Mind The Gap

Twenty-six countries. Two best friends. One year.

[abbyandel]

One Last Thing...

So, this blog post is a bit late. Three months late, some might say. Well, it was hard to decide when the gap year was officially over–and even harder to admit it to myself. But, I think I must finally admit that it’s over. Abby already left for college; I leave in a week from today. The Gap Year is officially over. So we needed one last post to end it, here, too, I decided.

But, I also decided, long before it was officially over, that the Gap Year will only ever be “over” in a technical sense. I honestly still live it every day. I don’t know why, but each day, a different part, a different segment reaches from the past and touches me. Today it was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in Seville. I literally watched half an hour of Youtube videos of tunas singing to the statue in the cathedral square. The longing to be there is a sharp, aching emptiness in my chest. 

I know it sounds melodramatic, but it’s true. Today it’s Spain, and yesterday it was Italy, and the day before that it was Colorado, driving through what seemed more like Mars than America. It’s not just that these places are objectively incredible that makes me miss them. It’s what they meant to me, what I felt I left behind. I still feel like I left little breadcrumbs of myself throughout Europe, and Argentina, and the U.S.–besides the literal breadcrumbs we left from our diet that was approximately 90% bread. (Believe it or not, I miss that too.) 

I don’t think that the feeling is fading with time. If anything, the longing grows as time separates me and my little scattered pieces more and more. And that’s why it’s never over. Between all that I learned and all the places that learned me, I don’t think I’ll ever be separated again from the Gap Year. On one night soon after I got home, I was writing in my journal, thinking about when I’d stop writing, when my Gap Year journal would be complete. I somehow realized that even when I stopped externalizing the record of the year, it was still internalized, that I was a product of it, and that, journal or not, it would always be recorded not only in my memory, but also in the person that I became, the Eleanor that walks through life and associates bargain bread with utter freedom, and churches with the most profound knowledge I’ve ever found out for myself, and hostels with independence, and a sense that I finally felt that I’d become who I was supposed to be. 

So now I’m going to college, where I’ll make a thousand new memories and become a different person again. The future is bright and exciting, but reflecting on the Gap Year isn’t looking back–it’s looking in. The year will take me places I’ve never been, and places I’ve been before. I’m excited to see familiar faces hanging on the walls of New York museums. I’m excited to feel to same way about one city that I do about 30 others. I don’t know if I’m more excited than I was a year ago, about to leave for Europe for 6 months, before it all began. I would give anything to be able to go back and live it all again. But, as the cliché goes, I would never go back, because I wouldn’t want to change anything at all. 

So, from Abby and El, 

Goodbye … for now

[abbyandel]

Pacific Coast Highways 🌊🌊🌊

Since Abby last wrote, we have completed Phase 2 of our road trip extravaganza, the Pacific Coast Highway (which is actually a combination of two 2-lane highways, California Route 1 and U.S. Route 101, and is technically only called the Pacific Coast highway from Santa Monica through Malibu!) Technicalities aside, these highways were amazing to drive and really lived up to the name: we drove around hairpin turns 500 feet above the endless Pacific, past beautiful beaches, sculptural rocks jutting out of the sea, and all kinds of wildlife, like sea lions and elephant seals. Along the way, we saw lots of California and Oregon (we’re just outside of Portland right now), and even made a detour inland to camp in the amazing Yosemite National Park. Now, almost a week after beginning, we’ve said goodbye to the Pacific and are starting our long trek back home via the Oregon Trail.

We picked up route 1 in Santa Monica and started up the ritzy Southern California coast through Malibu. As we went up, it got more rural, but there were still plenty of tourist attractions- we stopped in Solvang, a Danish town in California, before spending the night in San Luis Obispo, a nice college town. The next morning we visited Hearst Castle, the fantastical mansion of a California media magnate, decorated with a priceless collection of medieval antiques–it made me want to go back to Europe! From there, we entered the wild and rugged Big Sur area, with huge cliffs, rough surf, and lots of scenic vistas to spot elephant seals from. Such a beautiful part of the coast! Stayed that night in Monterey, and the next day we continued along the coast, popping in to San Francisco for just a little bit to see the Pier 39 sea lions and the Golden Gate Bridge before heading inland to Yosemite!

