guy fawks night

ok, so ther’s a night that England celebrates (Canada used to celebrate it as well but now its only celebrated in BC and NFL, and one other province) a night called bonfire night. This is to celebrate when the person – guy fawks – was arrested and sentanced to being burned at the stake, for his treason. He tried to blow up parliment in London. He was mad at the king because he made unfair laws to the roman catholics… So on bonfire night they light a huge bonfire to commemorate his burning… as well as fireworks to remember the 36 (was it?) barrels of gun powder found under the parliment building… It used to be manditory, but now its just a fun tradition to carry on… Here are some pictures: aparently this bonfire was a small one compared to some fired that are lit throughout the city. They’re usually fueled by petrol or alcohol (yay burn the devils water!)

this one i had to get as high as i could on my friend Andy’s back to get to see the fire – we were that far away! And then the fireworks – they were really good (made me not be so sad i missed the Canada day fireworks)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and who could forget about Halloween!

 

 

 

this is interesting – the differences between the 2 moneys: the canadian thers a toonie ($2), a loonie ($1), a quarter($0.25), nickle ($0.05), dime ($0.10)… In the british (BOTTOM ROW): 50 p(ence), 1 pound, 20p, 5p, 10 p, and bottom 2p.

Cousin Clare’s Visit

Either I’m not that popular or noone comments on my blog – hee hee… So this marks the beginning of half term… and although I would LOVE to go out and explore (I might do some), I unfortunately need to spend money on my car so that it will pass the MOT test that it needs to take in Dec (*that’s a check so that you can drive it on the roads*).  But Thankfully I have enough money to do it now

So for my Cousin Clare Miller, who has come to visit me. We did lots of fun things this weekend. Here are just a select few pictures to depict the wonderful weekend!

so this is Castle Bolton.

we’re on the roof of Castle Bolton where we can see for miles!

Short history of the castle: built in Wensleydale in 1399, by Sir Richard Le Scrope – Lord Chancellor of England (to RIchard II). Claim to fame is that Mary, Queen of Scots was held prisoner at this castle for 6 months (but was still in luxery – 51 to attend to her). Deemed unlivable in 1647.

 

 

 

This is the chamber that Mary, Queen of Scots stayed in during her imprisonment. And this is the nursery. The Lord of the castle sang this lullaby to his kids: ” Hush thee my baby, thy sire is a knight./Thy mother is a lady so lovely and bright/ The woods and the dales from the tower we see/ They are all belonging dear baby to thee. (sir Walter Scott).

This is me and Clare at the York Minster Cathedral. It is amazing, and the choirs that sing in it sound soo wonderful (even the children one – which we heard). These statues are some of the kings since the cathedral was built.

You can also see us enjoying baskin robins icecream, even though its raining and “cold” – wouldnt be a true canadian if we didnt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Kirkstall Abbey. The main points: only 15 min drive from my house. 2.) built in 1152, and eventually surrendered in 1539. *which was said to have prevented what was “rapidlly becoming the 1st industrial revolution”. Most preserved Abbey in Yorkshire, but yet the least visited.

 

 

 

 

 

This is Shibden Hall. Built in 1420 – passed down many genereations/ and families. Most famous contravercy is that one of the tennants – Ane Lister was a lesbian. But also the Waterhouse family owned it, and John Hemingway lived there for a little, and it eventually was passed onto Anne’s lover Anne…. There were also tunnels that were built up to the house so that they didnt have to see the gardeners walking to the servents chambers. Look at how low the roofs were, and how dark it was – i felt like i was in a coffin.

 

That is the extent of her trip. We had fun. Next is me going to London to visit her  in December (hopefully)

Castle Howard

Well not to jinx anything – but I have been getting a bit more work lately, so lets hope the streak continues!

This weekend I had the pleasure of visiting one of England’s largest privately owned houses called Castle Howard. A VERY BRIEF bit of history to it (*that’s my new thing – to do research on the palces and put together a scrap book): It’s 309 yrs old! Charles 3rd Earl of Carlisle decided he wanted to build a house on this land that they inherited through marriage. It took 100 yrs to completely build it – which half was then accidently burned down in 1940 (when an all girls school went there). the place is around 1000 acres big (the grounds and house). And it was the first privately owned house with a dome for the roof. The Howards still own the house and live in it today…
A bit of history about the people: The eldest daughter of the 6th Earl is the daughter in the movie (and book) “The Dutchess” (with Kierra Knightly).  Also, another daughter of the 6th earl married the 2nd Duke of Sutherland. Their eldest daughter married George Douglas Campell (the Duke of Argyll – in Scotland). Their son John Campell was the one who married Princess Louise Alberta (the princess that the province of Alberta, Canada is named after). These are pictures from the house:

this is the view of the grounds outside of the 2nd story room.

This is a picture of the great hall – the part that got burned down.

the dining hall, and the dance all (I was going into a dance pose in this picture)

First week of school

Well this first week that school was back in – I was able to land a job as a T.A. for half of it – only the beginning – I hope that there are many more Teaching! jobs available for this semester… We’ll see how the work rolls out…

So – this las week, I was able to visit a couple castles – out in Harrogate (I thought I’d explore the area while I was out there)… And they were pretty. The Ripley Castle as been owned by the same family for 700 years – is that crazy or what!?! The second castle was just a ruin, but it was nice anyway – its the Spofforth Castle…

I was also able to visit my church’s temple in Preston (or near Preston). It was the most beautiful building I’ve ever seen (aside from all the other temples of my church – they all look just as beautiful). And I got to enjoy it with my two best friends over here in England.

