london, part 2

london has really amazing museums. later in the week, we went to the national gallery, tate britain, tate modern, apsley house, and courtauld gallery. they were all really great. i especially loved the national gallery, which didn't allow photography, but has works in their collection like the arnolfini marriage, the ambassadors, and lots of j.m.w. turner. this scene from skyfall was filmed there.

we also got to take a day trip to some sites outside of london. we went to stonehenge, stourhead gardens, and the salisbury cathedral. to be honest, we were a little underwhelmed by stonehenge, but i'm still glad we got to see it. stourhead gardens, however, was incredible. you probably recognize that bridge and that temple in the photos above from the new version of pride and prejudice with keira knightley. the best scene in that movie was filmed there, which made visiting all the more fun. we loved walking around and exploring the gardens, and we didn't want to leave.

back in london, there were lots of other fun things we did during our free time. one of the greatest things about study abroad was that our directors would just get us an unlimited metro pass in every city and in our free time we could get anywhere we wanted to go. i really loved riding the tube in london. we went to kings cross station to visit platform 9 and 3/4. we went to abbey road, which is hilariously funny because people are constantly running across trying to take pictures without getting run over. one of the coolest things i did was go see the tempest at shakespeare's globe theatre. i wanted to get the genuine experience, so i stood the entire time which was neat because you could get right up to the edge of the stage. the actors were phenomenal and i am so glad i went. i loved london so much! there were so many things to do all the time, it was easy and fun to get around, and it had the feel of a modern city while still having so much history. i really want to spend some more time there. anyway, i have one more post about study abroad, but i'm kind of sad to wrap it all up. i've really enjoyed going through all my photos and thinking back on all my experiences. europe, i love you. now please excuse me while i go watch pride and prejudice...

london, part 1

the last week of our study abroad was spent in london, and it was probably my favorite. i fell in love with the city right away. there was so much to do and we ended up having lots of free time to see the sights and explore. on our first day we walked around and saw one major landmark after another: the london eye, big ben and the houses of parliament, westminster abbey, buckingham palace, and more. it was pretty amazing. in our free time we went shopping on oxford street and at covent garden, ate as many ben's cookies as possible, and saw some shows on the west end. i saw wicked and singin' in the rain, and both were wonderful. as for the food, i can't say i was a big fan of fish and chips, but london has really great ethnic food and i had japanese, indian, and thai that were fantastic.

as a group we visited the british museum, which is home to some pretty incredible stuff, like the rosetta stone and the elgin marbles from the parthenon. we also visited some smaller private collections, like the wallace, that were really neat and had a couple of artworks that are very well-known. i loved getting to visit both large, major museums and small, private collections because they are totally different experiences.

another highlight of our time in london was definitely when my friends and i had tea at the orangery at kensington palace. kensington palace is where victoria and albert lived and it's located within beautiful gardens right next to hyde park. we felt so fancy having tea there; it was really fun and memorable. i love how in europe there are palaces everywhere. it makes me wish we had some in america! one of the coolest things when we were sightseeing was that there were all these ladies in sundresses and fancy hats lined up outside of buckingham palace and when we asked them what they were there for, they said they were waiting to go into the queen's garden party. no big deal! it's my new life goal to get invited to one of those. anyway, i took way too many photos to fit into one post, so more on london to come!

paris, part 3

on our last day in paris, we took a train to versailles and spent the day exploring on our own. it was definitely one of my favorite days of the entire study abroad. versailles was so huge and ornate and extravagant that it's hard to come up with sufficient adjectives to describe it! we started out by walking through the palace and we obviously had to take the ultimate mirror pic in the hall of mirrors. that incredibly beautiful and ostentatious bed pictured above belonged to marie antoinette, of course. one of the reasons i loved visiting versailles is that i am so fascinated by marie antoinette and her life. i really love sofia copolla's film. i love how much it humanizes marie antoinette and shows the reality of life at versailles, and i love that it was really filmed there. it's a beautiful movie, if you haven't seen it. i also want to read the biography on which it was based, and this book that my professor recommended.

after we saw the rest of the palace, we headed outside to explore the gardens and the rest of the buildings and grounds. one of the best things about versailles is that you can rent a boat to row around the canal or bikes to ride around the grounds. we rented bikes and had so much fun riding them around. we rode to the petit trianon, which was marie antoinette's personal palace, and then we rode to her hamlet, which is an idealized french village that she would visit to escape from the responsibilities of court life. the hamlet was unreal. it was so beautiful and picturesque. there was a field where all these animals, from peacocks to pigs, were frolicking together and every little cottage and garden was picture perfect. it's pretty incredible to think that it was supposed to represent real french villages, which i'm sure looked nothing like these perfect, pretty cottages. we learned that they used to groom and perfume the animals before marie antoinette would arrive, and they would lead them around on lace leashes. that's pretty unlike any farm i've ever visited!

versailles was amazing and so much fun to see. afterwards, we headed back to paris to spend our very last night there. we were so sad to leave. paris, je t'aime! i want to come back so soon!