Prague Castle

Well we made it to Prague. Its been harder and harder to find the internet so I apologize for the lack of blogging.

I love Prague! It is absolutely gorgeous! The architecture is incredible! The buildings and bridges are so diverse and colorful. I love it! However, the people here are about as nice as the Dutch (in other words... they're not)!

Yesterday we hit the main tourist attraction, Prague Castle.

There is so much history in this one little city. It makes it so much fun!

Prague Castle

Being just a little cheesy inside the Old Palace

This is for Ryan!

Do you like the shades theme in this picture?

ha ha... I do.

First Day in Prague in front of the National Museum

John Lennon Memorial Wall that we just happened upon.

Can you imagine?

My mark on the wall-You're jealous!

I have a ton more pictures and lots more to say. But I'm out of time!

Lots of Love!

Quick Wrap Up of Amsterdam

Amsterdam was a lot more fabulous than I thought it would be. Since I didn't get to a computer before we left, here are some pics to wrap up my stay there.

I told you it was beautiful

I'm famous

Okay Okay... 3 Posts in one day is a little overkill BUT I wanted to show you something.

If you check out Brody's Blog you can see me! Just scroll half way down to the post that says The New Girls and you'll find me. I'm doing an internship with Brody Dezember Photography and I love it! I'm learning a lot and really enjoying every minute of it. Anyway, check it out!

 http://web.mac.com/dezemberphoto/dezemberphotoblog/Dezember_Photo_Blog/Dezember_Photo_Blog.html

Two Posts in One Day... Lucky Duck!

So I forgot to tell you about last night. Obviously I was just going to have to write another post. So now you get to enjoy two!

Last night we decided to take an evening canal boat tour of Amsterdam. It was awesome! Amsterdam is made up of three main canals, plus the River Amstel that the city was named for. Man, it was really pretty!

Bridge over the biggest canal

I have definitely fallen in love with the colors of Amsterdam!

Aren't they beautiful!

Did you know that there are more bikes than people in Amsterdam!

I'm serious!

There are 750,000 people, and 1 million bikes!

It was a gorgeous night. We had lots of fun!

We even drifted through the red light district. But I have no photos to share of that one. Plus you shouldn't be looking anyway. Interesting to note the the Red Light District has actually been diminishing and in twenty years it probably won't have anything left to it.

Anyway, time to go!

Cherio!

(And I didn't even mean to rhyme!)

Anyone for some cheese?

Yesterday we took the train to Alkmaar to go to the Cheese market. It was fun to watch the men run around wearing traditional Dutch clothing and carrying big blocks of cheese. We walked around and sketched a lot. It was a beautiful area! My favorite part of the day was sitting at this little outdoor cafe, listening to the band play afar off somewhere, and sketching bits and pieces of Alkmaar.

Alkmaar is an interesting town. It's a lot more cultural than Amsterdam.

Overall I really enjoyed the day.

We had fun doing some shopping too. :D

Say Cheese!

Yum

What do you think of my new shoes?

See they are wearing them. I just wanted to be in fashion!

So I bought them.

(he he...okay maybe I didn't buy those,

but I did buy a pair of fabulous shoes!)

Funny side note: If I have time before I publish a post I will usually spell check it. So I tried and it came up that practically ALL of my words were wrong. I'm not always the best speller, especially if I'm in a hurry, but I didn't think I was that bad! Turns out I'm not speaking Dutch so the spellchecker is mad. I laughed.

Pictures

Dad "highly suggested" taking out my camera and taking more photos. I'm glad he did.

So here's a glimpse of Amsterdam. The PRETTY side!

Look Look! My SKETCH! And its DECENT!

Amsterdam

We made it to Amsterdam yesterday.

It's been interesting. Different.

It smells awful, but the area is beautiful!

Us outside the airport

Good 'Ole Holland (I told you it was stinky!)

They have fabulous cheese here!

Don't get jealous Casey! ;)

I loved these flowers!

(I couldn't get closer... to many bees!)

