So blogs are the thing. One must have a blog. But, Emily, you have a blog. True. But, I have it on the wrong website. Wordpress is sooo a few years ago. So, here I am on blogger. Now my blog will have a cuter background--and really that's what life is all about anyway.
So, all of my updates can now be found here. (I have to spell it out for inquiring minds who want to know.) But, consider this your warning: I will not post that often. Honestly, life can only get more boring after four months in London. Fact of life.
Just be aware: the proverbial "We've Moved" sign is in the window and we hope to continue to receive your business at our new shop location.
--The Management
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
A Picture is Worth...
I have never posted a picture on my blog because a picture is worth a thousand words, and there are so many words on this thing, a picture just didn't seem necessary. Actually, it's because I'm lazy. But, I have decided to put a sampling of London pictures up in commemoration. The majority of my pictures are on facebook, but these are one that I particularly like or are in a favorite place.
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| London Language: Platform Edge of a Tube Stop |
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| Reading at the British Library |
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| The View From St. Paul's Cathedral |
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| A Room of One's Own at Monk's House |
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| Taking in the Sunrise on Westminster Bridge |
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| La Tour Eiffel! |
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| Wicked in London |
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| Groundlings at the Globe Theatre |
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| Ready for a Concert... |
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| Being Classical at Stourhead |
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| John Keat's House, Hampstead |
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| Channeling Inner Darcy at Chatsworth |
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| Best Day Ever. |
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| Guess Where |
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| Brighton Seaside |
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| London Temple Grounds |
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| Gadfield Elm Chapel |
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| Finding my Ancestor's Grave in Scotland |
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| No Explanation Necessary |
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| Houses of Parliament |
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| Abbey Road Studios! |
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| In Between Platforms 8 and 9. Whoops. |
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| Ancient Spanish Dust in a Toledo Church |
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| Tea at Kensington Palace |
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| The London Eye |
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| My Favorite Mode of Transport |
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| Our Tube Stop |
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| My Home Street (for always) |
Monday, January 24, 2011
Week Fifteen: London and Philadelphia
Monday 6 December 2010
I went to bed reasonably early on Sunday night, in order to avoid studying for my Bible final, which took place at 1pm today. The morning involved intense study sessions with the class to prepare, but I still went into this test feeling the least ready for it over any of my other finals. I muddled my way through it, and felt reasonably confident at the end, though I knew there were some things that I didn’t really know.
After the final I headed out for one of my last days in London. Today, I finished up the City of London (proper). This is the area that includes St. Paul’s and the Bank of England. My first stop was Old Bailey, the criminal courthouse, where the public can go in and view trials. However, you cannot bring in bags of any kind, and I had a limited amount of time before dinner. My next stop was St. Mary-Le-Bow. This is a beautiful church but I couldn’t really enjoy it because I had a mini brush with trauma as I entered the nave. This is a tiny little church and the only other person in there when I got there was an incredibly tall and skinny homeless-looking man. He was wandering around in an odd manner, as if he didn’t know what was going on, and was smoking. At first he approached me and I became a little nervous, but he turned towards another door and left the church. After that I couldn’t really focus on the church. My guide book had a few exciting entries about what could be found in the crypt, so I went down there. It has been turned into a restaurant. Lame.
Next I walked to St. Stephen Walbrook. This church is located directly next to Mansion House, the residence of the Lord Mayor of the City of London, and is his parish church. Both Mary-Le-Bow and St. Stephen are Wren churches, but St. Stephen was definitely my favorite it was a mini study for St. Paul’s. It has a central plan, with a wonderful dome and a lot of light and open space. This church was astounding with its lights walls and almost black wood paneling. It was breathtaking. I just kept walking around and around, loving every inch of that church.
After leaving St. Stephen Walbrook I walked up Pudding Lane. Talk about exciting! Really, it's just a street. But, this is the very street where the Great Fire of London began in 1666 in the bakery shop of Thomas Fayner. From here it spread through the city, destroying as it went, until it was finally controlled at Pie Street. The significance of Pudding and Pie is certain--but as of yet, unknown. On Pie Street there is a statue of a fat boy eating pie, very close to where the fire stopped, because I never made it here I'm glad I at least walked Pudding Lane.
Beyond Pudding Lane I walked to the shadow of the Tower of London, where I found the church All Hallows by the Tower (which makes sense--because it is by the tower). I walked into this church too. Of all the churches I saw today, this one was the most beautiful as far as Christmas decorations go. St. Stephen Walbrook still had the best architecture, but there was a lovely nativity, large trees, and white stretches of glittering fake snow inside All Hallows. The most exciting part of this church is the crypt--and it was still actually a crypt. Huzzah!
Just as you arrive downstairs there is a stretch of cobbled/tiled Roman road. I was looking at it almost straight on, below Roman street level. It is one of the best preserved example of Roman London anywhere in the entire city (which makes sense because it is also close to the most defined stretch of Roman Wall--also close to the Tower of London). Further into the crypt there is a barrel that Sir Ernest Shackleton and his men used as a crow's nest during his last Antarctic expedition on the ship "Quest." I touched it. Now I have lived in his house, seen the photography of his trek across Antarctica (Liverpool), and touched his crow's nest. Awesome. There was also a plaque in the crypt stating that William Penn was baptized in All Hallows. That was a neat connection, considering that he founded the state that my family now lives in, and that I would be returning to in a few days.
I returned home with just a few minutes to spare before dinner, ready for food--but also full of love for London.
Tuesday 7 December 2010
Last full day in London. Cannot believe it. So, what did Bethany and I decide to do in celebration? Spend the rest of our pounds! The program gave every girl money back, because they had budgeted so well, and so we decided to visit all our favorite London shopping venues.Our first stop was at Camden Market with Katie Willard. My first experience at Camden was not my favorite. It smells like smoke and the people are quintessential edgy London with rude and crass t-shirts for sale at every turn. But, Katie loves Camden, so I decided to go along and find out why. Turns out the trick is to move past the first street into one of the other five marketplaces that make up Camden Market proper. Here we found terrific clothes, a funky hippie shop, a Beatles t-shirt which I bought (it has their faces on it--neither of the ones I got in Liverpool do, I don't know what I was thinking.), pretty jewelry, and we even saw the Camden Locks. This is a section of the Thames with locks to allow ships to move up and down the river. It's very neat. There are still some things I definitely do not enjoy about Camden, but I could see some merit by the end. Give me Portobello any day.
Next we arrived at Lillywhites. This is an enormous sportings goods store that is just outside of the Picadilly Circus tube stop. You walk of the stairs to street level and it is right there. They were having a sale, so Bethany and I both got a sweatshirt and a pair of sweatpants. Later today when we got home, we took a picture because we looked so funny with the same clothes on, just in different colors.
Next stop Primark. Here, I bought these long-sleeved stretchy t-shirts that I came to love the first time they arrived at this store. I am so glad to have a long-sleeve t in so many different colors now.
Finally we walked down Queensway one more time to buy Pashmina scarves. One of the shops has a deal of 7 Pashminas for 10 GBP and I had bought my London sweatshirt at this same shop earlier in the semester so I had a 10% discount coupon. Excellent. Even after all this rampant spending, I still had around 15 GBP left, not including the money I had set aside to pay for the taxi and train to get to the airport tomorrow. Even when I try to spend with reckless abandon, I still end up being a little frugal. I guess that's a good thing?
After we got home, I dumped my purchases and after a quick lunch headed out to meet Katy and Julie and some other girls at the London Eye. The plan was to have as many people as possible from the program in one of the "bubbles" on the Eye at sunset. Jordan and Grace had printed out 2 for 1 vouchers with a train ticket so we all got a nice discount. There was a 3-d movie right before heading to the actual queue for the Eye, which most of the girls really liked but I didn't see what was so exciting. It was just London--we'd seen it all before and without CGI. In the end we had a lot of girls on the Eye with us that night. Fabulously fun. There was Katy, Julie, and I, Jani, Jenna, and Claire (all from my room--dorm 1), Kim, Grace, Jordan, Molly, Morgan, Mackenzie, Amanda, Natalie, Nicole, Lisa, and Meegan. Kim's little sister was also there, and nice enough to take some group pictures for us (that is the only reason I remember who was there and who was not). It was a very full little bubble. Looking out over the whole city was remarkable. It was the perfect end to my London experience. I could not believe how much I could see, and how much I could recognize.
After we got off the Eye Katy, Julie, and I had a final dinner at Cafe Diana. I finally took a picture of the picture of Princess Diana that reminds me of Mom. Our waitress was incredibly slow--we just simply aren't European so we don't want to sit there for 45 minutes and talk after we're done eating. We want to come, eat, and leave, and then we'll go talk. It wasn't that bad and we actually had a fabulous time. Good food too. They make a pretty decent falafel. Now I just have to go to Jerusalem to try the real thing. We also finally took pictures in the tube, to prove that we rode it ALL the time. I am going to miss the mobility it gives me. I can just get up, swipe my Oyster card, and go. No cars, no traffic (except people traffic), and the ability to go anywhere in the city just by getting on the right train.
After dinner, the three of us and Katie Willard did Christmas lights. We first went to Trafalgar Square where they have a large Christmas tree and menorah. They actually weren't all the exciting of lights, but the fountains looked very pretty lit up and it was nice to begin really celebrating the Christmas season. I also got to say goodbye to the National Gallery and St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Looking down Whitehall you could almost see all the way up to Westminster Abbey.
Next we took the tube to Sloane Square. Here the Christmas lights were much better. An entire side of one office building was covered in lights that shined out across the square where large snowflakes hung from the trees. We had a good time running around and taking pictures. We were there for quite a while, in part because crossing the street there is an absolute nightmare. No crosswalk or zebra of any kind. You literally fend for yourself trying to get back to the tube station. That's in addition to having your wits about you any time you step out in front of London traffic.
After that I was up all night. Well, I got around two hours of sleep, but they were fitful at best. I was so nervous about packing, and getting to the plane, getting all my stuff on the plane, leaving the country (oh my gosh, where's my passport! did I leave out money so I could pay for the taxi? what are we going to eat for breakfast?), the list goes on and on. I was also incredibly sad to think that this would be the last time I would sleep in my own tiny, cramped bunk bed at the BYU London Centre. Indescribably sad.
Wednesday 8 December 2010
I was up a full hour before my alarm, there was no way I was going to sleep anymore. What seemed like an age later I had finally finished packing, was barely under the 50 lbs. weight limit for my checked bag and Julie and I were ready to hail a taxi. At the front door we said goodbye to Aunt Jo Ann and Sister Tate. I was so grateful to come to London with them. We called a cab who took us to Paddington Station. I could actually give him proper directions this time. Eventually we got our train tickets, and took the train back out to Heathrow. The last time I made this trip I was anxiously excited and worried about getting to my new home. This time I was a little slap-happy and wanted to get to the airport with time to spare. But, we also rode that train with confidence. We had conquered London Transport.
When we got to the airport we checked our bags and Julie began to say that she felt very ill. Turns out, we had planned on eating breakfast before we left the Centre but it had slipped our minds. Now she was starting to feel the affects of being without food. As we prepared to walk through security Julie kept saying: "Emily, where are you? Are you there? I can't see you?" I was in full-on panic mode now. What should I do? Should I tell an airport worker that she was feeling sick? That might make us miss our flight. Was she really this bad or was it just from lack of sleep last night. She was half-laughing as she said it--was this some kind of twisted joke? Then she stumbled into me, almost as if she had just fainted and then come to right after. I supported her, trying not to attract the attention of the workers in Security--not wanting any sort of scene. "Julie! Are you okay?" She straightened and blinked. "I think so?" Then I was called to come through the metal detector. I told her to stand up. It would be okay. As soon as she gets through the metal detector, go sit down. I'll get all the stuff. I walked through the detector, and watched her do the same. She seemed normal, though gaunt and silent. She quickly went and sat down. I collected the baggage and sat down next to her. Slowly both of our heart rates returned to normal. Eventually she could walk again and we quickly headed to purchase a large breakfast.
It was quite a scare, but thankfully we weren't detained. The airport workers at 7am aren't too interested in two teenage Americans who can't exactly walk straight anyway. We bought a large breakfast--we had to blow all our British cash. In a few more hours there would be nothing more to spend it on. And then settled down to wait. We had a few hours and then we boarded our flight home. It was exhausting, as all transatlantic travel is (I'm a seasoned veteran now--ya know) but at least there were movies to watch and time to get some of that sleep we had missed out on last night.
We finally touched down in Philadelphia and I could hear American accents everywhere. I almost kissed the ground at Baggage Claim after we had cleared customs. There we were, tired but happy and safe and sound back in the good old U. S. A. I said goodbye to Julie who was heading home to Provo and walked out of the International Terminal. Somehow I missed everybody waiting for me as I cleared security and walked all the way out to the street, didn't see anyone, tried to use a payphone but I had less than a dollar in American change and I can't working a payphone. Being around all those London phone booths did not do me a lick of good. (By the way, American change is incredibly thin and light. Even now I'm surprised how little it weighs and how little space it takes up in my wallet. And the dollar bill is an incredible thing. No more one pound coins.) I finally headed back up towards security and ran into everyone while they were looking for me. It's good to be home.
London truly was the most wonderful experience of my life. I wouldn't trade one day there for all the world and I am so glad I have the memories to keep me company all the rest of my days.
"When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life." --Samuel Johnson
I went to bed reasonably early on Sunday night, in order to avoid studying for my Bible final, which took place at 1pm today. The morning involved intense study sessions with the class to prepare, but I still went into this test feeling the least ready for it over any of my other finals. I muddled my way through it, and felt reasonably confident at the end, though I knew there were some things that I didn’t really know.
After the final I headed out for one of my last days in London. Today, I finished up the City of London (proper). This is the area that includes St. Paul’s and the Bank of England. My first stop was Old Bailey, the criminal courthouse, where the public can go in and view trials. However, you cannot bring in bags of any kind, and I had a limited amount of time before dinner. My next stop was St. Mary-Le-Bow. This is a beautiful church but I couldn’t really enjoy it because I had a mini brush with trauma as I entered the nave. This is a tiny little church and the only other person in there when I got there was an incredibly tall and skinny homeless-looking man. He was wandering around in an odd manner, as if he didn’t know what was going on, and was smoking. At first he approached me and I became a little nervous, but he turned towards another door and left the church. After that I couldn’t really focus on the church. My guide book had a few exciting entries about what could be found in the crypt, so I went down there. It has been turned into a restaurant. Lame.
Next I walked to St. Stephen Walbrook. This church is located directly next to Mansion House, the residence of the Lord Mayor of the City of London, and is his parish church. Both Mary-Le-Bow and St. Stephen are Wren churches, but St. Stephen was definitely my favorite it was a mini study for St. Paul’s. It has a central plan, with a wonderful dome and a lot of light and open space. This church was astounding with its lights walls and almost black wood paneling. It was breathtaking. I just kept walking around and around, loving every inch of that church.
After leaving St. Stephen Walbrook I walked up Pudding Lane. Talk about exciting! Really, it's just a street. But, this is the very street where the Great Fire of London began in 1666 in the bakery shop of Thomas Fayner. From here it spread through the city, destroying as it went, until it was finally controlled at Pie Street. The significance of Pudding and Pie is certain--but as of yet, unknown. On Pie Street there is a statue of a fat boy eating pie, very close to where the fire stopped, because I never made it here I'm glad I at least walked Pudding Lane.
Beyond Pudding Lane I walked to the shadow of the Tower of London, where I found the church All Hallows by the Tower (which makes sense--because it is by the tower). I walked into this church too. Of all the churches I saw today, this one was the most beautiful as far as Christmas decorations go. St. Stephen Walbrook still had the best architecture, but there was a lovely nativity, large trees, and white stretches of glittering fake snow inside All Hallows. The most exciting part of this church is the crypt--and it was still actually a crypt. Huzzah!
Just as you arrive downstairs there is a stretch of cobbled/tiled Roman road. I was looking at it almost straight on, below Roman street level. It is one of the best preserved example of Roman London anywhere in the entire city (which makes sense because it is also close to the most defined stretch of Roman Wall--also close to the Tower of London). Further into the crypt there is a barrel that Sir Ernest Shackleton and his men used as a crow's nest during his last Antarctic expedition on the ship "Quest." I touched it. Now I have lived in his house, seen the photography of his trek across Antarctica (Liverpool), and touched his crow's nest. Awesome. There was also a plaque in the crypt stating that William Penn was baptized in All Hallows. That was a neat connection, considering that he founded the state that my family now lives in, and that I would be returning to in a few days.
I returned home with just a few minutes to spare before dinner, ready for food--but also full of love for London.
Tuesday 7 December 2010
Last full day in London. Cannot believe it. So, what did Bethany and I decide to do in celebration? Spend the rest of our pounds! The program gave every girl money back, because they had budgeted so well, and so we decided to visit all our favorite London shopping venues.Our first stop was at Camden Market with Katie Willard. My first experience at Camden was not my favorite. It smells like smoke and the people are quintessential edgy London with rude and crass t-shirts for sale at every turn. But, Katie loves Camden, so I decided to go along and find out why. Turns out the trick is to move past the first street into one of the other five marketplaces that make up Camden Market proper. Here we found terrific clothes, a funky hippie shop, a Beatles t-shirt which I bought (it has their faces on it--neither of the ones I got in Liverpool do, I don't know what I was thinking.), pretty jewelry, and we even saw the Camden Locks. This is a section of the Thames with locks to allow ships to move up and down the river. It's very neat. There are still some things I definitely do not enjoy about Camden, but I could see some merit by the end. Give me Portobello any day.
Next we arrived at Lillywhites. This is an enormous sportings goods store that is just outside of the Picadilly Circus tube stop. You walk of the stairs to street level and it is right there. They were having a sale, so Bethany and I both got a sweatshirt and a pair of sweatpants. Later today when we got home, we took a picture because we looked so funny with the same clothes on, just in different colors.
