Saturday, July 16, 2011

becoming jane

i took extra care wednesday night to ensure that my camera battery was fully charged for the next day. because thursday... ohh thursday. it was hands down the best day yet.

after classes, we grabbed our sack lunches (hey 3rd grade) and boarded the bus to bath, one of my probably top 5 favorite places in the world. maybe top 7. i'll figure out final rankings at the end of the trip. anyway, bath:

before we got into the city, we stopped at prior park, a giant private park and garden that overlooks the whole town.


it was pretty stinking cool. we had about an hour to wander around, but that wasn't nearly enough to see the whole thing. what we did see was pretty great though.




and it was good exercise. two thumbs up for prior park.

after leaving the park, we headed into bath, where dr. moore, my jane austen professor, led us (or those of us that were interested) on a walking tour of the city that focused specifically on places jane austen and her characters spent their time. can you say overjoyed? because that's what i was. it was really fun and interesting to be able to put real images with the places i'd been reading about all week. most of the places dr. moore pointed out were from northanger abbey, since almost the entire book is set in bath, but we stopped at a few places mentioned in persuasion and we even got to stop at...


jane austen's old house! freaking. out. i touched the building and almost cried. okay that's a major overexaggeration, but i was still really stinking excited.
by far the best part of our tour was our hike up beechen cliff, where catherine and mr. tilney go on (essentially) their first date in northanger abbey. which means nothing to you because you haven't read it. it's okay, no one really has. but it's a good one. much better than mansfield park. i recommend it. anyway, the thing about beechen cliff is that it's a really steep climb, but the view from the top will literally take your breath away. that is, if you have any breath left by the time you get to the top.









seriously, seriously cool.
we hiked back down and had a little while to explore on our own before we had to be back at the bus, so i went with two other girls to get ice cream. naturally. i don't really understand why, but england has more ice cream and chocolate shops than anywhere else i've ever been. significantly more. i'm a fan. and that was a great way to finish off a really great trip.

the day wasn't nearly over though. i don't know if you know, but a pretty important movie came out on thursday night. well, technically friday morning, but just go with me here. so this movie, it was a pretty big deal. and i wasn't about to miss out on my last chance to ever see a midnight premiere of HARRY POTTER. oh my gosh y'all. i just... i'm still speechless. my childhood literally ended with that movie. i was simultaneously euphorically happy and immensely depressed. i cried throughout almost the entire thing, and then for a good half hour after it was over. talk about an emotional roller coaster. but oh my goodness it was fantastic. i already want to see it again. and then again. and again.

so thursday... well, i think you understand now.

No comments:

Post a Comment