Executions, Castles, Harry Potter, and Friends

So by now you have seen the pictures from the Tower. Pretty interesting stuff. Max, Lavinia, Dima, Becca, and I headed down to the tower after lunch, braving the wind and the rain. Jenny and EJ met up with us there as well. We had spent the morning in a class with an editor and a PR representative from The News of the World, a UK tabloid newspaper that's on the more sensationalist side as news goes. They were pretty interesting, though. It was strange to see how nonchalantly they talked about setting up surrepticious interviews with important people who didn't realize they were reporters. Would never fly in the US. Anyway...

Yesterday was actually a good day to visit the Tower because it was raining. Not many other people did. We basically walked through the building that houses the Crown Jewels, whereas people usually have to wait in line to see them. The pictures say most of it. We went on an hour tour in the beginning which was really just our tour guide telling us stories about famous executions and such in the chapel. He also pointed out the main exhibits to us and we checked those out afterwards. We had a lot of fun hypothesizing about what it was like to be there, torture instruments, and personalities. :) It was a good afternoon. Afterwards we wandered through the city in search of a Japanese restaurant described in my London guidebook, only to find that since publication the restaurant had gone out of business. We went to another pub, and got back to the flats in the late evening ready to collapse into warm clothing and spend a chill night indoors getting ready for our day trip today to Oxford and Blenheim Palace.

Oxford is awesome. We left London around 7:30 and got there around 9, though we weren't supposed to until 10, so we got to have a break to get some breakfast. After that we met at the Martyr's Memorial, dedicated in the mid-nineteenth century to the Anglican martyrs during the reign of Queen Mary (aka Bloody Mary). We also got to see the place where three of them, including Thomas Cranmer, were burned at the stake. Oxford is divided into thirty-some independent colleges that each have their own faculty and buildings. The students live, study, and dine at the colleges. The only one we were able to go into was Christ Church, the most famous and the one where several scenes from Harry Potter were filmed. :)

About half of the group had read Harry Potter and the other half hadn't. So half of us were squealing with excitement when we saw the stairs leading up the Great Hall (I mean, wouldn't you?) and when we went into the dining hall. I swear the scene from Chamber of Secrets with Harry, Dobby, and Lucius Malfoy at the very end was filmed in a hallway that I took a picture of there, too. I got to explain to Max why we were so excited about the stairs and why they didn't just film the entire movie at Oxford, too. Good times. He still doesn't understand the obsession, but oh well. Michael and Becca were just as excited as I was.

The grounds around Christ Church and the chapel are beautiful. Took some very lovely photos. I also took some nice ones around the town. After we walked around, we got to meet up with Lord Butler for tea and biscuits (cookies :-P). Lord Butler was a member of the House of Lords before it was downsized, and he served under five prime ministers. He's a pretty important guy. We got to meet with him for an hour and ask him questions. He was very nice and very quintissentially British. We talked to him a lot about what it was like to be a lord, to serve under the prime ministers, and about his role in the Iraq War. He headed up an investigation into why Iraq was invaded when there was not absolute evidence confirming the presence of weapons of mass destruction known as the Butler Report.

After that we went to Blenheim Palace, home of the Dukes of Marlborough, otherwise known as the Churchill family...as in Winston. Too bad he was the second son or he could have been duke. We heard a lot about his family history and saw pictures of his ancestors and relatives, and the room in which he was born. Lots of ornate tapestries, pretty pictures, and nice furniture. We had about an hour afterwards to tour the gardens (beautiful!)...in the rain, of course. At 4:30, I met up with Lindsey in the parking lot!

For those who don't know, Jack, Lindsey, and Nicola Hazelton are a family that my family knew in California...Nic is the same age (basically) as Caelah. I am at their house right now and will be until Monday night. They have set me up in a very nice room opposite Nicola's complete with wireless internet and a very comfy bed. :) They are dog breeders and showers and have six...Remy, Megan, Coram (I think?), Clipper, Teal, and Rhea. I may have spelled some names incorrectly. The dogs are very cute, sweet, energetic, and large.

Today was Nicola's last day of grammar school = high school for Americans. Brits don't graduate, they just leave school. There is no big ceremony or anything. It's rather anti-climactic. But Nicola is part of the performing arts group at the school and they had their final show tonight. They still have to sit exams, but that doesn't start til next week. The show was great, kind of like W&L's Student Showcase. There was a mix of singing and dancing, mostly Broadway shows (though nothing from Wicked or Rent, sadly). There were two songs each from Les Miserables, We Will Rock You, Grease..........and High School Musical. Oh yes. It was fantastic. Nicola sang "I Dreamed A Dream" from Les Mis...great voice!!! She sounded awesome. :)

Well, time for me to be off to sleep. We're leaving early tomorrow morning to visit Windsor Castle! Hopefully the Queen isn't there so we'll be able to see most of it. I'll post more pictures to Facebook tomorrow and then update the links.