Saturday was my last day in London, so I got up early so that I could experience the one thing I had missed so far: Westminster Abbey. I managed to get down to the Westminster Tube station without any problems and got my ticket to go inside the Abbey. They don't allow photography, but I got an audio guide and wandered around (I was very surprised to hear Jeremy Irons introduce himself as the voice of the audio guide, but it was also pretty awesome). I also went up into the Shrine of King Edward the Confessor. It's not open to general tourism, but they let small groups inside for prayer sessions led by one of the priests. I mostly just wanted to see the shrine, so I pretended. The Abbey itself was beautiful, of course. My favourite part was the Poet's Corner, where they have tombs and memorials to various writers (including Shakespeare, Lewis Carrol, Robert Browning, and a dozen others, including my favourite: W.H. Auden). I did sneak a couple pictures (like one of Edmond Halley's memorial) before I left, and wound my way out through the ever-present souvenir shop. I figured I had left with just enough time to get back to Katie's house, finish throwing my stuff together, and come back in to the train station.
Unfortunately, it didn't prove to be that easy. When I got back to Totteridge & Whetstone, the only trains arriving were going on the wrong track (via Charing Cross rather than via Bank, which was what I needed). Without any other real choice, I got on the train anyway, and figured I'd get off and switch trains at some point. Unfortunately, no good opportunity presented itself until I got to Euston station, which is huge, and I switched to the Victoria line to get to King's Cross/St. Pancras. By the time I got there, I had basically figured that I would be late, but I ran through the station anyway, hoping. I managed to get there right as the train was departing, and felt like I was going to cry from running through stations, freaking out, and having it confirmed that my train had, indeed, already left.
The people at the Eurostar were fantastic, however. They took pity on me, and the first guy I talked to wrote on my ticket that I had showed up about five minutes earlier, to give me a little more leeway, and sent me to the ticket office. The guy there did some checking around and managed to get me a seat on the next train, when I explained that I hadn't known when I was supposed to be there and had been late. I kind of suspect that he thought I was younger than I am, judging from the way he spoke to me, but I wasn't about to complain. He told me that since I would miss my connection in Paris, I would have to talk to the SNCF people directly and try to get on the last train of the night. But to help me more, he put a "magic stamp" (his words) on the ticket that basically said that I missed my connection because of another train, not through my own fault. That wasn't technically true, but he gave me the stamp anyway to be nice.
Going through security went fairly quickly, and I got my second train-travel passport stamp. When I got to the Eurostar lobby, the train for Lille was boarding, so I sat down to wait. It was then that I experienced the most bizarre thing: while I was sitting there, they were reading announcements in both French and English. And when I heard the French, a huge wave of relief washed over me, and I felt almost weak. I hadn't realised until that point just how draining it was to constantly listen to British English. As much as I love the language and watch the BBC and was looking forward to London, the entire time I was there I felt somewhat distanced. In France, my accent might show me to be a foreigner, but I still feel included in the culture and language and am still accepted so long as I try to speak French. But in England, although American English was certainly suitable for communication, I still felt like and proved myself to be an outsider every time I opened my mouth.
Maybe it was just the exhaustion from running and stressing and the relief of being on a train - any train! - back to France, but my strange euphoria just increased every time I heard French, spoke French, and even when I used Euros to buy myself a simple dinner on the train. (The Eurostar has two "dining" cars; I got a BLT sandwich, a bag of chips, and an Orangina.) The seat next to me was empty, so I put up the arm rest and curled up across both seats to sleep for a good chunk of the trip, and also started organising my receipts and figuring out just how much my London adventure had cost me.
We got to the Paris Nord train station at the exact time the train I was supposed to take was leaving from Paris Austerlitz, so there was no hope of me catching it. So I took my time getting to the Métro and crossing Paris. I found myself loving almost everything I encountered: the ever-so-distinctive smell of Paris, the fact that the people I saw ignored me, that the Métro itself was dirty and the cars were old, the brief glimpse I saw of the Eiffel Tower all lit up for the night, and the little theme song that plays on constant loop in every SNCF train station. When I found the platforms at Austerlitz I went and talked to the man in the information booth. Without hardly looking at me he told me that it would be perfectly fine if I took the last train to Tours; I think the fact that I mentioned the stamp might have had something to do with it! I settled in on one of the seats in the station and prepared to wait the three hours until 10pm, when the train would leave. Fortunately, I had a book.