Next stop Primark. Here, I bought these long-sleeved stretchy t-shirts that I came to love the first time they arrived at this store. I am so glad to have a long-sleeve t in so many different colors now.
Finally we walked down Queensway one more time to buy Pashmina scarves. One of the shops has a deal of 7 Pashminas for 10 GBP and I had bought my London sweatshirt at this same shop earlier in the semester so I had a 10% discount coupon. Excellent. Even after all this rampant spending, I still had around 15 GBP left, not including the money I had set aside to pay for the taxi and train to get to the airport tomorrow. Even when I try to spend with reckless abandon, I still end up being a little frugal. I guess that's a good thing?
After we got home, I dumped my purchases and after a quick lunch headed out to meet Katy and Julie and some other girls at the London Eye. The plan was to have as many people as possible from the program in one of the "bubbles" on the Eye at sunset. Jordan and Grace had printed out 2 for 1 vouchers with a train ticket so we all got a nice discount. There was a 3-d movie right before heading to the actual queue for the Eye, which most of the girls really liked but I didn't see what was so exciting. It was just London--we'd seen it all before and without CGI. In the end we had a lot of girls on the Eye with us that night. Fabulously fun. There was Katy, Julie, and I, Jani, Jenna, and Claire (all from my room--dorm 1), Kim, Grace, Jordan, Molly, Morgan, Mackenzie, Amanda, Natalie, Nicole, Lisa, and Meegan. Kim's little sister was also there, and nice enough to take some group pictures for us (that is the only reason I remember who was there and who was not). It was a very full little bubble. Looking out over the whole city was remarkable. It was the perfect end to my London experience. I could not believe how much I could see, and how much I could recognize.
After we got off the Eye Katy, Julie, and I had a final dinner at Cafe Diana. I finally took a picture of the picture of Princess Diana that reminds me of Mom. Our waitress was incredibly slow--we just simply aren't European so we don't want to sit there for 45 minutes and talk after we're done eating. We want to come, eat, and leave, and then we'll go talk. It wasn't that bad and we actually had a fabulous time. Good food too. They make a pretty decent falafel. Now I just have to go to Jerusalem to try the real thing. We also finally took pictures in the tube, to prove that we rode it ALL the time. I am going to miss the mobility it gives me. I can just get up, swipe my Oyster card, and go. No cars, no traffic (except people traffic), and the ability to go anywhere in the city just by getting on the right train.
After dinner, the three of us and Katie Willard did Christmas lights. We first went to Trafalgar Square where they have a large Christmas tree and menorah. They actually weren't all the exciting of lights, but the fountains looked very pretty lit up and it was nice to begin really celebrating the Christmas season. I also got to say goodbye to the National Gallery and St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Looking down Whitehall you could almost see all the way up to Westminster Abbey.
Next we took the tube to Sloane Square. Here the Christmas lights were much better. An entire side of one office building was covered in lights that shined out across the square where large snowflakes hung from the trees. We had a good time running around and taking pictures. We were there for quite a while, in part because crossing the street there is an absolute nightmare. No crosswalk or zebra of any kind. You literally fend for yourself trying to get back to the tube station. That's in addition to having your wits about you any time you step out in front of London traffic.
After that I was up all night. Well, I got around two hours of sleep, but they were fitful at best. I was so nervous about packing, and getting to the plane, getting all my stuff on the plane, leaving the country (oh my gosh, where's my passport! did I leave out money so I could pay for the taxi? what are we going to eat for breakfast?), the list goes on and on. I was also incredibly sad to think that this would be the last time I would sleep in my own tiny, cramped bunk bed at the BYU London Centre. Indescribably sad.
Wednesday 8 December 2010
I was up a full hour before my alarm, there was no way I was going to sleep anymore. What seemed like an age later I had finally finished packing, was barely under the 50 lbs. weight limit for my checked bag and Julie and I were ready to hail a taxi. At the front door we said goodbye to Aunt Jo Ann and Sister Tate. I was so grateful to come to London with them. We called a cab who took us to Paddington Station. I could actually give him proper directions this time. Eventually we got our train tickets, and took the train back out to Heathrow. The last time I made this trip I was anxiously excited and worried about getting to my new home. This time I was a little slap-happy and wanted to get to the airport with time to spare. But, we also rode that train with confidence. We had conquered London Transport.
When we got to the airport we checked our bags and Julie began to say that she felt very ill. Turns out, we had planned on eating breakfast before we left the Centre but it had slipped our minds. Now she was starting to feel the affects of being without food. As we prepared to walk through security Julie kept saying: "Emily, where are you? Are you there? I can't see you?" I was in full-on panic mode now. What should I do? Should I tell an airport worker that she was feeling sick? That might make us miss our flight. Was she really this bad or was it just from lack of sleep last night. She was half-laughing as she said it--was this some kind of twisted joke? Then she stumbled into me, almost as if she had just fainted and then come to right after. I supported her, trying not to attract the attention of the workers in Security--not wanting any sort of scene. "Julie! Are you okay?" She straightened and blinked. "I think so?" Then I was called to come through the metal detector. I told her to stand up. It would be okay. As soon as she gets through the metal detector, go sit down. I'll get all the stuff. I walked through the detector, and watched her do the same. She seemed normal, though gaunt and silent. She quickly went and sat down. I collected the baggage and sat down next to her. Slowly both of our heart rates returned to normal. Eventually she could walk again and we quickly headed to purchase a large breakfast.
It was quite a scare, but thankfully we weren't detained. The airport workers at 7am aren't too interested in two teenage Americans who can't exactly walk straight anyway. We bought a large breakfast--we had to blow all our British cash. In a few more hours there would be nothing more to spend it on. And then settled down to wait. We had a few hours and then we boarded our flight home. It was exhausting, as all transatlantic travel is (I'm a seasoned veteran now--ya know) but at least there were movies to watch and time to get some of that sleep we had missed out on last night.
We finally touched down in Philadelphia and I could hear American accents everywhere. I almost kissed the ground at Baggage Claim after we had cleared customs. There we were, tired but happy and safe and sound back in the good old U. S. A. I said goodbye to Julie who was heading home to Provo and walked out of the International Terminal. Somehow I missed everybody waiting for me as I cleared security and walked all the way out to the street, didn't see anyone, tried to use a payphone but I had less than a dollar in American change and I can't working a payphone. Being around all those London phone booths did not do me a lick of good. (By the way, American change is incredibly thin and light. Even now I'm surprised how little it weighs and how little space it takes up in my wallet. And the dollar bill is an incredible thing. No more one pound coins.) I finally headed back up towards security and ran into everyone while they were looking for me. It's good to be home.
London truly was the most wonderful experience of my life. I wouldn't trade one day there for all the world and I am so glad I have the memories to keep me company all the rest of my days.
"When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life." --Samuel Johnson
Week Fourteen: London
Monday 29 November 2010
The beginning of my last full week here. How incredibly depressing and exciting at the same time. I will miss London so much, but at the same time I am so ready to go home.
Going back to class after Spain was pretty rough, but it had to be done.
It snowed. Beautiful, wonderful Snow. Magical!
Tuesday 30 November 2010
Last day of Bible and Great War class. Wow! Is this possible?
After classes we went to High Tea at Kensington Palace! This is where Queen Victoria grew up. Wow. I had blackcurrant herbal tea with ginseng and vanilla. Very very good. Two lumps of sugar. No milk. We also each got a set of cucumber sandwiches, a scone (I did half with jam and half with clotted cream, but the best was combining the two. I only did this for the last few bites, but I'll know better next time), and a piece of very dry cake. Luckily, the frosting was moist. I also had hot chocolate with the cake (in place of the after-tea coffee) so it was all good.
Afterward, Kaitlyn, Mandy, Bethany, and I walked to Tower Bridge. It was ice. cold. freezing. Unbelievably cold. But, we walked across the bridge. One end to the other. And I can say that I did it.
Wednesday 1 December 2010
Last day of class. No more Jane Austen class ever!! That light at the end of the tunnel was real after all!
What did I do today? Sit in my room and do papers, papers, papers. Last minutes assignments. Crazy. I need chocolate.
Thursday 2 December 2010
The professors were kind enough to turn today into a reading day. So, I sat in my room all day and wrote papers for my Great War final and filled out study guides, and so on.
At 11am we had a reception for one of our cleaning ladies, Theresa, because she is retiring. Eighteen years at the London Centre. Wow. She's Irish, which I am a big fan of. It's been great to hear her accent around the Centre.
After dinner we went to Handel's Church (his parish where he actually attended) just off of Regent Street and heard the Messiah! If it wasn't the whole thing, it was close. I hadn't realized how much of it I would recognize. I also came to the realization that I absolutely love love love love this piece of music. It was incredible.
Friday 3 December 2010
First final today. Great War and Modernism. I had written the four essays (two long two short) before, so I just had to fill out the poem memorization section--15 minutes tops--and then I got out of there. Best feeling ever. Can I just say, I am so grateful that I was on top of my homework this week. I had to focus a lot, particularly on Wednesday, but it all paid off.
After the final, Julie and I went to the Hard Rock Cafe. Best idea ever. I had an excellent milkshake and she had fresh fruit and whipped cream and we got to sit at the bar and it was all so awesome. The amount of rock memorabilia in there cannot be described. I saw suits worn by Pete Townsend and another member of the Who, glitter jackets that belonged to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards (Rolling Stones), and one of Jimi Hendrix's guitars as soon as we entered the restaurant. Our seats at the bar were right next to a gold record presented to Bob Dylan and another which (hold your breath) was presented to John Lennon and Paul McCartney for the amount of singles sold of Yellow Submarine. Yes I touched the glass covering this record. It's was as close as I could get. There were also many shirts worn by Lennon and McCartney hanging on the walls, a guitar played on one of Bon Jovi's tours (!), it just never ends.
Just across the street from the restaurant is the vault. This small room was packed full of so many amazing things, I cannot even list them all here. But, goodness knows I'll try. A bass guitar signed by Gene Simmons of Kiss, Kurt Cobain's guitar (Nirvana), The Sgt. Pepper Harpsichord, a guitar that belonged to B. B. King, A suit Eric Clapton wore during his first ever tour, a guitar from a Maroon 5 tour, a guitar that belonged to Sting (the Police), Freddy Mercury's chair, A western style shirt that belonged to the Who's original drummer--Keith Moon, unpublished lyrics and a signed picture of the Temptations...I could go on and on (and on and on). It was the best thing ever! I bought a Hard Rock t-shirt. I had too. It's the original Hard Rock Cafe.
Saturday 4 December 2010
Two finals today. Religion in the morning. Absolutely aced it. I answered everything without hesitation except one part of a list of five things. Kind of annoying that I couldn't completely do the test, but hey. I smell an A.
The Jane Austen final tested my technology skills, but between Mandy and I we rigged it so we could project our movie on the screen and discuss the various clips. The final was small groups discussing how various film adaptations of Emma compare to the book. For ours we did a film commentary spoof. Mandy handled technical stuff--switching between clips, etc.-- and we had a film producer (Katie), various actors (Carolyn and Bethany), Jane Austen (Grace), and I was the director. It was really fun and we actually had good stuff to discuss. We all did our best British accents and Penny was impressed with how authentic mine was. I must be getting good.
Julie and I made a final visit to Portobello Road today after finals. I cannot believe it's the last time. Do I really only have four days left?
Sunday 5 December 2010
Last week in my ward! It is all so surreal. Of course, today, my primary kids were great. Theoma, a little 5-year-old black girl, even sat on my lap. She banged her chin and so I comforted her, and she wouldn't let me out of her sight for the rest of primary. I got some pictures of the primary too. Sacrament meeting was also great. I actually know Christmas hymns, and so I played Joy to the World and Angels We Have Heard on High well. It was shocking. Because it's Fast Sunday, Meegan, Olivia, and I were all asked to bear our testimonies. It is a very sad feeling. We each got a card and a pen from the ward to say thank you for our service. My pen has my name on it. Awesome! The other girls didn't get quite as lucky. I cannot believe this was the last time I'll take public transport and take an hour to get to church. What will I do when it only takes a half hour in a car?
Devotional tonight started with a 10 minute slide show of just pictures of the professors (and a few of their families). Ben called it Project Big Sister. Indeed it was. Greatest photos ever. Next, a 25 minute slide show compiled of our photo and music contributions. It was incredible. Next followed a testimony meeting and just about everyone was crying. Didn't cry. Proud. But it did hit me: this is it. The end of an era. I don't want to come home! I'm sure I'll love it when I get there and all that, but for heaven's sake, I live in London, England! The London, England! How can I go home? Do you think this argument will work at the airport? Will they give me a refund on my ticket and I can stay here? I'm going to miss these people and this place so much. This has been the most meaningful experience of my life so far. I would not trade it for anything.
The beginning of my last full week here. How incredibly depressing and exciting at the same time. I will miss London so much, but at the same time I am so ready to go home.
Going back to class after Spain was pretty rough, but it had to be done.
It snowed. Beautiful, wonderful Snow. Magical!
Tuesday 30 November 2010
Last day of Bible and Great War class. Wow! Is this possible?
After classes we went to High Tea at Kensington Palace! This is where Queen Victoria grew up. Wow. I had blackcurrant herbal tea with ginseng and vanilla. Very very good. Two lumps of sugar. No milk. We also each got a set of cucumber sandwiches, a scone (I did half with jam and half with clotted cream, but the best was combining the two. I only did this for the last few bites, but I'll know better next time), and a piece of very dry cake. Luckily, the frosting was moist. I also had hot chocolate with the cake (in place of the after-tea coffee) so it was all good.
Afterward, Kaitlyn, Mandy, Bethany, and I walked to Tower Bridge. It was ice. cold. freezing. Unbelievably cold. But, we walked across the bridge. One end to the other. And I can say that I did it.
Wednesday 1 December 2010
Last day of class. No more Jane Austen class ever!! That light at the end of the tunnel was real after all!
What did I do today? Sit in my room and do papers, papers, papers. Last minutes assignments. Crazy. I need chocolate.
Thursday 2 December 2010
The professors were kind enough to turn today into a reading day. So, I sat in my room all day and wrote papers for my Great War final and filled out study guides, and so on.
At 11am we had a reception for one of our cleaning ladies, Theresa, because she is retiring. Eighteen years at the London Centre. Wow. She's Irish, which I am a big fan of. It's been great to hear her accent around the Centre.
After dinner we went to Handel's Church (his parish where he actually attended) just off of Regent Street and heard the Messiah! If it wasn't the whole thing, it was close. I hadn't realized how much of it I would recognize. I also came to the realization that I absolutely love love love love this piece of music. It was incredible.
Friday 3 December 2010
First final today. Great War and Modernism. I had written the four essays (two long two short) before, so I just had to fill out the poem memorization section--15 minutes tops--and then I got out of there. Best feeling ever. Can I just say, I am so grateful that I was on top of my homework this week. I had to focus a lot, particularly on Wednesday, but it all paid off.
After the final, Julie and I went to the Hard Rock Cafe. Best idea ever. I had an excellent milkshake and she had fresh fruit and whipped cream and we got to sit at the bar and it was all so awesome. The amount of rock memorabilia in there cannot be described. I saw suits worn by Pete Townsend and another member of the Who, glitter jackets that belonged to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards (Rolling Stones), and one of Jimi Hendrix's guitars as soon as we entered the restaurant. Our seats at the bar were right next to a gold record presented to Bob Dylan and another which (hold your breath) was presented to John Lennon and Paul McCartney for the amount of singles sold of Yellow Submarine. Yes I touched the glass covering this record. It's was as close as I could get. There were also many shirts worn by Lennon and McCartney hanging on the walls, a guitar played on one of Bon Jovi's tours (!), it just never ends.
Just across the street from the restaurant is the vault. This small room was packed full of so many amazing things, I cannot even list them all here. But, goodness knows I'll try. A bass guitar signed by Gene Simmons of Kiss, Kurt Cobain's guitar (Nirvana), The Sgt. Pepper Harpsichord, a guitar that belonged to B. B. King, A suit Eric Clapton wore during his first ever tour, a guitar from a Maroon 5 tour, a guitar that belonged to Sting (the Police), Freddy Mercury's chair, A western style shirt that belonged to the Who's original drummer--Keith Moon, unpublished lyrics and a signed picture of the Temptations...I could go on and on (and on and on). It was the best thing ever! I bought a Hard Rock t-shirt. I had too. It's the original Hard Rock Cafe.
Saturday 4 December 2010
Two finals today. Religion in the morning. Absolutely aced it. I answered everything without hesitation except one part of a list of five things. Kind of annoying that I couldn't completely do the test, but hey. I smell an A.
The Jane Austen final tested my technology skills, but between Mandy and I we rigged it so we could project our movie on the screen and discuss the various clips. The final was small groups discussing how various film adaptations of Emma compare to the book. For ours we did a film commentary spoof. Mandy handled technical stuff--switching between clips, etc.-- and we had a film producer (Katie), various actors (Carolyn and Bethany), Jane Austen (Grace), and I was the director. It was really fun and we actually had good stuff to discuss. We all did our best British accents and Penny was impressed with how authentic mine was. I must be getting good.
Julie and I made a final visit to Portobello Road today after finals. I cannot believe it's the last time. Do I really only have four days left?
Sunday 5 December 2010
Last week in my ward! It is all so surreal. Of course, today, my primary kids were great. Theoma, a little 5-year-old black girl, even sat on my lap. She banged her chin and so I comforted her, and she wouldn't let me out of her sight for the rest of primary. I got some pictures of the primary too. Sacrament meeting was also great. I actually know Christmas hymns, and so I played Joy to the World and Angels We Have Heard on High well. It was shocking. Because it's Fast Sunday, Meegan, Olivia, and I were all asked to bear our testimonies. It is a very sad feeling. We each got a card and a pen from the ward to say thank you for our service. My pen has my name on it. Awesome! The other girls didn't get quite as lucky. I cannot believe this was the last time I'll take public transport and take an hour to get to church. What will I do when it only takes a half hour in a car?
