Saturday & Sunday run-downs

Okay....it's been a hectic and relaxing weekend all at once. I spent a lot of time catching up on sleep, pints and homework...also did some laundry...pretty lazy. Here are some pics from the places I did see this weekend...

Here's the route we've been walking down the Thames lately to the City-- where the interesting cheaper pubs are like the Cheshire Cheese I mentioned before. The bridge in this photo is the Blackfriars Bridge, which crosses over to the city/financial district. There's also a picture here of the end of the bridge, it's pretty.

WARNING: Most of this looks like a pub crawl...

This is one of the first buildings on the other side of the Blackfriars bridge. This was the Blackfriar's pub we went to on Sunday night. It's a neat building and the inside has really beautiful art/mosaics/woodcuts of monks all over the walls. Nevermind the fact that on this particular night it smelled a little like...well....urine, but I figure it's in the City so it's possible that it's really old urine? Either way there's a huge patio and the beer tasted wonderful.

And here's a picture taken from the patio of the Blackfriar's Pub. It's dark, but you can notice the mosaic that says Saloon....

And then there's the walk home....headed back over a bridge, you can see the London Eye and the OXO building from the north bank here.

And St. Paul's Cathedral at night, again....

And then of course walking past the National Theatre towards the dorms.

I guess I just wanted to post this to show you the places that I've been walking past, every day...over and over again. It never seems to get old, and if I'm having a "bad" day or starting to get stressed out, it's very easy to take a look at the things around me and soak it all in, and everything that bothers me melts into little bits, and disappears. Of course, the pints may help, but I've created a self-imposed 4 pint limit for the time being. That stuff packs a bigger punch than I remember.

I'll be posting later on about my visits from today...and some other random photos from walking around these streets. Until then, I'm off to do homework! Cheers!

Just some goofy pictures....

Here's a couple of pics to tide you over...the computers here are SLOOOOOW so loading them really is a pain. I'll try to do it more often, but here's two...

Walking to the pub, kinda dressed up for no reason, thought someone better take a picture before I put grubby clothes back on for the rest of the trip. That's St. Paul's Cathedral and the Thames behind me.

St. Paul's Cathedral, clouds and cranes. I think I counted 14 in this shot alone.

Friday: Parliament

So you're all probably well aware of the symbol I can't seem to quit taking pictures of....Big Ben. It's so beautiful, and reminds me of so many things (namely a part of the movie Peter Pan)...and I have more pictures of this clock than anyone would ever need. But I love it, so deal.

At any rate, what you may or may not know is that clock is attached to Parliament. The rest of that massive building is where the House of Commons and the House of Lords is. We took a tour of Parliament, and got to take the Sovereign's Entrance (Victoria Tower) and the "Queen's route" that she takes when she comes into Parliament to give her annual speech each November. (Apparently it's similar to our state of the union address, only she doesn't stutter, pronounces everything correctly, and sits on an enormous golden throne that was built in 1845.)

So we started off in the Sovereign's Entrance, and our tour guide gave us some history regarding the things we were seeing as we waited to go through airport-like security, where every person gets patted-down and people/bags go through an x-ray machine, etc. As we waited, we learned that the building that stands today was rebuilt in 1845 after the fire. Kings of England had lived on that property for centuries. Henry VIII (you may remember him and his wives) was that last King to live on this site.

And of course there was no photography permitted for the most beautiful aspects of this tour, so you'll have to bear with my descriptions.

There are some other neat tidbits regarding the history of government here. They have a copy of the death warrant with wax seals all over it from 1649, that was a warrant for Charles I. Oliver Cromwell tried Charles for treason, and he was hung drawn and quartered. There was no Sovereign for 9-10 years after that, but Charles II came back in 1660 (from Paris) and reigned.

Some things you need to know about British Parliament (or just "Things I found interesting"):

• The sovereign may never enter the House of Commons, they may only enter the House of Lords. There is a messenger at the door to relay messages from the sovereign to the House of Lords, down a long hallway.


