Glasgow... my last day in Scotland.

I'm now sitting in the library of the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art, located in the heart of the city of Glasgow. Our group is only in this large city for two nights--- but that's all I really need. I'm ready to get out in the country again!
I had the greatest morning today touring the Glasgow School of Art, which is a VERY prestigious art school- known world-wide. The school may not be in the greatest of cities (Glasgow is pretty gross city-wise), but the actual building is gorgeous!! It was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a very famous Glasgow architect and artist. Each part of the building was specifically designed to inspire the art students, and it's just a beautiful building. I wish I could study art in a building like that! I just couldn't live in a city like Glasgow.
Anyway, the tour was very inspiring and got me excited to go back to Whitworth in the spring and paint in the NEW Whitworth art building which was designed to maximise the light-- so it should be wonderful! I can't wait.
We're headed to Wales tomorrow. We'll be spending time on the coast... a week or so, and then heading back in towards London for the last portion of our arts trip. I've been enjoying the arts portion of the trip very much. So much art work to see!
I'm off to enjoy my last day in Scotland!
Lots of love...

Last day in Edinburgh... which is growing on me.

My typical Edinburgh day during the fringe festival:
Wake up around 8:30, take a horribly uncomfortable shower in the Westend Toilet room--- the shower usually does not have the capability to be warm so it transitions between boiling hot and freezing cold. I would much prefer a cold shower to these hostel ones. But, I get clean... somehow... and go to class. Class lasts for about an hour a day (glorious!) and then we're free to explore arts and cultures!! I take a quick tour through an art museum (example: today I spent the late morning in the Scottish Modern Art Galleries of Edinburgh), then grab a yummy panini on the go for lunch. The Fringe Festival has plays going constantly all day long--- all young and upcoming actors/directors/scripts--- so I'm able to catch up to three plays a day, which I did yesterday, it was a lot of fun. In between plays I usually spend time exploring coffee shops (my favorite so far in Edinburgh is the Elephant House, the same coffee shop that J.K. Rowling wrote the first couple Harry Potter books in!). I sit and write in my journal, read, write postcards, check e-mail...etc. The evenings usually consist of some grand adventure to find some inexpensive yet healthy dinner options. Reoccurring dinners include Indian curry take-away (they say "take-away" instead of to-go) and smoothies from this organic juice place I found off of Princes St. If I'm up for it I might go out to a pub in the evening with friends, but I've been finding recently that sleeping is much more appealing to me. A lot of our group is getting sick, and I am determined not to do so. I haven't been really sick for a while (knock on wood)and I don't want it to happen in Scotland of all places!

Some random/exciting news:
- Mom and I are going to Ireland for my fall break!! I can't wait... we're flying into Cork and then going to do some fun exploring, possibly finding the area where my great-great grandpa's family (on my mom's side) lived/still lives. I've always been really interested in my family's history, and this is the one place that I really wanted to visit, so it should be wonderful... and Mom's coming too! We'll get back to our Celtic roots.
- I am OFFICIALLY the last female RA for the dorm I was living in last year at Whitworth! They decided this summer to make it an all-boys dorm instead of all-girls. The funny thing is my good friend Curt, who was an RA on my team last year, is taking my spot in Schumacher! So when I get back to Whitworth I can come and visit my old home... maybe bake cookies for the guys that are there and remember what a crazy year I had in there.
- We're on our way out of Scotland day after tomorrow and headed do to a little town in Wales (which name I can't remember how to spell) we'll be in Wales for a little over a week, then back to London for more theatre and art!
- I decided that I'm going to work hard to get a theatre minor at Whitworth... I need to, I miss it so much. I'm ready to be in another show... especially after seeing all this great theatre in Britain.

Love you all... Giselle

Little bit of homesickness...

We're making it into out 4th week here in Britain and I'm definitely feeling a little homesick. It feels like a good portion of our group are coming off of the adrenaline high we had coming into the trip, and now we're getting tired-- some members of the group are sick, and we're moving into a different course without much of a break in between. I'm really looking forward to my fall break when mom will be joining me over here across the pond! Mom and I finally decided that we will be going over to Southern Ireland. We'll be flying into Cork and maybe explore some of the area where my great-great grand father's family is from.

