So yesterday I was killing some time between classes and I looked up some Halloween stuff to do in London. I saw that it was London Ghost Festival week and that yesterday there was going to be a talk about paranormal/ghost photographs by a guy who wrote a book about it. I saw that it started a few minutes after my last class, and that it was in a building down the street from my school at the Swedenbourg Society which is actually a bookstore/building that I have one of my classes in (b/c IES isn't big enough for all the classes, they rent out rooms in this building.. which is some religion? philosphy? scientology type thing?) Anyway so I went and it was awesome!
Before I went though I drank a mocha latte and I don't drink caffeine a lot and when I do it reallly affects me.... So on the walk home, I had to walk alone in the dark (in a very safe neighborhood, although the houses look victorian and haunted) and I was so scared. I was like literally tripping on caffeine and very jittery and I thought I saw/heard something at every turn! I was very happy to get back home! But all night I kept having weird dreams and waking myself talking in my sleep. Kalen probably thinks I'm craaaazy!
30 October 2008
28 October 2008
Barcelona!! - If Mexico, Italy, and San Francisco had a baby...
After midterms, we got a few days off from school so last Wednesday I went to Barcelona for four nights! My friend from high school, Elizabeth, met me there on Thursday night through Sunday.
Barcelona has some really pretty parts, but overall I thought it was a really dirty city. I was excited to go b/c the weather is supposed to be amazing. When my plane landed, it was colder than it was in London! and rainy. But the next few days really cleared up and it was warm enough to swim (wish we had brought our swimming suits!)
The first day I walked around the gothic quarter and went into a really pretty cathedral. Inside there were trees and ducks - it was so weird! I also went to the Picasso Museum which was pretty cool but not nearly as good as the Picasso Museum in Paris. Elizabeth met me that night.
The next day we went to Park Guell which was a park built by Gaudi. It's the one with the big mosaic bench that's pretty famous I think. It was a really cool park - lots of stone... things. I don't know how to describe them. Walkways? Pillars? It was cool. And lots of mosaics. After that we went to Sagrada Familia which is a giant church designed by Gaudi and was started in 1882 and is still being constructed today. No government money funds the building of Sagrada Familia. It's only being built by donations and money from tickets. That night we went out to eate at a place called Origens. It was verrryyy good food! (and sangria!) We went out to bars/and a sketchy club that night. fun!
The next day we went to La Ramblas, saw the street performers and the market. Then we walked down to the harbour and then to the beach. We went to the Museum of Contemporary Art which was really cool. The building is all white even all of the inside. That night we went out to eat at a falaffel place and met two girls who were studying abroad in Paris. They were from the US and Canada. We went out with them for the night. bars and clubs etc. Also fun!
The next day we walked around the gothic quarter one more time and then back to London! I kind of missed London! People don't walk into on the streets, the streets are so clean you could lick them, and people don't stare. France, Spain, Italy etc. they stare at each other on the streets shamelessly. And they yell at ANY female that walks by. Once a 60 year old was blowing his nose ONTO the street and then I walked by and he was like "HOLA BONITA.. blah blah spanish" and I really wish I spoke Spanish so I could have been like, "Really? has that EVER worked for you? You were just blowing your nose ONTO the street." Back to London where people just awkwardly walk past each other in silence. <3 onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJGakAHZXXxRRKAvvGXtJ7duIb6KwlDJoqUjUkaD6FHmUXFb3FIU9ab9acAZKcPgkbpbBztbgvt73TXHq0ElNj1zLROu05jZZ4d0D4J-UD86pTD36X820meWaO8ntjQgWHbfNzIjuWzA/s1600-h/IMG_1023.JPG">
Barcelona has some really pretty parts, but overall I thought it was a really dirty city. I was excited to go b/c the weather is supposed to be amazing. When my plane landed, it was colder than it was in London! and rainy. But the next few days really cleared up and it was warm enough to swim (wish we had brought our swimming suits!)
