My final post

Well, this brings me to an end of posting about my trip. The journey home was just your average flight and adjustment to the time difference. I loved the trip, and can't wait until I have the chance to go back to Europe for another one. However, I am very happy to be home. I love the weather here (hooray for sunshine!), the people that I missed so much, and the familiarity of home. It's been so much fun to share my journey with all of you. I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Thanks for taking the time to read my blogs and look at my photos! :)

Liverpool

Our last stop on the trip was to visit Liverpool, England, to see where the Beatles originated. We took a bus tour titled "The Magical Mystery Tour." The bus drove us around and showed us the houses where each of the band members grew up, special places mentioned in their songs (such as Penny Lane and Strawberry Field), and other significant buildings in their lives. We also went to The Cavern Club, which is the pub where the Beatles played over 200 times throughout their career, so they were there before and during their journey to fame. There were Beatles themed shops, signs, statues, and memoirs everywhere. I'm sure those who live there get quite annoyed with it all, but it was very interesting for us tourists.

The city of Liverpool was not that interesting. It's mostly an industrial city that's known for its crime. Apparently it's been cleaned up in the past few years and isn't dangerous anymore, but it still holds a stigma that most English avoid. The Beatles definitely created quite an income for the city from tourism though.

If you're a Beatles fan and want to see photos from Liverpool, here they are: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2199316&id=30308465&l=1885bb9931

Scotland

After we traveled through southern England, my family went up to stay in Scotland for a few days. We stayed mostly in Edingburgh, which is one of the neatest cities I've been to. It's surrounded by the gorgeous Scottish mountains, has tons of character and old buildings, and is filled with history and things to do. We spent a lot of time walking around, took a guided walking tour of the city, went into Edinburgh Castle, tried out a few of the pubs and restaurants, enjoyed listening to the bagpipers everywhere, and did some shopping. There was still so much of the city that we didn't get to discover because of its size and the amazing amount of things to do while there. Some of the highlights were having tea at the same place where J.K. Rowling wrote the first few chapters of Harry Potter on napkins (back when she was poor), the walking tour of the old sights and hidden places of the city (and hearing many interesting stories about the history there), visiting the castle (which actually was used in battle many times), and just exploring the city.

One day while in Scotland, we decided to take a day bus trip to the Highlands. We went through Glascow and a few small towns on our way. We also stopped and took a boat tour on Loch Lomond, which is the lake that the famous song names. The mountains around Loch Lomond are breathtaking. We stopped in Aberfoyle, which was a very tiny town that is apparently known for its wool. They had a sheep herding demonstration when we arrived, only they showed it to us using mallard ducks. The Border Collie ran around after about 6 dugs and herded them through tunnels and over a bridge when commanded to do so. It was very interesting. We then drove through a scenic national park with absolutely beautiful views. It's hard to describe how amazing it was. The mountains are so green, the mist from the clouds gently hangs over the mountains, and there are rivers, valleys, and cattle spread throughout the mountains to finish off the view. I took many pictures of it, so you can have a sample of what it was like. We ended the trip at Stirling, which is a history town with a castle. We didn't go into Stirling Castle, but looked at the outside of it. The William Wallace (the guy from Braveheart) monument can be seen from Stirling Castle, so there are photos of that. We walked around Stirling a little and looked at the Church of the Holy Rude, which is where Mary Queen of Scots' son was coronated as an infant (after she was exiled for her Catholic faith). There were other neat historic buildings in the town as well. The day trip was totally worth it, and definitely an adventure!

For pictures of Edinburgh (and more stories to go with the photos): http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2197088&id=30308465&l=0fe2b4bae3

For pictures from the day trip to the Highlands: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2197120&id=30308465&l=6a74fb0cab

Bath, England and Cardiff, Wales

I went with my family to Bath, England to see the Roman Baths that are there. Hot springs naturally flow here, so the Romans (dating back to B.C.) travelled here and built stone buildings around them. They used this as a vacation place and as a sacred place to sacrifice and worship their pagan gods. This means it's one of the oldest buildings in England. The hot springs still come to the surface here, and you can feel the heat over the pools. It was interesting to walk through the ruins of the building and see the baths. The Bath Abbey was right outside the Roman Baths, so we also looked inside. It was a beautiful old church. Then we walked around the town of Bath, and saw many of the old stone buildings. Jane Austen also lived in Bath for a few years, so there's a Jane Austen Center there that we went into.