When the platform for the train was finally displayed on the board, I made my way over there. Unlike almost every other time I've taken the train in France, they had set up barriers and were actually checking people's tickets before they let them go on the train. The man glanced at my ticket, seeming confused for a moment, but when I explained briefly he nodded and let me through. By this point I was cold, exhausted, and wanting nothing more than a bed I could call mine. I kept myself awake by reading on the way to Tours, and finally arrived sometime between 12:30 and 1am. Then I dragged myself and my luggage back to the house, still kind of euphorically pleased by things as simple as French drivers' respect for pedestrians and the fact that I knew where I was going without thinking. I managed to find my keys after a panicked moment of not remembering where I'd put them, and unpacked just enough to be comfortable before I snuggled into my bed.
It's not quite home, but for that night, it was close enough.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
The Queen's Guard and the Cold
Friday morning I got up fairly early and headed out to Buckingham Palace to watch the Changing of the Guard. I went to the Green Park Tube station, which meant that I had a decently long walk through Green Park in order to find the Palace. It was pretty, though, and nice and tranquil. When I got to the Palace, it was around 10am, but there were still a few other people wandering around, taking pictures, and claiming spots by the fence. I found a spot just to the right of the main gate, and stayed there for the 1 1/2 hours until the actual ceremony started. It was actually really cold, and my boots were still a little damp from the rain Thursday night, so it was kind of miserable. The people with young children kept fussing over them, and everyone was really cold while we waited.
I had a really good spot, though; right up by the fence, so I could take pictures through the bars. The ceremony itself was both more and less interesting than I expected. The Guards weren't the typical red-coated, fuzzy-black-hat-wearing ones you expect to see. The Old Guard had the hats, but grey coats, and the New Guard was completely different. They marched in, and there was a lot of marching and forming up and walking around and shouting orders. Then the two bands played, and that was my favourite part. The first band (the Old Guard's band) played the theme from Star Trek, some jazz piece that I recognised but couldn't name, and the theme from Star Wars. Then the New Guard's band played a bunch of songs from Les Misérables, in a kind of mini-medley thing. Then the Old Guard band played St. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and the New Guard's band finished with a bunch of songs from Mamma Mia. It really surprised me; I was expecting the bands to play "God Save the Queen," or something, and certainly not ABBA! I did really enjoy it though, since both bands were really good.
After they played there was a bit more marching and formation, and then the Old Guard's band, the Old Guard, the New Guard's band, and half of the New Guard marched away, and the rest of the New Guard (apart from the four that had already taken up their posts guarding the doors while I wasn't watching) marched away back to wherever the rest of the company hangs out. After the ceremony was over, I took a few more pictures and walked towards Victoria for lack of anywhere else I knew of to find something to eat. I was freezing still, so I ducked into the Queen's Gallery Shop, and wandered around, looking at stuff and warming up a bit.
Along my way, I also found a centre for the Girl Guides of the UK, which was a fun coincidence! The Girl Guides are basically the UK version of America's Girl Scouts, and seeing as I was a Girl Scout all the way through high school, I of course had to check it out! It was basically just a store selling stuff for girls who are Guides, but the groups of various girls standing around and the general atmosphere brought me back... it was kind of fun.
When I got to Victoria I was absolutely starving, so I decided to go to an actual restaurant and get actual food. In the food court on the top level there was a restaurant called Garfunkel's, so I went there and got a chicken wrap sandwich and some lemonade. The lemonade was kind of strange, since it was less like squeezed lemons and more like flavoured water, but it wasn't bad. The sandwich was a little dry, but the fries that came with it were good, and I was really hungry anyway. I was far too full for dessert, so I just asked for the bill. And when I glanced at the dessert menu while I was waiting I was glad that I was full; almost every thing on there was about 5 pounds by itself; way too expensive for me!
