Cherhill Hill, England

A second adventure my cousin Kate and I went on this christmas break was a climb up the huge chalk horse hill in Cherhill (pronounced "churrill"), Wiltshire. Along with the chalk horse, there is a big obelisk called the Lansdowne Monument. The chalk horse was created by carving into the hill which has a layer of chalk beneath the grass and it is the third oldest chalk horse in Britain. The climb wasn't a walk in the park but it's definitely not overly hard to do and I recommend it, the view from the top is great!

The chalk horse can be seen in the middle-left of the hills. 

 Finally at the top!

 I love England and it's rolling hills.

 First day of sunshine in a very long time. It was perfect!

Ugly scaffolding that's been on the monument for a long time due to the corner stones needing repairs but lack of funding. Also, kate taking a picture of me at the bottom.

 [Me, taken by Kate]

 The pathways have chalk around the edges, weird but cool.

 We got awfully close to some huge cows.

 Had to get a picture with them.

The chalk horse!

Oxford, England

Oxford has always been one of the cities in England that I wanted to visit and ever since Oxford Brookes became one of my exchange choices, I was determined to go there one day. This christmas break, my cousin Kate (who's house I live at in Devizes over holidays) put out the idea of us driving up to Oxford and of course I didn't decline. The city has beautiful, old buildings -more than usual for cities in England (or so it seemed!). Since we went when the University of Oxford was closed for christmas, we didn't get to go into all of the college buildings but seeing them from the outside was enough.. even with the ugly, overcast skies!

 The entrance to the Bodleian Library. It was closed unfortunately!

 The Bridge of Sighs

 The Radcliff Camera aka the science library -also closed.

 The university church of St.Mary

 So many rainbow buildings!

 Carfax Tower

 The view!

 Christ Church College courtyard. All of the little doors around the wall are houses for PhD students (!!!). Sign me up?

 Dining hall for first years in Christ Church College. Harry Potter anyone?

 Balliol College courtyard /\     and outside \/

 Oxford Castle

"The Mound"

Greenwich, London

My favourite park in London definitely has to be Greenwich park. Although it is a little out of the way, it is worth the 15 minute train journey! The 180 acre royal park is home to the Royal Observatory, the Prime Meridian, the statue of JAmes Wolfe, rose gardens, and the Peter Harrison Planetarium. Let's not forget the amazing panoramic views of the River Thames and the city of London that the top of the hill gives you! Just on the outskirts  of the park is one of the Queen's residences and the National Maritime Museum. While at Greenwich Park, I only had a nice walk through to visit the Royal Observatory, the Prime Meridian, and a look at the Queen's house form the outside. Being the huge Geography nerd that I am, standing on the meridian was the highlight to my trip to London that weekend. It was so cool!

 The views!

 James Wolfe statue

 You can see the Queen's house behind the temporary stadium.

 Standing on the Prime Meridian!! Longitude 0°, Latitude 51° 28' 28" N

 The observatory.

 The planetarium

 The National Maritime Museum

 The Queen's House

The Queen's House from the front.

Climbing Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh

Arthur's seat is the highest point of a group of hills in Holyrood Park. It was once part of a volcano 350 million years ago and the peak is about 822 feet high. The hill can be climbed from many angles but there is a hard way which involves a whole lot of slippery, winding stairs made of rocks all put together and of course we came at the hill from this angle. It was quite a hard climb but it was well worth it (we took the easy way down, of course, once we found it). The view from the top is unmatched and just absolutely amazing. Panoramic views of the city and the North Sea were breathtaking to say the least. I'm a huge fan of "good views"/high places when I'm traveling and this definitely did the trick!

 If you look closely, there's a steep path of stairs up that hill, to the right. Scary stuff!

 Finally made it to the top and I couldn't have been happier! That's the North Sea in the distance.

 Pentland Hills Regional Park in the distance (the hills).

 On top of the [very windy and cold] world!

 The two highest points. The previous picture was taken on the peak where the person is standing.

South/west Edinburgh.

 Looking west, the castle! The grassy area in the photo is a lower part of Holyrood Park. Those lines in the grass are walking paths. So tiny!

 Favourite picture of the day. So happy!

 Looking south

The easy way down. Just a gentle(ish) hill to walk up and a railing to help! Would've been nice haha!