Yosemite, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, is nothing like the coast. We camped in the Yosemite valley, a piney forest surrounded by the famous granite cliffs of Half Dome and El Capitan. We stayed two nights and had a great time, hiking and exploring the incredibly gorgeous area. The morning we left, the mountains were once again covered in snow! So we were happy to head back to the sunny California coast, and went through some really beautiful, remote towns.

Yesterday was our last full day on 101 and we left California to head into Oregon, which has been lovely so far. The shore is still beautiful, and there are also many lovely lakes and creeks and huge dunes–it’s a very interesting place! We spent last night in Newport, Oregon, and watched the beautiful sunset over the Pacific. Today we drove a little further to Cannon Beach, the junction of 101 and our new route, 26–but didn’t leave the ocean behind before taking the plunge! Yes, we properly bid the Pacific adieu by swimming in the freezing cold Oregon Coast water–people thought we were crazy, but it was a lot of fun. We dried off and started to head inland, and stopped in Portland for a while, visiting the culinary Mecca Voodoo Doughnuts, and the world’s largest bookstore, Powell’s in downtown Portland–really cool city! And tomorrow we’ll continue our slow route back across the country.

[abbyandel]

Loneliest Road to the Mother Road

This blog still exists! We’ve been pretty busy the past week as we’ve driven all the way across the country! But finally, here’s an update.

So we set off last Thursday and had two pretty long driving days, as we wanted to get to the St. Louis area in two days. We took US-50 or “The Loneliest Road”, which was pretty interesting. After first heading south to DC, we hopped on 50 and drove past beautiful estates in Virginia and rugged mountain towns in West Virginia on our first day. On our second day we passed through pretty towns and farms of Ohio, farmland of Indiana, and small towns of Illinois until we stopped outside St. Louis on our second night.

Our third day traveling, we switched roads and began to drive the famous Route 66, which runs from Chicago to Los Angeles. We picked it up in St. Louis and crossed most of Missouri on our first day. Our first major stop on Route 66 was Meramec Caverns. We took a tour of the famous caverns that formed over millions of years. We continued on 66 through the Ozarks and stopped in Carthage, MO, where we went to the 66 Drive-In to see some movies and then spent the night in the Boots Motel at the crossroads of America.

We continued Route 66 from Missouri through the tiny stretch in Kansas, and saw the inspiration for Tow Mater from the movie Cars! Then into incredibly rural Oklahoma and along the sidewalk highway to see some Route 66 staples like the world’s largest totem pole and whale and Pop’s, a soda store that boasts hundreds of flavors.

As we started our third day on 66, it rained, so we took refuge in Elk City’s National Route 66 Museum, which was pretty interesting! Then we braved the rain and left Oklahoma to start the drive through Texas. The topography quickly changed from the rural flat farms to flat scrubland to red and orange mesas, it was quite amazing. We visited Cadillac Ranch, which was still peculiar despite all the rain and mud, and drove past the massive Big Texan Steakhouse. We took a detour to visit Palo Duro, the second largest canyon in the country, which is beautiful. We could actually drive inside the canyon and see the striped rock from below. Continuing through Texas, we paused at the Route 66 midpoint to take some obligatory pictures before heading to Tucumcari for the night where we stayed in the famous and fabulous Blue Swallow Motel!

The drive across New Mexico was amazing, it was my favorite state so far, with an amazingly beautiful landscape. It really felt like another planet. We stopped at the Blue Hole, the 81 feet deep vertical cave formed during the ice ages. The continuing on the Mother Road, we drove along some amazingly open road with views of cool rock formations. We also stopped in flat and sprawling Sante Fe, which was quite an interesting city. We visited the oldest church in the United States before hitting the road again and passing through Albuquerque, the biggest city we’d seen in quite some time. Then it was back to what felt like Mars as we continued across New Mexico.

We left Route 66 for a little bit the next day and visited the Four Corners Monument, where we stood in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado all at once! Then we drove the the Valley of the Gods and went on the amazingly cool drive through the massive rock structures that lie in the particular part of the desert. Driving along the gravel path, it felt like we were on another planet, everything looked so vastly different from what we see at home. Then we went to the famous Monument Valley, with its naturally formed mittens and other rocks featured in just about every Western. One of my favorite days, the natural beauty of this country really blew me away.

