Trafalgar Square

I was going to put this together with the National Gallery post, but I had quite a few pictures of Trafalgar Square, and quite a few things I loved in the National Gallery, so I decided to split it into two!  First of all, here is the famous column of Lord Nelson:

Also at the bottom of the column are the lions!

The National Gallery was of course center of the square:

I also saw a random things, like a big ship in a big glass bottle, the count down to the Olympics, Charing Cross Train Station and some police on horses.  And how could I forget, of course, the very London things of the phone booth and the Tube sign!  I also had a pretty sweet view of Big Ben!

British Museum

The British Museum may have been one of the most overwhelming parts of my trip.  Basically it boils down to the fact that anything important that ever happened in history is probably here.  Even though I felt before that I had a pretty decent sense of world history, I left here wanting to know so much more.  This is a site that is best visited by spending a week beforehand studying a certain time period, like ancient Egypt for example, and then taking a day to go through that section of the museum, repeating the process the next week with a different period of time from history.  If I had to use one word to describe this place, it would probably be awe.  I didn't take any pictures while in the museum, so I've looked up pictures on the internet of the things that stood out the most to me.

Lewis Chessmen--the oldest chess set ever found, from Scotland in the 1100's.

There was tons of jewelry from lots of different time periods, which I loved

Firmalampe--Roman style lamps made in ancient Britain

One of my big impressions while going through this part of the museum was how amazed I was at how resourceful and creative people were, and the great skills they had to make such individual and unique and beautiful pieces.  I also saw a lot of Greek sculptures and remembered how much I love them.  I would love to have a garden with some Greek-esque sculptures one day.  When seeing this particular piece below, I felt so envious of this lounge position that is so common in Greek and Italian sculptures and paintings.  I'm not even asking for a lifetime of lounging, but even just a half hour of being able to lounge at this point in my life would be so glorious!

These wall carvings are from Persia and/or Assyria/Nineveh.  The writing is cuneiform, which is what they used before Arabic.  The third picture is, if I remember correctly, a gate from Nineveh. 

There were tons of amazing things from Ancient Egypt as well!!  The Rosetta Stone, of course, was the biggest attraction, along with the Ramesses II head (the third picture below).  The second picture isn't any specific Pharaoh, just a ginormous statue. 

The Greek stuff was super cool too!  The Neried Monument (first picture below) was huge and super impressive!  The Parthenon Frieze in the second picture below was also super cool.  One room was full of everyday life things from ancient Greek and Rome, and I especially liked the section of games they had, like knucklebones and dice. 

Also in this section of Greece and Rome, I saw the symbol of medicine, the serpent on the staff, and I pondered for a while about this, because I realized that the serpent on the staff is a symbol that comes from when Moses held up the serpent on his staff for the children of Israel to be healed.  That got me thinking a lot about healing and Christ and the Atonement, and I thought that was really neat. 

I also saw a couple of neat sketches, one by Overbeck, a precursor to his painting Italia and Germania (I included a picture of the painting as well, even though it wasn't in the museum), and a woodcarving by Durer called Triumphal Arch.  There were also a lot of really neat Asian pieces as well.

At the end, they also had on display an example of the 2012 Olympic Gold Medal, which I thought was pretty neat!

Tower of London, etc.

So this is the famous Tower of London.  My biggest mistake with the Tower of London is not researching more beforehand as to what this is actually all about.  Also, it was all uneven cobblestone and stairs, so making this the first stop on the vacay made the rest of the trip quite painful on the feet and calves.  But regardless, there was some cool stuff, and now that I'm home and can research, I can tell you more about it than what I actually knew while I was there.  It was originally built by William the Conqueror in 1077 AD, I think as proof that he officially conquered the peeps in London.  From what I can gather, it was used from that time, up until the mid 1700's for residence and various other purposes (most popularly know for its uses as a prison).  After that it continued as a prison, treasury and armory until after WWII, when it was opened up as a tourist attraction.  Some famous people that lived here, used the building, were imprisoned here or executed here were Richard the Lionhearted, Henry IV, Henry V, King James, the 2 princes of the Bloody Tower who disappeared (probably killed), Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I, Mary I, Lady Jane Grey, and Walter Raleigh.  Also it was sort of an ancient personal zoo of the king, so there were lions and monkeys and elephants here, apparently.  Basically there's a lot of history in one castle.  

