"Edinburgh, It's Morningside for Muffins"

Edinburgh (Ed-in-burr-uh) is an old city in Scotland (also the capital) which is built on lots of hills and valleys. This makes pictures of different areas really easy to get, as well as great views from some of the  higher areas. The frequent changes in elevation also give the area a unique shape and interesting parks and buildings to compensate.

The buildings are mostly made of dark bricks and have almost a fairytale quality, besides for all the shops. On top of a hill near by is the Edinburgh Castle, which from a distance looks both forboding and impenetrable.

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Going into Edinburgh, we took the train, which was quite a long ride, especially for our first train ride around England. However, it was a lovely trip. This comes from many reasons that I have come up with. 1. You don't have to drive, so you do not need to pay attention or really concentrate on anything. 2. The drivers are professionals and not your insane uncle. So you can relax some. 3. There is copious amounts of leg room, compared to a plane and most cars. I am almost six feet tall, so leg room is important and being able to stretch out my legs is the difference between being relaxed and being trapped in a box. 4. They have tables that you can work at. Best. Idea. Ever.

The only issue on the ride, because there just has to be one, was a small cohort of eight year old girls and grandmothers who were riding in our car at the beginning of the trip. They had a boom box that they were blasting provocative pop music from while the eight year olds danced about on the chairs and walkways near them. It was really strange to see and worse to hear as the music was not even good quality. Many people left our car to find peace somewhere else, but we just tried to ignore them. (At one point I considered opening one of the train doors while it was moving, just to throw their boom box out, but lucky for everyone they got off at the next stop.)

Once in Edinburgh, we checked our 'things to do' list and decided to go to the Botanical Gardens. As you may have realized by now, we hate spending money. So we looked up the directions on Libby's phone and headed off in the hopefully correct direction. The only issue was that her phone was calculating how we should get there via driving, not walking, so it sent us around in a crazy fashion up and down hills and streets. After climbing up one particular hill that seemed to continue on into the clouds, we made it to the garden. The sky was clear and crisp and the aroma of flowers and damp grass wafted through the air. (It had rained recently.)

There were lots of cute gardens, green houses, hedge walls/tunnels, and flowers to walk around in there forever. There was even a section with some bamboo, a pagoda, and plants native to East Asia. Another section was called the 'Fairy Woods' and had lots of tall trees, grass, ferns, and plants you would usually find in a forest. It was very serene, even though no fairies made an appearance. Paths crissed and crossed around the huge garden taking one from an area with giant leafed plants to the Queen Mother Garden (in honor of Queen Elizabeth II's mother, Elizabeth). We rested for a bit near the Fairy Woods on a simple bench and watched some pigeons approach us skeptically.  It was funny because Amy really dislikes pigeons and did not want them anywhere near her, (and also because we were talking about dressing them up in a monocle and vest) but the tides turned when a squirrel run up near us. (My mom always told me that squirrels that approach people have rabies, so I was sure this one did too.) Long story short, I started having a bit of a freak out and everyone laughed at me. I can see the humor in it, looking back now though, although it was not funny then.

We then walked back to our hostel, which was much more downhill than our journey to the gardens. We also stopped by a park and ate at a tasty American food place, which served REAL lemonade (not Sprite/lemon-lime soda). They also had pancakes, REAL pancakes! In the UK what they call pancakes is really a thick crepe, which is sad, because pancakes are just about the most delicious thing ever.

The next morning we went to St. John's church, which was close to our hostel, which was nice since it had changed from beautiful and sunny to torrential down-pour over night.  My umbrella blew inside-out several times in the short walk over. It was really lovely inside, as I think all churches in the UK are required to be. It had funny little paper fish and dolphins hanging from the ceiling with bible quotes and fun saying that children at the church had decorated. However, after the service, a man who worked there kept trying to get me and my compadres to agree to come back later for another service. We explained we were just visiting, but he would not be deterred  Eventually we mumbled out something so he would allow us to leave.