Devotional tonight started with a 10 minute slide show of just pictures of the professors (and a few of their families). Ben called it Project Big Sister. Indeed it was. Greatest photos ever. Next, a 25 minute slide show compiled of our photo and music contributions. It was incredible. Next followed a testimony meeting and just about everyone was crying. Didn't cry. Proud. But it did hit me: this is it. The end of an era. I don't want to come home! I'm sure I'll love it when I get there and all that, but for heaven's sake, I live in London, England! The London, England! How can I go home? Do you think this argument will work at the airport? Will they give me a refund on my ticket and I can stay here? I'm going to miss these people and this place so much. This has been the most meaningful experience of my life so far. I would not trade it for anything.
Week Thirteen: London and Spain
Monday 23 November 2010
Today classes started with Jane Austen so that we could go to the London Central Mosque in lieu of regular religion class. All the girls had to wear scarves on their heads, and can I just say that I look dang good in a head scarf! Julie let me borrow her light blue one for the occasion (I haven't purchased my pashminas yet). I have never been in a Mosque before and it was so interesting, and so beautiful! I love Islamic architecture. The coolest bit was that we happened to be there for afternoon prayer and our tour guide (a young teacher at the Mosque, but not the Imam...anyway) let us stay in the prayer hall. It was so amazing to watch them pray. That is something that Aunt Jo Ann said that we would probably never see again, particularly the girls.
After the Mosque I finally went to Leicester Square, to see where the Harry Potter premiere was. It is a large grass square surrounded by movie theatres. The largest one (Odion) has only Harry Potter Seven playing on all of its screens. From Leicester Square I walked on Charing Cross Road into Soho. This is not exactly my kind of place. I just wanted to walk on Old Compton Road because it was the heart of 1960s Soho and youth culture. Now Soho is just kind of freaky and so I hurried out of there. I also caught glimpses of China Town, which runs parallel to Soho.
Coming out of Soho I walked up Charing Cross to Oxford Street and then down Regent's Street (a lovely walk) to get to Liberty department store. This place is cool because it has a fake Tudor facade, pretty window displays, and is priced like Harrod's. To be honest, I didn't care for it all that much. Walking past Liberty I moved down Carnaby Road, which is where men's fashion is reputed to have been invented. It had many classy shops for guys. Finally, back on Regent's Street I went into Hamley's Toy Shop. The FAO Schwartz of London all decked out for the Christmas season. Five floors of awesome. Unfortunately, the prices are ridiculous, but I had a great time walking around.
Tuesday 24 November 2010
After classes, Julie and I made a quick stop at King's Cross Station to take pictures at Platform 9 3/4 (which is situated between platforms 8 and 9. Who planned that one?). From there we met Katy at the British Library (where the English class had been) and headed to the Foundling Museum. Sister Bird (English class teacher) and some other students were having churros and chocolate outside the Library and we tried some. A good precursor to Spain.
A Foundling is an orphan or abandoned child (parents cannot afford it) that is taken in by the Foundling hospital. We learned about how these children lived and grew up, and how William Hogarth the painter and Handel the composer played a key part in ensuring the hospital survived. It was actually a fascinating museum and got me very excited to hear the Messiah next week. I had no idea Handel was such a kind person. I have always thought of composers as self-obsessed (Mozart) or slightly crazy (Beethoven).
Wednesday 25 November 2010
Today after classes Julie, Kaitlyn, and I rushed to do the Wasteland walk for Great War class before we left for Spain. We walked across London Bridge from the South bank, passed Monument, went inside Magnus Martyr church (beautiful Wren interior with a little model of the original London Bridge--before it burned down), and ended up near the Bank of England and the Royal Stock Exchange. Then we returned home to pack.
To get to Stanstead Airport we had to take the Central Line tube from one end of Zone One to the other (Liverpool Street) and then take a 45 minute train. We then got there two hours early and had to wait for the plane. Crazy stuff. Then they spent the whole flight trying to sell us sandwiches, magazines, and raffle tickets (that's what you get for a cheap airline).
After touching down in Madrid, Spain (!!!!) we took the Metro to the centre of the city. It was so big, and nice, and clean. I liked it a lot. As much as I like the tube (versus really hating the Metro in Paris). When we got out of the station, luckily Kaitlyn and Mandy are excellent navigators so we got to the hostel okay. It was just dark and we tried to be super aware of our bags so that no one would try to steal from us. We had two rooms in the hostel--which was really more like a hotel. Four in one room: me, Julie, Kaitlyn, and Mandy and three in another: Lisa, Olivia, and Annie. Kim was supposed to come to Spain with us, but she got sick at the last minute. Our rooms had their own bathroom and everything was so clean and the beds were big and comfy and there was free internet. What a great hostel! The night guy there only spoke Spanish, but luckily Kaitlyn is basically fluent. This was such an asset over the next couple of days. It was 11 at night so we hit the hay and prepared for our first full day in Spain.
Thursday 26 November 2010
This morning we woke up, went to Madrid train station, bought train tickets to Toledo and then ran to the platform in order to make our train. The train ride is 30 minutes and I did homework most of the way, but I did spend some of that time looking out at the Spanish countryside. Mandy says it reminds her of Southern Idaho. It reminded me of California. Yellow, brown, a little red, dry, etc. After getting off the train we took a bus from the station into the heart of Toledo and I loved being able to look out of the window and take in the city. There is so much Moorish (Islamic) architecture! I love it!
Our first order of business in Toledo was simply to walk around and enjoy the city. It still has the feel of a Medieval town with Christian, Jewish, and Islamic influences. Pre-Ferdinand and Isabella this was a city where all three cultures/religions lived in harmony. and the architecture and feel of the city certainly benefited from that and you can still feel it now.
After getting situated we first walked through Toledo's main plaza to get breakfast. I had churros and chocolate (the first of many!). I can never drink hot chocolate in the States again. I have been spoiled rotten. I swear they melted a chocolate bar, added a little milk, and served it with some of the best churros I have ever had. As we headed out we passed a shop that sells Lladro. These porcelain figures are highly popular with Mormons (like that one of the Mom in the long blue dress holding up the baby and spinning around) and Toledo (and Spain in general) is famous for them. We were looking in the shop window, when we saw a Llardo of two clean-cut young men in suits with name-tags. Missionaries!! We went inside the store, and they also had one of the Christus statue from Temple Square. Apparently the Mission President sends missionaries there all the time, so Mormons get a 25% discount. Awesome. Annie ended up buying a piece for her nativity.
Our first real stop in Toledo was the Cathedral. This place was drop dead gorgeous. This was a full-blown Spanish Catholic cathedral. There were different colors of marble, enormous pictures (El Greco, Goya...), and the most incredible work on the back of the High Altar. A combination of painting, sculpture, and natural light. Remarkable. This was definitely one of the most beautiful cathedrals that I have been in on this trip.
In the plaza outside of the Cathedral, while we were taking pictures, a man approached Kaitlyn (due to her flawless Spanish I'm sure) and explained about an Artisan shop just a few houses down where they make Damascus by hand. This decorative art is some sort of black stone with gold leaf (24 karat) over the top. So beautiful. So hard to do. There are two styles: Renaissance with birds and flowers and Islamic with intricate geometric designs. I'm such a sucker for Islamic art and architecture--I thought it was beautiful. we decided to go see the shop and watched the workers hand pound the gold tread into the black background before it's carefully fired in the kiln. They got us. Most of us bought a piece of Damascus from the shop. I got a small necklace pendant--Islamic style thought it's slightly more expensive. You can tell it's handmade, but hey--I got it in Toledo, Spain.
We walked through more beautiful tiny streets and winding alleys to reach a sword shop where they still make swords by hand. Unfortunately, we arrived at the shop just as they were closing down for siesta. However, the head of the workshop took us around the shop and showed us how they make the swords. I thought of Hyrum, he would have enjoyed the explanation of various metals, forging, etc. Did you know that the handles of most swords are wood with metal wrapped around the outside? Pure metal would have such excellent vibrations that when you clash with another sword your arm could vibrate so badly that it will break.
From here we walked to the famous (no longer practicing) synagogue. Since we were in Toledo, we wanted to see a Christian church, a synagogue, and a mosque. Seemed appropriate. On our way there we saw more of this beautiful medieval city. I honestly could not get enough of it. This was definitely my absolute favorite day of the trip! The synagogue was very pretty, even though the paint was fading after hundreds of years. On our way there we noticed that we were walking along the path of Don Quixote. Rad. I make it a point to follow fictional literary characters around (note earlier visits to Baker Street, and passing by Grovsenor Square and Gracechurch Street).
The next place we visited was San Juan de los Reyes. This church had chains displayed all over the outside. When the Moors controlled this area of Spain they would hang Christians from the walls and ceilings by these chains. After the Christians took power they hung the chains here as a symbolism of their religious faith and piety. The inside of this place, once a monastic church, was stunning. There was a beautiful chapel and an unbelievable cloister--with actual orange trees. With oranges on them! There was also a balcony surrounding the cloister that had loose tiles. So, of course, I pulled one up and touched the dust beneath. Clearly it's ancient.
Just outside of this church was a Marzipan shop. Naturally we stopped and had some. I really like Marzipan. Almondy and sticky and sweet.
Just past here was the church of El Santo Tome, with the most famous El Greco ever. The church itself wasn't all that special. But Burial of Count Ornas was put exactly where it is today by the artist, and has never been moved. I'm not a huge El Greco fan, but it certainly looked like one of his works. I was glad I got to see it.
Next we stopped at the mosque. We didn't actually go inside, but we could see the open air prayer hall. To get here we did a lot of street wandering and I became more and more impressed with Kaitlyn's Spanish every time she opened her mouth.
Lunch was taken at the illustrious institution of McDonalds. Nothing to be said there.
We then took a nice walk down through Toledo to the train station. We passed over a beautiful bridge and river and took some lovely pictures. We also experienced our first cat calls. I have never been cat called or whistled at so much in my life as I was in Spain.
After returning to Madrid we went to the Prado Museum--which is free every night from 6 to 8pm. Some of the best Spanish works of art, ever! Velasquez, Zurburan, El Greco, etc.
As we were walking around Madrid (between 8 and 9 restaurants actually begin to open) I found out that Olivia lived until 6th grade in the house owned by the Bank at the end of Kempner Road. She moved out the year before we got there! I cannot believe it. This is such a small world.
For dinner we ate at a slightly upscale restaurant called Bazaar. And that is just what it was--bizarre. I ordered mushroom soup with potatoes. When I got my plate it was a smooth brown soup with croutons in the center. Seems pretty normal. Then I had one of the croutons. It was not a crunchy bread crouton. I'm not sure how they did it but the croutons were the potatoes! They melted in my mouth. It was crazy. Everyone's food was good (mine as well) it was just not what we were expecting. Julie's lazagna was black. And we couldn't find any meat in it. But it tasted alright. The food wasn't bad, but Mandy called it the worst Thanksgiving Dinner ever because it was so opposite of what you want on Thanksgiving. There was no turkey, no desire to eat way more than I should. Perhaps I'll have the opportunity to sufficiently stuff my face over Christmas.
We went to a McDonalds down the road for ice cream. Something American seemed appropriate for Thanksgiving.
Around 11 we finally arrived back at the Hostel and I went quickly to bed. I was so super tired.
Friday 27 November 2010
Feeling very original this morning, we ate breakfast at McDonalds. I was really excited at first because I love love love love McDonads breakfast. But, it turns out its very different in Spain. No hashbrowns. So, I had wedge potatoes. Good, but by no means a substitute.
Our first stop today was the Royal Palace of Spain. After Franco died he chose a man from the Royal family as his successor. Goodness knows why. This man reestablished a constitutional monarchy. He is now the king. Complicated. It was a really beautiful palace with armor from Philip II and Charles V, two very famous Spanish monarchs. There was also a spectacular suite of royal rooms (reception hall, smoking room, tea room, etc.) and a royal pharmacy. Big ancient jars of congealed remedies.
Directly next to the palace is the Madrid Cathedral. Recently remodeled, it had a very modern feel. We climbed to the roof and looked out over the city of Madrid. We also went inside it. Very spacious with multi-colored light shining all around. As we walked out we realized--this is our last cathedral for this trip. Sad.
Next we walked through the Plaza Mayor. This big square had Christmas shops all over it. However, it was absolutely freezing, so we didn't spend to long here. For lunch we went into a small pub and I ordered a squid sandwich. I've had squid before, so I knew what to expect, and in light of that it was pretty good. Crispy rings of squid in a crusty bun. Yummy. After lunch we walked more in the Plaza Mayor and ended up in a food market. It was big and really cool to walk around in and see all the Spanish delicacies.
Our next stop was the Piazza del Sol. This is the main square of Madrid. Here there were beautiful fountains, an enormous Christmas tree, and the symbol of the city. A bear eating from a bush. Don't ask me why, but this means Madrid. We also stood in the exact center of Spain in this Piazza. There's a plaque and everything.
Next we walked to the Renia Sophia Modern Art Museum. We lucked out and it turned out to be free (everything in Spain costs) and so we went in. The elevators are on the outside of the building and clear, so that was cool. Generally modern art is pretty weird, but I recognized a lot of artist names. The best work here is the massive Guernica by Picasso. Franco allowed Hitler to bomb a rebellious town (practicing Blitzkrieg before WWII) and people were shocked and outraged. This painting portrays that.
We next walked in a large park above the Prado museum. It was beautiful, with the sun setting, and big sculptures and a lake. In fact, there was a model photo shoot we saw, so it must have been beautiful. There were also cats everywhere. Not really sure why. We played in the park until 6pm and then we headed back to the Prado.
In the around 4 hours we had in the Prado (2 hours each day) we did essentially the whole museum. We missed only a few rooms on a weird floor in one corner of the museum. I am very proud of Katilyn, Mandy, Julie, and I.
Afterward we went back to the Piazza del Sol and saw all the lights, including the large Christmas tree, lit up. It was bitingly cold, but very fun all the same. After walking around for a while we found a pizza place for dinner. They do the tomato sauce sweet here. I really liked it.
As we were heading back to the hostel we stopped at an ATM to withdraw cash. Julie went first, completed her transaction, and the machine just kept on thinking and thinking, without spitting out her cash. It said an error occurred and froze. We began to panic. The bank it was attached to was closed (it being around 10:30 at night) but we documented the situation as much as we could. Over the next few days, the charge did not appear on her account and so we decided that the ATM had simply run out of money. When we passed it on Saturday morning, it still had the error screen. It was a stressful night.
Saturday 28 November 2010
This morning we packed up our stuff, stored it at the hostel and checked out. We then took the Metro out to the Madrid Temple. It was so beautiful, right in the middle of the city, and it looked Spanish. We walked around the temple complex (MTC, rooms for people to stay) as well. It was very beautiful and I'm so glad we got to go out there.
Coming back to the city center, we first stopped for brunch. More churros and chocolate and I had a tortilla, which is actually a potato and cheese omelet. It was good. We next stopped off at the Archeology museum. It was quite small, but also surprisingly free, so we spent a while here. There was an absolutely beautiful ivory carving of Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden.
We then took the time for some much needed souvenir shopping. I got a t-shirt. Oh yes. Walking back to the hostel, we decided the time had come for paella. This is a rice dish generally done with seafood, but we had it with chicken. It was very good. Overall, I'd say we had a good food experience (when it wasn't being bazaar--little play on words there).
We returned to the hostel, paid for the rooms in cash (talk about a large amount of money), collected our bags, and headed to the metro. Metro to the airport. Plane back to London. My last time returning home from a trip to London. Sad.
Tube ride back to the Centre, and then there was some chocolate pie left over from Thanksgiving dinner. Of course I had some. And homemade root beer.
Sunday 29 November 2010
Church today was the Primary Presentation (not Program--that's American). Two hours in Primary of practicing and the leaders were incredibly stressed. Of course, all the kids chose today to go crazy. While leaders were trying to get ready, the Primary president had the kids play Simon Says with each other. For a while I hovered on the fence, should I help? Should I let the other leaders handle it? Finally I took over Simon Says and I got them to sit quietly in their chairs just before it was time for Sacrament Meeting. The primary president was shocked, and she told me so in her wonderful Scottish accent.
Sacrament Meeting was good, I played most of the Primary songs with just my right hand, but it all worked out okay.
After church I finally got over to the Tate Modern. Oy. MODERN art. Most of it was pretty weird, but I saw a few pieces I recognized. My favorite was Continuity of Unique Forms in Space by Bocionni. One of the best sculptures ever. Funniest works: a large red canvas with three lines down it called Adam, and a large red-orange canvas with a purple line at the far right-hand side called Eve. How biblical... Julie and I were planning to meet here and return home together, but her watch was still on Spain time. She waited for a 1/2 hour and finally went home without me, only to realize her watch was an hour earlier. I ended up waiting for her, than coming home on my own. By this time, she had taken Mandy back with her to look for me. Finally we all ended up at home and had dinner. Complicated!
Fireside tonight was singing Christmas hymns. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!
Today classes started with Jane Austen so that we could go to the London Central Mosque in lieu of regular religion class. All the girls had to wear scarves on their heads, and can I just say that I look dang good in a head scarf! Julie let me borrow her light blue one for the occasion (I haven't purchased my pashminas yet). I have never been in a Mosque before and it was so interesting, and so beautiful! I love Islamic architecture. The coolest bit was that we happened to be there for afternoon prayer and our tour guide (a young teacher at the Mosque, but not the Imam...anyway) let us stay in the prayer hall. It was so amazing to watch them pray. That is something that Aunt Jo Ann said that we would probably never see again, particularly the girls.
