Journey to England

Random Final Thoughts

2006-06-06T06:57:00.000-07:00

Amazingly, my months in England are coming to an end. As my journey comes to a close, I had a few random thoughts about the last few weeks, and life in the United Kingdom.

While my son, Ian, was visiting last week, we took another trip to Edinburgh. This time the weather was much warmer and sunnier than the last time! We took a walk around a place called Salisbury Crags, which has beautiful views of the town, clear out to the Firth, or bay.

The first picture is of Holyrood Palace, where the Queen stays when she comes to Scotland. The day we were there, the flag of the royals was flying, and policemen were everywhere. Not sure who was there, though!

The second photo was of a friendly pheasant. He was enjoying eating seeds in the grass, and was not at all afraid of our picture-taking! There were many beautiful birds along the path of the Crags. Next to the Crags is a spot called Arthur's Seat. Perhaps the spot where King Arthur sat as he reflected on the Round Table? Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags were both formed by an extinct volcano. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur

I have not written about our town of Lancaster, where we've lived for the last two months. It's a very small town, but it has a large castle. The castle is still being used as a court and a prison, but visitors can take tours through part of it. One of the things the castle is most famous for is the trial of the Pendle Witches. These ladies were accused by their neighbors of being witches, tried in the Lancaster Castle, and taken out to be hanged.

The next picture is of the Golden Lion Pub, where accused criminals, including the witches, were taken for a last drink before being taken to the gallows. The story goes that one man refused to stop. Later, just after he was hanged,a runner came with a reprieve for him. If he had stopped for the drink, he would not have been hanged. Lancaster has a rather dark history!

One lighter spot in town is Williamson Park, at the top of a hill, overlooking town. It contains a large memorial honoring the wife of a rich manufacturer who once lived in town. From the top, one can see clear to Morecambe Bay, on the coast. Williamson Park also has butterfly and bird house, full of beautiful creatures. There are some pictures on this site: http://www.williamsonpark.com/

My final comment is on words, not pictures. We have discovered many different terms for things here compared to the United States. A popsicle is a lolly. French fries are chips, and potato chips are crisps. In Scotland, potatoes are tatties and turnips are neeps. To greet friends on the street, folks say "Are you alright?" To say thank you, one says "Cheers" or "Ta!" If you're amazed about something, you're gobsmacked. If things are really going wrong, they're shambolic; if they're going very well, it's cracking! To hold all one's groceries, people push a trolley around the store; when they are finshed shopping, they return it to the trolley park. In the much-anticipated World Cup tournament coming up, folks here are cheering for their football team, just as Americans cheer for their soccer team. It's fun to realize that even in a land that also speaks English, I've had the chance to learn a new language!

To anyone who is still reading after all this time, I'll see you next week!

Cymru (Wales)

2006-06-02T06:55:00.000-07:00

The U.K. is made up of England, where we live now, and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. We've now managed to visit all but Northern Ireland, as we just returned from a trip to Wales.
Wales is an interesting country. It has its own language, Welsh, which looks very different from English. Most folks in Wales actually speak English, but all of the signs are in two languages. The name of the country in Welsh is Cymru, so you can see that the two languages don't have much in common! It's strange to our eye, because many words don't seem to have any vowels. The word for "board" is "bwrdd." I would love to know how to pronounce this language! When I get home, I'd like to try this BBC page for beginners: http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/colinandcumberland/

One of the towns we visited was called LLandudno (pronounced "clan-did-no"). It's a beautiful seaside town, with a big pier. The end of the town is at the tip of a peninsula, and rises to a hill called the Great Orme.

There were rocks that had huge scars left by glaciers many years ago. There are copper mines on top of the mountain, but we didn't have time to go down into them. It would have been so interesting!

The other town we visited is called Conwy (con-way). Conwy is on the River Conwy. It has a large castle, which was built in 1283, on the edge of the river. It has some high towers overlooking the city, so guards could watch for attacks.