 The first thing that I saw when I got into the building were the Crown Jewels.  Pictures weren't allowed, so here's a picture I got from the internet:

There were actually multiple crowns and scepters and stuff like that.  It turns out they actually still use one of the crowns today for the coronation of the modern royalty. 
Next I saw the royal armory.  Here I could take pictures, so I got one of the actual armor of Henry VIII:

There were lots more things like that, but I think only a boy could care about all of that kind of stuff.  The next cool things that I saw were in the Medieval Palace, made to look like it did when Edward I lived there as king in the latter part of the 1200's.  Here is his bedroom throne room, and prayer room:

After that I visited the Bloody Tower and learned about the mysterious disappearance of the two princes and the later discovery of 2 young skeletons under a staircase.  That was basically it for my trip through the Tower of London.  It had a bunch of cool stuff, but it was uber expensive and I'm not sure if it was worth all of that money, especially since I didn't really know a lot of the history beforehand.  I did get a great view of the Tower Bridge though:

After the Tower of London, I decided to walk to my hostel by way of St. Paul's Cathedral and Shakespeare's Globe.  It actually ended up being a boring walk for most of the part, but I did get to see the old bank:

St. Paul's wasn't that picturesque, because there were a ton of protesters camped out all around it, but I got a couple of pictures in:

Here's a view of the Thames.  I was on the Millennium Bridge, looking at the Southwark Bridge, London Bridge and Tower Bridge:

And finally I reached the Globe.  I would have loved to have taken a tour inside, or even better seen a Shakespeare play, but alas, there wasn't any time on this trip for that.  But hopefully next time!

To Carly, on her 28th birthday...

LONDON & PARIS!!!!  So this post will just be a general summary, and I'll devote future posts to each part of my trip in greater detail.  I basically loved every minutes of my trip!!  I'm so so so so so glad that I went!  I spent 3 days in London, then took the train over to Paris and spent 3 days there.  It was such a whirlwind trip, and I did so many things in those few days!  Here's a brief itinerary of things I did/saw:

London Day 1--Tower of London, Tower Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral, Shakespeare's Globe, British Museum
London Day 2--Trafalgar Square, National Gallery, Twinings Tea Shop, British Library, Abbey Road, Opera at the Royal Opera House
London Day 3--Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Hyde Park, Kensington Garden, Harrod's, Royal Albert Hall, Afternoon Tea, church
Paris Day 1--Louvre, Sainte-Chapelle, Notre-Dame, Parisian dinner
Paris Day 2--Versailles, Les Invalides, Musee d'Orsay, Eiffel Tower, Parisian dinner
Paris Day 3--Shopping on Rue Cler, Opera Garnier, Parisian picnic lunch, Place Bastille, Place de Voges, Victor Hugo House

My number one favorite thing was going to the Opera in London.  My next favorite things were Opera Garnier, Eiffel Tower, National Gallery and Louvre.  Things I'd probably never do again are Tower of London and Musee d'Orsay.  And my biggest regret is perhaps not drinking more tea in London.  My initial impression of London was that it wasn't very British...I heard way more accents from other countries than I heard British accents, which saddened me greatly since I LOVE the British accent.  My initial reaction to Paris was (and I quote):  "Oh...my...gosh....How is this even real?!?!?!?"  I loved the architecture so much in Paris, it was amazing!  I'll try to be good at updating my blog quickly with more details and pictures of each piece of my trip!

one bazillion and one reasons why my sister is the awesomest person alive

I suppose this is in honor of my sister's birthday, though I probably should have posted this yesterday if that was the case, but the idea came to me in the middle of the night, and so a day late is what it's going to have to be.  I was talking to my sister recently, and she was feeling slightly frustrated because she felt she didn't fit the mold of what a girl should be, especially one who lives in Central Oregon.  Not that this was a mold she wants to fit in, but she felt it was alienating her a bit to not conform.  And when I say slightly frustrated, there were a few sniffles involved, and if you know my sister, you know that she never cries, and if she's crying then it is probably the end of the world.  And again, if you know my sister, then you also know that she has gone through things that literally would have ended the world of so many people, yet she keeps going strong, so if girlfriend is crying that means I need to bust out the Southern accent I learned from my Tennessee roommates and tell the world "OH NO YOU DI'N'T!" (finger snaps included). 
So it boils down to this:  My sister IS the awesomest person alive, and there are at least one bazillion and one reasons why.  Unfortunately, this blog can't contain that insane amount of awesomeness, and I'm going to have to limit the reasons that I list.  But let it be known, oh depraved and barren Central Oregon in the middle of nowhere, that just because you can't comprehend beauty and goodness that is not wrapped in a molly-mormon, republican-loving, cowboy boot-wearing package, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.  So, Julia, how awesome are you?  Let me count the ways...

