Lon-Done: And Everything in Between

   Have you ever seen The Big Bang Theory or How I Met Your Mother?  They happen to be two of my favorite sitcoms, and they are both highly recommended.  You might think that on my whirlwind tour of London I’ve had little time for such mundane things as watching TV, but you’d be wrong.  Our flat is equipped with a rather large flat screen and we get upward of 70 channels; several of which play exclusively US television shows.  It’s a good bet that at any given time of day you’ll find repeats of one of the shows mentioned above playing.  We take bets as to which one will be on before we turn the set on in the flat.

   “Emily!” You might say, “How can you think of wasting your time on TV when you have the wonderful city of London at your doorstep?!”  Well, I might reply, I’ve been walking up and down the wonderful city of London all day.  Despite my excitement about where I am and the wonderful things I’m doing on a daily basis, the tedious necessities of everyday life intrude.  These necessities include things like grocery shopping, laundry, and after a big day of exploring the city putting my feet up and watching a little TV.

  We have a little grocery store just down the street called Sainsbury’s.  My favorite purchase so far has been a candy called Penguins (called Tim Tams in Australia) which are delicious.  But don’t worry, Mom, the produce is extremely fresh and I get at least two fruits every time I go.  It’s been interesting actually living here.  I’m not just a tourist when I cook my own meals and buy paper products for my flat.

  Today is my last day in London.  Tomorrow morning I’ll be off to Ireland to meet my parents for a 4 day tour.  It's certainly exciting, but I’m going to miss London.  As you may have deduced from all the gushing in my previous blog posts, I’ve had a great time here and am so happy I came.  I’ll try to keep blogging through my Ireland adventures, but I’m not certain when I’ll have WiFi.  I’ll at least do a big post about the trip once I get back to the States so stay tuned!  Thanks for following along on my London adventures.  I’m glad I could share them with you!   Cheers!

A Day in Paris

   As this is a free weekend, many of the others in the group remained in Paris for the weekend.  Since I had my own Paris adventure last fall, I elected to return to London for my last few days here.  But while I prefer London overall as a city, it is a thing universally acknowledged that the most delicious food is to be found in France.  And let me assure you, I acknowledged this fact heartily in the one day I was there.  Unfortunately, I didn’t stop at any pâtisseries for pastries, though I did slobber on the windows of Ladurée at one point.  What I did do was heartily enjoy a three course meal at a restaurant called Chez Francis, complete with view of the Eiffel Tower!

My view, featuring (from left) Liz, Katie, Brandy, and Melissa

(back row) Eiffel Tower

   This was paid for by the program, so it was all the more enjoyable; I didn’t even have to order, I just sat down and they started putting amazing food in front of me.  My kind of restaurant.  We started with the most delicious bread; I ate too much of it but don’t regret it for a moment.  Then we were served an odd looking salad which had mixed reviews down the table but I ate every bite.

  More bread.  Then the chicken course with the best mashed potatoes I’ve ever eaten.  Even better than my dad’s and my grandmother’s recipes, which is saying something.  It could have had something to do with the pools of butter.  By this time I was full.  Not the “oh, that was good” kind of full but the “I’m positive I can’t shove another bite down because there’s no more room” kind of full.  Then they brought out the crème brûlée.

Who could say “no” to that?  So I soldiered on, and, boy, was it worth it.  My flatmate Callie Ann joked that she wouldn’t need to spend any more money on food while she was in Paris because that one meal was going to last her the whole weekend, and at the time it seemed very reasonable.

   Despite everyone wanting a nap after this delectable overindulgence, we spent the rest of the day walking around Paris and seeing the many wonderful sights.

We climbed to the top of the Arc de Triomphe

 

Strolled along the Champs-Élysées

 

Walked under the Eiffel Tower (I’ve yet to travel to the top of this monument, despite three separate trips to Paris; some day)

 

Saw Notre Dame

 

Took a boat tour along the Seine

And finally had a whirlwind tour of the Louvre before those of us returning to London that night had to catch our train.

  By the time I got back to the flat it was close to midnight and I had been up for 20 hours straight, having awakened at 4am to catch an early train.  Overall a very full (in more ways than one) and fun day.

