New Lanark, Glengoyne, and Falkirk Wheel

We left London on Wednesday for New Lanark and Edinburgh Scotland. New Lanark was an interesting place, its the home of Robert Owen's powerloom community and has beautiful waterfall hikes surrounding it. New Lanark was an old cotton mill place, and Robert Owen basically invented a whole new way of living for the people of the New Lanark area, it was a community -- that there was not much getting away from. Way back then, they had their own store where community members could go and buy all of their food, dishes, etc in one place. Prices were kept low, and the store accepted New Lanark Money, which is what the mill-workers were paid in. Robert Owen kept everything really tidy and used positive reinforcement to achieve high standards of work at a quick pace in his mills. He also was a big advocate of education and created the first kindergarden and was for child labor laws. All the history was neat, but my favorite part of being there was when Barb, Kelly, and I went on a run through the waterfall hiking trails. It was amazing!! We ended up being on our run looking at scenery (and watching our steps very carefully) for almost an hour. It was incredible.

 Loved it so much we woke up early to do it again (shock, i know) and this time Maggie joined in. We then went through the "museum" of New Lanark. such a tourist trap and quite lame virtual experience ride. it was called the "Annie McLeod experience" and quite an experience it was. You sat in a two person car and floated your way around a curvy tunnel where a young girl talked about her life in the milling town, all the while you reheard everything being played for the cart behind you when you weren't around the corner all that quick enough. There was a beautiful rooftop garden at the end of the self-guided tour.
At the end of the tour we grabbed our bag lunch (they eat butter and turkey sandwiches here, i do NOT recommend it) and headed to the Glengoyne Distillery via a scenic route to avoid the Pope who was leaving Edinburgh to go to London. At Glengoyne we were able to each have 2 different glasses of whiskey, (scotch as they call it in Scotland..) once at the beginning of the tour and once at the end to see the difference between the 10 year old and the 17 year old versions. Neither were very good...

We then headed to the Falkirk Wheel, an engineering feat, that involves a rotating wheel to get canal boats from one canal to another when they are at two very different altitudes. It uses Archimedes principle of floating bodies. (Nerdy).

But we got to go on the wheel and on they way down got some fabulous views of Scotland. 

What a pretty country.

PunkRock

Today our theater class went to see PunkRock at the Lyric Theater. It was a great performance, and a bit more conservative in comparison with Earthquakes in London. It took place on a stage you would normally think a theater would have, sort of picture-framed with the seats outward in an arch in one direction. The show's premise was about rich high school students and the beatings they take emotionally by going to this private high school. Eventually the emotions get the most of the main character and he brings a gun to school and shoots many of his classmates.
This school shooting scenario has never happened (knock on wood) in England. This play really tugged at your heartstrings and made you look at how the characters were dealing with things psychologically. We were able to meet with the cast after the performance, and a question was asked about the message of the playwright. The assistant director answered by saying something along the lines of: High school students' problems are real problems, just as adult issues are real. People need to realize that young adults' issues must be addressed before a tragedy occurs.

These plays have really been making me think and I've really enjoyed them so far. Next week on Wednesday we go see "Money"

Thames River Festival and Wendover

Yesterday I went to the Thames River festival. Lauren and I got some sweet henna tattoos on our wrists and we walked around down by the river all day. Went to the Southwark Bridge (pronounced completely differently than its spelled) for dinner which was called "a feast on the bridge." TONS of different types of foods and I of course picked falafel. yummyy. We got to toast to the River Thames with the entire bridge that was eating dinner. 

We then got to watch a beautiful sunset along the water. It was incredible. As we were walking to the nearest tube stop across the bridge, there was a set up for a movie going on. The movie was about being "green" and was actually powered by people riding bicycles. It was pretty neat. The UK is so much more aware of being green than the US is. Rush-hour traffic doesn't exist, everyone takes public transportation. Every festival I've been to has had some "green" aspect to it. Recycling is also widespread. The US has got to catch on sooner or later...let's hope sooner. Especially after reading "Hot, Flat, and Crowded" for class -- we need that Green Revolution in America.

