January 26: Homework Time

I've been working on homework and research literally all day. I have to give a presentation with my roommate in our History class tomorrow about early Theatre in London, which is going to be a serious pain. We have to present for 15-20 minutes, which is a very long time for a presentation. I don't think I've ever had to do more than 10 before. I'm less worried than my partner, since I'm used to talking about this subject, and I've got a lot of background that I can always talk about if we need to take up time. We made a powerpoint with lots of pictures (the professor won't let us use any real notes) to help us. I'm not terribly worried about it.

It's really cold here! Obviously it's not nearly as bad as Wisconsin, but the high for today was 35 degrees F, with rain and maybe snow tonight and tomorrow. I really hope it doesn't snow. I've heard that when it snows here, people freak out and the city basically shuts down, which would not be good. Since I don't have any fun pictures or anything for today, I'll post a picture of my pretty cyclamen. So far it's doing very well.

January 25: Something is rotten in the state of Denmark!

Busy, busy day! This morning I went to my "Contemporary Britain" class at 9:30 to learn about the British political system, then ran home for lunch, then ran back for my "Museums" class, which was meeting at the Victoria and Albert museum. I had hoped he would let us out early, so I'd have time to run home and make a sandwich, but he kept us till 4, so I had to sprint back to the flat to make a sandwich so I could make it to the National Theatre for the backstage tour at 5. I can't believe I made it! I'm very glad that I made that pbj though, since the tour lasted till 6:30 and the show started at 7, so lots of people went hungry or broke buying expensive theatre food. The backstage tour wasn't terribly exciting. I had hoped we would see some interesting props or scenery or something, but we kind of just walked around behind the theatres. We were supposed to see the horse puppets used in the play "Warhorse" that we'll be seeing soon, but the puppets were having work done, so honestly, there was nothing at all interesting about the tour, I'm sad to say. We did get to see the scenery being made for "Frankenstein," which we'll see in April, but even that was a let-down, since they were just working on the gray-ish fabric backdrop. Oh well.

"Hamlet" was great. It was performed with a modern setting, which was interesting. There were men in suits with earpieces all over the stage, as though Denmark was a city where someone was always watching and recording, which was an interesting take on the play. Some of the soliloquies, especially Claudius' and Fortinbras', were done towards a news camera and crew, which I thought was a great touch. The actor playing Hamlet was incredible. He was probably a bit older than most Hamlets, maybe in his 30s (and starting to go bald), but wow was he good. When Hamlet goes crazy, this guy went all-out, spitting and screaming, and crawling and acting like he needed to be restrained. I've never seen Hamlet's madness portrayed so strongly before, but it was very effective. He was really bonkers. Ophelia, on the other hand, kind of failed. I didn't like her at all. Partly, I think it was because she seemed much younger than Hamlet, maybe in her early 20s, and was dressed in clothes that made her seem like a trendy teenager. When she went crazy, I was not at all convinced. I thought she was the absolute worst character in the show, which was a shame. Laertes was good, as were Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, but all seemed much younger than Hamlet, as did Horatio. I wished that they had all seemed of the same generation. Claudius was a perfect untrustworthy politician, and Gertrude was pretty good. The Ghost of old King Hamlet was phenomenally scary. I LOVED Polonius. The actor played the old windbag to perfection. He also played the Gravedigger as well, which was fun since the Gravedigger has some of the funniest lines of the play. He and Hamlet (and probably Claudius and the Ghost) just shone, especially since the cast seemed to me to be a bit unbalanced.

 I was not terribly impressed with the final fight scene. I was with the modern setting up till that point, but then they pulled out blunted foils and helmets and Hamlet and Laertes fenced to their deaths. It was pretty anticlimactic and not terribly believable. I'm sorry, but two guys whacking each other with blunted fencing foils till they die from poison on the unsharpened blades? Not such a great idea. The choreography was good, I suppose, but honestly I kind of wish they had pulled out real swords, or even guns. Overall though, the show was great. It was almost 4 hours long, but well worth it. The theatre was sold out, and had even sold standing room in the back, so the place was absolutely packed. They said that this was their second to last performance before the show goes on tour, so we were very lucky to get in.

January 24: COLD!

