Well, I thought I would write as I am waiting for the train. I'm going into London by myself, oh I bet everyone is glad to hear that but seriously no one could go with me, and I'm good with London. I know where I am going, I actually don't have a plan but I know the area. And I brought my books just incase, well more for the Underground. I'm not going to sit around waiting for my friends to be available to go to London with me, it doesn't work that way.

Anyway so let's see what has been going on here, um Amaya, Kathleen and I started watching Lost last night. They have never seen it, and they love it. Season 1 is great, Charlie is good, not bad like they make him in Season 2. I better get a hold of Season 2 before we finish the first season or they might hurt me. I thought we were only watching one episode last night, um well we watched the whole first disc. Every time an episode ended, one of them would go, "Next." I love their reactions, they freak out over everything, though I know I'll be freaking out when Ethan comes around, I hate Ethan so much, he creeps me out. But um at the end of Episode 4, Jack sees his Dad and they freaked out, and I thought about it, well after everything else that has happened, Jack seeing his Dad is pretty calm... even though he is dead.

Okay I'll be back, train is here.

Hey back, on a lunch break. I'm at the Pizza Express by the Tower Bridge. Pizza Express is a cool chain here, the prices aren't bad... for England. When I got off the train I went in the direction of the London Eye and the Thames. I had thoughts of going to the Imperial War Museum, but I mistook it for the Cabinet Rooms, and I shouldn't have crossed the Thames. Opps. Not a big deal, I just went to plan b. I like to think that every time I come into London I become less and less of a tourist. I don't stop and take a picture of Big Ben anymore, or the creepy artist by the London Aquarium. I walk, and if I do take a picture, I don't stop in the middle of the busy sidewalk to do it. I step aside and take the picture. So annoying, I almost ran over a little kid, who was holding his Dad's hand and the Dad stopped to take a picture, and the kid and I were just a little surprised.

I took the Underground from Westminster, yeah the station where they filmed parts of HP5... argh. I got on the Jubilee line which prior to today I had not been on yet. It was cool. It has the covering on it so you can't fall into the tracks or whatever the purpose of it is. I only had to go 2 stop, I got off at Tower Bridge and right next to the station is the London Dungeon. I think that's the place that Philip said was a waste of time and money... but these people didn't get that memo. It was so crowded! Getting passed the lines was a challenge, I thought a famous celebrity was around or something. Right now I'm in a very interesting part of London, I'm still on the Thames, and not far from The Globe, but it's different. It is more business like, and less old, and oh yeah then you come to the Tower Bridge. It has a different feel to it, or is that the missing crowds? Once you get beyond the London Dungeon it's calm, less people, and more businesses.

Oh so another difference between the two cultures, my pizza wasn't cut today. Last time I was here it was, but then they knew I was sharing one with Monica. But looking around, everyone is eating pizza with a knife and fork, and cutting their pizza. It took half the fun out of eating pizza, my pizza would not cut easily. I did get tired of cutting it, so I ate some of it with my hands, but it's pizza, that's how you are suppose to eat it!

Alright, let's go back for a moment. The Tower Bridge... what a cool place. Yeah it's just a bridge, and cars drive over it, but imagine driving over it everyday. I look at the bridge and think, "My eyes are actually looking at the Tower Bridge, a symbol of London. My eyes, I'm not looking at some post card or picture, but I'm standing 5 feet from the bridge. I got goosebumps looking at it. God I love this place. Til later, I'm off.

Me again, I'm on the Tower Bridge. I had to stop and write, it is one of those things. It's really windy up here, and a lot of people are just hanging out sight seeing. I'm cold, but I'm walking across the bridge! So loving London. Bye again.

Hey, back again. It's been quite a day. Right now I'm pretty far north, well Kings Cross, but before I tell that story we have to go back, like 4 hours. After I walked across the bridge, I walked all around the Tower of London. It felt me in awe... I liked the bridge, but the Tower is so much older. This place is so well preserved... it's creepy. So unbelievable, it looks too pretty to be a torture place. I didn't go in, it's way too expensive, but it's so awesome. Mom told me that there is a part of the original Roman wall by the tower and I looked for it, but I didn't find anything. I did the usual... pictures of the Tower, and then after like a half an hour I decided it was time to go.

So I found a sign, because my plan was to go to the Museum of London and I was just looking for the closest Underground. This sign though said, "The Monument." That's it, well that and an arrow. I was sold, I followed the signs to The Monument. Monuments are like shiny objects to me, I get distracted by them. Well I walked, and walked, and after like 5 minutes I decided that sign had problems, and I stopped at a sidewalk, looked to my left to see if any cars were coming, and down this little street was a Monument. I walked down, and boy was this Monument big. It's for the Great Fire of London, after the fire, they built this so anyone could walk up to the top and see how London had recovered from the fire. So I thought hey why not, how many steps could it be? Carfax Tower in Oxford is 99... not bad at all. So take a guess, stop reading and take a guess on how many steps there are... oh were you thinking 312??? I wasn't, and that's how many they are. I was winded by like 150, because I didn't run, but I didn't walk either. I didn't know there was 312 steps, I would have paced myself better. At the top of the stairs, there isn't room for two people... it was a little freaky. But I made it to the top, and wow. The view is unbelievable, take a look at my pictures, it is all under London. I was in one of those situations where I have no words for it, and if you are like me and still can't believe I'm in London, it is even more exciting. I thought, "hey look at that pretty city... oh wow it's all of London." I stood there for the longest time just staring at the Thames, St. Pauls... everything.

I finally did leave, and on the way down I felt so bad for this one girl. She was kinda young, she and her mother were climbing up, but the girl decided that it was too high already. They were about a little more than half way up. Her mom was like, "You told me you were okay with this, I told you how high it is, and you wanted to come" and the girl is crying, so I took off my headphones, and told the mother, that if it made the girl feel any better, it was all gated up there, and she was almost there. They continued up, and I smiled at the girl as they passed me. At the entrance, I got a certificate for climbing up. I was excited, it's going on my board.

So after that there is an Underground station right next to The Monument, and I got on and went to Liverpool Street, because I was going to the Museum of London. So I'm walking down this street, I followed the signs, and at the corner right down the road from the Museum is this plaque in the building. It says that 'here is the spot where the first bomb of WWII hit". Wow, I took a picture of it. It's weird, I'm just walking, minding my own business, and I come upon something like that. So I continue on, and you have to walk up stairs and then go on a bridge to get to the Museum of London. Well my legs hate me, ever since walking the 312 steps, they hate me, so I was not pleased about the steps. But I'm walking on this bridge, and I look down, and think, "Um that wall looks really old" It was two pieces of a wall, and then I just stop. It's the original Roman wall. It's just there, in the middle of these new buildings, and the museum... wow. I know it was not built by Julius Caesar, they think it was built A.D 100, but it still amazes me. The States don't have a wall from like 2000 years ago! I love being in London and soon Spain just to see all this stuff. The Romans were here... I mean WOW. Americans are in awe at something 300 years old, and this piece of the wall has been standing for 2000 years! Why didn't Julius Caesar ever cross the pond? It would be so sweet to have this stuff in America. It's humbling... you just think about it, the Romans have left their mark on most of Europe, and I don't know but I find that soo interesting. Every day people can look at history from 2000 years old and they probably don't think anything of it. I was talking to Philip earlier today and I told him my plans and he said, "There isn't much left." Well there is some! That's amazing! I'm not a big history bluff, I mean I don't know everything, but there is something about the Romans that makes me either want to faint or have a heart attack. I'm going to die when I go to Rome...