Next on the itinerary was the 'Elephant House'. It's a small coffee shop in downtown where JK Rowling is said to have come up with the idea for the Harry Potter series. Because of this it is a huge tourist attraction and was crammed to the brim the entire time we were there. Luckily, however, we did get a small table in the back where we enjoyed a nice lunch and tea break. I, of course, got a brie and cranberry sandwich which was delicious. Overall, it was a cute place with lots of elephant memorabilia  but it was so crammed and over populated that it was a bit of a let down. Although, I think most places like that are. You go into the shops, expecting it to be the same atmosphere where said author or movie director or artist dreamed up their masterpiece, but it never really is, because everyone else wants that same experience. The bathroom walls were completely covered in Harry Potter love though.

Afterwards, we went on the 'Scotch Whiskey Experience', which is like a teeny-weeny scotch history lesson meshed with a theme park. You ride in this whiskey barrel around learning how whiskey is made and the different types that different regions make. There is also a small black cat in ever scene to look for so, of course, that's what I was doing most of the time. After riding around, you get to pick one of the four scotch types (one from each of the four regions in Scotland where it is made) to try. In a word, I would describe whiskey as Third-Degree-Burn-Revolting, although I am not entirely sure that I was not drinking acid. It was definitely not my cup of tea, and having to down the entire small glass before being able to drink water, was really not any better. The trip overall was very fun though!

Next, we travelled a few buildings over to the Camera Obscura with Libby's friend Cat. It was full of optical illusions and mind-bending tricks. There was one room where it looked like one person was a midget and the other was a giant, and a table where you could pretend to be the main course for dinner. For dinner we went to the 'Amber Rose' a nearby pub, which was very delicious.

Overall, Scotland was beautiful, even if it was super hilly and rainy some of the time. It was a terrific visit, and I wish we could have spent more time adventuring around. (Although not in the winter, because it gets really, really cold there.)

Until next time...

Embrace the Odd,
Caitlin

P.S.- The title is from the song 'Edinburgh' by Jim Horne.

"For most of history, Anonymous was a woman." -Virginia Woolf

"Climbing Up on Salisbury Hill"

Salisbury is a small town that reminded me a lot of what one might think of when they think, 'British Town'. It had cute shops, adorable old houses, and a stream running through the middle. There were several houses all with elaborately decorated yards. And by decorated, I mean with plants. Many had rose bushes, daffodils, hibiscuses, daisies, violets, dandelions .. ok maybe I am getting a bit out of hand here, but they were very elaborate botanical gardens by themselves.

And right in the middle of the town is a giant cathedral. The spire is one of the highest gothic spires in the world, and it was difficult to see all the way up to the top without opening your mouth in wonder.

The building itself was very gothic, and made with dark stones. Like last time I visited, they were working on part of the structure, so some of the building was masked with construction, but it was still beautiful. Gargoyles and saints look down at you from the rock faced building, as you walk into the massive wooden door.

The inside of the cathedral is much the same as any cathedral. There are pews to sit on, giant windows of colorful stained glass, and a dark, wooden pulpit for the choir and priest to speak from. There is only one main difference, a large pool of water near the center of the massive building. The pool was added a few years ago in honor of the cathedral's birthday and allows for interesting reflections of the steeple of the church, as well as the stained glass.

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Our trip to Salisbury was a rather short one. We walked through the city and had a short break outside the cathedral near the park/green lawn, and then headed inside the church. There was a short man who gave everyone a very interesting tour of the place and allowed us to walk around a bit. He also told us that the cathedral's steeple actually leans just a few inches in one direction. But luckily, it leans into the wind, which means it is less likely to fall over. For some reason, that did not help me feel much safer about it.

We then had a delicious dinner at a local college. This was within the first week or two of arriving at England, and the dinner was probably the first balanced meal we had eaten since arriving. It was a glorious day.

Until next time...

