and we're home

Tuesday was our free day, which us girls spent in London seeing the sites. We all had an incredible time in the city.

Wednesday morning, Steph gave us a tour of Salisbury Cathedral, which has the largest spire in England and second largest in Europe. After, we had a free afternoon to do final shopping. We had a meal together in Bath before taking a 7:30 train that night. We finally made it to the airport in Manchester a little past midnight, where we slept on chairs in the airport until 4 a.m.

We were all so thankful to check our big packs so we finally didn't have to carry them around! We had a short flight to Amsterdam, then Stephanie flew straight to Minneapolis while the rest of us went to Detroit and then to Cedar Rapids, finally arriving in Iowa about 4 p.m. Thursday. We were all so thankful to be on the ground again!

I hope you've enjoyed the blog, Steph and I have enjoyed updating you on our adventures in England and Wales. Thanks for reading!

Emily

Adventures in Bath

On Sunday, we took a bus to the middle of Bath and then went into the Roman Baths. There was a museum first to learn about the history of the Romans, and then we got to see the actual baths. It consisted of one large pool and many other smaller pools of varying temperatures. Also, there was a temple to a Sun god. The baths were built by the Romans thousands of years ago and were used to bathe, swim and relax in. Next, we went shopping a little bit around Bath and then met again to head off to Wells.
We took a bus to Wells Cathedral which is famous for having a very large front of the cathedral. A choir was singing in the cathedral while we were there, and I was so amazed at how beautiful it sounded. The cathedral also had scissor arches in the middle to help hold up the central tower, something we have never seen before. The chapter house in Wells was also pretty cool in that it was on the second floor rather than the first. We then took a bus bath to Bath and decided to eat right away as a group. We went to Jamie's Italian Restaurant, where everyone had a fulfilling meal, dessert included. Then it was back to the hostel to pack our bags to travel to our final hostel, the YMCA in Bath.

Today, we ate breakfast and then took the bus downtown Bath with our packs. We walked up to the YMCA, which I promise is nothing like YMCA's at home. It is pretty much a residential building along with a restaurant attached and a lounge with a huge TV! It is located right in the middle of the city, so it has much better access to shopping. After dropping our bags at the hostel, we went back into Bath for some more shopping. Then we took a train to Winchester. Once there, Cassie gave us a tour of Winchester Cathedral both inside and out. She did a great job. Winchester was really large; it has the largest nave in Europe. It is very famous for having a gravestone and monument for Jane Austen. We finally got to go to the second story of a cathedral too. This cathedral had some very old illustrated manuscripts of the Bible. We also walked by the house where Jane Austen lived her last days, very close to the Cathedral. Then we went to the Winchester Bishop's Palace and headed back to the rail station for Bath. Once in Bath, some of us went out for pizza at Domino's, yes they have Domino's here. All of us are headed to London tomorrow on early trains, mine leaves at 6:13 am, so it's early to bed for me.

--Stephanie

Off to Bath

On Friday, we left the Tudor House and took a train to Hereford. Dana gave us a tour of Hereford Cathedral, which has a copy of the Magna Carta and the Mappa Mundi (an old map of their view of the world with Jerusalem in the center).

Then we rode the train to Bath. We dropped off our bags at the rooms of 3 and Dr. Lindgren had her own. We went for tea at the Jane Austen Centre tearoom. We had tea, scones, cheese and cucumber finger sandwiches, and cake. We spent a while wandering the city center before going back to the hostel for the night.


On Saturday, we met a minibus downtown that took us and several others (all happened to be American tourists) to several sites near Bath. Chris, our tour guide and driver, told us alot of interesting things along the way.

Our first stop was Stonehenge, where we had audio tours and our finger froze trying to hold them to our ears. Stonehenge's purpose is unknow, but could be a calendar or a place for worship.

Next, we visited Avebury Henge, somewhat similar to Stonehenge only with two circles of stones that cover alot more land than Stonehenge. This is believed to be a place for worship.