Traveling with a group can be very tiresome, and takes a lot of patience (which I pray for frequently... I'm not the most patient person), BUT it does have it's perks because if you get tired of hanging out with one group of friends you can always get to know other members of the group better. I've been doing that in the past couple of days since we got back to Edinburgh. Just trying to get to know some of the other girls better, and it's proved to be very refreshing!

For those who have access to facebook (probably mostly my peers), I put up a photo album with some pictures from the last three weeks, so those are there for you to enjoy. For those of you who don't have a facebook account, let alone know what facebook is, do not fret! I will try and set up a photo album that will be easier for you to access online... but that probably won't be for a while.

I'm going to be seeing a lot of theatre and art work this week, so that should help cure my homesickness a bit. I already took a trip to the National Gallery of Scotland and saw some gorgeous impressionism works (their featured exhibit). Some of my favorites that I saw were Monet's 'Poplars on the Epte', Degas 'The Rehearsal', and Corot's 'Pastorale- Souvenir d'Italie'. There were many others that I like, but they would be too many to mention on my blog. As for theatre, I'm going to see Titus Andronicus tonight, I saw a show called 'Our Final Hour' this afternoon and that was very good. Clairen will be excited to know that I will be going to The Last Five Years tomorrow afternoon as well!!
Lots of love,
Giselle

Time in the North: Rest, Reading and Exam.

It's been several days since I had Internet access because our group took a brief trip up to the very northern tip of Scotland. We stayed at one of the nicest ranked youth hostels in the country-- Carbisdale Castle (a Sutherland Castle converted into a youth hostel in the 50's). The castle is located in Culrain, which is a very small farming community... I'm convinced Culrain is just made up of those who work in the castle (cooks, maids...etc.). We were a little surprised at how remote we were (a 4.5 mile walk from the first market), but it proved to be a wonderfully relaxing couple of days without distractions. I managed to read through the rest of the Narnia Series (which Travis has been pushing me to finish all summer) and they were amazing. I spent most of my days in the library, curled up on a nice comfy leather couch reading Narnia or studying for the exam we had the day before yesterday. So, I am officially done with the first class of the four I will be taking over here! We meet up with our new professor tonight at dinner and so begins our British fine arts class... my realm of expertise ;)
I forgot to mention that we are back in Edinburgh now, and for the next 5 days or so, then we are headed down to Wales. Our tour of Scotland has been brief, but I'm hoping to come back someday and spend some more time hiking and exploring the highlands without a large group. For those of you that didn't hear the news, my mom will be joining me for 8 days during my fall break! We will probably be spending some time touring England, maybe go up into the Lake District and relax. It should be a lot of fun, and less stressful for Mom since I have been getting the hang of the train system and making my way around London and such.
Passing through the country side on the train the morning was wonderful, but made me a little homesick. Up in the highlands the hills are covered with green ferns, vibrant green grass, purple heather and fireweed. The blur of pink fireweed along the side of the train tracks reminded me of the fireweed running along the side of Egan Drive, and I longed to see the snow covered mountains of Juneau. But the Scottish Highlands are gorgeous, and are extremely beautiful in their own way.

I miss you and love you... and I need to go get ready for dinner tonight, our last dinner with our first professor, Keith. We're dressing up in our nicest clothes and having a fancy dinner in an expensive hotel!! ooo, I can't wait. Much love,
Giselle

West Highlands, Lochs,and Castles!

I found the real Scotland I was looking for today... you know, the scenery out of Braveheart... yes, I got to see some of that today and it was amazing. Ashley and I took a guided bus tour up into the West Highlands, out to the town of Oban (on the west coast of Scotland) and then back through the Loch Lomond National Park. Although we did spend a significant time in the bus, it was well worth it. We drove through all the cute little towns nestled in between green hills covered in heather and ferns. It was gorgeous. I frantically scribbled down names of towns I thought would be fun to explore someday. We pasted tons of B+B's, that definitely seems the way to go when visiting up in the highlands... and, Travis will be excited to know that I saw lots of fly fishing, in the rivers and lochs, and thought of how fun it would be to vacation in one of those fishing/hiking towns in the highlands. Anyway, the tour was great, but it just made me want to see more and spend some good time exploring more of the Northern Highlands.
Another highlight of the tour: Ashley and I saw a wedding party in this tiny town on Loch Lomond called Luss. It was a perfect little Scottish village, complete with church at the center and beautiful rose gardens in front of every tiny house. We felt like we were in a story book, it was truly fantasy wedding. The bride and groom walked down the little streets of Luss with their family and friends... it was beautiful. We felt that out Highlands tour was complete.

