Flashback---London Photo Scavenger Hunt

on our first full Monday in London we set off on an adventure of "Olympic" proportions---in honor of London's hosting the 2012 summer Olympics we were divided into four teams:

--Italy
--France
--Spain

Each team was given 10 clues and sent off into the city...

the competition was fierce....

the tubes were a bit confusing...

some of the pictures taken were fuzzy...

but by the end there could be only one victor!...




Team Spain at Piccadilly Circus




Team France at La Duree Patisserie in Harrods Department store



Team Italy at the Houses of Parliament with Big Ben



Team Spain (Lyndsey Ammons) at Green Park near Buckingham Palace



Team France (Brad Middleton and Mary Lira) at Harry Potter's platform 9 and 3/4 at Charring Cross Station



Team Spain at the Queen's home--Buckingham Palace



Team Spain (Courtney Stone) at the famous half-price ticket, TKTS booth, in Leister Square



Team France at the new Apple computer store in Covent Gardens



Team Italy at the London Zoo...



with their Gold Medal "suckers" from Harrods


It was a good, long, tiring fight but Italy prevailed!

Dover & Canterbury Tales... The Movie

Yesterday we went to 

Dover & Canterbury.

Did we have fun?

Obviously...

It's even more obvious when you see this movie!

Jane Austen Inaugural High Tea

We did something new this week.

 HUE ground was broken

by hosting a

high tea

discussing the works of

Jane Austen.

Who knew literature could be so....

tasty?

Cause When You're in Olde York...

Elizabethan jungle where dreams are made of

There's nothing you can't do....

Now you're in Olde York

These streets will make you feel brand new

Big lights will inspire you...

Let's hear it for Olde York....

Olde York... Olde York....

So it's not exactly what Jay-Z had in mind, but you get the idea:

York is an amazing!

Fast Break

If you were in our HUE group,

you would be learning to eat a lot of new food.

One meal of the day that has 

an entirely rookie line-up for us is

breakfast.

Baked beans... mushrooms... roasted tomatoes...

probably not our favorites.

But cappuccinos & apple pie

from the Apple Pie Bakery

in Ambleside, England?

Well, those are some all-stars 

that we will happily bring back home with us.

Yum!

First Stop- Ireland

We came, we saw, we conquered.

We toured most of the UK in 10 days

before settling into our new home in London.

We started our journey in Dublin...

and continued through Ireland with stops

in places like Glendalough & Blarney...

... but the journey soon continued onward to England & Scotland.

Scotland

We have made the jump across the pond from Ireland to the mainland: the United Kingdom.

And even though we've started classes and settled into our London apartments or "flats" stories from our travels in Scotland must be told...

We made our way up the island in our large tour bus driven by our hilarious and animated driver Robbie.

One of our first stops on the way to Scotland was at Hadrian's Wall. [If you have seen the recent film "King Arthur" staring the dashing Clive Owen as Aruther, you've seen the Roman wall that was built by the emperor Hadrian to mark the empires territory in Britain.]





We were not only able to walk on the wall, but also we were able to explore the ruins of the wall's main fort; of course this was not without the help of our excellent English guide by the name of Dr. Bryan.





After a little bus trouble and an extented lunch we were off toward Stirling.

Stirling is the home of Stirling Castle but more "importantly" it is home to the William Wallace national mounment. The group was fired up and ready to see the mounment after watching the "completely historically correct" film "Braveheart" staring Mel Gibson, the night before.





The mounment was built in the 1860s as a tribute to one of Scotland's greatest heros William Wallace. There were several rooms within the tower mounment where you could learn about Wallace and other pieces of Scottish history, but the most impressive feature of the tower was the view from the top:




After we has each shouted "Freedom!" at the top of our lungs to our hearts' content were off to Ediburgh, the capital city of Scotland.

BUT not before we stopped for lunch where the "Cathedral of Golf" is held...St. Andrew's. A small beautiful town, home to the 4th largest University in Europe AND of "course" the location of the famous golf course.



Part of the course with a view of the sea.




Students enjoying a day at the beach in St. Andrews. This was Brad's FIRST trip to a beach, so of course a sandcastle had to be constrcted in honor of this historic event.

We spent two excellent days in Ediburgh. We were able to tour the Royal Mile, explore the castle at the top of the Royal Mile AND we even had tea with the Queen at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, her home when she visits Scotland. Ok we didn't actually see the Queen, but we saw photographs of her. We also got to tour the rooms where Mary Queen of Scots, the Mother of James I of England, lived during her exile.




Deacon Brodie's Tavern, on the Royal Mile, was the favorite "party spot" of noble by day, play boy by night, Deacon Brodie. His real life story of duality of personality eventually became immortalized in novel Dr. Jekell and Mr. Hyde.





Students walking down the Roayl Mile.




Part of the inner keep at Edinburgh's castle.



The Queen's Palace; can you see her waving at us from the top left window? Look very close ;)


But perhaps the highlight of the trip was our group meal at the Elephant House, better known as "the Birth Place of Harry Potter." This restaurant was one of the places J.K. Rowling sat and started creating her magical world and her beloved character Harry Potter.




Scotland was a highlight for the group--the views, the history, the Potter, and the kilts have left us permanent fans of the Scotland.