Ordinary Day

Today was our last field trip for the Jane Austen class. Unfortunately, it was not memorable. We took two trains and a bus to get to the Brentford area of London to visit Syon Park. The tour guide himself told us that it had little to nothing to do with Jane Austen and he mentioned her for 30 seconds in all the 3.5 hours that we were there. It was disappointing. The Park was home to a magnificent mansion, extensive gardens with a conservatory and a big garden shop. The tour guide was very thorough in his information about the history and architecture of the house; it just had nothing to do with Jane Austen. We listened attentively to most of his descriptions of all the architectural details, paintings and sculptures within the house before we realized that there was nothing more to look forward to in the tour. The area belongs to the Duke of Northumberland and has been visited by famous monarchs. Its most recent claim to fame, however, is the fact that it was used for filming a significant portion of Gosford Park. There really isn't much I can say about the place...no photography was allowed inside so I cannot point to things and describe them further. Here are pictures of the exterior, however.


The Conservatory in the grounds.

This is Syon House.
After we were done with the tour, we boarded the trains back to the city, but a trio of us stopped at Westfield mall, which is the biggest mall in all of Europe. We ate lunch at a Japanese restaraunt, which was excellent and incredibly spicy, and then proceeded to explore the mall. I cannot even begin to describe the size and grandeur of the mall. We entered from the "wrong" end of the place and the shops that we saw were Louis Vuitton, Prada, Tiffany & Co, De Beers, etc. There were some stores that had good sales, but the UK sizes still confuse me and I didn't quite want to spend time trying on outfits that I knew I couldn't buy, so I just window shopped. The mall was pretty packed, even for a Tuesday, and I left feeling jealous of all the people that earned in pounds and could afford all that the mall had to offer.

We got back in time for dinner, but it was practically inedible, so I had to rely on snacks and water to fill me up. Then a friend and I decided to go watch Coco Avant Chanel (Coco before Chanel), a French movie starring Audrey Tautou (of Amelie and Da Vinci Code fame). I don't know why but it never occurred to me, even during the movie, that the movie was about Coco Chanel, the designer. I recognized the Chanel part, and I did know that she was Coco Chanel, but I never pieced it together until the credits when we were given a glimpse into her future. The movie was phenomenal. For being the story of a designer, it wasn't particularly girly or glamorous at all. It completely touched me and I am very inclined to go out and buy the first Chanel item that I can find. I was especially glad to see it because it would never come to Murray, at least not for a while. The movie was in French, with subtitles, and was very beautifully done. Needless to say, that was the best part of my day.
Tomorrow is the last day of class. People are starting to panic about the imminent departure on Monday and hardly anyone is ready to go home. We are having somewhat of a departure meeting tomorrow with the entire group, with no idea of what it is going to entail. I am, of course, going to make the best of every minute I have left here. I all ready have plans for the rest of the week, all of which will be unraveled in time.

Most of today was spent at Hampton Court Palace, where King Henry VIII lived. We took an 8 am bus to Baker Street, and then took a train to the Waterloo station. From the station, we took a train to Hampton Court. It was a beautiful day to venture outside the city to see something so immersed in nature. The area around Hampton Court is bustling now, of course, but once within the gates, there is no indication of a life outside of the Palace. The Palace, interestingly, is built in two styles. It was originally in the Tudor style, but after the accession of William and Mary to the throne of England, they began to demolish the old Palace to redo it in the Georgian style, with marble and stone instead of brick. But, fortunately for Tudor enthusiasts, they ran out of money and so half the Palace is in its original style while the other half is in the later style.

See how the left side is in the Tudor style? The right, then, is in the Georgian style of William and Mary.
We walked around Henry VIII's kitchens; there were about 5 in all, each room with a different purpose. The serving room was as large as a badminton court. We then went to Henry VIII's apartments. First was the Great Hall, where all his courtiers ate and any entertainment took place. The King himself did not eat with his courtiers on a regular basis, but there was a head table set up just in case. The walls of the Great Hall were covered with tapestry, now faded with age. They were originally a lot brighter, seeing that they had gold and silver thread woven into many areas of the tapestries. Tapestries were very expensive even then and a rich man could have hoped to collect 50-100 during his lifetime: Henry VIII had close to 2,500.

