As many of you know, I am doing a project on a zero-energy development in Beddington, or BedZED for short, for my Sustainable Urbanism class. I had planned on visiting the development while we were in London to finish up my second paper on it. On my free day I spent the morning and early afternoon at Windsor Castle with Shelby, Desiree, Kelsey, and Jason. It was such a beautiful say and I loved seeing the castle and everything that went with it. During the afternoon we decided to split up and do our separate things. I decided I was going to go to BedZED. Desiree and I made a plan to meet back at the hotel at 6:00, or at least contact each other if were were doing to be late by accessing Starbucks WiFi. I had two different sets of directions from the help of Google Maps and Aimee- one that required a transfer from the tube to a tram, the other a transfer from the tube to a train. I tried the first option first and hit a deadend. I had to go outside Zone 2 in order to get to the tram and when I asked the information desk for help they saud it was not worth it t buy day passes. After that dead-end, I tried to get to the train station (because I was close anyway). As I waiting in line for the train tickets I watched the screen with arriving and leaving trains and watched my train leave the station. I decided ot head back to the hotel after this because it took me about a 1.5 hours to do all this. I do not look at this as a failure though. I felt comfortable riding the tube alone thanks to the help of Aimee, Troy, and our group. I also can now note for my paper that it is difficult for an outsider to get to the development, even with many forms of public transit! Also, I’m a planning student riding on the tube, what more could I ask for?
Ashley Hofmaster
Author: hofmaster.3
Post-Departure: Missing London
It’s weird because on Saturday I was a little ready to come home. I missed my cats, communicating with my loved ones on a regular bases, and sleeping in my bed. But now that I am home I miss London and everyone from the trip. It is strange when you leave a place (or even just learn about something new) how you see reminders in your everyday life that make you think of that. I turned on the TV yesterday and a news story about the monarchy was airing. As I waiting for the CABS bus to take me to class this morning I thought about how the tube would already be here by now and we would’ve squeezed more people in the subway than the bus. Besides these thoughts I have also been thinking about how thankful I am. I am thankful I had the opportunity to attend a great university and study something I love and make friends in the process. I’m thankful I had the opportunity to study aboard and make even more friends and learn about the culture and a piece of the world. Thank you Aimee and Troy for taking us around the city and countryside for a crazy, long week. And also thanks to everyone else for making me feel welcomed in the School of Architecture and becoming my friend!
See you on Thursday,
Ashley Hofmaster
Windsor Castle
This morning I went to Windsor Castle with Desiree, Jason, Shelby, and Kelsey. I loved it there! It was such a beautiful day to spend at a castle. We walked around the outside and then watched the changing of the guard. It was a longer process than I thought it would be, but still a cool experience. I liked the band that played. We then visited the Mary’s dollhouse and it was AMAZING! It was such a big dollhouse with so much detail. I was very impressed. After that we walked rough the rooms if the castle. We got to see some paintings, china, clothes, and other castle things. We finished up our trip by walking through the church. It had beautiful stain glass windows. I’m glad we decided to make the trip out to Windsor and I was proud of us for making it there and back with time to do more things on our free day!
Ashley Hofmaster trim.71682D4B-431F-45F3-90D5-F01412767416
Gardens
My sketch from Kew Gardens
My sketch from Stourhead
I have enjoyed visiting the couple gardens within London! I have always enjoyed a walk in the park no matter where I am at, but it is interesting to see how it is here. The city is so big, so it is kind of surprising that within many skyscrapers and chunky buildings there are green spaces. I have been learning in my city planning classes that the built and natural environment help a city be well-rounded I enjoyed walking through Kew Gardens because there were so many plants, trees, and wildlife to see. It made me excited for spring back home when we saw all the colorful plants. I also have noticed it was very peaceful at Kew Gardens and Stourhead. It was nice to be able to sit down a sketch what was going on around me. As busy as this trip has been, it is still nice to appreciate the peaceful times of sketching and appreciating nature.
Ashley Hofmaster
My thoughts on the food here
I’ve enjoyed eating the food here! I like how there are lots of bakeries and sandwich shops. I’ve been trying to try new foods along the way and try foods that fit into the culture. I still have not had fish and chips, but will be getting them very soon. I have documented all the food I have been eating along the way because I feel like the food can tell a lot about a journey. I like that I have gotten try different juices. One of my favorite meals was probably at Leadenhall Market. I went to Paul’s with some friends and I got a sandwich and a vanilla macron! The sandwich had turkey, cheese, cream cheese with some fancy (yet hard) bread. The macron was delicious and definitely hit the spot on the chilly day.mimalso enjoyed all the food I got at our first market! I was a little nervous to try the food here because I heard it was not very good from a couple people before we departed, but I have been pleasantly surprised.
Ashley Hofmaster
Stonehenge, Stourhead, Salisbury
I enjoyed visiting Stonehenge, Stourhead, and Salisbury today! I thought it was a good thing to do in the middle of the week because it gave us a chance to rest on the bus and venture outside the busy city of London. I expected Stonehenge to be bigger than it actually was, but I am still glad that we got to visit it. I had been wanted to go there since I was a little kid. I remember a television show about it when I was younger and it always stood out to me. It’s also cool to look back to when I applied to this trip because Stonehenge was a place I wanted to go when I wrote my personal statement many months ago. I Liked visiting Stourhead too. It’s nice to walk around nature (even though it was man-made nature). I liked see gall the flowers ands how the spaces interacted with each other. I wish we would’ve got to explore Salisbury more because the town seemed interesting. I like old, cute little towns like Salisbury, and I hope to help plan for one some day. I thought the Cathedral was beautiful and I liked visiting the top to look over the town. Overall, it was a great day filled with “S” towns!
Ashley Hofmaster