Field trip today! First stop, Burghley House...
Left my room at 7:30am this morning to catch the bus with my class up to Lincolnshire, about two hours north of London...we were halfway to Manchester!
("A" is where the house is, London near the bottom of the map)
Built between 1555-1587, this Tudor mansion belonged to the Treasurer to Queen Elizabeth I, Sir William Cecil. 35 major rooms and 80 lesser rooms/halls are inside while an expansive deer park and gardens make up the grounds.
We took a tour through the state rooms...no pictures allowed inside but here are a few I took on the DL...
These were just SOME of the bells used to summon servants - this was literally Downton Abbey. We began in the HUGE kitchen and this was the room right outside the kitchen...each bell has a label indicating which room was ringing. Imagine!
This was the room where the Congress of Berlin was signed! Disreali's portrait is in the background.
Beautiful Italian-Renaissance-style ceilings painted by Antonio Verrio...he was paid 200 pounds per ceiling (?!!)
and this was the coolest room...the Heaven room. Painted architecture looks so realistic and love the angels falling over the corners and rainbows cutting through the middle...incredible!
Had lunch in the Orangery (turned cafe) - amazing cream of onion soup and coffee to warm me up - these country houses are cold! Then went for a little tour of the grounds...here are the gardens outside the cafe
huge fish!
and then we were on our own for a bit...Laura and I attempted the self-timer camera but not a huge success...
so we just took turns (haha) here we are!
There were TONS of deer in the park - this guy must have been king of the herd. He (and his huge antlers) eyed us carefully as we walked past...
We piled back onto the bus after 4 hours at the house and on the way home, stopped at this little 16th-century gem - Rushton Hunting Lodge
Built in 1593, Lord Thomas Tresham created this (rather odd) building as a testament of his Catholic faith during England's forced conversion to Protestantism. Every single part of it represents the trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) and either triangles, multiples of 3, or significant Catholic symbols pertaining to 3 appear all over the building and engraved inside.
Here it is from an aerial view (internet pic)...three sides, three floors, three rooms on each floor...you get it.
and here is the side facing the road
and here is me!
Great (though very tiring) day - and early day tomorrow! Doing some reading and going to sleep soon. Weekend plans are to go to East London this weekend to check out some of the clubs (apparently the scene there is Brooklyn meets Meatpacking district in NYC terms) and then to Oxford on Sunday afternoon to walk around and have dinner with a Princeton friend. It is definitely getting colder here!
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