Embrace the Odd,
Caitlin

P.S.- The title is based on the song "Solsbury Hill" by Peter Gabriel.

"2 is not equal to 3. Not even large values of 2." -Grabel's Law

"Splish, Splash, I was Visiting Bath"

Bath is a very stylish city, with a lot of the buildings being made of 'Bath Stone', which is a pale, cream stone found near Bath. There are lots of buildings around with all manner of things one may need. There are also lots of street performers through out the streets doing a variety of acts for money. One section of the city near Bath Abbey had a lot of benches all in a giant square and a man and woman were singing in the center. Almost as if it was a small out door concert.

The city was very clean and fresh with lots of interesting buildings to look at. I enjoyed visiting, but we were not there very long so I did not get to see very much of the actual city.

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My roommates and I were only in Bath for a few hours, so we really did not get to do much. However, we did visit the Roman Baths and view the Queen's Crescent.

While in line for the Roman Baths, which are the remains and restorations of the old public houses that Romans used to use, we did get to see Bath Abbey, which was nearly next door. It was very interesting with the staircase that run up and down the sides showing angles climbing up to heaven.

I had visited the Roman Baths in one of my previous visits, so I was not exceptionally excited to see them again, but they had actually been remodeled quite a bit since I was last there and it was much nicer this time.

Upon entering you got a device that would play recorded messages about whatever you were looking at. It was nice, but I began only listening to the children's versions pretty quickly. For the adult version it was a woman who would go into lots of detail about what was happening, where it came from, why it was made, etc. I really did not ned that much detail, and the kid version had fun characters that would give you an overview of what it was you were looking at.

The baths themselves were pretty large with several different rooms and chambers. Most of them might have at one point been for bathing, but had been converted into more of a museum that you could walk through, although they did keep some of the baths running and you could see the steam rolling right off of the water from them being so hot. I think they said it got up to almost 100 degrees sometimes, and was heated from an underground spring. (I'll tell you that sounds pretty good right about now though, especially since we just had snow yesterday.)

There were also actors dressed up like Roman citizens from when the baths were in use who walked around and talked about their lives back then. There was even one woman who would show the different types of makeup someone might wear and how to put it on.

My favorite part though, was one of the small baths at the end of the visit. It was in a darker room and was lit from within the water to show off all the glittering stones at the bottom. It turned out these stones were actually different pence and pound pieces that people had thrown in for good luck. It was just really pretty to look at as the wate moved around and some of the light reflected the waves on the ceiling, walls, and people's faces.

At the very end, right before leaving, you could taste some of the bath water (which was clean, they promised) and ran straight out of an unstopped spicket. The water smelled a bit mentally  and tasted like nickels, but besides that it did not taste that bad to me. However, I looked over at my roommates and they all had extreme disgust written all over their faces. Whatever tastebuds I needed to make that face, I am glad I am missing them.

After the Roman Baths we walked around for a while until coming to the Queen's Crescent, which is basically what it sounds like. It is a very expensive and lavish section of Bath that has the houses shaped into a giant crescent while overlooking a large park. The park apparently used to have sheep in it, and maybe still does although they weren't out when we were there, so that the rich people who lived there could wake up and pretend they lived in the country for the few seconds they looked outside.

Until next time...

Embrace the Odd,
Caitlin

P.S.- The title is based of the song "Splish, Splash, I was Taking a Bath" by Bobby Darin.

"If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm." -Vince Lombardi

"London is Calling to the Faraway Towns"

London is the British equivalent of New York City. (Not really, but that is best way to describe it for you to get a quick idea of it in your mind.) There are lots of similarities between the two. They both have a giant park in the middle, both have super tall buildings, and both are hip and modern! But in actuality, one has lots of tourists, plays, and is a world known city... Oh wait, I guess they are similar.

London is fast, and it seems like there is always somewhere to be. The buildings are not as tall as in New York City, although they did just build a new skyscraper which is now the tallest in Europe. There is a large river, the River Thames, running through the middle of the city, giving it somewhat of a liberated feeling when near it. And the tallest ferris wheel in the world is located in London. It is called the London Eye and it lets you see all around the city.

