July 14, 15, 16, 17

Sports Day at Charterhouse - Thursday


Students receive instructions for the day and are assigned to groups and sports activites. Counselors in the pink shirts explain the day.

Fate was the first goalie for the soccer group. Students practice cricket skills in the batting cage.

President's Home and Gardens at Charterhouse. Charterhouse celebrated its 400th year this year.

Portsmouth - Friday














Matthew gave a presentation on Lord Nelson and the HMS Victory, Thursday evening, so the students were well prepared when they toured the ship. After touring the ship, we visited the museum to learn more about Lord Nelson.

Arundel Castle

At noon, we travelled to Arundel and had our picnic in the village beside the river. Arundel Castle is the home of the Duke of Norfolk who is the Earl Marshal of England. The castle was begun about 1060. We toured the Castle Keep (the Medieval) part of the castle as well as the fantastic Castle rooms.


Globe Theatre, Tate Modern Museum, Parliament - Saturday

Sylvia played the part of Mercutio from "Romeo and Juliet." Our guide was quite entertaining!

The Center of the Globe is open so that spectators (Groundlings) are subject to the weather. It was raining while we were there so they were able to experience what it is like to be a Groundling. They moved to the covered part of the theatre for their lecture.

Henry listens to the guide as he explains how the Globe was built. The oak wood in the building is put together by pegs. The Globe is the only building in London that is allowed to have a thatched room. We were shown the sprinkler system to prevent the thatched roof from catching fire. The Globe was destroyed by a misfired cannon in 1613 during a performance of Henry VIII.



We found two actors sword fighting in the musem and the students were allowed to touch the swords to see that they were real!

England showed us what it was like traveling through the pouring rain on Saturday. We were unable to picnic in the garden beside the Tate Modern Museum. The Tate was kind enough to let us go in one of their halls for our picnic. Afterwards we toured the Tate.

Parliament

We were given a two hour tour through parliament. We were taken through a large hall where we were told that President Obama addressed Heads of State recently. The Hall is 1000 years old. We went into the Royal Robing room and saw the Queen's throne and the mirror she uses. This is the room where she dresses before she goes into the House of Lords. We then walked through the long room where she processes to enter the House of Lords. The rooms were full of paintings of Queen Elizabeth and other Kings and Queens as well as painting of the Battle of Waterloo and the Battle of Trafalgar. The students immediately recognized Lord Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar due to their experience at Portsmouth. We stood in front of the seats the Members of Parliament sit in. We were not allowed to sit in them. If you did the guards made you get up. We saw that the seats in the House of Lords were red and those in the House of Commons were green. We were shown the Queens throne, and were also shown where Prince Phillip, Prince Charles, and Princess Anne sit on each side of the Queen when they come to Parliament. Prince Phillip's Chair is one inch shorter than the Queen's since no one can we taller than the Queen. We were also shown the Prime Ministers seat. Our tour guide was knowledgeable and interesting. I was so proud of our students behavior. They were attentive and respectful even though our feet were killing us from all the walking and standing we had done that day. No photos were allowed in Parliament.

As we left Parliament at about 6 PM, it was pouring, and we had to run pass the fron of Westminster Abbey and up the street to meet our bus. Hopefully, we will see the Abbey in sunlight and can leisurely walk around it next week.

Sunday

Today is another Sports Day and it is raining again. The students will go to the indooor sports center at Charterhouse. Our boys are excited about playing basketball today. We had a new student join us today, Richard and Katherine Wood's niece who lives in England. Richard has placed he with our group and Sylvia is taking care of her today.