The Quest to Find Avalon <3

 

 

The huge pile of rocks called Stonehenge… Surrounded by LOTS of sheep. Haha :)

The girls at Stonehenge on a GORGEOUS day!

We found a road-side Farmer’s stand… Yet again I find myself with a lap full of fresh strawberries on a jaunt across Europe (the last time being in Paris) :)

Lizzi was in heaven in Glastonbury’s city centre… Shops and shops of magical, mystical fun! :)

 

And I was in heaven at Glastonbury Abbey (just next door)… With ruins and ruins of history and King Arthur myths… Haha :)

     

Later that afternoon we headed to Glastonbury Tor, the rumored site of the mythical entrance to Avalon. Lizzi and I spent the majority of the time looking out for fairies and preparing for a spiritual experience… But alas we got nothing other than a little winded.

Okay, I lied. We were a lot winded… But in our defense it was a legitimately BIG hill/mountain… :) Too many steps to count!

Only halfway up!

And we thought we’d lost her there for a minute…

And finally at the TOP!

Gorgeous view of Somerset from atop the Glastonbury Tor! 

But it was a wee-bit windy and very chilly! Haha :)

After our jaunt across Somerset we headed to the coast for a dinner of fish n’ chips at the pier, and to watch the sun set across the Atlantic Ocean. And yet again, I met one of my goals for England: to step foot in this side of the Atlantic! :)

With Love from Somerset… <3 Mary Elizabeth

Lovely, Beautiful, Magical Oxford <3

On the second day of Lizzi’s visit we spent a lovely day relaxing and exploring Oxford… Once I managed to roust the girls from bed, we headed into the city centre for coffee and breakfast, after which we wandered the town… It was a relatively clear, sunny day for England, so we decided to make the climb to the top of the St Mary’s University Church and the sights were so worth it! It took a little maneuvering getting up and down the tight staircases, which didn’t very well accommodate traffic coming in both directions, but once at the top it was absolutely lovely… I think I took some of my favorite photos of Oxford yet from there… It’s truly a magical looking place when you pause for a moment to take it all in. <3 Only serving to remind me how much I’m going to miss living here…

 Bridge of Sighs!

Okay… So this so just makes me happy. This picture was taken my Senior year of highschool. Lizzi and I flew back to Virginia (from Texas) over Spring Break to tour colleges, and this was taken while we were at Duke (shortly before being chased down the street by a very scary looking raccoon, if I recall! Haha). :)

This picture was taken in Oxford 5 years later! Who would’ve thought… I wonder when and where our next one will be??

 

Climbing the Bell Tower!

 High Street

All Souls College

 

Lizzi leaving proof of our presence… Haha :)

 

And then more of lovely, beautiful, magical Oxford. <3

 

 

 

Afterwards we wandered through town, and no surprise, the girls found the candy shop…. Haha Lizzi always did have a sweet-tooth. :)

Later that afternoon we met up with Ms Jeanne and Col Covert, for a lovely afternoon punting on the Thames! It was gorgeous skies… And the duckies came to visit us… And we didn’t come close to tipping even once. Haha :)

She makes a lovely hood-ornament… I kept waiting for her to break into the Titanic theme song… Haha :)

 

With Love from Oxford… <3 Mary Elizabeth

The Windsor Castle Plot…

After much driving around in circles, the Covert family finally found there way to me in Oxford and my dearest Lizzi and I were at last reunited again! If you’d told us 5 years ago that our reunion post-highschool and college would occur in England, we probably wouldn’t have believed you! But given our teenage dreams of traveling Europe and reliving Jane Austen novels in their country of origin, it seemed as if fate had brought us together again with perfect timing! :)

As soon as they were settled in Oxford, we took off to tour the lovely Windsor, on what turned out to be the first in a string of uncharacteristically gorgeous summer days!… We got lost quite a bit on the way, ended up not being able to tour the Palace, and thus a plan was hatched…

Our plot began as a simple tactical maneuver to gain castle entrance over one of the many, and lofty, stone walls… Which we imagined were certainly guarded by a plethora of little red suited soldier in funny hats. So it was determined that Kaitlyn, as she was both the smallest (for hiding in dark crevices of castle walls, of course) and fastest (plus she has mad tae-kwon-do moves), must be the one to do the deed. We spent the afternoon walking the lovely town of Windsor, drinking milkshakes, and examining the walls for visible weaknesses in their defense.

And by the end of the day our scheme had become an elaborate plot in which Kaitlyn would infiltrate and marry Harry, single-handedly assume the thrown, and then instate Lizzi as the Archbishop of Canterbury (Primate of the Church of England) and lead me to a land-slide political victory as Prime Minister. Lizzi and I would lead England benevolently, whilst Kaitlyn remained a figure-head, kept content by the multiplicity of palaces and crowned jewels. :) I’m still convinced it wasn’t an entirely bad notion…. Haha

Lizzi: In what would become her usual “video-camera at the ready” form. :)

 In front of Windsor Palace! First picture of us together in five years!