After touring the Great Hall and other areas of his apartments (closet, viewing quarters, etc.) we saw the exhibit concerning the women in Henry VIII's life- starting with his first wife Katherine of Aragon all the way to his last wife Kateryn Parr, and his two daughters Mary (the Bloody one) and Elizabeth (the Great). Unfortunately no photography was allowed inside the exhibit seeing that the paintings of the ladies were copies made during Henry VIII's time, therefore being close to 500 years old.

That's Henry VIII, in the same pose as all his paintings.
We strolled into the gardens to eat the lunch we had brought along with us, after which we took a tram ride around the gardens.

The back of the Palace.

Our tram was pulled by horses- Aragon and Royal.

The trees lining the main avenue of the gardens are over 300 years old. They are all Yew trees, the poisonous berries of which are used for breast cancer treatment.
After lunch, we walked through the maze that was part of the gardens...I cannot quite compare it to anything else, because I have never been in a maze. It was rather easy considering there were tourists everywhere who would give us hints and I never really got a sense of being lost. But we did find the centre of the maze, and rewarded ourselves with really cheap ice cream from the cafe.
After Hampton Court, we boarded the train back to London Waterloo, with an intention to go see Leavesden studios, where the Harry Potter movies are filmed. My friend Sarah knew the route and so we took a train from London Euston to Watford Junction. We intended to take a bus to the studios, but having no idea of where the place was, we decided to take a taxi. The taxi driver played some very loud, very thumping music the entire way and I was hoping to alight at the studios and walk around to clear my head. Unfortunately for us, we weren't allowed inside to just look around and so a drive-by was all we could afford. A very expensive drive-by, considering how much the taxi cost even if it was split between the two of us. We then got back to the station, having spent all of 30 minutes in Leavesden and came back to London.

The most expensive drive-by visit.
London was a mess this weekend with significant tube lines being shut down for maintanence. None of the tube lines that are close to campus were functional so we had to rely on roundabout ways and replacement bus services to get home. Although we got back to London from Leavesden by 5.15, we didn't get back to campus until 7pm, having endured very cramped, very slow buses all the way home.
A welcome shower and dinner later, I settled to do homework and managed to finally get a full night's rest. Most of today was taken up by class. It was the penultimate day of classes and we began to talk about the final class hours and the exams. Tonight will be dedicated to watching the movie versions of Emma (starring Gwyneth Paltrow) and Clueless, which is based on the book Emma. Tomorrow is the last field trip for the Jane Austen class- apparently we're going to Scion House; our professor hasn't really elaborated on what it is, except that it has been used for filming Gosford Park. It should be interesting.

Chapel Royal Court Garden at Hampton Court.


Front view of Hampton Court Palace.

Wickedness!

As you can probably guess, my night was dedicated to watching Wicked, but more on that when I get to that point in my story.
I woke up this morning, got ready, and left with my friends Jessica and Sarah to go to the Apollo Victoria Theatre to get tickets for the show tonight. We took a bus to Baker Street because the trains were down for maintanence, and then caught a train from there to the Victoria Station. There was already a queue outside the theatre, but we were inside within 10 minutes and got an amazing discount (£25 for a £60 ticket because we were students) and purchased our tickets. The excitement and anticipation finally set in. Sarah decided not to go with us because she had all ready splurged on a ticket to see Phantom of the Opera. Jessica and I split ways, deciding to meet outside the theatre at 7 that evening. Sarah and I proceeded to the British Museum. It was packed, being a weekend, but we got to see some interesting artifacts. The most important thing we saw, without a doubt, was the Rosetta Stone. I had never seen a picture of it and didn't really expect it to be as big as it is.
I'm sorry about the glare. Other people were using the flash on their camera. Anyway, we saw a lot of other Egyptian exhibits. I was very distracted during the visit to the Museum because I was trying to cope with a headache and the possibility of falling sick- some of the people here have started to fall ill and I was afraid it was my turn next. We saw parts of the Parthenon and other Greek sculptures. The big exhibition that the Museum has for the summer is called Garden and Cosmos: Royal Jodhpur Paintings. Unfortunately the exhibit requires an admission fee of £8 and we didn't quite want to invest in that, especially since I had just paid up for Wicked. So we settled for India Landscape exhibit, which the Museum had up in partnership with Kew Gardens. Basically it was a little garden outside the Museum with some plants native to India. It was pretty cool...I was surprised they survived in this weather.
Lotus.