So continuing on, the Museum of London isn't bad, but I like the British Museum more. I wasn't sure if we could take pictures because I didn't see any cameras. I mean at the British Museum, everyone takes pictures, but not here. I went basically right to the Rome section, and it was amazing. It's more about the every day life of the Roman armies in London, and their influence. The British Museum has a lot of emperor stuff, like the statues, the busts, but this museum is just concerned with London. There was some quotes by Julius Caesar which I appreciated. I going through and I stopped at this one part, there were Roman coins. I thought how cool, and then I realized that some of them had the face of Marcus Aurelius on them. WOW. Cameras or not, I took a picture. There were other coins of Faustina, Lucius Verus, Antoninus Pius, Hadrian, and Lucilla. There was also the bones of a horse.. wow. There was one great quote that the Romans believed in a clean mind and body, and they came to England and taught the Britons how to take a bath! HAHAH! That's just great.

I also saw the Lord Mayor's carriage.. the lights in this place were horrible, and my pictures did not come out well, but wow that carriage is impressive! So shiny. It's huge too!!

Wow this is a long one, and I'm not done yet. So I'm at Moorgate Station, it was closer, and I'm thinking... um I'm two stops away from Kings Cross. WHY NOT? So I went, and of course a man was under a train in Huntington so the National Rail had limited service, and so many people were just hanging out with no place to go... of course. I'm not sure if he was under the train alive, or under the train dead, they just said under the train. Anyway, so as soon as I enter the National Rail part, I realize why they did not film here. It's nice, but the ceiling is horrible looking, and I'm sure there are nicer places. I will find that place. But I walked to Platform 9, not sure I could get near it, but I enter the hallway for 9, and there it is... Platform 9 and 3/4. Now I don't want to seem too excited, so I just casually walked up, I took out my camera and was staring at Platform 10, and I lifted my camera, and then two kids ran up to the Platform and tried to run into it. Moment ruined. I stepped back, and their parents took their pictures of them running into it, and then when they were all standing back admiring it, I took my picture. I was followed by the Harry Potter group because all a sudden like 15 kids came in and tried to get to the Hogwarts Express. I left. It was good though, so exciting to see it.

So after that, it was like 5ish, and I decided okay time to go home. I got on the Circle line, and went back to Waterloo. I couldn't go to Waterloo straight from the Circle of course, but I made the right changes, came home and collapsed. Amaya, Kathleen and I watched 5 episodes of Lost, and Ethan was in them. They said he was creepy, but I was hiding behind Bowl Jr and Pooh. I hate Ethan so much. I cannot look at him. They didn't notice me hiding though, until I put the pillow over my head when he gives Claire that creepy little smile.

Alright so this is the last post until Spain, I leave tomorrow, but I'm sure I'll be at an Internet Cafe and I'll write a note... or a novel!!!!!

Hey all. So I should be reading The Alchemist by Ben Johnson, but I just thought I would write...
Nothing big has been going on, well that's a lie, but nothing life changing. Mary and Sammy are gone, that's sad, because I love them! Their company was awesome, we had some good times, and Mary told me that when I come to Prague I better look her up! Oh I will be, don't worry about that! Sammy, Mary and I cooked dinner Tuesday night, we had burgers, fries and salad, an All American meal! The burgers here have onions in them... that's gross. I was thinking about just going to Burger King and making our lives easier, but thankfully we found 100% Beef! I ate so much, we bought two big things of fries, and there was a lot left, so I showed them how a Fontbonne alumi eats! I felt sick.. hahah.

So my 18th century teacher had something very interesting to say to me right before class started. At 11am, the time that my class is suppose to start, there wasn't a whole lot of us in the room, and my teacher was like, "Well that's okay." UH, what? I said, "That's insane that class doesn't begin at 11am, or whenever it is scheduled to start. There is some leeway with time." And my teacher said, "So if it's different than what you are use to in the States it's insane?"
Uh yeah. No just kidding, but class should start at the designated time, no question. I can't be late for class, it's not in me, but kids here walk in 5, 10 minutes late no big deal. I hate being late to class, I will sprint not to be late. Some teachers at home even take off points off your attendance grade if you are late, that screwed Shorty in Rome class. I told my teacher that they give us time to get from one class to another, a good 15 minutes, and we are expected to be in class on time, and ready to go. It's weird because I have 18th century seminar right before 19th Century English Lecture, and I don't have time to go to the Surrey Club, and I always miss the first few minutes of class. I hate that! It bugs me, but what can I do? There's a whole bunch of us who do that too, so I'm not the only one, but still.

So next topic, it's offical I like tea. Stupid Mary bought tea, and now I've been tea crazy. Before, if I was in a cafe, I would order tea, but now I wake up and have tea. I have tea after dinner... my thoughts are always on tea... when can I next have it? Mary gave me the tea too!! Kathleen doesn't drink tea, so she left it in my capable hands... so sweet.

Kathleen and I were just watching the British version of The Price is Right... wow, one it's not Bob Barker, two it shouldn't even be called The Price is Right. They gave away one car, a trip to Italy and then a bunch of kind of in the middle stuff. One car though... and that was in the Showcase part. In the US version three cars are given away each episode, a trip, usually a boat, furniture, just overall better stuff. I felt like I was watching Let's Make a Deal, because a woman was dressed up as a Pilgrim, but the host was like, "You're from Wales right?" She was because she went nuts. There are more winners in the US version though, I think two people won their games. The wheel is a whole different story, it's something out of the 70's, and they don't tell you what the last person got, and I wanted to know. There was also a male beauty... that was wrong. Thankfully the host was like middle age, so I didn't have to fear for his life. I swear one day someone is going to break Bob Barker when they go nuts and hug him! Oh wait, that's another thing, they got excited but not like crazy, crazy excited. There was no screaming, jumping up and down. It was like they were channeling my father's thoughts, if he was ever on that show, it would be like, "And a new car!" His first thought would be, "Um, the taxes would be outrageous on that." I'm not kidding either. When the woman won at the end, yeah then she was excited, but it was more of a "You won 5,000 pounds" not a "You won a car, a trip, a camera and outdoor furniture." It was weird, but interesting.

