Monday, May 16, 2011

Final Milne Post

I know, I know, I'm really sad too. Actually, quite sad. Super sad. But, we must keep a stiff upper lip and continue on! Ummmm...so, before we start I should probably admit something. I should probably admit that I don't remember a ton from this lecture. I'm sorry. I'm going to try really hard but...it's a little fuzzy. I have the quotes! But this wasn't a super quote intensive session. OH WELL. We shall forage ahead regardless of any memory obstacles.

Without further ado about nothing...I present: London right before the Great Fire and immediately afterwards.

First we have a basin! And it's filled with nasty algae water! Woot! This particular basin is from...Egypt? I think it was a gift to London. Shoot. Don't believe anything I say about that. I want to say that it was either from Egypt or Norway. If it was Norway then it was given out of gratitude to St. Olaf of Norway who helped the English somehow? I'm sorry, I'm messing this all up. Dang it. Let's move onto the next picture!


This, this is a wall! Yay! We've seen a lot of the old Roman wall on our adventure through London history and archaeology, so it's really fitting that we wound up back by it again in the end.


Also, being near the wall led to this moment.

"This is part of the Roman Tower and that is a mallard. Which is more interesting? See, there's the male and there's the female... *Duck impression*"

What? Professor Milne did an impression of a duck? Hell yes he did. That man quacked like...like an angelic chorus of human-ducks. It was truly a beautiful moment. The next picture captures that moment, kind of, because the duck is in the picture. However, I'm pretty sure that you would have to be Superman's optometrist to see it (I'm assuming that Superman's optometrist would have especially good eyesight. Why? Because screw logic it's finals season!)

Did you see the duck? Liar, of course you can't, I can't zoom properly. This next picture is in the courtyard of a church. Which church? I really don't know.

I can tell you that this next thing is a piece of old Roman road on the side of the church! Why is there? Ummmm, if you were a church that got it's hands on a bit of old Roman road I'm pretty sure you'd past it to the side of your building too. Duh.

Oh! This next thing is pretty cool! Ok, so, it is a part of an...Iraqi(?) tablet. What's an Iraqi tablet doing on the side of a church in London? How did the church even get the tablet? Dude, it's so cool. Guess who gave it to the church. I will give you a hint. That person went to the church. Ha ha, sorry, that was a terrible hint. IT WAS AGATHA CHRISTIE'S SECOND HUSBAND: Max Mallowan. Oh snap, it turns out that Agatha Christie married an archaeologist and they attended this church. Then, when he had this tablet he apparently decided that the church totally needed a tablet from Iraq. So what does the tablet say?

[Reading, while tracing along with a finger] "If you read this [the tablet] it says quite clearly 'On the 4th of March _______ walked up the road and sold a bust of wheat for £2.40.' Well...not really...probably."


Oh look! Another church! I don't remember which one it is!

I think it has something to do with Mary...maybe? Shoot. I'm sorry. If I figure it out or am told by someone who knows I will include an edit.

I do recognize this pretty little structure though! It's another place of worship. A cathedral, in fact. St. Paul's Cathedral! And this is the view from the top of a shopping structure. It's a very lovely view. If you couldn't tell...



Getting up to the tower we all had to crowd into this elevator. Now, the elevator was pretty large, but then so is the class.

[Whole class crowded into elevator *Milne holds the door open for a random dude*]
Random dude: "Friendly group..."
[Random dude leaves]
Milne: "Well, we're not friendly."

It's true. We were way more vicious than friendly.

More St. Paul's Cathedral. I really liked the view from this street. There was something about this street. I think the buildings look a lot like the buildings would have after the fire? Except for the top floor? Dang it. BRAIN WHY DO YOU HATE ME?

It's a gate! I think that gate was moved from somewhere else to this present location. Um. I'm not totally sure where it was from, or what time period. But. It's a gate.
Buildings made of bricks charred by the fire! I think. The Great Fire. Of 1666. It supposedly started in a bakery one night and then spread and consumed London in a very short period of time. Apparently only six people were responsible for planning the rebuilding of London after the fire. Between the time of the fire and 1675, around 9000 homes were built. (I think) Crazy!

This a picture of St. Paul's Cathedral! It was designed by Christopher Wren. I think he's one of my dad's favorite architects. Probably because he's Rick Steves's favorite London architect. He was a pretty cool dude though. When wandering around London with the father, he kept pointing out churches designed by Christopher Wren. Including the church that inspired the wedding cake! YES!