I'm going to post some more pictures up, so have fun scrolling down through all the new ones. Miss you all! Love, Giselle

Precious Time in a Thin Space.

Amazing day-trip today to Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, originally settled on by St. Aiden and his monks from Iona. The Lindisfarne island is very small, and can only be accessed at certain times of the day when the tides are low. It is known as a "thin space" to the Celts: a place where one is closer to God, where the game between God and man becomes thinner. It was an incredibly peaceful day, wondering around the little village of Lindisfarne that centers around the abbey ruins of the once great monastery. There's also a majestic castle placed high on a hill, overlooking the North sea. The time I spent in Lindisfarne this afternoon was some of the most peaceful and joyful time I've had in the trip thus far. I walked along the beach, listening to the waves, making my way towards the castle. I understand why the Celts felt so close to God here... it truly is a thin place.

Edinburgh...a learning experience.

Today was a much better day than yesterday, thankfully, because we were able to see some of the nicer areas of Edinburgh, including the famous Edinburgh Castle that is high above the city. We had class this morning in Edinburgh's large city park... although I admit I didn't learn much because Keith (our professor) planted us down right in front of the playground, which slowly filled up with more children while we sat there learning about the Scottish Reformation. The children here are absolutely adorable, shouting and yelling with their cute little accents, that is definitely a positive side of Edinburgh. I confess that during the lecture I sketched a little Scottish boy playing on a jungle-gym rather than take notes.

When we went up to the castle I was a bit overwhelmed. There were tourists everywhere... thousands of them. It made the Edinburgh castle not quite as pleasant as I hoped, but still beautiful. The rest of the afternoon was much better. I walked down the Royal Mile, which is the main drag of the older part of Edinburgh, and right now it is covered in street performers because of the fringe festival. I watched an African dance group for a while, then walked farther and watched a comedian, then continued on to hear a great guitar player. It was much more enjoyable because I was by myself and able to stop wherever I liked, not worrying about loosing the group among the crowds. They also had street artists displaying their work in one of the squares, and I finally broke down and bought myself something! I bought this awesome unique ring that was made out of a small silver fork. It sounds weird, but it's beautiful, and I will try and put a picture of it up so you don't think I'm crazy for purchasing it. Later on in the afternoon I met up with more girls from our group in a Celtic jewelry shop (yes, I can hear Travis saying..."uh-oh"). We tried on beautiful Celtic rings, and the woman working at the shop even let us try on the diamond rings she had. It was a blast! We felt rich... even though I'm sure the woman could tell we were poor college students just having a little fun.

As for the "learning experience" part of the title... that pertains to our youth hostel. Not only are all 16 girls in our group squished into one small rooms, but we have to share ONE bathroom with all the guests on our floor... that's FEMALE and MALE. Ah yes... I was shocked to hear a man's voice outside of my shower stall this morning, I don't know why I was so stunned... probably because it has never happened to me before, but I should've known since the front of the bathroom door is labeled with just a small pink sticky-note saying "toilet". There's nowhere to change after a shower, so you have to change into your full outfit in the shower stall!! It's awful. Usually Whitworth does better than this, but because of the fringe festival, and all the nicer youth hostel being occupied, we're stuck with the sketchy little Westend Hostel with co-ed shower/toilet rooms. The shower itself was an experience this morning, as it seemed to not be able to make up it's mind whether it wanted to be scalding hot or freezing cold. It's crazy... but makes awesome memories!

Miss you all, more on exciting Edinburgh tomorrow! Love, Giselle

Edinburgh, Scotland

Took a beautiful train ride along the Scottish coastline from Durham to Edinburgh this morning, and arrived, for the very first time, on Scottish soil! After being ecstatic about Scotland on the train, I was a little let down when I stepped off the train in Edinburgh. I'm not sure what I was thinking (probably something more along the lines of romantic and green), but Edinburgh is definitely a large, confusing, scary, eclectic, busy, CRAZY city. It just so happens that we're in Edinburgh during the time of the largest arts festivals in world (the Fringe festival), so the streets are PACKED with people... and I mean really packed with very interesting people, and the majority of them are shouting, yelling, and handing out fliers for their plays/performances. It was impossible for our group of 27 to stay together, but we managed to show up at the same place somehow. Just walking down one block was stressful. Edinburgh is interesting in that you can be walking in a touristy, semi-safe area one minute, and then you can turn one corner and be in an incredibly sketchy place the next. It's definitely not a place I would've picked to explore... but once again, I do love the country MUCH more than the city. I think the day trips we will be taking out of Edinburgh will be my saving grace.