Next was the village a Lacock. We visited Lacock Abbey, where the first photo was taken. It's also where many scenes for the Harry Potter movies have been filmed. Chris walked us around the town, where we saw the house used as Harry Potter's parents' home. Pride and Prejudice and the Other Boleyn Girl have scenes filmed on the main street.

Our final stop was Castle Comb, a tiny village dubbed the most beautiful city in England a few years ago. We looked at the church and the stream where scenes of the first Dr. Doolittle were filmed.

While driving, we also saw three white horses, which are drawn onto the side of hills. They were used to mark a town so travgelers could go towards them. We also saw several thatched roofs along the way.

Steph will update you on our past few days. Thanks for reading,

Emily

Final Days in Shrewsbury

Today we had homemade hot breakfast cooked for us by the hotel owner. Then we walked to the train station and took a train to Ludlow Castle. I gave a tour of this castle, my first tour! The castle was in ruins, and of us were scared by all the pigeons that now seem to inhabit the castle and its starwells. I'm sure you will hear stories. We had a lot of extra time before the next bus came to pick us up, so we went to our first English traditional tea house. Many of us had some really good desserts, like chocolate sponge cake and caramel shortbread.
Next we came back to Shrewsbury via train and headed to Attingham Park. This was the estate and mansion house of the Lord and Lady Berwick built in 1785. Many of the rooms were furnished with the original decorations and furniture. It gave us an idea of how really wealthy people lived.
Tonight, we have to pack up our bags and get ready to head to our final destination tomorrow, Bath. This includes a 5 hour train ride to Bath with a stop at Hereford Cathedral where Dana will give us a tour.
It has been quite a few days in a row now without rain, thankfully!
--Stephanie

trains, buses, and lots of walking

On Tuesday we ended up in Shrewsbury after a pit stop at Kidwelly Castle. The train ride from Kidwelly to Shrewsbury was 4 hours, but after 2 we had to get off because a train had broken down on a one-lane track ahead. So they put us all on a charter bus and we spent a little over 2 hours riding through the narrow streets before finally getting here. We're staying at a cute old Tudor House where the ceilings are super low, the doorway to Steph and my room isn't much over 5 feet tall. We're enjoying our final stay in a nice bed and breakfast before we move to hostels in Bath.

Yesterday, we had some free time in the morning and then took a 45 min. train Chester where I gave a tour of Chester Cathedral. After we got back from Chester, we walked around town and ate, caught up on our journals, and relaxed.

Last Day in Tenby

Last night, the owners of our hotel cooked us a fabulous meal, the Shepherd's Pie and Fruit Crumble with homemade ice cream. All of us really enjoyed the large servings and finally having a homecooked meal. Not to mention, everything tasted outstanding!

This morning, we were given a free morning to do whatever we wanted. Most of us went to the library to catch up on some internet. Then afterwards, we met Dr. Lindgren at the Tenby Tudor Merchant House which showed how a family used to live in Tenby. She delivered bad news, that the boats to Caldey Island weren't running today because it was too windy. So, that gave us a free rest of the day. Instead of going to Caldey Island, we went up to the remains of a castle in Tenby and looked at the ruins. We also went to the Tenby Museum which gave us a very thorough history of Tenby and displayed some art from the past. The rest of the day will be spent relaxing on the beach, catching up on our reading for the class, and shopping downtown. Tonight we are all meeting for pizza in downtown Tenby and then packing our bags to leave tomorrow.

Tomorrow, we are going to make a stop at Kidwelly Castle on the way to Shrewsbury, our next destination.

Hopefully everyone enjoys the pictures Emily posted!

--Stephanie

Photos from Wales

Here's some photos from our past week in Wales. We've seen tons of Welsh castles and have finally had some sunshine and warmer temperatures, although the wind has been insane. Hope you enjoy these photos, more to come next week hopefully.

--Emily

This is me in front of Harlech Castle, which I gave a tour of.

Here's Sarah giving us a tour of Caernarfon Castle.

Yesterday, Dana gave us a tour of Pembroke Castle, which had tons of towers to climb and even a huge cavern to explore.

