Throwback Thursday: London 2003

Ten years ago today I was flying home from my first trip ever overseas. I'd just spent 12 glorious days in London with a group of my peers who were participating in cultural immersion course for college credit. (The group was made up of six high school seniors, one high school junior, one adult learner, one retired school teacher, and two chaperones.) We enjoyed a delicious itinerary crammed full of British culture including, visits to the St. Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of London, the V&A, four (count 'em - four!) theatre performances, a bus trip to Windsor, train rides to Canterbury and Salisbury (plus bus to Stonehenge), and more. I'm simultaneously exhausted and exhilarated now just thinking about it. 

It was such an important trip for me that helped define the next five years of my life. Without this experience, I doubt I would have spent a (very important in so many ways) semester in Ireland or spent a winter working in London after graduating from college. Although I haven't been abroad since returning home from working in London in spring 2008, and even though my passport actually expired this past December (sooooo bad - must renew sometime this year, must renew sometime this year) I still identify as a traveler. Hopefully some time soon, money and schedules will make it possible for another trip overseas.

This is me with some costumed reenactors at the Tower of London. This is why I will never fit into my prom dress ever again - because I was a waif in high school . . . a waif! Also, obviously the London humidity did not react with my hair at all. Ha.Bahahahahaha.

During this trip, we were each working on a special project for our course work. My project focused on English costume/dress from the Norman Invasion - the coronation of Elizabeth II - aka, the focus of the trip for me was to look at all the pretty dresses. Oh to be at Kensington Palace or the V&A again, notebook in hand, furiously scribbling notes about design features. Such happy memories.

In the green behind the House of Parliament.

In front of Stonehenge.

Travel's a pretty amazing thing. It brings out our best and bravest and also exposes our worst (especially in the face of being: tired, cranky, hungry, etc. We keep the lessons we learn from our travels our entire life and our wanders help us become thoughtful and informed participants in society. As Edna St. Vincent Millay so wisely wrote, "And sure this isn't a train I wouldn't take, no matter where it's going."

Source: fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net via Ada on Pinterest

 

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Book Club Friday Goes British!

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End the week with bookish chat. I share what I'm reading, you share what you're reading. If you've written a bookish post yourself in the last week or so, slap the above book club button on it and link up below!

I couldn't resist using the Royal Wedding as an excuse to talk British children's literature. Make yourself cozy and please, won't you have a cup of tea?

But before we go any further . . . Kate Middleton's wedding dress? Yay or nay?

Big, BIG "YAY" in my opinion. Dare I say, it's a little ala Princess Margaret? Nice work Princess Catherine!

Now then . .  .

I've been trying to figure out just when I got to be such an Anglophile and while I'm not exactly sure what happened, I'd like to blame books nonetheless.  

Specifically, these guys . .  .

Actually, now that I think of it, although Pooh and Piglet and the rest of the original A.A. Milne gang (aka not the Disney Pooh . . . what the heck was with Pooh's red shirt anyway?!) were a huge part of my childhood, I think I probably got my first dose of English literature from a Ms. Beatrix Potter. Because of my springtime birthday (aka, the stores were stocked with Easter stuff), I always seemed to receive a lot of bunny stuff for my birthdays and for all the stuffed bunnies and little bunny knick-knacks I once owned, the bunnies who had the most impact on me were Potter's little rabbits. 

I grew out of bunnies, eventually, and moved onto other British children's literature, the kind without sweet little illustrations. I read my copy of Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses until the book jacket wore out. I got lost in the worlds of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett and the Borrower books by Mary Norton.Who can resist tales about little people living under the floor boards?!

In my teenage years, I discovered Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy.  The books, with their complicated discussions about freewill, sexuality, and religion, have already proven themselves far too complex to work in movie form. They're best reread over and over again to get everything packed into these books. I think I could reread them every year if I didn't think there were a lot of other books out in the world that also deserved my attention.

I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith (who also wrote 101 Dalmations . . .wait, another culprit in making me a nutty Anglophile!), is another British young adult classic. The story is charming, sweet and very British. What more could you want?

I'm missing a ton of other British classics that entertained and help shape both my childhood and my decisions as an adult, but these are the books that came to mind as I pondered childhood favorites by British authors.

What were some of your favorite childhood books? Any favorite British authors? Happy Friday all!

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Once Upon A Time in London

Once upon a time in London, many, many (okay, two) years ago, three girls set off to work in London, England for half a year. One was from northern Minnesota; two were from western Canada. It turned out that they had more than a natural inclination for cold climates in common:

they all enjoyed a good cup of coffee,

Jane Austen, 

and, of course, new adventures. 

Most importantly, they all lived in house known as “Mrs. Bailey’s.”

Each morning, they set off to go their separate ways for the day. The Minnesotan and one Canadian worked in administrative assistant positions in the City. Naturally, they took the Tube together to work. The other Canuck worked as a barista.

When the three had free time, they did a lot of things together.

They made Princess Cakes. 

They pretended to be Julia Roberts in Notting Hill.

They went to tea at the Ritz. 

 Then April came, and the Minnesotan’s visa ran out. Before she headed home, the three made a vow. “NYC 2010!” they said. And so a reunion was planned.



Many travel plans never make it out of the gestation period. But tomorrow, the three will reunite at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport. Images of Sex and the City may dance through our heads, and as much as we look forward to being nerdy tourists in city that’s basically brand new to all of us, the most exciting thing about this upcoming New York trip is that we’ll be together again.

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