Back on 66, we drove through the Painted Desert, which was again amazing, seeing how natural mineral deposits could create such amazing colors. After a few more towns, we visited the Meteor Crater, which was very cool and huge and wildly important for cosmic study. Then we headed off for Arizona’s slightly more famous hole, the Grand Canyon!! We drove into the park and were blown away by just how massive and complex the canyon is. It was really quite a lot to take in, it seemed like every turn of the rim trail offered a different view of what felt like a completely different canyon. The erosion power of water, as we saw over the past few days, is astounding. We camped overnight in the park, which was a lot of fun!

The next day we decided to hike some of the canyon, and did the 1.7 mile Bright Angel Trail down a little way inside. Though we didn’t go very deep, we didn’t get some different views and perspectives of the sheer size. And it’s exciting to just be able to say we hiked the Grand Canyon! We also drove around on a big loop and stopped for a multitude of different points where we saw different pieces of the canyon and the powerful Colorado River itself. Once we tore ourselves away, we continued on 66 and stopped in Seligman, AZ, where the annual ‘Fun Run’ of old cars driving on 66 was starting, so we saw the excitement of that! The hype might have been comparable to Route 66 in its heyday.

The tail end of Arizona took us on a windy route through the Black Mountains and into a pretty desolate stretch with not a single town. It was fun to drive, but also a relief to reach Oatman, the ghost town that wouldn’t die, where we saw wild burros and a staged gunfight! Then it was back to open road as we crossed the Mohave Desert and made our way to California! We stayed in the Wigwam Motel in San Bernardino as our last night on Route 66 before driving to Santa Monica this morning and completing our journey on the Mother Road! Now it’s time to head up the Pacific Highway!

-Abby

[abbyandel]

When you make it across the country 🙌🏻🙌🏻 (at In-N-Out Burger - San Bernardino (Bungalow))

[abbyandel]

Four States; Two Best Friends (at Four Corners Monument)

[abbyandel]

Pretending to trek Patagonia

After our first few days in Buenos Aires, we headed south to Bariloche in Patagonia. Our hotel was nestled on the side of a lake among some mountains and it was absolutely gorgeous there. On our first day we went on a bit of a walk and explored the area around our hotel. On our second day we went on a rafting trip with my parents' conference, which was so fun! We went to the river Limay which is quite calm and beautifully clear. In rafts of 20 people we paddled down the river and admired the amazing scenery, which was quite different from the area around our hotel, despite being only an hour away by bus. It was much drier, more typical of Patagonia, with many stepae (small mountains) and other cool rock formations and interesting wildlife. The whole rafting trip was really fun and had us flashing back to our crew days. On our third day in Bariloche, Easter, El and I headed into the actual city of Bariloche for the huge Easter chocolate festival. The National Chocolate Festival is held in Bariloche and centers around a huge chocolate egg. It's the largest handmade chocolate egg in the world, some 8.5 metres tall. They broke apart the egg and distributed it to the huge line of people circling about 4 blocks. We didn't feel like waiting that long for some egg chocolate, so we wandered around in the different chocolate factories, especially Rapanui and Turista. With a large number of German and Swiss immigrants because of its mountainous terrain and cool climate, Bariloche has developed a reputation for amazing chocolate! That evening we listened to some of the talks at the conference about protein signaling, which were really interesting. Then we had the closing dinner of the conference, which included some tango and traditional gaucho dancing! On our fourth day we went on a nice hike near our hotel through a myrtle forest, down to some lovely beaches on different nearby lakes, and around the side of a small mountain. On our last day in Bariloche, we went on a boat trip. We started on lake Nahuel Huapi and then took a short bus ride through a rainforest, again very different from the foliage near our hotel. We then went over to Lago Frías, a really fascinating lake which is greenish in color because of small particles ground off the nearby rocks by the movement of a glacier. The particles can't dissolve in the water and they make it turn this really beautiful and quite surreal color! We took a boat around the lake to get a look at it from the middle, and also saw it from the shore. It was so pretty! Then we took the boat to another part of the lake and climbed up some steps through the rainforest to view the Cantanos Waterfall! It was a really long waterfall, and even though it was a relatively dry time of year, there was still a vast amount of water cascading down! At the top of the steps was also a really old tree and the Cantanos lake which is the source of the waterfall and is a hidden basin nestled high up in the mountains and very scenic. Then it was time to say goodbye to this scenic and quite diverse corner of Patagonia and head back to Buenos Aires for our last few days in Argentina.

