Our last Friday in London certainly came too quickly. I spent the day finishing up some last minute souvenir shopping, walking around Regent's Park, and packing up. We also went out to Picadilly, and had a good night celebrating our trip. I think I'll miss the park more than anything else here. It has been a pleasure to walk, run, and simply live within. In fact, while my roommates are gone at the Glee show this afternoon, I think I'll walk through it again just to say my own goodbye. Sad day.
This morning we woke up, after much prodding of Caitlin's sleepy self, and made the long tube ride to Wimbledon. When I woke her up at 8:00, our original plan, and said "Don't you want to go to Wimbledon?" She responded by rolling over and saying "NOPE!". Silly girl, she didn't even remember it when I woke her up again at 9:00. I guess she needed that extra hour. It's okay, I did too.
But at Wimbledon, holy cow! It was sooo crowded. The queue was GINORMOUS. And everyone was very very dressed up for a sporting event. It certainly was no cardinals game, where you go in your jersey or tank top and a baseball cap. I couldn't see much though, but I did try to get a few good pics.
And now, I'm going to go buy a samosa from the tube station and walk around a bit. We're getting our last fish n'chips tonight from the Albany, our favorite pub. I really do not want to leave. Not that I don't want to see people, but I love it here. I guess my consolation is that I know I will be back, eventually! (When my bank account is replenished!)
I guess this is probably going to be my last post until I get back state side. Thank you for reading my blog. I hope I never bored you. I'm not sure if I'll keep it up once I'm back or not. It is a lot of work, honestly. But I do enjoy it. Is my life interesting enough when I'm not going to fantastic places???
Anyway. Thank you! I hope you see you all when I'm back in Illinois! I'll be landing at 6:19 p.m. on Sunday. Ciao!
Okay nerdy friends, I promised I would give details on the Harry Potter walk, and this girl never breaks a promise.
Caitlin and I got up decently early on Thursday morning (I skipped class. I figured, I'm only in London once, I haven't missed a class yet, and I didn't know when else I could do it! Don't judge me too harshly!). The first place we stopped was Number Two Temple Place, the location of what was formerly the Astor Estate Office. Built in 1895 by William Waldorf Astor, an American, it has never been used by the Harry Potter Films, but it looks a lot like Hogwarts!
I especially loved this little golden ship, serving as a weather vane. Perhaps this should be a Mary Poppins walk instead of Potter?
We then walked through a tiny alleyway to see the Church of St. Clements. There is a famous rhyme apparently, that goes "Oranges and Lemons say the Bells of St. Lemons." It can't be too famous though, I've not ever heard it.
We saw the Australia House, the inside of which is the interior of Gringotts Magical Wizarding Bank.
We passes a series of alleyways ans such, before we came to Somerset House. I'm not entirely sure why it ins on the Harry Potter Tour, but it was very pretty and had some very interesting sculptures within its courtyard! We thought it was pretty awesome.
We then headed over towards Trafalgar Square, which the Death Eaters destroy in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. We passed the Leicester Square Underground Station, which you can see in the opening sequence of the film.
Trafalgar Square was laid out in the early 1830's and is a memorial to Horatio Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar. The National Portrait Gallery is there, as well as a huge column with Nelson sitting on top. The square is also famous for its GINORMOUS lions, and a cool ship in a bottle. The Death Eaters in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince launch a destructive attack on London from the air and the opening sequence of the film shows the swooping down over Trafalgar.
Caitlin and I stumbled upon a Mexican restaurant, and of course we had to stop. I love love love Mexican food, and it is RARE to find here. And honestly, it was not that good. I have certainly had better. I am even dying for fake Mexican, like Taco Bell. In fact, I'm making my family take me there directly from the airport tomorrow. I will be getting cheesy fiesta potatoes, 2 cheese quesdillas, a crunch wrap supreme, and a diet pepsi with LOTS of ice. Don't judge me. I've done without for 6 weeks!
We only made it to page 9 of the 29 pages of the tour, but I had to go finish up the last essay for one of my classes. It felt good to turn it in!