Classes are going well, I'm done for the week. Stupid fire alarm at 4:40am screwed up my Tuesday. I could barely stay away, I went to bed late Monday night, but man, I couldn't really fall asleep after the fire alarm. It was raining, and yeah no one was going out into the open, beyond the ceiling part of KBH. I don't think so. These fire alarms are going to be the death of me! They must stop!

Alright, so I think that's it, I'll write again before Spain since I'm going to London tomorrow! YEAH for LONDON!

Cheers all!

Hey, I'm in London right now at the Opera House at the Chandos... it's a pub. Fancy name, but it's just a pub near Trafalgar Square. It's pouring out, like pouring so much that my jeans are wet up to my calves... wow. Awesome. I knew it was suppose to rain today, but it was suppose to rain Friday as well and it was beautiful, but of course it rained. I had my umbrella and a sweatshirt, but when there's rain, there's wind and it hasn't been good. So I'm in London with Kathleen, Amaya, Sammy and Mary. Cassie is off at the British Museum by herself... whatever. We have gone to all the tourist attractions here in London: St. James Park, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, Westminster, Buckingham Palace and yeah that's it. I guess the girls are going back in tomorrow to do the Globe and stuff over that way, and maybe Harrods. I have class so I cannot join them, so sad.

Oh wait, I am no longer at the pub but on the train to Kingston, so here we go, my day in London. I tried fish and chips... I couldn't do it. I took a bite, and as I was about to put it in my mouth, Amaya was like, "I can see the scales." Uhhhhh. Don't tell me that. But I put my game face on, and put it in my face, and gagged after 6 bites. Yep, so fish to me remains friends not food. I couldn't do it, my stomach and throat said, "Uh no!" I tried... I can't help this, if I gag like this, it won't happen! I do the same thing when I have too much cheese, or too much fat on my meat. Oh well. I gave it the old college try... so everyone can now get off my back! Thank you. Some of this has to be mental, I tried not to think of Dory, or Sebastian who is not a fish but lives in the water, or anything fishy... I had a blank mind. I was being open minded, and yeah it didn't happen. The chips were good...

So after eating I thought we were going to Harrods, but we decided to go into the National Gallery inside. It was getting really cold and still raining. Basically whenever we went into a place it stopped raining, and when we came out yeah it would start up again. Sweetness. We went to one of the special free shows at the National Gallery, and boy was it crowded! We were there for about an hour, but it was so busy that you had to hit people to get them out of the way so you could see the painting.

That's another place that amazes me. All these paintings, more than 150 years old and they are in excellent condition. We got the audio guides and I think it's amusing when they say, "Even though he signed this in 1881, it was actually painted two years previous to the date" HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT? Were you there? Some of the paintings though are just amazing, there was one of the Thames which I really loved, gee wonder why... There was this huge one of boys on a beach, and the insight on the audio guides made me go, "how long did you look at this painting to figure that one out?" So amazing that people can paint in such detail, I mean I couldn't paint a smiley face.

Oh so when we were at Buckingham Palace, they closed the road that is next to St. James Park for some military thing. There was all these kids in their military clothes... it was cool. There was a marching band, and I was looking for Lauzey in the crowd just because their uniforms reminded me of her... of course she is in Bourne, but hey. I got a few pictures of the cool uniforms, and then we followed them as far as they went. They turned into a street before the Palace. We did notice one very important thing as we walked down the road... we were walking on the RIGHT side of the road, and everyone was walking at us coming from the other direction. Anyone walking toward the Palace was on the left. So in England we were on the wrong side of the road. Um. But see the problem is, I can remember being at St. Bs, and being yelled at for daring to want to walk on the left... you always walk on the right, when you are in the halls or the stairs. It's one of those things, and by the 8th grade, after 9 years of this teaching you don't even think about walking on the left. I didn't at least. So as much as I want to dive into the culture of England, I can't just forget years of being yelled at for walking on the left. It won't happen, but maybe by the day I leave, I might walk on the left. HAHA. Of course the British don't have a side that they walk on, they walk whenever they want. Left, right, as long as they get there in their SLOW pace, they are find. Stairs are impossible! They can't pick a side.

At Buckingham Palace, I noticed they had some Greek or Roman designs going on, of course there is that huge statue with the outer statues of the people with lions and stuff, but below them, or on the wall there are people looking very Greek or Roman... I was amused! I didn't notice that last time, I was too busy gaping at the huge statues!!!

Oh I'm not sure if I have introduced Sammy and Mary. Mary is Kathleen's friend from home, and Sammy is Mary's friend and they are traveling together throughout the UK. Mary is insane, a lot like Kathleen. Loud, but fun, I like her a lot. Sammy is a little more quiet, a lot of fun too, but she's a DeadWings fan. WHY DO I MEET DEADWINGS FANS, DEVILS FANS, AND CANUCKS FANS?? What did I do to deserve this? Harry is from Jersey, Mary likes the Canucks, and Sammy likes the DeadWings. I can't hold back my hatred of the DeadWings, it's impossible. I tried, but when she told me this I was in my room, and I looked up at Patrick on my wall, and yeah I couldn't hold back. Granted the rivarly is nothing these days, ever since Pat retired, but I still love to hate them.

I found out that I can listen to the Avs on the radio... WOHOO! But um I wasted my time last night. Theodore was in net.. ick! He let in 8 goals! The refs gave the Avs 7 penalties, which I doubt they deserved half of them, the Avs aren't a big penalty team. Svatos didn't get a penalty last night, I was impressed... hahaa. It was insane though, the Habs scored 5 goals in one period, but stupid goalie did not better, he let in 5 goals. I would have pulled both goalies. What a goalie, stupid goalie for stupid goalie. Why does no one give Peter Budaj a chance? I'd play him, he's never been compared to Patrick and he never took time away from him... hehe. But no really, he's a decent goalie, but noooo he's backup to stupid idiot. Argh! PATRICK COME BACK!

Okay so that was Avalanche ranting for the week, P.S. John Michael Liles, wow you took #4, ummm live up to that one, and I will love you more if that is possible, Svatos, if I had a third of your talent, I would never stop thanking God, you are amazing! I've seen the highlights, and you makes me want to puke he's sooo good! And of course Joe, you are just awesome, and you too Milan! Okay I'm done, just really excited that I can stay up to 3am listening to them! I only do it on Thursday-Saturday though...

Oh hahah I almost forgot, back to London... Westminster Underground Station was closed today. I thought someone died down there... they were police officers with GUNS! Like huge guns, um no they were filming Harry Potter. I got home, went to Comingsoon.net, and saw the headline about a HP filming report from the Westminster Underground Station. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I was in that station, we went down the stairs because we didn't know all of it was closed, just maybe the first entrance... I couldn't believe it. There was no cameras though, no nothing... just police officers with huge guns! Argh!

Hey, so I am doing something I have never done before... I am posting on my blog before writing in my Red Book. The only reason is though, I'm sitting on my bed with my computer, and my book is at my desk... um too far away. Anyway, I have exciting news...