Afterward, I took the Tube to try and find the Museum of London, which has free admission and basically goes over the history of the city itself. It was difficult to find, as I was beginning to discover everything not marked by a specific Tube station was. Eventually I got there, and wandered around inside. It was decently interesting; a lot of cool artifacts and history. It did seem to be somewhat geared towards kids, and the hordes of childlings wandering around inside did nothing to quell that suspicion. After I'd looked at it, I figured I would just barely have enough time, if I hurried, to see the British Museum.
If I had thought the Museum of London was hard to find, the British Museum was ridiculous. I ended up walking around in circles three or four times, and all about a block away from the entrance. I ended up going in the back entrance, since that was the one I found, and it steered me straight into an exhibit of Islamic ceramics and pottery. Since that was not exactly my area of interest, I ended up following the signs in the stairwell all the way up to the top, where there were Egyptian artifacts and mummies. From there, I wandered through into Ancient Near East stuff, including some Greek and Roman artifacts. It was a lot of fun, because a few times I came across things that I had studied in my Art History class, and I liked the chance to get to see them in person. I was really excited by the Greek vases; I managed to find the one depicting Ajax and Achilles playing a backgammon-esque game, and took a bunch of pictures. Since that was my favourite amphora in class, it made me really happy. I also saw some other fun stuff, like statues of gods, various mummified animals, and a phalloi/herme in the shape of a wind chime. Unfortunately, the museum was closing soon, so I had to leave before I'd seen very much.
When I left, the sun was going down and it was going to be night soon. I hadn't yet just gone and walked along the Thames and seen the sights to see, so I went to Embankment station, walked across the bridge there, and then walked up by the London Eye and the Aquarium. There was a beautiful carousel, and everything was lit up and gorgeous. I took a bunch of pictures, although being as it was night not all of them turned out. I walked back across at the Westminster Bridge, where there was a bagpiper busking in the middle of the bridge. You could hear him all the way back at the Eye, but I really enjoyed listening to him. I gave him what money I had left in pounds, since I knew I'd be leaving the next day. Then I went back by Big Ben, got on the Tube at Westminster station, and went back up to Katie's house. I got some more dinner at that little Waitrose grocery store, and started the process of packing up all my souvenirs and clothes so that I would be ready to leave the next day.
I had a really good spot, though; right up by the fence, so I could take pictures through the bars. The ceremony itself was both more and less interesting than I expected. The Guards weren't the typical red-coated, fuzzy-black-hat-wearing ones you expect to see. The Old Guard had the hats, but grey coats, and the New Guard was completely different. They marched in, and there was a lot of marching and forming up and walking around and shouting orders. Then the two bands played, and that was my favourite part. The first band (the Old Guard's band) played the theme from Star Trek, some jazz piece that I recognised but couldn't name, and the theme from Star Wars. Then the New Guard's band played a bunch of songs from Les Misérables, in a kind of mini-medley thing. Then the Old Guard band played St. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and the New Guard's band finished with a bunch of songs from Mamma Mia. It really surprised me; I was expecting the bands to play "God Save the Queen," or something, and certainly not ABBA! I did really enjoy it though, since both bands were really good.
After they played there was a bit more marching and formation, and then the Old Guard's band, the Old Guard, the New Guard's band, and half of the New Guard marched away, and the rest of the New Guard (apart from the four that had already taken up their posts guarding the doors while I wasn't watching) marched away back to wherever the rest of the company hangs out. After the ceremony was over, I took a few more pictures and walked towards Victoria for lack of anywhere else I knew of to find something to eat. I was freezing still, so I ducked into the Queen's Gallery Shop, and wandered around, looking at stuff and warming up a bit.
Along my way, I also found a centre for the Girl Guides of the UK, which was a fun coincidence! The Girl Guides are basically the UK version of America's Girl Scouts, and seeing as I was a Girl Scout all the way through high school, I of course had to check it out! It was basically just a store selling stuff for girls who are Guides, but the groups of various girls standing around and the general atmosphere brought me back... it was kind of fun.
