Pictures!

We are now in Edinburgh at Jessica's sister's place, which means we have temporary access to her personal computer, which means we can finally post pictures! Here are a few highlights from the first half of our trip.

Drinking the water in Bath, which supposedly has remarkable curative powers, if it doesn't kill you first (it very nearly did Jessica):



The castle in Pembroke, an unplanned stop that turned out to be one of our favorite parts of the trip so far:



The Harry Potter 7 set we stumbled into:



Friendly locals standing guard over Dobby's grave:



Taking pictures of each other from the towers of Conwy Castle:



Cold and wet and dreary in Ireland:



There are more pictures where these came from, and more in my camera (which we didn't upload, out of courtesy to Kirstin), but we'll leave those for a later time.

Summit

This is the view of Snowdonia National Park from the top of Mt. Snowdon:



And this (more or less) is what we saw from the summit of Mt. Snowdon:



Mt. Snowdon is the highest peak in Wales. That sounds impressive, but it's no Mt. Everest, or even Mt. Timpanogos. The hike up and back was just a little over four hours, round trip, and we didn't even start it until after noon. By that time we'd already had a hearty English breakfast at our bed-and-breakfast, made a trip to retrieve my camera from the shop I left it at the night before (yes, my camera-losing tendencies have followed me across the Atlantic), a tour of the Conwy Castle, a half-hour internet session at the Conwy library, a drive along the carriageway (which is two lanes - the expressway is three lanes), and a harrowing, high-speed bus ride through a narrow mountain pass from the parking lot to the base of the trails.

But even if it was short, the hike was challenging - lots of climbing up steep rock surfaces, made slippery by the mist. At points the trail disappeared altogether, and experienced Snowdon hikers told us to just head upwards on anything that looks even remotely trail-like, that it all heads to the same place. This went against anything I ever learned about hiking in the mountains. We had visions of getting lost on Mt. Snowdon, especially in the fog that obscured our view most of the way (what little we could see was beautiful, and we did manage to snap a few good pictures which we can post later). But we successfully made it to the summit, then successfully missed our turn onto the Miners trail on the way down and ended up on the Pyg trail instead. Fortunately, of the six trails that run up Snowdon, the Pyg trail happens to be the one that starts at the same place as the Miners trail, and we made it back to our bed-and-breakfast without incident.

Today we're in Dublin. With limited time to spend here, we took a bus tour to get a feel for the city. In between commentary, they played Irish songs sung by a female singer, and one that played at least three times on the tour had the line, "dirty ol' town" repeated over and over. That's kind of our impression of Dublin. It might be a bright, happening place if you like pub-hopping, but we're looking forward to getting out into the Irish country side tomorrow.

Update from Jessica

Many of you may still be very tense from the last post when Amy had no idea where I was. Let me put your mind at ease, I am safe and sound in London with Amy. My flight out of DC was really late due to a runway shutdown due to lightning. By the time I got to Philly my plane was long gone and I was stranded, so I spent the night in the airport. The next day I caught a flight to Charlotte, NC and then made a 6 pm flight to London. I planned to sleep on the plane but that was near impossible seeing those seat are really unconfortable and there was a baby crying sporadically throughout the flight. I arrived in London early Friday morning and made it to the hostel, showered and then set out on day of sight-seeing with Amy.

I must admit I did take a few breaks throughout the day. While I am sure the British Museum of stuff and things had a great collection I didn't make it past the first floor. Instead I took a little nap on the wood bench and had Amy give highlights. I did manage to see the Rosetta Stone. We also visited the Library that has an amazing collection of writings and artifacts from the likes of Shakespear, Jane Austen, and the Beatles, as well as an exhibit on the Magna Carta.
I am already a little tired typing so I will just give some highlights.
-Loved the the Museum of Design and Architecture
-Learned a lot from the Science Museum. Apparently future energy ideas include using human waste. This means that when you go to someones home for a visit instead of using the bathroom and flushing the toilet you will collect it in a little baggy and present it to your host as a thank you present. Hopefully we can load some pictures soon because there is a picture that accompanies this exhibit and they are hilarious.
Tomorrow we are off to Stonehenge and bath, which also mean we will be driving in England! If I don't make it this blog post may be published in a volume of final writings.

