Off to Budapest

Well, I'm about to leave for the airport. John and Kyla are very good to get up at 5am to take me on a Sunday morning. I'm meeting James in Budapest and then we're taking a train down to Zagreb. Look out for updates!

Shopping, Royalty, and Celebrities

Well, Kyla and I have had another fun couple of days. Yesterday we went into London to do a little shopping and visit Buckingham Palace. The State Rooms are only open a few months of the year, and this year is the King and Queen's 60th wedding anniversary, so they had an exhibit of her gown and a lot of little accessories and things, so that was cool. We also made our yearly pilgrimage to Oxford Circus, although we are probably going to have to make another one, as we only had time to hit Topshop. Oh, and another exciting tidbit: we saw Keira Knightley when we were walking up Baker Street. We were very starstruck. I am always running into people I know in London, but I've never seen a celebrity before. So, that was cool.

Today we hung around Gerrard's Cross, visited the little shops and had lunch at this great tearoom downtown. We also found a dress for me to wear at Kyla's wedding, so we checked that off the list! I can't believe how fast the week is flying by!

Warwick Castle

Well, Kyla and I took a trip to Warwick today to see the castle. We had so much fun! We had lunch at a cute little pub and sat outside in the beer garden. The sun was shining, and we spent a lot of time walking around the castle grounds, admiring the peacocks in the gardens, and exploring the rooms. The people from Madame Tussaud's have done wax figures of the famous inhabitants and guests, and the exhibits are fantastic. We tried on pieces of armor and old hats, explored the dungeon, climbed the tower, and saw a demonstration of a medieval catapult, which was pretty awesome. I'll add some pictures later.

British Library

Well, I am all settled in at Chez Gulliver, and having such a nice visit. Today we went into London and visited the British Library, which currently has an exhibit of sacred Christian, Jewish, and Islamic texts. The exhibition was wonderful and fascinating, and I would like to go into more detail about it when I get a chance. They had two of the three earliest New Testaments, along with texts as early as the 3rd and 4th and from places as diverse as Iran, Ethiopia, Malaysia, Spain, China, Portugal, Egypt, Iraq, Spain, and, of course, England. Among the highlights were a copy of the Torah from 7th century China (who knew there were Jews in China?); a copy of the Qu'ran from the year 650; a copy of Revelation written on the back of pages from the book of Exodus from Egypt in the 3rd century, presumably by an early convert writing on the back of his Hebrew Bible; an original 1611 King James Bible; and a polyglot New Testament in 7 or 8 different languages. We also took a look at the permanent exhibit, which included a manuscript of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Marble Faun, an early printing of Leaves of Grass, The Emancipation Proclamation, and the last letter that Sir Thomas More wrote to Henry VIII before he was beheaded. I also ran into my good friend Steffi Dellner, who is working on her masters and just happened to come in the door to go up and study as we were buying our tickets. Steffi went to York with me, and I visited her family in Brussels over our Christmas break, and it was so good to see her and our encounter confirmed by theory that London is actually a small town.

So, that's all the news!

Good craic

Well, I can't write much at the moment because I'm sitting in Heathrow waiting for John and Kyla to pick me up (apparently they're stuck in terrible traffic!) but I just read that Kenneth Foster's sentence has been commuted to life imprisonment! So, I thought I should mention that after my earlier post on him.

On my last day in Dublin, I got to go to court! Much to the dismay of my inner tourist, there were no wigs and gowns worn (the courts are closed and it was an emergency session), but it was still really interesting. In the afternoon, Catherine, my boss from FLAC, dropped by NCLC to wish me luck, and it was nice to see her again.

It was a little bit sad to leave Dublin, especially parting with my roommates. We had a good night out last night, though - some "good craic" before I took off. I think Aoife might come visit in Bath for a weekend! I would love that. I'm excited to be here now, and I am really looking forward to my visit with Kyla and John.

More later!