When I got to Victoria I was absolutely starving, so I decided to go to an actual restaurant and get actual food. In the food court on the top level there was a restaurant called Garfunkel's, so I went there and got a chicken wrap sandwich and some lemonade. The lemonade was kind of strange, since it was less like squeezed lemons and more like flavoured water, but it wasn't bad. The sandwich was a little dry, but the fries that came with it were good, and I was really hungry anyway. I was far too full for dessert, so I just asked for the bill. And when I glanced at the dessert menu while I was waiting I was glad that I was full; almost every thing on there was about 5 pounds by itself; way too expensive for me!
Afterward, I took the Tube to try and find the Museum of London, which has free admission and basically goes over the history of the city itself. It was difficult to find, as I was beginning to discover everything not marked by a specific Tube station was. Eventually I got there, and wandered around inside. It was decently interesting; a lot of cool artifacts and history. It did seem to be somewhat geared towards kids, and the hordes of childlings wandering around inside did nothing to quell that suspicion. After I'd looked at it, I figured I would just barely have enough time, if I hurried, to see the British Museum.
If I had thought the Museum of London was hard to find, the British Museum was ridiculous. I ended up walking around in circles three or four times, and all about a block away from the entrance. I ended up going in the back entrance, since that was the one I found, and it steered me straight into an exhibit of Islamic ceramics and pottery. Since that was not exactly my area of interest, I ended up following the signs in the stairwell all the way up to the top, where there were Egyptian artifacts and mummies. From there, I wandered through into Ancient Near East stuff, including some Greek and Roman artifacts. It was a lot of fun, because a few times I came across things that I had studied in my Art History class, and I liked the chance to get to see them in person. I was really excited by the Greek vases; I managed to find the one depicting Ajax and Achilles playing a backgammon-esque game, and took a bunch of pictures. Since that was my favourite amphora in class, it made me really happy. I also saw some other fun stuff, like statues of gods, various mummified animals, and a phalloi/herme in the shape of a wind chime. Unfortunately, the museum was closing soon, so I had to leave before I'd seen very much.
When I left, the sun was going down and it was going to be night soon. I hadn't yet just gone and walked along the Thames and seen the sights to see, so I went to Embankment station, walked across the bridge there, and then walked up by the London Eye and the Aquarium. There was a beautiful carousel, and everything was lit up and gorgeous. I took a bunch of pictures, although being as it was night not all of them turned out. I walked back across at the Westminster Bridge, where there was a bagpiper busking in the middle of the bridge. You could hear him all the way back at the Eye, but I really enjoyed listening to him. I gave him what money I had left in pounds, since I knew I'd be leaving the next day. Then I went back by Big Ben, got on the Tube at Westminster station, and went back up to Katie's house. I got some more dinner at that little Waitrose grocery store, and started the process of packing up all my souvenirs and clothes so that I would be ready to leave the next day.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Rain, Ravens, and A Round Theatre
This morning, I was planning on getting up very early and heading out so that I could be at the Tower of London right around when they opened. That... didn't so much happen. Grant was debating coming with me; his Mini U.N. stuff starts today, so he didn't know if he'd be busy; but he decided to sleep in instead. When I stepped outside, however, it was already starting to rain. I was very glad today that I had my umbrella to hand.
The Tube trip down to the Tower Hill stop also took a lot longer than I was hoping. They were having problems with various lines; there had been signaling problems on the Central line, and so Circle and District (the only two that service Tower Hill) were both suffering severe delays and I had a heck of a time figuring it out. Finally I got there, just after 10. Walking over to the Tower itself was like swimming with all the rain, so once I had bought my ticket I decided to eat something and dry out a bit before going into the Tower itself. There's a company I keep seeing around London called "Eat.", and they had a store in the little shopping complex just outside the Tower. I got a chicken, tomato, and pesto sandwich, which was really good. There were green lettuce-y type leaves and pine nuts and it was very well done. Then I went over and got in line to go in. The thing about being in London right now, though, is that everyone is on vacation from school, not just me. The entire place was swarming with people.
