Rouen & Normandy Coast!!

Mom and I stayed in Rouen with a family I stayed with in high school. They took us on a tour of the Normandy coast and I can't remember for the life of me the names of the specific towns we went to. But I hope you enjoy the pictures. (Since I had some complaints about the small amount of pictures yesterday, I'm adding as many as I can today.)

Chapel dedicated to Joan of Arc in Rouen.


The ceiling was insane. But really beautiful.






Statue of Joan of Arc


Where Joan of Arc was burned to death on a stake. Right where those pretty little purple flowers bloom.



























The City Hall of Rouen.




Dirtiest motorcycle that I saw on this trip. Long road trip?










WWII Memorials












The dummy hanging from the roof is representative of the soldier whose parachute caught on the building. He played dead and I think he survived, but I'm not sure. I'm sure you can Google for the complete story.


Normandy Coast! So Beautiful!



Sophie, Mom, and Sophie's Dad. (Sorry! I already forgot his name. I'm horrible with names.)














We came across these cars randomly and I have no idea why they were there, but I was happy to appreciate their beauty!








I want this bike. So pretty.


Sophie and I found Ben and Jerry. It was a happy reunion.

Paris!!!

Met Mom in Pear-ee and had a blast. I enjoyed Paris much more than the last two times I was there. Mostly because I wasn't being dragged around by a teacher this time. It was fun just to play tourist and enjoy wherever my curiosity took me. Here are some of my favorite pictures. Enjoy!

The Louvre! (Loo-ve)

The Venus de Milo


Mom saw this and said, "Oh my god! He has a hole in his butt!" It was priceless. We giggled over that one the whole day.








The Eiffel Tower!
We threw a penny from the top. Tried to aim for the pond below, but missed.


Foggy view from the top.




Best crepes known to man were made by this kid at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

Notre Dame!











Versailles!! (Vare-say)



At the front gates:


The modest chapel for royalty in the palace. It was where Marie Antionette was married.




In the Hall of Mirrors.


Marie Antionette's bed.

Back in Nottingham!

I'm back and have somehow accumulated over 700 pictures on my camera. Needless to say I cannot share everything. But it was a fantastic trip and I will miss Mom, even if at times we may have wanted to strangle one another. =) As I'm writing this she is flying back to Seattle and will be more than a touch jet-lagged at work this week. So bear with her. If you are her co-worker and she gives you a bleary stare, it's not you, and she doesn't have a hangover. I will begin uploading pictures onto my computer tomorrow and will give highlights of the trip throughout this week.

Right now, I am going to bed since it is past midnight. After I read some of my book of course. ;)

Off to Paris, Rome, & London…

Today I’m off to the airport to fly to Paris. I’ll be meeting up with Mom on Sunday. She had thought she was coming in on Saturday, but she got confused by the time change. Paris is not my favorite city, but it seems all Americans have this stupid need to visit it. This will be my third visit. A week later we are going to Rome, one of my favorite European cities!! I love that place. I couldn’t let Mom take a tour of Europe without a tour of Rome. Seriously, other than being in constant danger of pick-pockets, the place is amazing. From Rome, we’re flying into London, and then taking a small detour to Nottingham. Then we’re taking the train back to London, my other favorite city. Not only can I speak the language, but it has tea/coffee shops and bookshops on every corner. It’s equivalent to heaven for me.

So I shall blog again when I get back. Ta!

Unexpected Prizes...

These next two weeks I will be crazy busy. Right up until Easter Break, when I fly to Paris to meet Mom. Or at least try to find her in the airport. That will be a fun day.

At her urging, she has asked me to post pictures of my medals from a recent archery competition. It is an annual competition between all the universities and the largest archery competition in Britain. Usually it takes around 2 1/2 hours to shoot at these competitions, but for some reason this one lasted FOUR HOURS. The good news, was this gave me plenty of time to rest my arms between shots. Which was probably why I improved my personal best score from 491 to 512. I surprised even myself.

Now I wasn't very optimistic about winning anything, and honestly, I just wanted to improve my score. The shoe-in for first place in the Woman's Novice category was the girl from University of Edinburgh who shot a 564. Which is an insane score for someone who has been shooting for less than a year. There are experienced archers who have been doing this for years, and they can't even shoot that kind of score.

So realistically, I would count myself lucky and honored to even receive a bronze medal. But somehow, by some unknown divine power, every woman's novice apparently choked and I came away with a silver medal. Second Place. I was gobsmacked. When the called out the score for the bronze medal at 508, I sat there thinking, "Well, I did better than that. Why didn't I get the medal?" Not even realizing that if I did better that meant I got a higher medal. Sometimes my brilliance amazes even me.

Then, in the group competition, the judges take the three top scores from the male and female novice teams and give medals out for those top scores. Nottingham came second, so I got another silver medal.

So here is a picture of my medals thus far.


I almost feel bad for the other girls on my team, because truthfully, they are better than me. I just seem to do better under pressure. The highest scorer amongst the Nottingham woman's novices has scored around the 530's, so I know she could have easily beat my score to a pulp. So I continue to work to improve my own score, and try not to pay any attention to what the others have achieved.