The first day I walked around the gothic quarter and went into a really pretty cathedral. Inside there were trees and ducks - it was so weird! I also went to the Picasso Museum which was pretty cool but not nearly as good as the Picasso Museum in Paris. Elizabeth met me that night.
The next day we went to Park Guell which was a park built by Gaudi. It's the one with the big mosaic bench that's pretty famous I think. It was a really cool park - lots of stone... things. I don't know how to describe them. Walkways? Pillars? It was cool. And lots of mosaics. After that we went to Sagrada Familia which is a giant church designed by Gaudi and was started in 1882 and is still being constructed today. No government money funds the building of Sagrada Familia. It's only being built by donations and money from tickets. That night we went out to eate at a place called Origens. It was verrryyy good food! (and sangria!) We went out to bars/and a sketchy club that night. fun!
The next day we went to La Ramblas, saw the street performers and the market. Then we walked down to the harbour and then to the beach. We went to the Museum of Contemporary Art which was really cool. The building is all white even all of the inside. That night we went out to eat at a falaffel place and met two girls who were studying abroad in Paris. They were from the US and Canada. We went out with them for the night. bars and clubs etc. Also fun!
The next day we walked around the gothic quarter one more time and then back to London! I kind of missed London! People don't walk into on the streets, the streets are so clean you could lick them, and people don't stare. France, Spain, Italy etc. they stare at each other on the streets shamelessly. And they yell at ANY female that walks by. Once a 60 year old was blowing his nose ONTO the street and then I walked by and he was like "HOLA BONITA.. blah blah spanish" and I really wish I spoke Spanish so I could have been like, "Really? has that EVER worked for you? You were just blowing your nose ONTO the street." Back to London where people just awkwardly walk past each other in silence. <3 onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJGakAHZXXxRRKAvvGXtJ7duIb6KwlDJoqUjUkaD6FHmUXFb3FIU9ab9acAZKcPgkbpbBztbgvt73TXHq0ElNj1zLROu05jZZ4d0D4J-UD86pTD36X820meWaO8ntjQgWHbfNzIjuWzA/s1600-h/IMG_1023.JPG">
21 October 2008
"If you're Indian and you love to party, Have a happy happy happy happy Diwali"
http://niralimagazine.com/mp3/Diwali_Song.mp3
I went to Diwali in Trafalgar Square as a study break from midterms! It was crowded. As crowded as real India. There was a stage with Indian dancers, and Indian food stands, music etc. The music and dancing were really really cool. Again it was ridiculously crowded. Trafalgar square is the same place as the notorious lion-climbing incident. I'll post some pictures of Diwali! I tried to get a samosa while I was there but I literally couldn't find the end of the line so I gave up and got one at a snack counter in my tube stop (which needless to say was not as good as the one I would have gotten at Diwali...)
Tonight after my last midterm (yay!) I went to a film at the London Film Festival. It was good. I wish I could have stayed for the Q&A after but I needed to come home and start packing for Barcelona!
Tomorrow morning I leave for Barcelona! Only a mile walk to the tube, a tube ride, a 1.5 hour bus ride, a plane, and another 1.5 bus ride, and a whatever-they-call-the-subway-in-barcelona ride until I get there. I'm excited though! I'm meeting Elizabeth there and it's going to be so funn!!!!!
I went to Diwali in Trafalgar Square as a study break from midterms! It was crowded. As crowded as real India. There was a stage with Indian dancers, and Indian food stands, music etc. The music and dancing were really really cool. Again it was ridiculously crowded. Trafalgar square is the same place as the notorious lion-climbing incident. I'll post some pictures of Diwali! I tried to get a samosa while I was there but I literally couldn't find the end of the line so I gave up and got one at a snack counter in my tube stop (which needless to say was not as good as the one I would have gotten at Diwali...)
Tonight after my last midterm (yay!) I went to a film at the London Film Festival. It was good. I wish I could have stayed for the Q&A after but I needed to come home and start packing for Barcelona!
