Norwich

Hey y'all!

The weekend after Paris I took another big trip, this time to Norwich to visit my dad's cousin, Richard. I'd met Richard once before, when he came to visit my family in Texas, but I hadn't seen him since then so I was looking forward to visiting him again and seeing more of England!

I took a train up to Norwich on a Saturday morning and transferred trains to meet Richard in the little village where he lives. After chatting with Richard a little, I decided to take the bus into Wymondham (pronounced "wind-um") to explore a little bit before going to vigil mass at the local Catholic church. The main attraction in Wymondham is Wymondham Abbey. Although it wasn't open when I visited, it was very beautiful, especially since the sun was setting when I visited. While in Wymondham I also popped into a few charity shops and grabbed dinner. While exporing I also came across a pub called "The Green Dragon", just like in Lord of the Rings! 

Wymondham Abbey

The next day Richard took me on a driving tour of the local area where we stopped in a few villages to look around. They were also so small and pretty!

Beautiful fall colors

Richard and me

In the afternoon I took a bus into Norwich to see the city. The first place I visited was Norwich Cathedral, which was stunning. Next I visited Norwich Castle, which looks like a huge grey cube. It's on top of a hill, though, so it actually looks very impressive! I imagine that when it was first built it must have seemed enormous and intimidating. When I first got to the castle I was feeling a bit peckish (British slang for hungry), so I had a cream tea at the cafe, which was delicious. The castle itself isn't very big, but there are several history exhibits and art exhibits. One of the exhibits was a teapot collection! The whole museum was very child friendly, and there were lots of families there. Someday maybe I'll bring my kids to Norwich Castle! 

Norwich Cathedral

Norwich Castle

After visiting the castle it was starting to get dark, so I headed to the busier parts of the city, walking through the famous cobblestone road, Elm Hill. Everything was closed, but it was still very pretty! Once I got to a bigger shopping area I stopped at a Cath Kidston (the British equivalent of Vera Bradley) right before it closed. There was a super cute bag on clearance, so I bought it and have been using it since! 

The famous Bear Shop at Elm Hill

The last sight of Norwich I wanted to see was the Catholic Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, so I walked across town and popped in quickly. It's a relatively new church, but it's massive and beautiful, too. Since it was dark by this time, I walked through a park back to the city center to find a bus stop. Along the way I passed some of the original city walls, which I hadn't been looking for but was happy to see!

Catholic Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

Remains of the original city walls

Norwich Castle lit up at night- kind of spooky!

The next morning I walked around the village where Richard lives, visiting the local church and a few charity shops. Afterwards Richard drove me into Norwich to catch my train back into London. I had a nice, relaxing time visiting with Richard and exploring Norfolk. It was just what I needed before the upcoming week, in which I had two major essays due (but more on that later!). 

St. Mary's Church

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In case you don't know by now, I LOVE stained glass!

Thanks for reading, and I'll be posting again soon about my trip to Oxford with Gabby! 

A Weekend in Paris

A few weeks ago, Gabby and I took a weekend trip to Paris, which is the one trip to continental Europe I've taken this semester. It turns out Paris isn't really that far away- I think it's actually closer to London than the Lake District and Edinburgh (but I'm not sure). Ever since the Eurostar was built, which is a fast train that goes direct from London to Paris, travel to Paris has become a lot easier. Prices can get pretty expensive though, especially for a trip on a Friday or Saturday, which is when Gabby and I wanted to travel. We eventually decided to take a chance and take a Megabus to Paris. It was a nine hour trip, but it was much cheaper. We booked tickets for an overnight trip Friday so we wouldn't have to pay for accommodation that night. Anyways, the trip turned out interesting. During the first half hour of the trip, the lady sitting next to me ate an awful smelling sandwich, whose scent haunted me for the next four hours. Once we got to the coast at Dover, we all had to exit the bus and move to passenger areas on a ferry. After the ferry journey we boarded the bus again to finish our journey to Paris. Fortunately, I was able to sleep soundly and steadily until we arrived, so I actually felt okay upon arrival. My advice for anyone considering a long journey on a Megabus: know what you're getting in to; get a window seat, bring a pillow, ear plugs, eye mask, and sleeping pills. 

Upon arrival in Paris Gabby and I took the metro to St. Ouen, which is north of the city, where we had accommodation booked via Airbnb for the next two nights. After checking it and having a short rest, we got back on the metro to find a coffee shop. We started out exploring the area around the Eiffel Tour. When we first started walking around, I had actually forgotten about the tower. We crossed a bridge over the Seine and the tower came into sight (previously blocked from sight by a large building). I was so surprised! It was probably a mix of tiredness and genuine awe at seeing something I had only seen in pictures and in movies. Even in the mist and rain, which was the weather on our first day, the Eiffel Tower was beautiful.