The city has lots of random roads that jut out of other roads at strange angles, and lots of streets that appear to have the exact same buildings on them, or at least the same type of design. This leads to a feeling of being lost almost every time you turn a corner, and makes it difficult to find your way back.

Underneath the city is a large system of underground metros, called the Tube. It is very easy to navigate and the colorful map gives you a very straight forward idea of how to get from one station to the next. In the Tube it is very hot from the engine of the metros and the large crowds of people, but as a new set of cars pull up, a huge gush of cold wind blasts into your face. While aboveground it is cold and windy, and no matter of standing in groups will really change that (at least in the winter time).

London has lots of little shops, pubs, and tourist attractions. Most of the main tourist sites seem to be around Piccadilly Circus and Covent Gardens, where the pricey stores are located. But on some of the outskirts of London you can find yourself at the Harry potter Studio, Chislehurst Caves, and other interesting places.

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My roommates and I have visited London quite a few times already and have done quite a few different activities around the city. Because of this, I am not going to go into too much detail about each place we went, but I will be sure to tell you enough that you will want to visit too. (Also, this gets to be a bit long even though I glazed over some details. Just a warning.)

Our first visit to London we stopped by the Harry Potter Studios, which is located just outside of London. There was a huge dramatic build up to arriving at the studio, because the special bus that you had to take over had a video playing saying how awesome Harry Potter was and how everyone loves it there.

The build-up made me feel like I would explode when our bus finally arrived at the studios. And then we had to wait in line to get out ticket confirmed. And then we had to wait for our time slot to open. And then we had to wait in line to start the magical journey. And then we had to wait for a woman to agree to give us the children's passports. And when we finally got into the beginning of the studios, the guy who scanned our tickets said, "YOLO".

If you cannot tell, I was a bit less than excited by the time we finally sat down to watch a short clip about Harry Potter. Although at the end, the screen rolls up and the doors to Hogwarts were right behind it, so I was pretty pleased about that.

As you walk around the set you can see tons of costumes and props from the films, such as Cedric Diggory's Triwizard Tournament outfit, the Invisibility Cloak, Harry's Common Room, Snape's Classroom, etc. I was mostly excited about Hufflepuff stuff, being a Hufflepuff myself, and was a bit sad at the lack of things for my house. Although, I am not sure what all i thought there would be. There are only about four Hufflepuffs in the entire set of eight movies that have speaking parts.

However, I did get to stand on the Night Bus, and sit in the Weasley's Flying Car, both for pictures. I also got to ride a broom in front of a green screen so it looked like I was actually flying. And the best part about that was that my two roommates and i had to share a cloak and it was a Hufflepuff cloak: Score! (They hated it.)

I think I was just too excited for the Harry Potter Studios to really enjoy it to the full potential, but i still had lots of fun running around and getting my children's activity book stamped at different stations. And I got to see all the different Death Eater masks, so it was definitely worth it. Also, the sound stages are named 'J' and 'K', for obvious reasons. Because they liked to say, "JK we don't film here". No. Actually, it's because of JK Rowling. I just didn't get it until about a week later.

The large park in the middle of London is called Hyde Park. We have visited there twice, and for two very different events.

The first visit we just had some time to kill and wandered around. We ended up walking next to the river that runs through it and seeing lots of swans, geese, and birds with strange feet. We then stumbled upon a small section of the park that was donated to Queen Victoria by her husband Albert. It was very beautiful and had lots of statues of swans and angels. There were also lots of fountains with numerous pools of water. Everything was made of a white stone, and the lush green plants in the fountains stood out very well against the rock. There was also a bird walking around that was red and green. I called it the "Ghost of Christmas Pheasant", and everyone thought I was really funny for that one moment.