1)  Amazing style--Every time my mom and I get complemented on something we are wearing (clothing or jewelry), we always end up saying something akin to "I stole it (or received as a present) from Julia!"  She also always has the cutest things and can pull of the most amazing looks.  Note exhibit A:

2)  She comes up with the greatest ideas.  For example her EPIC birthday party/New Year's Eve party idea:  she wanted a fancy party (though Central Oregon doesn't know such words as fancy, elegant and sophisticated exist, let alone their meaning, so the theme of the party had to be changed to dress up as a famous/historical figure).  My sister's lovely and perfect costume was Twiggy, the British model from the 60's (see exhibit B, and note how they look so much alike!) 

At said party, my sister had an assortment of fancy cheese, fancy chocolate, homemade falafal, a variety of "mocktails" in fancy little glasses and fun decorations (disco ball included). If a party of that proportion had existed here in Palo Alto, so many people would have come and stayed until the very wee hours in the morning, and would have talked about it for weeks afterwards. And Palo Alto is a happening party place for the young single adult crowd (unlike, for example, the middle of nowhere Oregon), so that is saying something.

3) My sister is a fantastic cook and baker. I could eat here delicious meals/baked goods all day. I wish I could include her famous cookies for you to eat as exhibit C, but alas...

4) My sister has the best taste in music. She discovered 90% of the bands that my brother and I listen to. She discovered so many bands before they became popular to the rest of America, so if you are an unknown band trying to make it big, impressing my sister is probably your most important step to fame.

5) She is a great listener. Whenever I call with problems, she knows how to calm me down. She always knows the exact right thing to say.

6) She is a warrior. She has survived all of the battles that life has thrown at her, and is so strong because of it. If you know our family, you know the trials we've been through, and my sister for sure has triumphed over things that would crumble most people.

7) I'm always uber jealous of her eye make-up.

8) She is so ridiculously smart. I mean, NYU!!! She's out there with the best of the best, and excelling at it. For example, she's learning Arabic. Not just a whole new language, but a whole new alphabet! Here's her name, as the real exhibit C:
جوليا 

9) She is brave. Who else could go from a hick farm town to NYC without the blink of an eye?

10) On a related note, I love how she is sensitive to what the Holy Ghost prompts her to do. Like move to a big city to get the knowledge and experience she needs to do the work that God has given her to do.

11) I also love talking to her about spiritual matters. She always teaches me something when we have those discussions. She has such wonderful insight and such a strong, burning testimony, and I can't help but feel how extraordinarily proud God is of her, and how he loves her so very very much.

12) I love how she can make my hair look pretty. I can't do anything related to fashion or looking good myself. And even though she has the most stylish and fun short hair, she still knows how to handle my long hair for me. (See exhibit D)

13) Maybe this should have come first, but I love her hair. I love everything that she does with it, because she always makes it look good, no matter the length or the color!

14) She is so kind. She is sensitive to the needs of those around her and is so caring. She is always willing to sacrifice for others, even if it means that she is going without. When she loves you, she loves you all the way.

15) She is super artistic. She taught herself how to play the piano. And she doodles things like this (exhibit E):

16) She is hilarious. I can't be in her presence for more that a few minutes without laughing at all the witty remarks she constantly makes. I would put up exibit F, the "Hickberry" video, as proof of her far superior humor and wit, but such footage has not been given permission to be made public.

17) She stands up for rights. In high school she was always putting together projects to help people, like earn money for a charity who helps get water to those without in Africa. Currently she is very active in how to help people in the middle east. Whenever she sees others who struggle, she dives right in to do what she can to help.

18) She has the impeccable knack of picking out the most perfect gifts. Especially when they are things I didn't even know I wanted. For example, my room now smells like Oscar Wilde, and it thrills me, which thing I would never have before imagined

19) She has a secret hidden talent of being able to beat my brother up in many different arenas, Super Smash Brothers being one of the more entertaining of the methods to watch.

20) And since she's turning 20, 20 is a good place to end the blog, since of course the reasons of her awesomeness are actually never-ending. Of course I saved the best for last. The most important quality that anyone could have is the ability to quote "The Importance of Being Earnest" in its entirety. Exhibit G: "I've now realised for the first time in my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest." Not a truer word was spoken than that, my friends, and my lovely sister has lived that adage to the fullest.