I went inside, and started with the walkway and the walls. I basically went in and out of several towers along the outside walls, and took lots of pictures. One tower had a replica of the king's bed (which made me feel right at home, after Chenonceau and Amboise!), one had various English monarch's crowns (with all the jewels removed, or with paste replicas), one had examples of weaponry the Tower Guards would've used and talked a little about when the peasants revolted and stormed the Tower (remarkably, the only time it had ever been breached). When I descended down into the inner courtyard, the first place I went was the House of Jewels, where the real Crown Jewels of England are kept. It was very tightly secured (as you can imagine). They don't allow photographs inside, but it was absolutely marvelous. Everything was sumptuous and brilliant (literally) and beautiful. I don't think I've even imagined of so many gems in one place at the same time. After I left there, I wandered around some more. I saw the place where Anne Bolyn and many others were beheaded. I saw the various graffiti on the walls where people had been kept prisoner. I had to search around a bit, but I eventually found the torture exhibit (ironically not in the Bloody Tower), which turned out to just be a Scavenger's Daughter, a Rack, and a set of Manacles. It was still pretty cool, though, and considering how many kids were around, I thought it was really tastefully done.
The thing that I got really excited about, though, and the thing I was not leaving the Tower without seeing, were the ravens. It is said that if the Tower Ravens ever leave the Tower, then England will fall. So, they keep the requisite six around, plus a seventh, just in case. They do clip the birds' wings, though, so there's no real chance of them just flying away. They also have a little caged enclosure where three of them were hanging out. I saw one sitting on a wall first, quite a bit away from the cages. He was watching people go by and talking to them and making noises and I took a bunch of pictures. Then I went over by the cages, where there were three enclosed and three more just walking around outside. I took a bunch more pictures; ravens are really very photogenic birds. When I counted later, I ended up with 25 pictures of just those seven birds.
I ended up spending over three hours in the Tower of London, and enjoyed every minute. Eventually, though, I did manage to see it all, and so I headed back to the Tube. It was raining really hard by then, and all the walking around meant that my feet and the bottoms of my pants were getting really wet. I had some more problems with the Tube when I tried to get to Mansion House, which the internet had told me was about a ten minute walk from Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. I found Mansion House alright, but then had more problems trying to figure out how to get to the Globe itself. There was construction in the middle of the roads, so I walked up and down and around and crossed the streets where there were no lights (a very dangerous thing in London). Every once in a while I came across a map that pointed the way to the river, and eventually I got to the bank.
From the bank, I could actually see the Globe, finally; and I could see the footbridge that would let me get to it. At that point, it was just a matter of getting to the bridge and crossing. I also passed St. Paul's Cathedral, which is on the opposite side of Millennium Bridge from the Globe, and I decided I'd have to take pictures after.
The Globe itself was pretty cool; I didn't know much about the actual building, so I learned a lot. I bought my ticket and just glanced briefly at the exhibits before my tour started. The guy took us inside the theatre itself, sat us in the seats, and talked to us for a while. I really got the impression from him that the only way to fully experience the Globe is to see a performance there. I was kind of sad, since by the time they're doing shows I'll be going back home, so even if I wanted to come back I wouldn't be able to. He told us that the Globe itself is a reconstruction, not built even on the exact site of the old one (which is now apparently covered by a pub). It's an educated guess of what the building would've looked like, based on what we know of the two sister theatres, the Rose and the Swan. It is also the third Globe; the first one was burned down in a fire during a performance, when they shot off a cannon (sans cannonball) and a piece of cloth from the explosion set the thatched roof on fire. Fortunately, no-one was hurt, and the worst casualty was a bottle of beer that a man used to douse his pants when they had caught on fire. It was rebuilt, and still very successful, until the Puritans took over London and it was shut down by Parliament. For all that it is mostly educated guesswork, they took great pains to make it as true to the spirit of the original as possible. It is the first fully wooden building with a thatched roof since the Great Fire of London, and was made using techniques and materials from Shakespeare's time. After the tour, I wandered through some more and saw the exhibits, which included live demonstrations of woodworking, stage combat, and Elizabethan costuming.