Our group will be going up into the highlands for a couple days a week from now, and that should fulfill my romantic ideal of Scotland...
And Mom, you're right, I am an introvert at heart. I enjoy hanging out with friends, but I'm finding that the time I love the most on this trip is the time I spending exploring little towns by myself and the one-on-one conversations I have with locals and some of the members of the group.

Hopefully I won't go too crazy in this big city. I miss the little cobble-stone streets of York just a bit. Although, one positive perk to big cities is the great variety of food. I had amazing Indian curry tonight in a park with a smaller portion of our group... that definitely lifted all of our spirits.
Miss you all... lots of love, Giselle

Durham: Castle, Cathedral, and Hadrian's Wall

For the last two days my group has been in Durham, which is in the very north of England, right next to Scotland. We only spent two nights in Durham, but they were a lot of fun because we stayed in the castle (now converted dormitory)that the first Harry Potter movie was filmed in! Of course it wasn't as epic as the screen portrays, but we got to take pictures of ourselves in some of the famous scenes that you might recognize... hopefully later in the trip I can upload a picture and attach it to this blog post.

The first afternoon when we arrived, we took a tour of the Durham Cathedral-- a beautiful cathedral that is the resting place of St. Cuthbert, a saint known for healing. I spent some time in prayer and then began to explore the enormous cathedral and attached cloister. There was a courtyard outside of the cathedral that you Harry Potter fans would've recognized right away... yes, another site of a Harry Potter scene. Don't worry, I took lots of pictures.

The next day we spent walking Hadrian's wall, which is a roman wall that runs along the Scotland-England border. We were treated with amazing views of the countryside and a light drizzle of rain that slowly turned into a steady pour. By the end of our hike, we were all soaked and our jeans covered in mud (and more than likely, sheep poop...since it was everywhere). Once again, it was wonderful to get out of the city and into the middle of rolling fields of green... so relaxing and rejuvenating.
After getting back to the castle in the late afternoon, I dried off and mailed a bunch of postcards, so hopefully you'll be seeing those postcards sooner than later.

A Great Evening...

I had a great last evening in York tonight! The group went to a church service together at St. Michael le Belfrey and there was amazing prayer and worship. The speaker gave an amazing talk on St. Perpetua and Felicitas and the impact of their martyrdom. He gave a great historical background on Tertullian and the early church... I was hooked in the whole time. Just the martyrdom story alone gives a great impact.

After the service a small group of us went out to a pub, a little local one that was really fun. They had his older English guy there playing guitar and singing classic folk/country/rock songs. I heard him begin John Denver's "Country Road" while I was standing at the bar and I said, "I love this song!", so he invited me up to sing with him! I got up there and sang back-up/harmony with him and everyone clapped for me at the end. Later, the guy called me up again on the mic to sing "Leaving on a Jet Plane," and of course, I got up and sang that song with all my heart. I got a free cider out of that one!! He was such a character, an he gave me a big kiss on the cheek after I finished! I laughed for a while... what a great experience, and a good story. As our group walked out, random English locals cheered for me and told me good job. That will definitely be a memory I will always cherish.

In Case You Were Interested in English Fashion...

English Fashion Tips for the Traveling American...

The #1 necessary fashion item in a trendy English wardrobe is a cute umbrella. It's so true. Whenever the rain starts, all the trendy English girls pull out their adorable umbrellas and walk through the streets. So this morning on our day off in York, I went on a search for the cutest (and least expensive) umbrella I could find so I too could fit in. I managed to find one with stars on it and I used it all day while walking around downtown York (it was raining Juneau rain all day).

#2 necessary item to go along with your trendy English wardrobe is a boyfriend. Those girls that did have cute umbrellas also had boys carrying those umbrellas for them. it was actually quite funny to see these boys carrying around fruffy/frilly umbrellas!