Yesterday afternoon, we had some free time to relax on the beach and enjoy the beautiful, wind-free weather. At least we've had warm weather while we are near the beach!

Sunshine and more Castles

This morning we woke up and again had breakfast served to us with whatever food and drink we wanted. Then our personal chauffeur (the owner of the hotel) drove us to an old celtic cross. Then we went to Pembroke Castle where Dana gave us it's great history which included multiple attacks by the Welsh. The castle was bordered by a river and offered many more towers to climb along with a staircase into the cavern, which was fun to explore. Then we went to Lamphey Bishop's Palace where the Welsh bishops went during the summer to live. Next up was the Manorbier Castle where Gerald of Wales was born. (We are reading his book while we are here.) When we got back to Tenby, we spent alot of time on the beach since this was the warmest and sunniest day we've had yet. Tonight, the owners of the hotel have offered to cook us a special meal: Shepherd's Pie (a meat and potato dish native to Britain) and Fruit Crumble with ice cream made in Pembroke. We certainly are being spoiled here.
Tomorrow, we will spend our day in Tenby and hopefully take a boat to Caldey Island.

--Stephanie and Emily

White beaches

Yeserday we woke up super early and hauled our packs to the bus station in Caernarfon, then we went to the rail station in Bangor. From there, we spent about 7 hours on 3 different trains, traveling to southern Wales. We finally arrived in Tenby and walked to the Southcliff Hotel, a gorgeous hotel a block from the white, sandy beach. Four of us are sharing a family suite with our own bathroom, the other 2 girls have a room with a bathroom and Dr. Lindgren has her very own room. The hotel is four stories and we all have flat screen TVs. We're here four nights and are being spoiled. This morning we were served a huge breakfast, whatever we wanted and as much as we wanted. The hotel owner cooks all the food and the owners have borrowed a van from their church to drive us around in. They've volunteered to drive us to our destinations the next few days, cutting our travel time in half compared with taking buses and trains. Last night, we all had fish and chips at a local restaurant.

Today, we went to Saint David's Cathedral, Bishop's Palace and St. Non's Chapel, all courtesy of our gracious driver. He's allowing us to use the hotel's computer to write this blog, which they've been reading since we arrived in England. Tonight, we walked on the beach and found a few seashells. It was nice to relax and feel the sand between our toes.

Emily and Stephanie

Castles and more castles

Yesterday (Tuesday) we rode the buses and trains to Harlech, where I gave the group my tour of Harlech Castle, built right on the water. We looked around the castle and then took an old steam engine train up the mountains of Snowdonia National Park, a huge mountain range right behind the castle. It was really foggy, which made it hard to see much, but we still enjoyed the ride. After we got back to the hostel, the six of us girls made frozen pizzas and garlic bread.

Mishaps, but still a great day

Today we caught a bus to Conwy to check out Conwy Castle. We got there before the castle was open, so we walked around on the castle walls for a while and checked out the town.
The castle is located in a bay-like area and so it offered a beautiful view of the city. It was one of the most intact castles we have seen so far. There were many towers for us to climb and look down onto the city below.
Next, we went to the Aberconwy House, the oldest building in Conwy which dates back to the 1300s. It had many things present in it from that time period and had some pretty slanted floors.
Next we took a bus hoping to go to Beaumaris Casle on the island of Anglesey, but never made it there. This is because an older man tripped when entering the bus and fell onto the floor. People on the bus had to call an ambulance and we had to wait awhile before we could leave again. Needless to say, we missed our connecting train to the next city for Beaumaris. The older guy was able to get up, and through the whole thing, we never saw an ambulance. Sarah was a good Samaritan and offered up her tissues to the gentleman because he had a cut on his face. What an experience!
Instead, we took the bus back to Caernarvon and went to the castle where Sarah gave us a tour. The castle is shaped like a figure 8 and sits near the edge of the city by the water. It was a beautiful view, again if you were brave enough to climb up to the top of one of the 8 towers. You could see over most of the city and out into the water some.
Tonight we are going to get some food from the grocery store and then explore Caernarvon some more before we have to leave tomorrow for South Wales. We have to take a 7 hour train ride to make it down to Tenby.
--Stephanie
PS. Count this as the second nice day we have had so far. NO rain at all. :)

Rain, rain go away...

