Scotland Photo Extravaganza

Please do enjoy this slideshow of my Scotland pictures to date (It shows only the most recent 100, there are more). If you'd rather not look at them in a slideshow and/or wish to see the whole banana, here's the link to the whole album.

Yes, Rudyard, They Are (Photos)

Ah, God! One sniff of England --
To greet our flesh and blood --
To hear the traffic slurring
Once more through London mud!
Our towns of wasted honour --
Our streets of lost delight!
How stands the old Lord Warden?
Are Dover's cliffs still white?

-- From The Broken Men by Rudyard Kipling

In case anyone was uncertain, I can provide an answer in the affirmative. They are. And Darcy and I just spent all of yesterday tromping all over them (at least six miles, we estimated). We climbed across them, looked (but did not fall) down them, and took a bunch of good pictures of them. At least, I did. The fruits of our adventure follow. I really hate doing this photo uploading bit, it takes forever and is generally a source of great aggravation, but I suppose I should get into the practice for, you know. SCOTLAND. (In case anybody forgot).

Anyway.

Our first sight of Dover Castle on the skyline as we came down from the train station.

The streets of downtown Dover.

Castle ruins right the crap in the middle of downtown. This is why English towns are so cool. Ignore the random fat lady in the foreground, she took fricking forever to get out of the way and we were in a hurry, so I had to take the picture and go.

More castle ruins built in a hillside.

Our first glimpse of the white cliffs.

The street, East Cliff Terrace, that led up to the footpath.

Looking up at the cliffs overhead. As you can see if you look, there were several windows -- houses, lookouts, or something. Nice view.

More castle ruins in the cliffs.

I am really quite fond of this picture.

Darcy at the start of the footpath up to the cliffs.

The footpath.

Stairs. Haven't we had enough of these?

Oh bugger.

A look back at Dover Harbour as we climbed.

Another one of Bill's houses. Although I think Henry II had more to do with this one, at least in present form.

Darcy at the sign for the White Cliffs.

Me.
Dover Harbour again and part of the sea wall.

A ferry headed for Calais.

Looking back along the coastline.

Looking down at the sea.

And with a little sunlight.

Also a little sunlight on Dover Harbour.

Zoom functions are useful.

Getting closer...

And closer...

AAAAND....

/CYMBAL CRASH

Looking back at the weather station on the headland.

Yeah. You're jealous.

Getting friendly with the sea.

Getting VERY friendly with the sea. Don't worry, no bloggers were harmed in the making of this photograph.

See?

And neither were any sidekicks.

But hey, I gotta get my shot.

For which you thank me most kindly.

Down. Down. Drums in the deep. Down. Down. Downnnnnnnnn.

I iz an extreem bloggah.

Continuing my ongoing quest to write parts of the book in cool places, here I do so atop the cliffs. I am not your average writer who sits inside with a laptop (although I do do that a lot). Nah, I've been taking the notebook on my travels. It makes for good stories. Also, I lost a fountain pen somewhere in the cliffs, which is both slightly romantic and a little annoying, since that'll be the fourth one I've lost and/or broken. Maybe I use my writing implements a little too hard. Hmm.

Dats a noice vue.

The South Foreland lighthouse in the distance.

Closer.

And inside.

And inside the column. This is where the weights are cranked up to start the light, or at least that's what it used to do before they decommissioned it in 1980. We had a very interesting tour, and now if I ever write a book set in a lighthouse, I have plenty of useful tidbits.

The light itself.

St. Margaret's Bay from the lighthouse. The wind, which had been blowing like crap the entire time, was blowing like CRAPPPP up here. My eyes were watering.

The harbour from the lighthouse.

The harbour on the way back.

Dover Castle again. Most unfortunately, we missed out by two days when they begin summer hours, and missed being able to go in.

The castle on the hill. Kewl.

I swear, you expect to see Sir Lancelot and Sir-Not-Appearing-in-this-Photo to come busting out of there with Herbert. And maybe a couple coconuts.

Well, this sure is perty. Down the castle wall with the harbour in the background, and even an aesthetically placed seagull.

LOOK OUT BILL. WE'RE COMING TO STORM YOUR CASTLE.

Tra-la-la.

A narrow side alley on the way back from the castle.

A church tower in downtown Dover on the way to the railway station.

The door into the church, with some spring flowers.

Okay, that covers it. Getting TO Dover was an ordeal, for various transportation-related reasons, but it was pretty awesome. We left Dover on the 4:48 train, since we couldn't get into Dover Castle, and it was 9:15 before we were tromping our tired asses back into my apartment. We are both very sore today. But what the hey.

London, Part Troix (Photos)

So this is the third time I've been to London, but Darcy's first. And anyway, we got plenty of good pictures. After a few misadventures starting out (the tube was slow, we got dumped with rain on our way to St Paul's Cathedral, we weren't allowed IN St. Paul's when we got there at mid-morning due to some event or another, I got accosted into buying an ugly flower, they had exactly one cashier working a long line of London Eye ticket-seekers) we finally got INTO the London Eye, which is a mongo big Ferris wheel (the biggest in the world, I think) designed for sightseeing.

