Cabin fever was setting in mid week, so my generous hosts decided to take me on a tour of the city of Cambridge.. and yes, the college is in this city. As a matter of fact, that was one of the first questions that came out of my American-accented mouth.

‘So.. where is Cambridge University?? It’s here, right?’

To my surprise, Cambridge was very spread out, across several small complexes. I guess you learn something new everyday.
The town is absolutely wonderful. A little college town situated right in the heart of the best of English farm land, and I quickly discovered that it is a place where sheep and Prada meet. Although it rained (and snowed) slightly, it was still a very charming place to spend the day. It was a surprisingly crowded place too. College kids with their bikes cluttered the narrow streets. It was amazing that some people were brave enough to DRIVE these streets. I swear, it was only big enough for one way of traffic.
Through the middle of the city, well.. village really, there is a river, where (on a better day) one might like to take a boat ride and enjoy all that nature has to offer.

There are also tons of small, very old churches built of stone with thatched roofs. They really helped give character to the town.

Our day was topped off with a very spicy, tasty dinner at Nando’s, a local Portuguese restaurant. Did I get smarter at Cambridge? I left feeling a little smarter and a little more traveled!

After spending my spring break with my best friend and her new U.S Air Force husband in middle-of-no-where Lakenheath, England.. I was happy to finally be home and back in London. Rainy, wet and windy.. just like I left it. I returned early enough to spend a little more time checking off my list of places to see and visit. One month and counting.. my trip here is almost over. Tonight I decided to tackle the monster, Buckingham Palace... one place no London visitor should forget to see.

A crowded, overly-touristy walk past Big Ben and Westminster Abbey dodging camera flashes and hoards of tourist tee shirt stands, you come across the beautiful oasis, St. James Park. A beautiful lake in the middle with swans, manicured flower beds, and the greenest grass you will ever see. This is literally the Queen's front yard!!

Then in all it's majesty, Buckingham Palace. It was really nice going at dusk because the entire building was lit up like Cinderella's castle (and there were minimal tourists!!) I stood outside the golden gates and pondered what life must be like on the other side of them. To be royalty.. is it really all it's cracked up to be? What would it be like to constantly be scrutinized by not just your country, but by the entire world?! These thoughts gave me comfort as I quietly left, with no fuss, no paparazzi and no flash bulbs blinding my path. Are the royals the lucky ones or are we?

After walking across a foot bridge, I was delighted to meet up with my roommate and her visiting brother, Tim. I received an earlier invite to take a ride on the 'London Eye' with them. I was happy to oblige because a) I hadn't been on it yet and b) My roommates parents offered to pay my way! The 'Eye' is situated on the banks of the Thames River. It's basically a HUGE ferris wheel, that rotates in a full circle, which takes you on a 20 minute aerial view of downtown London. We decided to go for our ride at night, which turned out to be an amazing spectacle. After standing in a line reminiscent of a Disneyland ride (but with half the wait time), we were ready to board our pod-like cabin and take our flight. As we slowly moved around, going higher and higher into the frosty London air, the entire post card picture of the London sky line lit up in our 360 degree view. The Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey looked close enough to touch. I gazed out the window toward the Tate Britain and modern and the national theater (where I saw 'Much ado about nothing' a few days earlier). I took in the magnificence of St. Paul's Cathedral, once the tallest building in England, with its arched dome and steeple that seemed to reach toward the stars. Buckingham Palace seemed much smaller from way up there. The palace was almost lost in the tightly clustered museums, shops, and flats. These buildings have seen war, fires, riots, and such a rapid progression in time that leaves old and new, modern and majestic sharing the same crowded lanes and alleys. Being up there, sharing this experience with people I enjoy, new friends to be cherished, gave me a renewed sense of pride and humbleness. This girl from Tacoma, Washington was living a life and seeing a parts of the world that many people may never live to see or experience. It felt good to see a city from different eyes.

When my roommates and I arrived in Ireland, it was midnight and raining. Our cab ride from the airport to our luxurious Travelodge Inn, was made even more enjoyable by our first Irishmen experience. Our cabbie (I didn’t catch his name) was a kindhearted guy, who asked us questions about America and explained that, yes, the Irish are the biggest drinkers in Europe. Boy, we had no idea what we were in for that weekend.

The following morning, it was out of the Travelodge and on the Huband House B & B. After a hour long bus ride into downtown Dublin (morning rush hour is TERRIBLE there), we found ourselves smack dab in the thick of things.

There was green. EVERYWHERE.

There were people. EVERYWHERE. And yes, some of those people were drinking at 9 in the morning. But the amazing thing about the Irish is that they are extremely helpful and courteous. As we got off the bus, tourist map fully extended, we were stopped by a friendly Irishwoman who offered to walk with us all the way to the street where our B & B was located. I could hardly believe it!