• Most everything within Parliament's decorations on the inside of the building has something to do with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. (initials, paintings, etc. everywhere). Victoria came to the throne at age 18 and reigned for 64 years (the all-time record thus far).


• Enormous beautiful murals hang on the walls representing different parts of England's history. Two of the ones I particularly liked were the Battle at Waterloo (It was a naval battle against the French. and Duke Wellington was the man in charge of that victory); and also the Death of Lord Nelson at Trafalgar. It's really incredible to see the paintings and realize that I'm sitting in the same spot where a battle happened.


• During WWII Parliament was bombed, so the House of Commons was rebuilt in 9 years time. The archway into the House of Commons is still damaged, you can see the blemishes from the bombing in the stone.

I don't know how many of you know this, but I really like to watch the House of Commons on CSPAN. I particularly liked watching it when Tony Blair would have to answer rapid-fire questions and everyone would shout their agreement or disagreements at him. Neat thing? I stood in that room. Let me tell you about it.

House of Commons

First. all of the benches are green. For the most part, seating is on a first-come-first-serve basis, though depending on which way they voted on a particular issue they're discussing that day, the two sides (that face each other) will sit on the Aye or Noe side.

The Sergeant at Arms carries what's called a Mace, or a silver sceptre-type thing that is representative of the sovereign's presence as the House of Commons does business. On top of the table in the middle of the room, there are brackets on which to place the Mace. Only the Sergeant at Arms is permitted to touch the Mace. Pretty cool. I need to look for that when I watch it on CSPAN again.

The carpet is also green, but there are two long red lines in front of either row of benches that are apparently 2 swords-length long, so people who disagree may not draw their swords on one another. (Obviously this was an older rule.) There is also a sign above the cloakroom requesting them to "Hang Swords Here" on hooks, but instead that's where they place their umbrellas (which they need most of the time here.)

Westminster Hall

Westminster Hall is enormous. This is the place is the oldest remaining building on the site, and dates back to 1097. I did get a chance to take some pictures of this hall, as well as the stained-glass window within it. This place is not only huge, but it is incredibly easy to see how it worked for people hundreds of years ago, as a center for commerce, celebrations, proclamations, etc. Really neat.

And we ended our trip to Parliament with some pics just outside the building, since I'd never been able to get behind those big black fences before. I also took a picture of Big Ben again, from an angle that I'd never seen before with my own eyes.

After the Tour....

We were left to our own devices, so Rachel and I went to Oxford Circus (the main drag with all of the shopping) to hopefully find some jeans and maybe a jacket....I didn't really bring warm enough clothes on this trip. But I was quickly irritated with the numerous shoppers all clamoring around in H&M and TopShop looking for bargains, and soon I didn't want to be shopping at all. (Not to mention that these are incredibly long days with a LOT of standing and walking, so my feet often feel like bloody stubs.) After shopping, we went to Doggett's for dinner, another pub on the banks of the Thames, and saw the Myspace DirtyBeach guy. This guy is on the beach of the Thames everyday creating art in the sand. It's really neat art....and he's also a pretty attractive person wearing....a kilt. That's it. A kilt. So I took some pictures for all of you who may be interested in the eye candy....and of course, art. :o)

And then it ended up being a pretty late night at the Cheshire Cheese (in the old city) and then Wetherspoon's...the only pub we've found so far open past 11pm. So it was a long day. I have met some cool people, and so far everything is great!

Today (Saturday) was a day off, so I have been attempting to catch-up a bit. I took a nap, started some laundry, doing homework, went over to Camden Town to shop a bit, but for the most part I'm taking it easy. On Monday we've got class-related things again, and more than likely I'll be attempting to get schoolwork done tomorrow. Time is flying by, yet I still feel like there is more to see and not enough time to squeeze it all in. I miss talking to you all and will be diligent about updating this as often as possible!

Thursday: British Library

Wow. Thurday we went to the British Library, which is at the Kings Cross/St. Pancras stop on the Tube. We had a chance to get a picture next to the Platform 9 and 3/4 as you probably already saw in my blog from yesterday. I had to put that up there quickly for all my Northwest friends who are in the thick of creating the HP extravaganza. I'm sorry that I'm not there to see it all!

