Tintern Abbey

Welcome, dear readers, to Tintern Abbey. This lovely abbey was founded in 1131, and it was the first Cistercian abbey to be founded in Wales, and only the second in the UK.

The present day remains of the abbey are a mixture of building works covering a 400-year period between 1136 and 1536.

As quoted by Wikipedia:

In the reign of King Henry VIII, traditional monastic life in England and Wales was brought to an abrupt end by his policy of establishing total control over the church, partly to take advantage of the considerable wealth of the monasteries. On September 3, 1536, Abbot Wyche surrendered Tintern Abbey to the King's visitors and ended a way of life which had lasted 400 years. The valuable articles from the Abbey were sent to the King's treasury, and Abbot Wyche was pensioned off. The building was granted to the then-lord of Chepstow, Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester. Lead from the roof was sold, and the decay of the shell of the buildings began.

The ruins were particularly beautiful and I really enjoyed visiting. I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Cupcakes by Claire

My flatmate, Claire, is a cake decorator. She is currently working at a cake shop in Putney, and often brings home lovely treats for us. These ones here are an example of some of the lovely designs she can do, although compared to the wedding cake she recently brought home, they are incredibly simple. Either way, enjoy some photos while we enjoy the cakes!

Yes I do believe the appropriate response is "Om nom nom nom!"

London at Night

Last week a friend of Kirsten's came to visit and, as a fellow photographer, I jumped at the opportunity to show him around London a bit, taking photos as we go.

The weather was lovely and warm (if not a bit too warm), but I did manage to snap a couple photos before it got too dark for me to manage with my mini-tripod.

I had a really fun time and hope to get back into London at night to so some more photographing before I go.

Wimbledon

It's that time again, folks! Wimbledon is in the air and my neighbourhood is packed! I think we're all going to try to camp overnight on Friday to nab some Saturday tickets, so expect more photos then!

Barry Island and a Beach

Last Thursday I visited Cardiff again, and we decided to spend the day at the beach! The beach in question is Barry Island, and it's about 9 miles away from Cardiff. As fellow Canadians you will understand my love of beaches, and lament the fact that we don't have any good sandy beaches near us in Calgary.

While the water wasn't warm, it's certainly warmer than the icy waters of Vancouver. The weather was perfect and sunny, and the wind off the water kept me cool.

Here's a panorama of the lovely view back towards the beach.

Look! A photo of me! And we're not wearing any shoes. Lovely. (Ignore the crazy hair).

Just beside the main beach at Barry Island there is another quieter, more secluded beach perfect for wandering and being pounced on by wet dogs.

Afterwards we enjoyed a chocolate milkshake (Oddly called a 'schmoo') to cool down!

It was a lovely day at the beach and I'm looking forward to going back one day!

Trooping the Colors

Happy June 12th everyone! It's the Queens (official, not real) birthday! And to celebrate, they have a parade, and us common folk (read: peasants) get to stand along Pall Mall and watch.

We got to see Prince William and Camilla whats-her-face.

And the stars of the show! The Queen and that husband of hers, Prince Phillip, who says the most ridiculous things and really should keep his mouth shut.

Of course, the best part of the whole show is the air-show at the end! They had several planes fly over before the Red Arrows stole the show and painted the sky in England's colours, blue, red and white.