The town is surrounded by huge walls. Here you can see my daughter Heather and me walking high atop the wall. Many old cities built walls around to protect them from invaders.

Another interesting thing about Conwy is the tide. When the tide comes in, it arrives very quickly. When it goes out, it leaves the muddy/sandy base of the river, and almost no water at all. If you look in the background of this picture, you will see that the boats in back are already sitting on dry ground. Soon all the boats in the photo will be stuck until the tide returns.

"Ffarwel" and "hawddamor" (good bye and good luck!) from Wales!

The Yorkshire Dales

2006-05-14T02:08:00.000-07:00

Several years ago, an exchange student from England stayed at our home while he was a student at Mira Loma. His family lives in a small village called Grassington, in Yorkshire. We spent three of the most relaxing days of my life visiting them last week.

If you watched the James Herriot series, All Creatures Great and Small, you saw the general area we were visiting (though the village used for his fictional town of Darrowby was a bit further north.) It is stunningly beautiful: miles of green fields, sheep, lambs, and cows, dry stone walls, and quiet rivers. We hiked along the River Wharfe toward the village of Grass Woods.

Since we spent some time helping with castle restoration two years ago, we appreciate how hard it is to build walls with flat, dry rocks. The miles and miles of walls here seem almost impossible to build.

At several places along the river, there are "strids," or small, rushing waterfalls. Amazingly, ducks swim right up to the rushing water, yet we never saw one fall over! On either side of the falls, the water is very still, with minnows swimming around the rocks. The first picture is of Grass Wood Strid. The second is near the village of Linton.

Our friends own a cafe in Grassington's village square, and they serve the best food ever! Mr. Stoner got traditional sausage and Yorkshire pudding. Though we think of pudding as a creamy dessert, Yorkshire pudding is like a flaky bread. Sometimes it's in the shape of a small roll; other times it's a large bread dish with the sausage and "mash" (mashed potatoes) filling inside. The bread is yummy!

Our list of places we hope to visit again keeps growing longer!

Liverpool

2006-05-02T02:31:00.000-07:00

For all of us who were around in the 1960s, Liverpool will always be associated with the Beatles.

There are still plenty of sites featuring the Beatles, such as this “audio tour” of their career. We stood outside and listened to the music here, but didn’t pay to go in!

We also went to the Cavern, the club where the Beatles started their career. It’s a tiny place, and must have seemed a huge change when they came to America and played in Yankee Stadium. However, the Cavern is a pretty cool place, and still plays good music!

There are many other things to see in Liverpool, though. Right near the train station there are several buildings with neo-classical architecture. If you look around, it seems like you’re in Rome.
This picture is of St. George’s Hall, built in 1842, which is both a court building and a concert hall. The organ in the hall has 7,737 pipes! It's surrounded by statues of important people in British history. Of course there is a statue of Queen Victoria. She became queen in 1837, just before the hall was built. But I do believe she has a statue in every British city, she was so honored. Read more about her at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_of_the_United_Kingdom

Speaking of amazing size, Liverpool has the fifth largest cathedral in Europe, The Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. It can seat 3,000 people in the main sanctuary. Its style looks like a very old cathedral, but it was built in the early 1900s. It has a traditional English phone booth in the middle! Supposedly the architect who designed the church also made the original design for the red phone booth. He was only 21 when he was chosen to design this cathedral, and spent his whole life working on it.

Another church in Liverpool is very different. St. Luke’s Church was bombed during the blitz in 1941, World War II. They have left it the way it was after the bombing, and they have programs there regularly to remind people of that war.

Down along the Mersey River, there are shops and museums. (Ask your parents or grandparents if they remember the song “Ferry ‘Cross the Mersey” by Gerry and the Pacemakers!) In the Tate Liverpool Museum, we saw a display of paintings by Picasso and Matisse. Do any of you Room 6 students remember reading the book Bonjour Mr. Satie, by Tomie de Paola, about the painting competition between Pablo and Henri? This show was just like that, only Mr. Satie wasn’t there to judge it!