Not Harry Potter related at all, but noteworthy, was the club we went to that night. It was called Tiger Tiger, and was SOOOOO expensive. We didn't drink a sip of the alcohol, simply to keep some money in our wallets. But we had a fantastic time dancing, especially in the 70's and 80's room. It was really a good time.
It was probably one of the most fun nights I've had here! Notice Alex and Caitlin's MJ gloves? They were stoked haha.
I went to court yesterday... Why? not because I was in trouble with the law. Rather, I watched a trial of someone else, who was absolutely in trouble with the law. He stabbed someone in a Tube station for revenge. I would say he's probably not a nice person. Guess what? Lawyers, or barristers, and judges in the UK still wear wigs like they would have a few centuries ago. I kind of felt like I was in the Wizengamot Court in the Ministry of Magic, for those of you who know Harry Potter.
The exterior certainly looks daunting, right?
Today Caitlin and I went on a self-guided tour of the places in Lsondon that can be seen in the Harry Potter movies. We didn't even finish it all, because I needed to get back to finish up a paper, but it was a nice way to go through and see some of the typical London sites one more time before I leave. We also walked through quite a few little alleyways and passed a lot of really old buildings and neat sites. I say really old buildings like it's a big deal... Every building here is really old. Ha.
I promise to post pictures of the walk later, for those of you who are as nerdy as me!
... I sincerely hope that the title of this blog did not ruin any endings for you. But yeah. The star-crossed lovers do meet an untimely death, due to the stupidity of love, and the ignorance of the priest and Juliet's nurse. Hah, I read too much Shakespeare maybe.
Buy yesterday was a really fantastic day. Caitlin and I woke up reaallyyy early for a weekend, and put on our Sunday best. We took the Jubilee line to the Westminster tube stop, and proceeded to Westminster Abbey for their Sunday Matin worship service. We were a bit intimidated walking into the Abbey, with it's fantastically high ceilings and dead people in the floor and impressive windows. Not to mention, the Royal Wedding that everyone is nutso crazy about these days took place like, exactly where we were supposed to sit. It was really very cool.
I thought that the service would be quite similar to the Catholic Mass that I have grown up attending. But it really was not very comparable. There were obviously very strict traditions taking place, and a great deal of ceremony and ornamentation. However, the two services cannot be compared. The matin began when a choir of men came into the worship area, and took their seats in pew like seats. The seats were divided into two sections, facing each other. The seats that we were sitting were the same way. The choir was made up of only males, and young boys sang the soprano portions of the music. They wore long red robes with white lace collars, that were so itchy looking, they actually itched me. The choir itself sang most of the service; entire sections of the Bible were put to fantastic music, accompanied by the most ginormous organ I have ever seen. The reverend said about a ten minute sermon, and then the service was over. It was definitely worth waking up for.
Yesterday afternoon, five of the seven sisters went to the O2 Arena to watch the Royal Ballet perform Romeo and Juliet. It was quite an experience. Yes, the ballet was in an arena comparable to St. Louis' own Scottrade Center. We sat directly in front of the stage, but in the very top section as far away from the stage as possible. They had huge screens though, that showed a close up of what was happening on stage. At first I was upset that they even had these screens. I wanted to see a ballet, not a ballet on a screen. But later I was thankful, because even though as a dancer I was watching technique and movement, as a human being I was watching facial expressions and artistry.
It was really awe inspiring to see the emotional commitment that the dancers put into the performance. One of my biggest pet peeves is a dancer who is a beautiful technician, and can facilitate their bodies to execute the movements perfectly, but looks completely devoid of feeling. I find this a lot in ballet. But, the dancers of the Royal Ballet greatly impressed me; I felt that for the two hours they were on stage, they were truly the characters they were portraying. Juliet was especially beautiful, and had fantastic movement qualities as well as character.
The photographs are of the poster for Romeo and Juliet, the outside of the O2 arena, and the inside with the set in front. It kind of looks like a rock concert, ya?
Also, I curled Caitlin's pretty long blonde hair for the occasion. Here is my creation, I'm quite proud of it. Isn't she pretty!