Marigolds.













After the British Museum, we went to the British Library, which is by far one of my favorite places here. We went to the gallery which housed the Treasures of the Library and it took my breath away- I really did choke back tears. In there were original manuscripts of Jane Austen's Persuasion, which was placed on her writing desk, Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre among other things (for a full list, write to me). As if this wasn't enough, they had the pieces of paper on which the Beatles had jotted down the lyrics to some of their most famous songs including "Ticket to Ride," "Yesterday," "I Want to Hold Your Hand," and "Help!" My knees about gave way and it took everything in me to keep from bursting into tears. I have a page long list of all the things I saw in there that I recognized and it was a very emotional experience. I also saw the two copies of the Magna Carta that the Library holds, and with that I have seen all 4 existing copies of the Magna Carta: the 2 in the British Library, there's one at Salisbury Cathedral, which I saw last weekend and there's one at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. It is some sort of an accomplishment.
Then I rushed back to campus, got a shower, ate a hasty dinner of microwavable pasta, I was on my way to see Wicked. I had always heard good things about the show, and had been around people that were obsessed with it, but I had never even heard a single song from it. So I went in with high expectations, but nothing that couldn't be adjusted accordingly. I was completely carried away. I was excited every single minute of the show, and I enjoyed every song and every dance. I was amazed at the magnitude of the production. Oliver and Peter Pan don't even come close to having this much money for the production. Lights and dry ice everywhere, extravagant costumes and numerous props to add to the characters and not once did the show seem overdone. It is the first show I have seen here that I would go back to see. I hear it's coming to Nashville this September, so maybe I'll see it as part of a birthday celebration.

This was taken this morning while waiting to get tickets.

In the middle section was where we sat. Really, really good seats for the price we paid.

Stage set up before the show. It's a dragon on top and the backdrop is a map of Oz.

Close up of the map. See how the Emerald City is lit up in green? It was cool.
All in all, an excellent day. Tomorrow is Hampton Court and homework...and then the beginning of the last week here.

Dickens and Doyle

Today was a rather laid back day. Everyone having gone to Paris, campus was very quiet. I did get to sleep in until about 10:45, at which point I met with my friend Sarah to go over plans for the weekend. We decided we were going to get to the Sherlock Holmes Museum and the Charles Dickens Museum today. We left at noon, got lunch at a pub called The Volunteer and went to the Sherlock Holmes Museum first. There was nothing spectacular about it. It was just a house on Baker Street, but not quite 221B, and it was decorated as though Sherlock Holmes had lived in it. Incidentally, parts of the Baker Street tube station are decorated with this tile on the walls:

If you didn't know anything about Sherlock Holmes, the museum would not have been very amusing to you. I don't know that much about him, but I knew enough to appreciate the place. By the end of it, I was doubtful of his being a fictional character; the place was very well designed. He has lots and lots of odd things stacked everywhere. There was a room for Dr. Watson and a room for Mrs. Hudson. They had wax figures of some of the prominent characters in the stories as well. If nothing else, it was a glimpse into a house of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's time period (Victorian, I think?).

There's the Museum. It's easy to miss if you're not paying attention.

He had so much stuff. Supposedly.

There's Professor Moriarty- Sherlock Holmes's rival.