Liverpool is an interesting city, even beyond the Beatles!

English Sports

2006-05-02T02:14:00.000-07:00

We’ve learned about some new sports since we arrived here, and had the chance to enjoy some old favorites as well.

Last Saturday, we went to see a “football” match in a nearby town called Morecambe. (Football in England is what we call soccer in America. But it’s much more popular here.) The town of Morecambe is on a bay, like San Francisco; on the bay, the tide goes very far out, and fishermen gather shrimp while it’s out. There are many leagues, from Premiership on down. Premiership is kind of like our major league baseball. The Morecambe Shrimps are like a minor league soccer team.

But what a great game! English football fans are very involved in the game, with a whole repertoire of songs and chants for their team. At halftime, the food stands sell chips (our French fries) and pies. They are like small versions of our dessert pies, only instead of cherries or apples, they have beef or chicken, gravy, and potatoes in them!

We’ve also been watching the World Championship of Snooker on TV. Snooker is kind of like the game of pool, but it’s very complicated and challenging. Players try to “pot” balls of different colors to win “frames.” If they can’t pot a ball, they might try for a “snooker.” This is when they hit the cue ball to a place that causes their opponent to make a penalty. The person who set up the snooker gets extra points that way. For those of you who recently studied geometry, this is a game that uses geometry for every play. They not only have to hit a ball to “pot” it, but they need to think about the angle the cue ball will take after it hits the ball, to help them hit the following shot. Acute, obtuse, right—all these angles are important parts of snooker. It’s an interesting game!

We’ve also watched curling and rugby, but, so far, we haven’t tried watching cricket. That sport is just too complicated for us to understand!

Kann ich Deutsch sprechen?

2006-04-26T04:15:00.000-07:00

Our first stop on our trip around the continent was Zurich, Switzerland. This city presented its own challenge, because the language there is German. Wayyyy back when I was in college, I majored in German. But it's been 100 years since then, right?! It was challenge to remember the language. The very first morning, we went to breakfast in the hotel dining room. The waitress asked, as we walked in, "Sind Sie zusammen?" I thought, "OOh, I know this! She asked if we're together!" Do you know what I did? I promptly answered, "Si!" (See, Noel and Yesenia, you are doing too good of a job of teaching me Spanish!) For most of the time we were in Zurich, I spoke a mixture of German and French. As soon as we went to France, I suddenly remembered my German, and answered our friends there in the wrong language again. Ah, languages--fun, but a challenge!

As with many large cities in Switzerland, Zurich is on a lake, the Zurichsee, with the river Limmat running through it. Zurich has an old town, with many shops and interesting little alleys to explore.

The old town runs down to the Limmat River, called the Limmat Quai. It provides scenic, quiet walks, with many kinds of birds, ducks, and swans.

This swan was so generous, he was even acting like a water taxi!

At the edge of the old town, the River runs into the lake. Here, the views are amazing. You can see the lake, the Alps, and the Swiss flag.

The buildings in Switzerland are so much older than in America. One Swiss man said, "The history book is much thicker here, no?" One lady warned us that not all the buildings were original. "Some of them were remodeled in the 1500s," she explained. Imagine when they were first built!

During our visit, a friend from Stuttgart, Germany came down to visit. After walking around the lake and town, we had a traditional Swiss meal of fondue and raclette. MMMM, melted cheese! We finished by buying some Swiss chocolate. This is a place you want to visit, right?!

Lugano: bella città!

2006-04-23T09:26:00.000-07:00

Lugano is in Switzerland, but it is very Italian. It is located on a large lake in the southern part of Switzerland, right near the border of Italy, so everyone speaks Italian. I needed Mrs. Dean-Dancis to help me talk to everyone there!
It’s hard to believe that people get to live in a place like Lugano. It all looks like a giant postcard, it’s so beautiful! I could put 50 pictures on this entry, but will just put some samples.