Quick Update

I was thinking, yesterday, as I was sitting in the Philadephia airport waiting for her, that I should take note of the funny little incidents and mishaps that had happened so far, and which are bound to happen several times throughout this trip. A few of them might be blogworthy. Here's the one that inspired this thought: I stood up to drop something in the trash and became aware of a sort of shortish presence behind me. I thought it was someone's child, but the child seemed to be hovering behind me more than I would expect a child to hover around a stranger. So I turned around and was startled to find myself face-to-face (or leg-to-nose) with a German Shepherd. There was a police officer attached, and he looked at me stonily as the dog began to sniff intently at my jeans. Naturally I assumed he (the dog) could smell Jin on me, and it didn't occur to me until after the officer finally pulled him away that maybe I should have been concerned about the dog's interest in me. He must have been a drug-sniffing dog, and since the only drugs I was carrying on me were Kroger-brand sleeping pills (which, sadly, didn't work very well on the red-eye flight), I didn't have much of anything to worry about.

But these incidents I was supposed to be taking note of didn't seem nearly as significant or blog-worthy when they began boarding for our flight to London and Jessica still hadn't arrived in the terminal. I knew she had left town at approximately the same time I did, and even with an hour delay I had arrived with about two hours to spare. So I finally went up to the desk and was told that her flight from Baltimore hadn't even taken off yet. And then...I wasn't sure what to do. I didn't have my cell phone, and because I didn't have my cell phone I also didn't have Jessica's cell phone number to call her, and the plane was already boarding. Finally I decided there was nothing I could do, and just got on the plane.

I haven't spoken to Jessica in person yet, but I have had some communication and know that she'll be here tomorrow morning. This means that I am spending my first (very jet-lagged) day by myself out here. That's fine. I'll explore a little bit, get situated in the hostel where we'll be spending the weekend so that I can show Jess the ropes when she arrives, and try to figure out the lay of the city. I'll take some pictures (it's a good thing I brought my own camera), then sleep very well tonight, and hopefully the rest of the trip will go a bit more smoothly. I really think it ought to, with a beginning like this.

And now the real adventure begins! For both of us, in different ways...

Countdown begins!

Well, technically the countdown started, like, three months ago. But yesterday Jessica and I had our very last official planning meeting. We've been meeting regularly for quite awhile now, pounding out our itinerary, deciding what sites we want to see along the way, booking rooms in hostels and bed and breakfasts. On Monday, though, Jessica is heading down to D.C. and the next time we will see each other will be in the Philadelphia International Airport where we will board our redeye to London. We trust that the UK is fully equipped with internet access, and so in a couple weeks you should see our real life adventure taking shape on this blog.

Since I have been a poor contributor to our blog lately, Jessica assigned me to write the Official We've Officially Finished Our Official Planning Blog Entry. I struggled mightily to think of some creative way to celebrate this milestone, and finally fell back on my new favorite blogging pastime - a photo montage!

I included approximately every stop on our three-week visit. Can you identify the place associated with each picture?

Thanks to everyone who gave us suggestions - it has been really helpful to hear from people who have been there.

The Isle of Eire

This is a plea. Amy and I are going to Ireland and are trying to figure out whether we should spend a night in Dublin or not. We will definitely be going down south to Cork area to kiss the Blarney stone so it you have any info on that area let us know as well.

Jessica

London Itinerary Done....Finally

At the outset of this post I just want to say thank you so much to all of you who left suggestions on the London Calling Post, it was all tremendously helpful. Keep those suggestions coming. 

Here is what we have so far for London. I am really excited for our walk-abouts. This is a very English thing. I just read about them in Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island where he describes all these people walking about in high wool socks and hiking boots. I am not sure I will be sporting that fashion but I am excited to have many a walk-about in London and all over the UK. 

Day 1: May 7, 2009

Arrival

Check-in

Visit Westminster

Hyde Park and walk-about from Hyde Park back to hostel with a stop at Regents Park

Day 2: May 8, 2009

British library

British museum

Temple to Buckingham Palace walking tour.

