York

Here's the great medieval city of York. I would definitely recommend people go there because there's lots to see and do, and it's very old and cool for us North Americans. Here is a gate (there were several gates to get into the city) and the medieval walls (we walked around them for quite awhile). And I'm in an old school room in a museum of old stuff ('looking like a nerd' is what my sister wrote as the caption on her blog).

York Minster

Here's York Minster (famous cathedral from the middle ages). We spent lots of time there because it cost a lot of money. Plus we walked up to the roof and got some good views of the city. There is also a picture of me in front of a creepy alley (I like these alleys, makes me really feel like I'm in Europe).

London with my sister

We went to Greenwich on a boat tour to see the sites there. It's like we weren't in London anymore, a very different feel (like a small town). There we saw where Greenwich mean time is and stood on the line, saw some maritime museums (boring) and walked to some famous pubs (this is Trafalgar Pub after Nelson, a famous captain who won some wars on the ocean against Spain).
Here's our cozy sleeping arrangements. When my sister saw my room she looked horrified at the smallness and having to stay there for the next 10 days!

London with my sister

Here are some photos of when my sister was here at the end of April. On the first day we went to Green Park (by Buckingham Palace) and had some ice cream. Lots of people were around because it was a perfect day. Then there's me with a solider at some place (he was weird and said 'that's number 3' under his breath when I was standing there). Next we are by the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London, where we stopped on our way back from Greenwich.

Great-grandmother's house

I spent the day with my aunt on thursday. It was really nice to catch up and see some sites. We went to Camden market and to some used book stores around my place. I went with her to see her grandmother's house (these are the pictures of where she was born, but later she moved to Canada). It's in a nice part of town that is in high demand now. There are 7 flats in this house on 5 floors, two of which are studio flats (so small!) But it's a very nice neighbourhood. All the houses are painted white and some are quite fancy with decorative trim and stuff. We went inside but it's hard to picture what it would have been like because it's been converted to flats.

friends

These are my classmates, we are all in the same program except Robyn.
Here we are eating cheap Indian food.
#1 Isabella, Vijaya and Winnie
#2 Vicki, me, Robyn and Kathryn
#3 Dorian trying to look like a thug or asbo, after leaving the pub.
'Twas a fun night!

Well it's been just over 2 months since I last updated! Wow how time flies. I finished up classes March 17, then went to Portugal right away for 9 days and then went home for 3 weeks. Portugal was very nice, I need to go back to see more of it. Even though it's such a small country there's so much to see! At home I did lots of school work, but never catching up since I am still doing lots. We have exams in June so I'm revising (studying) for that, and I'm also trying to figure out my dissertation question, and will write an essay of the issues to do so! Fun times! But I did have a fun time last week when my sister visited (I'll post those pictures whenever she puts them up). We went to Greenwich was 'time' was created, saw a show "Blood Brothers", walked around and saw quite a few of the sites (that's what's nice about having a central place to live) and went to York on the weekend. It's a really old city, it was used by the Romans in their height as an army base, then the Vikings were there, then the English. It still has most of it's walls and gates up so it was really cool to see all the old stuff. And the cathedral there is great, a bit expensive but we made good use of our ticket! Too bad I didn't get to see any moors though, I'll do that some other time. Enjoy the photos of Portugal below!

Monastery in Tomar

This is an old religious building that we went to on our second day. Like many other things, it's been around for ages. It had many many rooms and different areas and was very interesting. First picture is my parents on a tiled bench (they were always impressed by all the tiling in Portugal) then a picture of the outside of the building, and a picture inside of the church.

Old castle in Sintra

We drove up a crazy-scary small road to get to this old Moorish castle. It's from about 900 and it is thought that middle-eastern people first built it. And maybe there were romans there before too on this site. It was pretty cool and very high up and windy so we didn't talk close to the walls. My mom brought Eeyore from her work along (they take him to places and get him in pictures) so he is with us and my dad doesn't want to be seen with him. The last picture is titled "where's Eeyore?". My mom's in an old chapel and he is there as well -- you should be able to see him even though this is a small picture.

Lisbon

The first picture is of a very interesting and old neighbourhood called Alfama. Lots of colours and small streets and seems like a tight-knit community. The second is of the main square off the ocean (used to be a trading square). It's surrounded by yellow buildings and looks very stately in a colourful manner.

Obidos

This is a small 17th century town that is still walled. The castle isn't really a castle anymore but a fancy place to stay. It's very touristy and the main street is full of tourist shops. It looks and feels old so it's special to us North Americans! And since it was March and not the height of tourist season, it wasn't so busy so was relaxing. The last picture if of a typical street in this part of Portugal.

Algarve - coast pictures

This is the southern region of Portugal, on the Atlantic Ocean. It was a nice sunny day, not so warm and the water was freezing! The first is the coast, then me in the ocean, and my dad and I by a castle in the town. It's a resort town but many locals were out. And lots of old British people, but there weren't as many as in other resort towns along the ocean. I look (am) super pale and don't have the good tanning gene like my dad. Oh well!