride, Megan and I decided we had attempted to many times and finally went to the London Eye. It's a huge Wheel that overlooks London on the river. The sights were gorgeous, everything was lit up so beautifully! I honestly felt like I was in Peter Pan flying over the city, landing on Big Ben and going to never never land. Because that's honestly how I feel. The experiences that I'm having are incredible and definitely nothing I'll ever forget.

vontraps in action

What do Wilton House, Salisbury Cathedral, and Stonehenge have in common? Well you may be surprised to know lots of things. A. They are all located within Salisbury, England. B. All are green and lush and beautiful. C. I visited all three today and loved each one!

First Wilton House which is the home of the Earl of Pembroke, and has been since the time of Henry the 8th. The current Earl is the 18th of the family and is unmarried... oh and did I mention he's extremely dishy and an designer. That's what our guide said anyway. She was a prime example of a theater historian gone wacky, with huge flowers, a bright jacket, and poof hair. Anyway the house is famous for the single cube room which is exactly 30' x 30' x 30'. It also house the double cube room which is 60' x 30' x 30'. Both are lavishly decorated and used for movies such as Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Young Victoria. The house was relatively small compared to other palatial homes we've been to, which was nice. The land was pretty barren landscape with only a small garden and adorable Palladian bridge (also famous). My favorite aspect of the land was that it looked like a golf course with a river, huge trees, and lush grasses. Dad would be so happy. We met for lemonade and pastries which was so adorable of them to do. Not to mention, delicious! Best part of the day, they had this giant playground Swiss Family Robinson style. You better believe that I ran right out there, literally, and climbed ropes, jumped on the tramp, rode the slide, and teeter tottered it up. Totally felt like a child again.

We arrived back in Salisbury to go to the Cathedral. We got there early and had the great opportunity to sit on the grass and admire the building. The cloister, or monk's inner courtyard, was simple and gorgeous. This is where we waited for our tour guide. He took us up to the tower immediately, luckily there were nice breaks and chats before we got to about 300 feet. We got to cross the nave, long central part, over the ribbed vaulting which was so exciting to see the actual structure of the building. We saw the bells, the x beams that hold the tower up, and the balcony way atop the structure. I loved being able to witness how the building was made, although it's about 800 years old, it's nice to think I was there experiencing it being built. The original wheel that they used to haul stone up was still there and very much usable. The tower is the largest hollow original tower left. Pretty incredible times.

After this we headed to Stonehenge in taxis. When we arrived I felt like we were just in the middle of fields. I guess I expected to be able to see the stones in all their glory. You had to walk through a tunnel and voila there they were. Not as large as I would have imagined, yet still incredible to think how long they'd been there. The mystery of the purpose and who built them is a complete mystery in my book as well. I'd like to think that it was the people who lived there at the earliest times who built it as a sacrificial temple or gathering place for events, a precursor to the Coliseum if you will. Altogether an incredible set of structure that would have taken immense brain and physical power to make it happen. Enjoy the pictures, and be jealous of my life. thanks.

oh. and my pictures are uploading horrendously slow. hopefully tomorrow I can load the rest. Also i have three hello kitty bandaids on my body. I sliced my finger, one, i had a super bad hangnail, two, and this morning as i bent to pick up my clothes off the floor (mom you'd be proud) i hit it on the tiel wall, three. Also i got a sliver from the cathedral, four. Good day for me.