[abbyandel]

Buenos Aires

Hola, y saludos from San Carlos de Bariloche, Patagonia, Argentina! We got to Argentina a week ago today and have been pretty busy non-stop, and consequently not been blogging sufficiently. We leave Bariloche and return to Buenos Aires the day after tomorrow, after being here for 5 days, and being in BA for 4 days before that. I'll let you know briefly what we got up to in Buenos Aires and Abby can tell you about Bariloche and Patagonia later on. So, as I said, after a looooooong overnight flight via Dallas, we got to Buenos Aires on Monday morning, after getting to the hotel and resting a bit, we all went out to explore the area we are in, the Retiro/Recoleta neighborhood. We were immediately struck by how Parisian, and European in general, the city looked--we quickly discovered that Buenos Aires is known as the Paris of South America for good reason! We continued wandering around the Plaza San Martin area, Calle Florida, and walked around the Puerto Madero area by the water. We ended the day with a great dinner at the hotel! The next day commenced with a free walking tour, through Recoleta, beginning with the famed Colón Theater, and ending with the famous Recoleta Cemetery--with lots of beautiful sights in between! We saw the tomb of Eva Perón, among many others in the monumental, yet creepy, necropolis, and had a lovely lunch before seeing the National Academy of Fine Arts, and the Ataneo, the famous bookstore in a former theater! Abby's parents left the next morning for their conference in Bariloche the next morning, where we were to join them in two days. While on our own the first day, Abby and I continued exploring, moving on to the more architecturally traditional Palermo neighborhood with colorful buildings and cobblestoned streets, and it's beautiful botanical gardens, as well as the Museum of Latin American Art. We did another walking tour that afternoon, of the historical center of the city, from the imposing National Congress, following the Avenida de Mayo to the Plaza de Mayo, the center of the city, and the Pink House, the president's office. The next day, we took a day trip out of the city to Tigre, a suburb on the Río de la Plata delta. We explored the famous, and massive, outdoor market, the Puerto de Frutos. We took a boat tour of the delta islands, a real tropical paradise, and walked around town along the water, past the boat houses from Tigre's hey day as a high-end vacation spot, ending at the Tigre Art Museum, the former Tigre Club, a gorgeous building, once the social club for the town's elite. All in all, we had a an amazing time in Buenos Aires. It feels very European, but also completely different too--it's so unique, and unlike anywhere I've been before. More coming soon!

[abbyandel]

We were here!! 😊💐🍫🐰 happy Easter everybody!

[abbyandel]

Plot twist: This isn't Europe (at Buenos Aires, Argentina)

[abbyandel]

6 Months Later . . .

El:

So, today marks exactly 6 months from Monday, September 8, when we first arrived in London (I must admit, I’m a little miffed that we came home one week short). And today makes one week since we got back. The past week has been so strange, like something out of a dream—or were the six months a dream, and this is just reality? For those six months, our reality was a dream beyond our wildest imagination. The wonder of it all is what made our trip so incredible, and is what I miss most—seeing the most amazing things every single day the world’s best museums—Louvre, Uffizi, Prado—, most impressive architecture—Sagrada Familia, the Eiffel Tower, the Hagia Sofia and Blue Mosque—, the most incredible cityscapes, both modern and medieval—Glasgow to Dubrovnik—, and even to the worst, the places still haunted by a specter of a violent past, like Sarajevo, Belfast, Berlin, Munich. 

We experienced so much in so little time, packed so much in—so now, at home, I feel like I’m still reeling, both grateful for a break, and longing for another adventure. I miss the beat of the city, the unknown of each day we woke up and headed to a place we’d never been before; I miss the art and the castles and history and the sheer importance of the places we went; I miss how everything seemed to come alive and together before us, weaving together tales we picked up along the way into a great tapestry of understanding, and, hopefully, some wisdom. But this tapestry is something I get to keep with me, forevermore. And, above all else—the memories and the learning—, I also get to keep with me the person I became on our odyssey, someone daring and knowledgeable and self-sufficient and full of wonder. 

I miss Europe so much that I’ve been rereading Harry Potter all week so I can escape to another fantasy world. I miss Europe so much that I don’t want to unpack, and I don’t want it to end, even though it already has. I want to go back to our perfect last day in London (which we never wrote about, oops); I want to go back to the Italian sunshine and the anomalous Turkish snow and the Iberian warmth and the British grey. But I can’t go back, but only forward; so forward we go, to Argentina and our road trip, forward to return trips where we will revisit places from this past year and remember when we first explored them; and forward to a whole life informed by what we learned this year.