After the Mosque I finally went to Leicester Square, to see where the Harry Potter premiere was. It is a large grass square surrounded by movie theatres. The largest one (Odion) has only Harry Potter Seven playing on all of its screens. From Leicester Square I walked on Charing Cross Road into Soho. This is not exactly my kind of place. I just wanted to walk on Old Compton Road because it was the heart of 1960s Soho and youth culture. Now Soho is just kind of freaky and so I hurried out of there. I also caught glimpses of China Town, which runs parallel to Soho.
Coming out of Soho I walked up Charing Cross to Oxford Street and then down Regent's Street (a lovely walk) to get to Liberty department store. This place is cool because it has a fake Tudor facade, pretty window displays, and is priced like Harrod's. To be honest, I didn't care for it all that much. Walking past Liberty I moved down Carnaby Road, which is where men's fashion is reputed to have been invented. It had many classy shops for guys. Finally, back on Regent's Street I went into Hamley's Toy Shop. The FAO Schwartz of London all decked out for the Christmas season. Five floors of awesome. Unfortunately, the prices are ridiculous, but I had a great time walking around.
Tuesday 24 November 2010
After classes, Julie and I made a quick stop at King's Cross Station to take pictures at Platform 9 3/4 (which is situated between platforms 8 and 9. Who planned that one?). From there we met Katy at the British Library (where the English class had been) and headed to the Foundling Museum. Sister Bird (English class teacher) and some other students were having churros and chocolate outside the Library and we tried some. A good precursor to Spain.
A Foundling is an orphan or abandoned child (parents cannot afford it) that is taken in by the Foundling hospital. We learned about how these children lived and grew up, and how William Hogarth the painter and Handel the composer played a key part in ensuring the hospital survived. It was actually a fascinating museum and got me very excited to hear the Messiah next week. I had no idea Handel was such a kind person. I have always thought of composers as self-obsessed (Mozart) or slightly crazy (Beethoven).
Wednesday 25 November 2010
Today after classes Julie, Kaitlyn, and I rushed to do the Wasteland walk for Great War class before we left for Spain. We walked across London Bridge from the South bank, passed Monument, went inside Magnus Martyr church (beautiful Wren interior with a little model of the original London Bridge--before it burned down), and ended up near the Bank of England and the Royal Stock Exchange. Then we returned home to pack.
To get to Stanstead Airport we had to take the Central Line tube from one end of Zone One to the other (Liverpool Street) and then take a 45 minute train. We then got there two hours early and had to wait for the plane. Crazy stuff. Then they spent the whole flight trying to sell us sandwiches, magazines, and raffle tickets (that's what you get for a cheap airline).
After touching down in Madrid, Spain (!!!!) we took the Metro to the centre of the city. It was so big, and nice, and clean. I liked it a lot. As much as I like the tube (versus really hating the Metro in Paris). When we got out of the station, luckily Kaitlyn and Mandy are excellent navigators so we got to the hostel okay. It was just dark and we tried to be super aware of our bags so that no one would try to steal from us. We had two rooms in the hostel--which was really more like a hotel. Four in one room: me, Julie, Kaitlyn, and Mandy and three in another: Lisa, Olivia, and Annie. Kim was supposed to come to Spain with us, but she got sick at the last minute. Our rooms had their own bathroom and everything was so clean and the beds were big and comfy and there was free internet. What a great hostel! The night guy there only spoke Spanish, but luckily Kaitlyn is basically fluent. This was such an asset over the next couple of days. It was 11 at night so we hit the hay and prepared for our first full day in Spain.
Thursday 26 November 2010
This morning we woke up, went to Madrid train station, bought train tickets to Toledo and then ran to the platform in order to make our train. The train ride is 30 minutes and I did homework most of the way, but I did spend some of that time looking out at the Spanish countryside. Mandy says it reminds her of Southern Idaho. It reminded me of California. Yellow, brown, a little red, dry, etc. After getting off the train we took a bus from the station into the heart of Toledo and I loved being able to look out of the window and take in the city. There is so much Moorish (Islamic) architecture! I love it!
Our first order of business in Toledo was simply to walk around and enjoy the city. It still has the feel of a Medieval town with Christian, Jewish, and Islamic influences. Pre-Ferdinand and Isabella this was a city where all three cultures/religions lived in harmony. and the architecture and feel of the city certainly benefited from that and you can still feel it now.
After getting situated we first walked through Toledo's main plaza to get breakfast. I had churros and chocolate (the first of many!). I can never drink hot chocolate in the States again. I have been spoiled rotten. I swear they melted a chocolate bar, added a little milk, and served it with some of the best churros I have ever had. As we headed out we passed a shop that sells Lladro. These porcelain figures are highly popular with Mormons (like that one of the Mom in the long blue dress holding up the baby and spinning around) and Toledo (and Spain in general) is famous for them. We were looking in the shop window, when we saw a Llardo of two clean-cut young men in suits with name-tags. Missionaries!! We went inside the store, and they also had one of the Christus statue from Temple Square. Apparently the Mission President sends missionaries there all the time, so Mormons get a 25% discount. Awesome. Annie ended up buying a piece for her nativity.
Our first real stop in Toledo was the Cathedral. This place was drop dead gorgeous. This was a full-blown Spanish Catholic cathedral. There were different colors of marble, enormous pictures (El Greco, Goya...), and the most incredible work on the back of the High Altar. A combination of painting, sculpture, and natural light. Remarkable. This was definitely one of the most beautiful cathedrals that I have been in on this trip.
In the plaza outside of the Cathedral, while we were taking pictures, a man approached Kaitlyn (due to her flawless Spanish I'm sure) and explained about an Artisan shop just a few houses down where they make Damascus by hand. This decorative art is some sort of black stone with gold leaf (24 karat) over the top. So beautiful. So hard to do. There are two styles: Renaissance with birds and flowers and Islamic with intricate geometric designs. I'm such a sucker for Islamic art and architecture--I thought it was beautiful. we decided to go see the shop and watched the workers hand pound the gold tread into the black background before it's carefully fired in the kiln. They got us. Most of us bought a piece of Damascus from the shop. I got a small necklace pendant--Islamic style thought it's slightly more expensive. You can tell it's handmade, but hey--I got it in Toledo, Spain.
We walked through more beautiful tiny streets and winding alleys to reach a sword shop where they still make swords by hand. Unfortunately, we arrived at the shop just as they were closing down for siesta. However, the head of the workshop took us around the shop and showed us how they make the swords. I thought of Hyrum, he would have enjoyed the explanation of various metals, forging, etc. Did you know that the handles of most swords are wood with metal wrapped around the outside? Pure metal would have such excellent vibrations that when you clash with another sword your arm could vibrate so badly that it will break.
From here we walked to the famous (no longer practicing) synagogue. Since we were in Toledo, we wanted to see a Christian church, a synagogue, and a mosque. Seemed appropriate. On our way there we saw more of this beautiful medieval city. I honestly could not get enough of it. This was definitely my absolute favorite day of the trip! The synagogue was very pretty, even though the paint was fading after hundreds of years. On our way there we noticed that we were walking along the path of Don Quixote. Rad. I make it a point to follow fictional literary characters around (note earlier visits to Baker Street, and passing by Grovsenor Square and Gracechurch Street).
The next place we visited was San Juan de los Reyes. This church had chains displayed all over the outside. When the Moors controlled this area of Spain they would hang Christians from the walls and ceilings by these chains. After the Christians took power they hung the chains here as a symbolism of their religious faith and piety. The inside of this place, once a monastic church, was stunning. There was a beautiful chapel and an unbelievable cloister--with actual orange trees. With oranges on them! There was also a balcony surrounding the cloister that had loose tiles. So, of course, I pulled one up and touched the dust beneath. Clearly it's ancient.
Just outside of this church was a Marzipan shop. Naturally we stopped and had some. I really like Marzipan. Almondy and sticky and sweet.
Just past here was the church of El Santo Tome, with the most famous El Greco ever. The church itself wasn't all that special. But Burial of Count Ornas was put exactly where it is today by the artist, and has never been moved. I'm not a huge El Greco fan, but it certainly looked like one of his works. I was glad I got to see it.
Next we stopped at the mosque. We didn't actually go inside, but we could see the open air prayer hall. To get here we did a lot of street wandering and I became more and more impressed with Kaitlyn's Spanish every time she opened her mouth.
Lunch was taken at the illustrious institution of McDonalds. Nothing to be said there.
We then took a nice walk down through Toledo to the train station. We passed over a beautiful bridge and river and took some lovely pictures. We also experienced our first cat calls. I have never been cat called or whistled at so much in my life as I was in Spain.
After returning to Madrid we went to the Prado Museum--which is free every night from 6 to 8pm. Some of the best Spanish works of art, ever! Velasquez, Zurburan, El Greco, etc.
As we were walking around Madrid (between 8 and 9 restaurants actually begin to open) I found out that Olivia lived until 6th grade in the house owned by the Bank at the end of Kempner Road. She moved out the year before we got there! I cannot believe it. This is such a small world.
For dinner we ate at a slightly upscale restaurant called Bazaar. And that is just what it was--bizarre. I ordered mushroom soup with potatoes. When I got my plate it was a smooth brown soup with croutons in the center. Seems pretty normal. Then I had one of the croutons. It was not a crunchy bread crouton. I'm not sure how they did it but the croutons were the potatoes! They melted in my mouth. It was crazy. Everyone's food was good (mine as well) it was just not what we were expecting. Julie's lazagna was black. And we couldn't find any meat in it. But it tasted alright. The food wasn't bad, but Mandy called it the worst Thanksgiving Dinner ever because it was so opposite of what you want on Thanksgiving. There was no turkey, no desire to eat way more than I should. Perhaps I'll have the opportunity to sufficiently stuff my face over Christmas.
We went to a McDonalds down the road for ice cream. Something American seemed appropriate for Thanksgiving.
Around 11 we finally arrived back at the Hostel and I went quickly to bed. I was so super tired.
Friday 27 November 2010
Feeling very original this morning, we ate breakfast at McDonalds. I was really excited at first because I love love love love McDonads breakfast. But, it turns out its very different in Spain. No hashbrowns. So, I had wedge potatoes. Good, but by no means a substitute.
Our first stop today was the Royal Palace of Spain. After Franco died he chose a man from the Royal family as his successor. Goodness knows why. This man reestablished a constitutional monarchy. He is now the king. Complicated. It was a really beautiful palace with armor from Philip II and Charles V, two very famous Spanish monarchs. There was also a spectacular suite of royal rooms (reception hall, smoking room, tea room, etc.) and a royal pharmacy. Big ancient jars of congealed remedies.
Directly next to the palace is the Madrid Cathedral. Recently remodeled, it had a very modern feel. We climbed to the roof and looked out over the city of Madrid. We also went inside it. Very spacious with multi-colored light shining all around. As we walked out we realized--this is our last cathedral for this trip. Sad.
Next we walked through the Plaza Mayor. This big square had Christmas shops all over it. However, it was absolutely freezing, so we didn't spend to long here. For lunch we went into a small pub and I ordered a squid sandwich. I've had squid before, so I knew what to expect, and in light of that it was pretty good. Crispy rings of squid in a crusty bun. Yummy. After lunch we walked more in the Plaza Mayor and ended up in a food market. It was big and really cool to walk around in and see all the Spanish delicacies.
Our next stop was the Piazza del Sol. This is the main square of Madrid. Here there were beautiful fountains, an enormous Christmas tree, and the symbol of the city. A bear eating from a bush. Don't ask me why, but this means Madrid. We also stood in the exact center of Spain in this Piazza. There's a plaque and everything.
Next we walked to the Renia Sophia Modern Art Museum. We lucked out and it turned out to be free (everything in Spain costs) and so we went in. The elevators are on the outside of the building and clear, so that was cool. Generally modern art is pretty weird, but I recognized a lot of artist names. The best work here is the massive Guernica by Picasso. Franco allowed Hitler to bomb a rebellious town (practicing Blitzkrieg before WWII) and people were shocked and outraged. This painting portrays that.
We next walked in a large park above the Prado museum. It was beautiful, with the sun setting, and big sculptures and a lake. In fact, there was a model photo shoot we saw, so it must have been beautiful. There were also cats everywhere. Not really sure why. We played in the park until 6pm and then we headed back to the Prado.
In the around 4 hours we had in the Prado (2 hours each day) we did essentially the whole museum. We missed only a few rooms on a weird floor in one corner of the museum. I am very proud of Katilyn, Mandy, Julie, and I.
Afterward we went back to the Piazza del Sol and saw all the lights, including the large Christmas tree, lit up. It was bitingly cold, but very fun all the same. After walking around for a while we found a pizza place for dinner. They do the tomato sauce sweet here. I really liked it.
As we were heading back to the hostel we stopped at an ATM to withdraw cash. Julie went first, completed her transaction, and the machine just kept on thinking and thinking, without spitting out her cash. It said an error occurred and froze. We began to panic. The bank it was attached to was closed (it being around 10:30 at night) but we documented the situation as much as we could. Over the next few days, the charge did not appear on her account and so we decided that the ATM had simply run out of money. When we passed it on Saturday morning, it still had the error screen. It was a stressful night.
Saturday 28 November 2010
This morning we packed up our stuff, stored it at the hostel and checked out. We then took the Metro out to the Madrid Temple. It was so beautiful, right in the middle of the city, and it looked Spanish. We walked around the temple complex (MTC, rooms for people to stay) as well. It was very beautiful and I'm so glad we got to go out there.
Coming back to the city center, we first stopped for brunch. More churros and chocolate and I had a tortilla, which is actually a potato and cheese omelet. It was good. We next stopped off at the Archeology museum. It was quite small, but also surprisingly free, so we spent a while here. There was an absolutely beautiful ivory carving of Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden.
We then took the time for some much needed souvenir shopping. I got a t-shirt. Oh yes. Walking back to the hostel, we decided the time had come for paella. This is a rice dish generally done with seafood, but we had it with chicken. It was very good. Overall, I'd say we had a good food experience (when it wasn't being bazaar--little play on words there).
We returned to the hostel, paid for the rooms in cash (talk about a large amount of money), collected our bags, and headed to the metro. Metro to the airport. Plane back to London. My last time returning home from a trip to London. Sad.
Tube ride back to the Centre, and then there was some chocolate pie left over from Thanksgiving dinner. Of course I had some. And homemade root beer.
Sunday 29 November 2010
Church today was the Primary Presentation (not Program--that's American). Two hours in Primary of practicing and the leaders were incredibly stressed. Of course, all the kids chose today to go crazy. While leaders were trying to get ready, the Primary president had the kids play Simon Says with each other. For a while I hovered on the fence, should I help? Should I let the other leaders handle it? Finally I took over Simon Says and I got them to sit quietly in their chairs just before it was time for Sacrament Meeting. The primary president was shocked, and she told me so in her wonderful Scottish accent.
Sacrament Meeting was good, I played most of the Primary songs with just my right hand, but it all worked out okay.
After church I finally got over to the Tate Modern. Oy. MODERN art. Most of it was pretty weird, but I saw a few pieces I recognized. My favorite was Continuity of Unique Forms in Space by Bocionni. One of the best sculptures ever. Funniest works: a large red canvas with three lines down it called Adam, and a large red-orange canvas with a purple line at the far right-hand side called Eve. How biblical... Julie and I were planning to meet here and return home together, but her watch was still on Spain time. She waited for a 1/2 hour and finally went home without me, only to realize her watch was an hour earlier. I ended up waiting for her, than coming home on my own. By this time, she had taken Mandy back with her to look for me. Finally we all ended up at home and had dinner. Complicated!
Fireside tonight was singing Christmas hymns. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!
Week Twelve: London
Monday 15 November 2010
Today after classes I went with the Seelys, the Tates, and Bethany (Julie and Kaitlyn showed up a little later) to the Masonic Hall of London. This building is enormous. We toured the building, and it's very beautifully decorated in the Art Deco style. We saw various rooms and artifacts associated with the masons, but I still don't have much of an idea of what they do. I'll look them up at some point. I just found it funny that the basic explanatory information wasn't on the tour. My favorite room was the temple. This room is completely within the building (the windows are filled with light reflected from the outer halls, which are painted white) and therefore completely quiet. Right in the middle of central London, the outside can't hear you and you can't hear the outside. This was also the room where they filmed movies such as Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Sherlock Holmes.
The rest of the day was just homework. That night Julie went to Wicked for a second time and Katy went to Phantom of the Opera. I stayed home and had a wonderful long chat with Mom on Skype--even if my microphone wasn't working so I had to just type to her. When I got back to the bedroom, neither Bethany nor I felt like going to bed so we watched a movie.
In other news, I lost my watch at some point today. And I cannot find it anywhere. If anyone has information about its whereabouts, kindly let me know.
Tuesday 16 November
Today was our last day trip. Our last time on the coach. Wow. It's almost unbelievable.Our first stop was at an American Memorial Cemetery just outside of Cambridge. As we stepped out of the coach, one of the first things I saw was the Stars and Stripes high up on the flagpole. It may sound silly, but I couldn't believe how much I missed seeing that flag. It was so good to see it again.
The graves are from World War II with a wall of all the names of the missing. The Memorial Chapel was also very beautiful. On the wall of the missing was the name of Alton G. Miller. Nothing out of the ordinary about that name, except when you realize that it's Glenn Miller--the trombonist and Big Band leader. In The Mood, etc. Pretty cool.
From here we moved on into Cambridge. First, we toured St. John's College. They have the most beautiful bridge on this campus, leading from the main court (quad) to the exam building. It goes over the river that passes behind several of Cambridge's colleges and is called the Bridge of Sighs because so many students are sighing about having to take exams or about having just taken exams. But, as they say, at least they aren't sighing at Oxford. ;)
From here we bought tickets for a punting tour. This takes us in a shallow boat with a punter and tour guide (the Venice of the North...) on the river that I mentioned earlier. While we were waiting for our time we visited St. Mary's Church and were able to listen to part of an organ concert. And then we walked through a street market.