I had a pretty basic day today. Got some work done in the morning and afternoon, went grocery shopping, etc. Then, at 5, I had to meet my Theater (or rather "Theatre") professor in a pub by the Thames for class. Only in England! Anyway, some friends and I left early to explore the area. We got out of the tube station near St. Paul's Cathedral and walked across the Milennium Bridge. It was beautiful. We were there just around when the sun was setting, so there was just enough light to see, but it was dark enough that all the lights around the river were shining. It was COLD though! To top everything off, it had to be "misting," so no rain was actually coming down, but there was heavy mist everywhere that the wind blew sideways, so my hair was wet by the time we made it to the pub. The professor took us around to kind of familiarize us with the area-the old Theatre district. We passed Shakespeare's reconstructed Globe, which was fun. I really, really hope to see a show there before I leave. In the 16th century, the area we walked would have been full of taverns, bear baiting arenas, gambling dens and brothels. These places were allowed to exist because, being across the Thames, they were technically not in London, and thus not under the jurisdiction of the councils that would have banned them (they did eventually get banned when the Civil War started in 1642). We also walked to the National Theatre, where we'll be seeing Hamlet tomorrow. It's just a big concrete building that they shine colored lights on to make it less ugly. After an hour of walking, the professor let us run home to thaw out. I'm really excited about Hamlet tomorrow night!

Milennium Bridge. The Globe is the white building just over my right shoulder.

Tower Bridge in the distance.

Friends

Behind me is St. Paul's

January 23: Lost in Camden Town

Today I got up at 7:30 to get ready to go to Little Venice and Camden. We had to meet a guide at 10, so we left the flat at 9, and I'm glad we went early, because the District and Circle lines were closed, so we had to take a different, longer route to Warwick Station. The guide was waiting for us, and took us on a tour of the Camden neighborhood, pointing out interesting sites, like where Sigmund Freud lived for a year, or the bar where "Will and Grace" was filmed. Then, we went down to the canal and Little Venice, which is a picturesque little area built around a canal. There are lots of boats moored around the edges, and pretty "tow paths," where horses used to tow the boats laden with goods before the invention of modern engines. In some areas, you can see grooves worn by the tow ropes. There were lots of water birds swimming and waiting for a snack. I saw lots of seagulls and coots, several Canada geese, and some grayish geese with bright orange bills that I see a lot here, as well as swans, cormorants, mallards, and several different kinds of ducks. It was extremely pretty, but soooo cold! We were all freezing long before we saw the canal.

We rode the "Water Bus Gardenia" to Camden. The boat was long and skinny, like all canal boats, and very very shallow. It was FREEZING! The air was damp, and we all shivered all the way to Camden. The boat tour was pretty, I suppose, but it was too cold to enjoy anything. We went past the zoo, and all the animals looked chilly. We were all very relieved when the boat tour ended (who's idea was it to book a boat tour in January anyway?!). A group of us ran straight towards a restaurant called "Wagamama," since we'd heard it had good noodle dishes and good prices, and we really needed a hot meal, fast. It was a fantastic lunch. I had a HUGE pile of yaki soba noodles, with chicken and teeny little shrimps, and egg and lots of veggies and pickled ginger, and I ate the whole thing.

Before...

...After

Then, my friend Amanda and I set out to explore the market. I was determined to find some jewelry, since I've been kicking myself for hardly bringing any with me, and we both needed scarves. We just roamed the market first, trying to see everything first before we purchased anything. It was incredible. The place is just sprawling. As a friend said before we went, "You could get eaten by Camden." The antiques and vintage clothing areas were fun to explore. I almost got a dress from a stall, but I just wasn't 100% sure I loved it, and £15 is a bit too expensive for the quality they sold in the market, though I considered when a shopkeeper offered it for 10. Still, just wasn't perfect. I finally settled on a beaded leather bracelet with a snowflake charm-it's cheap, but still pretty, and a very nice "market trinket." I also bought two pashmina scarves, one in red and orange tones to match my coat, and one in silverish and purple, because the price was better for two. Finally, I found a wonderful jewelry stall that had good quality, reasonably-priced silver with semi-precious stones. I deliberated a bit, but I really really needed some dangly earrings, so I got a pair of moonstone ones for £12 that have two drop-shaped stones that dangle and have a bit of movement. I'm very happy with them, and the stones have a lot of the blue moonstone sparkle.