Tomorrow morning I leave for Barcelona! Only a mile walk to the tube, a tube ride, a 1.5 hour bus ride, a plane, and another 1.5 bus ride, and a whatever-they-call-the-subway-in-barcelona ride until I get there. I'm excited though! I'm meeting Elizabeth there and it's going to be so funn!!!!!
17 October 2008
Stratford Upon Avon and Adapting to British Weather
My Shakespeare class took a day field trip to Stratford Upon Avon to see Shakespeare's Birthplace, his daughter and son-in-law's house, his grave and his mother Mary Arden's Farm. They were all interesting to see. Below are some pictures. You can also click here to see more.
On another note, I think I'm getting way too used to the grey/rainy weather here. Granted, it's been pretty nice, I do have to admit. Last weekend was gorgeous - not cold at all, no rain etc. It hasn't been too rainy/dreary my whole time here even though it is supposed to be this time of year. However, it is still very grey. It's constantly cloudy, and when I say cloudy I don't mean puffy white marshmallow clouds in the sky, I mean one giant grey cloud-mass looming over the entire island constantly.
I just realized yesterday that I haven't actually seen the sun in a while, and even weirder I haven't really missed it. On the contrary, sunlight just pisses me off. In fact, yesterday when the sun actually did come out for a little bit and I had to squint my eyes to read the street signs and to see anything, it was extremely annoying. I was genuinely angry.
So there you go. I have adapted to Britian's constant gloom. When the sun does come out, I wander about and shield my eyes, hissing at the sun like a vampire.
Shakespeare's Birthplace
Shakespeare's Subway
On another note, I think I'm getting way too used to the grey/rainy weather here. Granted, it's been pretty nice, I do have to admit. Last weekend was gorgeous - not cold at all, no rain etc. It hasn't been too rainy/dreary my whole time here even though it is supposed to be this time of year. However, it is still very grey. It's constantly cloudy, and when I say cloudy I don't mean puffy white marshmallow clouds in the sky, I mean one giant grey cloud-mass looming over the entire island constantly.
I just realized yesterday that I haven't actually seen the sun in a while, and even weirder I haven't really missed it. On the contrary, sunlight just pisses me off. In fact, yesterday when the sun actually did come out for a little bit and I had to squint my eyes to read the street signs and to see anything, it was extremely annoying. I was genuinely angry.
So there you go. I have adapted to Britian's constant gloom. When the sun does come out, I wander about and shield my eyes, hissing at the sun like a vampire.
Shakespeare's Birthplace
Shakespeare's Subway
16 October 2008
<3 The Tube and etc.
Hello!
Today was another theatre day - went to my theatre class and then had a play to go to tonight with 3 hours before hand to kill. I saw in the free trashy london newspaper that the Transport Museum was having an exhibition about posters for the tube so I decided to go. The Transport Museum is one of those places that I've always made fun of in my head when I hear it mentioned, but it turned out to be really cool, it's all about the tube and how it started etc. There's a place where you can pretend to drive a train like a video game (I was pretty horrible at it, I kept passing up the stops or not hitting them.) Also I learned about a man who was involved in the creation of the underground (I believe "shady" is the term the sign used). He came here because he had previously been in Chicago doing shady business with the streetcars there and they were about to arrest him and somehow he made it over here to try the same thing with the tube. Fun links to home. The poster section was really cool, too. I also really liked the part about how the map that we still use today (and that influenced all other public transportation/train maps) was created. It used to be geographically correct and therefore confusing but someone (an engineer draft person, not even a designer) figured out that no one really cared where you were as long as you knew how to get there therefore the maps are just straight lines with dots on them and intersect where they connect. Also a lot about the famous tube logo. This was one of my favorite posters - couldn't find a bigger one to post here but you can kind of see it.
