Feb 2009

Kirkstall Abbey is a 12th century Cistercian Abbey right here in Leeds! It is about a 30 minute walk from where I live and I have been meaning to go see it since I got here. I finally went! It is now just ruins but it very well preserved. It was a beautiful sight in all the snow as well. The surrounding area has a great big park with the River Aire running alongside. After visiting the Abbey my friend and I tried to build a snowman but failed=( Its been a while since I have built one and since he was British he has never seen enough snow to be able to build one! We weren't the best pair to try and build a snowman. It just turned into a snowball fight that only lasted until our fingers were so cold we couldn't move them! Sometimes I miss the snow! But I will be happy to go back to So-Cal with the warm sunshine filled winters!

http://s494.photobucket.com/albums/rr304/stacey_conrad/Kirkstall%20Abbey/?albumview=grid

One of my friends from UCSB, Shelby, is studying down at the University of Sussex in Brighton. Brighton is about an hour south of London right on the coast. During the summer I'm sure Brighton is THE place to go on holiday. It reminds me a lot of Santa Monica and all the beach cities back in California! There is a pier, lots of shopping and cheap food! The Royal Pavilion is one of the main tourist attractions in Brighton. It was finished by John Nash in 1823 for King George IV. It was his "seaside" home. It was built in an Indian style and contrasts very much with the English style of the rest of the city. One day we took what we thought would be a nice walk through the country side to a little town near by called Lewes. It turned out to be quite the strenuous hike in the freezing cold! At the end of the hike it began to snow and continued to snow all day and all night. It turned out to be the most snow that southern England has had in 20 years! There was so much snow all the trains, buses and cabs stopped running come morning! Needless to say I was stuck down in Brighton for another day until they figured out that trains could still run even in the snow!

http://s494.photobucket.com/albums/rr304/stacey_conrad/Brighton/?albumview=grid

Ripley Castle has been home to the Ingilby Family for almost 700 years!! The castle has had many Kings and Queens stay both in times of war and peace. The castle is much smaller than many of the other ones I have visited but it had a home like feel to it. Probably largely due to the fact that the family still lives in the castle. Much of the upstairs is roped off to visitors. The day we were at the castle there was a wedding going on. The bride was standing outside taking pictures even though it was only about 30 degrees! It even snowed later that night! Inside the house there were secret passage ways and winding stair cases that were used to hide people in times of war! The family that now lives in the house has 5 children all around 20 years old give or take a few years. There was a family picture in one of the rooms so me and some of the other girls went over to look and one of the sons looked so much like Prince Harry! We could not believe it. Our tour guide came over and said "Looks quite like the Prince huh?" and we said "Umm YEAH! Is he home? Can we meet him?" haha. Apparently that is quite the joke of the family, that perhaps he is more closely related to the Windsor's than the Ingilby's! After touring the house we walked around the gardens but once the sun started to go down it got too cold for us and we headed home!

http://s494.photobucket.com/albums/rr304/stacey_conrad/Ripley%20Castle/?albumview=grid

Once I got back from the grand tour of the European continent with the family I spent a few days down in London with Laura! We stayed at a hostel right by the London Eye so we were right in the heart of London. I kind of forgot how close everything was in central London!! We hit all the major tourist sights like Buckingham, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, London Eye, Kensington Palace, Westminster Abbey, Notting Hill and Harrods. There was a Princess Diana & debutante exhibit at Kensington Palace! We learn how to set a table, walk with a book on our heads, curtsy and waltz. We are well trained British women now! Laura and I also took a lovely stroll down the Thames and took a tour of the Globe Theater. There was a poster in the gift shop that was so witty I had to buy it. It was called Quoting Shakespeare and went something like this:

"Quoting Shakespeare"
If you cannot understand my argument and declare "it's Greek to me", you are quoting Shakespeare. If you claim to be "more sinned against than sinning", you are quoting Shakespeare. If you act "more in sorrow than in anger", if you "wish is father to the thought", if your lost property has "vanished into thin air", you are quoting Shakespeare. If you have ever refused "to budge an inch" or suffered from "green-eyed jealousy", if you have "played fast and loose", if you have been "tongue-tied" - "a tower of strength" - "hoodwinked" or "in a pickle", if you have "knitted your brows" - "made virtue of necessity", insisted on "fair play" - "slept not one wink" - "stood on ceremony" - "danced attendance" on "your lord and master" - "laughed yourself into stitches", had "short shrift" - "cold comfort", or "too much of a good thing", if you have "seen better days", or lived "in a fools paradise", why, be that as it may, "the more fool you", for it is a "foregone Conclusion" that you are "as good luck would have it", quoting Shakespeare. If you think "it is high time", and that "that is the long and the sohrt of it", if you believe that "the game is up", and that "truth will out", even if involves your "own flesh and blood", if you"lie low" till "the crack of doom" because you suspect "foul play", if you have "teeth set on edge at one fell swoop" - "without rhyme or reason", then "to give the devil his due" if the "truth were known" for surely you have a "tongue in your head", you are quoting Shakespeare. Even if you bid me "good riddance" and "send me packing", if you wish I was "dead as a doornail", if you think I am an "eyesore" - a "laughing stock" - the "dwvil incarnate" - "a stony-hearted villain" - "bloody-minded", or a "blinking idiot", then "by jove" - "o lord"- "tut, tut!" - "For goodness sake" - "what the dickens!" - "but me no buts" - "it is all one to me", for you are quoting Shakespeare...

Enjoy the pictures!

http://s494.photobucket.com/albums/rr304/stacey_conrad/London/?albumview=grid