Abby:

As El mentioned, we’ve been home for the past week and it’s being so strange to go back to this normal world after our whirlwind adventure in Europe. While it’s really nice to see friends and family and be in my own room, it’s a little scary how easy it is to slip back into how life was, watching TV and driving to see friends. I’m glad that I don’t feel like a total alien, but I was also expecting everything to feel more different.

I’m certainly more self-sufficient and independent than I was when we left, but I think the biggest change is how much more I know, now. It may be a while before I go back to all the amazing places we’ve been, but I have this huge wealth of knowledge about history and art, which is a bit like a mini Europe in my brain. Since I can’t wake up and decide to go to Stonehenge or the Hagia Sophia or the Louvre (though the Philadelphia Museum of Art is pretty phenomenal), this European encyclopedia doesn’t effect my day to day that much. But then I see an image of Mona Lisa (overrated in my humble opinion) or hear about Franz Ferdinand’s murder when we literally stood where it happened, I remember the insane amount that I learned over the past six months.

It’s funny to think back on all the little moments, too. Already there are certain ones that stick out especially for being incredibly beautiful or weird or sad or informative and I wonder how that will change as time continues to pass. Our recent snow storm made me think of the evening we arrived in Istanbul in the midst of a blizzard and were walking to our hostel past the massive Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque, and in the dark and snow we had no idea which was which. In addition to the huge things I learned, the little memories are what made the six months so special. I’m heartbroken that it’s over and I miss it dearly, but I look forward to adding to my European and art history timelines and just remembering the random things that made me happy.

[abbyandel]

Before-and-after gap year picture

[abbyandel]

'Diff

Somehow we've reached our last new city of the trip... After nearly six months in Europe, we go home on Monday after two days back in London. We can't really wrap our heads around the fact that this huge chunk of our year has just about come to an end. But this post isn't our sentimental one, this one is about lovely Cardiff! On our first day, we headed to the National Museum, a dual art gallery and natural history museum. We of course went to the art gallery, which had quite an impressive collection. There were a lot of Welsh painters represented as well as Welsh landscapes done by Welsh artists and other artists. The Dutch Golden Age, Italian Renaissance, and Victorian England were also all represented. My favorite bit was, of course, the Impressionist section. It was quite an extensive collection and made me a bit sad to look at Monet's, Renoir's, and Sisley's works and remember the first time we were plunged into their art in Paris and every subsequent time we caught a glimpse of Impressionism in the cities around Europe... After wandering through the gardens near the museum, we went to Cardiff Castle. The Roman fort turned Norman castle turned Victorian mansion was fascinating to explore and see the influences of different owners as they adapted the castle to their defensive and later living needs. The Victorian house designed by William Burges had some interesting, though not so pretty, medieval inspired interiors built for the third Marquess. After the castle, we walked around in Bute Park and then wandered through the city before trying the local brew, Brains, and having a chippy dinner of pie and chips for me and sausage and chips for El. I was pretty excited for our second day, as we were planning to go down to the pier and see the Doctor Who Experience! As a big Whovian, I thought it was awesome to see the original and replica sets, costumes, and props. The adventure with the Doctor was really fun, taking us through some past locations and monsters as we tried to help the Doctor fix the TARDIS (I was a little too into it. But iso was everyone else, so it's okay). I'm continuing El's conversion to a Whovian, so I think she was pretty excited by the costumes etc. from the Doctor and Clara's recent adventures. We continued walking around the pier area after our adventure, seeing the Pierhead Building, Millennium Centre, and Roald Dahl Plass. Then we headed back into the city center and visited St. John the Baptist church. We thought we should sample some more local cuisine, and tried Welsh Cakes from the market, which were really tasty, sort of a cross between pancakes and scones with jam or pieces of fruit inside. After our snack we went to the Cardiff Story, a museum about the history of Cardiff which was quite interactive and fun with a lot of personal stories. Once done in there, we continued to wander around the streets, arcades, and markets of the city. We took a break in the café of our hostel before heading back out to have a last Welsh pint and then indulge in another chippy dinner! Now we're in London and unbelievably in our last city and hostel for our last two days of this incredible trip.