In other news, we read Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte in my Women Brit Novelists class and the teacher played the song by Kate Bush for us, which was apparently a pretty big deal here in the 70's but not in America. It's pretty much the most awesome thing ever so I suggest you watch the youtube video. My friends here and I love it. I was watching it/practicing the dance for it last night while my roommate was washing something in the sink in the bathroom and I was particularly inspired by the "window" part of the dance so I went in to show her and she saw me and SCREAMED and knocked over our trashcan. So I think I'm pretty good at it. I'm going to be Kate Bush as Catharine for Halloween so stay tuned for those pictures.
What else... The play I went to tonight was called A Disappearing Number from the theatre company Complicite. It was very different - lots of projections and going forward and backward in time, it was about math and things so numbers were floating around everywhere. It was very good and unlike anything I've ever seen. And I saw some really weird shit interning at the MCA. But the difference between some of the stuff I saw there and this was that even though this play was weird and different/unconventional, I never was like "hmm I wonder how much acid the playwright and director were on" when watching this one. Not so with previous plays I've seen. This was very tastefully done and wasn't being weird just to be weird.
Tomorrow I'm going to Statford to see Shakespeare things with my Shakespeare class. Another post this weekend!
Today was another theatre day - went to my theatre class and then had a play to go to tonight with 3 hours before hand to kill. I saw in the free trashy london newspaper that the Transport Museum was having an exhibition about posters for the tube so I decided to go. The Transport Museum is one of those places that I've always made fun of in my head when I hear it mentioned, but it turned out to be really cool, it's all about the tube and how it started etc. There's a place where you can pretend to drive a train like a video game (I was pretty horrible at it, I kept passing up the stops or not hitting them.) Also I learned about a man who was involved in the creation of the underground (I believe "shady" is the term the sign used). He came here because he had previously been in Chicago doing shady business with the streetcars there and they were about to arrest him and somehow he made it over here to try the same thing with the tube. Fun links to home. The poster section was really cool, too. I also really liked the part about how the map that we still use today (and that influenced all other public transportation/train maps) was created. It used to be geographically correct and therefore confusing but someone (an engineer draft person, not even a designer) figured out that no one really cared where you were as long as you knew how to get there therefore the maps are just straight lines with dots on them and intersect where they connect. Also a lot about the famous tube logo. This was one of my favorite posters - couldn't find a bigger one to post here but you can kind of see it.
In other news, we read Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte in my Women Brit Novelists class and the teacher played the song by Kate Bush for us, which was apparently a pretty big deal here in the 70's but not in America. It's pretty much the most awesome thing ever so I suggest you watch the youtube video. My friends here and I love it. I was watching it/practicing the dance for it last night while my roommate was washing something in the sink in the bathroom and I was particularly inspired by the "window" part of the dance so I went in to show her and she saw me and SCREAMED and knocked over our trashcan. So I think I'm pretty good at it. I'm going to be Kate Bush as Catharine for Halloween so stay tuned for those pictures.
What else... The play I went to tonight was called A Disappearing Number from the theatre company Complicite. It was very different - lots of projections and going forward and backward in time, it was about math and things so numbers were floating around everywhere. It was very good and unlike anything I've ever seen. And I saw some really weird shit interning at the MCA. But the difference between some of the stuff I saw there and this was that even though this play was weird and different/unconventional, I never was like "hmm I wonder how much acid the playwright and director were on" when watching this one. Not so with previous plays I've seen. This was very tastefully done and wasn't being weird just to be weird.
Tomorrow I'm going to Statford to see Shakespeare things with my Shakespeare class. Another post this weekend!
14 October 2008
Abbey Road
Sorry I have not posted in a while! (although it hasn't even been a week yet so I don't know why you are complaining) :)
I haven't done anything extremely interesting recently b/c of papers/pre-midterm stuff etc. But I did end up going to Abbey Road so here is a picture of that to keep you entertained until my next real post.
I haven't done anything extremely interesting recently b/c of papers/pre-midterm stuff etc. But I did end up going to Abbey Road so here is a picture of that to keep you entertained until my next real post.