I WENT TO THE BRITISH MUSEUM TODAY! WOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!

I went with Kathleen and Amaya, we left around like 12:30 and Cassie was still in class.. sad, but we will be going back, because we barely saw anything. I only took 120 pictures... But it was so easy to get to! We went to Waterloo, and I rode the Underground for only the second time... exciting. We went on the Northern Line, and up like 3 stops to Totterham Court Road. On the map it looked like a long way to the museum, but it was the closest, and maps lie! It was up the road, and there was signs the whole way for us to follow. I told Kathleen and Amaya that we would follow the signs, and we do not know better than the signs! We have had a few instances where we think we know more than the signs... sigh. Anyway, so we get there, and this building is designed in a Greek style. It has the little statues at the top telling a story, maybe, or just for decoration in this case. But usually they tell a story, it's good to know I remember things from my classes! I took out my camera at once, took a few pictures, and then we went in. I warned Kathleen and Amaya that I would be going nuts when we reached the Rome and Greek rooms since I love the Romans and Greeks! Like love, or obsessive! So we go in, and right away there are two little busts of Roman emperors... WOW. I didn't know them though, they weren't important enough for our class. But then I saw Hadrian and Septimius Severus and I got really excited. Severus isn't one of my favorite emperors, but it was more of the fact that it was there, and I was looking at it.

So right after the entrance is some of the Egyptian stuff. They don't have all the Egyptian stuff together, there are some here, some there... it's all spread out. We saw some really old art, the Rosetta Stone, which when we were looking at that there was a group from Asia, and I went on the other side because they were crowding, and all a sudden they came to the other side and I got pushed almost out of the room. Um it was not cool. I couldn't say anything because they didn't speak English! So I went went to the other side, looked at it, and when they left I went back and got to take a picture of this awesome stone! Kathleen was really excited about this part of the museum, I don't blame her, I thought it was sweet, but the main reason I wanted to come was coming up soon!!! From Egypt, we went to the Greeks in Italy, the Etruscans, and those two were unbelievable! Especially Greeks in Italy, because it's about the Greeks, and the Greek art is fasnicating! I believe it was here, that I nearly died for the first time... there is a piece of art that depicts Odysseus and his men blinding the Cyclops! WOW! To read the Odyssey, and love Odysseus is one thing, to actually be in a room with this piece of art that was made THOUSANDS of years ago, is breathtaking! I was speechless, though I was able to call over Kathleen and Amaya. It was then that I believe I realized, wow, this whole museum has so much stuff from times even before the Romans... to the time of Troy and BEFORE!. I still can't believe that this stuff exists and in such good condition. The Greek art was perfect, how can this stuff be in this condition?

First of all, how was all this stuff made? I mean, seeing the pictures in text books is one thing, you think, wow that stuff is cool, but seeing it in person is an experience that I will always treasure and I cannot wait to go back. All this stuff makes all those hours I've spent studying history worth it... that I can look at something and be like, yeah I know what they is! I know Odysseus and that scene that is on that artifact... great scene. Or there was a piece of art that has Orestes on it... now I forgot to ask Shorty this, but I think I read something about Orestes, and that's why I took a picture of it. I was not an amateur in this museum, I recognized things and knew their history, and that was an great feeling.

Anyway to the big room... ROME! Now let start off by complainining... haha.. WHERE WAS JULIUS CAESAR? Excuse me? Where was stuff about the man who conquered everybody? I saw his name mentioned once, and it was talking about Actium, which by that time he was dead. Ummm. I know there are more Rome rooms, and when I go back and want to see some Julius Caesar, because you can't have Rome exhibits without him, he started it all! There were a lot of Augustus busts, which is cool, Augustus is awesome, but he's not his uncle. Maybe I've watched HBO Rome too much, but I love Julius Caesar, I think he was a good guy who got a lot done. Yeah he had no respect for people's privacy and he conquered some of Germany, all of Gaul, some of Spain, came to England, and um is that it? I think so. But this guy in my opinion was awesome, he did a lot of good for Rome, but he was too advanced in his thinking and was killed because of it...
So there is a lot of Augustus, and the first thing I saw was Drusus! Wow! He was the one who was really popular, and would have been Augustus's heir expect he fell off his horse in Germania and died. Um, not a cool way to go. After seeing him I saw Augustus and got my picture taken with him, hahah, and then there was the jewerly from Rome... such beautiful stuff. Wow, and then there was some weapons. I don't think I'm being very clear on the order of seeing everything, but we went into a good number of rooms, and by now I'm just drooling at everything, so my mind is back like 2000 years ago. There is busts of Livia and Augustus, who of course were married, Germanincus who also died, he was the grandson of Augustus and his father was Drusus. He was a popular choice to succeed Augustus so he too died... I also saw Gaius Caesar who was the son of Agrippa and Julie, but later adopted by Augustus, who was to be his heir, but yeah he died too. Augustus did not have a lot of luck with his heirs, he out lived basically all of them, and then had to 'settle' with Tiberius! So there's a bit of Roman history for you, I love how I remember all of that from last year!

Kathleen and Amaya posed with Hadrian, and as I was taking their picture my eyes went to the left, and I saw Antininius Pius, and I freaked out because I knew Marcus Aurelius had to be around there somewhere... he was behind me. WOW! Not only did they have the bust of MA, but his wife or daughter, they aren't sure who it is, and they had Lucius Verus and Trajan! I had to tell the story of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus to Kathleen and Amaya, I don't know if they cared, but I had to tell it. I was in heaven when I found the bust of Marcus Aurelius... well this is obvious but I love him, and he's my favorite emperor. I read Mediations over the summer and just loved it!

So now that my life is complete, we kept walking through, and we saw a lot of artifacts that has to do with life in everyday Rome. There was displays of different jobs, marriage, cooking, medicine... everything. They also had a lot of little statues of the different gods, and Kathleen loves Hercules so there are a lot of pictures of him!

One of the coolest things I saw was the scabbard of Tiberius. Now I am not a big Tiberius fan, that whole thing with Astrology and his self exile really freaks me out, though they say he was a great general... but just seeing that pieces of his sword, well his scabbard, I thought was one of the coolest things I've ever seen!

Take a look at my pictures because I took a lot, um, and some of them are just wicked. I cannot wait to go back, and I'm bringing my notebook next time so I can write down the order in which I see things. It's like when I watch a movie, I barely remember it, because I'm so caught up in the action, the music, the direction and the story. If I don't remember a movie, it means I really liked it!

So I forgot to mention this in my last post... but I had a moment when I was on the bus coming home from Oxford. As soon as the bus started going I was asleep... and I slept the whole way to London. I woke up though because we stopped suddenly, and I opened an eye, that was painful because of my contacts but I opened an eye, and closed it again. I knew where I was without thinking about it. And not only that, I thought as I closed my eye again, "Why is the bus not moving? The stop light is flashing both orange and red" OMG! That use to freak me out, you could go when the light flashed yellow! But not anymore.