Punting was probably the best part of the day. We passed by St. John's College, Trinity College, King's College, St. Catherine's College, and Queen's College. Some of the most expensive and hard to get into colleges in Cambridge are included in that list. They also filmed part of Chariots of Fire in Trinity College. King's College Chapel is the 3rd most photographed building in England (after St. Paul's Cathedral and Buckingham Palace). These are just a few of the tidbits our guide shared with us.
But, my favorite part was what he told us about Prince Charles (you know--the future King of England). Charles went to Eton School--a wonderful secondary school right next to Windsor. However, he didn't get the best grades in the world. When applying to University, Oxford wouldn't take him. Finally, Cambridge took him. He went to Trinity College. He wanted to be treated like every other student, but his first day there the Queen rented an entire floor for him and his body guard. His body guard was with him day and night and attended all classes with him. At the end of University Charles got a 2.2, which is barely passing--lower second class honors. The body guard got a 2.1--first second class honors. The Crown Prince was beaten in University by his body guard. Ha!
After punting we went to the Fitzwilliam Museum. We saw European art (including Rembrandt and Rubens) and artifacts from around the world including objects from Egypt, the Middle East, and the Far East. There was an executioner's sword in one case (with a rounded edge--a point isn't needed for an executioner) had the inscription "If God is for us, who is against us?" Something to ponder while your head is being chopped off.
Our day finished with Evensong at King's College. This is the evening service of the Church of England with the world famous King's College choir with men and boys. They had beautiful voices and the men--Cambridge students--were all very nice to look at. I think its something to the water in these university towns--they produce such clean cut, educated men. Both Oxford and Cambridge. Evensong was quite the experience, but I'm glad I got to see how another church works.
Wednesday 17 November 2010
Today after classes Kaitlyn and I went to get Lion King tickets. We had to stand in the advanced ticket line for a little while, and the whole thing was very official. We got seats in the stalls, not too far back, on the aisle towards the middle, for 20.50 GBP. It was wonderful! After getting the tickets, I spent a little time at the world's largest Apple Store in Covent Garden (Macs). I played on an iPad, and even updated my facebook status from the iPad. Talk about a useless, but incredibly fun, object. Getting home was a nightmare. The tube was packed, and most lines had delays. When we were coming to Covent Garden to buy Lion King tickets, we were unable to use the Central Line. This is because someone had just a few hours before been under a train at Bond Street Station, and we are pretty sure that they died. This wrecked the tube for the whole night. It's very sad.
After dinner we set out fairly early because most lines were still experiencing delays. Luckily, we got to the theatre with about 15 minutes to spare. We had great seats, and could see the whole stage with minimal head movement. The best part about being on the aisle (I had the actual aisle seat, Kaitlyn was one in) was that they used the aisles throughout the show. We knew that in Circle of Life all the animals would come down the rows, which they did. But, we also had singers come down, little Simba ran up our aisle, and at one point we were completely taken aback to hear a bunch of hyenas coming down our aisle for Be Prepared. The singing was wonderful, the acting excellent, and the costumes were unbelievable! The giraffes, the zebras, the birds, it was all so cool. The lion costumes were amazing--the heads actually moved in and out like a lion. Zazu, Timon, and Pumbaa were all well done. The wildebeest stampede was such a cool scene. Basically, it was a phenomenal play. Just as great as the other three I have seen. If you come to London, these are definitely the four to see! I'm so glad I got to see them all!
Thursday 18 November 2010
After classes Katy, Julie, and I did part of the Strand area of London. First we stopped off at Cleopatra's Needle--another artifact the British stole from Egypt--and took some pictures with the sphinx. The scars on the rock and bronze were surprisingly not from the WWII Blitz, but from German bombing during WWI. We next walked through Victoria Embankment gardens. Along the way, we discovered a statue of the man that invented Sunday School. What a guy.
Walking past Somerset House, we continued down to the Temple which we walked through (as I had done with Kaitlyn a few days ago). This time when we stopped at Temple church we were able to go in. The nave has effigies of it that are the tombs of Knights Templar. That was pretty cool. It was a beautiful, small church, with a lovely nave and bell tower. We walked back towards Holborn and Julie and Katy stopped at the Soane museum. Since I have already been there, I returned home.
After dinner we attended La Boeme at the London Coliseum. The opera company that performed it does all their operas in English, so that was quite the experience. Luckily, there was still a running line of text above the stage so that I could understand all that was said. The music was beautiful. Wondrously so. And even though we were on the top balcony, we could still hear them. No mics. Such projection. The time period was updated, from the 1830s to the 1930s. That was interesting. All these student references (Oxford, Cambridge, the Bohemians) has made me curious about the British/European University system. It is so different from our own. I think I prefer American.
Friday 19 November 2010
Our appointment at the Churchill War Rooms was fairly late in the morning so I set off before London Study to do part of Westminster and Whitehall. I took my iPod with me. I have come to the conclusion that London is much better with a soundtrack (British music of course). My first stop was St. Margaret's church, in the Westminster Abbey complex. It was a very lovely and simple church. I found a plaque to Sir Walter Raleigh--he's buried there. And I was born in the town named after him. Coincidence? I think not.
From here I walked with Westminster Abbey and Parliament at my back up Whitehall past all the main government buildings of England, the Banqueting Hall, and the Cenotaph (a WWI memorial--an empty tomb). Coming back down the other side of the street (before reaching Trafalgar Square) I was able to stop in at the Royal Horse Guard and see them arrive at their posts at 10am. Horses are very large creatures, and these ones were completely unphased by the loud traffic of Whitehall. I next passed Downing Street (the Prime Minister lives at 10 Downing Street) but due to a law in 2005 you can no longer walk down this street. Walking down the next street, I arrived in St. Jame's park and waited for the War Rooms appointment. While waiting, I was struck again by how close things are in Central London. The tube makes everything seem so separate and distant.
The War Rooms were excellent. Just as wonderful as I remember, and there was a great museum on Winston Churchill where I learned all about him and his role in WWII. It was so good. I can just imagine people living and working down there. It's my kind of place. Good grief! I love World War II! That may be an odd thing to say, but I find it so intriguing. So much happened, it had such an effect on the world. Yes, WWI had that kind of impact too, I'm just not as interested in the time period.
After the War Rooms, Julie and I went to the Bethnel Museum of Childhood for a Jane Austen field study. This museum is far away from everything else--outside of Central London--and there's not much there. Just a few displays. I did like the doll houses but we kept our visit short.
Tonight we watched Emma with Gweneth Paltrow for our Austen project. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, as always, but I am bugged by this project. Why should we analyze the movie when this is a literature class? Oy.
Saturday 20 November 2010
Today started out with a bang! Abbey Road anyone? We went to Abbey Road this morning. We saw the studio. I signed the wall. We walked across the crosswalk multiple times and took pictures. Yes! The crosswalk is a zebra (zeh-brah) which means that at each end of the crosswalk there is a white and black striped pole with a yellow flashing light on top. By law, cars must stop for any pedestrians crossing or wishing to cross in this crosswalk. If they hit anyone crossing at a zebra they immediately go to jail. However, the cars here were scary. You would think after 40 years of people coming to take pictures here they would allow people to cross the street or find another road to drive on. But it was a major thoroughfare. That was unexpected. There is a live webcam on the street, so we can look up our poses online and take the pictures off the internet. Supposedly so people don't mess up traffic, but you still have to pause to get a good shot on the webcam.
Next we went to Westminster to finish up that area. We went into the Jewel Tower, which is quite small with little in it, but it has an original medieval ceiling and it is the last surviving part of Westminster Palace. We then walked to the Burgers of Calais statue. Beautiful in person! (it's a Rodin) and then to Westminster Cathedral. This is London's main Catholic Cathedral. It used to be a Victorian prison and when they were converting it into a church they ran out of money. So, the top two thirds of the building is blackened brick. However, the lower third is covered in many varied slabs of marble and mosaic tiles. It's highly decorative, and beautiful in its own way.
After this I returned home to do a major amount of homework. I also got to talk to my parents for a long time. Then the Seelys invited me up to their flat for dinner and Beno and I watched the Liverpool game.
Sunday 21 November 2010
Long chat with the family. Then took it easy at home. Planning Spain tonight!
Today after classes I went with the Seelys, the Tates, and Bethany (Julie and Kaitlyn showed up a little later) to the Masonic Hall of London. This building is enormous. We toured the building, and it's very beautifully decorated in the Art Deco style. We saw various rooms and artifacts associated with the masons, but I still don't have much of an idea of what they do. I'll look them up at some point. I just found it funny that the basic explanatory information wasn't on the tour. My favorite room was the temple. This room is completely within the building (the windows are filled with light reflected from the outer halls, which are painted white) and therefore completely quiet. Right in the middle of central London, the outside can't hear you and you can't hear the outside. This was also the room where they filmed movies such as Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Sherlock Holmes.
The rest of the day was just homework. That night Julie went to Wicked for a second time and Katy went to Phantom of the Opera. I stayed home and had a wonderful long chat with Mom on Skype--even if my microphone wasn't working so I had to just type to her. When I got back to the bedroom, neither Bethany nor I felt like going to bed so we watched a movie.
In other news, I lost my watch at some point today. And I cannot find it anywhere. If anyone has information about its whereabouts, kindly let me know.
Tuesday 16 November
Today was our last day trip. Our last time on the coach. Wow. It's almost unbelievable.Our first stop was at an American Memorial Cemetery just outside of Cambridge. As we stepped out of the coach, one of the first things I saw was the Stars and Stripes high up on the flagpole. It may sound silly, but I couldn't believe how much I missed seeing that flag. It was so good to see it again.
The graves are from World War II with a wall of all the names of the missing. The Memorial Chapel was also very beautiful. On the wall of the missing was the name of Alton G. Miller. Nothing out of the ordinary about that name, except when you realize that it's Glenn Miller--the trombonist and Big Band leader. In The Mood, etc. Pretty cool.
From here we moved on into Cambridge. First, we toured St. John's College. They have the most beautiful bridge on this campus, leading from the main court (quad) to the exam building. It goes over the river that passes behind several of Cambridge's colleges and is called the Bridge of Sighs because so many students are sighing about having to take exams or about having just taken exams. But, as they say, at least they aren't sighing at Oxford. ;)
From here we bought tickets for a punting tour. This takes us in a shallow boat with a punter and tour guide (the Venice of the North...) on the river that I mentioned earlier. While we were waiting for our time we visited St. Mary's Church and were able to listen to part of an organ concert. And then we walked through a street market.
Punting was probably the best part of the day. We passed by St. John's College, Trinity College, King's College, St. Catherine's College, and Queen's College. Some of the most expensive and hard to get into colleges in Cambridge are included in that list. They also filmed part of Chariots of Fire in Trinity College. King's College Chapel is the 3rd most photographed building in England (after St. Paul's Cathedral and Buckingham Palace). These are just a few of the tidbits our guide shared with us.
But, my favorite part was what he told us about Prince Charles (you know--the future King of England). Charles went to Eton School--a wonderful secondary school right next to Windsor. However, he didn't get the best grades in the world. When applying to University, Oxford wouldn't take him. Finally, Cambridge took him. He went to Trinity College. He wanted to be treated like every other student, but his first day there the Queen rented an entire floor for him and his body guard. His body guard was with him day and night and attended all classes with him. At the end of University Charles got a 2.2, which is barely passing--lower second class honors. The body guard got a 2.1--first second class honors. The Crown Prince was beaten in University by his body guard. Ha!
After punting we went to the Fitzwilliam Museum. We saw European art (including Rembrandt and Rubens) and artifacts from around the world including objects from Egypt, the Middle East, and the Far East. There was an executioner's sword in one case (with a rounded edge--a point isn't needed for an executioner) had the inscription "If God is for us, who is against us?" Something to ponder while your head is being chopped off.
Our day finished with Evensong at King's College. This is the evening service of the Church of England with the world famous King's College choir with men and boys. They had beautiful voices and the men--Cambridge students--were all very nice to look at. I think its something to the water in these university towns--they produce such clean cut, educated men. Both Oxford and Cambridge. Evensong was quite the experience, but I'm glad I got to see how another church works.
Wednesday 17 November 2010
Today after classes Kaitlyn and I went to get Lion King tickets. We had to stand in the advanced ticket line for a little while, and the whole thing was very official. We got seats in the stalls, not too far back, on the aisle towards the middle, for 20.50 GBP. It was wonderful! After getting the tickets, I spent a little time at the world's largest Apple Store in Covent Garden (Macs). I played on an iPad, and even updated my facebook status from the iPad. Talk about a useless, but incredibly fun, object. Getting home was a nightmare. The tube was packed, and most lines had delays. When we were coming to Covent Garden to buy Lion King tickets, we were unable to use the Central Line. This is because someone had just a few hours before been under a train at Bond Street Station, and we are pretty sure that they died. This wrecked the tube for the whole night. It's very sad.
After dinner we set out fairly early because most lines were still experiencing delays. Luckily, we got to the theatre with about 15 minutes to spare. We had great seats, and could see the whole stage with minimal head movement. The best part about being on the aisle (I had the actual aisle seat, Kaitlyn was one in) was that they used the aisles throughout the show. We knew that in Circle of Life all the animals would come down the rows, which they did. But, we also had singers come down, little Simba ran up our aisle, and at one point we were completely taken aback to hear a bunch of hyenas coming down our aisle for Be Prepared. The singing was wonderful, the acting excellent, and the costumes were unbelievable! The giraffes, the zebras, the birds, it was all so cool. The lion costumes were amazing--the heads actually moved in and out like a lion. Zazu, Timon, and Pumbaa were all well done. The wildebeest stampede was such a cool scene. Basically, it was a phenomenal play. Just as great as the other three I have seen. If you come to London, these are definitely the four to see! I'm so glad I got to see them all!
Thursday 18 November 2010
After classes Katy, Julie, and I did part of the Strand area of London. First we stopped off at Cleopatra's Needle--another artifact the British stole from Egypt--and took some pictures with the sphinx. The scars on the rock and bronze were surprisingly not from the WWII Blitz, but from German bombing during WWI. We next walked through Victoria Embankment gardens. Along the way, we discovered a statue of the man that invented Sunday School. What a guy.
Walking past Somerset House, we continued down to the Temple which we walked through (as I had done with Kaitlyn a few days ago). This time when we stopped at Temple church we were able to go in. The nave has effigies of it that are the tombs of Knights Templar. That was pretty cool. It was a beautiful, small church, with a lovely nave and bell tower. We walked back towards Holborn and Julie and Katy stopped at the Soane museum. Since I have already been there, I returned home.
After dinner we attended La Boeme at the London Coliseum. The opera company that performed it does all their operas in English, so that was quite the experience. Luckily, there was still a running line of text above the stage so that I could understand all that was said. The music was beautiful. Wondrously so. And even though we were on the top balcony, we could still hear them. No mics. Such projection. The time period was updated, from the 1830s to the 1930s. That was interesting. All these student references (Oxford, Cambridge, the Bohemians) has made me curious about the British/European University system. It is so different from our own. I think I prefer American.
Friday 19 November 2010
Our appointment at the Churchill War Rooms was fairly late in the morning so I set off before London Study to do part of Westminster and Whitehall. I took my iPod with me. I have come to the conclusion that London is much better with a soundtrack (British music of course). My first stop was St. Margaret's church, in the Westminster Abbey complex. It was a very lovely and simple church. I found a plaque to Sir Walter Raleigh--he's buried there. And I was born in the town named after him. Coincidence? I think not.
From here I walked with Westminster Abbey and Parliament at my back up Whitehall past all the main government buildings of England, the Banqueting Hall, and the Cenotaph (a WWI memorial--an empty tomb). Coming back down the other side of the street (before reaching Trafalgar Square) I was able to stop in at the Royal Horse Guard and see them arrive at their posts at 10am. Horses are very large creatures, and these ones were completely unphased by the loud traffic of Whitehall. I next passed Downing Street (the Prime Minister lives at 10 Downing Street) but due to a law in 2005 you can no longer walk down this street. Walking down the next street, I arrived in St. Jame's park and waited for the War Rooms appointment. While waiting, I was struck again by how close things are in Central London. The tube makes everything seem so separate and distant.
The War Rooms were excellent. Just as wonderful as I remember, and there was a great museum on Winston Churchill where I learned all about him and his role in WWII. It was so good. I can just imagine people living and working down there. It's my kind of place. Good grief! I love World War II! That may be an odd thing to say, but I find it so intriguing. So much happened, it had such an effect on the world. Yes, WWI had that kind of impact too, I'm just not as interested in the time period.
After the War Rooms, Julie and I went to the Bethnel Museum of Childhood for a Jane Austen field study. This museum is far away from everything else--outside of Central London--and there's not much there. Just a few displays. I did like the doll houses but we kept our visit short.
Tonight we watched Emma with Gweneth Paltrow for our Austen project. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, as always, but I am bugged by this project. Why should we analyze the movie when this is a literature class? Oy.
Saturday 20 November 2010
Today started out with a bang! Abbey Road anyone? We went to Abbey Road this morning. We saw the studio. I signed the wall. We walked across the crosswalk multiple times and took pictures. Yes! The crosswalk is a zebra (zeh-brah) which means that at each end of the crosswalk there is a white and black striped pole with a yellow flashing light on top. By law, cars must stop for any pedestrians crossing or wishing to cross in this crosswalk. If they hit anyone crossing at a zebra they immediately go to jail. However, the cars here were scary. You would think after 40 years of people coming to take pictures here they would allow people to cross the street or find another road to drive on. But it was a major thoroughfare. That was unexpected. There is a live webcam on the street, so we can look up our poses online and take the pictures off the internet. Supposedly so people don't mess up traffic, but you still have to pause to get a good shot on the webcam.