Picture taken by fellow Seine cruiser Mike, with Harry Everhart's camera.

The Play's the Thing

   I’ve been to maybe three professional theatre productions in the United States.  In my life.  If I include amateur shows that number goes up to a more respectable number, but I really don’t have the time, access, money, or inclination to go to the theatre at home.  In the past three weeks I’ve been to four professional shows in London.  Four!  And they’ve all been spectacular.  Plus, I plan on going to one more before I leave this great city (in just 3 short days!). 





I saw Wicked and Billy Elliot with my program.


(Thanks to Dr. Everhart and Cara for use of their pictures.)

Also, to Singin’ in the Rain with three others in our group.

And tonight I traveled to Piccadilly Circus (not actually a circus, this is what Englanders call a roundabout or a traffic circle—though there were so many people milling about one could call it a circus) and saw The 39 Steps on my own.

  I’ve seen a recent BBC version of this story and loved it.  A film I highly recommend, and the reason I thought I’d enjoy this play.  Then I heard that four actors play all the roles—all 130 roles—and that it was hilarious.  Add the great deal I could get as a student and I had my Saturday night.  So I went an hour before the show opened and got my discounted, last-minute ticket and wandered a bit before going to find my seat . . . which was second row, dead center.  The Criterion Theatre is a fairly small theatre, but still.

   With only four actors playing all the roles, they pretty much had to make a big joke of it, and they did it superbly.  For example, during a scene one actor had three hats (literally: bowler hat, police helmet, newsboy’s cap) and he quickly switched between them, having a conversation with himself.  Really funny.  Obviously they all had to have a great amount of energy.  Also, they made several references to Hitchcock, since the original 39 Steps was his.  References I picked up were Vertigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Psycho, North by Northwest, and Rear Window.
   Plus, I was part of the play!  For those of you who don’t know the story, there’s a part where the main character, Richard, is mistaken for a guest speaker at a political rally and to avoid the police he goes along with it.  He starts talking about the state of the country and at one point says “Is that the kind of life we want?” The actor paused for a long time, then said again “Well, is it?”  He was obviously waiting for an answer, so I said “No!”  And he said “Thank you!”!  Then he smiled and winked at me (I doubt he could actually see me with the lights, but still).  I should probably mention this actor strongly resembles the looks and manner of Cary Elwes, à la Princess Bride.

   Well, from how I’ve run on you can probably tell it was great fun!  And I’ve come away from all four shows with just about the same enthusiasm.  It’s enough to make me plan more trips to the city when I’m back in the States so I can see more great theatre productions.  Who wants to come with me?

Emily Goes to the British Library!

   Today was our trip to the British Library.  As you can imagine, this is a destination that went over well with our group.  While there was a little trouble with getting my own “Reader’s Pass” (to be remedied this weekend), this didn’t detract at all from the trip.  Without even getting past the first couple floors we had a great visit.  The British Library runs on a closed-stacks system, which means you don’t just browse the shelves, but need to request the item you want and it will be retrieved for you.  The Library is the world’s largest library (in terms of the number of items it owns), and while there are floors beneath the already huge building, many of these items are housed off-site.