Back to the point where I knew where I was, I recognizied Kensington at once, and knew I still had like 20 minutes to this trip, and that was 20 more minutes I could sleep! I did not wake up and think, "Oh no did I miss my stop?" Nope I was cool, calm, and tired, so I closed my eyes again.

The whole driving on the wrong side of the road thing still kinda gets me, I still look at total of 4 times before I cross the street, I mean I look in the right direction when I am crossing, but as I am crossing, I look in the direction that the cars should be coming from if I was in the US. That habit will be hard to break, if it breaks, but it does not matter, because the first time I look it is the correct way for being in England.

I was so excited though when I was on the bus, and I had this moment. I just had to share it with everyone!

Okay so Oxford. I love Oxford... and Friday night about 1am I thought hey why don't I go to Oxford? Monica and I had been planning on going to London but things kept coming up at Oxford so we decided not to go. Instead I went to Oxford. The British life and Culture class was going to Oxford too, so I met up with the girls. I got there around 2:30 and they were touring Christ Church, so I got food and went in search of Monica. There was some ceremony that required them to dress up in their robes, but because Monica is a visiting student she couldn't be apart of it. Sad, but she got dressed up and was there for pictures. It was weird though, I knew this ceremony was going on near the bridge... the original is in Venice, but the name escapes me right now, anyway I went to the bridge, looked down at my cell phone to see the time, and almost bumped into Monica. Out of all the people in Oxford and trust me there was a lot, I nearly bump into the one person I am looking for... um WEIRD! So I found Monica, I went back to her dorm, but a few minutes later the girls were done touring and I brought them to The Eagle and Child. Ah The Eagle and Child, how I love thee. That was fun, I got more food, they had desert and it was a good time. The girls left around 5pm, so they really only spent like 5 hours at Oxford, which is sad. I could spend my whole life there. So I was on my own again, Monica was off taking pictures of her robes with her friends... hahaha. I walked up High Street, the main street in Oxford because when I got to Oxford I went past Alfred Street. That struck me... I knew Alfred Street but I wasn't sure from where. Lucky for me, in my bag was the list of addresses that Tolkien lived at, and yes there it was, 1 Alfred Street! I found a Tolkien house! I went and took a picture of it, stood and stared and wondered where his study was... you know the usual.

After that I went to the dining hall with Monica and that was interesting. I appreciate my own cooking much more now. It wasn't bad, but it's free and they don't seem to really care so I had some kind of pasta with some weird sauce... There was only water to drink. Some kids had a bottle of wine but the staff took it away, that was sad. It was just about gone, but still sad. We sat up at the high table because there was so many of us that we couldn't all fit. Monica's friend Corynn, Hannah, and a few others ate dinner with us. After dinner and um all of them are still in their robes decided we need to go Sainsbury's. They went to Sainsbury's in their robes... HAHA! It was awesome. Hannah kept making fun of our accent, and as the night went on it became much more valley girl. It was funny, but now Monica is more aware of how many times she says, "Awesome and oh my God". We argued that no we don't say those sayings a lot, but a few hours later I admitted that we do.

After Sainsbury's they finally changed and we went down to play a few games of pool in the JRC room. That was fun. I got killed in pool and table football... I always forgot the goalie. Bring on air hockey, I'll kill anyone in it!

So it was a good night, I met more of Monica's friends, we went out for food, and Ice cream! Jack led the way for ice cream and I swear he didn't know where he was going, but we got there! One of the kids with us, Dan, reminded me so much of Ron Weasley. He has red hair that goes to his shoulders, and he's quiet... it was Ron. Another kid Joel is a whole different story, he kept wanting to talk politics, and especially John Kerry. He nearly had a heart attack when he found out I was from Mass too! I kept changing the subject, I hate talking politics. So that was Saturday night, but the big event was coming... the Harry Potter society meeting! WOOHOO!

The Harry Potter society met at some college near the Radcliffe Camera. It's sooo beautiful! I love it! Anyway, I just thought that I would be on the sidelines and watch, but yeah I was involved. I just sat down next to Monica. She got Corynn and Laura to come too, so we were all together. Everyone had to introduce themselves, say their college, what they were studying and their favorite character. So when it came to me I said: "Hi I'm Courtney, I'm a visiting student from St. Peters, and I'm studying English. I love the Marauders." St. Peter's is Monica's college by the way! So yeah, I passed myself off as an Oxford student. A lot of people said that Remus and Sirius were their favorite characters and as it was mostly a female group I wasn't surprised. No one said Harry, but in my opinion that's a given, he's the main character he's awesome, so you pick someone else. I love so many characters that I had a hard time choosing. So then they said to get into groups of 6, so that there was 4 groups. I stuck with Monica and her friends, and 3 other people joined our group. One wanted to be in Slytherin... but she was still cool. Monica and I of course were all for Gryffindor.

So to determine which house your group was, they had 3 tasks (hahah like the Triwizard Tournament), and the first one was we had to create the title of Book 7 using three letters that they gave us. The letters were RNT. Someone in my group thought of Raging Nymphadora Tonks, but we decided on Harry Potter and the Reign of Neville's Toad! SORRY TO INTERRUPT STORY BUT MONICA BUCCINI IS UPSET THAT I FORGOT TO WRITE THAT THE STORY TITLE WAS HER IDEA! We got points with the Head of Gryffindor for that one as he is a big fan of Neville! The Tonks one was funny, but Neville got us points! The second task was a trivia quiz, and omg I showed my geekiness in this one. We worked as a group to answer the questions. The first question was, "What is the name of the Weasley's house" Monica started writing Gryffindor, but I said it was the Burrow. The next question... this was it. I revealed myself. The question was, "What is the password to the Prefect's Bathroom" and before Monica or anyone could go, 'uhhhhh' I was writing down the answer. I didn't think that was a hard question, but it was. When I realized what I had done I put my hood over my head and hid. I couldn't believe it...

Everyone was really impressed with this, but I was mortified. Anyway, now everyone thinks I have all the answers, and this kid Robin and I answered the next few questions. So all is well, until we came to this question: What do bowtuckles eat? And at once Robin said, "Well they eat fairy eggs if they can get them, but I don't know what they mainly eat." I said wood lice, but no one believed me. And they do eat wood lice... I was right, I'm a complete geek.

There was one more test that my group did horribly at... omg, it was bad. We had to pass a balloon, and we held the balloons under our chins, and we couldn't use our hands... and yeah that didn't happen that well. Then we had it between our knees, and that was even worse.

But the good news is... WE GOT GRYFFINDOR! WOOHOOO! So exciting! I cheered so loud, and high fived Monica. One of the girls wanted Slytherin but ew to that. The Head of Slytherin had on a cape and we needed to stay far away from that!