Our first view of the Eiffel Tower!

We eventually learned that the area around the tower isn't as tourist friendly as we thought, and we struggled to find a coffee shop with takeaway coffee. Eventually we found a nice little shop with excellent cappuccinos, which made the search well worth it. After a little more meandering, we stopped for lunch at an Italian restaurant and split a pizza (we were too starving to look for anything else!). After being refreshed by a meal, we were ready to see more of Paris. On Saturday we visited the Orangerie and the Arc de Triomphe. For dinner we bought pastries and macarons from a little shop, then took a bus back to the Eiffel Tower area to eat with a view of the tower lit up beautifully at night. Once we got back to where we were staying, we watched “Midnight in Paris”. It’s a cute little movie and was cool to watch in Paris!

A bridge with locks- but this isn't THE lock bridge

Arc de Triomphe

View from the top of the Arc de Triomphe

The drum major of a band playing outside the Arc de Triomphe

We started Sunday with mass at Sacre Coeur, which was absolutely beautiful! The view from Montmartre is stunning, and we were blessed with wonderful weather. After mass we grabbed some coffee (Gabby and I can't live without our coffee, as you can probably tell by now!) and walked to Montmartre Cemetery. It was actually very peaceful, and the fallen autumn leaves looked very beautiful. I visited the graves of Zola, Degas, and Dumas. Walking back to a metro after visiting Montmartre Cemetery, we unintentionally passed Moulin Rouge, which was pretty cool! After that we visited the Orsay, which was my favorite museum in Paris. In the evening we went to the Latin Quarter and visited the Royal Shakespeare Company Bookstore and enjoyed a dinner of goat cheese and tomato galettes (delicious!). Notre Dame lit up at night was beautiful, and I looked forward to visiting it the next day.

Sacre Coeur

Montmartre Cemetery

Degas' grave

Moulin Rouge

Musee d'Orsay

On Monday we grabbed breakfast at a boulangerie (bakery!) in St. Ouen then headed to the Louvre. It was massive. For three hours I walked around and saw as much art as I could, including the Mona Lisa (overrated...) and Venus de Milo. After the Louvre we moved our luggage to new accommodation, then we went to Notre Dame, where I caught the end of Evening Prayer. I tried unsuccessfully to sing along in French, but partially redeemed myself when we sang the Magnificat in Latin. Gabby and I enjoyed the Latin Quarter so much we decided to go back, this time for nutella and banana crepes (also delicious!) We finished the night with cocktails (no French martinis, though!) and a creme brulee. So good!

Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates at the Louvre

The famous Venus de Milo

Artemis

St. Thomas!

Notre Dame

Evening prayer at Notre Dame

The Eiffel Tower sparkling at night

Instead of visiting Versailles on Tuesday, which we had originally planned, we decided to stay in Paris. I had originally planned to climb the Eiffel Tower that day, but the weather was so foggy that the time and money spend to climb to the top wouldn't have been worth it. Instead, Gabby and I enjoyed a slow day in the city, having a cheese and bread lunch in the JPII park by Notre Dame. In the afternoon we headed to the station to catch the Eurostar back to London (a MUCH more enjoyable trip than the Megabus!)

I didn't get to see the Sainte Chapelle or climb the Eiffel Tower on our trip, but I had a lovely time. Paris really is a magical city. There is so much beauty everywhere. So much art, music, food, history, culture. It was a wonderful extended weekend, but I was ready to be back in London, the city of all cities! 

Au Revoir! 

Family time in Devon

Hello! This past weekend was the one I had been most excited about- it was the weekend I went to visit my family in Devon! As most of you know, my dad was born and grew up in the UK. He met my mom here (although she is from Texas) and they moved to the states after my older sister Esther was born. My dad was born in Devon near Dartmoor and lived there for several years before moving up to Lancashire in the north of England. My dad has one brother who still lives in England. I've met him a few times before, both when I went to the UK when I was younger and also in the US, as he has been over to the states several times. Since the last time I'd seen him (it had been quite a while), a lot had changed! My uncle is now married with two kids (ages 5 and 7, the younger a girl and the elder a boy)! Although our families stay in touch, I'd never actually met my aunt or two cousins. 

Esther and I at Dartmoor in 1999.