   What was so exciting to this librarian were the exhibits of ancient and famous books and manuscripts on display.  In the “Treasures” room were carefully preserved items such as illuminated manuscripts from centuries past.  Some really timeworn yet well-preserved books.  Some examples include the Gutenberg Bible, Shakespeare’s first folio, Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks, and two exemplars of the Magna Carta.  Amazing, right?  And these are just a few of the many items permanently on display.  There was also an exhibit which focused on the use of land in English literature called “Wastelands to Wonderlands.”  Here I found interesting stories behind uses of the land in literature like how the “Winnie the Pooh” stories by A.A. Milne represents the English countryside as an idyllic play land when it is bare of tourists and picnickers.  And, of course, Charles Dickens was highlighted for his use of the city for his backdrops; representing both the city’s greatest joys and gloomiest tragedies.  Of course, original printings and often the notes of the authors were on display.  Perhaps my favorite aspect of this display were these drafts, almost all of which were in the authors’ own hand, and the red pen used liberally.  It made me think of the process of writing.  I love to read, I love books, but when a story finally gets to me, it is in its final stage.  The author has brought it to some sense of completion (though I’ve read quotes from authors who say they are never done with a novel) and it will not change from that.  Because of this I often overlook the work that goes into writing.  The words don’t come streaming out in their final form; books are often edited tens of times-- and perhaps more, what do I know about the book-writing process?  So it was a fascinating reminder to me to see these drafts which show the work that goes into this, my favorite artistic process.  Just the change of one word, for example, in a book called The Owl Service by Alan Garner makes a difference.  In one scene he had started with a quote from a character as this: “I feel it, look at this sick valley, Gwyn.  Empty farms, poor land.”  And with a red pen and several cross outs and additions ended up with: “I’ve felt it but couldn’t put it into words like you can; look at this sick valley, Gwyn.  Tumble-down buildings, rough land.”  Thinking about this process is of great interest to me, and contemplating how a slightly different word can change a passage is the kind of thing that makes me happy.  So thank you, British Library!

   I’m off to an early bed tonight as we’re meeting at 4:30 AM tomorrow to catch the Eurostar to Paris.  Some things are just worth 4:30AM.  Paris qualifies.  À bientôt!

What can I get for ya, luv?

   During the day I’m mostly talking to the other women in my class.  We have a great group of 12 women from all over the US, a range of ages and backgrounds, and we have great fun together.  But it’s always fun to interact with people who actually live and work in London.  From buying groceries to shopping in a tourist attraction store, the people who work in the shops are who I usually interact with.  A common thing for informal meetings is to call people “love.”  Many times I’ve heard variations of “What can I get for ya, luv?” and “Here ya go, luv.”  I think this is great.  In the US we do a similar thing.  Nicknames for people you don’t know can range from “dear” to “buddy.”  But there’s something about the “love” that’s so cheerful and friendly.  I’m not saying I’m going to start using it, but if you ever get the chance to travel to England keep an ear open for its use.
  Other natives I’ve been talking to are often guides or museum employees.  We’ve had one dud as a guide, probably because it was a dreary Sunday and his frivolity rubbed us the wrong way.  Other than that, the Blue Badge guides from the Guild of Registered Tourist Guides are amazing.  They are phenomenally knowledgeable and engaging.  Hugh (who showed us around Westminster Abbey) and Patrick (our Salisbury and Stonehenge guide) were great and I’m blown away by all that they know of the history of England.  Tony, our driver to and from Salisbury, was great, as well.  It’s nice, too, that they live in the places they are telling us about.  I could research and learn about the history they are telling us, but they have a connection with their subjects and that makes a positive difference for us, the tourists.

  Another notable local interaction I’ve had is with Richard, who works at Kensington Palace.  Katie, Kristen, Callie Ann, and I were wandering through the King’s rooms when we spotted a table with a deck of cards on it.  Naturally we sat down and I started shuffling.  All of a sudden Richard sat down and said “What are we playing, then?”  As I stated, our group of 12 women has mostly been spending time with each other, so when a handsome young British man dressed formally in a coat with tails sits down and asks what we’re playing, we were delighted.  For a half hour we played “Go Fish” and chatted about what we were doing in London.  Unfortunately we had to meet up with our group at that point, so we said our goodbyes, but it was a great memory to add to my time here.

A decoration hanging from the ceiling in Kensington Palace.

Mucking About at Stonehenge (Literally)

     For a nation with such a huge history, England is quite a small country; geographically speaking, England is comparable to New England.  Today was a day trip to Salisbury which is southwest of London, almost to Bath.  Once we fought our way out of London traffic it took us two hours to get there.  A fairly quick trip for going over half way across the country.  The town of Salisbury is what I’d call quaint, with really lovely countryside and houses.  Because of the magnificent Salisbury Cathedral (which houses the best preserved Magna Carta exemplar) and the proximity of Stonehenge it does attract many tourists, though not as many as Oxford, as far as I could see.  The Cathedral, first of all, is the best example of gothic architecture in the country.  It is a truly impressive building.