Too bad that I don't go to Oxford! Lol. I told my fellow Gryffindors that no I was not a student, sorry, and they were cool with it. They thanked me for helping them get into Gryffindor. I left Oxford after that, and it was a sweet weekend!

I'm at Oxford right now, I actually just woke up. I've never slept on the floor before, and it wasn't that bad. Or I might have passed out because I was so tired and don't know the difference... either way it was fine. Cold, but fine. I meant to write before now, I have a few interesting tales, and now I have to catch up because Oxford posts are always really long! First I'll start with yesterday: Elyse asked me awhile ago if I would go to Roehampton University and get a sweatshirt for her. Sure, why not, I thought, it's just past Richmond Park. Um. I waited until Friday to go figuring if, or wait when I got lost, I would need time, and things around here close early. I got on the uni bus and went to Roehampton Vale, which is part of the Kingston campus, and it's where the engineers study. From there all I had to do was find Richmond Park, go through it and Roehampton should be on the other side. Sounds simple... oh I wish it was. So at Roehampton Vale, I walked away from the Robin Hood Roundabout because I remembered from maps that it was not near it, so I walked and I figured I had Richmond Park on my left. I did, but the problem was, I couldn't get in. Next to the road is the golf course, and next to that is Richmond Park so I found out about after a mile of walking that there was no entrance to Richmond Park. I turned around because I didn't know how far this went, or if I was going in the right direction. So that's two miles right there. I stopped in at the Asda, a cheap grocery store to get something to drink and rest, and then I continued on my way. Oh did I mention Asda is part of Walmart... cool, I have a place to buy my clothes. Asda is Walmart with more food. Sweet. Anyway, so I walked past Roehampton Vale, and there I found it, the entrance to Richmond Park. As I was entering two horses were leaving... they were so cute. By now though I'm tired, my legs hurt, I've been awake for maybe 3 hours and it's like 3 in the afternoon.. hehe. But I enter a park and all is well in the world. Richmond Park is beautiful. Well what park isn't? It doesn't look like Hyde Park with the trails and it looks very natural. There are deer just hanging out. I got close enough to take a picture, and one looked up at me and gave me like a death glare. Yeah I ran. There was also a lot of dead trees, and high grass. It's very nice, and I love it. The walk through Richmond Park was breathtaking and I cannot wait to go back. It's all open fields, it looks like it goes on forever. One day I'll actually walk through it, I kept to the side because I was going toward Roehampton Gate. So I have pictures of Richmond Park, go see them, they are beautiful. At Roehampton Gate, I had no idea which way to go. There was a sign that said, "Roehampton 3/4" So I went that way. I passed a few schools, all grammar schools, and then there was neighborhood after neighborhood. I walked more than 3/4 of a mile, I walked for like 20-30 minutes until I finally just sat down at a bus stop. I was soooo tired, and my legs killed. I was thinking about heading home, when I realized I gave my last two pounds to Kathleen so she could get Coke the previous night. Super. I have no money, and I'm in the middle of no where! As I was sitting there just thinking of turning around, a car went by me that on the side said, "Roehampton University." I got up and sprinted after the car. No joke, I full out ran. I kept up with the car for like 30 seconds but it disappeared from my sight. No big deal, it led me to an intersection and to my right I saw a lot of college looking kids. I had found Roehampton. If I had gone left I probably would have found the other 3 campuses, and the one I wanted, but oh well, I found Whitelands. I didn't find a sweatshirt though, but I got to see a nice looking campus. So next post: Oxford. This one would be really long if I kept going.

Sorry I haven't written in a while. Ha, what's exciting after going to Oxford??? Well let me catch you up to present day, Monica is at Oxford and having a good time. She went early Sunday morning, yes early, very early for someone who wanted to sleep in!

But since I last wrote I have been doing homework... and just for laughs more homework. Every two weeks I have to read three novels and a play, but they are all due on the same week so I never do anything but read. I read the first half of the novels the first week, and the second half the following. The novels aren't bad, I actually am reading more interesting novels than at home... though I will be reading The Tempest AGAIN this semester. This makes three semesters in a row... I cannot do it again. I finished Oliver Twist, Moll Flanders and now am working on Wuthering Heights. I'm having a good time though, I enjoy my classes and the discussions. Tuesday is a hard day because I'm in class for 6 hours straight, it wasn't that I was starving by the end, but I had trouble staying awake by the end of it... its all very interesting but 6 hours straight! I'll need to plan my Tuesday better so I am more attentive in class next week. My favorite course is Scriptwriting, the class goes by way too fast. Last week we watched interviews with the cast of Vera Drake and watched the scene where she is arrested. The director did not tell her what was going to happen at the end of the scene, or anyone, so everyone's reactions were genuine. It made me think of Narnia, when Lucy first looks at the land of Narnia and the director made her close her eyes, and when she opened them he started filming and her reactions were genuine. And of course there is a M*A*S*H reference here, when Radar told the OR that Henry had died, but not even he knew what he was going to be saying... those reactions are the best, and I love when a director pulls something like that.

Anyway, Wednesday was interesting, but also annoying. We (flat mates and I) decided to go to The Globe to see The Comedy of Errors. Great, sounds like a good time. They had class until 5pm, I was done at 2pm, so we agreed to meet at the Kingston train station after their class. I went to Kingston and was waiting for them, but they decided to go back to the dorms to drop off their bags. They didn't think to call me and tell me this. They got on at Hampton Wick, and I met them on the train. We got to Waterloo at like 6:30ish... yeah late. They wanted food, so we stopped at McDonalds and Burger King, yes I broke my rule about stopping at an American fast food restaurant. By the time we got to the Globe, it was 7:15ish. Awesome. The show was sold out. We sat by the Thames and tried to figure out what to do, and of course eating was the answer. A guy told us that there is some restaurants about 5 minutes down the Thames. Cool. Um dude, it was 15 minutes! And we (I mean I) walk fast. But we found this pub/restaurant, Studio 60 and I got a brownie ice cream thing... it was good. We sat there for like an hour, probably more just doing some good old flat mate bonding, not that we need it. After that we walked the Thames and saw Big Ben, London Eye and that area all lit up, and it was very nice.

A few nights later we taught Martin how to make a grill cheese sandwich and that was exciting. My flat mates and I have been going insane over grill cheese and tomato soup. It's such an easy meal to make, but if one of us has it, then guaranteed someone else will have it. The British don't have grill cheese though, I would have thought they would- it's basically toast and they love toast.

Oh my flat mates and I are also going to Valenica, Spain for reading week. I mean the girls of course, we are spending a week with Kathleen's friend! So glad all of us speak Spanish...

This is somewhat of a continuation from my post about London since I was sooo far behind... so in my journal I've actually been writing awhile. This is important because the second part of my London post was written in THE EAGLE AND CHILD! Yes, I am sitting in The Eagle and Child writing, right now, at this second. First I am in Oxford, second, I am in Tolkien's pub! OMG! OMG! I know, so exciting, all my dreams, well most of them, have come true. But I'll get back to The Eagle and Child later because that's near the end of my day, and it has been quite a day.