Next we went to Westminster to finish up that area. We went into the Jewel Tower, which is quite small with little in it, but it has an original medieval ceiling and it is the last surviving part of Westminster Palace. We then walked to the Burgers of Calais statue. Beautiful in person! (it's a Rodin) and then to Westminster Cathedral. This is London's main Catholic Cathedral. It used to be a Victorian prison and when they were converting it into a church they ran out of money. So, the top two thirds of the building is blackened brick. However, the lower third is covered in many varied slabs of marble and mosaic tiles. It's highly decorative, and beautiful in its own way.
After this I returned home to do a major amount of homework. I also got to talk to my parents for a long time. Then the Seelys invited me up to their flat for dinner and Beno and I watched the Liverpool game.
Sunday 21 November 2010
Long chat with the family. Then took it easy at home. Planning Spain tonight!
Week Eleven: London
Monday 8 November 2010
Today after classes I really wanted to do something out of the centre, but I was also worried about homework. Finally, Mandy convinced me to get out. Mandy, Bethany, Carolyn, and I went to the Courtauld Gallery in the beautiful Somerset House on the bank of the Thames. Actually, it is on Embankment, there used to be water right up to it and there is a large arch that boats used to be sailed into, to the courtyard of the Somerset House. There is now a skating rink for the Christmas season. But, personally I want to do the one in Hyde Park when they set it up. Rinks are springing up all over the city.
The Courtauld is wonderful. It is a small gallery, but with marvelous Van Goghs, Matisses, and so on. Most of the Humanities 202 class went as well for an assignment on post-Impressionism, but they haven't actually covered this movement in class yet so none of them knew what was going on. At first they were asking Mandy, because she is so smart, what the movement looks like. But she kept telling them, "I don't really know...ask Emily." So people were coming up to me and I was able to give my dissertation on post-Impressionism. I have learned one thing, people should never ask me about art because I will never be quiet. People were blown away I was even there since I don't have the class. What can I say? I'm an art geek.
Tuesday 9 November 2010
Today as soon as classes were over we (Kaitlyn, Bethany, Lauren, and I, and for a little while Mandy) decided to do our Mrs. Dalloway walk for Great War class. This takes us in the area around Westminster and St. James'. A very upscale part of town--the Dalloways were high class. Before we set off I tried to work it so that we could hit most of the sites that you should see in the St. James' area.
We walked through St. James' park, The Mall (a street), Pall Mall (another street), we toured St. James' Church, walked through the courtyard of the Royal Academy of Arts, passed Fortnum & Mason's (a high class department store), and walked down Burlington Arcade (a shopping alley with beadles who kick you out if you run, yell, or open an umbrella). As we came out of the Arcade we saw London Tiffany's and decided to go in. Lauren asked where engagement rings were, saying that Katilyn was practically engaged, and so we headed up to the 2nd floor. Lauren was able to talk shop with the man behind the counter, and while everyone in that whole place was totally on to us--four starving college kids blown in off the streets--he allowed her to try on a ring! A canary diamond Tiffany's ring! That was a cool moment.
After Tiffany's we walked up Old and then New Bond Street to Oxford Street. We passed Grovesnor Street, where the Bingleys live! From here we had an hour or so at the National Gallery where we did a Monet to Picasso tour (for the 202 class that I'm not in, but I love art!). Then we headed back to Oxford Street, all split a Belgian waffle with caramel and then walked down Regent Street a little past Hanley's Toy Store. We then proceeded to stand in the cold for an hour and a half (5 to 6:30). But, we had a good reason.
Every year they light up Regent Street to begin celebrating the holiday season. They had the West End gospel choir perform (sub par) than a girl who was on American Idol, Alexis Jordan (okay), the cast of Jersey Boys did a medley of Four Seasons songs (amazing!), and then the winner of X Factor (British American Idol) performed. Then three actors from Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader came out on stage. Georgie Hanley (Lucy), one I didn't recognize (the cousin from the book), and Ben Barnes (Prince Caspian! Ahh!) and they hit a button that lit all the lights. Magical.
Then Bethany and I ran through Regent Street and Oxford Street to get her back to the Hyde Park Chapel for a family history appointment. I was wearing small heels and that was an experience. Luckily I have heel sprinting experience. Half the people we passed were scandalized and the other half yelled encouragement as we dashed past. All in all it was a great night.
Wednesday 10 November 2010
Today our day trip started rather late, we didn't pull out until a whopping 8:30. Shocking, I know. Our fist stop was Windsor Castle. Walking up to this castle from the coach park was very exciting for me because as we passed through the train station and shopping centre I could remember it being bitterly cold and walking that same place with my family. When we got into the castle we got free audio guides and began the tour. The moat was just as lovely as I remember with plants and fountains. Then we toured the state apartments. My favorite part was Queen Mary's dollhouse. The plates in the dining room are real silver! The paintings are miniatures done by the actual artists. It was all crazy! The rooms were all very beautiful. It was neat to get a glimpse of how royalty still lives.
Our next stop was Hampton Court Palace. This was one of the favorite palaces of Henry VIII to live, a real Tudor palace. We toured Henry VIII kitchen, (so much meat) and his state apartments. That was actually pretty cool. I am so intrigued by his life, a lot of people on the program really dislike him, but I genuinely want to know more. I need to get a book about the Tudors... The gardens were also very lovely and there were so many beautiful rooms and paintings. Including one of Uncle Dave's favorites--the four gospels stoning the Pope because Henry VIII broke with Rome. I loved it all. A good day.
Thursday 11 November 2010
Happy Remembrance Day. In 1918 at 11am today the armistice of WWI was signed. Trafalgar Square had a program and two minutes of silence at 11am but I was unable to be there. I was at the family history centre all day today! All day! I got there at 10am and left at 3pm. But, I got an enormous chunk of my project done. Eliza Schofield. I could even see what boat she came on--Martin Handcart Company. Very cool I know how to work a microfilm machine now.
Then I walked to the Natural History Museum and walked around for 45 minutes and came home to do homework. I was really zoned all the rest of the day--to much computer screen staring at the family history centre. In fact, I was too tired to go to the Harry Potter 7 World Premiere. Now I have a twinge of regret, but at the same time I wouldn't have really been able to see anything and it was just a throng of people. Some girls in the group went at 3am and waited all day to see the stars. Jani held Tom Felton's (Draco Malfoy) hand! It sounds pretty neat, but at the same time, I dunno. Either way, it's over and I didn't go. The end.
Oh, no classes today--they made special allowances for Harry Potter. So, classes tomorrow and then Houses of Parliament on Saturday.
Friday 12 November 2010
After classes today Kaitlyn, Lisa, Jani, Claire, and I went to Covent Garden to try and get tickets to Lion King. However, they do not give student discounts of Friday. This is the first time that I haven't been able to get tickets the second I walk into the box office. I'm beginning to think Julie is my good luck charm in this area, because I get the best tickets and the best price whenever she is there. However, not to be daunted, Kaitlyn and I decided to do the area of Holborn and the Inns of Court today.
First we walked to the Old Curiosity Shop which survived the Great Fire of London and was made famous by Charles Dickens. Next we passed the Royal Courts of Justice, where the majority of British civil court cases are heard, the Temple (or Inns of Court) where historically lawyers and visitors to Court would stay. This was a beautiful area. To get to the Temple you have to take a small alley off of Fleet Street that actually took us a while to find. But the architecture was incredible and I was blown away that I could not hear the busy street just yards away. So peaceful. And lawyers talking about important things everywhere. Pretty neat. We tried to walk inside Temple church, but it was closed. Next we passed by Ye Olde Chesire Cheese, a pub that was frequented by both Mark Twain and Charles Dickens.
From here we visited St. Bride's, which is an incredible Christopher Wren church with the tallest spire he built. Fleet Street used to be the centre of the newspaper industry in London so this has essentially become the parish church of journalists. It was cool to see memorials to many journalists who die in the line of duty and all the old newspaper buildings along the street. We also saw the grave of the man who wrote the first novel and a copy of the novel--Pamela-- in the crypt of the church. The interior was stunning and full of light--just as a Wren church should be. We also stopped by Samuel Johnson's house--the creator of the first dictionary. Finally we walked through Lincoln's Inn Fields, Lincoln's Inn, and Lincoln's Inn Chapel which seemed like its own high class gated community. Beautiful buildings. It almost felt like dormitories for the lawyers--picture James McAvoy in Becoming Jane, where he would have lived.
While the day didn't turn out like we planned, I'd say it was very highly successful. The day culminated in a watching of Harry Potter 6. Getting ready for number 7 part 1.
Saturday 13 November 2010
This morning began with an early ride on the tube out to Westminster Palace--more commonly known as the Houses of Parliament. Because we had classes yesterday, London Study was this morning. We had a guided tour of the Houses of Parliament which was pretty cool. We saw where the Queen gets ready and her path through the palace when she opens Parliament every session. This culminates with her reading a speech in the House of Lords (the House of Commons is there too, standing and listening) but I found it quite odd that the government writes the speech (the political party in power), not her. She is so different from our President, I really doubt if she has any actual power. Just public relations and ceremony.
My favorite rooms were the House of Lords and the House of Commons. They were beautiful rooms--Gothic seen through a Victorian lens (just like the whole building is). I found it interesting that the House of Lords doesn't really make law, they can create a bill, but the House of Commons always has the last say. The Lords are mainly there as men (and women) of experience to give advice. Also, when the House of Commons votes, they do not do it by secret ballot. Everyone stands up with the ayes in a corridor to one side of the room and the nays in a corridor on the other side. Then they pass through a door back into the House of Commons through an opening only big enough for one person so they can all be counted. The theory--if everyone knows your vote, you are more likely to vote as you think best/for your constituents.
It's an interesting system, and the tour guide was proud of his country and how they do things, but at the same time, I am very very pleased to be an American. Now more than ever I want to take a tour of Congress and see just exactly how we do things in the States. I am even more excited about the way we do things across the pond--way cooler than the Brits, whatever they may say about it.
After Parliament, Katy, Julie and I headed over to St. Paul's to catch a bit of the Lord Mayor's Show. Every year a new Lord Mayor is chosen (Mayor of the City of London--not all of London, just "the City" borough) and the day after being sworn, he has a massive parade which ends at the Royal Courts of Justice and he swears allegiance to the Crown. The parade was fun, but no actual floats--just decked out lorries. I don't mean to be on a bash United Kingdom spree today, but our parades are so much cooler. Now, I want to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Back in good old America...
From here we went to John Wesley's Chapel (founded Methodism) and house and ended up getting an incredibly thorough tour from an enthusiastic guide. It was interesting information, but he just talked and talked and I was cursing John Wesley for having so many rooms in his house so that I had to hear all these minute details about them. Actually, it really wasn't that bad at all. But, at the time it was. Across the street from the Wesley complex is Bunhill Fields. This is a cemetery for non-conformists, or non-Anglicans. We saw the graves of Isaac Watts (hymn writer--coincidentally, Charles Wesley, John's brother, also wrote hymns), William Blake, and Daniel Defoe (Robinson Crusoe).
We then returned home to homework. After I got a decent amount of work done, I decided to watch Wait Till Dark with Rachel, Sarryn, Carolyn, and Bethany. That movie is just so good! I was still freaking out the whole time, even though I've seen it before. Even when I knew stuff was coming, my mind was still blown!! Whoa! What a good movie! But, it is a scary movie so I'm really grateful that I have eight roommates, some of whom are light sleepers, should anything disastrous choose to occur.
Sunday 14 November 2010
Today is Remembrance Sunday so there was a memorial ceremony (WWI) at the Cenotaph (an empty memorial tomb) today. Unfortunately, it was right during church for me. However, we did have a minute of silence in Primary which was very nice. Just to think about all the men who gave their lives for their country. It was made even more poignant because of the Great War class I'm taking.
Tonight instead of a fireside we went over to Westminster Abbey before dinner to listen to an organ concert. I didn't recognize any of the music, but it was incredible. The organ was beautiful, the nave made the music even more wonderful because its full of stone and it is enormous! I really enjoyed it.
Today after classes I really wanted to do something out of the centre, but I was also worried about homework. Finally, Mandy convinced me to get out. Mandy, Bethany, Carolyn, and I went to the Courtauld Gallery in the beautiful Somerset House on the bank of the Thames. Actually, it is on Embankment, there used to be water right up to it and there is a large arch that boats used to be sailed into, to the courtyard of the Somerset House. There is now a skating rink for the Christmas season. But, personally I want to do the one in Hyde Park when they set it up. Rinks are springing up all over the city.
The Courtauld is wonderful. It is a small gallery, but with marvelous Van Goghs, Matisses, and so on. Most of the Humanities 202 class went as well for an assignment on post-Impressionism, but they haven't actually covered this movement in class yet so none of them knew what was going on. At first they were asking Mandy, because she is so smart, what the movement looks like. But she kept telling them, "I don't really know...ask Emily." So people were coming up to me and I was able to give my dissertation on post-Impressionism. I have learned one thing, people should never ask me about art because I will never be quiet. People were blown away I was even there since I don't have the class. What can I say? I'm an art geek.
Tuesday 9 November 2010
Today as soon as classes were over we (Kaitlyn, Bethany, Lauren, and I, and for a little while Mandy) decided to do our Mrs. Dalloway walk for Great War class. This takes us in the area around Westminster and St. James'. A very upscale part of town--the Dalloways were high class. Before we set off I tried to work it so that we could hit most of the sites that you should see in the St. James' area.
We walked through St. James' park, The Mall (a street), Pall Mall (another street), we toured St. James' Church, walked through the courtyard of the Royal Academy of Arts, passed Fortnum & Mason's (a high class department store), and walked down Burlington Arcade (a shopping alley with beadles who kick you out if you run, yell, or open an umbrella). As we came out of the Arcade we saw London Tiffany's and decided to go in. Lauren asked where engagement rings were, saying that Katilyn was practically engaged, and so we headed up to the 2nd floor. Lauren was able to talk shop with the man behind the counter, and while everyone in that whole place was totally on to us--four starving college kids blown in off the streets--he allowed her to try on a ring! A canary diamond Tiffany's ring! That was a cool moment.
After Tiffany's we walked up Old and then New Bond Street to Oxford Street. We passed Grovesnor Street, where the Bingleys live! From here we had an hour or so at the National Gallery where we did a Monet to Picasso tour (for the 202 class that I'm not in, but I love art!). Then we headed back to Oxford Street, all split a Belgian waffle with caramel and then walked down Regent Street a little past Hanley's Toy Store. We then proceeded to stand in the cold for an hour and a half (5 to 6:30). But, we had a good reason.
Every year they light up Regent Street to begin celebrating the holiday season. They had the West End gospel choir perform (sub par) than a girl who was on American Idol, Alexis Jordan (okay), the cast of Jersey Boys did a medley of Four Seasons songs (amazing!), and then the winner of X Factor (British American Idol) performed. Then three actors from Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader came out on stage. Georgie Hanley (Lucy), one I didn't recognize (the cousin from the book), and Ben Barnes (Prince Caspian! Ahh!) and they hit a button that lit all the lights. Magical.
Then Bethany and I ran through Regent Street and Oxford Street to get her back to the Hyde Park Chapel for a family history appointment. I was wearing small heels and that was an experience. Luckily I have heel sprinting experience. Half the people we passed were scandalized and the other half yelled encouragement as we dashed past. All in all it was a great night.
Wednesday 10 November 2010
Today our day trip started rather late, we didn't pull out until a whopping 8:30. Shocking, I know. Our fist stop was Windsor Castle. Walking up to this castle from the coach park was very exciting for me because as we passed through the train station and shopping centre I could remember it being bitterly cold and walking that same place with my family. When we got into the castle we got free audio guides and began the tour. The moat was just as lovely as I remember with plants and fountains. Then we toured the state apartments. My favorite part was Queen Mary's dollhouse. The plates in the dining room are real silver! The paintings are miniatures done by the actual artists. It was all crazy! The rooms were all very beautiful. It was neat to get a glimpse of how royalty still lives.
Our next stop was Hampton Court Palace. This was one of the favorite palaces of Henry VIII to live, a real Tudor palace. We toured Henry VIII kitchen, (so much meat) and his state apartments. That was actually pretty cool. I am so intrigued by his life, a lot of people on the program really dislike him, but I genuinely want to know more. I need to get a book about the Tudors... The gardens were also very lovely and there were so many beautiful rooms and paintings. Including one of Uncle Dave's favorites--the four gospels stoning the Pope because Henry VIII broke with Rome. I loved it all. A good day.
Thursday 11 November 2010
Happy Remembrance Day. In 1918 at 11am today the armistice of WWI was signed. Trafalgar Square had a program and two minutes of silence at 11am but I was unable to be there. I was at the family history centre all day today! All day! I got there at 10am and left at 3pm. But, I got an enormous chunk of my project done. Eliza Schofield. I could even see what boat she came on--Martin Handcart Company. Very cool I know how to work a microfilm machine now.
Then I walked to the Natural History Museum and walked around for 45 minutes and came home to do homework. I was really zoned all the rest of the day--to much computer screen staring at the family history centre. In fact, I was too tired to go to the Harry Potter 7 World Premiere. Now I have a twinge of regret, but at the same time I wouldn't have really been able to see anything and it was just a throng of people. Some girls in the group went at 3am and waited all day to see the stars. Jani held Tom Felton's (Draco Malfoy) hand! It sounds pretty neat, but at the same time, I dunno. Either way, it's over and I didn't go. The end.
Oh, no classes today--they made special allowances for Harry Potter. So, classes tomorrow and then Houses of Parliament on Saturday.
Friday 12 November 2010
After classes today Kaitlyn, Lisa, Jani, Claire, and I went to Covent Garden to try and get tickets to Lion King. However, they do not give student discounts of Friday. This is the first time that I haven't been able to get tickets the second I walk into the box office. I'm beginning to think Julie is my good luck charm in this area, because I get the best tickets and the best price whenever she is there. However, not to be daunted, Kaitlyn and I decided to do the area of Holborn and the Inns of Court today.
