I am so tired!

Really.....SO tired.

Okay, where did I leave off. Thursday we went to Bath as a class. It was pretty boring actually. We went on a walking tour in which they took us to every obscure Jane Austen place in the town. It was difficult to care about. It was more fun when we were able to break off and do our own thing. Bobby, Jessica, and I went to the Roman Baths (including the Pump Room), and then just Bobby and I went to the crescent houses and then book shopping before getting back on the train to London. We went to sleep early because we had to meet up at 4am for the Paris trip. Here are some pics from Bath.

Me going into the Pump Room--just like Catherine Morland

Me at the crescent houses--like Catherine and Anne

And finally, a hilarious picture of Bobby proposing to the Regency statue at the Jane Austen museum. She clearly was not interested.

As I mentioned, we went to Paris on Friday. The group was me, Bobby, Katie, Caley, Ben, Rebecca, and Professor Rutledge. We left campus at 4am. Caley was late of course, and everyone was mad at her. She somehow made it to the train station even though we left her at 10 after. We arrived there around 10 and spent the rest of the day walking around and trying to spend as little money as possible. The group quickly broke up, as we all had different interests to pursue (mine including speaking as little French as possible, though I was the one who knew the most French). The whole group went to a cemetery to see Oscar Wilde's grave (and some other people, including Jim Morrison and Moliere). Following the tradition, I applied my sparkly pink lipstick and kissed the tombstone. Here's a picture.

That lipstick mark is MINE! Here are some more pics from Paris.


Me at Notre Dame

The view from Montmartre (remember this from Amelie)? Apparently a lot of artists used to gather here.

Me at....well you know what that is. Paris was so much fun! We left at about 9pm, so it kind of felt like a dream (as Bobby said). Anyway, it was great, and I'm really glad I got to go even though it was extremely exhausting.

Today, as though we were gluttons for punishment, Bobby and I left campus at 6am (after about 5 hours of sleep) to go to Dover and Canterbury. I wasn't really expecting to have a great time because I was so tired (plus I have killer blisters on my feet from walking this lovely city about 6 times over). However, it was the most fun day trip of them all! Dover was absolutely beautiful. I've been there before, but last time it was rainy and cold, and all we did was go to the castle. Today we saw the white cliffs in all of their splendid glory. I don't think I've ever been that completely pleased with my surroundings. The beach was glistening teal blue and looked like someone had spilled glitter all in it.

Then we hiked (literally hiked. It was severely uphill) to the castle. But we finally made it, and it was worth the effort. They had some of it set up as it would have looked in the 12th century when Henry II would have lived there. Some of it was dedicated to WWII and how it served to keep the Germans out of England (since Dover is the closest point in England to France---it's a short 21 miles away and visible across the Channel). We viewed the War Time Tunnels that were constructed for the Napoleonic Wars and then were later really important in WWII. They had it set up, so we really got the feel of what they would have been like in the 40's. They had projection of soldiers, sounds like voices and air raids and even the smells. After that, we walked out on the pier, so we could get a better view of the white cliffs, and we sat there on a bench for a while, ate a candy bar, drank some water, and watched a canoe race.

After that, we went to Canterbury. We went to the cathedral, but it was raining, so we avoided walking around. We got a train back to London around 6:00. Here are some pics from today. Me in front of the castle

The infamous white cliffs


The infamous me in front of the white cliffs
The VR on this mailbox means it's Victorian, which means I love it. It's the only Victorian one I've seen even though I've had my eye out for one, so I was so happy to see it at the castle.

And here, of course, is Canterbury Cathedral.

Those are my last few days. Now, I can't wait to curl up and go to bed. Plus, I'm not setting my alarm for tomorrow. If it's not too late when I wake up and pretty outside, I may go to Hampton Court Palace tomorrow. Of course, I'll let you know.

Love from London.

Thanks for reading.