My Yellow Brick Road: June 2012

So, it's been awhile and a lot has happened. I thought I would have a lot more time to not only blog, but see London. Unfortunately, the classes take up more of my time between lectures and homework than I was anticipating. But it will be okay- I can sleep when I get back to Dallas. Monday was the first day of class followed by a traditional English afternoon tea! I don't really care for hot tea, but the finger sandwiches and cakes were delicious. After tea, I ended up on an adventure in search for tennis shoes (for someone else) and ended up at the second largest shopping center in Europe. It was huge! I'm pretty sure it gave the Mall of America a run for its money.

Tuesday we went to Brick Lane. For class, we read a novel titled Brick Lane that was centered around the Bangladeshi community that lived on Brick Lane in East London. It is an interesting part of town because it was the place immigrant communities settled and then eventually moved out of in phases. There is a building on the corner of the main streets that has been a church, a synagogue, and is now a mosque. The only other place in the world where this may be found is Jerusalem. It was very interesting. Currently, it is becoming more hip and trendy and more expensive to live there. The Spitalfields Market is there and we did some shopping and had lunch before returning to the central city.

Wednesday was a full day of classes with not a lot of time for exploring. We had dinner at a pub off Piccadilly Circus and I am scrutinized even more here in regards to my age than at home! You must be over 18 to even eat dinner in the pub in the evening and the waiter told me I had to leave at first! Until I showed him my ID and he apologized.

Thursday started with class, then we took the train up north to Salisbury, a town best known for its Medieval cathedral, finished around 1250, the Salisbury Cathedral. The architecture and stained glass was incredible.

Friday morning at 4:00 AM we took a coach bus to Stonehenge to be there before the public and to have special access to actually go in the middle of the stones. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy morning so we missed seeing the sun rise but it was still amazing. The rocks are giant and have a weird magnetic force linked to them. I didn't get to enjoy the experience as much as I hoped due to a horrible bout of car sickness from the European bus driver.

Once I recovered we took the train to Bath Spa, where the ancient Roman Baths were found under the city. They were a spot of healing and worship for the Romans and were preserved remarkably well. The water was steaming and you could smell the sulfur.

Here are some pictures from the past week!