The first picture is from the train from Zurich to Lugano. It is classic Swiss countryside, with chalets and Alps. Though the cities of Lugano and Zurich are very different in some ways, all of Switzerland is very beautiful, with lakes and mountains, and very clean and well cared for.

The next photo is a view from our hotel room. I had a hard time making myself leave that window! The flowers and trees in Lugano are actually very much like Sacramento. It even has palm trees!

The other lake pictures are from a park down the street, called Parco Civico. It was a great place to walk among flowers, watch ducks and swans, and enjoy some gelato (Italian ice cream—the best!)

The last picture is from the top of San Salvadore, a mountain on the edge of town. You can see all the lakes in the south part of Switzerland, extending into northern Italy. If you think of Lake Tahoe, and the lakes around it in the Sierra Nevadas, you'll have a small idea of what it is like to travel in southern Switzerland.

Que bella, Lugano!

Une Visite d'Annecy

2006-04-22T10:53:00.000-07:00

Annecy is in the French Alps, near the borders of Italy and Switzerland. We have friends there, so we always stop to visit when we are in Europe. But if you get the chance, you should visit, too. It’s one of the most beautiful places in the world!
The first picture is of the lake in Annecy, which is at the end of our friends’ street. In the distance is the Chateau (the castle) d’Annecy. From Annecy, we all drove over the mountains toward the French/Swiss border.

This is me with our friends at the top of a mountain. Can you tell how windy it is?! We are above the city of Geneva, Switzerland, with Mt. Jura in the background.

When we reached the other side of the mountain, we visited Yvoire, France. It is a city from the Middle Ages, with a wall around three sides, and the last side facing Lake Leman, the lake that stretches to Geneva. Such a spectacular place!

We had a terrific visit to Annecy, visiting with our friends and seeing great scenery. Our biggest challenge was speaking French for the whole time, especially after four days of German and five days of Italian! Our friends were very patient with us, though. Au revoir, Annecy!

Paris

2006-04-21T14:51:00.000-07:00

Now you all know how much I love Paris, right? So you know it’s hard for me to say Paris was my least favorite stop on the trip. It was cold and rainy the whole time, which didn’t help. But the city was dirtier and more worn looking than I’ve ever seen. I'm adding a few pictures of the best of our time in Paris.
These first two pictures are from Sacre Coeur Cathedral. This is a beautiful large church on the top of a mountain in the section of town called Montmartre, an area with lots of artists. The view of the Eiffel Tower is from a small park outside the cathedral. There are some of the most spectacular views of Paris!

The next photo is of the Tuileries Gardens, with the Louvre art museum in the background. The gardens are a great place to sit back and enjoy the views. If you look to the left, you can see a girl with a stick. The boat on the pond is hers. Children can rent boats and sticks to guide their boats across the pond (avoiding the ducks, of course!) It was a breezy day, so her boat sailed fast!

Finally, a picture of the Seine River. Walks along the Seine are great, even in the worst of times. I hope people take care of Paris, because the city is too special to lose!

Londontown

2006-04-21T04:50:00.000-07:00

Our last stop on the trip was in London. I have to admit, it was good to be back to speaking English! We had a friend who took us on about a 20 mile walking tour. We saw an amazing art exhibit at the Tate Modern museum, while it was raining outdoors. When the sun broke through, we went everywhere from the Thames River to Covent Garden to Westminster to Soho. The pictures show just a few places you might know.

The first is the Tower Bridge on the Thames River. Believe it or not, the famed London Bridge is now just a regular cement bridge!

We also walked past Buckingham Palace, just a week before the Queen’s 80th birthday. The next picture is one of the famous Palace Guards. Do you think you could stand still for that long? (No recess for them!)

The last picture shows the London Eye, a huge Ferris wheel with views of the whole city. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, the line took about 2 hours to get through. Too much other stuff to see!