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/places-of-a-lifetime/london-walking-tour-3.html

   Catch concert St. martin in the fields

Day 3: May 9, 2009

Portebello Road Market

Walking tour London Eye to Design Museum:

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/places-of-a-lifetime/london-walking-tour-1.html

London Tower and London Bridge. 

London Calling

With our itinerary (mostly) set for the trip, Jessica and I are now about to enter into the details phase of our planning, and we thought we would begin with London. So we are now officially requesting information from anyone and everyone who has been there. Given that we have just a few short days in the city, what should be on our must-see list? Information on sites, events, lodging, and food will all be helpful. Also, are there underrated or little-known sites we should know about? Major tourist stopovers that are overrated and can maybe be pruned from our visit? Any and all comments are welcome!

Happy Birthday Amy!

It is my traveling companion's birthday today and I couldn't let it pass without giving her a shout out! For your birthday Amy I am giving you and not-all-expense trip to the United Kingdom with yours truly, me:) As recipient of this birthday present you will get to hit on British boys with a very experienced sidekick. I am not saying I have had a lot of success, just experience. You also get one cuddle a day. Something that will be hard to avoid since we will probably be sharing a bed. I hope this is the best birthday ever, especially with the prospects I have just described.

The Birthday Girl and Jake Gee. 

GI stands for General Itinerary not Gastrointestinal Track

Amy and I finally sat down together and hammered out a general (tentative) itinerary. I think this happened only because my internet was down and therefore could not be distracted by our blog. Here it is and like I said it's very general and we are welcome to specific suggestion on what to do while in each city/area:

London

Salisbury(stonehedge)

Bath

Oxford

Stratford upon avon

Wales

Dublin

Belfast

Edinburgh

Loch Ness Scotish highlands-

Glencoe

Lake district

Peak district

Cliffs of dover/Calias

London

I am not sure about Belfast. The main impetuous behind visiting it right now is my strange fascination with the IRA (one cohort is pictured below). I am not sure fascination of a terrorist group necessary warrants a visit. If anyone has other reason we should or should not go to Belfast or any other location on our list please do tell. 

English Language Series #2:In Which a Dual Lesson on the English Language and Great English Writers Wreaks Havoc on the Author’s Spell-Chequer

Originally when I pondered writing this post, I was looking for a story that was shared in a content area literacy class my students took a couple years ago while I was their field instructor. In the story, most of the words were complete gibberish, but the students were given a quiz (made up of the same gibberish) and got all the answers right without fail, without really understanding what the story was talking about. The point of the lesson was how much we take from context. Thinking of language as a set of words that we deconstruct one by one is not really accurate, because when we learn to understand a language, we do it largely through contextual clues. There are phrase structures and sentence structures, and even story or genre structures, that help us know what to expect so that we don’t have to actually think about the individual words, one at a time.

I couldn’t find the story, though (it’s a pity, it would have been fun to share). But then I realized that I had one of the best examples of understanding gibberish through contextual clues in a well-worn book on the bookshelf in my apartment. And so for #2 in my English Language Series, I share a brilliant little poem from one of my favorite books of all time, Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll.

Jabberwocky

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

“And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

What makes this poem great is that, despite the fact that nearly every one of the important words is completely incomprehensible by itself, as you read the poem you can understand, and even visualize, what is going on. And what makes the poem even greater is that even the individual words are not complete and utter nonsense—either Lewis Carroll had a lot of fun constructing the words, or (I like to think this is the case) he had a lot of fun deconstructing the words after he had written them, and making meaning out of what had begun as nonsense.
’There are plenty of hard words there, “ [Humpty Dumpty interrupted]. Brillig” means four o’clock in the afternoon—the time when you begin broiling things for dinner.’

‘That’ll do very well,’ said Alice: ‘and “slithy”?’

‘Well, “slithy” means “lithe and slimy.” “Lithe” is the same as “active.” You see it’s like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word.’

‘I see it now,’ Alice remarked thoughtfully: ‘and what are “toves”?’

‘Well, “toves” are something like badgers—they’re something like lizards—and they’re something like corkscrews.’

‘They must be very curious-looking creatures.’

‘They are that,’ said Humpty Dumpty: ‘also they make their nests under sun-dials—also they live on cheese.’