Now let’s just hope that they’ll be more jobs rolling in… Cross fingers!

Scotland Castles

Here are the 8 castles that we saw in Scotland, as well as some scenery pictures – it was hard to choose – i took around 90 pictures while there – hee hee

This first castle is Culzean Castle (on the south west coast of Scotland).

This one is just a ruin of a castle on the Croy shore (still south west coast)

Next isnt really a castle – its a house (that ppl. still live in). This is Pollack house in Glasgow.

After that is the Fort Augustus Castle – its along the bottom tip of the Loch Ness.

We just drove past this one – its the Inverness castle. *We drove by a lot of castles, but couldnt seem them because of the foggy rain clouds. It rained every day we were there!

And now we have the Eilean Donnan castle – Dornie (by Kyle of Lochalsh). This is the castle in the “made of honour” movie – its the castle they drive up to, but the inside of the castle shooting is at the Dunvegan Castle (Isle of Skye – which we did not go see).

We now have the Castle Stalk. I think someone still uses it (in Appin, Argyll. That design originates from Scotland, my favorite design)… Speaking of design, the before the Tartans of Family Clans became symbols, the only way to tell the difference between clans was the flower they wore on their bonnets – cool eh?

Second last the Kilchurn Castle – we just stopped to take a picture, didn’t actually see it.

And lastly the Inverary Castle. This is the coolest one because of the history… Which is that this is the official castle of the Princess Louise Alberta! The princess that the province of Alberta was named after! She didnt spend all her time here though, but it’s her castle! And here’s some pictures of scenery (so beautiful!). Highland cows – they’re much hairier in the winter time…

Scotland

Well, I’m actually excited that its time for school to start again (first week of September)! Does that make me crazy?
So this last week I spent exploring Scotland with my roommate Nikki. We saw many things – here’s a quick list: Hardian’s Wall/ Vindolanda  – Roman ruins! (near the border of England and Scotland)

, tourist sights around Glasgow,

the southern part of the west coast

up to Ben Nevis -largest mountain in Scotland (fort William)

up to Fort Augustus – and the Loch Ness. (this is Loch Ness)

Then a long circle back – around to the West coast again – to Fort William. Then a quick trip out to the site of the Harry potter bridge (Nikki had misinformed  me previously, this one actually had signs saying it was)

Then on the way home we stopped off at a place with great memories for Nikki – she helped build a bridge when she was 20ish… and then we headed home. It was a fun trip… I’ll have to do a second post for all the castles we saw – we saw 8!

First Half of August

Well I see that it’s been a bit since I’ve last written. I’ve done some exploring around England.  Here is a look at what I’ve done this summer:

1. This is the Knaresborough castle. It started 1026, and was abandoned 1644 = the towns people took the rocks then. I also got to go in the underground passage that the king used to escape when the castle was attached (during civil war).

2. The next thing was my biggest challenge I’ve ever faced (besides moving to England) – doing the 3 peak challenge in the Yorkshire Dales (in North Yorkshire). It was a 26 mile hike, over 3 of the tallest hills in Yorkshire dales. It took us 11 hours and 50 minutes (we made it into the club! ) Couldn’t walk at the end.

This is only like almost half way down, the other half was more gentle.

And this is us after the hike – can you see his dark circles, and my hair’s a mess because 3/4 through the hike we got dumped on – totally drenched (mostly on the right side b/c rain was coming at an angle)

3. I went and visited a castle -Wentworth Castle – this mansion was called a castle, but not a medieval castle, so in late 1720’s the owner built the motte and castle – for his kids to use as a playhouse – now named the Stainbourough Castle. 

This black and white picture is the Kirstall Abbey. It’s cool. only 10 min from my house.

4. I explored the city of York: rich with history.  There was a castle, called Cliffard’s Tower – it was mostly used for storage b/c the king very rarely visited it. The York Minster is the Largest medieval Gothic Cathedral north of the Alps. It dates back to 627 ad – but has been rebuilt and remodeled (slightly) throughout the centuries. It’s abosolutely amazing. The city centre is also encircled by the remaining wall of the outerpart of the castle – takes about 1/2 hr to walk around.

Next entry is going to be all about my Scotland Adventure. See you then

A day at the beach in Filey

today was our branch/ward beach trip. we went to East Yorkshire, to a town Filey. Very pretty place. They were all shocked that I have not been to the beach that much, and that the closest beach to me is at least 6 hours away, and that we have to plan a family trip to go to the beach… I’ve been to the beach about ~ 6 seperate ocations (florida, california, hawaii, BC) and they’re like “i go to the beach 6 times in one week”… Here are some pictures, enjoy.

*as a side note, I will have to postpone my trip to London till after school starts again b/c I have run out of money – hee hee. but the rest is a go

summer

Summer holiday is finally here – it has offically begun. Although I have no pictures at this time to show, there will be plenty to come in the next month. I’m goign to go to France the first week of Aug, London the second week (or the other way around), and Scotland the 3rd or 4th week of August. These 2 weeks in July I’m exploring a bit closer to home. I cant wait!!

Happy Canada Day!!

Happy Canada day for all of you Canadians reading this – and I might put a similar post up for Independence Day. but I went around and got some of my fellow Young Single Adult friends (here in Leeds) to stand and hold the Canadian flag. I was hoping to get more people to do it – but i only got a few. I posted more pictures on Facebook (so you should get a page)… here is the one with me and the Senior Missionary – sister Coombs – who is also Canadian (married to an American). my roommate Mary supporting her Canadian pal. And Andy/me outside of the institute building.