08 October 2008
The British Library
Just a small midweek post: I went to the V&A again last Sunday. This time I saw the jewelry section and musical instrument section. Both were very neat.
Today my lit class went on a field trip to the British Library. There is an exhibit of a bunch of famous writings/books. Things I saw were: the hand written original Jane Eyre, Jane Austen's writing desk and glasses, something written by Oscar Wilde, first edition Shakespeare, lyrics written down by the Beatles (on things like the back of a birthday card for a kid, crayon on paper etc.) music written by Mozart, Beethoven and others. It was very cool and interesting!
Today I bought three "go by yoursef" walking tour guide books and I'm very excited. One is "The Beatles in London Walk." I also got one about Shakespeare and "A Walk Around Haunted London." Probably will do the Beatles one tomorrow!
Today my lit class went on a field trip to the British Library. There is an exhibit of a bunch of famous writings/books. Things I saw were: the hand written original Jane Eyre, Jane Austen's writing desk and glasses, something written by Oscar Wilde, first edition Shakespeare, lyrics written down by the Beatles (on things like the back of a birthday card for a kid, crayon on paper etc.) music written by Mozart, Beethoven and others. It was very cool and interesting!
Today I bought three "go by yoursef" walking tour guide books and I'm very excited. One is "The Beatles in London Walk." I also got one about Shakespeare and "A Walk Around Haunted London." Probably will do the Beatles one tomorrow!
04 October 2008
Waffles, Chocolate and Beer (and some WWI stuff too)
Click HERE for pictures!
IES organized this trip to Ieper, Belgium with my history teacher who has spent a lot of time researching WWI and one particular part of our tour. Ieper (also called Ypres but the English couldn't pronounce it like the French-speakers) is very important to the British b/c so many British soldiers died there during WWI. It was the last town left when they were trying to defend Paris.. or something... anyway it's super important to the brits.
We left on Friday morning, drove in a bus down to Dover (saw the famous white cliffs, the castle and the WWII tower things that are still there).
Then they drove our bus onto a HUGE ferry that took us to France. This time the ferry only took about an hour and a half... They didn't even check our passports going into France but getting back into the UK they made us all get off the bus and go through and show our passports, answer quesitons, show visas etc. Yet another example of how the UK and France are different haha. Then we drove into Ieper. We had some free time to buy chocolate and waffles (MMMMMMMMM) then we went to the Flanders Field Museum.
This is a very interesting/well done museum. One of the most powerful displays was a dollhouse size display of what Belgium looked like during the war. It was basically a giant mudpit with the remains of dead tree trunks sticking out of the ground with barbed wire everywhere and trenches below. There were quotes on the wall about how it was basically hell on earth. Also on one of the walls was a quote about how this was considered to be the war to end all wars etc. and along side the quote was a count of how many wars/conflicts had been going on since (they crossed off the previous year's number and write the current year's higher total next to it). There was also a quote about how since the end of that war, there hasn't been a day where war/conflicts haven't gone on somewhere in the world. It was a very interactive museum.
There was something weird about Ieper to me though... All the buildings are in that medieval style of the step-looking things on top of the buildings and in the center of the square there's a giant clock tower called the cloth tower b/c thats where wool/cloth was sold during that time. But during WWI everything in Ieper was destroyed (and destroyed so much that the buildings were basically powder - nothing left). So after the war, they had to rebuild their town. But they rebuilt it EXACTLY. They did a replica of the medieval cloth tower. So everything in Ieper looks like it was super old, but really it was only about 100 years old. I never heard the reason for why they rebuilt their town exactly like it had been, but it seems like something that wouldn't be done in the US. Not that it's bad necesarly, but I get the impression that Europeans live in the past a lot more than the US does. If a city was totally destroyed in the US, I don't see anyone wanting to rebuild it exactly like it had been before. I mean I guess rebuilding the Cloth Tower isn't that big of deal, but they rebuilt some of hte houses to be exactly the same too. On our tour he showed us a house that had a statue of a bear at the top. It was b/c the guy that built it's nickname was Bear. That was centuries before WWI and afterwards they rebuilt the house with the statue and all. Weird?