When Amanda and I decided to leave, we thought we'd take the bus home, since the buses are cheaper, and a nice ride, especially when the light is still out. The guide had told us to just take the 24 to Trafalgar Square, then take the 9 straight home (it stops just outside our door). We hopped on the 24, labelled "Via Trafalgar Square" and settled in for a long but pleasant ride home...until all of a sudden everyone was gone, and the speaker said "This bus terminates here" and we had to get off. It was definitely NOT Trafalgar Square! We had absolutely no clue where we were! So, we got out our map, but we didn't know where we were so that was no help. It's a very good thing that both of us decided it was an adventure, and so we just had fun with it. We figured we'd better find a landmark, so we headed towards a distant park. It had a map near the gate, that showed the park on the right with a helpful "you are here" sticker, and far on the left it showed a tube stop, but it wasn't labelled and the roads weren't shown. We just knew that somewhere to the West there was a tube station. Lucky for us, I just so happened to have my handy compass in my pocket! (By the way, thanks, Dad, for making me take it!!! It sure saved our butts.)

"The Birds," waiting for us at the dead-end bus stop

St. Stephan's, somewhere in Camden

We set out for "West," hoping to run into the mysterious tube station. On the way, we discovered two very pretty churches, St Stephan's, and another just across the road that didn't have a sign. It was really a very nice place to be lost. Just as we finally spotted the glorious red and blue glowing tube station sign, I found a pretty little greenhouse with amazingly healthy cyclamen out front for £3, so I picked out a bright pink one to commemorate our long journey. Turns out we had been wandering about Hampstead Heath, which is way the heck to the North, in the middle of nowhere. We had found the Belsize Park station, so we took the Northern Line south to Leicester Square, transferred to the Piccadilly line and headed home to Glouster Road. We got doughnuts at the Waitrose to celebrate, and they were the best doughnuts ever! We both chose "Chocolate Berliners." They were breadier, and less fried than American doughnuts, and the chocolate filling tasted more like truffle filling. In short, they were incredible. When we got home, we found out that everyone else from our group had had the same problem, but they had an absolutely horrible trip back, and were very shaken and upset. We just had fun! It was a very nice little adventure.

The three stages of our journey...

Stage 1: Lost, but we found a map! (Kind of.)

Stage 2: We found the tube! (And we have a flower.)

Stage 3: Home at last (With doughnuts!)

I've spent the night watching the Packer game with my friends, and wow, what fun! There was a lot of yelling at computer screens. We're all huddled around the table, with 6 screens and 8 people, cheering. SUPERBOWL!!! This was such a good day!!!

More pictures of Camden:

Blooming Forsythia! I'm jealous!

Church and house boat

Goose!

From the water bus

Look at the ducks swimming in the boat!

Liverpool!

January 22: Homework Day

Well, not much going on today. I booked a flight to Dublin for February 4-6, and made reservations at a hostel with some friends. I need to book a tour of the Guinness Factory as well. I'm not sure yet what we'll be doing exactly, but I'm sure we'll see St. Patrick's Cathedral and have a lot of fun. I'm very excited. Other than that, I worked on homework today. Got mostly caught up on readings and my Museums blog, but I keep putting off the Travel Journal work. I am just not feeling very artistic at all. I went to the grocery store this afternoon. For dinner I made spaghetti, which turned out AMAZING. I made way, way too much though, so I shared with some friends. I will be eating a lot of spaghetti in the next few days, but it's so good I don't mind. Tomorrow is a big day, and should be fun!

Thought I'd post this picture I took a week or so ago, since there's nothing interesting happening today. This is somewhere in Hyde Park.

The inscription reads "Metropolitan Drinking Fountain & Cattle Trough Association"

I thought it was kinda funny.

January 21: Lunch, Parliament and a Concert

With friends at Maggie Jones'

At noon today we had a lunch set up by the program at a very nice little local restaurant, "Maggie Jones'." We had selected our 3 courses in advance: I had chosen an avocado vinaigrette salad, a smoked chicken and avocado salad, and lemon sorbet. It was a wonderful meal. The restaurant is a nice place, decorated to resemble a cozy cottage, with dried flowers and lots of antiques for decoration. It was rather dark, lighted by candles stuck into wine bottles, but I got a window seat (which was also right next to a beautiful flowering light-pink cymbidium orchid). The food was great. My starter salad came with half an avocado and excellent dressing, and the chicken salad was tasty as well. The sorbet was very good, but it was absolutely freezing in the building, so I kind of wished I'd ordered a warm dessert (or as they say here, "pudding"). One of my friends had ordered "Burned Cream" (Creme Brule), and decided it was too sweet to finish, so I took care of it for her.