Yesterday Caitlin and I wanted to go to a museum. We thought we would check out the history museum we had heard about near the Victoria and Albert. Well, it was a history museum, it just did not have displays about historical events. It was the Natural History Museum. From the moment we walked in the door, all I could think of was this movie:
Anyone seen it before? It's kind of really great, and terrifying when you're young.
There were all sorts of fossils, creepy stuffed dead birds, pickled ginormous fish. I really liked the fossils of the sea dinosaurs. When I was younger those were my favorite. I have this whole philosophy that the Loch Ness Monster was in actuality a Plesiosaurus that got stuck after the loch was formed by an earthquake or something. Yes. I am a nerd. At least I own it.
Here are some pics of what I saw, and the outside of the museum.
Afterwards, we walked home in the drizzle. I bought three nectarines from a street vendor for a pound, and because Caitlin and I are cute he threw in an extra for free. Haha, or at least, we're telling ourselves it was because we are cute. I really miss fresh fruit. The English eat a lot of really heavy, hearty foods. I tend to eat a lot of lighter, meals. Actually, I'm not even going to lie to you. I'm actually a rabbit. I survive on fruits and vegetables, pasta and fish. I'm ready for my diet to be back to normal. Also, coffee. With Coffeemate french vanilla creamer. I can't wait for that either.
Today I went on an all day field trip with my history class to Brighton. And friends, here is where I admit to you that sometimes I am a very stupid woman. I debated on wearing my rain coat, or my leather jacket. I decided to wear my jacket, because I didn't want to have to carry my rain coat if I got hot. I debated on wearing my boots or my chucks, and decided on chucks because I hadn't worn them in awhile. I wrote a note to remind myself to bring my umbrella, and still forgot it. Needless to say, it monsooned on us. I was drenched, my feet were wet, and my umbrella was 45 minutes away. I guess I learned my lesson?
Brighton was really neat though, despite my misery. Its on the seaside, and there is a rock beach. We also toured the Royal Pavillion, which is a castle built by King George III with a lot of Indian and Chinese influence. It was incredibly beautiful, so naturally I wasn't allowed to take photos inside. There could be a line graph drawn depicting the likelihood of photographs being allowed to be taken. The prettier something is, the least likely it is. True story.
The second picture in there shows the Kiss Wall, displaying how Brighton is a culturally diverse and socially accepting city. It is in fact the gay capitol of Europe, which I think is really awesome. It is my opinion that everyone should be able to openly and freely love whomever they choose. I guess the fact that I'm a dance major at a liberal arts college will influence me like that, huh?
And now, ladies and gents, I will typing my paper. Hit me up on facebook if you want, because when I say typing my paper I mean I'll be sitting with my computer on my lap pulling out my hair and wishing I was doing anything else.
Yesterday, after much postponing, Alex, Caitlin, and I FINALLY went to the Clink Prison Museum. I have wanted to go since I heard about it from my cousin Brittney, who went when she herself was in London. It is built on the original site of the Clink Prison, which dates back to 1144, making it the oldest prison in London, and maybe even England. There were all sorts of torture devices, evil looking wax figures depicting guards, scary lighting, ominous music. I loved it. Alex was scared. Tee hee. Here is a link for Clink, if you want to read up on the history and see if you recognize any names of inmates. There are ties to Clink between the Gunpowder Plot, Babbington Plot, religious turmoil, and much more. A lot of people believe that they have seen paranormal activity in and around the prison, but I'll let you decide for yourself what you think about that. I myself had no problems with the dead, undead, or spirits of any sorts. Unless of course you count when I jumped out from behind a corner and I saw Alex's face so pale it looked somewhat ghastly and kind of ghost-like. Ha.
http://www.clink.co.uk/
The first picture is of a thumb screw, and it sounds exactly like what it is. You stick your thumbs in there, and then they screw your thumbs till they break. This supposedly prevents any more theft. Ouch! The metal boot in the second photo is not a fashion statement. One would put their foot in the metal boot, and then wooden boards would fit in around your ankle and foot. They would then fill it with water and oils to make the wood swell, crushing your foot. They were all business about the torture back then, as you can see in the third photo. They got me!
After we went to Clink, we walked to Westminster Abbey. It really is gorgeous. I think we may try to attend a service there on Sunday, before we see Romeo and Juliet performed by the Royal Ballet. THAT ladies and gentlemen, I am very excited for! Here are some pictures of the cathedral.
