A Not So Lazy Saturday

Hello All! I had the time of my life yesterday.  Here's a little poem, maybe you can guess where I went? 

"If you cannot understand my argument, and declare ``It's Greek to me'', you are quoting Shakespeare; if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you recall your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you act more in sorrow than in anger; if your wish is farther to the thought; if your lost property has vanished into thin air, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from green-eyed jealousy, if you have played fast and loose, if you have been tongue-tied, a tower of strength, hoodwinked or in a pickle, if you have knitted your brows, made a virtue of necessity, insisted on fair play, slept not one wink, stood on ceremony, danced attendance (on your lord and master), laughed yourself into stitches, had short shrift, cold comfort or too much of a good thing, if you have seen better days or lived in a fool's paradise -why, be that as it may, the more fool you , for it is a foregone conclusion that you are (as good luck would have it) quoting Shakespeare; if you think it is early days and clear out bag and baggage, if you think it is high time and that that is the long and short of it, if you believe that the game is up and that truth will out even if it involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie low till the crack of doom because you suspect foul play, if you have your teeth set on edge (at one fell swoop) without rhyme or reason, then - to give the devil his due - if the truth were known (for surely you have a tongue in your head) you are quoting Shakespeare; even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing, if you wish I was dead as a door-nail, if you think I am an eyesore, a laughing stock, the devil incarnate, a stony-hearted villain, bloody-minded or a blinking idiot, then - by Jove! O Lord! Tut tut! For goodness' sake! What the dickens! But me no buts! - it is all one to me, for you are quoting Shakespeare."
~Bernard Levin 

Isn't that too funny? Did you guess, it? You betcha, I went to the Globe Theatre! The Globe Theatre was built in 1599 and is directly associated with William Shakespeare.  The one standing on the site today is the 3rd model, and is a very accurate reconstruction.  Many of you may not know, but when it comes to Shakespeare I am an absolute die hard geek.  I mean, maybe you knew I was a little nerdy, but not so much with Billy Shakes.  I once made my mom buy me his complete works in a red leather bound book with gold edged pages. Yeah, it's bad. 

 The first photo is of the outside of the round theatre.  There is a small museum before the actual tour of the the theatre itself, and that's where I snapped the second photo.  It is an exact replica of a gown worn by Queen Elizabeth I, who was herself a fan of Shakespeare during the time that he was actually living, and it is rumored that she even attended the Globe herself to 'hear' a play.  Yeah, I walk where the royal once walked. It's no big deal. Haha! The third photo is of the actual stage.  Yesterday it included the set of Much Ado About Nothing, a comedy.  You can see the empty space between the stage and the ground? The groundlings would have paid 1 pence to stand there.  They would have been the poorest members of the audience, and would have brought food, ale, and rotten tomatoes in case they didn't like what they saw.  The tour guide described them as football fans.  I'm assuming European football, in which case they were a rowdy bunch! The fourth photo is just me trying to be artsy and get a part of the set in with the theatre in the background. Trying. Not succeeding. 


Oh, by the way, I get lost in London frequently.  But I don't mind at all, because I discover things like it's my job.  Yesterday after getting off the Tube to get the Globe, my friends and I took a wrong turn.  But we found The Clink Museum.  I haven't been inside yet, but I definitely want to go, I hear it's really interesting.  The Clink Prison Museum is on the site of the original Clink Prison, which dates back to 1144 A.D, making it England's oldest prison. I'm excited to go! I also found a cool looking ship, and some cars for Cale to look at and tell me how cool they are. Here Cale, look!

The red one is a Mercedes I think. Maybe. It's red anyway, so I liked it.


After trekking back to school for lunch (I had vegetable jambalaya.  There are some things that the British should just not try to make. And they do not understand the concept of spicy at all.) I went with Alex to the Victoria and Albert Museum.  It contains clothes, textiles, furniture, sculptures... Anything that humans have ever used to adorn or decorate anything, is in that museum.  Being dancers, we both really enjoyed the section they had devoted to Theatre and Performance.  There was a section with dance photographs taken by Chris Nash, an extraordinary photographer with a great sense of when to snap the picture in order to make the dancers look extraordinary themselves. Here are some of my photos of the photos.  They certainly don't look as good as the originals. 

 And, if you know anything about ballet, you know that George Balancine was a god of dance.  Here is one of the tutus he used for his original ballet, Bugaku.  

 Another cool section was the modern furniture.  They had some really interesting things in there.  And Dad! Guess what? Your maglite flashlight is museum worthy material. Check it out. Who knew you were so cool? (Just kidding, you're the coolest)

 That first picture is actually just a really cool book shelf, but the second is the flashlights. Just for you, Daddy.

I feel like I should probably mention as well the costumes that we could try on in the Theatre and Performance exhibition. It was kind of like I playing dress was five years old again playing dress up with Mom's old prom dresses, except I'm twenty and in London.  Although, you may have noticed, I did get a little hair cut here.  I look a lot like my five year old self these days with my new fringe. Yes, fringe, not bangs. I'm in Britain ya know. 

 They also had a ballet barre, so we thought we'd maybe show a bit. Ha!

Today, I woke up and started laundry. I just tidied up my room, had lunch, and now I'm finishing up loading pictures to facebook.  I think I'll go for a run, and start on some homework.  Productive Funday Sunday. Woo!