 The Covert Family!

   

And much other shenanigans walking around Windsor…

With Love from Windsor… <3 Mary Elizabeth

A Day in Academia…

Just the simple, random joys of life as a nerd… :)

 Medical Anthropology Lunch Study Group… With very little studying and much soaking up the sun! :)

Working from home…

 And awesome cookbooks (courtesy of Josh’s kitchen)… :)

And I feel I should totally have a picture for all the Peanut M and M’s and sour gummies that have become Anna’s new coping mechanism… But alas…

With Love from Oxford… –Mary Elizabeth <3

BBQ’s and Other Postgraduate Shenanigans…

Trinity Term has been a whirlwind of massive amounts of library-time (Who would have thought it was possible for Anna and I to increase the amount of time spent in the stacks? Yet we did.), inter-mingled with as many social outings as we can stay awake for… Haha :) Anna and Steve made a very smart investment in a 6 quid grill from Tesco, which has been a favorite with us all while the weather’s been gorgeous this May!

And in breaking news, I have very nearly been named an honorary “Orientalist” by virtue of the fact that I have almost completely learned my way around the OI Library (thanks to Saturday-library dates with Anna), mastered the secret handshake, and am the only non-Arabic Studies post-grad to grace the group with my presence… Haha :) Needless to say this means that I am in a constant state of awe at Anna’s Syriac and Arabic work, and that I rarely have a clue what in the world the Byzantinists are talking about in the pub… But I apparently have some other charms, because they still keep me around… :)

Typical “Anna and Mary Beth in the Kitchen” photo…

Josh, Anna, Steve, and I made a night of the “Dylan Moran Comedy Show” in Oxford… Which was definitely a night of laughs. Whether that was a product of the company or Dylan Moran himself is slightly debatable… :)

I don’t know what was up with the pepper shaker…

And we managed to squeeze in a Thai Dinner Night to celebrate (or mourn) Steve’s last weekend in Oxford before heading back to Montana… Along with drinks at Freud’s and other various Jericho pubs… :)

Apparently the napkins were a source of great entertainment… Proof that even Oxford post-grads are still just big kids…

 

  The Ladies… Except minus the kool-aid colored beverages this time… Haha :)

With Love from Oxford… –Mary Elizabeth <3

Celebrating May Day in Oxford!

I returned to England just in time to experience May Day… In Oxford, the May Day celebrations begin on the eve of May 1st with an all-night party. Needless to say, that was way past my bed-time so I simply cheered on my friends with considerably more stamina than I from the comfort of my bed… But Anna and I did manage to drag ourselves out at 5am the next morning to join the crowds (half of which were drunk while the others were half asleep still)… There was an amazing assortment of outfits… From traditional Celtic and British May-Day outfits to tuxes (for your more classy Oxford partiers) to pjs to the classic skimpy, up-all-night, club attire… Anna and I even had the joy of watching one pathetic guy “chunder” (another wonderful British term I’ve adopted) all over the street in front of us. Needless to say, this made the tightly packed crowd directly around him scatter as much as room would allow, leaving a nice wide hole. For the rest of the morning Anna and I (along with the slightly drunken, yet hilariously sarcastic, preps behind us) enjoyed a new game, “Which tourist will unknowingly trod directly through last night’s dinner”… It was absolutely disgusting, yet oddly memorable.

But the comedy of it all was forgotten as soon as the choir began singing atop Magdalen Bell Tower at 6am. It was absolutely surreal, especially with the sun rising in the distance. The singing and prayers for a prosperous summer continued for about a half hour, before the street party began again. The crowds simply shifted from High St to Broad St and the festivities continued on into the day! Complete with crazy bands, funky costumes, and of course more pub drinking (and yes, the pubs were filling up again before we even made it out of town)… :)

Sunrise over Magdalen College Bell Tower on May-Day <3

Several thousand tourists, students, and towns-people crowded onto High Street at 6am to hear the choir sing atop the Magdalen College Bell Tower… It was fairly impressive!

I particularly loved the classic May-Day hats and outfits celebrating the beginning of summer! :)

Sun rising over Oxford <3

As soon as the choir finished the crowds moved to Broad Street to keep the all-night (and all-day) party going! Talk about stamina at 6am! :)  

Needless to say, Anna and I returned to the comfort of our beds relatively quickly… And our May Day was spent tucked away in a quiet hole of the library, rather than enjoying in the British debauchery that I’m sure ensued in our absence. But it was an absolutely gorgeous day, and we managed to soak up some of the sunlight later that afternoon before joining the boys for a dinner of bangers n’ mash and a classic night at the pub… All in all, I was quite pleased with my first (and perhaps last) May Day experience!

The Big Bang (our favorite bangers n’ mash restaurant) has the most amazing menus… Only in Oxford… Haha :)

Anna thought her book was more appropriate for me… :)

And who knows what Josh was thinking…

And then Steve beat Josh in pool…

And then we retired to the “Baby and Bird” for pints… :)

With Love from Oxford… ~Mary Elizabeth <3