England

Last week I had the opportunity to go to York, England to present my research. My talk at the conference went SO well! I was so happy! There were several professors that said really nice things to me about my research, so it was great. And, there is a professor from the University of Manchester in England who wants to come to Denver and have me help him run some of his samples on the spectrometer we are developing. so cool! Because Vance was in the middle of his internal medicine rotation, I went with my mom, which was great. I had not hung out with her in forever, so it was a great opportunity. We went to London for 4 days sight seeing and then were in York for 4 days at the conference. We saw a lot of wonderful sights including (but not limited to):

The Tower of London:

You know, the place where all of Henry VIII's wives were beheaded and where Richard III murdered his nephews... TONS of history. Oh yeah, and Issac Newton lived here too! (This was my one complaint about the Tower of London. Our tour guide went on and on about how Newton "invented" gravity. Ummm... pretty sure he didn't. He was just the one who gave a name to it. He DID invent a lot of important things, one being CALCULUS.)

Here is me on the bridge over the "Moat" My Mom and me in front of Traitor's gate.

The building in the back is where the Crown Jewels are stored.

Wandering Near our Hotel:

We stayed in a hotel right next to Hyde park, one of our first items of business was to go enjoy Kensington Gardens and go to Harrods. On our way, we found an LDS church!

Me in front of Harrods. Seriously the most beautiful store I have ever been in. The food halls were absolutely stunning. Considering a scarf costs roughly $2,000... all I bought was some yogurt from the Food Halls.

Westminster Abbey and Parliament:

The Abbey is one of the most beautiful buildings I have EVER been in. I wish I could have taken pictures of the inside, but it is probably best considering pictures do NOT do this place justice. I think Kate is a smart woman for choosing to be married here! We also went to mass here (specifically Evensong, a choral service), which was fantastic. The choir was made up of men and young boys... and we had GREAT seats. because we were the first in the "queue" we got to sit right next to the choir! I felt like an honorary guest!! Oh, and my man Newton's grave is inside, which was gorgeous. It was this big marble tomb, with a statue of him and two angels holding scrolls with calculus and physics on them. Loved it.

My Mom in front of Westminster Abbey

It was cool to see the Big Ben. We also saw the London eye, but neither my mom or I had any desire to go on it. Apparently it is the largest "sight-seeing wheel" in the world and cannot be called a Ferris Wheel for technical reasons. I bet the designer was pretty annoyed that it does not have the title of Largest Ferris Wheel in the World.

Big Ben and the London Eye

The British Library:

Seriously one of the best stops in London!! I cannot express how much I loved the collection here. We saw the Magna Carta, bibles that may have taken the course of one’s (or several peoples) lifetime to create. We also saw some of Leonardo DiVinci’s writings on the mechanics of balances, Original scores by Mozart and Handel, Mozart’s marriage certificate, Original copies of Alice in Wonderland, original writings by John Milton, a journal of Jane Austin, original copies of the Canterbury tales, it was amazing!!!

My mom in front of the British Library

The British Museum:

The oldest museum in the world! We saw the Rosetta Stone inside!

The Rosetta Stone

Beautiful Flowers!

We saw many other sites, but I do not want to completely overwhelm this post. But, the flowers were so bright and happy in England. And, did you know that daffodils grow WILD in England!?! Amazing!

Part 2: York

We took the train to York (it took 2 hours), which was so fun because we got to see a lot of beautiful countryside! I loved all the sheep, I felt like I was in a scene of that movie babe... you know the one??

When we got to York, we did a little sight seeing, including the York Minster. The York Minster was built in 1200 A.D. and is the largest cathedral in England! It is stunning, and gives Westminster Abbey a run for its money!!

Looking down the Oose River in York

The York Minster

Side View of the York Minster

Clifford's Tower, I love how the clouds look purple!!

The main event: My talk!

Like I mentioned before, it went better than I could have imagined. I feel like I represented my lab group well! Here is a picture below of me feeling relieved!

In other news: Vance only has 9 work days of his 3rd year left and then he is a 4th year medical student! I cannot believe it. I am so proud of how hard he has worked!