[abbyandel]

Brum

Though it may not have much of a reputation as a sight-seeing destination, Birmingham lived up to its second-city status--it was an incredibly diverse, busy, and vibrant city. We arrived on Tuesday morning, and set out to first explore the renowned Jewelry District, the historical home of one of Birmingham's most important industries, which still produces 40% of the UK's jewelry. We saw the Museum of the Jewelry Quarter, which included a tour through a traditional factory, and explored the area ourselves, seeing many modern jewelry store-fronts, as well as important buildings like the Assay Office and original factories, and St. Paul's, the church of the jewelers, as it's known. It was a very interesting place! We next moved into the City Center, to explore the modern city. We first went to the Bullring area, the true commercial center of the city, with a huge shopping mall with cutting-edge architecture, as well as several more traditional markets: an outdoor produce market, the "Rag Market" for textiles, and indoor meat and fish markets. We continued walking around the packed city center, past more shopping centers, seeing a few amazing Victorian buildings intermingled with the predominately functional 70's high rises. We saw the Counsel Chambers and Town Hall in Victoria Square, and finished the day in the Birmingham Public Library on Centenary Square, a high rise with a viewing platform on the top floor, for a 360 view of Birmingham's skyline. Our second and final day, we spent most of the morning in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, a really cool museum that has all sorts of things, like the world's largest collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings, and one of England's most important archeological finds, the Staffordshire hoard, an amazing Anglo-Saxon burial hoard of gold and garnet pieces. After the museum, we headed across town to the Chinatown area, where we found the Birmingham Back to Backs--the last remaining block of working class houses that once filled the UK from the Industrial Revolution. As the name suggests, the houses are all one room deep and built back to back, so there are as many houses as possible in a block. The tour took us through the winding stairways and passages of the houses, done up according to different periods, and we got to see the cramped living conditions that housed the workers who powered Birmingham's industry. After that, we grabbed a pint from a pub and headed back to the hostel. On to Cardiff right now, our penultimate destination. Can't believe we'll be on the plane home in 4 days....

[abbyandel]

Castles and Consumerism

In quite a nice break from hostels, we spent the last few days with my dad’s friend, George, who graciously hosted us in his house just outside Manchester. He is a teacher and was on his half-term break, so he also drove us to some cool places in addition to feeding and housing us. We spent our first full day in North Wales visiting Edward I castles. We went to Conwy Castle first. While most Edward I castles are concentric, with an inner and outer fortified castle, Conwy is a bit different. It’s the same style defensively, but instead of being concentric, the castles are more parallel. There is a heavily fortified outer castle and then the ‘inner’ castle is next to the outer. There is no way to get to the inner without going through the outer, so the same defensive principles apply. We also visited nearby Beaumaris, which is an actually concentric castle, but was never finished because Edward I ran out of money before he could finish his castle building campaign. It was very interesting to see the process of building the castle, as it was obviously left in one if its early stages, not just a random point of dilapidation. There were also so many corridors built in the walls of the castle which were really extensive, which we hadn’t seen before so it was a lot of fun to explore them all and see the little rooms off them. The amount of detail put into the stonework for a castle that was never finished was also very impressive. As a history teacher, George had a wealth of knowledge about the castles, so he was a much better tour guide than the panels on which we normally rely! Back in Manchester we had some delicious Indian food for dinner.

Our second day in Manchester was a bit quieter and less history-intensive. We got a little bit of a glimpse into what living in/near Manchester would actually be like. We visited some shops in Didsbury, George’s town. Then we went to take a look around the school where George works. It’s a nice campus, much bigger than our school, as there are more than twice the students. Next we went to Manchester’s answer to our King of Prussia mall, the Trafford Centre. It honestly seemed like a temple to consumerism. Different parts of the mall were themed and reminiscent of Universal or Disney with the ‘Orient,’ ‘Chinatown,’ ‘New York,’ and ‘New Orleans’ food courts. Though a bit smaller than our mall, it was more overwhelming and ornate with Greco-Roman panelling and dolphin statues in the fountains. It was honestly quite absurd. Back at George’s, we watched a movie and had roast beef and Yorkshire pudding! El’s post is going to cover the next couple days. Thank you so much for everything, George!

