Sculpture Park

For your viewing pleasure: a random smattering of photos from my most recent field trip to Goodwood Sculpture Park. It was a really cool place, a sculpture park set in the middle of a forest, right on the edge of big fields of sheep, and near enough to the sea that you could almost smell it. You just got to wander through the paths, running across strange sculptures, both big and small, all the while. Pretty cool stuff.

London

Two days ago I went to London with Andy for the afternoon. We took a 45 minute train from Cambridge to Kings Cross, and then got on the Underground to take us to the tourist-y area that included Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, the river and the London Eye, and, a short walk away, Buckingham Palace.

Here is Westminster Abbey from the side, where you begin your tour:

We spent almost 2 hours in the Abbey, as there is simply SO much to see, but they don't allow photographs, so, unfortunately, all I have from inside is one illegally-snapped photo, taken before I saw the "No Photography, Please!" signs. I took this because it was a statue of Athena, my favorite of the Greek gods, and because it reminded me of the California Seal:

Once you round the three short arms of the cross that make up the Abbey, you are popped outside for a moment to walk down the Cloisters and see the Chapter House (featured in the Da Vinci Code, for those of you who care/remember). This is taken from under a covered walkway, looking back at the nave of the church and the backside of the westwork:

The westwork, or front of Westminster Abbey:

We crossed the river to check out the London Eye, but it was far too expensive, so we had lunch on the other bank and just people-watched instead:

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, back across the river:

Horse-riding policemen in front of Buckingham Palace!

Buckingham Palace. I was actually kind of underwhelmed...it is very one-note, and not an extremely architecturally-inspired kind of a building, but I had to pose in front of it nonetheless!

We ended our day with a late coffee and pastry at an adorable little French cafe in Soho, with promises to be back soon!

I made it!

I'm here, I have internet (which I totally didn't expect to have yet, and I am overjoyed that I do), I met up with my friends, I had dinner and my first (and second) real, legal beers at real English pubs, I found my room (but don't really feel like unpacking yet), I Skyped with my mother (yay! Thank god for the people who invented Skype, really!), and I'm going to try to get to bed soon. I'm most likely going to be jet-lagged, but I'll try my best to fight it. My room is cute--small, approximately the size of my room at school this past semester, but with a nice half-sized bay of windows overlooking a bus station and a park, and a boarded-up fireplace (which, despite being boarded-up, looks pretty cool and has a nice mantel on which I can put pictures and things).

Pictures of the room (and dorm, and town, and everything else!) will soon follow. It's been snowing here for a while (and snowed on us as we were walking to dinner--this LA girl was freaking out! hehe), so everything is covered in white. Beautiful, but I do miss my California sun. I've already had a small bout of homesickness, but I guess that is to be expected. Having internet helps so much, because I immediately feel more connected to everyone.

So, I should be off to bed. Goodnight, all, and I'll write again tomorrow!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Its been forever, but the blog will soon be back.

I'm going to Enlgand in a couple of weeks for the next semester, so this will soon be transforming into a travel blog of sorts. Expect pictures, short updates, and stories from abroad!