Monica and I woke up early today, like 8am. So early after being out so late yesterday! It was Oxford day though... so I was up. I don't think I actually slept. I first had to go to school to do something, so that took way too long, and screwed us up. Oh well, we were suppose to be on a train at 9:04am, but yeah we got to the train station in Kingston at 9:15am. Oh I didn't mention that we had the really heavy bag of Monica's with us, it was being dropped off at Oxford! That slowed us down a bit, but since it would make her life easier on Sunday when moving it, I didn't complain... that much.

We jumped right on the train at Kingston and made our way to Clapham Junction. There we had to catch the bus to Victoria and omg that was the first time I had to drag that bag up the stairs. It was not fun. Monica though couldn't lift it, and I didn't want her to hurt herself, so I put on my game face, and lifted it by the handles up the stairs. But we got on a train and made our way to Victoria. Oh Victoria, how I hate thee. The signs confused us and brought us all over the place and of course we still had the bag. We took turns lugging it around, though when there was more than a step or something the bag was mine. Lovely. We did finally find the bus after like 20 minutes of walking, standing in lines in the wrong place, and almost pleading to be let on a bus going to Oxford. We ordered tickets the previous night, and all I had was the confirmation numbers because I still do not have my printer... um. We were 20 minutes late for the bus we should have been on, but these buses leave like every 10 minutes so they let us on, and the bag got put in the back so I didn't have to worry about it for 2 hours... yyyeeeeaaaaahhhh!!!!! We should have had enough time to find our bus if Victoria wasn't so stupid with all the confusing signs and lack of correct signs. Oh well, we made it to Oxford.

We didn't exactly sleep on the bus, I wish we did, but at least for me I just had my eyes closed. The bus jolted many times, but this one time I opened my eyes when it did, and it was amazing... we were in The Shire. Monica opened her eyes at the same time, and we just gaped. It was the Shire, think of Fellowship of the Ring, in the beginning and that is what I saw... okay so there wasn't three foot little people farming, drinking and smoking, but it was the Shire. Have I said that enough? There was rolling green hills, flat lands that had hundreds of sheep, not as many cows but a lot, and the only colors were brown and green! There was so much farm land, but then in the distance was rolling hills, that were just unbelievable! If there were fences, they were wooden ones, really old, that look like one good kick could destroy them. Monica thinks I shouldn't be thinking of kicking down fences, but that's the best way to describe them! They are old! Hedges are another form of fences, but they aren't needed that much... the road is somewhat small and I didn't see a single person! It's so beautiful! The grass is so freaking green, everything is perfect! I just told Monica that it seemed like the ground was high, and that we were closer to the sky and heaven. She didn't laugh. Maybe the ground was higher, and we were on the top deck of a double decker, but that's what it looked like, that this was one step closer to Heaven, cause that's what I was thinking. It was the Shire though, no doubt, this is what Tolkien wrote about! I seriously could write about this forever, and never do it justice!

If the fields were amazing, the little cottages were out of this world! It's hard to describe, but once again they were old looking, probably been there for hundreds of years. I felt like I was in Braveheart or Monty Python! The roads were paved, but these little cottages! Some of them had thatched roofs! No joke! It was unbelievable and out of this world! I couldn't stop staring! The roads were small, somehow big enough for one lane on each side, but I wouldn't want to be coming the other way with a double decker on the road! I felt like I was in the wagon going up to Bag End with Gandalf and Frodo! In Tolkien's time I'm sure there were even more fields and these old houses so I can see why he loved the Shire, he didn't create it, it was and is still here!

Oxford though, a big beautiful place, it reminds me a lot of Kingston just with a hundred very old colleges and each old building has a tower! The shopping centre is insane... every store, even a Disney Store. (DISNEY CULT). But of course with all this beauty, there had to be trouble... and big trouble!

Monica said we had to get off at Gloucester Green. Okay cool, sounds like a great place. The driver at one of the stops came upstairs and said Gloucester Green was the next stop. Sweet deal. The area we were in was looking pretty residental but ok. So we got off at the next stop, and yeah it wasn't the right spot, and yeah it wasn't even close. Not only was it not the right place, we asked someone, and they said, "take a bus" so we weren't even close. Oh and did I mention we still had the bag. Yeah we did. So we walked and walked looking for a good place to catch the bus. We went by Brooks University which I guess is a college in Oxford, and I couldn't understand why Monica didn't go there... it was nice and close, nooo she had to go to St. Peters which was far away. Anyway, we caught a bus, I dragged the bag onto the bus, and we sat and thought, "Where the heck are we?" I took out the maps, and we weren't even on the map. That's a scary feeling, not being on the map. Of course the maps were one that Oxford sent her, and one in a guide book... but still WE WEREN'T ON THE MAP! So the bus is going along toward Town Centre, and it makes a few stops, and we still aren't on the map. But then, like the light at the end of the tunnel, we are on the map! We passed Magdelen College which is where C.S Lewis taught! So I put the books away ready to jump off the bus when we reach our destination, and we get stuck in traffic. Oxford is doing a lot of construction so we sat and waited. But finally we made it to the town centre, and the centre of OXFORD!

We found St. Peters College without trouble, and we went inside to the main office. We met this girl who was graduating from Oxford that day, or the next day and she was all smiles. Monica hung onto like every word, and the girl wished her luck. She then got a key to her dorm, Staircase 4, room 25. We didn't know where Staircase 4 was, so the guy was like, "I'll point it out to you" but the girl volunteered to led us, so we took her up on the offer. I took the bag, and let Monica get her first really good look at St. Peters. She kept looking back at me to make sure I was still there, and I kept telling her not to worry about me, worry about looking around. Staircase 4 is the dorm that has a lot of ivy on it, and looks like its at least 5oo years old. She lives in a typical Oxford dorm. Her room is on the 4th floor so guess who had to drag her bag up those flights of stairs... yep me. We couldn't find an elevator, the building is probably too old to have one. I got lunch for dragging her bag up the stairs, it's like almost 60lbs. Her room is in a little squad, somewhat like the Towers, but more circular. It's beautiful, it's so old looking, with a little antique desk, an old looking chair, a wooden wardrobe, a walk in closet (jealous), and windows that barely open cause they are so old. But its beautiful, it screams Oxford, and she was in heaven. I was expecting a four poster bed but nope not the case. Monica took pictures of every angle of the room, and we took pictures of each other sitting at the desk with a notebook (it just had to be done). We finally dropped off the bag, omg I was way too excited to leave that thing behind, and then we went out to explore Oxford.