El here now! Our third day with George, we had another day of "vegging out". We did actually go out, to see Marple, a nearby town with a really extensive system of locks on a canal. It was actually very cool, and would've made for a lovely walk along the canal, except that the weather was not being cooperative. With the combination of the biting cold, rain/slush, and strong winds, Abby and I were so glad to have somewhere cozy to take refuge and stay warm, and dry. Our last day staying with George, Abby and I headed into Manchester in the morning. We first visited the Whitworth Art Gallery, the University of Manchester's art gallery, with several exhibitions of mostly modern art. My favorite installation was one that literally included a pool in the middle of the gallery floor! After the gallery, we explored the area we were in, a little outside of the city center, walking to see the outside of the famous Victoria Baths, one of Britain's best preserved Victorian bath houses. We then continued into the heart of Manchester, and had a lovely lunch in Piccadilly Gardens. We wandered around the city, down the busy shopping streets, past the iconic neo-Gothic Town Hall, before finding ourselves near the Manchester Gallery of Art. We popped in here as well, and the mostly pre-19th collection was a nice counterpart to the Whitworth earlier. We then headed back out of the city center to Manchester Grammar, George's school, where we gave his students an informal talk about the process of applying to US colleges and universities--George had asked to talk and give some practical advice, and it was quite nice to be able to help out some of the boys that were interested, and just a very small way of helping George out and thanking him for all of his kindness and generosity! After the talk, we headed back to Didsbury and had one last lovely dinner, before Abby and I headed out to Birmingham this morning. It's our third-to-last stop...as of today, we come in less than a week. I can't believe how quickly the time has been going, especially the past few days. I guess time flies when you're having fun, and in good company, so another massive thanks to George for letting us stay with him as the time flew--we appreciated it so much, and has such a nice time. Don't know if Birmingham can compete...we'll have to see!

[abbyandel]

Apparently There's a Band From Here?

Taking a break from ancient cities, we next headed to Liverpool. We eagerly joined a free walking tour, possibly one of our last before we go home which is quite distressing. The tour took us through a few sections of the town; the center, the medieval, the Beatles, and the docks. We learned a lot about the different major buildings in the city from St. George’s Hall to the Liver building. Liverpool and its ports were key during the slave trade (so a rather dark past) and continued to be heavily used for freight and cruise ships. The access to the Mersey made Liverpool the second most important city in the British Empire. The tour also took us past the Cavern Club, where The Beatles made their debut as a band and they played there 292 times at the beginning of their career! As one would expect, Beatles pride is everywhere in Liverpool; from Penny Lane to Strawberry Field there are statues of the band and themed restaurants and even a hotel. The tour finished by Albert Dock, so we popped into the Tate Liverpool to have a look at the modern art on display. Then we visited The Beatles Story, which was actually really cool, not the tourist trap I was expecting. It was a really well done experience starting with their origin as the Quarrymen, through the peak of their career all the way to the breakdown of the band and the failing of Apple. The audio guide narrated by John Lennon’s sister and themed rooms made for quite a fun museum. Afterwards we continued our Beatles story and went to the Cavern Club which is in almost its original state and is a prime spot to find Beatles cover artists! We listened to a guy do pretty good impressions of Paul, John, and George and tried to imagine the craze when the band were becoming famous.

On our second day in Liverpool we started by visiting the city’s two cathedrals. We went to the Catholic one first, which is only 12 years old and not especially pretty, with none of the appeal of older cathedrals and all of the pitfalls of being designed in the 1960’s. The Anglican cathedral, however, was quite nice. The largest cathedral in Britain, it’s really impressively large and quite sparsely decorated, making the size seem even greater. After the requisite church visits, we finished The Beatles Story by going to see “Fab4D” which was the tourist trap I was expecting and a bit daft. The attached exhibition was more interesting, all about the Beatles and the British Invasion in the US. Then we went to the Maritime Museum where there was a small exhibit about the Titanic, which was designed in Liverpool, but never actually went there on its fateful voyage. But Liverpool still claim it as White Star Line had its headquarters in the city. The Maritime Museum is also home to the slavery museum, which recognizes the role Liverpool played in the international slave trade. Though quite distressing, it was an interesting and well done museum showing not only how horrifically the captured Africans were treated in the Middle Passage and once on plantations etc., but also how the English benefitted from exploiting people they deemed as inferior. There was also a section about the continuing effects of the slave trade and colonization on African and other affected nations. Obviously the museum was upsetting, but it certainly is a museum that should exist as a reminder of atrocities humans commit. Moving to a less depressing museum, we visited the Walker Art Gallery with its quite extensive collection of European art from Medieval through to modern. Then we left Liverpool and are now in Manchester, where we are staying for the next few with my dad’s friend, George, who is kindly driving us to see some harder to reach sights like Edward I castles!

