Yorkshire

I went for a 4 hour run today and decided to take my camera along. Here are a few of the pictures that I took along the way.

The first two are views from Alms Cliff...





And here are a few more. A lot of the trails here run thorugh pastures, that's why there are animals in all of my pictures..




Obviously I live in the middle of the country. It's nice and peaceful. One of these days I will make it to the Lake District and take some pics from there. I hear its really beautiful.

I HEART Prague!!

Me on the Charles Bridge
Originally uploaded by a_ney25

I love Prague. I love it so much I keep going back!! Here is a picture of me on the Charles Bridge in Prague. As you can see the weather was not the greatest the day this was taken, but I love Prague so much I didn't care. I was just happy to be there!!!

Mannekin Pis!!!!

Mannekin Pis and I
Originally uploaded by a_ney25

This is by far my favorite picture from Belgium. It's me standing in front of the Mannekin Pis. I am not sure why I am so fascinated with this statue, but I am. Maybe its because its a statue of a little boy pissing in a fountain. Maybe its because this statue has a bigger wardrobe than I do. How that is possible I really don't know.

Anyway, I had to find it before I left Brussels. It was my mission in life when I woke up that morning. I was so happy when I did :)

Manchester Airport

Today I drove a friend of mine to the Manchester Airport to pick one of their friends up. I have been their once before, but I took the train. Driving there was a much different experience. I was reminded of how beautiful the countryside is in this country. It was a very scenic drive!! It's too bad I forgot my camera. There were some incredible photo opportunities along the way.

Driving in this country is really different and sometimes frustrating. Roads aren't always marked very well, if at all, and many times its a guessing game as to whether you are on the correct road or not. It was nice having Brandy along to help navigate, but at one point we go t caught up in laughing about something and totally missed our exit. Luckily there was another exit coming up so we took it and turned around. We were following the airport signs at this point and for some reason there were no signs for the airport going the opposite direction, nor were there any signs for the actially road number we wanted. We ended up turning around yet again in order to findour exit. It was so frustrating!! I just don't get how they planned the road system here!! This isn't the first time that has happened to me.

One more observation from today's excursion. We stopped for breakfast on the way home. The three of us ordered the Traditional English Breakfast (7.95 GBP or about $15) and it was terrible!! This is the third time I have gone out to eat for breakfast in this country and the 2nd time I was highly disappointed. When you spend $15 on breakfast you expect it to be the most delicious thing you have ever eaten. They really don't make a good breakfast in this country.

So anyway, it was a fun morning. I was glad to get out and see some more of the country. Hopefully this weekend I will make it to the Lake District. It all depends on how much studying I have left to do!! Finals are next week and I really don't want to bomb them :)

Oundle and London

About 3 weeks after I arrived here in England one of my best friends,Jonathan, from Alexandria came to visit me. I was so excited!! He was actually headed to the UK for work, but he ended up spending most of his time in the UK with me. I took the train down to Peterborough where he was staying. He picked me up at the train station and we went to his hotel room which was in a small village called Oundle. Oundle is one of the most charming villages that I have been to since I came to England. Here are a few pictures:





We checked out of his hotel that day and decided to take the tube into London. It turned out to be quite and adventure. Don't ever go to London without making reservations first. We ended up paying about $360 dollars for a really nasty hotel room. That's not a great way to start out a trip, but it gets better. It was getting late so we found some food and headed back to the hotel to get some sleep since we planned on getting up bright and early for some sight seeing the next day.

When we woke up the next morning it turned out to be a beautiful day. After having some breakfast we headed into the city to start our day.

The first stop was Westminster Abby. It's an amazing example of Gothic archticture. I was immediately drawn to its incredible detail.





We also saw the London Eye, which is a huge ferris wheele that gives you an amazing view of the entire city of London and the surrounding areas from the sky.






And of course you have to see Buckingham Palace while you are in London:





Here is a statue that is outside the fron gates of Buckingham Palace:


I didn't see as much as I would have liked to on this trip to London, but knowing that I would probably be back a few times I wasn't too bothered. We ended up going to Piccadilly circus to browse through some of the high end stores. This area of London reminded me a lot of DC.

I really don't remember anything else from this trip. I do remember my feet were killing e by the end of the day. I learned my lesson, don't EVER wear heals to sightsee in London :)

Update

I have decided to use this blog to keep my family and friends back homw updated on my travels throughout England, Europe and the world in general. In the next couple of weeks I will be adding blogs from the trips that I have taken since I have moved to England. I hope you all enjoy reading about my adventures as much as I enjoyed having them.