Peace out, Grex.

Since I finally finished reading Great Expectations for class tomorrow, I decided to treat myself to an update. I've realized that the more time that elapses between entries, the greater the danger of me forgetting to write down exciting/important things that have happened. So I'm going to try really hard to a) write more often and b) develop a memory of steel. So here goes.

The first of my mandatory class trips was a week ago, we went to Hampton Court and Kew Gardens. As usual, all-around gorgeous. I really need to start finding better synonyms for pretty, beautiful, gorgeous, because I repeat myself excessively, but trust me...the adjectives fit. Anyway, Hampton Court is a palace/castle/what-have-you that's from the Tudor period. We of course got to go inside and check it out. We saw the old kitchens, and what they would have looked like, with big fires, meat all over the place, big pots and shiny plates, etc. They had a lot of meat pies laying around on tables and stuff, which reminded me of Mrs Lovett's pies in Sweeny Todd. We went into the little chapel that was there. As per usual, it was very old and very pretty and elaborate. The ceiling was unlike any other I've seen before, I don't know how to properly explain it but I'll try. It had like...stalactite-ish structures that kinda hung down from it, but they were gold and blue and elaborate. Maybe like trees growing upside down, but without a huge mass of leaves and branches. Ok I wish I just had a picture because I totally can't explain it. Regardless, it was nice.
Then we went to the State Apartments and checked out all the rooms....bedrooms, dining rooms, guardrooms, sitting rooms, etc. All were of course very decorated, beautiful artwork on the walls, some had the painted ceilings depicting elaborate scenes of various types. I don't really remember anything specific that was cooler than Windsor was, so the two castles kinda have mixed together in my memory at this point.
The gardens are a different story. This place had some pretty hot gardens. You walk out of the castle and in front of you are three paths, not all parallel to each other though. The middle one goes out straight, and there's one more on each side that stretch out diagonally. Now, along these paths, there are lots of trees that are really looking a lot like something outta Edward Scissorhands because they are totally perfectly shaped. They're basically just big rounded triangles, but they look awesome. Then we went over to the actual gardens, which are just so perfect, I have no idea how people design such things. They're symmetrical and square or rectangle shaped, with all sorts of little trees/plants/shrubs, and designs cut into the grass and the ground, with paths leading around and sometimes a fountain in the middle, and some statues. So after a few of these gardens, all next to each other but separated by hedgerows, there's the Queen's promenade, which is a walkway situated on a little slope next to a garden. This is positively adorable, it basically has a tunnel framework with branches growing up along it, so it's semi-covered, but not really. Apparently if the Queen wanted to go out with her ladies-in-waiting, she had to be mostly out of the sun because if her skin got a little color, people might think she was a commoner working out in the fields all day. Heaven forbid!
Next, we saw the largest grape vine, according to the Guinness Book of World Records (I kid you not). It's been growing for who knows how long, since like at least the late 1700s I think. And that basically sums up Hampton Court.

Next stop, Kew Gardens. Massive place with plants and such from all over the world. I've never pretended to be super into plants or anything, but this place was really cool. We went into a bunch of greenhouses (that were massive, and multi-leveled) and saw a bazillion types of plants, from flowers to cacti to carnivorous ones, to ones I have no idea how to classify. We spent a lot of time just walking around and checking out the outdoor exhibits, if you'd call them that. They had different areas for different countries and types of climate. They also had this thing called the Tree Walk, which is basically a big circle walkway up in the treetops so you can see the whole area. After climbing 115 or so stairs, we got a really nice view of everything. On our way out, we actually ran into a peacock. Literally, we turned a corner and it was just sitting there on the grass. Nobody actually knows how a peacock was there or why, but it was a cool surprise to just randomly stumble upon.

So that's basically it for that trip. This past weekend I went on the other class trip to Winchester and Portsmouth which I will write about next time.

I also ended up going to Greenwich for the afternoon on Saturday with Anna & Ellen. Let me just say, it was a bit of a trick getting there since the transit people decide that since it's the weekend and people don't have to go to work, they are allowed to just close every single Tube line except for like two. This doesn't necessarily make traveling impossible, just much harder than it has to be. Regardless, we made it there after three or four switches. Now, this was a really nice day, probably about 50 and the sun was shining which made it feel that much warmer. We checked out a market that we stumbled upon after arriving for a little bit, and then we decided to just wander the town and see what we'd come across. Personally, the only thing I definitely wanted to see was the Prime Meridian. So we ended up walking along the Thames which was nice, saw some boats, saw lots of massive buildings across the river, saw some people almost get hit by a big wave caused by a large boat... Then we stopped into the National Maritime Museum, mainly to use the "toilets" and check it out to see if it was interesting. It wasn't.
[Sidenote: Bathrooms here are not bathrooms, restrooms, lavatories, or any other crazy name we would use back home. It's either the Loo, or the Toilets. This at first seems kind of just...weird I guess? At first I was thinking, why don't they just say bathroom or something because that sounds a lot better and less...vulgar, I'm not sure if that's the right word, but that's what I've got. But then I thought, no, they're right. It's a toilet. It's not a RESTroom, I don't think people normally do much resting there. It's not a BATHroom, nobody washes in toilets, I hope. It's a toilet. Skip the polite nonsense and call it what it is. I approve, Brits.]
So, after leaving the Museum, we approached the park. This park is everything a park should be. Lots of greeeeen grass, paths, hills, trees, and TONS of people. Families, babies, little kids, teenagers playing football [soccer of course], dogs running around. Oh, that's another thing...nobody here has leashes for their dogs. It seems a little sketchy, but really, they must just be really well-trained cause I've never seen a problem. So we saw the Royal Observatory sitting way up on this big hill, and we knew that's where the Prime Meridian is, so we hiked up this hill that made me feel 100years old because I was pretty much wheezing once I reached the top. Thankfully, I wasn't alone. So we saw the Prime Meridian, which was pretty excellent. Took a bunch of pictures of ourselves standing in two hemispheres at once, etc etc. They had a sort of museum up there, telling about time and astronomy, but we were too excited to go walking in the park in the nice weather to be too interested in it. So we ended up walking around for a while, climbed another hill and got an AMAZING view of Greenwich, and we could even see some of London from there [the Eye, specifically]. So Greenwich was definitely a nice time, I'd like to go back there at least once more, even if it's just to chill in the park for an afternoon.

Ok, I'm off to bed but I will try to write again this week about the other trips and such.