There and Back Again

Dear Internet,

Another week has flown by. Thank your lucky stars if you’ve had good weather. Ever since last week, it’s been snowing here in England. For this California girl, that’s not good news!

Trying to appreciate the snow

This week in England has been all over the place. I say England and not London because most of my time this week was spent in a bus going up north to Manchester, Ambleside, and Liverpool. Manchester had a really amazing gallery. While some of the art was Victorian, they had an awesome paper art gallery. In it, people had created things like melted motorcycles, trees, and teeny cut out houses all out of paper. It was pretty incredible. My favorite was called "The Tree of Knowledge". It was a real tree branch, stripped of all its real leaves and replaced with artificial leaves. These artificial leaves were cutouts of encyclopedias, novels, and poems cut out in the form of leaves and then glued onto the tree branch. To someone who can't draw stick figures, it was amazing.  

Paper art at Manchester Art Gallery

The Lakeside District blew me away. We went to John Ruskin's house, who was a famous artist and art critic back in his day. While his house was modest in size, his property was incredible. It had snowed the night before so we didn't get to see the garden in its full glory, but it was gorgeous nonetheless. He built paths all around his house, he had multiple gardens (which bloom like crazy in the spring apparently), and a dock built out onto the lake right next to his house. I snapped a zillion pictures... We also drove down to Liverpool and went to the Beatles Experience. Jealous? While we were on the road, we stopped by Castlerigg, a smaller and similar version of Stonehenge. That's where this next picture was taken.

John Ruskin's backyard

On Sunday we got a little worried back in London because the snow had delayed or cancelled a lot of the trains. To get to church, we have to take the tube for a half hour and then a train for another half hour. We were concerned our train would be down, or that it would be down on the way home. The last thing we wanted was to be stuck in a cold, relatively unknown and definitely far away town! We were lucky however to be able to have it working both ways. 

These last few days have been spent doing homework and trying to avoid the cold weather. Monday and Tuesday I spent a few hours in the National Gallery doing some homework for my classes, which is a fantastic place to study if you're looking for one. Today was our first free day! After a much needed sleep-in, a few of us went to a really cool museum and Camden Town. The museum we went to used to belong to Sir John Soane, an architect who designed Downing Street. He collected a LOT of things. The most interesting thing he had that we could see was an Egyptian sarcophagus! He had redesigned a lot of his house so that it could hold more items. It got confusing in there! Camden Town was one big shopping cluster. Stalls packed next to each other, haggling, it's a shopping addicts heaven! We had to abort that mission early because we weren't prepared for the snow that came later today. 

I hope you all stay warm this week wherever you are! Sending you all hugs and kisses.

Love,

Courtney

I've Already Been Here a Week?!

Dear Internet,

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. After a short train ride from Paris to England, I finally am in London! Thankfully, the sun was shining when we got here and the weather was pretty warm, but I’m starting to learn better. My family was here with me for the first few days in London and we had so much fun despite my sister and I feeling a little under the weather.

Our old flat from when we lived in England 15+ years ago!

Our very first day, we discovered a new favorite restaurant, Il Baretto, off of Baker Street. Being a family full of foodies, we were in heaven! Our remaining days included touring around London in their famous double decker buses, seeing sights like the Globe Theater, Tower of London, Saint Paul’s Cathedral, and even the Sherlock Holmes museum. Nights were spent seeing shows on the West End together.  My favorite show we saw was Phantom of the Opera, but that's a family favorite.

My favorite father and I at the Tower of London

The Globe

Our family at the Globe

Mrs. Hudson failed to make an appearance

Phantom's opening scene

Finally the time came for me to part from my family, and what was meant to be a tearful goodbye was rushed because my street was blocked off. Ends up, a house a few down from me was ON FIRE. The fire department had roped off the street so we had to carry all my luggage down half a block. It was thrilling.

My new home!

The next few days were spent getting acquainted with our surroundings, figuring out the tube system, moving into my new home, and getting to know all of the other wonderful people in this program. Sunday was my favorite day because we were assigned into congregations around Greater London in groups of 4. My ward is over by Greenwich, and I was thrilled to be asked to help in primary. Primary is spent teaching the kids in church with songs, games, and other fun things. I specifically help with the 3-6 year olds, who are a bunch of cuddlebugs! I’m in love with all of them.

My kids!

Here’s the weekly play-by-play. I’ll try and keep it short! Monday we had our first day of classes. I’m taking a humanities class, some theater classes, and a religion class. While it’s not a full load, I still have homework and projects to worry about. A big part of my humanities class is visiting certain works of art in the many galleries and museums (that are free might I add) around London. So far I’ve seen Da Vinci’s, Raphael’s, Van Eyck’s, and all sorts of amazing works of art.

