The End to my Weekend in London

Goodbye dearest London, for alas, I must leave thee for a week. Tomorrow we have midterms and a show, then Wednesday through Friday we go to Stratford-upon-Avon and then Saturday through Monday it's Dublin. Busy week, eh? So today was spent getting ready for midterms and the trips. This evening, after dinner, I decided that I was sick of sitting inside and I wanted to enjoy the gorgeous day, so I went for a walk. I kinda wandered the direction of Buckingham Palace and this is what I found.

The Westminster Bridge + Parliament Building + Big Ben + Thames River + little bit o' Westminster Abby + sunset = amazing photo:
Continuing on to check out the Abby's opening hours (for those not fluent in English, that's "hours of operation" in American):
Then I found myself in St. James Park. It is beautiful.
I decided to wander the long way around the park to get to Buckingham Palace, as I saw there was a fountain on the map, and I was in no hurry. In walking around the park, I found this little house thing. It's just labelled as "Private Property" so I've decided that fairies live there. It's seriously gotta be a 4 foot door and 8 feet to the roof. And there's a cool garden in front of a little cottage in the middle of the park. So obviously that means fairies.
In continuing to walk around I found an exotic garden (all the plants are labelled):
And some "wild" life.

Then I found the fountain! It was beautiful. And If you look at the shiny rainbow in the background, that's the London Eye. That's approximately where the University is, just to show you how far my walk took me (probably half an hour away, if you walk directly) At this point in my journey I thought, "Hmm. I could really do for a cup of tea right now. That would really put me in the relaxing mood." And suddenly, an Inn appeared in front of me! I took that as a sign that I needed to get a cup of tea, so I went in and got some. I was right, a cup of tea was exactly what I needed.

After the detour through the park (that was actually the most direct route) I found Buckingham Palace. It actually looks cooler in the picture than in real life.

And this is some statue thingy out front. If I had my map on me I'd be able to tell you what it is, but that would involve climbing 4 flights of awful stairs, so just admire it and move on.

To get back I figured I'd take the Tube. To get back to the station I had to go back through (or at least past, so why not through?) the park. So I did. And I had the need to take off my shoes and walk barefoot in the grass. So I did. And I was right- exactly what I needed. I came back to campus relaxed and ready to study.

And thus was my last adventure in London for the week. Hopefully I will have time to write one more post tomorrow before we leave on Wednesday, and hopefully I will be able to update on Friday as well. There will certainly be enough to talk about.

Wandering the City

Today was just a relaxing day of wandering around the city. Amber and I started in Covent Gardens, because she wanted to visit the flea market. It was kinda fun just wandering around and seeing the different shops and performers. After that, we went to St. Paul's Cathedral. Unfortunately the tube station was down there, so we had to get off one station early and walk. This was good, however, because we had to walk down Fleet Street. And yes, there is a Barber Shop there:

(for those of you that don't know, look up Sweeney Todd. Just the title will do)

Anyway, we went to St. Paul's Cathedral. Unfortunately, the site-seeing costs money, so we didn't go in. I'll probably go back some other time (as we're supposed to compare it to Westminster Abby for a paper). Here's the front entrance:

After that we continued to the Tower of London. On the way we stopped for a quick picture with the London Bridge: Then we got to the Tower of London (a really cool castle). We walked around for about 45 minutes (we were a little rushed, as it was going to close at that time.)
Me being spontaneous in one of the rooms:This is the central tower, White Tower:And me chilling with the Ravens. Supposedly it's said that if the Ravens ever leave the castle, then it will fall. So they keep the Ravens there just in case. (Middle name anyone?)Anyway, the Tower was really cool. We got to see some of the Crown Jewels from history as well as some prison cells, torture chambers, armories, and courtyards. It was pretty sweet and I kinda wish we'd had a little more time to walk around. Of course, the Tower Bridge is right there:And across the street are some remains of the original London Wall (and a statue of some dude): Afterward, Amber and I went to the British Museum, but apparently everything closes at either 5 or 5:30 when it comes to cool historical stuff. So we parted ways, Amber to a show and me to the British Library. But remember what I said about cool stuff closing at 5? Yeah. An hour and a half of Tubing and walking after the Tower and the other two things I wanted to see were closed. But did I let my spirits fall? No! Of course not! I forged on, for what is right next to the British Library but King's Cross. Yes, I did it. Who wouldn't? Especially a dork like me:

And thus ended my day of wandering the city. I resigned myself to a baguette, a sprite, and sitting on a bench along the South Bank, writing some more in my novel as the sun disappeared over the city. (It sounds romantic, and was, until the hobo walked up and asked for money).