[abbyandel]

The Rows and the Romans

From York, we moved on to another lovely one-day destination, Chester. After dropping our stuff off at our hostel, we headed into the middle of town, the see the Rows, two-storied shopping streets that are unique to Chester. With the black-and-white medieval revival buildings (and some originals, too), iron signs swinging above each shop, and the hustle and bustle of shoppers on the cobblestones, it was extremely lovely. The two wide, intersecting streets were an interesting counterpart to the tiny, winding alleys of York. We next headed to see some of the castle, a former Norman fortress now mostly converted into a court, and walked a bit of the walls--Chester, like York, has amazingly well-preserved original city walls. What we thought was really cool about the walls in Chester is how, more than an attraction, they are really a thoroughfare used by people to get around the city. So we took a page from that group and walked to walls to get to another area of town--the Roman section! Chester had a large military outpost and still has some of the best Roman remains in the world. We saw the Roman garden, where lots of these remains, like columns and hypocaust components, are displayed outside, as well as the amphitheater, once the largest in Britain! Next was St John's Church, the former cathedral with the original Norman Romanesque interior. From there, we crossed the River Dee and bad a nice walk along the banks before crossing back over and mounting the walls again, this time to walk all the way around them! It was lots of fun, and amazing to be able to literally circumnavigate the old town without leaving the walls. We saw many remaining towers and forts as well as we walked around! At the end of the circuit, we descended to see the Chester Cathedral, which was also historical, huge, and beautiful. Our next stop was just a regular fast food shop--which just happened to have a portion of the former Roman baths in its basement! So we popped down there to see some of Chester's last in situ hypocausts, as well as heading to a park, once the Roman quarry, that has Britain's only remaining in situ rock-cut altar (it was a little underwhelming, I must say). After all this wandering around, we were in the mood to relax with a nice cream tea, and enjoyed tea and scones in a tea room on the rows, before wandering around some more, grabbing a pint later (in a 12th century cellar-turned-pub!), before calling it a day. Now we're in Liverpool!

[abbyandel]

Eboracum

We left Bonnie Scotland to come down into England on Monday, and first visited York. With the longest city walls in Britain in addition to loads of Medieval streets and buildings, it was really pretty. It was a bit raining so we headed to the York Castle Museum first which houses a slightly eclectic but really interesting selection of exhibitions. From World War I exhibits to the 1960’s to the old gaol, there was a lot to be learned about the history of York and the rest of England. My favorite part, however, was the model Victorian street they had, complete with the smells! It was very interesting to wander around the cobbled street and peruse the shop fronts and the interiors of some shops. I’ve always really liked the Victorian era, but the pungent fumes coming from the public bathroom and people’s washing were a bit of a deterrent… Outside the museum, we looked at Clifford’s Tower, the stronghold that remains from the old castle William the Conquerer built to control York. Then we took a rather scenic walk towards the Minster. On the way we walked down The Shambles, an adorable old street, with some of the buildings dating back all the way to the 14th century! (Or so the dates on the outside would have us believe) It used to house butcher shops, but now has little tea rooms and restaurants and jewelry shops. Despite the wares for sale, it felt like stepping back in time and was quite lovely. We also visited the Holy Trinity Church, as per our friend, George’s suggestion. It was tucked out of the way down a little alley and was really interesting inside. The pews were arranged in boxes, which is quite rare to still see. There were also old windows and stone altars which are not often preserved, and the stained glass windows were beautiful. Definitely one of the more unique churches we’ve visited! Then we went to the more widely know Minster, the largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe. And it was really massive. My favorite part of the church was probably the Chapter House with its ornate ceiling and stained glass panels. But the highlight of the visit was probably the Undercroft, where the ruins of the buildings under the Minster were revealed. There was lots about the Norman and Saxon churches, but the best bit was, of course, the information about the Roman basilica. It was reputedly here that Constantine was proclaimed emperor and, as they mentioned often, the course of Christianity was changed forever. Septimus Severus also died in York, and it was one of the most important Roman settlements in England. So we really liked it, obviously. After the Minster we climbed up and walked around the city walls which surround an impressively large area for such an old city. It was getting close to nightfall and the walls were starting to close, but we managed make it almost all the way around and to see most of the bars (gates) and towers along the way! The walls also afforded really nice views of the Minster and the city, plus ‘2000 years of history in 2 miles’ as the plaques along the way described different points in York’s fascinating history. It’s funny, now we’re in England, to hear about William the Conquerer instead of William Wallace!Now off the explore the rest of England!