Figures from "A Scandal in Bohemia"
After the Sherlock Holmes Museum, Sarah and I made our way to the Charles Dickens Museum. It was an adventure because it was a little bit of a walk from the nearest tube station (Chancery Lane), and we got to walk through residential areas and streets full of cafes and shops. The Charles Dickens Museum is at 48 Doughty Street, which is where Dickens lived in London during his prime years of writing. We were very fortunate to be here during this time because this year marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of A Tale of Two Cities, my favorite Dickens novel thus far. There was entire exhibit dedicated to the book...mostly to the history behind the book (French Revolution), but there was a wall dedicated to Sydney Carton, and I was lost for words. Sydney Carton is the hero of the novel, even though he is not given the credit for being a hero until the very end. We toured the house, saw where he wrote Oliver Twist, which was neat considering I saw the musical associated with the book earlier in the week. We spent a good hour and a half looking through some of the manuscripts and even got to hold a first edition copy of Nicholas Nickleby. If there was anything more I learned about Dickens from this visit is that he was very involved in social work. Having been through a rough childhood (his family was put in debtors' prison and he was sent to work in a blacking factory) in the Victorian Era, he was committed to bettering the lives of others when he had the means to do so. He opened a house where prostitues could seek refuge from society and visited various schools reputed to treat students harshly. It was a good day spent indulging myself in literary things. It just made me want to read more Dickens and Doyle.
The rest of the night was spent on campus, keeping accounts of my expenditure, relaxing and watching TV shows on my laptop. Tomorrow will be a long day considering we have plans to get tickets for Wicked, see the British Museum and the British Library, and then watch Wicked at night. Here are pictures from the Dickens Museum:

Dickens' Study, where he wrote Oliver Twist.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." One of the best opening lines ever.
That would be me outside the Museum.

Bath and Barrie

I almost missed the field trip to Bath, waking up just in time at 6.30 am to meet the class by 6.45 am. All turned out well, however, and we made the 8:00 am train to Bath Spa via Paddington Station. The train journey was delayed by a few minutes owing to crowded tracks or something, but we were in bath at around 9:45am. We arrived in Bath to lots and lots of rain. It was terribly cold, in spite of the fact that it is situated south of London, and we were worried about the progress of the day if the weather kept up that way. Luckily for us, it stopped raining the moment we walked out of the station. We got on one of the double-deckered tour buses and made our way to the Jane Austen Centre in Bath.
Jane Austen spent a significant amount of time in Bath, some on vacation and some when her father moved to Bath for retirement. It was in Bath that the Rev. George Austen died (also, incidentally, where Jane's parents got married). Jane Austen hated Bath. She and her sister Cassandra did not care for the city life, and especially after their father's death in 1805, they were subject to a lot of rules concerning proper social conduct. For instance, they were not allowed to attend public parties without a male companion to lead them. To us, this may not seem like a big deal but considering that there was nothing to do in Georgian England but socialize, this presents quite a big problem for the Austens. They were also very poor after the death of the Reverend, and living in Bath became quite difficult for them. The very last residence of Jane, Cassandra and their mother was on Trim Street, which then was infiltrated with thieves, prostitutes and the like.
Although Jane hated Bath, it gave her a lot to write about. She never quite wrote anything in Bath; she only began The Watsons but never made it past 17,000 words. Her last two completed books Persuasion and Northanger Abbey, however, have a significant portion set in Bath. We were given the opportunity of seeing all the places that Austen writes about in these novels, mostly streets on which her characters live and places where important events occured in the novels. The Pump Room, for example, is important in Northanger Abbey. It is where the ladies went everyday for dances and to socialize. It is now a restaraunt with a view of the Roman Baths. The gravel path where Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth finally profess their love for each other in Persuasion is actually present near the Victoria Gardens. Speaking of Victoria, I learned something about her today during the bus tour. Apparently she inaugurated the gardens named after her when she was 11 years old, 7 years before she was to ascend to the throne. People thought she did a good job considering it was her first public engagement; however, one reporter made a comment about the dullness of her outfit or something, to which she took offense. She swore never to visit Bath again. She was so adamant that many years later, en route to Bristol via train, the curtains in her coach were drawn so that she didn't have to see Bath and that its citizens wouldn't see her. Quite a temper she had.
Anyway, the Jane Austen Centre in itself didn't have that much stuff. We all ready knew most of the biographical information the guide gave us. Two friends and I ate lunch at the Regency Tea Room, which is a part of the Jane Austen Centre. After lunch, we went on a walking tour, which is when we were shown the various locations associated with Jane Austen. The weather had cleared up a lot...it was still very chilly, but the sun was out.

13 Queen Square- One of the places in which Jane Austen stayed. They rented the middle floor. The building now houses a solicitor's office.

The Pump Room, about which I talked above.

Trim Street, which I also mentioned above. The sad thing is, we have no clue where on Trim Street Jane Austen lived. There is some new construction on it, so for all we know the original building may have been demolished.
After the walking tour, we were free to do whatever we wanted. I got on the sightseeing bus to get a quick feel for Bath before I had to head back to London to see Peter Pan. Here are the results of the tour:

The reason for Bath.