So once we arrived at the enormous library, we waited for a while and perused the gift shop before starting in on our tour of the building. I took vigorous notes, as this place was amazing. It's absolutely enormous, and unfortunately due to funding cuts, they will not be expanding it to the size they originally planned.

Back in the 1960s there was talk about moving all of Britain's special collections/rare items, etc. into one large British Library. In 1972, they began bringing all of them together. The building took 14 years to finish. The first reading room opened in 1997 and it was officially opened by the Queen in 1998.

There are 200 MILLION items in the collection, and it grows every day by 8000 items PER DAY. It continues to grow so much because nothing can actually be checked out from this library. It is purely a research library. (No weeding!!!!! Talk about huge shelf-space concerns!!!) So, individuals who wish to utilize the services of the British Library must register their application. To utilize their facilities, you must provide-- proof of signature, proof of address, photo identification, reading list/letter from employer/why you're studying there, etc. Users of the library can only have access for up to 3 years, but most applications are processed to be used for only 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year...or at the very most, 3 years.

Their materials handling system is amazing. Being the second largest library in the world (second only to the Library of Congress) they have a state of the art conveyor belt system that brings books from the bottom 5 floors beneath the library, and takes them to one of the eleven reading rooms. When a person requests a book, they fill out a form, and a card is printed out. The card is then sent to the appropriate area, placed on the shelf for someone to pull. At that time, the person pulls the book and puts it into a red box with a barcode on the box, scans it, and sends it to its appropriate room. Once it's scanned a person knows it's on its way to them. The goal of the library is to have 90% of all requests filled within 70 minutes. But it often takes 2 days to process some items. After an item comes to you, you may reserve to use it for 3 working days. After that, it goes back to wherever it came from in the depths of the basement (or one of the four off-site storage facilities). At that point, the researcher would have to fill out another request and the 70 minute to 2 day process would start all over again. I would love to tell our patrons they had to wait 70 minutes for a book....AND that they couldn't check it out! Apparently a person kept coming into the British Library and request Harry Potter. After she'd finally requested it for the last possible time, someone told her she needed to go to a public library. I said, "Well the public library's copies are probably all checked out...that's why she comes here. HP is always here, and she could just read it while she was here, come here everyday for 3 days and finish it." (I thought that was pretty funny.)

Some other things I found interesting from the British Library tour:

• There are 1200 seats for researchers in the building, and 298 in their largest reading room-- the Humanities reading room.



• The basement beneath the library is 24 meters long, the deepest basement in London, and actually is 4 floors of nothing but movable stacks of books.



• If a disaster would occur, the british library has a contract with surrounding markets (the supermarket kind) to utilize their freezer space while they wait for proper preservation facilities.

King George III's Collection

They also have this amazing (what looks like a piece of art) book tower viewable outside of the reading rooms that is created out of 80,000 volumes of books from King George III. Apparently he created his library by appearance as opposed to by subject/interest, so it's a beautiful collection, but there are some strange titles within it. The 80K volumes make up 6 floors of books, which were donated by King George IV, who was not as keen on reading as his father. There were two requirements regarding use of this library: It must be a working collection, and it must be on display. I thought that was pretty clever. Because it is very difficult to display 80K volumes of incredibly old books, they created this tower, and it is made of glass, so all books can be viewed from the outside. Evacuation from the tower can only be done through the roof or the basement, so only qualified and trained individuals can actually get in the tower to retrieve an item.

Items on the shelves are still categorized by size/appearance, and are actually categorized that way throughout the British Library, thanks to a man named Sir Anthony Panizzi. He introduced the size sorting concept to the library, and also spear-headed the library becoming a legal depository for all published information in England. So as the collection grows 8000 items per day, they are continually being placed on shelves based on size. So strange, but understandable, as they are obviously VERY concerned about space.

Treasures Gallery

This was amazing, and I had very little time to appreciate every piece I wanted to see. Here are some highlights:

• Shakespeare's First Foliio (worth at least £3.11M)


• Only surviving document with Shakespeare's signature on it....in the world.