The second time we visited, we went with a purpose to see Hyde Park's "Winter Wonderland". It is something of a Christmas Market/Carnival that they put up. It is free to enter, but any rides you want to go on cost money.

Since it was late November and a weekday, there was almost no one visiting the park. And it was creepy. It was like had stepped into some carnival nightmare that just happened to feature Santa. The area was almost completely deserted, there were strange animatronic Santas everywhere, and it was dark from being overcast. There was also a giant tree at the park that had no leaves and looked like a Halloween tree. It would laugh and talk in a booming voice about how great Hyde Park was. It really just made me feel unsafe. There was also a pirate ride and a fun house that had a creepy Santa at the front who laughed continuously in a evil cackle.

Moral of the story, don't visit Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland, unless when a lot of people will be there and remember the buddy system.

We visited the Victoria and Albert Museum at one point. It was an interesting place, but it was near the end of the day and I think everyone was just tired. There was a Ballgown exhibit that I really wanted to see, but you had to pay to see that part, which made me sad. So, pretty much I just remember walking around wanting to leave. I did find the exhibits interesting, I was just dead tired and hungry.

We then went to the Rainforest Cafe and shared a Volcano. But the servers did not all yell out "VOLCANO!!!" and it more of a sundae than a brownie mountain (like I remembered it being). It had a brownie in it though. And there was strawberry ice cream as well as big banana and marshmallow pieces. So I was pretty happy.

Our last big trip in London was to Chislehurst Caves, which is just outside London in Kent. It is a collection of tunnels underground all of which are man made, although some were built by Druids and Romans thousands of years ago.

I had actually visited Chislehurst Caves during my first trip to England, many years ago, but thought it might be a fun trip fr my roommates to go and see also. It was only 5 pounds to get a tour around the caves, and with that kind of a steal, we had to go.

The guide showed us the parts that were inhabited during the World War II during the bombings in London. There were numbered bunks that you would be assigned to for sleeping, as well as restrooms, a help center, and a hospital. A baby girl was even born in the caves during the war.

We also got to see the section of the caves where the Druids would preform sacrifices to their gods with young virgin girls. And there was a pool of water where supposedly a woman's spirit roams as a ball of light after she was brutally murdered by her husband. There used to be a competition at the caves where if you could stay an entire night alone, next to the pool with just a candle for light then you would win a bunch of money, but no one was ever able to stay that long, supposedly due to the spirit.

Besides all of those large, exciting adventures, we also went on some smaller, but still fun and enthralling ones. They just took up less time.

We had some extra time between trains one day, and hopped over to 221B Baker Street to visit Sherlock Holmes. Sadly, he was not in, but we were allowed to look through his small gift shop where fans of the famous detective and buy geeky merchandise with his face on it. There were pens that were shaped like him, as well as ones that were shaped like syringes. There was also a police constable standing outside during our visit. He was probably waiting for Sherlock to return so he could get his assistance with a case.

At the beginning of out stay in England, we visited the Westminister Abbey Art Gallery. It was interesting to see lots of religious paintings all together, especially since they were all in different styles. We did not get to go into the actual Westminister Abbey, but I still thought it was worth noting.

As tourist, my roommates and I made a visit to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. It was on the last day of the Paraolympics though, so there was a huge crowd visiting as well. The event was mostly made up of me telling my shorter flat mates what even I could barely see.

"Oh, they are holding their guns up. And now they put them down. I think they are marching? No, wait... Maybe dancing?"
"Why would the guards be dancing?"
"I don't know! Dancing Queen is playing, maybe it's their jam."

The guard band did honestly play Dancing Queen by ABBA though. It was amazing. (You can see a picture of the statue outside Buckingham Palace at the top of this post.)

Last, and probably least, we visited the M&M store in London. It was per my request that we even went inside, but I really just wanted to see if the inside sported more British themed items or USA themed ones. They were British all the way. Their were plush red m&ms wearing guard hats and t-shirts that said "I <3 M&Ms" (with the heart being a Union Jack). It was crazy, and strange. We booked it out of there.