   Our guide, Patrick, took us around and we learned some fascinating bits of history attached to the town and church.  For example, the flag (or “colours”) that was carried at the fore of the English soldiers who burned down the White House during the War of 1812 is at this cathedral.  It is rather worse for wear, though.

It's the one on the left that you can see through.

  After a bit of lunch around the town we were off to Stonehenge.  I’ve been before, but last time I didn’t have Patrick.  Patrick started our tour by marching us away from the ancient stone structure into a field of sheep.  We had to mind our step carefully due to the sheep’s leavings; this is where the "mucking" from the post title comes in.  From this direction we not only had a tremendous view but learned about how the ancient people who constructed Stonehenge would have approached this ceremonial ground and then we took the same trail they would have 4,000 years ago.  What an experience!  Plus, the lambs were darling.

   Stonehenge really is a fascinating place, all the more so because despite the amount of research and archaeological work that has gone into this site, we still have very vague ideas about not only the why of Stonehenge, but also the when!

  Our photo assignment for the day was the trickiest yet: a story in five pictures.  As we all learned, this takes some planning, but the results can be quite fun.  I chose to look at the entire day, from leaving in the morning- all excited, to the cathedral, to taking a peek at a famous singer's house, to Stonehenge, and ending with everyone’s exhausted faces at the end of the day.  Thanks to the lovely weather and Patrick’s great guiding, this may have been my favorite trip so far!

How Not to Travel in London, Or, Digital Video Project

   My time in London is moving very quickly, too quickly for my liking, but that means assignments are coming due.  Here is one that my group (Kristen and Chelsea) and I had a lot of fun making.  Not only will you get a good laugh, but you might learn something about getting around London.  Enjoy!

Afternoon Tea

   For many years I was firm in my dislike of tea.  Just hot water with just enough taste to make you realize it’s bland.  Unfortunately, I think I was basing this on one bad tea experience.  Slowly I came to assent to a cup of black tea with just the right amount of milk and sugar.  This was mostly because of a trip to Spain where I had the perfect cup of English Breakfast Tea.  Odd, I know.  Eventually I came to favor green tea as well, and now I willingly admit to being a tea-drinker.  I tell you this rather insipid chronicle because after today I am an enthusiastic proponent of the English tradition of afternoon tea.  Today we traveled through Kensington Gardens, toured Kensington Palace, and then had an English Orangery Afternoon Tea.

   This included tea (of course) as well as finger sandwiches, scones, cakes, and fruit tartlets.  The tea, first of all, was nothing like the kind of tea I’ve had before.  This isn’t tea from a bag but actual tea leaves steeped in our own teapot.  Some of us may have committed a faux pas and started pouring our tea before the waiters handed out the strainers.  Americans!  But it was still delicious.  And the finger foods were very dainty and scrumptious.  Beyond the taste, presentation is a vital part of this lovely tradition.

  Not only do the plate trees make for a nice arrangement, but they save a lot of space.  We each had our own and with everyone having their own teapots, as well, the table was already a bit crowded.  Overall, this experience is one of my favorites so far.  Afternoon tea is an experience steeped in tradition, and delicious to boot.  Cheers!

Transported

   This weekend has been fairly quiet for me.  We had two days off in a row and Saturday was devoted to homework; though I did take a break that night to treat myself to some gelato.

   Today held a bit more excitement as I walked to Covent Garden and visited the London Transport Museum.  This is a really fun museum where visitors can explore the history of transportation in London.  In order to reach the beginning of the exhibit you take an elevator back in time!  Check it out.

 

   It was very interesting to see how transportation has evolved over 200 years.  I was especially struck by what a large role horses played before engines.  It seems obvious, but it’s something I've never really thought of before.  From hackneys to the omnibus, London really was run on horse power.  I learned that by 1900 London’s public transport relied on more than 50,000 horses.  These horses all had to be cared for: housed, groomed, fed, doctored, etc.  Apparently it was a common sight to see a horse collapse in its harness in the middle of the street.  And can you imagine the “exhaust”?  Every day the horses produced more than 1000 tons of dung.  Because of this there were workers, often young boys who lived on the streets, who were paid (very little) to clean the streets behind the many carts and carriages.