Today we headed to Wendover, which is in England's greenbelt just s 45 minute train ride out of London. Mr and Mrs. Petersen, Bucknell Alumni, had invited our group over for a American style picnic. Their home was incredible!! The lived on multiple acres, and owned probably 7 or 8 horses. We were able to run around, play touch football, eat hamburgers and chicken, pet and feed the horses from the apple tree they had in their yard, and play badminton. It was such an awesome day and we were SO lucky with the weather. It was beautiful and sunny, who knew England did that?!

It's pretty amazing that a place like this exists less than an hour away from the hustling-bustling city of London. When we left Wendover, a bit sad to be leaving, we headed back to the Thames festival for dinner at Pizza Express and FIREWORKS. Probably the best fireworks show I've ever seen. We stood on the Millennium pedestrian Bridge (also known as the wobbly bridge due to its first few weeks of use), and watched the firework show right over the Thames.

Ooooh! Ahhh!

 

Being a real tourist for the day

DOUBLE DECKER BUS TOUR. it's really the thing most people think of when they think of London, those double decker buses. What I didn't know before I came here was that ALL buses are double decker, not just the funny tour buses, but the public buses as well. I've been trying to figure out the bus schedules since the tube closes at midnight, but the buses are tricky. Kelly got a map semi-recently but we just have to sit down and figure them out. Sometimes if you get lucky with the bus stop you walk by, I'll see a stop near my flat and know I can get home using that bus..but other times, not so lucky and you just sort of wander until you get lucky.

But the bus tour, we got a bit of a late start because of last night at The Rocket (a student pub in walking distance from us), but it was for the best because we were just in time for the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. 

They do a precession of the guards in a marching band type thing like the picture up there. Quite amusing to watch them go around and around. It was PACKED at the palace, and we decided we would stake out the place next time to be able to see inside the gates. So we left to hop on the bus. We met quite possibly the coolest old guy ever (besides my toothless dance partner from a few nights ago). He was in charge of making sure that the original tour buses were the only buses that pulled up in the spot that we were standing in front of. Every time another bus would try, he would shake his finger and shake his head, and believe it or not they almost always listened. 

We got off the bus near the London Eye and ate lunch at a Turkish place near the water. De-lic-oussss. walked around some more, found some funny street entertainers: 

Then went on the Thames river cruise. We got off the river cruise and headed home. The tour bus was fun, but we've learned a lot more than I thought. Randy could have been the tour guide. We knew lots of history/landmarks.

Went shopping at Primark, a cheap store here. EVERYONE has bags from primark walking around, so Barb, Kelly, and I were very excited. Then very disappointed. Picture a messier and hotter Marshall's with really trashy clothes. Sounds great right?

Queen's House, Prime Meridian, Rosh Hashanah

Today was quite a day. During art and architecture we went on a trip to Greenwich, which is where the Queen's House and an observatory were located. The Queen's House was built in 1616 and was one of the first building of its style in the UK because it was modeled after Italian architecture. When we went inside we learned that the staircase "the tulip staircase" was the first freestanding spiral staircase in the UK, which I thought was pretty neat. Lots of historical figures in paintings and portraits were on the walls of the Queens House (which has been turned into a history museum basically). One room, my favorite, showed paintings of Tahiti, originally known as Sandwich Island (same guy who invented sandwiches found tahiti). The paintings were unique to the time because they were painted when mr. sandwich (sorry forget his first name) was actually in Tahiti. Normally painters would wait until they returned from their voyage to paint what they saw. This made the paintings have a unique freshness, more like photos then recall or from memory paintings. After the Queen's House we walked up a HUGE hill to the observatory which is where the prime meridian of the earth is! Here I am standing in both the eastern and western hemisphere at the same time. pretty great (and dorky) if you ask me.

After exploring this area, we walked through a tunnel that goes under the Thames river. The tunnel was extremely creepy and smelt pretty bad. 

I decided to search for a synagogue while I was here to go to services on Rosh Hashanah. I ended up going to the West London Synagogue and it was quite an experience. I have not been to services in years, but surprisingly remembered many songs and prayers. The synagogue was beautiful with high ceilings and the cantor was an awesome singer. The rabbi talked about superheroes and since superheroes and superhumans don't exist, we have to be humans who are super. I'm really glad I went to the service.