And if you want to hear about the candy shop I love to visit whenever I visit London, check out my other post, Sweet Tooth II: Sugar Rampage.

Until next time...

Embrace the Odd,
Caitlin

P.S.- The title is from the song "London Calling" by Stummer and Jones.

"The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't." -Douglas Adams

"In Dublin's Fair City"

Dublin was, sadly, not one of my favorite cities. It was nice and I am definitely glad I visited, but I probably would have had more fun just staying in Oxford for the weekend.

Dublin is a large city, and has many different sections that you can end up in. The main tourist section is near Trinity College, where lots of shops like 'The Disney Store', "Captain America's', and other such places. That section is really nice, clean, and crowded. There were lots of people pretending to be statues or singing for money there.

But closer to our hostel and near the museums we visited, Dublin got a bit darker. The streets were not as clean, and it seemed almost darker there. (I am not sure if this was psychological or real.) The buildings were closer together and everything seemed grungier. Some of the buildings did seem older, like in Oxford, but in a creepier kind-of way. Not nearly as majestic.

The museums themselves were nice and tidy, but once you stepped back onto the street things got blander. It also rained nearly the entire trip, not making our impression any better. At night when we were walking around, I felt nervous that someone might sneak up on us, probably due to the streets having few people on them and fewer lights.

However, Dublin is going through some tough times economically right now, so that could be a factor of the issues, as well as that Dublin is very much a drinking city. Ask anyone. And I am not really a drinking kind-of gal. So perhaps Dublin was already a bit smudged in my mind? I do not think so, since I was excited to visit as my family is from Ireland. But perhaps I had too high of expectations? And either way, Dublin really was not a horrible trip, just not one of the places I will probably revisit.

One cool thing about Dublin though, was that all the signs were written in Celtic and English. It made me feel like I was in some other world, which in a way, I guess I was.

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Walking around Dublin after getting off of our plane, we checked into our hostel and got some dinner from a local pub for the night. It was too late to visit any museums or shops, so we pretty much called it a night immediately after dinner.

The next morning we were, or at least I was, awoken by the loud screeches of seagulls. I suppose we were near the ocean as we were on an island, but I never saw it. And why were the seagulls right outside my hostel's window? We then headed to a nearby church, St. Mary's Pro Cathedral, to have some Jesus time. (To be honest we do not really attend church that much, but if we are in a new city on a Sunday morning, as in this case, we also seem to decided to visit one.) After the service, we had planned on going on a free, three hour walking tour, but it was raining so much that we chose to push that off until Monday morning even though that was when we were suppose to be meeting with Austin's friend from home.

Next, we stumbled upon a monument to Oscar Wilde inside a park. Honestly, it was a creepy statue. I felt like he was watching me where ever I went and the way his face was carved looked like he had some dirty ideas running through his mind.

We then headed to some free museums we had looked up before the trip. The National Gallery was the first one to open, and apparently the first to close. After pretty much stepping into a painting gallery, the National Gallery alerted everyone that it was closing in fifteen minutes and everyone needed to leave. It had only opened about thirty minutes before this. So, we grabbed our things and headed to another museum.

The National Museum of Ireland-Archeology was our next stop and it had rather normal things you would find in a museum: pottery, recreations of ships, old jewelry  well preserved bodies that had been found in the local bogs, normal stuff. The bodies actually seemed to be the main attraction and they were in these special rooms so that if you did not want to see them, you did not accidentally wander in. They looked like people who had died their skin ink black and gotten punched in the face too many times. They even still had hair on their heads!

This museum stayed open long enough for us to look around and see all we wanted, and then we were off to, you guessed it, the National Leprechaun Museum. Because, leprechauns are an important piece of history.

The ambiance inside was rather strange and a bit creepy. There was a room where everything was huge and you could try and climb around on the giant furniture, and also a room where there was a 'fairy well' that you could make wishes into. Except after learning about how fairies sometimes liked to steal your newborn babies for fun, I was not sure if I really wanted to be making wishes to them.

