One Down!

I can cross #14 off of my list of 22 things to do before I'm 23!! This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend general conference! To hear the words of modern day prophet of God was amazing!

the land of my ancestors

A couple of weeks ago I took the opportunity to go to DENMARK with two amazing girls Emma and Caity.  EasyJet is good, EasyBus not so much(waiting 45 min for a bus=3 frustrated girls).  This is a picture of us as we left 58 degree London for 40 degree Copenhagen!

   King Frederick VI of Denmark was my great great great great great great grandfather.  His daughter(my great grandmother) joined the church and was essentially disowned, but it still made the trip extra exciting and amazing to know I was walking where my ancestors walked!

Grandpa Freddy and Me!!

(I apologize for the blurriness!  Luckily, no family resemblance.)

Gardens at the Palace=amazing.  Huge lake, some wilderness type gardening and some very planned and formal.

Grandpa Freddy's Palace-Fredricksburg castle

danish in Denmark of course!  All the food exceeded expectations.

Nyhavn(newhown) was enchanting!  The buildings were all beautiful and different colors.  The city was still cold and wintery, but the colorful buildings added fun and made it exciting to walk around/ride the bus!

The little mermaid.  She watches longingly as ships leave the harbor.

Copenhagen is the most expensive city in the world right now.  5 Danish kroner=1 American dollar.  It ended up being really hard for us to convert in our heads after being used to converting pounds and dollars.

Dinner one of the nights.  Super good.  See receipt.

(if you look underneath the amount in Kroners, you will see the amount in euros, but still very hard to see the 365!)

changing of the guard in Copenhagen>changing of the guard in England

reasons 1. less people 2. happier people 3. changing of the guards in England is lame and Denmark's is not.

Nature shot next to the ocean.

The first night we were in Copenhagen, we decided to go see the temple.  It was fairy close to our hotel.  Taking the bus turned out to be a little scarier than we thought it would as we walked by a scary old cemetery, but luckily we were able to rise above it(thanks to singing primary songs).  It was such a neat experience to see this beautiful building! 

Another favorite experience was visiting The Church of our Lady.  Inside is the first Christus as well as statues of Christ's twelve apostles.  Below I have a picture of Peter holding keys.  Elder Packer explains the importance of the keys to the church in two different conference talks(1995 and 2008).  While in the church, we ran into fellow members of the Church, a couple of men who are employees of the church, it was really neat to not only have just read the conference talk mentioning these amazing works of art, but then to meet others with the same views as ourselves(as opposed to the homeless guy in the corner).

Marble Church.  The inside is not marble, but wood painted to look like marble.  We hiked to the top through dark stairways and through rusty doors and we almost gave our lives to make it, but the view was gorgeous and totally worth it!

If you have wondered why I came to Europe during the winter, this is why:

No lines at the airports!

Bella! I love you!

Last week I spent a couple of days in Rome, Italy.  I had so much fun!  The weather was pretty crazy as it snowed in Rome for the first time since 1986!  This is only my first post about Rome, hopefully the second will follow shortly... Enjoy!

The Pantheon

(Sorry it's blurry!)

The Imperial Forum

The Vatican

Halls and halls lined with statues.

(Although my face may look like sarcastic, I really was so excited to see this statue because I learned all about it in Humanities last year!  The same thing with the Pantheon.  It's so neat to learn about all of it, and then see it in real life!)

Upside down because this is the ceiling.  Is it painted or a a relief?  It's painted.

Even the floors were beautiful!

SAINT PETER'S BASILICA!

The following is the breakfast we received at our B&B.  Croissant, jam, pre-packaged toast.

overnighter: Stratford and Oxford

This week we took our very first overnight trip to Stratford Upon Avon(the birthplace of none other than the William Shakespeare) as well as Oxford.

Shakespeare memorial. Yes, the man part is made from wax.  It's cool, just go with it.

The following are pictures at Oxford.  If you don't recognize them, we may or may not be friends anymore.

(Think Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire-Professor Moody turns Draco Malfoy into a Ferret)

The BYU London Centre is located across the street from Kensington Palace Gardens.  Perfect for walking and jogging, and as you may notice in some of the pictures, walking your dog.

Dover and Canterbury: the white cliffs and cathedral

Welcome to the Dover.  Home of the white cliffs.

If you look closely at the top of the cliffs on the left side of the picture, you can see Dover castle.  We went there.  Whilst up there we looked across the channel and saw FRANCE!!  Pretty cool literally and figuratively.

English countryside. Don't let the green fields fool you, it's still a balmy 35 degrees out there.

St. Augustine's Cathedral and Monastery.

Believe it or not those stones are the foundation for a cathedral which was built in the 6th century, survived the viking invasion only to be torn down by England's very own Henry VIII. 

Treats after lunch before the cathedral in Canterbury. 

(R-L Custard King, berry danish, double chocolate muffin)

Canterbury Cathedral. Pictures(especially mine) do not do it justice. It was amazing.

Candle=Place where St. Thomas Beckett's memorial once stood.

The warped stairs from tens of thousands of pilgrims making their way to St. Thomas's memorial in search of miracles.

Actual spot where Thomas Becket was murdered by four of the King's knights inside of the cathedral.

(four swords: two actual swords and then the shadows that they cast=2 more)

The middle are depictions of the three wise men. Top: Following the star to find Christ. Second, the wise men visiting Herod, Third: Worshipping Christ(shepherds on the right side of the picture) Bottom: The angel appearing to warn the wise men to take a different route home.

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