The Canals... Gorgeous!

I tried to sketch the canals this afternoon. I had a little bit of progress.

Wahoo!

Well our hotel is... um... er... ah... less than ideal. We will just leave it at that. But what fun is a trip without a little bit of an adventure? Or lots.

Anyway, we're having fun. For those of you who I'm supposed to be calling the phones aren't working and in order to figure it out I have to speak Dutch, so I can't call you yet. Email me and we'll figure it out.

Cheers!

Good Food

I couldn't resist. I know! I know! I'm working on my self mastery... but what am I supposed to do? We HAD to run to Hard Rock Cafe today for a good burger. Give me a break. ha ha

Yesterday we made it to the London Young Single Adults Branch. We didn't know we found the building until we were right in front of it. If we had just crossed the street we probably would have noticed faster. :)

Today we enjoyed the British Museum. More sketching. And no I'm not getting any better. Blah...

Here's our class just outside the Museum

And of course... What do we do in our free time? BLOG!

A Walk to Remember...

So Elise and I had quite an adventure yesterday! We decided we wanted to take a trip out to the temple here in London. Or so we thought it was "here in London." Three tube stations, a 45 minute train ride, and an hour walk in the rain LATER... we finally made it. It turns out the temple is out in Lingfield. However, the area is beautiful! It was the English countryside I've always imagined. It was positively delightful! (Until we had to walk through the grass and weeds.) We finally made it to the temple, but just barely missed the opportunity to go and do baptisms. Instead we sat in the foyer of the basement and read for awhile. It was still an incredible experience. It was just what I needed to get "out of the world" and spend time in the Lord's house. I'm so grateful for this gospel and the blessings of peace it brings! One of the sweet temple workers found out we had walked all the way from the train station (in the rain) and offered us a ride back. We were SO grateful! It sure was an answer to a prayer!

All in all it was a wonderful experience! Both of us were uplifted by the temple, and the beautiful area. But boy were we pooped when we finally got back!

Here is a picture documentary of our trip. Enjoy!

Lingfield Village

The Church of England ChapelElise on our delightfully long walkMe on our walk

WE MADE IT!!! Boy were we happy to see this sign!
"London" England Temple

"I love to see the Temple"

The temple grounds were exquisite!

Elise had this funny duck that kept following her.
This picture cracks me up!

Us on the train ride home.

I told you we were worn out!

Moral of the story: The church is true.

Until next time...

Cheers!

COMMENTS!

If you are reading my blog... COMMENT! I would love to hear from you! Its easy! Just push the comment button on the bottom and then say something nice... ;)

Piccadilly Circus

Dad insisted that I make it over to Piccadilly Circus at night... so we did. It was fun. Too many drunk people though. We also saw Les Miserables last night!!! It was AWESOME!

So let me tell you about the cute girl in all of those pictures with me. Her name is Elise and she is the nicest, sweetest, most genuine person! And I love her! (She is looking over my shoulder right now ;) ) All of the pictures we take are our "documentation pictures." So we can remember what the heck we did in a month. I'm serious though... I'm so glad she is on this trip. (She is mentoring me on my sketching!) We are having tons of fun.

Elise and I at Piccadilly Circus

Its been a good opportunity to come over here and get to know London. What a unique place! I feel like Spiderman should swing out and save me or I might bump into Batman. Now that would be cool! See look at this picture. Where is Superman when you need him? I'll just edit him in when I get home.

Today we are going to try and find the London Temple. It should be an adventure. More tubes, trains, and being completely lost! ha ha... we'll find it (hopefully). Tomorrow we're going to go to the Singles Branch here in London. That should be an adventure too!

Cheers!

Wicked, Rain, and more Museums

We went to Wicked the other night! It was incredible!

They did a fabulous job, except for Glinda was a little too cheesy with a British accent!

Tate Modern Museum

and us in the rain!

Fire! Fire! Just kidding...its only the monument. ;) This bridge is known as "The Wobbly Bridge"

Cheers until next time!