I don't get that impression in London really though. There's so many new buildings and new architecture everywhere mixed right next to super old buildings too. You really get the impression that it was a giant of the past and is a giant of now too.
Anyway, after the Flanders Fields Museum we went to a group dinner, then went to the Menin Gate to hear "The Last Post" bugle call ceremony. The Menin Gate is a monument with a street going through itthat has 55,000 names of men that went missing in the area of Ieper during the war. (missing meaning they died and their remains were never found, were unreconizable when they died etc.)
Then our tour guide took us on a walking tour (in really disgusting cold and rainy weather) of some more things. The tour had a suprise ending. He took us to a bar called "De Twelve Apostles" or something like that and we all got a free belgian beer. Beer in belgium is very strong - they even had it rated next to it on a scale of 10 of how strong it was. I ordered a 9.5... it was good!
The next morning we got up and went to see some cemetaries/trenches/etc. We started at Essex Farms Dressing station which were used in the war and are very well preserved. Next to it was a cemetary. We also saw a German cemetary and trenches. We ended at Tyne Cot Cemetery where 11,908 graves are. They said there were so many graves here because the Germans had machine guns at the top of this hill facing Iepers so anyone trying to go towards them had no where to hide and were killed.
Then we went to Poperinge, Belgium. We saw Talbot House Museum which was a resting place for the soldiers. It was layed out like a house and there were debates, entertainment beds, food and a really pretty garden that they really liked b/c they didn't even get to see grass on the battle field. We had some free time for lunch and I ordered a croque madame! mmmm (ham and cheese sandwich with a fried egg on top) After this, our history teacher took us to the death cells and execution pole where the British army executed any deserters or soldiers who didn't obey the rules. He spent a lot of his life researching this and with another historian made a list of all the men who were executed here. Because of them the British government had to acknowledge what they did and how they didn't give some of them fair trials etc. This made it possible for these men's names to be on war memorials etc.
Then it was time to go home. We drove back to the port at Calais and got on the ferry. There were very big waves and it was very bad weather. The boat SHOOK almost constantly and it sounded like we were hitting other boats b/c of all the crash sounds. So after 1.5 hours we were all ready to get off, but the captain made an announcement that we would be on there for another hour b/c there were so many boats waiting to dock b/c of the weather. So we waited there tossing and turning for another hour when he came on the intercom and said we were going to have to wait ANOTHER hour. Not pretty.
It was an interesting trip and I went a lot of places I would have never chosen to go myself but was glad that I saw.
Click HERE for pictures!
IES organized this trip to Ieper, Belgium with my history teacher who has spent a lot of time researching WWI and one particular part of our tour. Ieper (also called Ypres but the English couldn't pronounce it like the French-speakers) is very important to the British b/c so many British soldiers died there during WWI. It was the last town left when they were trying to defend Paris.. or something... anyway it's super important to the brits.
We left on Friday morning, drove in a bus down to Dover (saw the famous white cliffs, the castle and the WWII tower things that are still there).
Then they drove our bus onto a HUGE ferry that took us to France. This time the ferry only took about an hour and a half... They didn't even check our passports going into France but getting back into the UK they made us all get off the bus and go through and show our passports, answer quesitons, show visas etc. Yet another example of how the UK and France are different haha. Then we drove into Ieper. We had some free time to buy chocolate and waffles (MMMMMMMMM) then we went to the Flanders Field Museum.
This is a very interesting/well done museum. One of the most powerful displays was a dollhouse size display of what Belgium looked like during the war. It was basically a giant mudpit with the remains of dead tree trunks sticking out of the ground with barbed wire everywhere and trenches below. There were quotes on the wall about how it was basically hell on earth. Also on one of the walls was a quote about how this was considered to be the war to end all wars etc. and along side the quote was a count of how many wars/conflicts had been going on since (they crossed off the previous year's number and write the current year's higher total next to it). There was also a quote about how since the end of that war, there hasn't been a day where war/conflicts haven't gone on somewhere in the world. It was a very interactive museum.