First we walked to the Old Curiosity Shop which survived the Great Fire of London and was made famous by Charles Dickens. Next we passed the Royal Courts of Justice, where the majority of British civil court cases are heard, the Temple (or Inns of Court) where historically lawyers and visitors to Court would stay. This was a beautiful area. To get to the Temple you have to take a small alley off of Fleet Street that actually took us a while to find. But the architecture was incredible and I was blown away that I could not hear the busy street just yards away. So peaceful. And lawyers talking about important things everywhere. Pretty neat. We tried to walk inside Temple church, but it was closed. Next we passed by Ye Olde Chesire Cheese, a pub that was frequented by both Mark Twain and Charles Dickens.
From here we visited St. Bride's, which is an incredible Christopher Wren church with the tallest spire he built. Fleet Street used to be the centre of the newspaper industry in London so this has essentially become the parish church of journalists. It was cool to see memorials to many journalists who die in the line of duty and all the old newspaper buildings along the street. We also saw the grave of the man who wrote the first novel and a copy of the novel--Pamela-- in the crypt of the church. The interior was stunning and full of light--just as a Wren church should be. We also stopped by Samuel Johnson's house--the creator of the first dictionary. Finally we walked through Lincoln's Inn Fields, Lincoln's Inn, and Lincoln's Inn Chapel which seemed like its own high class gated community. Beautiful buildings. It almost felt like dormitories for the lawyers--picture James McAvoy in Becoming Jane, where he would have lived.
While the day didn't turn out like we planned, I'd say it was very highly successful. The day culminated in a watching of Harry Potter 6. Getting ready for number 7 part 1.
Saturday 13 November 2010
This morning began with an early ride on the tube out to Westminster Palace--more commonly known as the Houses of Parliament. Because we had classes yesterday, London Study was this morning. We had a guided tour of the Houses of Parliament which was pretty cool. We saw where the Queen gets ready and her path through the palace when she opens Parliament every session. This culminates with her reading a speech in the House of Lords (the House of Commons is there too, standing and listening) but I found it quite odd that the government writes the speech (the political party in power), not her. She is so different from our President, I really doubt if she has any actual power. Just public relations and ceremony.
My favorite rooms were the House of Lords and the House of Commons. They were beautiful rooms--Gothic seen through a Victorian lens (just like the whole building is). I found it interesting that the House of Lords doesn't really make law, they can create a bill, but the House of Commons always has the last say. The Lords are mainly there as men (and women) of experience to give advice. Also, when the House of Commons votes, they do not do it by secret ballot. Everyone stands up with the ayes in a corridor to one side of the room and the nays in a corridor on the other side. Then they pass through a door back into the House of Commons through an opening only big enough for one person so they can all be counted. The theory--if everyone knows your vote, you are more likely to vote as you think best/for your constituents.
It's an interesting system, and the tour guide was proud of his country and how they do things, but at the same time, I am very very pleased to be an American. Now more than ever I want to take a tour of Congress and see just exactly how we do things in the States. I am even more excited about the way we do things across the pond--way cooler than the Brits, whatever they may say about it.
After Parliament, Katy, Julie and I headed over to St. Paul's to catch a bit of the Lord Mayor's Show. Every year a new Lord Mayor is chosen (Mayor of the City of London--not all of London, just "the City" borough) and the day after being sworn, he has a massive parade which ends at the Royal Courts of Justice and he swears allegiance to the Crown. The parade was fun, but no actual floats--just decked out lorries. I don't mean to be on a bash United Kingdom spree today, but our parades are so much cooler. Now, I want to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Back in good old America...
From here we went to John Wesley's Chapel (founded Methodism) and house and ended up getting an incredibly thorough tour from an enthusiastic guide. It was interesting information, but he just talked and talked and I was cursing John Wesley for having so many rooms in his house so that I had to hear all these minute details about them. Actually, it really wasn't that bad at all. But, at the time it was. Across the street from the Wesley complex is Bunhill Fields. This is a cemetery for non-conformists, or non-Anglicans. We saw the graves of Isaac Watts (hymn writer--coincidentally, Charles Wesley, John's brother, also wrote hymns), William Blake, and Daniel Defoe (Robinson Crusoe).
We then returned home to homework. After I got a decent amount of work done, I decided to watch Wait Till Dark with Rachel, Sarryn, Carolyn, and Bethany. That movie is just so good! I was still freaking out the whole time, even though I've seen it before. Even when I knew stuff was coming, my mind was still blown!! Whoa! What a good movie! But, it is a scary movie so I'm really grateful that I have eight roommates, some of whom are light sleepers, should anything disastrous choose to occur.
Sunday 14 November 2010
Today is Remembrance Sunday so there was a memorial ceremony (WWI) at the Cenotaph (an empty memorial tomb) today. Unfortunately, it was right during church for me. However, we did have a minute of silence in Primary which was very nice. Just to think about all the men who gave their lives for their country. It was made even more poignant because of the Great War class I'm taking.
Tonight instead of a fireside we went over to Westminster Abbey before dinner to listen to an organ concert. I didn't recognize any of the music, but it was incredible. The organ was beautiful, the nave made the music even more wonderful because its full of stone and it is enormous! I really enjoyed it.
Week Ten: London (surprise, surprise)
Monday 1 November 2010
Today is the first day of my last full month here. If that's not a scary thought, I don't know what is. Today after classes Bethany and I went to the V and A and looked at products of the Omega Workshop (associated with the Bloomsbury Group--Virgina Woolf, Vanessa Bell, etc.) and looked at exactly one painting for a Jane Austen field study. We were very busy today. Sort of an anti-climactic start to the final month. But, at the same time I got an excellent start on homework. Listened to several Beatles songs that I have never heard before (ahh, I love them so much!) and went to bed early.
Tuesday 2 November 2010
After classes Julie and I went on the Bloomsbury Walk for Great War class. We went over to the Bloomsbury district and walked around to see houses on Russel Square, Gordon Square, and other places where members of the group lived. It's a very cool area of London to walk around in, quite different from Kensington (which coincidentally is where Virginia Woolf lived when she was growing up and I live now) but I really enjoyed it. We were working around the campus of University College London and it was very exciting to see so many students around my age. I even heard some American accents.
After getting back I was a flurry of activity; fueled by Beatles songs, I powered through a vast majority of my homework. Yeah, I'm cool. Now to bed so I can be well rested for Oxford tomorrow!
Wednesday 3 November 2010
The only title appropriate for today: Banner!! Even the start of today was good because we left later than normal for our trip. Our first stop was the parish church where C. S. Lewis worshiped. I sat in the bench where he sat each week. I took a picture by his grave stone. There was even a map of Narnia at the back of the church and a Narnia etched window next to his pew. It was very beautiful. I liked seeing where he practiced his "Mere Christianity."
Our next stop was the grave of Winston Churchill. That was very neat. In keeping with a Churchill theme, we had a guided tour of Blenheim Castle, where Winston Churchill was born. The family name of the nobility here is Spencer-Churchill. As in Winston Churchill and Diana Spencer (Princess Di). They are related. Also, there is an incredible(!) sculpture of Queen Anne in marble and the largest organ in a private European residence. All in all a pretty cool house with incredibly extensive and beautiful grounds.
The main event today, however, was Oxford. We were dropped off next to Ashmolean Museum so of course this was our first stop (Katie (Willard), Julie, and I). Here I saw some of the most exquisite Pre-Raphaelite works I have ever seen. Wow! Just down the street from here is the pub the Eagle and Child where C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and other Oxford intellectuals met each Tuesday for lunch (they affectionately called the pub the Bird and Baby).
Next we walked down the road to Christ Church College. They did a lot of Harry Potter filming here, including the Great Hall. This place looked remarkably familiar to me. Why? Because this was the part of Oxford my family visited on our day trip. Excellent. At this part of our Oxford Tour Mandy and Amanda joined us. Amanda loves Harry Potter just slightly more than the average person our age (which translates into quite a lot) and therefore was having the time of her life walking around this College. The Church here is actually the world's smallest Cathedral. (And the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool is either the biggest or the second biggest cathedral. So I've seen the biggest and been inside the smallest. Ha! Top that.)
From here we walked to St. Mary the Virgin church, which is the campus chapel, and walked up to the tower, which gives the best view of Oxford. So many quads and roofs of the various colleges. Oxford University is actually a loose grouping of colleges with individual faculties, dormatories, dining halls, etc. That was clear as we looked over the city.
At this point it was just Julie and I. We walked from the church past the octagonal building of the Radcliffe Camera to the Bodleian Library in the Divinity School. Here we saw the oldest lecture hall in Oxford. Consequently, one of the oldest lecture halls ever. I got a picture of myself furiously scribbling notes in my notebook. After all, Oxford is a hard school. I'll have to work hard to keep up. This was also the room where they filmed the Hospital Wing for Harry Potter. (Poor Oxford, now they will forever be the place that Harry Potter was filmed.)
We walked from here down Broad Street and Holywell Street (we used a lot of side streets today and felt very Oxfordian. Totally fit in as students.) and bought Oxford t-shirts. Only 4 GBP. How could you not? Then we arrived at Harris Manchester College for today's main event.
Harris Manchester College is one of the newest colleges in Oxford. The president of the College gave our devotional on Sunday, telling us all how wonderful Oxford is and how we should come there to obtain second BAs with an honorary MA coming four years after that. He made it sound so amazing and so easy.... But, while we were there today, he had invited us to tour the college and to tea! In place of tea we were given Elderflower Cordial (I think, something like that) which is a sparkling non-alcoholic drink with a distinctive taste. It tastes like a flower. Like a dandelion, but better. More sugar. We also had sandwiches and cake. Stellar! In touring the college we saw their chapel, the dining hall, and where Bishop Berkeley (who helped with the beginnings of the college in the 1700s--this college is a long time coming) lived. Berkeley is a well known philosopher who argued that all reality is a result of thinking and the mind. So, the blue plaque on where he had died said: "Bishop George Berkeley, Philospher 1685-1753, is perceived to have lived and died here." Clever.
It was an incredibly remarkable day. A day in Oxford. I feel so scholarly. So educated. Oxford. Wow! I love a college town. Particularly an ancient British college town. It almost reminded me of Oxford, Ohio. But so so so much better. Ah, I loved it! So great!
Thursday 4 November 2010
Today was just classes. But tonight we went to an orchestra concert. There was a Dvorak symphony, an excerpt from the Messiah, something called the Cunning Little Vixen and Royal Fireworks Music by Handel, played by a period orchestra. The woodwinds were actually wood colored. The french horns and trumpets had no valves. (How do they play those things?) It was a genuinely excellent evening. But, the best part was that Anthony Andrews introduced the concert. Yes the Scarlet Pimpernel. Still dashing as ever and while he was more modernly dressed than Sir Percy, still every bit the sharp dressed man we know and love. That was one of the greatest parts of the concert.
Friday 5 November 2010
Happy Guy Fawkes day!
Today I got up early, packed (for reasons explained later) and headed to Westminster Abbey. Today I toured Westminster Abbey. Today I toured Westminster Abbey! I will never get tired of saying that. Our London study today was Westminster Abbey (in case you hadn't guessed that yet). Getting off the tube at Westminster I also donated a pound to something along the lines of the Wounded Warrior fund here in the UK and received a poppy to pin on my shirt for Remembrance Day (which is coming up on the 11th--the end of the Great War).
Then Kaitlyn, Mandy, Julie, Bethany, and I all took pictures and stood in line to tour Westminster Abbey. The program had given us the 12 GBP it costs to get in (and that's with a student card! hefty!). When you enter you also get a free map and audio guide. But, I will never understand why the art museums are free and I have to pay half a show ticket to tour a church. Anyway, I turned on my audio guide and the voice was Jeremy Irons! I knew this was going to be good.On top of that I had a marvelous abbey to walk through. It was wonderful.
I was able to do the full tour though I was on a bit of a time cramp (more on that later) including seeing the coronation chair, where my ancestor (!) Edward I (or Edward Longshanks--so called because he was supposedly 6' 2", a giant for his day) is buried, and the beauty of the abbey in general. I really enjoyed the cloisters, the height and expanse of the nave, and the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. However, my favorite part of the Abbey is at the East End, the chapel in the apse. This is the chapel built by Henry VII with the intention that all the Tudors be buried here. This chapel absolutely blew me away. Literally took my breath away! I could not get enough of that ceiling, and it was so open, and full of light. Pictures do not do it justice. It was beyond belief. I loved it!
Henry VII is buried here along with his wife (although Henry VIII and Jane Seymour are buried at Windsor), as is Edward VI (Henry VIII's son) and Oliver Cromwell's daughter (Cromwell was buried here for two years after his death, but with the restoration of the monarchy his remains were burned, but his favorite daughter remains here--go figure). However, my two favorite graves in this area are Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots. These two cousins have spectacular tombs, one to each side of the chapel, and seeing as how Mary spent half her life trying to kill Elizabeth, and Elizabeth actually managed to kill Mary, I want to be at Westminster when the two of them are resurrected. It should be quite the site!
Bethany and I managed to do the whole tour, but had to leave rather quickly at the end, taking our bags with us because we had a train to catch. To where you ask? Edinburgh! Yes. I spent this weekend in Edinburgh, Scotland! Bethany and I met Aunt Jo Ann, Uncle Dave, Beno, Brother and Sister Tate (Bethany's aunt and uncle), Andrew Tate, and Katie Willard (Katy Seely is incredibly sick and so Katie Willard was able to use her ticket) at King's Cross. We then took a five hour train to Scotland. The scenery was beautiful as we traveled up the east coast of the island, passing York, Durham (we could see the cathedral from the train), and Newcastle (no Wickham sightings), among other places on the way. The train ride was long, but I read about half of Mrs. Dalloway (for Great War class) on the way up. I actually liked the book. It's a little hard to understand what Virginia Woolf is arguing, but I enjoy the way she writes.
When we got off the train our first order of business was to walk to the hotel. It was just a small distance from the train station and also just off the Royal Mile, a key street ( and possibly the main street) of Edinburgh, well historic Edinburgh at any rate. After dumping our bags we walked up the Royal Mile past St. Giles' cathedral, and many other places (several tourist shops) to Edinburgh Castle. This is up on a hill overlooking the city. It was a spectacular view, despite the fog and drizzle that was quickly becoming a downpour. We stood on the castle hill for a while and enjoyed Guy Fawkes Day fireworks across the city skyline.
(For those who don't know Guy Fawkes was an upset English Catholic who attempted to blow up Parliament while King James I was there--the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. He was caught on the 5th of November with all the gunpowder under the House of Lords to blow it up and so now each year there are bonfires, he is burned in effigy all over the country, and there are fireworks.)
It started to rain very hard and so the Seelys, Andrew, and I ducked into a fish and chips shop. Aunt Jo Ann and I split fish and chips with brown sauce (coincidentally very good) back at the hotel. Then I changed into my pajamas and when Katie and Bethany got back (from Pizza Hut) we settled in to warm up, listen to the rain and fireworks outside, and ended up watching Big Business with Bette Midler.
Saturday 6 November 2010
Today began with a wonderful English breakfast: stewed tomatoes, beans, scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage all mixed together on the same plate is heaven on earth. I also tried Marmite (Vegemite in Australia) on toast. That was a mistake. How do people eat that stuff? The Tates headed off to explore Edinburgh, the Seelys hiked Arthur's seat (where Orson Pratt climbed to dedicate this land for the hearing of the gospel) and Katie, Bethany, and I walked up Prince's Street (one of the main streets) to site see on our way to a very important parish church. On our way down the street we passed by statues of great Scottish thinkers, philosophers, and writers. Including, an enormous monument to Sir Walter Scott.
At the end of the street there is St. Cuthbert's Parish Church, where my ancestor George Calder is buried. He was converted by Orson Pratt, but died before being able to travel to America (other Calders went) so we came to see his grave. However, he does not have a headstone. I had some minimal directions from Aunt Jo Ann, but we were having a hard time finding him. As I was walking around, the door to the church automatically opened and I decided to take it as a sign and went inside. In the narthex I was looking through all the pamphlets they have, trying to find a map of the graveyard because I could sort of remember from what Aunt Jo Ann had shown me that morning. One of the Reverends came up to me and asked if I had come to see the church. I told him I was looking for an ancestor of mine buried here, without a headstone, and all I knew is that he was buried near Patrick Orr (who I could not find). In his Scottish accent he invited me to sit down in the church and he would go get parish records out of the church safe. So I sat in the beautiful nave and waited. It had marvelous stained glass and I thought about my ancestors worshiping there.
Once he found the records we went back out into the narthex (foyer) and sat at a table to look through them. We found Patrick Orr and then looking at a map of the graveyard, where he was. Then he came outside with me and we looked until we found the stone for Patrick Orr. This stone is laid flat in the ground with leaves all over it, which is why I couldn't find it before. I guess I didn't look hard enough. From here, I thanked him very much and looked (as my directions said) east from the south east corner of Patrick Orr's stone--I hope at least I looked the right direction. I had found George Calder! As a matter of fact, I probably stepped on him. But, I took pictures. I felt so accomplished. I found an ancestor of mine in an actual Scottish graveyard. That was incredible!
On a family history high, Katie, Bethany and I left the churchyard and began to walk towards Edinburgh Castle. On our way we passed through a lovely Farmer's market and bought a hot chocolate to split. It had chili powder in it. Yummy! I love Scottish accents, though most of the ones we encountered weren't as strong as I was expecting. The castle was so expensive! Katie decided she'd just explore the town, but Bethany and I wanted to see the Stone of Scone (pronounced scoon) also known as the Stone of Destiny. They don't even give student discounts. What the heck.