Now I must go pick up milk. I may decide to go someplace cool (like Buckingham Palace) but I may just go to bed for the night.

A Day in London

I basically spent today catching up on sleep. I slept in til 12:45, then ate, went on the computer, then slept from 4 to 6. Then I went to Lord of the Rings.
After the show I sat by the Thames and wrote more of my book. It's a relaxing atmosphere (though cold at night) and I find the water comforting. At one point a random guy asked if he could read what I was writing. He claimed to know what it was talking about, but it's a fiction novel and the particular section he read had a lot of things I'd made up and didn't make sense. It was funny. And then, a little later, two girls walked by and one of them, in the tone of one reading a grand novel, said "Two girls walked by. They were marvelously smashing." Again, funny. I just smiled at her.
That was my day. Tomorrow will probably consist of sleeping in and then wandering around the city doing whatever I feel like.

Oh, and if you didn't notice, I changed my layout a little, so instead of links to other blogs and Jonathan's videos, you actually see their most recent updates too.

The Lord of the Rings

This is a good show, as long as you're not expecting the book or the movie. There are large chunks of the story that were mercilessly ripped out of the plot, and the lines were delivered so fast at times that I could barely understand them. The spectacle was amazing and the costumes gorgeous. I thought Gandalf was lacking in voice and in character variation, and Aragorn had the voice of a girl. The music supported the story and was actually well integrated into the flow of things. It was the best dance combat I've ever seen. It wasn't just crappy dance that doesn't even look like combat, but at the same time it was more of a dancey combat style.
Overall it was a very creative and innovative adaptation of one of the most brilliant stories of all time.

New Photo Albums

Please take this moment to notice that I added more photo albums from my two trips. Please view them at your leisure.

The Lion King

Tonight we went to see Lion King. It was pretty good. There were incredible moments and there were some, "eh" moments. Among the incredible were the set, the puppetry (Robin and Terry will be proud), the movement (again Robin and Terry), the costumes, and all the main plot points- Mufasa's death, Simba's coronation, Mufasa's divine intervention, and Can You Feel the Love Tonight. In Can You Feel the Love Tonight, there were two lead dancers on the floor (with amazing costumes) and two pairs of dancers on cables in the air. It was awesome. And the singing was amazing pretty much across the board.

Scar was a little lacking, as it was low in his range. Also, Simba's speaking voice was kinda whiny and he had funny inflections (I think he was African, so there was an accent). But Simba's singing made up for it, because I'm certain it's a long search before you find a singer like that.

Overall it was a good night. It was a little frustrating at times because there were a lot of High Schools there, so there were violations of theatre etiquette. A lot. But the show was amazing, and even the kids appreciated it.

Nollendorfplatz

I spent most of day 3 walking around the city with Kurt. Everyone else went to the flea market, but Kurt and I wanted to explore a little more. We hit up some of the major sites and got a bunch of pictures.

Checkpoint Charlie (a checkpoint between 2 districts):

We actually passed through Nollendorfplatz, so we stopped to get a picture. To those who are not familiar with Cabaret, the main character, Cliff, lives in Nollendorfplatz and a large chunk of the action happens there (and several of the main characters live there).
Tilt your head to the right. That is what Kurt and I had for lunch. Mine was Rostbratwurst. How can you go to Germany and not eat bratwurst?
This was actually a tower that was part of a church. The church was bombed away during the war, but the tower still stands.
Tilt your head to the left. This is the world's first stoplight (the lights are horizontally aligned above the glass panel above the clock)

And that's it. My Berlin trip. I probably missed a few things, but I hit all the main points.

New Post

Just to let everyone know, Berlin Day 2 is posted, but it's not at the top because I started it a few days ago.