There was something weird about Ieper to me though... All the buildings are in that medieval style of the step-looking things on top of the buildings and in the center of the square there's a giant clock tower called the cloth tower b/c thats where wool/cloth was sold during that time. But during WWI everything in Ieper was destroyed (and destroyed so much that the buildings were basically powder - nothing left). So after the war, they had to rebuild their town. But they rebuilt it EXACTLY. They did a replica of the medieval cloth tower. So everything in Ieper looks like it was super old, but really it was only about 100 years old. I never heard the reason for why they rebuilt their town exactly like it had been, but it seems like something that wouldn't be done in the US. Not that it's bad necesarly, but I get the impression that Europeans live in the past a lot more than the US does. If a city was totally destroyed in the US, I don't see anyone wanting to rebuild it exactly like it had been before. I mean I guess rebuilding the Cloth Tower isn't that big of deal, but they rebuilt some of hte houses to be exactly the same too. On our tour he showed us a house that had a statue of a bear at the top. It was b/c the guy that built it's nickname was Bear. That was centuries before WWI and afterwards they rebuilt the house with the statue and all. Weird?
I don't get that impression in London really though. There's so many new buildings and new architecture everywhere mixed right next to super old buildings too. You really get the impression that it was a giant of the past and is a giant of now too.
Anyway, after the Flanders Fields Museum we went to a group dinner, then went to the Menin Gate to hear "The Last Post" bugle call ceremony. The Menin Gate is a monument with a street going through itthat has 55,000 names of men that went missing in the area of Ieper during the war. (missing meaning they died and their remains were never found, were unreconizable when they died etc.)
Then our tour guide took us on a walking tour (in really disgusting cold and rainy weather) of some more things. The tour had a suprise ending. He took us to a bar called "De Twelve Apostles" or something like that and we all got a free belgian beer. Beer in belgium is very strong - they even had it rated next to it on a scale of 10 of how strong it was. I ordered a 9.5... it was good!
The next morning we got up and went to see some cemetaries/trenches/etc. We started at Essex Farms Dressing station which were used in the war and are very well preserved. Next to it was a cemetary. We also saw a German cemetary and trenches. We ended at Tyne Cot Cemetery where 11,908 graves are. They said there were so many graves here because the Germans had machine guns at the top of this hill facing Iepers so anyone trying to go towards them had no where to hide and were killed.
Then we went to Poperinge, Belgium. We saw Talbot House Museum which was a resting place for the soldiers. It was layed out like a house and there were debates, entertainment beds, food and a really pretty garden that they really liked b/c they didn't even get to see grass on the battle field. We had some free time for lunch and I ordered a croque madame! mmmm (ham and cheese sandwich with a fried egg on top) After this, our history teacher took us to the death cells and execution pole where the British army executed any deserters or soldiers who didn't obey the rules. He spent a lot of his life researching this and with another historian made a list of all the men who were executed here. Because of them the British government had to acknowledge what they did and how they didn't give some of them fair trials etc. This made it possible for these men's names to be on war memorials etc.
Then it was time to go home. We drove back to the port at Calais and got on the ferry. There were very big waves and it was very bad weather. The boat SHOOK almost constantly and it sounded like we were hitting other boats b/c of all the crash sounds. So after 1.5 hours we were all ready to get off, but the captain made an announcement that we would be on there for another hour b/c there were so many boats waiting to dock b/c of the weather. So we waited there tossing and turning for another hour when he came on the intercom and said we were going to have to wait ANOTHER hour. Not pretty.
It was an interesting trip and I went a lot of places I would have never chosen to go myself but was glad that I saw.
Click HERE for pictures!
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