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.