#3 necessary item to wear in England is a huge, and I mean HUGE belt around your waist... it's all the rage. I bought one of those too... and I thought I looked pretty cute until one of my Whitworth friends laughed and asked what I was wearing! I replied in a sophisticated English accent, "You clearly don't know anything about English Fashion." We laughed about it for a while.

Also... (not a fashion tip), I think I'm adding to my long list of dreams, that I want to start up a little tea shop, complete with scones, baked goods, and proper English tea... it's such a wonderful thing-- afternoon tea that is. I love sitting down in the afternoon and having tea. Maybe I'll combine it with and art gallery! Sounds like a plan.

Miss you all!--- If you haven't noticed yet, I did post pictures farther down the page. I'll try and put some more up later. Cheers!

Nightlife...

So... quick story. About nine of us Whitworth students went clubbing last night in York, which apparently has a good nightlife scene (a little random I thought since it's a smaller town), but we went down to the area of town where there were tons of young Englsih people running around from club to club. This was my first experience clubbing in general, so not only did I feel out of place because we were so clearly American, but beacuse I was just so clueless on the nightlife scene. We were with four of our guys, so we were safe and all, it was just really funny to see how Whitworth students reacted in a bar...some of the girls just went crazy. I danced for a while in one of the clubs with the girls I went with, but ended up playing mom later on in the evening with those girls who decided to get drunk. I also know that any alcohol in my system just makes me exhausted... especially after I eat dinner, so I'm actually more fun after drinking just water. Good to know.

While clubbing in York was quite the experience, I probably won't be doing that very often... so...
Lesson #1: It's no fun to take care of Whitworth students when they're drunk.

Across the Pond...

Our group took a day trip to Whitby today, made famous by the Whitby Synod in AD 664... if you're really interested you can look it up, BUT the town of Whitby is gorgeous! It's right on the North Sea coast of England, complete with harbor, cliffs, crashing waves, amazing fish and chips, and a beautiful 800 year old Abbey (Whitby Abbey) now, unfortunately, in ruins because of bombing. But some of the grand stone walls still stand, and you can imagine how incredible the abbey would've been back in its glory. A couple of my friends and I walked down to the beach after visiting the abbey and rested, listening to the huges waves crash on the shore a ways off. The cliffs shot up into the sky right behind our backs, something I don't experience too often in Alaska!

I think just in the past couple of days I've reassured myself that I am a country girl at heart... and I could never live in a city for a prolonged period of time. There's just so much beauty in the country... and a stronger presence of God. I'm a true Celtic Christian: I feel the presence of God strongest in nature, away from the hustle and bustle of the city and our busy lives.

I journaled a bit today looking out across the ocean and truely did feel a little homesick... I think I was feeling more of the need to share that moment with a family or close friend. I'm still in the beginning stages of friendships with a lot of the students on the trip, so it can get a little lonely. Today I really wished Travis could've sat on that bench with me looking out to sea, he would've loved that.

As you can probably see, I uploaded some pictures!! I can't upload a bunch, but I just wanted to give you a taste of my trip. You can scroll down through the posts and see the others that I uploaded this evening. Enjoy! Cheers.

Beautiful York

Hey all--
I'm now in the beautiful York, towards the top of England. London was fun, but I am relieved to be in the country. York has now become one of my official favorite places in the world... it's absolutely gorgeous. York has an amazing history, a magnificent church (York Minster), tiny cobble stone streets lined with cute little shops, family-owned pubs, beautiful green parks and walks along the river. It is the little English town everyone dreams of... and it's been that way for a while! Some of the buildings that the shops were in were built in the 1600s, and are still standing. They hold so much history just within themselves. This afternoon I sat in a huge park, sketched, wrote some postcards, journaled a bit, enjoyed a nice afternoon tea and tried to get lost amidst the maze of cobble stone alleys. I did feel like I stuck out a bit in my Alaskan clothing... all the proper English girls are incredibly stylish and trendy. To make myself feel a little better about my attire, I bought a large belt to put around my waist (it's all the rage over here)... so maybe I won't stick out so bad next time I walk through a trendy shopping area in England. Tomorrow our group is spending the day on the coast in Whitby, and then the day after tomorrow we have free... no doubt will be another day of sketching, journaling and loosing myself in the beautiful street of york. York is definitely a destination that everyone should put on their lists of places to go in their life time. I certainly want to come back here again!
I do miss home a bit, but that's to be expected. My homesickness was helped by talking to Dad this evening... thanks Dad.
Love you all,
Giselle

Manuscripts, Paintings and Evensong...

