England Photos

Our England Trip

We visited Oxford and many of the various colleges there. These gargoyle type heads were all over many of buildings.

Us in one of the college courtyards. We took a guided tour of the city and saw dining halls, chapels and courtyards that were just beautiful.

A college dormitory and dining hall.

The famous pub where CS Lewis and JRR Tolkein used to meet with other friends. We had coffee and a piece of pie here. It took close to 30 minutes to get the drinks and another 20 or so to get our pie (which we then ate in about 5 minutes :)

Tom and Katie with Richard and Emma - newly married! They stayed around for day after their wedding, so we got to hang out with them a little. Then they left for their honeymoon to Malaysia - fun!

Sunday, November 8 was Remembrance Day to honor all of the war veterans. This parade went down the street right outside our hotel.

I loved the red phone booths all over the place.

The Tower Bridge.

Buckingham Palace - no changing of the guard that day.

In a wet Trafalgar Square.

The Rosetta Stone at the British Museum.

A real mummy at the British Museum.

Tom's artistic picture of the Tower Bridge. We took the little tour of it and got to walk across the pedestrian path seen at the top. The bottom section can move up to let boats through - the official name (in case you want to know) is a bascule bridge.

We got dressed up and went to see Les Miserables while in London.

London Bridge

Kensington Palace. We were going to tour this, too, but we got our times mixed up :( I thought last entry was at 5, but it was at 4:00. Oh well - there's always next time. It was hard to do everything we wanted to do because things opened around 10:00 and closed at 4:00 or 5:00.

However, we did manage to make it in time for tea at the Orangery - right behind Kensington Palace. It was wonderful!! The sandwiches were dainty, the scones soft and delicious, the jams delectable and the tea cakes a variety of yumminess. This was one of my favorite things that we did on the trip. Tom endured it and ate a hamburger later.

We found a plaque dedicated to Switzerland in London.


We stopped at Stonehenge on our way to Bath. It's amazing to think that this structre is probably over 4,000 years old.

The Roman bath was probably my favorite site that we visited. The hot springs are still there just like they were 2,000 years ago. You can see the steam rising up from behind us. Some of the original plumbing still worked!

I got to visit the Jane Austen center. I really like her books and enjoyed learning more about her and seeing the town she lived in and wrote about.

We visited the Fashion Museum in Bath where I got to try on a corset and crinoline. Needless to say, they aren't the most comfortable things in the world.

William Shakespeare's birthplace and childhood home. Did you know his father made leather gloves for a living? That was news to me.

Shakespeare's grave. His wife, daugter and son-in-law are buried next to him.

Learning a "new" language

Tom and I just got back from our England trip on Sunday. Even though we were there just 10 days, I feel that I learned more "British" in that time than I have in my 1.5 years in French-speaking Switzerland! I thought I'd share my lessons for any who wish to learn as well :)

(Note: please forgive the grammatical errors, I didn't take the time to format everything properly...)

- Lovely: In American, we'd say good or great, maybe wonderful. As in, We're having a lovely time or after a meal one would say, That was lovely. Also used to describe an article of clothing, an event, a place, or anything else, really.
- Brilliant: See lovely.
- Pop: In American - to go somewhere real quick. As in, I'm going to pop to the store for some eggs. Or, I'm going to pop over to Cristina's.
- Loo: In American, bathroom. Often used with pop. As in, I'm going to pop to the loo. Also used: toilet, WC.
- Please/Thank you: Must be used at the end of each interchange between customer and service person.
Example Conversation (only slightly exaggerated)
Me: I'd like a cup of coffee, please.
Server: Of course, Thank you.
Me: Thank you.
...
Server: Here you are...Thank you.
Me: Thank you.
Server: Thank you.
...
Me: Can I have the check, please,
Server: Of course you can, thank you.
Me: Thank you.
Server: Thank you.

- Chips: In American: French fries. Often used as Fish and Chips - a traditional English meal of fried fish and french fries.
- Crisps: In American: Chips.
- Tube: The London subway system.
- Car Park: Parking lot.
- At the Weekend: Instead of "on the weekend."
- Quite: Used often with the phrase "a lot" or used in the place of very. As in, Quite a lot of people here today, aren't there?
- Pie: a traditional pub meal composed of a bottom and top crust with a cream sauce, meat and vegetables inside. Quite lovely.
- Pudding: Any sort of dessert, most often referring to cake type desserts. (Now I know why Figgy pudding is called what it is.)
- Black Pudding: You probably don't want to know, but in case you do, click here.
- The Weather: Commented on quite a lot.
- Dreadful: Used to describe the weather.
- Diabolical: Used to describe the weather.
- Awful: Used to describe the weather.
- Lovely: Though seldom the case, used to describe the weather.

So, now if you go to England, you'll have a head start on me and will be able to sound like a native in no time! We had a great trip (pictures to come soon), and I really enjoyed seeing a country and culture that was different, yet very similar to what I am accustom. It was also wonderful to be able to talk to people and communicate easily with them. I would definitely like to go back!