The Stone of Scone is the pillar that Jacob slept on, had the dream about the Gate of Heaven, and then anointed with oil. Don't ask me how it got to Scotland....probably on the same boat that brought Joseph of Arimathea and Jesus to Glastonbury. When Edward I (yes, my ancestor) conquered Scotland (killed William Wallace, etc.) he took the Stone back to England and had a new coronation chair made with the Stone placed beneath the seat. This is the chair I saw at Westminster. All English monarchs since Edward I have been crowned while sitting in this chair, atop the Stone of Scone. In 1998 Elizabeth II sent it back to Scotland, with the stipulation that it return to England for future coronations. So, it's a big deal that I actually got to see it in Edinburgh. Especially because it's the day after I saw Edward I and the coronation chair. Neat, huh? We also saw the other crown jewels of Scotland while we were there.
Also in the Castle is the Royal Residence of Scotland, so Mary Queen of Scots lived here (etc.) and we even saw the room where she gave birth to James VI of Scotland--who became James I of England upon the death of his aunt Elizabeth I. There was also a wonderful war memorial dedicated to Scotsmen who died mainly in WWI, but also in all wars since. In one of the books containing all the names of the men who died, we (Bethany and I) found two Calders who had served in the Scots Guards during the Great War. Nifty.
After Edinburgh Castle we ran into a tourist shop and I purchased a lovely plaid scarf. In a giftshop in the castle they had a list of clans and what their tartans looked like and for the life of me I could not find the Calder clan, or what clan they would be part of, so I just picked a plaid pattern that I liked. I'll tell people it's from my clan. If they ask what clan, I'll say Burburry because that's what my plaid is. Brown, black, white, red, like all those Burburry models. I guess I just have expensive taste.
Next we did the National Gallery of Scotland. And I mean the whole gallery. Bethany and I saw every piece of art in that place! By this time we had to head to the train station. Before heading out to the platform we bought sandwiches and Bueno bars (an okay candy, but not one of my favorites--this was my first one. I'm experimenting) for the 5 hour train ride. (We made good time on the way up--only 4 hrs. 30 min., but this one was actually 5 hours!) Bethany and I got sandwiches with Wensleydale cheese on them. Very Wallace and Gromit. I loved it! Actually, it was also mixed with cream cheese so I don't know exactly how it tastes on its own, but it was wonderful all the same.
We saw Durham cathedral again, and it was enormous and beautiful all lit up. I also finished Mrs. Dalloway. Huzzah! It was a phenomenal trip! Absolutely first rate from start to finish! What a day!
Sunday 7 September 2010
Stake Conference today, so no playing hymns or teaching primary. Yes. But I did miss my primary kids, but I got to see a few after Stake Conference got out. Also, had a good Skype session with my family today. Because we are now all on the same timing again, now that even the States have gone through Daylight Savings
Today is the first day of my last full month here. If that's not a scary thought, I don't know what is. Today after classes Bethany and I went to the V and A and looked at products of the Omega Workshop (associated with the Bloomsbury Group--Virgina Woolf, Vanessa Bell, etc.) and looked at exactly one painting for a Jane Austen field study. We were very busy today. Sort of an anti-climactic start to the final month. But, at the same time I got an excellent start on homework. Listened to several Beatles songs that I have never heard before (ahh, I love them so much!) and went to bed early.
Tuesday 2 November 2010
After classes Julie and I went on the Bloomsbury Walk for Great War class. We went over to the Bloomsbury district and walked around to see houses on Russel Square, Gordon Square, and other places where members of the group lived. It's a very cool area of London to walk around in, quite different from Kensington (which coincidentally is where Virginia Woolf lived when she was growing up and I live now) but I really enjoyed it. We were working around the campus of University College London and it was very exciting to see so many students around my age. I even heard some American accents.
After getting back I was a flurry of activity; fueled by Beatles songs, I powered through a vast majority of my homework. Yeah, I'm cool. Now to bed so I can be well rested for Oxford tomorrow!
Wednesday 3 November 2010
The only title appropriate for today: Banner!! Even the start of today was good because we left later than normal for our trip. Our first stop was the parish church where C. S. Lewis worshiped. I sat in the bench where he sat each week. I took a picture by his grave stone. There was even a map of Narnia at the back of the church and a Narnia etched window next to his pew. It was very beautiful. I liked seeing where he practiced his "Mere Christianity."
Our next stop was the grave of Winston Churchill. That was very neat. In keeping with a Churchill theme, we had a guided tour of Blenheim Castle, where Winston Churchill was born. The family name of the nobility here is Spencer-Churchill. As in Winston Churchill and Diana Spencer (Princess Di). They are related. Also, there is an incredible(!) sculpture of Queen Anne in marble and the largest organ in a private European residence. All in all a pretty cool house with incredibly extensive and beautiful grounds.
The main event today, however, was Oxford. We were dropped off next to Ashmolean Museum so of course this was our first stop (Katie (Willard), Julie, and I). Here I saw some of the most exquisite Pre-Raphaelite works I have ever seen. Wow! Just down the street from here is the pub the Eagle and Child where C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and other Oxford intellectuals met each Tuesday for lunch (they affectionately called the pub the Bird and Baby).
Next we walked down the road to Christ Church College. They did a lot of Harry Potter filming here, including the Great Hall. This place looked remarkably familiar to me. Why? Because this was the part of Oxford my family visited on our day trip. Excellent. At this part of our Oxford Tour Mandy and Amanda joined us. Amanda loves Harry Potter just slightly more than the average person our age (which translates into quite a lot) and therefore was having the time of her life walking around this College. The Church here is actually the world's smallest Cathedral. (And the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool is either the biggest or the second biggest cathedral. So I've seen the biggest and been inside the smallest. Ha! Top that.)
From here we walked to St. Mary the Virgin church, which is the campus chapel, and walked up to the tower, which gives the best view of Oxford. So many quads and roofs of the various colleges. Oxford University is actually a loose grouping of colleges with individual faculties, dormatories, dining halls, etc. That was clear as we looked over the city.
At this point it was just Julie and I. We walked from the church past the octagonal building of the Radcliffe Camera to the Bodleian Library in the Divinity School. Here we saw the oldest lecture hall in Oxford. Consequently, one of the oldest lecture halls ever. I got a picture of myself furiously scribbling notes in my notebook. After all, Oxford is a hard school. I'll have to work hard to keep up. This was also the room where they filmed the Hospital Wing for Harry Potter. (Poor Oxford, now they will forever be the place that Harry Potter was filmed.)
We walked from here down Broad Street and Holywell Street (we used a lot of side streets today and felt very Oxfordian. Totally fit in as students.) and bought Oxford t-shirts. Only 4 GBP. How could you not? Then we arrived at Harris Manchester College for today's main event.
Harris Manchester College is one of the newest colleges in Oxford. The president of the College gave our devotional on Sunday, telling us all how wonderful Oxford is and how we should come there to obtain second BAs with an honorary MA coming four years after that. He made it sound so amazing and so easy.... But, while we were there today, he had invited us to tour the college and to tea! In place of tea we were given Elderflower Cordial (I think, something like that) which is a sparkling non-alcoholic drink with a distinctive taste. It tastes like a flower. Like a dandelion, but better. More sugar. We also had sandwiches and cake. Stellar! In touring the college we saw their chapel, the dining hall, and where Bishop Berkeley (who helped with the beginnings of the college in the 1700s--this college is a long time coming) lived. Berkeley is a well known philosopher who argued that all reality is a result of thinking and the mind. So, the blue plaque on where he had died said: "Bishop George Berkeley, Philospher 1685-1753, is perceived to have lived and died here." Clever.
It was an incredibly remarkable day. A day in Oxford. I feel so scholarly. So educated. Oxford. Wow! I love a college town. Particularly an ancient British college town. It almost reminded me of Oxford, Ohio. But so so so much better. Ah, I loved it! So great!
Thursday 4 November 2010
Today was just classes. But tonight we went to an orchestra concert. There was a Dvorak symphony, an excerpt from the Messiah, something called the Cunning Little Vixen and Royal Fireworks Music by Handel, played by a period orchestra. The woodwinds were actually wood colored. The french horns and trumpets had no valves. (How do they play those things?) It was a genuinely excellent evening. But, the best part was that Anthony Andrews introduced the concert. Yes the Scarlet Pimpernel. Still dashing as ever and while he was more modernly dressed than Sir Percy, still every bit the sharp dressed man we know and love. That was one of the greatest parts of the concert.
Friday 5 November 2010
Happy Guy Fawkes day!
Today I got up early, packed (for reasons explained later) and headed to Westminster Abbey. Today I toured Westminster Abbey. Today I toured Westminster Abbey! I will never get tired of saying that. Our London study today was Westminster Abbey (in case you hadn't guessed that yet). Getting off the tube at Westminster I also donated a pound to something along the lines of the Wounded Warrior fund here in the UK and received a poppy to pin on my shirt for Remembrance Day (which is coming up on the 11th--the end of the Great War).
Then Kaitlyn, Mandy, Julie, Bethany, and I all took pictures and stood in line to tour Westminster Abbey. The program had given us the 12 GBP it costs to get in (and that's with a student card! hefty!). When you enter you also get a free map and audio guide. But, I will never understand why the art museums are free and I have to pay half a show ticket to tour a church. Anyway, I turned on my audio guide and the voice was Jeremy Irons! I knew this was going to be good.On top of that I had a marvelous abbey to walk through. It was wonderful.
I was able to do the full tour though I was on a bit of a time cramp (more on that later) including seeing the coronation chair, where my ancestor (!) Edward I (or Edward Longshanks--so called because he was supposedly 6' 2", a giant for his day) is buried, and the beauty of the abbey in general. I really enjoyed the cloisters, the height and expanse of the nave, and the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. However, my favorite part of the Abbey is at the East End, the chapel in the apse. This is the chapel built by Henry VII with the intention that all the Tudors be buried here. This chapel absolutely blew me away. Literally took my breath away! I could not get enough of that ceiling, and it was so open, and full of light. Pictures do not do it justice. It was beyond belief. I loved it!
Henry VII is buried here along with his wife (although Henry VIII and Jane Seymour are buried at Windsor), as is Edward VI (Henry VIII's son) and Oliver Cromwell's daughter (Cromwell was buried here for two years after his death, but with the restoration of the monarchy his remains were burned, but his favorite daughter remains here--go figure). However, my two favorite graves in this area are Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots. These two cousins have spectacular tombs, one to each side of the chapel, and seeing as how Mary spent half her life trying to kill Elizabeth, and Elizabeth actually managed to kill Mary, I want to be at Westminster when the two of them are resurrected. It should be quite the site!
Bethany and I managed to do the whole tour, but had to leave rather quickly at the end, taking our bags with us because we had a train to catch. To where you ask? Edinburgh! Yes. I spent this weekend in Edinburgh, Scotland! Bethany and I met Aunt Jo Ann, Uncle Dave, Beno, Brother and Sister Tate (Bethany's aunt and uncle), Andrew Tate, and Katie Willard (Katy Seely is incredibly sick and so Katie Willard was able to use her ticket) at King's Cross. We then took a five hour train to Scotland. The scenery was beautiful as we traveled up the east coast of the island, passing York, Durham (we could see the cathedral from the train), and Newcastle (no Wickham sightings), among other places on the way. The train ride was long, but I read about half of Mrs. Dalloway (for Great War class) on the way up. I actually liked the book. It's a little hard to understand what Virginia Woolf is arguing, but I enjoy the way she writes.
When we got off the train our first order of business was to walk to the hotel. It was just a small distance from the train station and also just off the Royal Mile, a key street ( and possibly the main street) of Edinburgh, well historic Edinburgh at any rate. After dumping our bags we walked up the Royal Mile past St. Giles' cathedral, and many other places (several tourist shops) to Edinburgh Castle. This is up on a hill overlooking the city. It was a spectacular view, despite the fog and drizzle that was quickly becoming a downpour. We stood on the castle hill for a while and enjoyed Guy Fawkes Day fireworks across the city skyline.
(For those who don't know Guy Fawkes was an upset English Catholic who attempted to blow up Parliament while King James I was there--the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. He was caught on the 5th of November with all the gunpowder under the House of Lords to blow it up and so now each year there are bonfires, he is burned in effigy all over the country, and there are fireworks.)
It started to rain very hard and so the Seelys, Andrew, and I ducked into a fish and chips shop. Aunt Jo Ann and I split fish and chips with brown sauce (coincidentally very good) back at the hotel. Then I changed into my pajamas and when Katie and Bethany got back (from Pizza Hut) we settled in to warm up, listen to the rain and fireworks outside, and ended up watching Big Business with Bette Midler.
Saturday 6 November 2010
Today began with a wonderful English breakfast: stewed tomatoes, beans, scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage all mixed together on the same plate is heaven on earth. I also tried Marmite (Vegemite in Australia) on toast. That was a mistake. How do people eat that stuff? The Tates headed off to explore Edinburgh, the Seelys hiked Arthur's seat (where Orson Pratt climbed to dedicate this land for the hearing of the gospel) and Katie, Bethany, and I walked up Prince's Street (one of the main streets) to site see on our way to a very important parish church. On our way down the street we passed by statues of great Scottish thinkers, philosophers, and writers. Including, an enormous monument to Sir Walter Scott.
At the end of the street there is St. Cuthbert's Parish Church, where my ancestor George Calder is buried. He was converted by Orson Pratt, but died before being able to travel to America (other Calders went) so we came to see his grave. However, he does not have a headstone. I had some minimal directions from Aunt Jo Ann, but we were having a hard time finding him. As I was walking around, the door to the church automatically opened and I decided to take it as a sign and went inside. In the narthex I was looking through all the pamphlets they have, trying to find a map of the graveyard because I could sort of remember from what Aunt Jo Ann had shown me that morning. One of the Reverends came up to me and asked if I had come to see the church. I told him I was looking for an ancestor of mine buried here, without a headstone, and all I knew is that he was buried near Patrick Orr (who I could not find). In his Scottish accent he invited me to sit down in the church and he would go get parish records out of the church safe. So I sat in the beautiful nave and waited. It had marvelous stained glass and I thought about my ancestors worshiping there.
Once he found the records we went back out into the narthex (foyer) and sat at a table to look through them. We found Patrick Orr and then looking at a map of the graveyard, where he was. Then he came outside with me and we looked until we found the stone for Patrick Orr. This stone is laid flat in the ground with leaves all over it, which is why I couldn't find it before. I guess I didn't look hard enough. From here, I thanked him very much and looked (as my directions said) east from the south east corner of Patrick Orr's stone--I hope at least I looked the right direction. I had found George Calder! As a matter of fact, I probably stepped on him. But, I took pictures. I felt so accomplished. I found an ancestor of mine in an actual Scottish graveyard. That was incredible!
On a family history high, Katie, Bethany and I left the churchyard and began to walk towards Edinburgh Castle. On our way we passed through a lovely Farmer's market and bought a hot chocolate to split. It had chili powder in it. Yummy! I love Scottish accents, though most of the ones we encountered weren't as strong as I was expecting. The castle was so expensive! Katie decided she'd just explore the town, but Bethany and I wanted to see the Stone of Scone (pronounced scoon) also known as the Stone of Destiny. They don't even give student discounts. What the heck.
The Stone of Scone is the pillar that Jacob slept on, had the dream about the Gate of Heaven, and then anointed with oil. Don't ask me how it got to Scotland....probably on the same boat that brought Joseph of Arimathea and Jesus to Glastonbury. When Edward I (yes, my ancestor) conquered Scotland (killed William Wallace, etc.) he took the Stone back to England and had a new coronation chair made with the Stone placed beneath the seat. This is the chair I saw at Westminster. All English monarchs since Edward I have been crowned while sitting in this chair, atop the Stone of Scone. In 1998 Elizabeth II sent it back to Scotland, with the stipulation that it return to England for future coronations. So, it's a big deal that I actually got to see it in Edinburgh. Especially because it's the day after I saw Edward I and the coronation chair. Neat, huh? We also saw the other crown jewels of Scotland while we were there.
Also in the Castle is the Royal Residence of Scotland, so Mary Queen of Scots lived here (etc.) and we even saw the room where she gave birth to James VI of Scotland--who became James I of England upon the death of his aunt Elizabeth I. There was also a wonderful war memorial dedicated to Scotsmen who died mainly in WWI, but also in all wars since. In one of the books containing all the names of the men who died, we (Bethany and I) found two Calders who had served in the Scots Guards during the Great War. Nifty.
After Edinburgh Castle we ran into a tourist shop and I purchased a lovely plaid scarf. In a giftshop in the castle they had a list of clans and what their tartans looked like and for the life of me I could not find the Calder clan, or what clan they would be part of, so I just picked a plaid pattern that I liked. I'll tell people it's from my clan. If they ask what clan, I'll say Burburry because that's what my plaid is. Brown, black, white, red, like all those Burburry models. I guess I just have expensive taste.
Next we did the National Gallery of Scotland. And I mean the whole gallery. Bethany and I saw every piece of art in that place! By this time we had to head to the train station. Before heading out to the platform we bought sandwiches and Bueno bars (an okay candy, but not one of my favorites--this was my first one. I'm experimenting) for the 5 hour train ride. (We made good time on the way up--only 4 hrs. 30 min., but this one was actually 5 hours!) Bethany and I got sandwiches with Wensleydale cheese on them. Very Wallace and Gromit. I loved it! Actually, it was also mixed with cream cheese so I don't know exactly how it tastes on its own, but it was wonderful all the same.
We saw Durham cathedral again, and it was enormous and beautiful all lit up. I also finished Mrs. Dalloway. Huzzah! It was a phenomenal trip! Absolutely first rate from start to finish! What a day!
Sunday 7 September 2010
Stake Conference today, so no playing hymns or teaching primary. Yes. But I did miss my primary kids, but I got to see a few after Stake Conference got out. Also, had a good Skype session with my family today. Because we are now all on the same timing again, now that even the States have gone through Daylight Savings
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