  As the population of London exploded, so did the perimeter of the city.  More and more people needed a way to get where they needed to be.  Innovations to solve this problem included the underground (the first in the world) and eventually the motorized busses.  One of the other fascinating things for me were the many ideas people came up with to help the problem of overcrowded transportation.

What do you think?  Would it work?

  Transportation in London is very important, and is ever improving.  The new Crossrail system is currently being constructed and expected to be completed in 2018.  There is always something better around the corner!

And Now, For Something Completely Different

   As many of you know, my older sister Michelle is celebrating a birthday soon.  She'll be getting a proper gift when I get back, but for now I'm dedicating my latest assignment to her in honor of her love of food.  Enjoy!

Better Never than Late

   Here's what I love about London: everything is on time.  When we arrived at Paddington Station to catch our train to Oxford yesterday we were warned not to wander too far before the train left because when the schedule says an 8:22AM departure you can be certain that the train is moving out of the station at 8:22AM.  This prompt service goes for the underground and busses, as well. Just this morning I was standing outside of the Palace Theatre Box Office, waiting to get "day of" tickets for "Singin' in the Rain," and the doors were unlocked right on time, exactly at 10AM.  The efficiency of the system in London is especially noticeable because while I walk most places, I depend on the public transportation system.  For our day trips we need to get to our destinations easily and efficiently in order to have plenty of time to spend there, or to arrive in time for a scheduled tour.  So far we haven't been let down!

And now please enjoy this little memento from Paddington Station!

[Post title quote from George Bernard Shaw.]

A Day in Oxford

   I’ve talked about how much I love the omnipresence of history in London.  Now let’s talk about the living history of Oxford!  Many of the places we see as visitors to London we go to with the goal of seeing—please excuse my ineloquence—something old.  They are destinations with the purpose of teaching and showing historic events and places.  Basically this means those of us with maps in our back pockets and cameras around our necks shuffle past artifacts that are housed behind glass while reading plaques or listening to tour guides.  While I’m reluctant to play this part, I do enjoy the trips we’re taking in this class and find the artifacts and facts behind them fascinating.  But Oxford is a working piece of history. 

The ceiling of the room directly beneath the Bodleian Library

  Today we went to the city of Oxford and toured several amazing places.  First, the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford.  This is, of course, of particular interest to me and everyone in the group because we are all in the process of getting our Masters in Library and Information Science.  The Bodleian Library dates from 1602 (though it assimilated an earlier form of the library) and the building it is housed in dates back to the early 12^th century.  The buildings of Oxford University are impressive in themselves, the story of how this early library came about is amazing to learn, but my favorite part was that it is a working library.  You have to have certain permissions to enter and use the books, of course, but as we were being taken on a tour (no pictures allowed, unfortunately) students and scholars were using the reading rooms and going in and out.  Can you imagine being such a part of that history?!

  [I apologize for the excessive use of exclamation points in the following section;

it was a pretty exciting place.]

   Then we were off to the Story Museum.  Oh my goodness.  This is an absolutely brilliant project which does mostly visits to schools to promote literacy and oral storytelling traditions, and they have plans for their unfinished museum which are fantastic.  Right now the museum is partly done, but there are a couple exhibits that are roughly done and they are absolutely amazing.

   In the first you follow the tale of the creation of the “Storyloom” which was a machine that ran off of children’s imagination.  The made up story was clever, silly, delightful, and claimed that the Storyloom is responsible for the creation of the Alice in Wonderland series.  Lewis Carroll (real name Charles Dodgson) went to school at Christ Church and lived in Oxford when he wrote his famous tales.  Other famous authors from Oxford are J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Philip Pullman (who our guide casually mentioned she was friends with!!!).  Anyway, back to the Story Museum.  After going through the delightfully decorated story path and reading the tale you could draw pictures or write about what inspired you to write (I added “What if . . .?” to the wall).  What fun to be a part of this place for future visitors to see!  The next exhibit showed the artwork of artists around the world depicting scenes from Alice in Wonderland.  And at the end of this was a "tea room" with . . . well it really can’t be appreciated with just words.  Take a look!

