slightly elegant

Day four was by far my favorite day! I find it really hard to wrap my mind around a structure that is more than 3,000 years old! Did you know, scientist know this is a man made structure, because the rocks  that make up the structure are not naturally found any where near this area? The closest area you can find them are about 150 miles away. Scientist believe that who ever built them brought them here by floating them down the river, Avon. There are large hills scattered about the area that are actually mass graves that contain peoples from the time period of Stonehenge. Mind Blowing! Man, was it windy! Of course, you can't tell by our frigid bodies, the way Daniel's hair and my scarf look like they are going to blow away, or how my face is almost completed covered. -Ashley Stonehenge was so fascinating! It's hard to wrap my mind around the sheer age of the place, and the lifestyle of the people who lived there. We Americans tend to have...

Unfortunately, these pictures do not give this 1,000 year old church justice! It is so breath-taking, with marvelous sculptures that decorate the exterior and interior of the building. This is the church that the recent Royal Wedding took place in. I wish we were able to take pictures of the inside, because it held beautifully crafted tombs of past kings and queen of England. It was, however, kind of creepy that there are over 2,000 people buried in the floor. Also, the best decision we made on our trip. We brought our L.L. Bean boots. With London's weather being really, really cold and really, really wet, we were really toasty and dry. -Ashley Westminster Abbey is incredible. It's really difficult for me to describe how awe-inspiring it was to stand there in a medieval church surrounded by the graves of all of England's best and brightest. I'm a huge Isaac Newton geek, and so getting to see his grave was special. Ashley and I also attended an Even...

I absolutely loved this part of our trip! A visit to these places had my mind spinning with questions about the world and the time periods people from pasts lived in. The British Museum housed artifacts from all over the globe, including the Elgin Marbles, an Egyptian collection and The Rossetta Stone. Upon visiting the Tower of London, a certain interest in the Tudor period was sparked within me! The Tower of London was built in 1066 by William the Conqueror, the last person the ever conquer England, to protect himself and the city of London. Did you know, King Henry VIII had five of his six wives' heads cut off in the Tower of London? Well, he did! Insane, I know! But, the beheading thing wasn't the thing that necessarily interested me. It was the rich history of the English nation. It is full of conquests, saints, monarchs, and so much more. -Ashley Picture a building in which every aspect of its construction is an example of excellent craftsmanship. Pict...

The first day we arrived in London was quite miserable for me. We landed in London around six o'clock in the morning, and by that time we had been up for nearly 40 hours. We weren't allowed to lay down or take a nap as soon as we got to our hotel; it was a measure to fight jet lag our trip's administrator's came up with. Instead we went on a bus and boat tour. The very fact that we were in London did not really occur to me on the first day because I was suffering from fatigue. -Ashley I was so overwhelmed the first day that I didn't ever really feel all that tired, just hungry and cold; there was so much interesting stuff to see, I couldn't possibly have felt sleepy! We stayed up alllllll day in order to fight the jet lag, and that was the longest I have ever been awake (it wound up being just shy of 40 hours).      P.S. Airline food isn't nearly as bad as everyone says. -Daniel

We've been in London for the past week.  We leave tomorrow afternoon. We'll tell you all about it when we get back! Ashley and Daniel