‘And what’s to “gyre” and to “gimble”?’

‘To “gyre” is to go round and round like a gyroscope. To “gimble” is to make holes like a gimblet.’

‘And “the wabe” is the grass-plot round a sun-dial I suppose?’ said Alice, surprised at her own ingenuity.

‘Of course it is. It’s called “ wabe” you know, because it goes a long way before it, and a long way behind it—‘

‘And a long way beyond it on each side,’ Alice added.

‘Exactly so. Well then, “mimsy” is “flimsy and miserable” (there’s another portmanteau for you). And a “borogove” is a thin shabby-looking bird with its feathers sticking out all round—something like a live mop.’

‘And then “mome raths”?’ said Alice. ‘I’m afraid I’m giving you a great deal of trouble.’

‘Well, a “rath” is a sort of green pig: but “mome” I’m not certain about. I think it’s short for “from home”—meaning that they’d lost their way, you know.’

‘And what does “outgrabe” mean?’

‘Well, “outgribing” is something between bellowing and whistling, with a kind of sneeze in the middle: however, you’ll here it done, maybe—down in the wood yonder—and when you’ve once heard it you’ll be quite content. Who’s been repeating all that hard stuff to you?’

‘I read it in a book,’ said Alice.

HEARING VOICES

So I was just looking up some information on Dublin and Belfast before starting some reading for one of my classes. As I started my class readings the voice in my head (you know, the one that you hear when you are thinking) had an Irish accent. In fact as I am writing this it is still there. So if you want to fully appreciate this entry please read it aloud in your best Irish accent. If you need some help listen to Bono or Damien Rice talk.

Andy Murray

In the spirit of my year of Great Britain and all things Scottish I am going be following the Scottish tennis player Andy Murray this year. The ATP has him ranked #4, pretty good for a 22 year old from Glasgow, Scotland.  I am a little concerned with him keeping his ranking as he didn't do too well in the still ongoing Australian open, losing in the 4th round to a very dishy Verdasco. I hope he can pick it up before the real open season starts. I am also hopeful that my new #1 fan status might warrant me an invitation to his birthday which is May 15. I'm sure Amy and I could stop by. BTW Andy shares a B-day with my brother who also plays tennis and was ranked in Wyoming. 

On another sports related note,  Amy and I looked into going to Wimbledon, unfortunately it does not happen until June. Then I thought about attending a premier league soccer game, but a friend warned against that suggesting we might come to bodily harm. So if anyone has any distinctly UK sports suggestion-I'm not going to the UK to play/watch basketball- please let us know... you know rugby, cricket etc. 

The man himself (Andy Murray) although a little less formally attired.  He does have great hair and apparently an uncanny sense of balance. 

Points of Interest in the English Language#1: In Which a Linguistic Mystery is Solved by a Bell Tower

I believe three months is ample time to learn enough of a language to at least get by when you travel to a foreign country. Fortunately for me, the English language has fascinated me for a long time. And so, as Jess and I navigate the tricky waters of English (would you say de-botch-ery or de-bock-ery?), I thought I would begin a regular column (I’m not willing to commit to how regular quite yet) in order to share interesting linguistic tidbits that I have picked up somewhere along the way. Beginning with...

#1: In Which a Linguistic Mystery is Solved by a Bell Tower
English conjugation is deceptive. On the surface, it appears very simple. If you learn Spanish, you spend years trying to master the present, future, preterite, imperfect, and conditional tenses, and if you try to learn Russian, you learn that verbs are modified not just by tenses, but also by aspects, voices, and moods. But English is easy. If I give you brand new verb, say, “slog,” meaning to slack off in writing on your blog (and for the sake of argument, ignore for a moment that you may already be familiar with the verb “slog” in its very different standard English meaning), you would immediately know that I, you, we, and they all slog, but that (s)he slogs, that we all slogged in the past, and that if you have not written on your blog in weeks, or even months, you are currently in the act of slogging. Any other modifications to tense or condition come through in the words surrounding slog rather than in the word itself. Pretty simple.

But then there are all these little surprises hidden in the English language, where individual words seem to bend the rules (the rules have been bent, not bended). Sometimes this happens in regular ways, where clusters of words have crossed over from other languages with different, but consistent, rules. And occasionally this happens in ways that are completely unpredictable. 