Oxford is a lot like Kingston, which I think I already said, but there are parts that are closed to cars, and it's just one store after another. Monica was relieved when she saw two Pizza Huts, and a McDonalds (just kidding). But it's so nice with all the towers, the old colleges, and the little pubs. We went to a restaurant called Ask, and it was really good. We got soup and salad, and I had a wonderful piece of chocolate cake. Omg... it was heaven. This was my birthday/thanks for dragging my bag around Heathrow/Kingston and up the stairs present from Monica so that was cool! After lunch we began our sight seeing tour of Oxford. According to the maps everything was really far from each other, and we were actually thinking of taking buses just so we can reach everything. We did decide to walk the first part just to see the town centre. Our first destination was the walkway where Tolkien and Lewis walked all the time and discussed life, politics, their books and religion. So if they walked it so did we! It was on one of the maps but on the edge so like miles away... haha. We hoped for the best and walked down High Street. We took a little detour off High Street though, Monica saw a petty building and it was the Radcliffe Camera. It's the main library in a series of buildings and so beautiful! We could see the inside of it a little bit, there were students inside studying, and we saw soo many books. It's a big circular building that looks so old, and so awesome. It's made out of stone of course, just like everything else in Oxford. I'd die for that to be my library. Sadly the colleges and this building were off limits to visitors... Monica better start making friends at all these different colleges so we can get in. So after drooling at Radcliffe Camera, we came upon a gathering of people in robes. No we did not stumble upon Hogwarts. As we walked around Oxford we kept seeing these people in robes, college age people, and they had black robes with the collar lined with fur. Take away the fur and I want it! But now we came upon a big group of them, and we took pictures. It was the graduation... I guess they graduate in the fall. We tried not to stare but failed. Monica will have robes too, but not lined with fur or anything. It was cool!

We then saw the Bridge of Size, the original is in Venice so might have to go see that, it was awesome and really beautiful! Pictures were taken of course. We walked down to Holywell Road and we thought why not walk down it. We came upon a part of Merton College where Tolkien taught. It wasn't the main campus because that has a cool gate but I still took my picture in front of it. Then the big one came... we had written down some of the places where Tolkien had lived, because he moved a hundred times. He lived on Holywell Road!!! 99 Holywell Road to be exact. We found his house... we tried not to stare but we did, and we took pictures! It was unbelievable to be there, to be standing in front of his house, where he wrote some of the Lord of the Rings. Of course it would have been cooler if he didn't move a hundred times, but it was still amazing. It's cool though because there are little pieces of Tolkien all over Oxford, and we will be finding all of them! When we were at the house we tried to pretend that it was some random street, we had no interest in it, but I failed, Monica was a little better but I was silly.

So we walked back to High Street and continued on our way. It wasn't that far down High Street that we came upon another little treasure. First there was a little river, stream, whatever and there was like 10 boats in the water. Just little ones, but it was cute and Monica took a picture of it. But then we found the little bridge. There are actually two white bridges and it was so cute. Pictures of course were taken. We couldn't go over the bridge though, we were sooo sad. The only entrance we could find was on school grounds that were not open to visitors. So then we saw Magdalen College again, and that was awesome. We could not find the walkway though, the map didn't give us enough information so we went back down High Street to Carfax Tower. We figure we have 9 months to see everything, and it was raining off and on, so we would rather do the walkway when it's not raining.

So we walked down High Street, which as I'm sure you have figured out by now it's like the main street in Oxford, and I noticed Merton Street. We of course went down because Tolkien lived on Merton Street, and we figured that this is where Merton College is located. We found the college, Monica got her picture taken in front of it, and as I was taking the picture I realized that right across the street was 21 Merton Road... Tolkien's house. We admired the house, and thankfully no one else was on the street so we didn't have to hold back on the camera. I did think though, "What if someone comes out of this house? Do they think, oh geeze, more Tolkien geeks?" HAHAHA! Oh well.

So to Carfax Tower we went. We had to pay to get in but it was well worth it. There are 99 steps to Carfax Tower and it's steep and a little dangerous. There are lots of warnings about climbing and being up there, but we went, and it was fine. If we hadn't been making Harry Potter jokes on the way up I wouldn't have been breathing heavily, but I was laughing so much I paid for it. Lol. The view is unbelievable, you see all of Oxford and beyond. You see all the towers, and in the distance the hills... it was just breathtaking. Of course while we were up there a bell went off, not sure which one because there are many bells, it seems like one is always going off. It was sweet, it was like the one time that it was not raining. Monica took so many pictures, and I just stared. It was beautiful to see. I could have stayed up there for hours.

So after Carfax Tower, and the fun of getting down the stairs we went to Christ Church. On the stupid maps we had it showed Christ Church on the bottom of the map, ages away, but we went anyway. We were there in like 2 minutes. Stupid maps. We didn't go inside Christ Church though, I was getting a little anxious to get to The Eagle and Child, and I figure we have a year. So we looked at the buildings, the grass, and I told Monica she needs to make a friend here. Lol. We saw Old Tom, the clocktower, well how can you miss it? Christ Church is important because it is where some of HP was filmed, or is filmed. The staircase where they first meet McGonagall... oh yeah it's in here.

So The Eagle and Child, another long walk according to the map. Um maybe 10 minutes... not even. On the way though we stopped to check the stupid map and I realized we were one street away from St. John Street, and another home of Tolkien's. I wasn't kidding when I said he moved a lot. We went down to St. John Street and got pictures of that house. There was a few people on the street so we had to be more careful... haha. We also found Gloucester Green, it's a bus station and where we should have really gotten off earlier that day. Stupid bus driver. Oh well.

The Eagle and Child was next, and Monica saw the sign first. I was of mixed emotions, my heart was pounding, but I had a peaceful feeling in my stomach, it was like a homecoming... This place had been the topic of my dreams for so long, and to be going into it... wow. Um, we went in and it's a cute little place, there are pictures on the walls of Tolkien and Lewis, but it doesn't overdo it. When you go in, you get a table and then go to the bar and order food and drinks. We sat and got chips and drinks. Monica got a pint of beer, I got my coke and rum. I couldn't get beer, I just can't do it. I've tried it and I really, really, really, really don't like it. The girl sitting next to us was writing, and I had this great desire to write too! There was a good number of people in the pub. We just kept looking around, we were actually here, in The Eagle and Child, where Lord of the Rings was discussed, and I believe The Hobbit was first read here. OMG! So exciting! Oh I'm no longer in The Eagle and Child, I haven't been for awhile, I did write for a while but then our food came, so I stopped, but I did write for a little bit after that. My hand got tired though. We sat for a while and just soaked up the atmosphere of the pub.

We stayed until like 7pm, and then left to see more of Oxford. We went to see Pembroke College where Tolkien was a student at, I believe. It's by Christ Church so according to the map in another country... haha. We then found a cafe, and we had tea. Yes I had tea. I liked it, it wasn't bad at all. But I had to have tea at some time, and why not in Oxford. I told Monica that when I have fish and chips it will be at The Eagle and Child. I know, fish are friends not food, but it's like illegal to be in England and not try fish and chips.

And that is Oxford, and I am now really tired from typing that up. Wow, it is long!