Hampton Court was really beautiful, a long Tube and train ride, but totally worth it. The Palace itself was built by Cardinal Woolsey but was given to King Henry VIII after Woolsey failed to get a divorce for him from the pope. Seems a little mean to deprive him of his house just for not doing him a favor. Our first stop was in the Tudor kitchen where we saw lots of fake food and a huge fireplace. The kitchen was the only place I have ever been that was significantly colder outside than inside. Then we saw the Elizabethan court which had a beautiful white fountain in the center. The tudor apartments were closed but fortunately the Stuart and Georgian apartments were open. The palace gardens were also very beautiful. I imagine it would be quite pleasant to "take a turn in the garden". The maze was actually kind of small. No one got totally lost.

The next day we went to the Imperial War Museum. The ground floor was a little kids paradise full of planes and tanks. The ground floor had a WWI and WWII exhibit which was just case after case of pins and memorabilia. They also had this cool exhibit where you could walk through a trench. Pretty neat, except they made it smell like gun powder. On the top floor was a James Bond/Ian Flemming exhibit. All in all, very disappointing. There was also a Holocaust exhibit. Which was very depressing.

The next day our class journeyed to the London Transport Museum which was by far the most interactive museum I have ever been to. It was full of wax sculptures and many carriages, buses and trains (some of which you could climb right into...even on the double decker top floors). The museum also had an interesting section on energy and future transportation.

Friday, my roommates and I journeyed to the Angel for some quick shopping and then went to the British Museum. I think it is one of those places that gets more amazing every time you visit. Unfortunately London has this horrible habit of shutting down early, so even though the museum was open till 8, most of the exhibits closed at 5. I still got another look at the marbles...amazing. I also didn't realize that the ionic caryatid statue from the Erechtheon. Amazing. I also took this silly picture with a scarab statue.

Yesterday my roommate Nicole and I took a trip to Warwick Castle and Stratford. The castle was very beautiful. I am a sucker for a nice looking castle. This castle was owned by the Duke of Warrick but now is owned by Madame Tussaud, the famous owner of the wax museum. She has inundated the castle with wax people from various periods demonstrating its uses. Normally I would think it was quite gimmicky, however, it was actually quite interesting. The first exhibit we saw there was about the famous Duke of Warwick, the Kingmaker. We saw a 16th century court complete with knights and wax horses, very interesting. Then we saw a Victorian exhibit where there was a wax statue of Winston Churchill who apparently stayed at the castle as a young man. Then we went to look at the gardens. There were peacock gardens where the peacocks would walk right up to you and a exhibit of birds of prey complete with eagle. We also saw the later mill and engine room. Later that day we headed over to Stratford where I got to see the birthplace of Shakespeare. I spent most of my time at the church where Shakespeare was buried. It was full of beautiful stained glass and great architecture. The town itself was very cute. It was full of street performers and markets. Not quite as touristy as I expected. I thought there would be men in tights reciting ballads.

Today my roommates and I journeyed to Bath to see the Roman Baths. The journey was long but the English countryside was beautiful. The sheep were lambing (apparently because of global warming) and the grass was green. The farm houses are right out of a picture book. Bath is a bustling city. We first took a bus tour of the area and saw the houses Jane Austin wrote about. We also saw Nicolas Cage's house (all the shutters were drawn of course). The huge mansions on top of the hill were amazing. No wonder the aristocrats loved bath...what a place for a party. We were then dropped off at the Roman Bath museum where we learned all about the Baths and the water. Apparently the water is 10,000 year old rain water. The whole place was amazingly old. Now I can't wait to go to Rome (my plan over spring break) to see more Roman Ruins. The water was totally green and although we were offered a drink at 50p we decided not to try the water. We also looked at Bath Abbey which is an amazing church. Unfortunately we couldn't go in because it was the middle of mass. Later we went in search of "Bath Buns" a type of Bath specific treat which turned out to be much harder to find than necessary. After bath we traveled to Avebury, the site of the ancient stone circle. It was a very interesting precursor to Stonehenge although it was quite cold out there in the countryside. This week I am off to more museums, Stonehenge, Chiswick and a theater performance.