After, I raced home to change for a tour of Parliament. We took the tube there to meet our guide. I was very, very impressed. Before we went through security, they sent us to have our pictures taken, and printed off a small photo with id numbers and such to wear around our necks while we were in the building. We had to go through metal detectors and x-ray machines, of course, before we could go in. The main hall (Westminster Hall, built in the 11th century) is absolutely incredible. I hadn't realized that Parliament is housed in the old Westminster Palace-a place where kings held banquets and gatherings. It's where Braveheart was tried in 1305 and where Guy Fawkes was found guilty of the gunpowder plot in 1605, where Charles I was deposed in 1649, and where many monarchs and important people have laid in state (it's where Winston Churchill laid in state in 1965, and most recently, where the Queen Mother laid in state 2002). It's a big old gray room, with beautifully carved wooden beams near the ceiling, and several staircases on the sides. Supposedly, one of the staircases once led to a prison/torture chamber. At the back, there are steps where those on trial would have been seated, and also where the monarch or government official would make speeches.The room opens into what is now the working area of Parliament.

I was so amazed by the rooms we visited. They were far richer and more lovely than I would have imagined, with golden decorations, and sparkling mosaics of roses and thistles and shamrocks and leeks (symbols of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales) on ceilings and floors. Nearly every room contains paintings that I have studied or seen at some point in my life, paintings of monarchs, or politicians, or battles. One of my favorite rooms glorified the Tudor rule, and was decorated by portraits of those important to the Tudors, starting with Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, Prince Arthur, Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr, Prince/King Edward VI, Queen Mary and Philip of Spain, Elizabeth I and several of her more important courtiers. The paintings were beautiful, and can remember seeing several of them as book covers and entries in textbooks. The House of Lords was spectacular, with the golden throne for the monarch. I remember taking a "virtual tour" of Parliament when I studied the British political system in high school, so it was amazing to see things first-hand. They looked stunning on the computer screen, but in real life it was all breath-taking. We were able to sit on the benches the members use when they fill out their voting ballots and see the trick panels in the walls that serve as writing desks. We had a very good guide, which helped. I hope to sit in on a session in the near future. (We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the building, unfortunately, so the only pictures I have are the ones above, taken in Westminster Hall. Sorry for the quality-by the time we got there, it was dark.)

Big Ben and the London Eye after dark

When we finally emerged from Parliament, it was around 6, and we had a concert to make at 7:30, so there was no time to go home and eat. On the advice of Mary, our program's director, I went to St Martin-In-The-Fields church, the site of the concert, and visited the cafe there for a light dinner. I got a wonderful soup made of spinach, bacon, and sausage, but it was a little different texture-wise, as they seem to delight in pureed soups here. In spite of that, it was delicious, as was the giant rosemary roll it came with for £3. something. I ate dinner with Mary and some friends, then headed up to the concert. It was a "Mozart and Handel By Candlelight" concert, conducted by Ivor Setterfield. The church is pretty, painted white and decorated with gold flowers and cherubs and scrollwork above the altar. There was a big central window that must have at one point been stained glass, but had obviously recently been replaced by a weird modern interpretation of a cross surrounding an egg-shaped, off-kilter light. It seemed totally off with the rest of the decor, but oh well. The music was amazing. awe heard some of the best pieces by Mozart and Handel, including Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik," "Adagio and fugue for strings," and "Salzburg Symphony No 1," as well as Handel's "Air from Water Music," "Concerto Grosso Op 6 No 6," and "Concerto Grosso Op 6 No 12), as well as Vivaldi's "Winter from the Four Seasons," and Bach's "Air on a G String." The musicians were all amazing, and it was a lovely way to spend the night.

January 20: Museum of London

Today I went to the Museum of London for my "History of London" class. We've been reading about ancient Londinium, and how the city was created, and who inhabited the area first. The museum (which is right next to St. Paul's Cathedral) has a really nice display of ancient and Roman-era artifacts. It's got a lot of hands-on type displays, which is nice. It's built so you can see parts of the old Roman wall out a window, including a tower or watch-post with a pretty brick arch. I love that ancient London is lying literally just below the surface of modern London. Some of the highlights...

A figurine from the Cult of Mithras. I've read about this a lot, so it was fun to see. The little figure, along with three marble statues' heads were found buried under ground. Why they were hidden is a big mystery.