To end the visit, I had to include a picture of our hotel in London. We were on the fourth floor of a bed and breakfast home, with no “lift” (elevator). That meant 8 flights of stairs like the one in this picture. After our 20 mile hike, you can see I look tired. Do you notice the umbrella in my hand? Another common thing in London!

Edinburgh, Scotland

2006-03-17T03:40:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, we took a trip to Edinburgh (pronounced Ed-in-bro) in Scotland. We're so far north in England, it only took 1 1/2 hours to get to Scotland. You can see from the picture what the weather was like. (Brr! Tough weather for a Californian!)
The center of this city is its castle. What a huge, amazing complex it is. It has many different buildings, some with displays of ancient artifacts, including a scepter and crown that were actually used by such royalty as Mary, Queen of Scots. Sitting up on a hill called "the Mound", the castle has a view of the entire region, clear down to the Firth of Forth. (Here's a great link to learn a bit more about the Firth: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firth_of_Forth)
The castle begins a walk called the Royal Mile, which has buildings that are significant throughout history. There's a monument to Sir Walter Scott (again, room 6-ers, you'll read Ivanhoe or Rob Roy when you get older!), a church where John Knox preached, and Holyroodhouse, where the Queen stays when she visits Scotland. Just the architecture alone in this city is stunning. Since I worked on restoring a castle in France for a couple summers, I am amazed and impressed by the labor and talent it took to build these ancient buildings out of stones.
As old as this city is, our hotel was right across the street from a Hard Rock Cafe! Some things are the same the world over!

The New Castle (or Castle Garth)

2006-03-08T06:17:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, we toured the New Castle (from the year 1080 AD) that gave the town its name. It's a very tall building with a lot of interesting rooms to explore. The first picture here is the Queen's bedroom. As cold and dark as it was, I certainly wouldn't want to live there! The only light in most rooms was the fireplace. Some rooms had one tiny window that allowed soldiers to look out, but prevented attackers from firing in arrows! There were storage rooms for grain and weapons, a chapel, separate small rooms for the king and queen, and a small, dark prison room. The second picture is of Mr. Stoner on the turret on the roof. If you look in the background, you can see how far off the ground the roof is. Can you imagine piling stones upon each other to create a building this tall? Amazing!

A Dorm Room?

2006-02-27T07:55:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of a castle in Durham, a university town just down the highway from Newcastle. The amazing thing is that it is also used for dorm rooms for students at the university. Do you think you'd feel like a king if you lived here when you went to college? (You should see the dining room these students eat in! Spectacular!)

True Magic!

2006-02-27T07:43:00.000-08:00

In the pub near our house on Friday evening, we encountered the most amazing person ever! He calls himself Magic Steven, and he was doing magic tricks for folks at the table next to us. He saw us watching, so he came over to us. At our table, he took my husband's ring and closed his fist around it. He had me push up his sleeve and hold on to his arm with both my hands. As we both stared at his hand, he wiggled his fingers, opened his hand, and the ring was gone. He searched through all his pockets until he came to his back pants pocket. Lo and behold, inside was the ring--inside a snapped key case, hooked around a key ring! It took him a minute or so to unwind the ring from the hook. While we expressed amazement, he said, "Oh no, I've lost it again!" Though we had been looking straight at the ring, it was gone. Again he searched through pockets. This time, he pulled a money pouch out of his inside jacket pocket and unzipped it. There inside, among the bills, was the ring! He stayed and talked to us for awhile about great places to visit in Britain, but we were almost too much in shock to talk. Though I've thought a lot about it, I have no idea how he did these tricks!