When I left the Globe, I went back across the Millennium Bridge to St. Paul's Cathedral. I didn't go inside, mostly because I didn't want to spend the money, but I did take a lot of pictures of the outside and some cool stuff around it. Then I realised that I didn't actually have pictures of Wyndham's Theatre, where I'd seen "An Inspector Calls," so I went back there, took the pictures, and headed home. It was about then (well on to 4 or 5 pm) that I realised I hadn't eaten all day apart from the sandwich at the Tower. So when I got to Totteridge and Whetstone (the Tube station closest to Katie's house) I decided to go to a grocery store and buy some dinner. I also stopped by a flower stall and got them a bunch of tulips as a thank-you for letting me stay this week.
When I left the grocery store, however, the fairly constant rain had turned into a veritable downpour. I fought my way through the flood to get back, and was very happy to change my wet shoes, socks, and pants and warm up again. Katie and Allan were there, so I talked with them for a while and then they went to dinner and I stayed and ate the one I had just bought. While they were gone, Grant called. He had accidentally left his passport in their scanner when he made copies for his hostel stay, and needed to come back out to grab it. Right when he got out here, Katie and Allan returned as well, so we talked for a while.
The rest of my evening has been spent relaxing and catching up on the internet, which I have not really had time to check the past couple of days. Now, I am off to bed once more. Tomorrow: Westminster, Buckingham Palace, and hopefully the Changing of the Guard!
The Tube trip down to the Tower Hill stop also took a lot longer than I was hoping. They were having problems with various lines; there had been signaling problems on the Central line, and so Circle and District (the only two that service Tower Hill) were both suffering severe delays and I had a heck of a time figuring it out. Finally I got there, just after 10. Walking over to the Tower itself was like swimming with all the rain, so once I had bought my ticket I decided to eat something and dry out a bit before going into the Tower itself. There's a company I keep seeing around London called "Eat.", and they had a store in the little shopping complex just outside the Tower. I got a chicken, tomato, and pesto sandwich, which was really good. There were green lettuce-y type leaves and pine nuts and it was very well done. Then I went over and got in line to go in. The thing about being in London right now, though, is that everyone is on vacation from school, not just me. The entire place was swarming with people.
I went inside, and started with the walkway and the walls. I basically went in and out of several towers along the outside walls, and took lots of pictures. One tower had a replica of the king's bed (which made me feel right at home, after Chenonceau and Amboise!), one had various English monarch's crowns (with all the jewels removed, or with paste replicas), one had examples of weaponry the Tower Guards would've used and talked a little about when the peasants revolted and stormed the Tower (remarkably, the only time it had ever been breached). When I descended down into the inner courtyard, the first place I went was the House of Jewels, where the real Crown Jewels of England are kept. It was very tightly secured (as you can imagine). They don't allow photographs inside, but it was absolutely marvelous. Everything was sumptuous and brilliant (literally) and beautiful. I don't think I've even imagined of so many gems in one place at the same time. After I left there, I wandered around some more. I saw the place where Anne Bolyn and many others were beheaded. I saw the various graffiti on the walls where people had been kept prisoner. I had to search around a bit, but I eventually found the torture exhibit (ironically not in the Bloody Tower), which turned out to just be a Scavenger's Daughter, a Rack, and a set of Manacles. It was still pretty cool, though, and considering how many kids were around, I thought it was really tastefully done.
The thing that I got really excited about, though, and the thing I was not leaving the Tower without seeing, were the ravens. It is said that if the Tower Ravens ever leave the Tower, then England will fall. So, they keep the requisite six around, plus a seventh, just in case. They do clip the birds' wings, though, so there's no real chance of them just flying away. They also have a little caged enclosure where three of them were hanging out. I saw one sitting on a wall first, quite a bit away from the cages. He was watching people go by and talking to them and making noises and I took a bunch of pictures. Then I went over by the cages, where there were three enclosed and three more just walking around outside. I took a bunch more pictures; ravens are really very photogenic birds. When I counted later, I ended up with 25 pictures of just those seven birds.
I ended up spending over three hours in the Tower of London, and enjoyed every minute. Eventually, though, I did manage to see it all, and so I headed back to the Tube. It was raining really hard by then, and all the walking around meant that my feet and the bottoms of my pants were getting really wet. I had some more problems with the Tube when I tried to get to Mansion House, which the internet had told me was about a ten minute walk from Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. I found Mansion House alright, but then had more problems trying to figure out how to get to the Globe itself. There was construction in the middle of the roads, so I walked up and down and around and crossed the streets where there were no lights (a very dangerous thing in London). Every once in a while I came across a map that pointed the way to the river, and eventually I got to the bank.