I have eleven days left. Be prepared for extreme blogging, I'm cramming as much into that time and money will allow. :-)
Ello Mates! I just got back in from Ireland this morning. Really, you are lucky that I came back to England. If I would have had my way, I would still be there sipping Guinness with old Irish men on the peninsula of Howth.
On Thursday night I went to bed around 9:30 p.m., as I had to wake up at 3:00 a.m. to catch the bus to the train station. We got to Dublin at around 10:30 a.m., but the flight was really only about forty minutes. It just takes a really long time to go through security. I actually got stopped by security, and was touched by a security women in a way I hope to never be touched by a woman again. But hey, I'd rather them be safe rather than sorry.
When we got to Dublin, we walked around a bit finding our hostel. I was the one who had booked it, so I was a bit nervous about everyone coughing up the money so it would clear my credit card. But the seven sisters came through, no worries. We had a single room for eight people, with four bunk beds. Our friend Nick from Chicago who is here studying at Regents decided at the last minute he would risk traveling with seven girls, and he ended up being our eighth person. He was seriously living in the estrogen ocean. Below is a picture of our hostel, Isaac's Hostel.
After the brewery tour we cleaned up a bit and got dinner at a pub around the corner from the hostel, O'Sheas. I had fish n'chips again. Americans don't know how to do fish like that. Although I do look forward to some nice fish from Grandpa's fry daddy when I get home, it just won't be the same.
Erin, Nick, and I thought we would take our chances in the Temple Bar area of Dublin that night. It was... interesting. I'm glad Nick is a big strong guy, because it seemed a bit shady. The pubs were very cool, but I was tired (I HAD been up since 3:00 a.m.), and they eventually tuckered out too. I slept well that night for sure.
On Saturday we took a train out to Howth, a small peninsula outside of Dublin. I loved Howth soooo much better than Dublin. It was much cleaner, and less touristy. We took a little hike up the cliff walk, and I really never wanted to come down. Something about standing on the edge of a grassy green cliff looking straight down at mossy green rocks get washed over by greenish-blue ocean water made me feel so alive and free. I could have flown off with the seagulls I think. I realize this sounds incredibly cheesy, but friends. I swear. You have no idea.
The Irish people are very kind, and incredibly friendly and helpful. I enjoyed talking to people simply to listen to their accents. Maybe I should marry an Irish guy? I could put in an ad like this perhaps:
Wanted: Dark red headed Irish lad with straight teeth (these are hard to come by in Ireland, I noticed) who loves watching ballets and American girls with big dreams.
I don't think it should be too difficult, right?
I just really cannot wait to go back. I want to spend weeks in Ireland, not two days. Or at least a week. This trip was much different than Paris, more relaxed and beautiful in a natural way. Paris was amazing, and I want to go back there too. But geez. Holy Ireland. Take me back, Erin Go Braugh!
I should talk about the street signs, they have them in English but also in Gaelic. Gaelic is definitely a dying language, and I didn't hear anyone speaking it. But it was beautiful to look at, or at least interesting.
I bought a few gifts for people in Ireland. Mom and Daddy, this spoils your surprise, and I'm sorry, but I want to tell people. Fair warning though, if you don't want to know your presents from me, don't read this paragraph. There was a store that specialized in family names, and would print you a nice parchment of paper with your family crest and history on it. I got one for dad, as his mother's maiden name is Quillen. It's pretty interesting. And for my mom I got a celtic cross pendant necklace, which I thought was pretty cool. And I bought myself a claddagh ring, the traditional Irish symbol of a heart being held by two hands. If you wear it on your right hand with the heart pointing away from you, then you're single. That's how mine is, if you're out there reading this Future Red Headed Irish Husband.
And now I have two weeks left in London to cram in all the things I want to do still. It's going to be a race against time, that's for sure!
Oh, by the way, in Ireland craic is fun. I found this out talking to a cute old man in the airport. If you have a bunch of crack, you're not getting drugged up. You're having the time of your life. And I did do that in Ireland my friends, it was fantastic. Cheers for now.