Photos from Joe and the Magpie

2006-02-24T06:06:00.000-08:00

For room 6 students who are reading Joe and the Magpie, these are some photos of the real places talked about in the book. !) The first two pictures are of the Swing Bridge over the Tyne River, and the Quayside. If large ships need to pass by, the bridge can be turned sideways to make an opening. This was built in 1876 to replace one built in 1781. At the far side of the bridge, on the Newcastle side, is the Quayside. On Sunday mornings, there is a large outdoor market along the Quay. Big ships dock here, as well. The last photo is a look down Grey Street, named after Earl Grey, a former Prime Minister, who abolished slavery in England. (If you're really ambitious, you can read more about him at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Grey,_2nd_Earl_Grey . There's also a photo of the Monument statue of him from downtown Newcastle on that site!)

Interesting language differences!

2006-02-21T05:50:00.000-08:00

Here's a sign we thought was interesting, as we talk about language differences!

Roman Forts and Sports

2006-02-21T05:44:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we took a trip to the coast. Our first stop was in South Shields at Arbeia Museum, the remains of a Roman fort from the first century. (2,000 years ago!) The tall building in the background is a recreation of one of the gates of the fort. At one time, the grounds were used as a granary, to store food for the soldiers in the area that is now England. Later, it was actually a place for soldiers to live. What small, closed spaces those rooms would have been! The emperor at the time was a man named Severus, the first black Roman emperor, who had come from the area that is now Libya. Arbeia is near Hadrian's Wall, a wall which was built to protect England from the Celts in what is now Scotland. A visit to Hadrian's Wall is on our schedule for the weeks ahead!
We've also been watching the Olympics from Italy. It's interesting to watch it here, and see how different sports are featured in a different country. One big sport here is curling, in which "skips" push "stones" along the ice, trying to get their stones in the center of the "house" or target, while taking competitors' stones out of the cirlce. Each match has 10 "ends," or rounds, unless the score is tied and they do an eleventh end. The British men's curling team is in the semi-finals. It's cracking!

For Third Graders Only!

2006-02-17T07:05:00.001-08:00

Hello brave room 6 readers! I've been doing a lot of work here, in addition to having fun. I've been observing at schools, reading books about math, and watching a DVD of British students doing math. The students here do a lot of problem solving things, kind of like our challenge pages. So I have a challenge for you: if you have the numbers 1, 2, 4, ___ , ___ what would be the next 2 numbers in the pattern? (Hint, there are at least 6 different correct answers!) Be sure to tell me what the pattern is for your answers. I hope some of you will talk to each other and see what you can think of!

By the way, the first school I observed also does dance classes. I got to see one of the third grade classes dancing. They were good! They also take swimming every week. They have to walk back to the school after swimming, in the cold weather. Brrr!

The River Tyne

2006-02-13T09:07:00.000-08:00

This is the river that gives Newcastle-Upon-Tyne its name. These are two of the bridges that span it: the Millenium Bridge (closest) and the Tyne bridge. The Millenium Bridge is amazing, because the whole bridge swings up when a ship needs to go through. On Sundays there is a huge market along the banks of the river, between the bridges. You can buy anything from toys to clothes to interesting food.
Do you notice how gray the skies are?!

A Famous Local Site

2006-02-13T08:54:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of the Angel of the North, a statue in Gateshead, south of Newcastle. You can see by the people in the picture just how huge it is. It is the height of four double decker buses, and has a wing span of a jumbo jet! It is made of 3,153 pieces of steel. And it's out in the middle of the English countryside. It's pretty amazing!

A Different Sort of Day

2006-02-08T08:55:00.000-08:00

If my goal was to get to know Newcastle as though I lived here, yesterday provided some interesting chances. Monday, as I walked into campus, I tripped on some uneven rocks and fell down, possibly cracking a rib on my right side. Tuesday, I went to a doctor, who sent me to get an X-ray. It was quite an adventure, especially since we do not have a car here. He told me to go to the hospital's "A & E," which is their emergency room. However, after one bus ride, a long walk, and much searching through buildings, I found out the first hospital I went to did not have one. I walked a long way to another bus, and rode a long way to the second hospital. The place was huge! A lady walked with me and gave me directions to the A & E. She told me the hospital used to be a work house. (Room 6 students, when you get older, you'll read Charles Dickens and learn all about work houses!)