Ever since I decided to study abroad in England, though, I knew that would change! Although I've already traveled to so many amazing places and done so many cool things (and more yet to come!) this has my favorite part of my time abroad. After arranging a good weekend to visit with my uncle, I booked my tickets to Devon a few weeks ago and had been eagerly counting down the days. The week finally came for my visit, and I carefully packed my backpack for my trip. I left on Friday after class, and after some train issues, I finally made it to Exeter. My uncle met me at the station and we drove back to the house. I was a little nervous about meeting my aunt and cousins. What if things were awkward? I hoped they would like me!

A map showing Exeter and London

Everything went just fine though. Although things were a little awkward the first twenty minutes or so, I felt like a member of the family. The kids showed me how to make “loom-bands” (the newest craze in the UK, apparently!) and gave me two loom-band bracelets they had already made for me. My aunt prepared a traditional fish and chips dinner for us which was delicious! After dinner I helped my cousins get ready for bed and read them their bedtime stories, something I did every night I was there. After they were tucked into bed, I visited with my aunt and uncle a bit before heading off to bed myself- it had been a busy day!

The next day after breakfast and watching some cartoon with the kids (Scooby Doo!), we all piled into the car to go to Exeter for the children’s weekly swim lesson. I sat in a cafe nearby the pool which had a large window so I could wave to the kids during their lessons. While they swam I had a nice time drinking a cappuccino and writing some postcards. After the lessons we all met in the cafe/lounge area for lunch and a few short games of table football (foosball).

After we were all finished we set off for the big excursion of the day- Dartmoor! Although I’d been to Dartmoor on my first trip to England, I hardly remembered it, so I really wanted to go again. Dartmoor is hilly with unique rock formations called tors, which are hills topped with outcrops of bedrock. The weather on Dartmoor wasn’t rainy but it was very overcast, windy, and a bit foggy. This made it seem very mysterious, which seemed fitting since Dartmoor is the setting for arguably the most famous Sherlock Holmes mystery, The Hound of the Baskervilles. We climbed Hound Tor and explored the remains of a medieval village which were nearby. There are also wild Dartmoor ponies on the land, but unfortunately we didn’t see any. After our Dartmoor adventure we stopped for some tea and cake at a little cafe. On our way home we drove through Exeter where my aunt and I jumped out for a quick  look at Exeter Cathedral, which was originally build in Norman times and then later rebuilt. The Cathedral that stands today was finished in the 15th century. One of my favorite parts of being in England is all the history. There are so many old buildings and everywhere has a long, interesting history. It's crazy to think that there are still homes standing in England which are older than the United States! After getting a nice look around the cathedral we headed back for the night.

Hound Tor

Exeter Cathedral

There were quotes outside Exeter Cathedral- we studied this poem in one of my classes last semester!

The next day, Sunday, the weather was sunny and lovely so we headed to Exmouth, the town on the southern coast of Devon where the River Exe flows into the English Channel. We strolled along the beach, visited the Exmouth RNLI Center, which stands for Royal National Lifeboat Institution. The RNLI is a charity that provides a 24-hour lifeboat search and rescue service around the UK and Ireland. After a picnic lunch on the beach in Exmouth, we drove to A La Ronde, a National Trust property nearby. A La Ronde is an 18th century home which is super quirky and definitely one of a kind. The history of the house makes it even more odd. From the National Trust website: “This unique sixteen-sided house was described by Lucinda Lambton as having 'a magical strangeness that one might dream of only as a child'. It was built for two spinster cousins, Jane and Mary Parminter, on their return from a grand tour of Europe in the late 18th century. It contains many objects and mementoes of their travels.The extraordinary interior decoration includes a feather frieze, gathered from native game birds and chickens, laboriously stuck down with isinglass.There is also a fragile shell-encrusted gallery, said to contain nearly 25,000 shells…” Despite its weirdness, it was a very interesting house and we had a lovely visit! There was a real apple tree in the front of the home and I got to collect a few fresh apples for the first time ever! After exploring the house and grounds, we ended the day with a snack in the house cafe. I had a proper Devon Cream Tea. When in Rome! That evening we had a lovely roast chicken prepared by my aunt and then got an early night since the children had school early the next morning.

At Exmouth- picture by one of my cousins

I've never worn jeans and boots at the beach before!

View from A La Ronde of the Exe Estuary 

A La Ronde

A proper Devon Cream Tea- cream first, then jam

Apple tree at A La Ronde

The next morning I said goodbye to my aunt and cousins and my uncle drove me to the Exeter bus station to catch my bus back to London. The weekend went by entirely too fast, and I was very sad to leave! It’s amazing how you can spend a relatively small time with people, but still love them so much! I hope I get to go back to Devon again before my semester abroad is over.

Next week: Paris!