All the cool things...

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> Big Ben, Parliament Building, plus a double decker red bus. How London is that picture!
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Fwd: I with this painting!

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Begin forwarded message:

From: Meaghan Walsh <meaghan.edna@gmail.com>
Date: July 26, 2012 12:40:12 PM MDT
To: mainefan1.meaghan@blogger.com
Subject: I with this painting!

I use this painting in my class...I had no idea I was going to see the original. I totally stared at it with my jaw open for about 5 minutes. It's so great in person.

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Proof...

Proof that I was actually there!

All the cool things...

Big Ben, Parliament Building, plus a double decker red bus. How London is that picture!

I with this painting!

I use this painting in my class...I had no idea I was going to see the original. I totally stared at it with my jaw open for about 5 minutes. It's so great in person.

Weaver's houses

These houses are weaver's houses. They would wash the cloth in the stream right out their front door. They were also used in the original Dr. Doolittle movie. This town has 198 residents. Actually, the guide found out they have 197 residents as of last night. :(

The Potter's

That's the Potter's house in the movies!

Harry Potter!

They filmed three films here, 1, 2, and 5. Harry's parents house is here in town.

Avebury

This is one of two inner circles at Avebury. The outer circle is HUGE!

Chalk horses

These are so cool. They cut away the turf to reveal the chalk. They are redone every five years, and this one just was done this year so it's nice and bright white. There are 10 horses and some other things in the hills around here.

Burrows

I totally had a LOTR moment with these. I think in the book they a called burrows where the hobbits found a cache of weapons to use? Stephen will know. But these are burial mounds near Stonehenge.

Stonehenge!

Now I can cross this off my bucket list.

No irony here...

Why, if you start a tea shop in England, would you name it the Boston Tea Party? It's celebrating a rebellion AGAINST your country! I had to stop and have a pot of tea here just because it was so funny.

The Roman baths

This pool is fed from the spring that is through the back corner. It's really hot! You aren't supposed to touch the water but my skirt fell in so I had to feel it. And it's green because the sunlight encourages algae growth, but when it was covered in Roman times it was clear.

Abbey roof

This is the highest point of the abbey. The abbey was started before Columbus sailed to America...how cool is that?

Roman baths

These are the actual ancient Roman baths from the roof of the abbey. That is the main heated pool with the lovely green water.

Abbey roof

That is the roof of the abbey I'm standing on in the picture of me. At this point I was on top of the highest point, above the bell tower.

The inside of the bells

We actually got to be in the room with the bells when they went off for 11:30 am. The blue ringer is for when they actually pull the ropes and the bells actually swing, and the red striker is for when they use the easy ropes or the automatic systems.

Now that's better

This guy did a better job of taking a picture of me. That's the city of Bath from the roof of the abbey. I did a last minute tour (meaning I walked in and said "Oh! They do a tour! Sweet) of the bell tower. I wish I had known I was doing it, I wouldn't have worn a floor length skirt to climb 212 steps in 500 year old spiral staircase. But I didn't fall!

Dover castle

The castle on top of the cliffs is beautiful too. I didn't actually stay in Dover so I didn't get to tour it, but it's on my list for next time.

Why I don't like people taking my picture

Really? Who takes a picture of someone with a beautiful background, and zooms in on their face and leaves the guy in the red sweatshirt in the background? You can't see the cliffs at all!

White cliffs of Dover

I may have only gone to Calais so I could take the ferry across to the cliffs of Dover. Nope, no strange obsessions here :). They were so totally worth it. They were amazingly beautiful and exactly what I expected, but more if that makes sense.

People

This is why I hated this place. Look at how narrow that street is and how many people are on it. This is actually quiet compared to how it had been earlier in the day when I walked through the first time.

Medieval musicians

I don't know how I always end up seeing these random music groups, but these guys were cool. They showed up and just started singing!

Mont St. Michel

Me at the Mont. It really was a beautiful location.

Mont St. Michel

This is my own personal hell on earth. It's so beautiful, with an abbey up there that is over 1000 years old and for a long time could only be reached at low tide. But the people! Oh my god the people. So many people.

Flag lowering

Lowering the flag over the cemetery. They had a live bugle player from a music group on tour and it was really moving. American citizens can be chosen to fold the flag and I wanted to do it, but the music group kids got to.