On Saturday the 2nd, we went to the Roman Army Museum. Since the buses don't run very often, we were stuck there for several hours. We had our packs with use since we had left Newcastle that morning, but we were lucky that the museum let us leave our packs in the corner of their cafe. After the museum, we walked to the top of a hill where the most well-preserved part of Hadrian's Wall is. I just put up a photo of us at the top. Then we took the bus to Lancerost Priory, which is still a church today!We checked in at Once Brewed, a hostel in the middle of nowhere, the only building around was Twice Brewed Pub.

On Sunday, we walked to Vindolanda, the site of a Roman fort. They've found letters and documents and even a birthday invite there! After that, we took a bus a little ways to Housesteads, another Roman fort built along Hadrian's Wall. There wasn't another bus for 2 hours, so the 6 of us girls decided to walk the 2.5 miles back to the hostel instead of waiting. What we found out is that the path follows the wall, which was built along the biggest hills and cliffs around. Therefore, we spent 1 hour 23 minutes walking back. At least it didn't rain too much on us. We even took the easy paths, although Cassady and Sarah did brave one hill. We made it back to our beds for a nap just when the hail started and before Dr. Lindgren even got on the bus!

On Monday, we went to Chester's Roman Fort and Museum, then took a bus to Hexham Abbey. Before we went back to the hostel, we bought pizza ingredients and made a delicious cheese pizza that night. We also sampled the Once Brewed lauger, made down the road.

Tuesday (today) we spent the majority of our day on trains and buses, heading to Wales. We stopped at Flint castle along the way. We just settled into our hostel, and we can see the water from our window!

More blogging to come,

Emily Schmitt

Photos of our journey

This is Leah giving her tour of Fountains Abbey, the first cathedral we visited.

his is Clifford's Tower.

Here's some of us learning how flying buttresses work at York Minster.

Here's the six of us in front of the most well-preserved portion of Hadrian's Wall, a 73 mile long wall built to keep the Scotts out of England.

And here's us waiting for the bus, which happened alot while we were staying near Hadrian's Wall, which seems to be in teh middle of

nowhere.

Fun Times in York

We apologize for the long time in between the blogs. We were able to get internet access at Hadrian's Wall, but they had many firewalls which didn't allow us to get to the blogging website. Emily and I will try to catch you up on our adventures of the past couple days. Again, we are very sorry it has taken so long.
4-30-09
We ate breakfast early and then rode our own private bus to Mount Grace Priory. It was a Carthusian Abbey where each monk who lived there had their own private quarters complete with a bedroom, study, living room, garden and corridor. At Mount Grace, we even saw early examples of a drainage system complete with latrines. Exciting! Most of the priory was in ruins, but it was our first example of a Carthusian Abbey.
Next we got back on the bus and went to Rievaulx Abbey. En route, we ate our packed lunch from the hostel. Once at Rievaulx Abbey, where Sarah gave us a wonderful tour of this quite well preserved Cistercian Abbey. There were many buildings still standing, most obviously and predominantly the chapel area.
Next we boarded the bus again and went to Helmsley castle. This castle sat high on a hill with a "moat" surrounding it and then another ditch to ward off intruders. Not very many of the buildings remained, but it was still a pretty neat site complete with an extensive garden. The main tower and west tower still remained along with the guest houses and gardens. Here though sadly, it started raining and became really windy, so we quickly left back to the bus.
Next we went to Pickering Castle, which I thought had the least amount of surviving material thus far. Only some of the outer wall along with one or two towers was left. It was still raining and becoming more windy, which made this castle even more dreary.
We then boarded the bus back to York where some of us went to a pub and other bought dinner at a local grocery store.
We then played some cards and completely packed up our bags because we would be moving out of York completely the next day.
5-1-09
We ate breakfast early at 7:30 and then finished our last minute packing and got ready to travel all day with our packs. We completely moved out of the York hostel and then walked along the river back to the railway station. We made it to the train station and took a train to Newcastle. Once in Newcastle, we got on the subway to get closer to the hostel. The people at the hostel were very kind and let us leave our packs at the hostel so we didn't have to travel all day with them. Then we made our way towards Durham where we visited Durham Cathedral and Cassady gave us a tour of this awesome building. Durham Cathedral sits atop a hill overlooking the city and a river. We also went into the basement of the cathedral where there were many artifacts of the Roman period. We walked back to the Metro station to Durham and took the Metro quite a ways to the coast and visited Tynemouth Priory. It was a Benedictine Abbey that was on the coast. Here it was very windy, rainy and cold, so we tried to make our way through quickly. There were alot of graves present at this Abbey and a wall surrounded the priory. Most of this abbey and castles were in ruins as well.
Then we took the metro back to Newcastle and walked around for a while to find food and eventually ate at a fast food chicken restaurant that turned out to be really good. We took the metro back to our hostel and played some cards again. Some of us met Irish folk at the hostel and were able to hang out with them a bit before bedtime. Again, we had to pack because we were leaving the next morning for Hadrian's wall.
--Stephanie

