on the road...

...welcome to eyam, derbyshire.

home to the Bubonic Plague of 1665.


this sleepy little english town has excellent documentation regarding the plague. it's everywhere. seriously. almost every corner stone has an engraving of who lived there and what age they died.

eyam is a very picturesque town: stone buildings, cobble stone streets, and lovely gardens. the colours in England are incredible. all the flowers are so vibrant and beautiful. saturated. i'll have to post some pictures from september---the. colours. were. amazing. anyways. eyam was a lot of fun, everything was centered around the plague, which is quite fascinating and yet moderately depressing. you should check out the wiki page!

i will begin the walking picture tour...starting now--

welcome to eyam, here is a sign marking the house where the plague began.



people still live in the plague cottages. they are quite the tourist attraction. i'm sure everyone who stops by takes a picture of them. i think there is something in the water here because the dogs walk on their back legs.



the cemetery of eyam is picturesque. the headstones are beautifully carved and very old. this was such an uplifting trip...


a really cool sundial, check it:


of course, the communal sheep roasting spike. i think garden hills needs to install one of these...right on the sidewalk, so it's accessible to everyone.



who knew I would find Trooper's soul-mate all the way across the pond? yes. there are isuzu troopers in england--fancy that!




my best friend for the day! this friendly fella was greeting everyone who made the hike to the famous eyam well, which is just over my shoulder. the horse was more exciting. (after the town was quarantined, travelers would leave provisions, mostly vinegar and bread, on the well, which is located in the outermost part of the town.)


eyam=the PEAK district of england!!!

imagine: kiera knightly or elizabeth standing on the top of this cliff. pride and prejudice was filmed in derbyshire. Sadly, I did not make it to the famous chatsworth house (mr. dacey's dwellings in the movie). hopefully I will make my way back to derbyshire to see it. :)



a view on the hike from the well....more horses!!!


every pasture we walked through had a very unique gate.


a trio of LLAMAS!!! approaching these creates was quite an experience. we were definitely not expecting to see LLAMAS...of all the creatures.


a cute lil weather vane mounted on the eyam's museum roof.


(clears throat) i'm expecting you people to make this ginger bread STAT!!!!!




to summarize, if you didn't read the captions and just looked at the pictures (no worries, i would have done the same thing...sike, this is my blog and it rocks) eyam was a lot of fun! i was quite impressed with the bus driver. he maneuvered through all these little english towns. the roads were so narrow only one car could fit, but somehow he managed.

unitl next time,
xoxo

spotted...

...a border collie in oxford's centre.

i had to do a double take---two men or a man and his bff?....what a classy brute on his padded lawn chair! this lovely duet sang together and spread felicity to all who watched (if only i had an audio, seriously.com). let's get a closer look...


the intense stare of a border collie is universal. one of the most loyal of their kind. his attributes are similar to the greek god apollo and his lineage dates back to stonehenge. yes, i bring you the border collie:


reminiscent of a late and beloved best friend, Lucky.


until next time,
xoxo

london...

...and so i begin...

...the VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM was my first stop in london. the museum is incredible--that's probably the understatement of the century. i had a blast walking around it. e v e r y time i turned a corner i came across a work that i have either studied or written a paper on. i'll give you a little taste of some of the wonderful works i saw below. just being in the building alone was such a treat. for the most part, all the buildings in england are symmetrical, well-designed (i guess that goes with symmetrical), and beautiful--it's such a relief not to have to look at ugly buildings. my outlook on life and faith in humanity has elevated to such a high standard...haha. it took the longest time (about two and a half weeks) to get used to the flow of traffic here. "..look left, no no look right first, now left, oh wait better look at my right again, okay, look left again just to be safe, then right...omg, just run across the street!...no! wait---pedestrians DO NOT have the right-of-way here..." conclusion: it's the safest decision to just wait for the light. anyways, i'm going off on a tangent...back to the V&A museum...

...this is the first room i walked into @ the V&A--the sculpture gallery! wowowow. the windows on the left provide the lovely view of the courtyard.


...here is an image of the lovely building in/facing the courtyard.


CHIHULY in the V&A!!! i felt (only a little bit) like i was @ home!


I wrote a paper on this statue, theseus and the minotaur c. 1781-3 by antonio canova. i felt like a little kid in a candy shop in the sculpture gallery at the V&A. seriously. there are so many statues that are just incredible. i happened to just walk by this work the first time. i think i was so distracted looking out the window @ the buildings in the courtyard (scroll back up to the image above^^^) yeah i know, i was just surrounded by beautiful things, which was just overloading my senses! so you can imagine how i just passed by this statue... the details were just incredible. photos and descriptions in books or on the web never mentioned the fine details of the arm-pit hair or other minuet details....


i also wrote a paper on the monument depicted on this little snuff container. Etienne Maurice Falconet's monument to Peter the Great of Russia.



...and of course i studied auguste rodin's st. john the baptist c. 1879-80, in my modern sculpture class. the surface area on his work just begs you to touch it, so i couldn't resist... i actually touch one. shhh.


...and another rodin:


i'm probably going to have a mobile like this in my house, of course mine will be the smaller version...


another gallery...


after the V&A i walked around london and just took in all the landmarks, like HARRODS.



a lovely cathedral @ night


until next time,
xoxo
gossip girl