American cemetery

The American cemetery in Normandy. I believe it holds 20,000ish men but I might have that wrong.

Gun battery

Inside the gun battery on the end of Pont du Hoc. The ceiling is all black from when the rangers burned the Germans out with flame throwers. The walls are still all pocked with bullet holes too. I had the impression not much was moved at all after the war. Plus here and at the American cemetery I was back in the states for a while! Those two spots are American land, given by the French government.

Pont du Hoc

This is the memorial at Pont du Hoc, which the rangers had to scale on D-Day to silence the big guns there were there. They lost a lot of men, were counter attacked, and had a miserable time with no reinforcements. The worst part? The guns that were supposedly there were wooden decoys. The real guns weren't set up yet.

Paratrooper

If you look at the church steeple, you can see a paratrooper stuck on it. During D-Day, one landed there when they were dropped at the wrong place. He hung there for two hours playing dead before he was captured and made prisoner. I think the town was Mere St. Eglese, but I'm positive I'm spelling that wrong. The clouds luckily held off and we ended up with pretty good weather. They were pretty dramatic though weren't they!

German cemetery

The German military cemetery. The mound in the middle is made up of unknown soldiers. For a lot of them they have the names but they couldn't match a dog tag to a body.

Gargoyle

I think this was the creepiest gargoyle on the building because it is a human! If you look below it's mouth you can see the water drops.

Gargoyles

Gargoyles! They are almost at eye level too, so I actually got good pictures of them! I have some shots of the gargoyles doing their real job of being a waterspout since it poured the whole time I was walking around that day. I can't wait to show the kids all of these when we study gothic architecture.

Bayeux cathedral

The Bayeux cathedral is amazing. It was started by the Romans and obviously was extended. Bayeux was liberated early on D-Day so there wasn't much destruction, so the town has a lot of original architecture. It's cool to see as you walk around. I spent two days in town and managed to crash a wedding, see a gospel concert, and hear the pipe organ, all in the cathedral.

British cemetery

The British war cemetery in Bayeux. This has over 4000 graves. It's so sad to think about the generation that gave so much.

D-Day memorial museum

This was a good museum but you couldn't take pictures. I hate that! This will have to do.

American Sherman tank

Sherman tank from D-Day in Bayeux.

Karl Marx

We had to go to the Karl Marx museum, of course! It's not ironic at all that there is a charge at the door and a gift shop selling Marx souvenirs. If you get why that is funny, I love you for it!

Roman baths

The fifth largest Roman baths in the old empire, but they were never used. They were finished just as the empire collapsed. Oops! This is the hot bath section, and you can see the tunnels underneath where the hot water was pumped. It's way cool!

Constantine's basilica

Constantine hung out here. As in, the one who made Christianity legal in the Roman Empire. It's been beaten up over the past 2000 years, especially during WWII. The ceiling is new and they are raising money now for a new organ.

Trier, Germany

I don't know why I'm so into grotesques and gothic architecture. I just think it is so much more interesting than most of the other stuff. This is a door handle on a church in Trier. I was there staying with an Internet friend that I met in person for the first time. She is awesome and super nice and let me stay with her for two nights. How cool is that?

House boat explosion

The remains of a house boat that blew up last week. There was nothing left! But no one was on board, so there was only one injury. The guy is still in the hospital though.

Breakdancers

For some reason I always run in to break dancers when I'm abroad. These guys weren't as good as the ones in Guatemala though.

Anne Frank's view

This is basically the view that Anne Frank had the few times she was able to look out the window. Her tree died a little while ago though, I think.

American sector

As soon as you pass into what used to be the American Sector you see a McDonald's. Of course.

Checkpoint Charlie

Estonian

I'm pretty sure this was an Estonia song. They were so into it!

Ethnos

I randomly ended up at this park on a day when a folk group made up of young people from around the world were playing. They played throughout the park and then did a big concert in the square. They were really good and entertaining. They didn't play any American songs though :).

Cabins

I love it that they use sod on their roof. The plants look so cool. This reminds me of the American Doll books I had growing up. I had Kirsten and loved her. She was a Swedish immigrant, which might be why I wanted to come to Sweden so bad! I still have the doll...