So we took them up on it.

The Westminster footbridge from the sky.

Big Ben and Westminster.

The Union Jack atop the Houses of Parliament. It was really, really windy.

I like this one. Big Ben and Westminster again. Very cool.

Darcy in the Eye.

Another shot of the courts from the air.

St. Paul's (see the dome?) We got there later.

Looking up...

Down...

Rain. The weather was incredibly damn schizophrenic. One moment raining, one moment cloudy, the next sunny, blowing like hell the entire time.

Another of the pictures I really like. Westminster footbridge and that random clock.

And as you can see, it was then sunny by the time we got to St. Paul's for the second time, around 2 in the afternoon, when they had visiting hours.

The side of St. Paul's, leading around to the West Front.

Looking up at the West Front.

Darcy and I on the steps of St. Paul's.

Detail of the inside of the portico. Technically, you are not supposed to take pictures inside the Cathedral.

I cheated.

Yeah, well, the cathedral didn't spontaneously combust, and neither did I.

However, I think I have discovered the cathedral's revenge. Seeing as it just took me 30 gawd damn minutes to put up that picture, killing my internet (which does not need the help) five times in the process. If I was any more patient, I would have a halo.

I am shocked. That took only five minutes instead. Argh.

We are NOT making progress here.

But I am more stubborn than the computer.

So if you don't think these pictures are cool, I will eat your children.

Looking down into the gallery from the dome.

Looking out from the outdoor observation gallery that rings the dome.

Darcy at the top.

Me. The wind was still blowing approximately 70 miles an hour.

One of the clock towers with the Thames in the background.

The London Eye. I.e. we were up the Eye and saw St. Paul's, now we're up St. Pauls and saw the Eye.

Both the clock towers of St. Paul's.

We headed back DOWN all the stairs and out onto the Millennium Footbridge. It was still as windy as crap.

We swung by the Globe Theatre.

Darcy outside the Globe.

Me.

We then went on the Thames River Walk and passed under this mildly famous bridge.

We also saw this mildly famous bridge.

And this mildly famous landmark.

And this mildly famous... yeah yeah yeah.

Nice job, Bill.

Why, how fetching.

Blue sky. And a bridge. And a river. Hey, you're not paying me to describe the pictures, that's what your eyeballs are for.

O look up thar.

The bridge on the way out.


And farewell to London. After this we headed back to Paddington and it took forever to get back to Oxford.

You know what else took forever? That's right, this post.

Dover on Friday and then Darcy's out of here. Then guess what? SCOTLAND.

Photo Diary: Winchester

After my younger sister Gillian was here over Christmas, my older sister Darcy is here for spring break. I have been going to various exciting places with her just as I did with Gillian, and also like Gillian, she nags me to update the blog with the photos from said exciting places. Yes, I am as lazy as crap about doing it otherwise, but it actually takes a long time to put one of these suckers together and I want to be spending it doing other things.

/bitch whine whine moan

/Anyway, here are the photos from our marvellous Monday escapade to lovely Winchester, England.

Downtown Winchester.
A shot up the side of St. Laurence's Church in downtown Winchester. This is cool because...

... of that. I am writing a historical novel about the Norman Conquest (this book has taken over my life, by the way) and therefore, I particularly enjoy things like these; it's as close as an author can get to actually meeting her characters. As a matter of fact, I chose to go to Winchester because of its historical associations, and because two of my characters (two of William the Conqueror's sons) are buried in the cathedral. Speaking of which....

The walk up to Winchester Cathedral. I've seen Bath Abbey and Salisbury Cathedral, in addition to Westminster Abbey, and you'd think eventually you'd sort of start getting used to them. Nope.

The front facade of Winchester Cathedral.

Inside, looking down the side aisle.

The stained glass windows over the front door.

More stained glass.

Sunlight coming in the high windows. This in the older, Norman part of the cathedral, as you can tell by the arches. Yes, I am a geek for this sort of thing.

A lovely pic looking up near the front of the cathedral, where the mortuary chests containing the bones of the Old English kings and queens are kept.

AKA these guys. I was looking for William Rufus, but couldn't find him (he was in one of the chests, but my Latin is extremely rudimentary and they were above my head. What the hell).

We did find his brother Richard, however. The inscription says, "Hitus est corpus Richardi Willhelmi Conquestoris fili et Beorine ducis," which I was able to translate. ("Here is the body of Richard, son of William the Conqueror and Duke of Bernay.")

One of the mortuary chests.

Looking into the chancel (at least I think that's what it is).

The altar.

A really stunning look back down the length of the nave. The tomb in the foreground is that of Henry, Bishop of Winchester, cousin of King Stephen and grandson of William the Conqueror. Rufus was supposedly buried there first, but got moved.

See, it says so.

Another look up at the windows.

The grave of some lady writer or other.

Another good shot down the aisle.

The Norman crypt, the oldest part of the cathedral. I have nothing to say to this but: COOL.

Detail of painting on the ceiling on one of the side chapels.

Darcy outside the cathedral.

Me.

The flying buttresses of the Cathedral.

The houses out the back entrance.