One that I used to wonder about often was the verb to go. As long as you stay in the present tense, it acts perfectly normally—I go, you go, we go, they go, (s)he goes, everyone is going. But leap into the past and suddenly no one goed. They went. It doesn’t sound the same, it doesn’t look the same, and it doesn’t seem to make much linguistic sense.

That is today’s mystery. Maybe some of you already know the answer, but I ask that you refrain from giving it away before the end of the post.

One day, when I was a student at BYU, I was walking on campus and thinking very non-linguistic thoughts. As I was walking, the carillon tower began to chime the hour. For those of you who don’t know, the BYU bell tower plays the first few phrases of “Come Come Ye Saints” on the hour, and as the chimes broke through my thoughts of boys or weather or mathematics or oatmeal, or whatever I had been thinking at the time, I suddenly realized that I had solved the mystery of the past tense of to go. All thoughts of boys, weather, math, and oatmeal vanished and I couldn't wait to get home and validate my new theory.

Can you figure it out? I’m going to pause here and post a pretty picture of the bell tower while you think about it.



Got it yet? If not I’ll give you one more hint, which is that I have hidden one other clue in the text above. Here’s a picture of William Clayton while you ponder.



Got it now? It’s in the last line that the tower plays, “But with joy, wend your way.” And just like when we bend a rule in the past, we say that we bent it, if the saints looked back on their journey many years later, they may have said that they joyfully went their way. Somewhere along the way two words that sounded very different, go and wend, but meant essentially the same thing, became conflated. One got stuck in the present tense, and one got stuck in the past. It makes perfect sense!

I thought that was pretty cool, but I’m going to go just a little deeper because it turns out that the interesting details on the irregular past tense of to go don’t end there. Although went got attached to go way back in the 15th century, to go already had an irregular past tense (eode, later yode or yede). In fact, and I thought this was interesting, it turns out that in almost every Indo-European language, to go is irregular. Think for example about conjugating the verb ir, if you know Spanish. And in the meantime, while go has stayed irregular, wend has accommodated the standard English verb tense. So those pioneers would actually have been wrong if they said that they joyfully went their way. Technically, they wended.

Plane Tickets and Commitment

I have just made a huge commitment to someone. No I did not get engaged nor have I taken orders to become a nun. I have, however, committed to spend three weeks with one person in another country. Other than my mission I don't think I have ever spent that much time time with one person. I did go to China with my friend Amren but we were not together 24/7 and didn't have to share a bed, something I am sure Amy and I will have to do numerous times. 

I was really excited to buy the ticket but as I started to push the confirm button I had this rush of panic as I realized that I was making a huge commitment. Now that's over I am really excited and hope that Amy can stand me for three weeks and doesn't mind me talking in my sleep.

These nun's feelings mirror Amy's  (if I can speak for Amy) and my feelings about our trip. 

No turning back now!

The last thing you want to do before doing something scary is think about it. It seems counterintuitive, because if you're going to do something potentially life-threatening, like diving off the high dive, riding a 400-foot-tall roller coaster, moving to Michigan, or buying plane tickets to London, you'd think you might want to think twice before putting your life in danger. But thinking even once will almost certainly lead to thinking four, ten, a hundred times, and nothing will happen.

And so Jessica and I simultaneously pressed the "purchase tickets" approximately ten minutes after I learned about the awesome ticket prices she had just found. Maybe less.

I think perhaps I will write a poem about this, as I promised to compose poetry for our new blog. Once I compose myself, that is. 

Dear Blog Community,

This is a joint blog venture by Amy and Jessica to solicit information and helpful hints, as well as to document the process, adventures, and outcomes pertaining to our British peregrination. Please feel free to offer any advice you may have pertaining to places to visit, things to do, ways to save money, how to court British gentlemen, how to get British gentlemen to court you, how to learn the language in 3 months or less, what exactly is meant by "pound," "meter," "loo," "queue," and "bloody," how to avoid contracting mad cow disease, and where to find the best blood pudding or, alternatively, the best non-English ethnic cuisine.

Sincerely,

Amy and Jessica