Anything for Shakespeare/ Harry Potter/ Canterbury?

Christ Church at Oxford University.  Recognize it? The dining hall for Harry Potter?

The college.

Anne Hathaway's cottage.  We went to a lot of Shakespeare type monuments/houses… and even went to his play in Stratford upon Avon - Measure for Measure.

Peter had an obsession with mushrooms.  Luckily there were a lot of them for him to obsess over while in Stratford upon Avon.  He claimed these were edible, yet advised none of us to eat them…. :/ mmk...

Canterbury Cathedral--- We went to evensong here too, and I of course can not stay awake for anything that doesn't require my full attention.

What the locals in Canterbury do for fun?  Go on strikes?  (Besides reading Canterbury Tales and running around like Chaucer of course).

Luckily Canterbury still has a Blockbuster.

Our last group visit was to the London England Temple.

Our last night in the hostel our director(s) gave up trying to separate us ten.  So we were all assigned to be in the same room!  We utilized our precious time together by learning/performing the Something Borrowed Dance, piling on Lauren's bed, and just talking.  It was the funnest night I've had in a hostel. I will miss these nine girls.  

And I'll miss Tony too...

Vienna and Prague

For the travel weekend in November Allie and I decided to go to Vienna and Prague.  I had some good friends, Naomi Romriell and Shelly Faber, in Vienna doing a study abroad with BYU, so they both showed us all around.  Naomi picked us up at the airport --- which was a huge relief because neither Allie or I speak German besides "das ist das, was sie sagte" (Allie taught me this) and "Danke". Neither of those phrases would get us very far.  We met up with some of their friends in the program and other university students they met through institute to get ice cream (it's tradition).  I had so much fun and was so glad to see Naomi and Shelly.  I live a charmed life.  

Viennese ice cream shop.

 The horse show. Pictures weren't allowed so… we snuck them.

 Stephan's Dom - A gothic cathedral we visited at the center of town.

Karlskirche- they had scaffolding to go all the way up to the top of the dome - it seemed too temporary to trust, but we made it to the top and touched the Fresco. :)

 Vapiano's - An Italian restaurant Naomi and Shelly took us to.  

 Naomi and I are both majoring in chemistry --- I don't know what I'd do without her. 

 The oldest ferris wheel in the world in Prater Park --- Riesenrad built in 1897. 

 Allie and I spent the last day in Vienna at Schönbrunn Palace - the 2nd biggest palace in Europe (following Versailles).  It's name means beautiful fountain and made in the Rococo style = one of my favorite styles.  (Allie and I obviously stopped at Starbucks for breakfast).  

 Welcome to Prague!  We spent a beautiful 4 plus hours on the bus to Prague.  Luckily we had wifi, so I looked up the top things to do while in Prague.  The top twenty included trying their brown beer, getting married, jumping off the bridge into the river, clubbing, and gambling.  I did a total of zero of those things.  But I did find a few brides, so that's good I guess.

 Allie and I on Charles Bridge.

 We found these at a Christmas market by the astronomical clock tower built in 1410.  

Prague was so so so cold.  And flying with Easyjet makes it hard, because you can only bring a backpack, so I didn't bring my peacoat= worst decision ever.  I piled on the layers, and I still wasn't warm enough…But somehow I managed to fit all my gifts into my backpack - it was a Christmas Miracle! 

MAGIC

Merry Christmas from London.  

I think I could handle this job… (I'm applying if I'm ever in London in November).

Real life reindeer. 

The taste of Christmas.  

We celebrate all the major holidays.

And luckily, so does Harrods.  After spending a week in Paris it was refreshing to return home and even better to return for the Harrods Christmas Parade 2011.  I got emotional the first time I heard about this ingenius parade, but who can blame me.  It's Harrods and Christmas combined into one mastermind celebration.  Suckers and chocolate coins have never tasted so good, and maybe it's just because it was in celebration of Christmas/Harrods, but either way it was magical.  Lala threatened to leave me if I started crying, so I tried my best to control my excitement especially when snow bubbles fell from the sky.  Where they came from is still unbeknownst to me, but sometimes you don't question magic.  I don't have my pictures up yet, but I was too excited to wait.  Christmas is here in London.

*The picture is for my mom from our favorite hot chocolate place in Paris, Angelina's.    

This was my homework.

We were assigned a collaboration project and given minimal instructions or requirements on execution.  We were supposed to "play," so we "snuck" out one night, and this is with what my group came up.  We incorporated both writing and art to spell the word CREATE based off of Elder Uchtdorf's mormon message.  Yes, we do school here, the real kind, and I love London.

Copenhagen… A home away from home.

This month we visited my family friends, the Bridge family, in Copenhagen for the weekend.  First we had to go through an intensive petition to convince John and Peter that there was value in our visit to Copenhagen, but after our letter of sorts it was final.  It was so nice to stay in an actual home and be with a family.  It was much colder than London had been, but I still got my classic ice cream cone.  We wore winter clothes, bought homemade jam in the countryside, drove to Sweden, snuggled up in bed to watch Forrest Gump, saw the Carl Bloch exhibit, visited Hamlet's castle and Karen Blixen's house, went to church, bought plenty of chocolate, marched beside the Queen's guards, and we all found a liking for Danish boys.  Karen also taught me the three phrases necessary for survival in Denmark and the only Danish I know… 1. Tak=thanks  2. Jeg Elsker Dem=I love you and 3. Kan du huske mig=Do you remember me?.. We covered all the basics while there.  It has been my favorite trip yet.    

THE GROUP = Al Smil, LaLa, Me, Laurel, and Magaroon

Karen and I outside Church of our Lady.

I became a mermaid….

Bear stole my heart.

Luckily the Iraq embassy was directly across their house… 

The ice cream was impeccable.   

Our favorite London-based band was in Copenhagen - the Ryan O'Reilly Band.

Suzannah was a sweetheart.