Olympic Site for 2012

Today we got to go on a tour of the Olympic site near Stratford in London. This morning we had a tour around the community where the Olympics are going to take place. It is a very poor area that needed a lot of revamping, which is why Stratford and the Lea River area were picked for the Olympic location. There is a regeneration opportunity for housing, jobs, training, etc. The Olympic Village (where the athletes will live) is going to be converted post-games to housing for people in the area. About 40% of that housing will be affordable housing and will be partly subsidized by the government. I think this is really great, while walking through the area of the Olympic site, it is clear that it is a much different part of London than I am used to. Most of the olympic arenas will be 'recycled' if you will to be used by the community. The Velopark and BMX circuit arena will be able to be used for local residents, as well as the gigantic basketball arena.

London's aim in the construction and execution of the Olympics is to be as sustainable as possible. They want "sustainability to underpin everything we do." They have a gray water system, where water is recycled throughout a building (so water you wash your hands with would go down the drain but then used for your toilet water before going through the sewers to be treated). The also produce energy for different heating and cooling on site so they are minimizing taking energy directly from the grid. They also have small wind turbines on site, use brown-roofs, and PV power. On all buildings they have bird and bat houses to encourage birds and bats to live there. Also, a lot of the park site is being turned into park-like areas. The north end of the site is more ecological oriented. They have built wetlands, have a pond, and it will become an ecological center. South of the site has parks that are more entertainment based: markets, pubs, hairdressers, etc.  The main focus is the main stadium which can hold 80,000 people:

It's really amazing all the work that goes into the Olympics. I guess I never really thought about all the planning, and the cost of the whole project. London's project is ending up costing 9.2 billion pounds. Hopefully it will be worth it. The Olympics, while the games are going on at least, are going to really help the London (England) economy. The amount of people riding the tube, the buses, buying food, supplies, hotels, renting houses etc will really help the area. I also never knew that the post-game plan was just as in depth as the Olympic Games themselves. On our tour, we looked at the "view tube" which was basically a map of the site with specific examples of what the olympic site will turn into post 2012. It's amazing that Stratford, WestHam, and the Lea River area will benefit from the games and hopefully be able to sustain a better living in a much better looking environment.

Bath, Stonehenge, Salisbury

This past weekend, our whole program first went to Bath. This is a extremely old area, with natural hot baths from hot springs, the only ones in England. When we arrived on the train, we took a bus up to our hostel to drop off our belongings, and then we treked up the huge hill to University at Bath to listen to a lecture about the geology of the area. We then got to walk up to see the views of the whole city from one of the highest points. There is a fake castle (only one wall was built, just to make it look like a castle from the bottom of the hill) where we took lots of pictures. After exploring some more of the city, a bunch of us went to Sally Lunn's for dinner, and got a great deal for a appetizer, steak, and wine for only 12 pounds. The appetizer was the restaurants 'famous' Sally Lunn Bun, which was a huge piece of bread with garlic and butter on it; obviously couldn't go wrong. After dinner, we got ice cream and a gelato place and walked around down by the river. It got a bit chilly, so we went to a pub and then around 11:30 we went next door to "PoNaNa" which was a club. The club was down a creepy flight of stairs into a basement of a building, but when we got down there it was SO COOL. It was like a dungeon, with tons of nooks with big tables and booths, and then through a bunch of narrow hallways was the dancefloor with an entrance to more big booths. About 15 of us went and danced all night.

We then went back to our hostel and slept until the early morning wake up to go actually see the Roman Baths. The Romans' developmental peak was in the 2nd and 3rd century. The baths occur because of the hot spring in the area spits hot water (over 105 degrees Fahrenheit) up to the Earth's surface. The water comes from the Mendip Hills and travels through a layer of limestone under the Earth's surface. The limestone acts as an aquifer and the water heats up throughout the 100 year pathway all the way to Bath, and then it shoots through the Bath fault. The Romans figured this out, and built a huge stone bath with lead pipes to carry the water to where they wanted it to be. When the Romans left Bath around the 6th century, the ceiling of their extravagant bathing center collapsed. There was then a flooding of the River Avon and landslides, and the baths were lost, believe it or not, until the 18th century. They were found when the area became populated, and a normal guy who had water in his basement hired someone to fix it, and the excavation found these gigantic structures and baths still filled with hot spring water. We got to tour the baths. The main bath now has no ceiling and is open for people to look at:

After the Baths, we went to the fashion museum, where a bunch of Princess Diana's dresses are and a spot where you got to try on corsets..so that was fun:

That night, we explored more of the night life of Bath at two different pub/clubs in the area. The bouncer at the first bar became Kelly, Maggie, Lauren, Alex and I's best friend. He even told us about his cute son, but failed to mention until the end of the conversation that he had a girlfriend. Too bad. DILF. After boredom of this bar, Revolution, we went to Belluchis which was more of a sports bar. Greer and I had a dance off with Joe and Alex. Greer and I lost miserably when Joe and Alex pulled off some crazy dance moves. We all went back to the hostel to sleep and knew we were in for another early morning wake up to head to Salisbury the next morning.
Stonehenge was the stop before Salisbury and was very interesting. The stones were brought from two different parts of the world in 2500 BC. The heaviest stones, which weigh about 45 tons, were brought to Stonehenge from 19 miles away while the other stones, weighing 4 tons, were brought there from Wales, 240 miles away. It's so unbelievable how before even the wheel was invented, these stones were able to be brought to Stonehenge from so far away. It really shows how much the world was connected and that people didn't just stay in the same spot. Here's my immediate flat (the super part of the superflat) with Stonehenge:

From Stonehenge we went directly to Salisbury Cathedral, which is another feat of its time. It is a Gothic cathedral whose foundation is only four feet underground because of its closeness to the underground water table. Inside the cathedral, you could just see how massive it was. We even got lucky, because while we were looking around the choir was singing and rehearsing for a wedding that was happening later that day. (Amazing place for a wedding, wow). But inside there was also a really cool Holy Water contraption. It was a reflecting pool, so you were able to see the workings of the ceiling by looking into the water. Here is the Cathedral:

After the cathedral, we went to get lunch at a cafe and were originally planning to go to Portsmouth, but last minute we decided to go back to London. We walked up to the train station, bought our tickets, and literally RAN to the train. We JUST made it, the conductor was yelling at us to get on because the train was leaving. Insane. Slept the entire way back, then slept some more when we got back to the flat. 

(That was Saturday).

So Saturday night, Phil and I were on a beer pong team upstairs in our flat, and we won three games in a row. Pretty exciting occurance. We then went to Sports Cafe in Soho and danced like crazy, very typical.

Lots of Walks

So for both my art and architecture class and the anchor class to the Bucknell in London Program (Pillars of a Global Society: Infrastructure, Society, Economy, Culture) go on many many walks. Even though this is the fact, I still joined the YMCA right near my flat. It is actually the first YMCA in the world, which is pretty neat. Its HUGE and I've been pretty successful at attending so far. Today was a lot more crowded than two days ago, because I went around 6:30 pm when lots of people were stopping by on the way home from work.
Before the gym today, our engineering class went on a walk to the Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE) near Westminister Abbey. The ICE was an incredible building, the first steel framed building in London. The nerd in me obviously thinks this is awesome. Earlier today in my art and architecture class we saw the rest of Westminster and Trafalgar Square. Westminster Abbey is enormous and so beautiful.  Here is a picture from the back of the Abbey.

Other walks we have done for art and architecture led us through the financial districts and we were able to see some cool buildings that are more recently developed and built. One being the Swiss Re Building, which some people refer to as "the pickle" as well as a a building by Richard Rogers where all the things that would normally be on the inside of the building are put on the outside. Like the elevators in this picture: 

How cool is that?! We also saw a memorial for everyday heroes on our architecture walk last week. It was a really neat garden and plaques with specific stories of people who died trying to save someone else, including young children saving their siblings from getting hit by a car, etc. Pretty amazing area. 

In other news, I can't wait to ride on the london eye. 

 Maybe it'll even be sunny again!!

But first things first, we head to Bath, Stonehenge, and Salisbury tomorrow! Possibly to Tintagel castle as well. Updates will come shortly after the trip