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!