• Leonardo DaVinci's Sketchbook


• Handwritten version of Alice in Wonderland


• Galileo's sketchbook


• Gutenberg Bible (stunning)


• Magna Carta

In addition to these items, the Library was having an exhibition in which they were currently in possession of the remaining piece from the Dead Sea Scrolls. It honestly looked like a piece of trash I would otherwise throw away...but I was glad I got to see it. How many people get to say that in their lifetime??

Turning the Pages

There is a multi-million dollar contract between Bill Gates and the British Library to digitize their most precious items in order to provide access around the world to all who would like to view some of their treasures. This is actually a very cool software they use, here's where you can check it out. I'd seen it a long time ago, and actually spent a long time perusing Blake's notebook online. It's worth a look. I thought it was interesting that the guide also mentioned (in addition to the digitization efforts) the continual effort of the library to be future-oriented and forward thinking in technique (technology). It reminded me that though this library is very much a cultural heritage institution (and very museum-like) it still very much exists for their users/researchers. They work to fit the needs of their patrons as any other library would. I thought it was really neat...and I want a card now. :o)

After we were finished with the British Library tour, Meredith, Rachel and I went over to Covent Garden and had lunch at Pret a Manger (a sort of panera-type chain here). I had a croissant for lunch (I tend to eat a lot of croissants here. hehehehe.) Then we walked around and looked at things for a while, and ended up "happening upon" the Reduced Shakespeare Company's production of The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abridged at the Arts Theatre & Bar (picture here). I've seen it before, in London-but it was too neat that we came up to the building at 2:20 as the show started at 2:30. We paid our £15, went inside and sat down for a good hour and a half of entertainment. I love that show. Hilarious.

After the show, we headed back towards the dorms and Rachel and I stopped at Studio 6, which is a little restaurant not too far from our place. It's behind some restaurants that face the Thames, in a small courtyard-like area called Gabriel's Wharf (picture here). It's pretty neat. I had some great potatoes there. Mmmm....

Made it an early evening and that was my Thursday! :o)

Platform 9 and 3/4

Here you go, Harry Potter fans.....

Platform 9 and 3/4. Even I read the first book, so I know what it means. :o)

Miss you Northwest folks!

Today was a busy day...but I'll write and post more tomorrow with details.

Good night!

Wednesday: "catch up day"

Today was pretty slow, which was exactly what I needed after my crazy day yesterday. Because I was up super late last night coming home from Stratford and Oxford, I slept in until 9:45 this morning (unheard of in my "real life"). I woke up, got coffee, got on the computer, and then had a mini-tour of Camden Town at 1:00pm. The tour was all about the rock-culture of Camden, and it was cool but there were about 35 people roaming around in a group, which is terribly unappealing. Especially when half of them are drawing attention to themselves. Very annoying. Got to see the Round House, the Stables, all of the hang-outs of the Clash, Sex Pistols, Rolling Stones, etc. It was neat, but I was ready to be done with this "tour" by 3:00.

Afterwards I came back and got online for a little longer, worked on some school work, then headed out with my friend Rachel to the Cheshire Cheese pub in Old Town, which is across the river and really close to St. Paul's Cathedral. I got some awesome shots of the church (though I'm not claiming to be a photographer at all) as it was starting to get dark around 9:30. Yea, it gets dark here at 9:30. And it was daylight at 6:00am. Explain this to me please?!

The Cheshire Cheese is a pub that was rebuilt by Samuel Johnson (brewery owner) in 1667 after the fire of London. It is seriously built for tiny people. I JUST fit under the door frames, they were so low. There's sawdust in the corners (still don't understand that part). And there are tiny rooms with 5-6 steps down or up in either direction. Very cool spot. The pints and gin are cheap, and I had their own "house" gin, which was especially good this evening. Rachel and I had some chips and bar food (yum) then ventured off towards the cathedral and basically walked around Old town for a while. Very neat.