Another look at the house.

The back gate.

A street down by the river.

The greenery overlooking a culvert.

The back side of Winchester College, which I think is actually a high school.

Part of the old Winchester city wall down by the river.

More Winchester city wall.

Cool-looking bit of the wall.

Part of the path, with trees and a stream.

Darcy.

Moi.

The river.


The river again.


The streets of Winchester, on the way up the hill to the lookout point.

The streets again.

The lookout point is at the top of this hill. Which necessitated climbing an ASSLOAD of incredibly steep stairs.

These bad boys.

But there were some pretty good views from the top.

Winchester from the lookout.

The hill from which we descended (we found a way with fewer steps). Looks sort of faerie like.

Descending from the viewpoint, we found this narrow side alley down through the houses.

A pic of the city wall and the flowering trees, on our way back into town.

A shot of the Winchester streets on our way back to the train station.

All right, that covers it. We're going to London tomorrow; this will be my third time, but of course Darcy hasn't gone. But we'll go to the London Eye, St Paul's Cathedral, and other interesting places that I haven't been, before going to Dover on Friday. All good fun. I will remember to do the pictures. Really. Then Scotland... YAY. Can't wait.

Scotland is Locked and Loaded

and other exciting news...

Well, today I finally did what I have been planning for about three years -- which is to say, I booked the trip to Scotland which will take place over my next six-week break. (I am almost done with this one, and while I've enjoyed the sleep, I'm definitely ready to get going again. Feels like forever). I am hitting up, in order: Edinburgh, Inverness, Stornaway, Skye, Mull, and Glasgow, which will take 2 weeks and fortunately not a king's ransom, as I really lucked out on finding the First Scot Rail pass, which will transport my not-entirely-broke ass all around Scotland (including rail, bus, and ferry) for the comparatively measly sum of £148. More details to come and tons of pictures, but not until April. Cannot wait...

In the meantime, I have my history tutor arranged (I'm switching to English history from psych this term for a number of reasons, mainly because a) I'm writing a historical novel, and b) what better place to do it) and am getting a little financial help. Now all I need to do is get a job, and I will be set. And stop going to bed at 4AM, which I swear I don't mean to do, yet keeps happening nonetheless.

Oxford from the Aire: Last Set of Photos

While I'm at it...

Sunday was Gillian's last day here, so we decided to hit up some of the last sights. We went to the Museum of Oxford and then climbed the spire of the church of St. Mary the Virgin: lots of very steep, very twisting steps, but some great views at the top.

Looking down the first flight of steps.

Looking out over the roofs.

More rooftops.

The stairs looked like this. That's my foot, since I was standing in a window-well -- they were too narrow for someone to go up and come down at the same time, which was probably why they built the windows where they did.

But at the top, it was great.

To the right: All Souls College with the Hawksmoor Towers.

To the center: the Radcliffe Camera.

To the left: Exeter (you can see its spire) and Brasenose.

Straight up...

... and straight down.

High Street from above.

Oxford rooftops with the spire of the Lincoln College Library in the background.

More rooftops.

Gillian with All Souls in the background.

Me.

Gillian in one of the arches of the walkway. Because of this, I wondered if fat people aren't allowed to go up. I honestly don't think they'd fit.

The tower once we'd returned to terra firma.

All right, that concludes the photos for now! Not sure when there will be more (hopefully before I go to Scotland in March) but there will be eventually, and in the meantime, I'll try to remember to update every so often.

Stonehenge! (Photos)

Certain impatient people have been sending certain thinly veiled hints that they think I am not being prompt enough with these pictures. Certain people should be aware that a certain blogger's internet has been certainly horrible for the past few days, to the point it will not work if I am sitting at my desk, but might to consent to do so if I am sitting on the bed. I am now sitting in the living room, so let us see how this goes.

So in short, certain impatient person, shaddup. Ta-dah.


We went from Salisbury Cathedral...

...which looks like this...

(and also this)

(and this as well, aka Gillian did not put in a lot of good pictures)...

... to Stonehenge!

Which looks like this.

And like this. Aka it looks closer than we actually were (thank God for zoom functions). I imagine this is to stop people from doing stupid things like carving their initials and chipping off bits to sell on eBay. Morons.

My charming sister and me with some random big pile of rocks in the background.

Cue the drums.

There were too many damn people there. I cut out all the photos in which it showed.

But it was really kind of awesome anyway.

We got a picture of me writing at the Tower of London, so here's the picture of me writing at Stonehenge. Yes, those parts are in the book. And you'll never guess. Nyeeehehehehehe.The reason I look like an Eskimo is simple: it was mutha flipping COLD.

Yes, I know. You want to make this your new wallpaper immediately.

The rays of sunlight fall upon the stones of yore. And nobody knows why, aside from the fact that that's kind of what sun does.

More stones. Dunno who got them there, really, they're mucking up the lovely Wiltshire countryside.

After this, we went back on a bus driven at hair-raising speeds on winding country roads, and repaired immediately to a coffee shop before frozen bits started breaking off. Stay tuned for the next edition, Oxford from the Aire. It's cool. Trust me.