She was a charming, happy woman with dark hair, light skin and dark eyes. I was half expecting to see an island full of red heads, but to my surprise, these folks were few and far between.

Our new Irish friend helped us navigate the busy streets of Dublin and took us on a short cut through Trinity College. This 15th century school is the Alma Matter for literary greats like Joyce, Wilde and Yeats. It was one of the most beautiful campuses I had ever seen. It sort of made you feel like you were someone majestic and important, stepping along the cobblestone walkways.

When we finally made it to our street and said good-bye to our friend, we were all smitten with our new country.

Our B & B, owned by David (a smiling young Northern European man with a cat), was a god send after spending the night in the Travelodge. We had the sunny and warm attic room at the top of the stairs which I nicknamed ‘the Anne Frank Annex’. But then quickly took it back, because I forgot one of my roomies is a Jew.. oops.

The first day was spent walking around the city, some light shopping and exploring Trinity College. We walked back to the campus and took a tour of ‘The Book of Kells’, the ancient artful book interpretations of early Celtic Christianity. They were stunning. The best part was touring the old Trinity College Library. Picture what the Harvard or Yale libraries must look like: Dark wood, tall arched ceilings, wall to wall books from roof to floor, marble busts of great men like Aristotle, Shakespeare, and Darwin. This is what the library looked like. It was incredible.

When in Ireland, do what they do, right?

The next day, we bought a cheesy tourist hop-on, hop-off all day bus ticket and rode all over the place.
The Dublin Castle, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and of course the Guinness Storehouse (with a free pint at the end of every tour!)

Dublin Castle

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Free Pints

On the bus tour we noticed that all the doors in the city are painted in exciting and vibrant shades of purples, reds, blues, greens. Why are the doors so colorful, you might be wondering?

When Queen Victoria’s husband died, a royal decree was sent throughout the United kingdom (which Ireland was still apart of at the time). The decree stipulated that all the doors in these cities be painted black to mourn the late royal. The Irish, being ever spiteful and rebellious, ignored the royal decree and painted their doors every color but black. To this day, the doors remain a colorful reminder of their disobedience.

If I could, I would go back to Ireland in a second. This is my favorite place by far. And as me and my roomies said a sad goodbye to our little green island, we smiled at the prospect of coming back someday.

Today, our class of 35 was instructed to meet each other at 2 different museums (Winston Churchill museum and the Imperial War Museum) for class. Although our professor, Martin, was out of town everyone showed up. No one played hooky. We were separated into three groups last class meeting: WWI, WWII, and Post-WW conflicts. I was assigned to the WWI group. I felt pretty confident about being assigned to either of the WW groups because I have fairly regular diet of History Channel documentaries and numerous PBS wartime mini series. I have to admit, looks of the Winston Churchill Museum were very deceiving. Literally a whole in the wall, but walk inside and it’s a different story. The museum chronicles the life of the Premier and the era of ‘Churchill’ in English history. What an incredibly interesting man! Armed with my dorky, Rick Steves'-style audio guide, I learned that Churchill was more than a WWII politician. Churchill was a hobby Painter, creating over 500 oil paint canvases and some were labeled with his pseudonym, ‘David Winter’. Churchill was a soldier in WWI and a POW. Churchill was from British Nobility, his cousin and closest confidant was the Duke of Marlboro. He was also a fierce advocate for socio-economic equality, pushing for changes in minimum wages, laws to enforce shoddy working conditions, and creating a sufficient pension for Britain’s elderly. Churchill was also a devoted and loving husband and father of 4 daughters. He had an extremely interesting life which was chronicled in this amazing museum. I left learning more about a man that I never had the opportunity to see, hear, or meet.

The second museum was the Imperial War Museum. Yes… It is as menacing as it sounds. Two HUGE naval war guns protrude from the entrance, but they are trumped by the magnificence of an actual piece of the Berlin Wall.

It was amazing to think this wall once separated fellow countrymen and women, because of objecting views of ideology.

Inside the museum, there were war planes suspended by ropes, tanks, and a few small ships.
The two special exhibits were the Holocaust memorial and the ‘Weapons of Mass Communication’, an exhibition of wartime propaganda posters. The 'Weapons' Exhibt was especially interesting to me, a future journalist, and it just reaffirms all my ideas that the media being a powerful force of persuasion. The Holocaust exhibit was a powerful testimony to the evil of humanity and what happens when blinding ignorance is accepted and allowed to lead society.

War is a very scary, fascinating, powerful subject and event that shapes the course of our history and it's effects will continue to be felt even after the last bombs are dropped.