The Royal Crescent Hotel. Also mentioned in Northanger Abbey.

That's the river Avon. I learned that Avon is the Celtic word for river. So it's River river. When the Romans conquered England, they expected the rivers to have different names like they did, but whenever they asked they always got the same answer-Avon. Therefore, there are about 11 Avon rivers in the UK. The bridge is Pulteney Bridge and was designed to house shops.

Bath streets.
I caught the 4.45 train back to London Paddington after the bus tour, promptly fell asleep on the train and rushed to Kensington Gardens to make it in time for the show. My dinner, consequently, was a chocolate brownie.

The tent in which Peter Pan is performed.


The stage at the beginning of the show- it is a recreation of the Darling children's bedroom.
The show was...interesting to say the least. It was very unconventional, what with being held in a tent, having projections on the screen serving as most of the scenery and involving acrobatics for the scenes involving flying. I want to say the show is directed towards a younger audience, considering the story; however, most of the kids I sat around were bored before we hit interval and a lot of the dialogue and action was a little mature for them. My classmates and I, however, thought some of the action was juvenile and cute, to put it well. It wasn't badly done at all, it was just a little too childish for us. The best part about it, however, was the actor that played Mr. Darling and Captain Hook. It is the same actor who plays the father and the hunter in Jumanji. It was pretty amazing to watch him almost recreate that image. The actor, incidentally, is Jonathan Hyde. He was also in Titanic as J Bruce Ismay, the managing director of the White Star line (the guy who encourages the captain to hasten the progress of the ship). Anyway, that was fun.
Most of the group leaves for Paris tomorrow. I plan to stay here and as I mentioned previously, get a lot of things accomplished. First thing on my list, however, is to sleep until at least 10am. Nothing else comes close to being as important.

T Minus 11 Days

First of all, I cannot believe there are only 11 days left! That is so crazy. I still have...all of London to see. I'm really starting to panic about all the things I have yet to see that I haven't had a chance to see. So, this weekend while a significant number of people are in Paris, I am going to get to my list of places to see. Luckily for me, these places can be tackled alone and might actually be more fun that way. The list includes: Covent Garden, The Sherlock Holmes Museum, The Charles Dickens Museum, Camden Market, Portobello Road (the last two are prime shopping locations), Harrods (I've seen the building, but haven't been inside yet), Hampton Court, The British Museum, The British Library, Charing Cross Road (known for its numerous bookstores).
We had classes today. My Jane Austen class dragged on forever, unfortunately. We talked about Mansfield Park and I don't care for the novel very much, and couldn't quite keep awake. However, we got done with that novel and moved on to Northanger Abbey, and were given a pretty detailed introduction to the Gothic novel tradition. It was interesting...the stories of many of the first Gothic novels sound very trashy and silly, but I want to read them regardless. So if anyone is so inclined to get me a copy of The Italian or The Mysteries of Udolpho both by Ann Radcliffe, feel free to do so. Or even The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis. We had vegetable curry and rice for lunch and it was delicious (for those who are familiar with it, it felt a lot like having sambar rice).
My theatre class was the most interesting it has been thus far. This is because we had a very famous sound designer visit us and speak to us-John Leonard (if you google his name, his website should be the first to pop up in the search results). He was incredibly chatty- he went off on an incredible number of tangents, shared many anecdotes, etc. The only thing he did that I am somewhat familiar with is designing all the sounds in the Madame Tussaud's in New York. He has apparently worked some on the sound for the museum here in London as well. He currently has several shows on West End including Duet for One, Calendar Girls and Carrie's War. He mainly goes out to places, records sounds for sound effects and puts clips together for soundtracks for theatre productions. Of course, his job is a lot more complicated than I described it, but that's the gist. Needless to say, most of us were impressed by the celebrities he has worked with- Dames Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Helen Mirren, Ralph and Joe Fiennes, etc. What is even more impressive is that he, and his wife (who is a cellist), have recorded frequently at Abbey Road (of The Beatles fame). In fact, his wife is a featured cellist on the Harry Potter soundtracks- apparently she's playing the strings whenever there are dementors in the scene, so my guess is the 3rd and 5th movies. And it gets better: Leonard's father-in-law was also a cellist, and is actually one of the string players in The Beatles' song "Eleanor Rigby." This, to me, was amazing because the strings are my favorite part of that song. Anyway, he's done a lot of stuff and he's been around people who have done a lot of stuff, so it was an amazing experience.
I decided to take a night off tonight because tomorrow is going to be a long day, with the visit to Bath and then Peter Pan at night. I ironed some clothes I had washed, updated journals for class, and hung out with my recently engaged friends. They introduced me to a British comedy- The IT Crowd. It was pretty funny, and they plan to show me more episodes in the following week. They're going to Paris this weekend to celebrate their engagement (lucky!), so I won't see them for the next few days.
And now on to bed, as I have to leave for Bath at 6:45 in the morning.