The pint in the picture was purchased for £1.80p which is virtually unheard of. It's a bitter made by Smith's. The £1.80p was donated by my friend Meredith Richards, so I wanted to make sure I put a picture up as proof that I took advantage of her kindness. Thanks Meredith, look how happy I am!

We ended the evening at Young's, after crossing the river on Millenium Bridge. I've walked across so many bridges lately it is completely surreal. I keep taking pictures, trying NOT to look like I tourist.

But I'm starting to settle in. Tonight was the first night that felt like any night I'd say, "hey, want to run to Byrne's?" and instead of Grandview Ave. being the scenery, it was the skyline of London. Normal, homey and breathtaking at once. Love it.

The weather is confusing. Cold then the sun gets hot for a minute, then cold again, then cool. So basically it feels like Ohio in the end of September.

I'm having a fantastic time, and have little time to get online and look around/email, etc.
I miss you all, but instead of me coming home---why don't you all just book tickets and come here? :o)

Tuesday July 10th, 2007

Oxford and Stratford-Upon-Avon

So yesterday was my first visit to Oxford and Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare. I have wanted to visit Stratford since reading Julius Caesar for the first time in 6th grade...and finally I got to go. It was an interesting day, starting with waking up at 6am, RUNNING to the only open coffee shop I could find...in Waterloo Station. I have to cross four roads with crazy traffic going 500 different directions before having coffee, which is probably hilarious to watch.

Our bus left at 7am sharp, and we embarked on a day trip to Oxford first. Oxford is a college-town, and incredibly OLD college-town. It's busting at the seams with tourists right now, and the bulk of the people walking around the streets are pretty young. I loved this city. Because we're visiting Oxford again later next week, I decided to shop a little bit instead of going to see all of the touristy sites within the hour and a half we were there. So I sat down with my friend Rachel and had a Tomato, Basil and Cheese Pasty-- mmmm (they're these tasty little Hot-Pocket-like things they have here. Delicious). So that was my breakfast/lunch for the day. Then I walked around with Rachel some more, found a hairdryer (finally) and took a few pictures of Oxford. Most of the pictures are just random things I found pretty. Next time we get to Oxford I'll be seeing the Bodelian Library, so I'll have more historic-type things to report on that day.

After the light shopping (we were able to leave things on the bus) we got back ON the bus for another 2 hour trip from Oxford to Stratford.

If you know me, you know that I own more Complete Works/Anthologies of Shakespeare's plays than one would probably admit publicly. I just love it all so much...well, that's not entirely true. I never liked (or read) the Histories...just the Tragedies and Comedies, because they're a lot more entertaining.

Stratford looks, well as I imagined it would. It's a lot like Oxford in size, however it's definitely capitalized on the fact that Shakespeare was born, and is buried there. So, it's a little (what I call) "Disney-fied". Of course, if you're a big nerd about him, then that's just find for someone like me.

Shakespeare's Birthplace

We started off at Shakespeare's birthplace, which is really neat. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside, so you'll have to take my word that it's a lot bigger than you'd think. The house is recreated to look as it would in Shakespeare's day in the 1500's. The inside walls are covered with painted fabric for insulation, and the ceilings are painted with lye to prevent the wood from deteriorating, so they were white.

In addition to the regular house-portion, there was also a loft-room for apprentices (John Shakespeare-- William's father) was a glove maker and would have had apprentices living with him. Another neat thing about the house was that the front door was wide enough for a carriage to bring in carcasses for John to skin and make gloves from. The front door leads directly to the back door, where he could unload the truck of dead animals, and begin tanning the skins. He used sheep and rabbit fur, which had to soak for 6 months in huge tubs of urine (gross & surely smelly) in the backyard before the pores would shrink up, and it would be good enough to make pretty leather gloves/goods from. John's business was also located in the house, and the front window where his "office" is located would have shutters that horizontally to create a counter and an awning. That way, customers could stop as they walked down the street to purchase his products. It was pretty neat.