Grave cover/marker from early 1000s

Smiley lady from 1300s

Henry VIII

I just loved this sign. London wasn't such a nice place in the 15-1600s

This is a carving on the inside of a prison cell, carved by a bored prisoner. It reads "The Cupbard's Empty/ To Our Sorrow/ But Hope it will/ Be Full To Morrow"

A castle carved into a prison door

Tudor rose pin

Bad picture, but this is the spectacular "Spitalfields Silk Mantua," worn by the Lady Mayoress of London 1751-1752. This was incredible, hand-stitched fabric. The dress was just about flat. Absolutely unbelievable!

Loved this dress in the "Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens" display

The coach the Mayor of London rides in

Dragon hat! I thought the dragon kinda resembles my bird

January 19: Natural History Museum

Spent the morning catching up on reading, and the afternoon in the Natural History Museum for my "Travel Journal" class. The professor took us there to find something to write/draw/be creative about. I think I'll talk about all the birds I saw, both on display and in the decor. I must be missing my Maggie! Not entirely sure what I'll do exactly yet, but it'll have to be at least somewhat creative. Anyway, though, the museum was fun. There are a whole lot of dead animals there, both prehistoric fossils and more modern mountings. I LOVED the dinosaurs! Every time I go into a museum with big dinosaurs, I feel like a little kid. They're just so exciting!

The other fun exhibit at the museum is the gem room. There are the most AMAZING cut and uncut gems. My favorite display was a rainbow created on one end by deep, almost black-red garnets, moving through coral and orange stones, gorgeous citrines and peridots and emeralds, then aquamarines and sapphires and amethysts and alexandrite and diamonds. SO pretty! I took a picture of my favorite rock in the place, a plain-looking stone with veins of bright blue opal running through...it looked like sparkly blue lava. Also in the rock room was a display of uranium. I was a little freaked out when I read that it was "encased in lead for your protection." Just how potent is that stuff? They had it in the lead case, but the top was open with a mirror above, so you could see the uranium, which was gray with dark green crystalish growths on it. Hopefully I don't start sprouting extra heads or anything. There were also some really interesting mineral formations that looked like vampire-slaying tools (they were metallic and silvery, and very spikey), and a big clump of raw hematite, one of Erin's absolute jewellry favorites, which was fun to see. I hadn't realized that it comes out of the ground looking lumpy, like the shape of a kindergartener's cloud.

The museum itself is absolutely breathtaking. On the outside, the mix of green/blueish bricks with golden bricks makes it lovely against a rare blue English sky. I think without the blue color, it would be lovely, but with the blue bricks, it's transformed into a very heavenly sort of structure. Inside, it's beautiful, with floral carvings and bird and animal reliefs everywhere. I just didn't know where to look first-the display cases or the floor or the walls or the ceiling! After the museum, I made fish and green beans for dinner and got to bed a little bit early. A very good day!

The Museum of Natural History - I wish the sky had been bluer, but I'll work on getting a better picture when the weather cooporates (IF the weather cooporates!)

Pretty opal rock

Bird relief

Me and a dino!

January 18: FISH AND CHIPS!!!

Today was a big day. I had "Contemporary Britain" this morning, which is so far a very good class. It mostly focuses on the British political system, so it's interesting. In the afternoon, I had my "Museums" class. We went to the Science Museum, which was fun. I liked some of the displays a lot, and it was very interactive and child-oriented. They have a big Fresnel lighthouse lens on display that reminds me of the one on Devil's Island, Lake Superior. I thought the most intriguing display was "The Listening Post." It's a dark room with a full wall of little computer screen thingies, which show different messages taken from online chat rooms. It's definitely not for children-some of those messages were not kid appropriate-but it was quite entertaining and artistic.

Earlier today, some friends and I decided that we really needed to find a good fish and chips joint, so we asked our native Londoner professor for a suggestion. He told us to go to "George's Fish Bar" in Nottinghill. We looked it up and were impressed by the distance, but decided to go anyway. It took us about an hour to get there (it's on the FAR end of Portobello Road) and it was freezing outside, and we felt a little lost several times, but it was SO worth the hike! It's just a little room where they cook what you order right there. We each asked for the small cod with chips and a bottle of water. The plate was probably at least a foot long and PILED with chips! The £5 price was great, too. It was actually much, much cheaper than the fish and chips some friends of ours got at a different place, which were so soggy and bready they were inedible. At George's, the food was AMAZING!!! It was, by far, the best fish I have ever eaten, perfectly flaky and moist and piping hot in the freezing air. The chips were good, too. We were very, very happy, in spite of the cold. Also, on the way there and back, we passed a big filming crew filming for the show "Brothers and Sisters," which was fun. All in all, this was a truly great day!