Please Sir, Can I Have Some More?

I woke up, breakfasted, and left with friends well in advance to get to the Changing of the Guard; however, the gates of Buckingham Palace were all ready flocked a full hour and 15 minutes before the scheduled event was to take place. Being short, my friend and I tried to weave through the crowd to an acceptable spot from which to see the event, but we were unsuccessful. We saw the guards marching in to the band (brought back memories of marching band), but could not even get a glimpse of the guards within the gates. So, we left. Here is evidence of what we did see.


The Palace.

Approaching band.


Clarinet line!
A quick errand to Oxford Street to exchange money was next, after which we ate lunch at Garfunkel's Restaurant. I got the spiciest pasta I have ever eaten- it had a spicy tomato sauce as well as jalapenos in it. After lunch, we split ways because I had to be back on campus for my theatre class field trip. I did, however, make a stop at a street vendor selling pashmina shawls for really, really cheap in the most spectacular designs. I could not resist and got myself a few...maybe I'll be inclined to part with a couple when I get home.
I got back to campus at around 2.15 and took a power nap until around 2.35, at which point I got ready to meet the class to go to the Drury Lane Theatre Royal, which is actually on Catherine Street. We had the best tour yet. The tour guides got dressed as prominent people in the history of the theatre and were incredibly animated about the information they gave us. The theatre set the standards for what we know as modern theatre. It was at Drury Lane that women were first allowed to person in Britain. The use of a lot of technical elements originated at this theatre. It is because of tunnels leading to the docks from the theatre, and sailors being the operators backstage that they are now called crew. Sailors were the natural choice for the job because a lot of the equipment used backstage (ropes, etc.) is the same as on boats. We toured the Royal Retiring Room, which is where the Queen would retire to during interval, etc. It was a very engaging tour.


Our tour guides. I didn't quite catch the importance of the man, Mr. Brown, but the lady is the first actress to perform there- Nell Gwynn.

The Theatre. It takes up the entire street.
Dinner and a quick stop at Covent Garden (which I plan to revisit for a longer period of time) later, it was time for the show Oliver. We, unfortunately, had really bad seats. They were on the ground level, or stalls, but we were under the first floor. The play had a lot of scenes which involved the use of a hydraulic bridge, and so we had to resort to just listening because we couldn't see beyond the balcony. The play, in effect, was amazing. I have never seen a production of this magnitude...not that the cast was big, but it was so apparent that they had a lot of funding. The sets were magnificent and reflected London streets perfectly. They created a 3D effect, and it seemed like the stage extended infinitely in the background...I have no idea how. Compared to Romeo and Juliet and Warhorse, this play, which was a musical, had thousands and thousands of props. The show is based on Dicken's novel, Oliver Twist, and although it is different from the novel, the story was conveyed well. The boy playing Oliver cannot have been more that 12, but he was a spectacular singer. I was thoroughly impressed. The lighting was extravagant and so were the costumes, and I was constantly reminded of how much of a budget the show probably had...considering the theatre is one of the best theatres in London and is currently owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Speaking of the theatre again, it is where My Fair Lady with Julie Andrews was performed...I got cold chills when I heard about it.
Ultimately, I have decided that I love musicals. They are not as engaging as say, a Shakespeare production, or as thought provoking as a serious drama, but I would be perfectly content to see extravagant shows one after another...to be given a sense of reality instead of constantly indulging in suspension of disbelief. Class tomorrow, which will be less exciting, but hopefully rewarding.