You can learn more about mystical folk in my previous post, Over the River and Through the Fairy Woods.

That night we went to a comedy show that was free and that also had free ice cream. I am not sure how we found out about it, but it was legit and really funny. (Although some of the jokes were a bit crude, but that was kind-of expected.)

The next morning we headed out to our free walking tour and learned lots of interesting facts about Ireland, even though we could only stay for about an hour. We learned that America made St. Patrick's Day a big drinking holiday, as it had been a day of prayer in Ireland until then. We also learned about how the English persecuted and mistreated the Irish, seen clearly from the Dublin Castle's statue of Lady Justice (which was under British rule). The statue was facing into the castle (aka with her backside facing Ireland), was not blind as she usually is, and he scales were extremely unbalanced. (She also had a sword which seemed to beckon that if anyone got out of line she knew what to do next.)

After having to leave the tour early, we met with Austin's friend at Trinity College and got some tasty lunch together. She told us all about how studying in Ireland was going. Overall, it was a nice wrap up to the end of our Dublin adventure.

Until next time...

Embrace the Odd,
Caitlin

P.S.- The title comes from the song "In Dublin's Fair City" by James Yorkston. Also, I know Dublin is not technically in England, so my label does not make sense, but I am studying abroad in England, so it does work.

"It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information." -Oscar Wilde

"The Cardiff Bus is the Only One I Take"

Cardiff is a very classy city. It is located right up to the coast and has lots of interesting architecture.

The buildings are not old, like in Oxford, although some are. Mostly the buildings are newer and more modern looking. Large glass windows, shiny, steel structures, and crowds of people walking about are the main things you will see there. (And the ocean, of course!)

There are almost two sections of the city, the area near the bay, and the more dense part, further from the city. The area near the bay is where the Doctor Who Experience is located, as well as the BBC Studio, Millennium Centre, and Roald Dahl Plass. In the Roald Dahl Plass is where the iconic Millenium Centre is located, along with a tall silver fountain, which any Torchwood fans would recognize as Torchwood Tower.

The buildings are shorter and only go up to about four or five stories max, besides a few specific ones. There is also lots of space to move around and the sidewalks are large and generally empty.

In the area further from the bay, the buildings are much taller and closer together. There was a giant mall right in the middle of it, and several tiny streets that could take you to different sections of the city. There were quite a few museums, such as the Cardiff Story, and churches located in this section of Cardiff, but we did not get to spend much time there.

However, all over Cardiff, you can smell the sea, and get just a taste of the salt in the air. Seagulls fly around, circling people for scraps of food, and the waves crashing against the bay is echoed around the city. There are also signs written in welsh everywhere, which just looks like nonsense unless you can read it. And every now and then you catch some people conversing in it, and it sounds a bit more elegant than it looks.

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We had been planning to visit Cardiff for a long time, because of the Doctor Who Experience being located there. (My roommates and I are huge nerds, if you haven't noticed.) And we were very excited to get the chance to see all the cool costumes and trivia about one of our favorite shows. Technically, Libby was not caught up on the latest series, but we let her come anyways.

The Doctor Who Experience was amazing. Mostly because of the 'experience' part. You were walked through different rooms at the beginning of your visit and were told my the Doctor that he needed your help to escape the Pandorica 2. Once we helped him escape, we got to fly the TARDIS, but then crashed on a planet and had to run through an area infested with Weeping Angels. Then the Daleks tried to convert us, but luckily the Doctor assured them that we were poor stock for the Dalek race. Finally we were saved by the Doctor and transported by to the Doctor Who museum safely, although I did have a few black marks on my arms for some reason.

The rest of the Doctor Who museum was just like any other museum. It had costumes, props, and information on all things Doctor Who. And luckily, it had information on how history actually went, and none of the silly nonsense that teachers tell us in school. Such as that Queen Elizabeth the first never married because she wanted to elope with the Doctor but he left before they could get married. This is clearly all true, haha.