Ok, wow. I can't believe this is our last Milne post. :( Damn. There is one more picture that I will need to post. It is a great picture. But, alas, I don't currently have it. But once I get it I will post it! For sure! I would wait to include it in this post but I feel like I've been negligent enough! So, enough! Here it is! Real content!

Much love and cheers!

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Sorry for the complete lack of update-age

I'm sorry. I've been terribly lax. And this is just going to be an apology. No real content.

I was going to be super amazing about updating because I was going to use it as a nice break from my intense studying but my idea of nice breaks has been more youtube and hulu based than blog based and the studying intensity has been less than admirable up until, like, a day or two ago. Whoops.

So. I have SO MANY THINGS to write about and SO MANY PICTURES to post and I promise that will start coming relatively soon. My developmental neurobiology is on Friday and assuming it doesn't kill me faster than a generous helping of tetrodotoxin I will start for realsies updating with some regularity. I think I have one last Milne post and then a crazy amount of traveling posts long overdue. So that will happen.

Since I don't have the time or mental capacity currently to for realsies write a post, please accept these tidbits from Kun-Wei and my study session at Starbucks today.

Kelsey: What does the neural crest make?
Kun-Wei: Spotted...pig cows...that are dogs.

Kun-Wei: YOU SHOULD MAKE A CAKE BAKING FRANKENSTEIN!

*When discussing the face line thing again*
Kun-Wei: I can't believe it took me three years to notice the line.
Kelsey: Well, it took me eighteen years to notice it...twenty...

Much love and cheers! Wish me luck and, perhaps more importantly, sanity and Pope John Paul II's next miracle!!! GAHHHHHHHHHH!

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Back in Ye Old London Town

Hello hello!

If the title of the blog post was not clear enough, I am back in London. I got back on April 29th around 3:00 PM. By then the Royal Wedding was over (sorry, folks) but the aftermath was still very much around. Mumsie darling and I had to walk down to The Strand to pick up an adapter that the parents left at their hotel before we left for Rome and we decided to take the past-Buckingham-Palace route. There was trash and people everywhere. EVERYWHERE. St. James Park was an absolute mess.


See? It is a mess. A super mess. I do not envy the people who have to clean this up.

This is all the people who were around Buckingham Palace at 3 in the afternoon. It was a lot of people. Some of them were drunk. Many of them were wearing very silly clothing and accessories. It was kind of awesome but mostly crowded.

SO MANY PEOPLE. It's like a flipping parade.

See? It even included folks in fancy hats riding fancy horses. Oh the glamour.

So, anyways, I am going to try very hard to update with all of the stuff from my travels but I am also going to be revising a lot for my exams because I'm pretty sure that they are going to kill me. Oh dear. O.o

Before I go, I will share something that I learned about myself on the first leg of my journeying. While riding on the train Kun-Wei turned to me and said, "Do you know you have a line on your face?" My first thought, logically, was how did I manage to draw a line on my face and how long ago must that have been because I have not held a pen for at least several hours. That is not what she meant.

This is what she meant.


Five moles or freckles or something trace a line roughly along my cheekbone. Weirdness.

There may or may not have been more self-discovery on these travels [spoiler: There was! Sort of...I feel like it's hard to travel that long without any] but that will have to come later.

Much love and cheers!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Very brief update

Hello lovelies!

I'm currently in Paris with my parents. We saw Rome and Florence (where I met up with Steven and Olga one night).

Now, this is the reason for my update: a conversation that I just had with my mother.

Mom: Clear your plate.
Kelsey: I can't...I'm studying.
Mom: No you are not. You're watching...food porn...

Check out Food Porn Daily. It's AWESOME [also, has it been obvious when I've imbedded links? I've done it in a couple of places but can't tell if it's noticeable]. I went there after reading Madeline's incredible BLOG.

Cheers and much love! We're in Paris two more nights and then it's two nights in Bruges and back to my beloved London!

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Brief Update

Hello hello!

I leave tomorrow morning for Rome with my parents. However, I have at least a second to post a hopefully tantalizing peak at what will hopefully be a more detailed and thorough recounting of Kun-Wei and I's travels when I get back after April 29th. I have decided to include a picture from each city that we visited, not necessarily the most representative or whatever of that city, but one that at least stood out in reminding me as I skimmed the 1000+ pictures that I took on our trip. These are from, in order, Copenhagen, Munich, Vienna, Venice, Marsaille and Barcelona. More stories and pictures to come when I have time.






Much love and cheers!
Kelsey

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

I make awesome decisions in bike stores...


PSYCH. I actually make awesome decisions in souvenir shops. It's Kanye who makes them in bike stores.

Much love and cheers!