Then we took a train to Cardiff, Wales. We went to Cardiff Castle, which was right in the city. The castle mostly was a place where rich people lived in history. There were castle walls, a large open space in the center, a keep in the center, and the Victorian House, which is where the rich lived. The castle never really saw battle, but still has lots of history involved. More information about the castle is in the captions of my photos.

For pictures of this trip, click here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2196847&id=30308465&l=aae08e831b

Windsor Castle and Stonehenge

My family and I traveled to Windsor Castle, which is where the queen resides most weekends. She was actually there while we were there, but we didn't see her. It was a neat castle with a ton of history (as most things are in Europe, of course). King Henry VIII is buried there in the St. George's chapel, and the gardens are beautiful.

Then we went to Salisbury, which is the town near Stonehenge. We went to the Salisbury Cathedral, which was a beautiful, huge Cathedral. It has the highest spire in England. It also holds one of the only 4 remaining versions of the Magna Carta, and it's the best version that's still readable (if you can read Latin, that is). We walked around the town a little, which is really cute.

Then we took a bus out to Stonehenge. The land around Stonehenge is a national park, so there's nothing really around it. There were many burial mounds where they have excavated many objects that tell them about the area. There also are large trenches dug for miles around Stonehenge, which they believe date back earlier than the stone formations. The trenches could have been paths which the people walked on to get from the River Avon to Stonehenge. They don't really know what Stonehenge was used for, but there are many beliefs that it was a holy place of some sort, or a space to bury their loved ones.

For photos of these places, look here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2196927&id=30308465&l=4c572f439d

The first weekend with my family

In the first weekend, my family arrived and we finished packing up my things and toured several places. They came to see me in Brighton, and I showed them around. Dad was happy to be near the sea, Mom and Erin enjoyed the shopping. It was fun to feel like I was somewhat of a local and show them how to use the buses and where to shop. Then we went back to campus, where I showed my family my dorm room and finished packing. Then we left and traveled to London where our hotel room was.

In London, we went to see the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace, toured the Tower of London, went into St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, went to Abbey Road and found some Beatles shops, and did lots of souvenir shopping. We also walked around and just looked at the sights in London, since there are so many amazing things to see!

We then went to Stratford-Upon-Avon and Warwick Castle. I had been to both of these places earlier in my trip, so I was able to show my family around them and see some new things that I didn't get to see before. In Warwick Castle, the new things I was able to see were the birds of prey show and place where they keep the birds, the peacock garden, the mill and sections around the outside of the castle, and was able to walk around the grounds more. In Stratford, I showed my family how to get to Shakespeare's birthplace. We went inside and toured the Shakespeare center and the house, which was new for me. Then we walked through the town and found a few more houses related to Shakespeare (such as his daughter's house after she married her husband and Shakespeare's neighbor's house). Then we walked to Holy Trinity, the church where Shakespeare is buried. Unfortunately, there was a special service going on, so we didn't get to go inside. We then walked around the town a little more to see the sights and to get some dinner.

To see photos of this first weekend, click on this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2196832&id=30308465&l=6dc08dff6d

Home in Michigan again

My family and I arrived safely back in Michigan last Tuesday. After adjusting to the time change, catching up on sleep, and unpacking, we're all finally starting to get back on track at home. I have been working on uploading all of my pictures from our last week in the UK to the computer, and have finally finished! I'll write a few posts on what we did in each place and post the pictures for you to see.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support while I was in Europe. I hope you all were able to learn something new and enjoy the photos that I posted for you all during my trip, since those were my goals in sharing them with you.