There is mulch on the floor, and a hat attached to each seat!

Fun, right?  Check out the FSU Multimedia 2012 Facebook page for a group shot of the class sitting down to tea.  This was really a wonderful place, and my goal is to someday visit again when it is finished.  The best part was that this wasn’t just a place where you slowly walked around and admired things on display (which I enjoyed doing today, too, at the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology), but it’s a center of imaginative learning and interactive fun!

   Finally, we made our way to Christ Church.  Now, I know “church” is part of the name but this is actually a school.  This is so because (as we learned today) the church was the educational system in medieval times. Young men were sent to be educated by the clergy, and many of the churches (especially in Oxford) eventually turned into what we today call universities.  This also means that there are fantastically designed cathedrals within the schools.

Some of you Harry Potter fans might recognize the name Christ Church as the filming location for some of the scenes from the movies.  For example, the great hall.

    Incredibly huge and impressive.  But, again, this is an active university.  Many, many tourists go through here daily, but the great hall is sometimes closed because  it is in use by the students who eat their meals there.  This kind of connection with hundreds of years of tradition astonishes me.  Can you imagine eating, walking, learning, living in an institution that was founded in the 1500s?!  Clearly this made an impact on me, and I love Oxford for the example it sets of living in history.

And here's an example to show that the center of London has its moments, too.

The Olympics in London

    For my most recent assignment, a podcast, I looked into the history of the Olympics in London.  As you may know, the 2012 Olympics are being held in London this summer!  The city, I can assure you, is very aware that the Games are approaching and the signs are everywhere.

Enjoy the history of the London Olympics!

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Musical Attribution:

"Olympic Fanfare and Theme" Boston Pops Orchestra and John Williams, 1987

Secret Mixter Selections March 2010 (Various Artists [ccMixter]) / CC BY-NC 3.0

Rain, Rain, Don't Go Away!

    This is what I love about London: the rain.  Is that wrong?  I don’t think so.  My love of rain (specifically, rainy days) began long ago.  Like any good mother, my mom would often tell us “Go outside and play!” when the sun was shining.  Don’t get me wrong, I love being outdoors, but the books are inside.  A rainy day means quiet indoor activities, without the guilt of "wasting" a nice day, and to me quiet indoor activities means reading.  A day with terrible weather means guilt free reading time! But enough about my psychologically driven antisocial behavior.  Why would I love rainy days when I’m walking around in it all day?  Good question, and a relevant one right now while I’m wandering around the streets of London during the rainiest summer in recorded history.  Keep in mind, London has an extensive recorded history.  I’ve yet to be here a full day without a few rainstorms.  The odd thing is, there might be a fierce downpour for five minutes, then I’ve just dug out my jacket and arranged my backpack again when it suddenly stops and the sun is shining bright again.  Today, especially, was full of these little, damp surprises interspersed in an otherwise lovely day.  This was a bit unfortunate because we climbed to the top of Primrose Hill and flew kites, just as they did in “Mary Poppins.”  We were interrupted quite quickly with one of our regular cloudbursts, but it was still great fun!  Luckily, there was a school group of youngsters there who sang the rain away with a rousing rendition of “Rain, rain, go away,” and we were able to get the kites flying once again.  I haven't flown a kite in years, I realized, which is a sad thing because I’d forgotten how fun it is!  I’m assigning everyone a homework assignment:

1. Dig out your kite (I know you have one somewhere, and if you don’t, go get one!)
2. Find an open field
3. Go fly a kite!

 The rain was a bit of a nuisance, too, while we were exploring Regent's Park (my old stomping ground!) with a photography focus of flowers.  I still managed to get some awesome shots, though, and am having a hard time picking my favorite!

  See my problem?  I just wish I could capture the beautiful aromas of these flowers as easily as I did the images.

  At the end of the day, I had the thrill of flying a kite, saw and smelled some beautiful things, and took in even more of this great city.  And I still love the rain.