I was floored today several times between our trips to the British Library, the National Gallery and the Evensong prayer service at Westminster Abbey. I brought my journal along and made a list of the incredible things I saw... there were too many to remember... Here's a few:
At the British Library I saw...
- The Magna Carta
- The Codex Sinaiticus (the oldest remaining copy of the Bible)
- The Gutenberg Bible
- Darwin's Notebook
- Several pages of da Vinci's notebook
- Original music scores by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Hayden
- Original Beowolf manuscript
- Sir Thomas More's last letter to Henry VIII (before he was executed by Henry)
...and much more... all in this one Library Exhibit!
At the National Gallery I got to see...
- Monet's Lilies, and Japanese Bridge
- VanGogh's Sunflowers, and several others.
- Several Renoir's
- Degas 'Nude Woman Bathing', and assorted portraits (including Dancers)
and... to take the cake, I saw my absolute favorite painting, da Vinci's Virgin of the Rocks. Believe me, if you come face to face with this painting, you will understand why Leonardo da Vinci was so incredible. The painting is perfect, and much larger than I thought it would be. It stunned me. I'm definitely going to be taking a free day off in London and spending all day in the National Gallery.
Also, tonight, our group went to a beautiful Evensong worship service at Westminster Abbey with an amazing boys choir radiating throughout the cathedral walls.
We're headed off to York tomorrow, but our group will be going in and out of London a lot... so no rush to do everything! More later... Lots of Love.

Two Full Days in London...

I'm just finishing up my second full day in London, it's been busy, but fun. We walked around London yesterday and saw lots of the major sites... Big Ben, Parliment..etc. Then we were set free in the late afternoon to find dinner. A couple of us took the tube back to the area of our hotel (Russell Square) and grabbed a small dinner at a tesco mart (definitely the way to go for a cheaper meal option), we also found another pub to try out, but we didn't stay very long, I could tell the time change was catching up to me. This morning I gave a presentation on Charles Wesley at the Chapel where John Wesley preached... I actually got to sing one of Charles Wesley's hymns next to his very own pump organ, pretty cool. We also had a quick tour of John's Wesley's house. Afterwards we dashed over to St.Paul's Cathedral in London Town. It was beautiful. I completely forgot if my family went and visited this church while we were in London or not, but I couldn't help but thinking how much mom would love walking around the huge ornate cathedral. We actually climbed all the was to the tippy-top of the dome and got an incredible view of London, along with our very own stair-stepper work out... it was intense! We were free to do our own thing after visiting St.Paul's, so a couple of my tour buddies and I walked over to the Tate Modern Museum, which I'm definitely need to go back to later this month. I got myself lost among Picasso, Matisse, Edvard Munch, Paul Cezanne, and many others... it was wonderful. I need at least a full day to cover that whole museum.
Here comes the part where my sister Clairen is going to freak... I managed to get a stand-by student ticket to Wicked tonight, and it was incredible!! I thought of Clairen the whole time and how much I wished she could've been there with me. Definitely worth the 20 pounds I spent on a 10th row ticket! Heck yes-- I had a great view. So, one show down and so many to go... I can't wait!
After the show I had a little adventure trying to get home because I almost missed the last Victoria line of the evening, but I made it... so no trouble, just a racing pulse ;)
I miss you all... we're headed off to York day after tomorrow and I heard that's wonderful, as much as I love the life of the city, I'm really looking forward to getting out in the country. More later,
Love, Giselle

In London!

I finally made it to London this afternoon at 4:30pm London time... we were encouraged not to sleep on the plane so that we could sleep hard tonight and adjust to the time change. Once we finally made it out of the underground... that's when it hit me. It hasn't hit me until now! I'm in London, and it's amazing. I went out with a couple of friends for dinner at a nice local pub, and now I'm back at the hotel ready to crash. London is wonderful... I knew I loved it the first time I came with my family in 9th grade, but it's even more wonderful to just wonder aroudn with a couple of friends and look at the beautiful buildings and parks, it's just beautiful. We're going to spend the first couple days here and then move our way up to York.
Love you all... Giselle