Hall's Croft

The next stop we went to was Hall's Croft, a house where Susanna (Shakespeare's daughter) lived with her husband (a doctor). The house itself is also beautiful, though the garden was breathtaking. I took more pictures of flowers than anything else at this place. It was absolutely amazing. We also learned something interesting about her husband, Dr. Hall. He created a remedy for scurvy-- that included three different herbs steeped in warm beer. It worked for people because the herbs he chose had high ascorbic acid content, which is Vitamin C. Apparently the richer folk got scurvy quite a bit, because they gave the healthy (cheap) foods such as fruits and vegetables to the peasants, and kept the white-bread and red-meat for themselves. So, the malnutrition would often lead to scurvy (like the type pirates supposedly had) where those afflicted would lose their hair and teeth and become very very weak and ill. Because Dr. Hall used so many herbs, there are many flowers and herbs around the house in beautiful arrangements, and they smell fantastic. In the backyard, the scent of the different herbs can be overwhelming! Also, there was a friendly garden kitty who loved getting his picture taken.




Nash House/New Place

The Nash House is also called New Place. After Shakespeare became wealthy from his plays, he purchased a beautiful country-style house with many bedrooms and gardens and a courtyard that was located conveniently in-town. After he died, it was purchased by a jerk who had problems with his taxes, and tore it down to avoid having to pay more taxes on it. Now, only a church and small portion of the foundation are seen here, along with a Mulberry tree, that is likely a remnant from those Mulberry trees that Shakespeare had in his courtyard, before his death. There is a stunning Knott-style garden that can be viewed through a covered hallway of orchids. Again, breathtaking flowers/landscaping! Upstairs there was a collection of Shakespeare's Completed Works, all behind glass of course. I noticed little papers in the corners of the displays that measured the humidity, and also air filters in the back of the display in order to keep the books in good-condition. Then I noticed that one of the books looked VERY similar to my own copy of the Complete Works of Shakespeare (that my brother bought me for christmas) and I wondered, hmmm...is it the same one? So I sparked up a conversation with a person "standing guard" there and he mentioned that I could contact one of the librarians for the Shakespearean Complete Works Archives. I think my eyes glossed over and I know I got really excited because I immediately said, "I'm in school to be a librarian!" like an idiot. I guess I should've known they would have particular librarians for this sort of thing...but in Stratford, dealing only with these books?! It was like finding out that I could potentially become a millionaire or something. To think that a job opportunity like that exists...well I was floored. So I plan to contact them at some point, and see exactly what it is they do there. And also find out if they know how much my own copy of Complete Works is worth....not that I'd ever part with it.

Trinity Church/Shakespeare's Grave

Perhaps my favorite/most important destination on this trip was Trinity Church. I have to say, that I had an overwhelming sense of sadness and appreciation as I walked in, and I wondered if Shakespeare would laugh at the fact that he's now buried beneath the stones where priests now stand to preach. The same people who called his plays blasphemy...irony at its best. I have many photos from this church, and will try to post them here in a way that looks decent. I particularly love the quote on his headstone, and was able to get a re-print of it that I plan to frame and hang in my house.

In addition to these lovely things, I was also able to have some time to stroll around and have lunch at a place called Caffe Uno with two friends. We had a LARGE lunch (we were starving) that included dessert. I would've felt guilty had I not walked for 8 hours that day. Phew! My feet and back were killing me! I was glad I brought a backpack to shove all of my gift shop purchases in.

Macbeth

And lastly, perhaps the most pivotal point of the evening, as a class we attended a 7:30pm showing of Macbeth in the Swan theatre by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Never in my life have I seen anything like it. Macbeth wasn't even one of my favorite plays, however I was on the edge of my seat and hanging on every word. It was thrilling and exquisitely performed. At one point I realized that I have memorized a 40 line soliloquy by Macbeth in undergrad and as he was speaking aloud, my mouth started moving. I can't believe I remembered that much of it! "If it were done, when 'tis done, t'were well it were done quickly..." Wow. At any rate, the play finished and we were piling on a bus again at 11pm, arriving back in london at 1am, and I was finally asleep by 2. Talk about exhaustion! But every minute was worth it, and so far it's been my favorite part of the trip. (of course I couldn't take pictures of any of that!)

I miss you all and think about all of you all the time!!!