There were also set ups of some of the bad guys from the series, like the evolution of Cybermen and Daleks, and some of the Weeping Angels. And by the way, Daleks are huge! I am pretty tall and they even towered over me. Their plunger and whisk combo also made me a bit nervous around them.

All in all the Doctor Who Experience was amazing and well worth the money. Except I came out with TONS of weird black lines on my arms, almost like tallies. But worse things could have happened, right?

Afterwards, we continued our geek fest over to the fountain in Roald Dahl Plass, which is 'Torchwood Tower' in the Doctor Who spin-off show 'Torchwood'. There was also a Ianto Jones fan board that we saw near the bay, where people places pictures and letters about how much they loved Ianto Jones from Torchwood. We also ate at an 'American' restaurant called Eddie's, which I did not want to go to at first because we can eat hamburgers and pizza anytime we want, but it turned out that an episode of Doctor Who was filmed there, so I quickly got over that problem.

Lastly, we visited a museum called 'Cardiff Story'. It is all about how Cardiff was made and established from the point of view of people who lived there. We sat down for a while and watched a few videos about different people from Cardiff and their life stories living in the city. It was really exciting and interesting to get to hear about real people and see why Cardiff is special to them.

Until next time...

Embrace the Odd,
Caitlin

P.S.- The title is from a song called "The Cardiff Bus Song" by I Loves the 'Diff. Also, thank you Austin for the pictures of Cardiff since my camera was not working properly that day.

"Fish and visitors smell in three days." -Benjamin Franklin

"She Went Down to Oxford Town"

I have recently decided to make a 'City Series' of blog posts. What that means is every now-and-again I will post about a specific city I visited while here. And this time it is Oxford!

When entering Oxford there is a buffer of small shops and more rugged streets to distinguish from the open aired country highways and the city itself. From the small shops they slowly grow to become taller and more grand, but abruptly change to tall whitewashed stone walls and ancient colleges.

Walking about the smooth stone walls are never really far away and the idea of its antique nature haunts the air. There are statues of great monarchs and old priests watching the passersby walk among the sun baked streets. While a small chill floats in the air to remind all they are still in England, but it is more a comforting whisper than bone-soaking scream.

Cobblestone walkways and sidewalks break into the black asphalt rivers and bring light and diversity to the streets. Small alleys jut off the main streets as shortcuts or branch into their own main street. Shops, with their doors open wide, allow a flow of people in and out as they preview the old and new. Students in black cloaks walk to and from lessons trying to grab some food on the way.

Cafes and pubs leak out smells of fresh bread, coffee, and cooked meat, while women in windows sip tea in colorful hats. Performers sing and dance, smiling all the while. Their suitcases sparkling with sterling, reflecting the Oxford University trinkets across the street.

Men with dirty jackets sell magazines near shops while their dogs bark for plastic bottles. Young children in uniforms file through the street to try and glimpse the inside of their prized school. And old couples complain about the prices of lunch.

It is a new place, Oxford, but also an old place. And I don't mean just for me, but even for those who have always lived there. It is a changing place with changing people but somehow is stuck in this current time. I think I will like it here in the land of crossing oxen.

To see what sorts of things we have done in Oxford, visit these lovely posts by me:
Molding a New Flat

Creepy Encounters of the Laundry Kind
Holy Introverts, Batman!
All Hallows' Evening Adventure
Guy Fawkes and the Enthusiastic County Fair
Fists of Fancy
This is Museumtastic!

Colleges are my Cup of Tea

Until next time...

Embrace the Odd,

Caitlin

P.S.- The title is taken from the Bob Dylan song "Oxford Town", although that song is about a town in the South of the US and is actually a rather sad song. But I liked the lyrics for the title.

"The only way to entertain some folks is to listen to them." -Kin Hubbard