A sunny day in England... finally

Yesterday we arose bright and early and had our first English breakfast in the hostel, which was very similar to the American breakfast with a couple substitutions. Then we took a private bus ride to Fountains Abbey where Leah gave the rest of us a splendid tour. Fountains Abbey is an old church with no roof that monks would stay and study at. We came back to the hostel for a short time and purchased our tickets for the Jorvik Viking center which we went to later on in the day. Next we went a bank in downtown York because all of us were in need of cash from an ATM. After that, we had our first experience in an English pub. Many of us ordered burgers and didn't recieve the vegetables on top of the burger, but we survived. Next, we made our way to the Jorcik Viking Center which gave us a short history of what the area around York used to be like and displayed many artifacts found in and around this area. We took a short walk to a Merchant's House in downtown York. Next we went to Clifford's Tower which was a tower that used to be part of a castle. The tower was on top of a hill and we could see much of the city from that height. It was beautiful. Then we were released on our own into York and many of decided to go to a local grocery store and purchase items for a spaghetti dinner.

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Today: Cassidy, Emily and I woke up early and came into York hoping to go to an internet cafe, but not being able to find one that was open. So we got to do a little shopping and more exploring of the city on our own. Then we were given a tour of York Minister, which is by far my favorite cathedral thus far. All of us students climbed to the top of the central tower and were rewarded with a fantastic view of the city, this time much much higher than Clifford's tower as previously mentioned. We were released for lunch where we broke off into groups to get whatever sort of food we wanted. We went to another historical building in York only to find that it was already closed for the day, so we went to the Yorkshire Museum. This gave us an idea of how York came to be what is it today. Later on tonight we are going to a service at the cathedral and then possibly a haunted ghost tour of York.

As Emily said, it is very nice today in York and is finally finally not raining, something which all of us are very thankful for. There is no need to walk around with our raincoats and umbrellas anymore, and no more avoiding puddles.

I hope all is well back in the states, and I know all of us are having an amazing trip thus far. We will try to keep you posted over the next couple of days, but I am unsure of how much internet access we will have in Northern England. Internet is expensive here, so we try to get everything done really fast, so I apologize for spelling mistakes and other errors.

--Stephanie

Day 2-3

Mom, you think it's weird that \i don't use the top sheet, but that's normal in Europe :) We all learned what duvets and duvet covers were when we made our beds the other night.

Yesterday, we spent time at Fountains ABbey and \leah was our tour guide. We wished we could have been there longer, but we got great photos!
#
We expereienced our first pub meal, then went to a museum that described medieval life of the townspeopel in \yorkk, they even tried to reproduce the smell of the time.

Later, we climbed Clifford's Tower, which sits on a hill in the city. There was an amazing view!

Last night, some of us made spaghetti at the hostel, which has a well-furbished kitchen and we have left-overs to fee dus tonight.