Fortunately, the doctor at the hospital didn't think my ribs were broken, only bruised. He still said it will take 2 to 8 weeks to get better. After another long bus ride to the Metro, and a Metro ride home, my trip was finally done. Now I am hoping for the 2 week recovery time, instead of 8 weeks!

One thing we did that was more fun was to go to a pub quiz. People that come to the pub for the quiz get into teams. Our team was called the Rovers, since we're travelling around so much! Each team gets a pile of answer sheets, and the person running the quiz asks all kinds of questions, from "What is the name of the outside of a circle?" to "What is the capital of Malta?" to "Who designed Princess Diana's wedding dress?" It was fun, but the Rovers came in second to last!! Maybe we'll get better at it as we're here awhile.

Sunshine, oceans, and music

2006-02-06T03:33:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, the sun came out! We even got to wear our California sunglasses. We used the bright weather to take a trip to the coast. It only takes about 20 minutes on the Metro to ride to the ocean. The views there are beautiful. There are high, craggy rocks, kind of like the northern California coast. We took a long walk out to a lighthouse and watched some men fishing for perch. They had huge poles, and could cast their lines about as far as a football field!

Yesterday we walked along the river Tyne to the town of Gateshead, and visited a huge theater that looks like a giant caterpillar. They let visitors tour the theater, and we got to hear an ensemble group practicing in the big theater. We also found out about a concert called Salsa Celtica, which is coming up in March. The group plays music that has both Scottish and Mexican sounds. I have to hear that concert!

We watched England beat Wales and Scotland beat France on TV in the Six Nations Rugby tournament. This morning on the news, they said, "Oh, and Pittsburgh won the Super Bowl. On to the next story...!"

It's interesting to see and learn about different sports and cultural interests!

The Old City

2006-02-03T08:55:00.000-08:00

Today we walked down to the Tyne River and saw the remains of the "New Castle" that gave the town its name, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. It was built in around 1080 AD! The river has a lot of different bridges over it, including one that turns sideways when large ships need to get through. It's called the Swinging Bridge. Nearby is a huge Gothic cathedral called St. Nicholas Church. It has a cemetery with gravestones from the 1700s. America was just getting started then!

We have also found an Italian coffee shop where the owner is really Italian. It's fun to drink coffee and listen to him and his friends speak Italian. I can only understand a few words! We're still learning to use British expressions for things we do, like rubbish bin for trash can, queue for line, and trolley park for the place to put grocery carts away.

Arriving in England

2006-01-31T07:33:00.000-08:00

After a 24-hour journey on three different airplanes, we finally arrived in Newcastle. So far, it has just been a lot of work--getting used to a new house, riding the Metro (subway) to buy groceries, getting set up with an Internet account on campus. Now we are looking forward to seeing Newcastle!

It's very cold here. Every morning when we go out to campus, the ground is covered with frost. (Nicole, if you read this, your mom's scarves have been a big help!) Our "flat" (apartment) only has heat for 3 hours in the morning and 3 in the evening. People in California are spoiled by warm weather!

Downtown Newcastle is nice. There is a big shopping area that is only for people--no cars allowed. We haven't been down to the Tyne River yet, but there is a huge bridge there that is supposed to be very exciting. We have also planned some walking tours, when the weather is a little warmer! We watched the Newcastle United soccer team (they call it "football" here) on TV as they won the first round of the FA Cup soccer championship.

We're enjoying listening to people talk, and learning a new kind of English! It's smashing!

Room 6 students, I'm still waiting to hear from you, to learn what you've been doing. Thanks to Wyatt for his email!
Cheers!

2006-01-05T20:31:00.000-08:00

I will fly "across the pond" on January 25, 2006. Check in to read about my adventures in England!