Tuesday we took a huge walking tour around London, briefly glazing over some of the top sites and how to get to certain places. Wednesday we crossed the street and walked over to Kensington Palace. It’s seriously right across the street from us. Currently, they have an exhibit all on the life of Queen Victoria, with some of her original dresses included. She was so short! Thursday after classes a few of us went to a gallery and then did a little shopping (sorry Dad!). It had to be done. That night, one of my lovely friends found out that Sleeping Beauty, the ballet, was being performed in London so we all took the tube down to see it in the London Coliseum. IT WAS SO GOOD. The venue was amazing (take a look at the picture), the costumes were fantastic, and the dancing was incredible. I’m running out of adjectives for how great it was!

Sleeping Beauty ballet with my twin Hayley

I did see Will and Kate at Kensington!

Friday we woke up early and went to the Tower of London, known for holding the crown jewels and torture chambers. It was really cool to hear all the stories of things that went on there. Crazy fact: There used to be a zoo there. They even had a polar bear that they used to let swim in the Thames! So crazy.

Tower Bridge with Maile and Tavia

Saturday we took the train out to the beautiful countryside in Kent and went on a 10-mile hike in the mud. While it was cold, I loved it. The English countryside is actually just like you see it in the movies, complete with castles and sprawling landscapes. The perfect word for it is charming. Absolutely charming.

Our Kent walk

That’s all for now! This next week is going to be crazy with a journey to the north to hit a few towns. All I can say is…. countryside bed and breakfasts! Classic British. I miss all of my friends and family back home so much and wish they could be here with me! Especially my little sister, Bayli, whose 16^th birthday was this past Saturday. I miss that spunky little squirt. My Auntie and Uncle also came into town from Oregon, which I was sad to miss out on but luckily I was able to call home and catch up with everyone.  I’m sending you all my love in the form of virtual hugs and kisses. Have a lovely week!

Love,

Courtney

Obsessed with Paris

Dear Internet,

I have 6 words for you. I NEED TO MOVE TO PARIS. 6 words for 6 days spent in one of the most beautiful and historical cities in the world.

My adorable parents

My cute sister and I

Day One was spent at the Musee de Louvre, which I could write pages upon pages about it was so fantastic but I’ll try to keep it short. If I had it my way, I’d live at the fortress-turned-palace-turned-museum forever, spending whole days just staring at the ceilings. I saw the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo, which of course are the main attractions, but what caught my eye the most were the Greek statues. I wish I had the ability to create objects so human-like out of rock. I felt like the statues would start walking around the room if I stared at them long enough.

Louvre

Louvre

My favorite piece ever. Winged Victory

Versailles, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, Arch de Triumph, and Montmarte were also visited with the same reception as the Louvre. Some of these places have been around for centuries and people walk by them like it’s no big deal. Notre Dame is celebrating its 850^th year next year! That’s insane to think that something has been around so long and been through so much. One of my favorites was Montmarte. We arrived at Sans Coeur (the big white cathedral) right as the sun was rising over Paris. My heart melted. This was also where I bought my very first beret! It is sort of a must-do for tourists. 

Sans Coeur

Paris from Montmarte

Gates of Versailles

Versailles

Getting a little silly on a boat cruise

The Eiffel Tower

I was not happy about the lines at the Eiffel Tower

CHRISTMAS MARKET!

Lastly, we went to the Opera National de Paris. This is the most famous opera house in all of Paris, focusing mainly on ballets. Part of the reason I was so taken with the opera house has to do with the fact that this is where the legend of the Phantom of the Opera was born. Considering that is my favorite musical of all time EVER, I was pretty excited by it, especially when they showed us the Phantom’s reserved box in which he “apparently” sat to watch performances. The opera house itself was also very detailed and beautiful. Gold seemed to drip off of the ceilings. It was very reminiscent of Versailles in the sense of grandeur. The best part of the whole tour was a brand new ballet was opening the day we toured, so the whole grand staircase was overflowing with flowers that seemed to be braided into the marble.

Part of the ceiling at the Opera Garnier

I never wanted to leave Paris. I fell in love with it. But sadly, we had to leave my beloved town for my new home in London. While I’m definitely excited to get started on my new life in London, a little part of me will always long for Paris. I’ve even been inspired to take French my next semester at school I’m that devoted to this amazing place. London holds a lot of the unknown, which can be a little scary. But Paris used to be the unknown, so I look at it as something great coming with this New Year. So start your engines London, I’m coming for you! 

Love,

Courtney