This morning, we toured York Minster, an amazing cathedral in the middle of the city. Us students climbed the 275 steps to the top of its tower (which was actually meant to be 2-3 times taller wehn it was first planned). We were proud we made it to the top, but there was an elderly lady at the top as well so we figured she should be alot more proud than we are. Tonight we are going to a service at the cathedral and I think most of us are planning to go on a walking Ghost Hunt tour through the city.

Tomorrow, off to Riveaux Abbey for the day!

Hoping we're actually losing weight from so much walking,#

Emily
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p.s. The sun is shining today, about 60 degreed F. We're all grateful for no umbrellas. It's much easier to hold my camera without one.

Greeted by Rain

4151 miles and 7.5 hours later, I finally got off the longest flight of my life. And the worst thought was that we flew from Minneapolis to Amsterdam, straight over England and then had to wait in the airport 3 hours before the hour flight back to England. We landed in Manchester around 11 a.m. Since we skipped over night, it was a long rest of the day. We took a train 1.75 hours to York, then prepared for the rain. Donning rainjackets, we put raincovers over our packs and umbrellas over our head and walked about 25 minutes to teh hostel. I think we all wondered what we could have left at home to make our packs weight less.

After dropping off our bags, we got a 2 hour walking tour of York-in the rain for the most part. York was once completely surrounded by a stone wall that still exists in many places so we got to walk along the wall and learn about the incredible history of the city. We are all exhausted and getting ready for bed. We look forward to tomorrw's adventure.

Hoping for sunshine and energy,
Emily

Offload Your Baggage

We have arrived safely in England today. Our trip started with (at least for me) a check-in to Mineapolis and then a 7.5 hour flight to Amsterdam that seemed to take forever. Everyone tried to sleep on the plane, but you can only sleep so long until you just have to do something else. We each had our own individual TV screens on the front of our seats so you could select your own movies or music to listen to for the duration of the flight. After arriving at our gate to fly to Manchester, we had to wait for 4 more hours until the plane started boarding. By this time, all of us were so exhausted from the time difference that we tried our best to snuggle up somehwere comfortably in the airport and sleep. After landing in Manchester we all easily cleared customs and then proceeded to the train station to take our train to York. That train ride lasted about an hour and 45 mins, and again, many of us were so exhausted that this time was spent sleeping. We arrived in York and had to walk about a mile alongside the river to our hostel. We checked in and unpacked a little bit before trekking out again to downtown York where our tour guide would meet us. When we arrived in Manchester, it was raining and also was the case is York. All of us got to test out our raingear for our bags and ourselves to make sure nothing would get wet. We got to take a walking tour through York with our tourguide as a local resident. We viewed things like the old wall surrouding the city, the smallest window in York and also the shortest street in York among many other things. Then we stopped at an Italian place to eat and all of us were so tired that we hurried back to the hostel and are going to bed after being up for 35 hours.

--Stephanie
PS The title refers to the message we heard over the intercom in the Amsterdam airport threatening those that were late to the flights to have their baggage offloaded. Dana requested that I make this the title.

5 days

Only 5 more days until we leave, and I am getting really excited. I started unpacking all of my college stuff and then started repacking everything for England. I tried to decide which things are absolutely necessary to bring , and which things that I can leave behind. It is surprising how much stuff you can fit into that backpack. It's hard to imagine that in 5 short days, I'll be living out of that small bag. Regardless, I'm so excited to go "across the pond" to spend my May Term in England.
I hope everyone enjoys reading, and get ready for some more from our exciting journey soon.

--Stephanie

Five days and counting

I think I finally have everything I plan to bring to England! I just bought a book to read on the plane, trains, buses, wherever. I've been piling things up in a corner of my room all week and I'll be packing my bag in a few days, which shouldn't be too difficult since we practiced packing during class a month ago. I'm going to try to pack less this time, and I'm wondering how much Cassady's bag will actually weigh...her bag weighed a lot less than the rest of ours when we did the trial run.

Praying for little rain,

Emily