From the bank, I could actually see the Globe, finally; and I could see the footbridge that would let me get to it. At that point, it was just a matter of getting to the bridge and crossing. I also passed St. Paul's Cathedral, which is on the opposite side of Millennium Bridge from the Globe, and I decided I'd have to take pictures after.
The Globe itself was pretty cool; I didn't know much about the actual building, so I learned a lot. I bought my ticket and just glanced briefly at the exhibits before my tour started. The guy took us inside the theatre itself, sat us in the seats, and talked to us for a while. I really got the impression from him that the only way to fully experience the Globe is to see a performance there. I was kind of sad, since by the time they're doing shows I'll be going back home, so even if I wanted to come back I wouldn't be able to. He told us that the Globe itself is a reconstruction, not built even on the exact site of the old one (which is now apparently covered by a pub). It's an educated guess of what the building would've looked like, based on what we know of the two sister theatres, the Rose and the Swan. It is also the third Globe; the first one was burned down in a fire during a performance, when they shot off a cannon (sans cannonball) and a piece of cloth from the explosion set the thatched roof on fire. Fortunately, no-one was hurt, and the worst casualty was a bottle of beer that a man used to douse his pants when they had caught on fire. It was rebuilt, and still very successful, until the Puritans took over London and it was shut down by Parliament. For all that it is mostly educated guesswork, they took great pains to make it as true to the spirit of the original as possible. It is the first fully wooden building with a thatched roof since the Great Fire of London, and was made using techniques and materials from Shakespeare's time. After the tour, I wandered through some more and saw the exhibits, which included live demonstrations of woodworking, stage combat, and Elizabethan costuming.
When I left the Globe, I went back across the Millennium Bridge to St. Paul's Cathedral. I didn't go inside, mostly because I didn't want to spend the money, but I did take a lot of pictures of the outside and some cool stuff around it. Then I realised that I didn't actually have pictures of Wyndham's Theatre, where I'd seen "An Inspector Calls," so I went back there, took the pictures, and headed home. It was about then (well on to 4 or 5 pm) that I realised I hadn't eaten all day apart from the sandwich at the Tower. So when I got to Totteridge and Whetstone (the Tube station closest to Katie's house) I decided to go to a grocery store and buy some dinner. I also stopped by a flower stall and got them a bunch of tulips as a thank-you for letting me stay this week.
When I left the grocery store, however, the fairly constant rain had turned into a veritable downpour. I fought my way through the flood to get back, and was very happy to change my wet shoes, socks, and pants and warm up again. Katie and Allan were there, so I talked with them for a while and then they went to dinner and I stayed and ate the one I had just bought. While they were gone, Grant called. He had accidentally left his passport in their scanner when he made copies for his hostel stay, and needed to come back out to grab it. Right when he got out here, Katie and Allan returned as well, so we talked for a while.
The rest of my evening has been spent relaxing and catching up on the internet, which I have not really had time to check the past couple of days. Now, I am off to bed once more. Tomorrow: Westminster, Buckingham Palace, and hopefully the Changing of the Guard!
Stones, Sheep, Splendid Sights
I didn't get a chance to recap yesterday, so I'll start with that! Grant and I woke up early in the morning, to try and go to Westminster Abbey when it opened. Unfortunately we were a little slower to get moving than we'd hoped (and I also had some trouble with the shower curtain rod; I didn't know where else to hang my towel to dry, but it fell down...) and took our time getting into town. We went along the Thames and by Parliament, and took bunches of pictures of Big Ben and stuff. By the time we got to the Abbey itself, we'd have only had an hour or so to look around before we'd have to leave, so we glanced at St. Margaret's Church nearby and took pictures, and then headed down Victoria to find the hotel where we were supposed to meet our tour bus to go to Stonehenge.
It turned out that Victoria is a *very* long street, full of shopping and restaurants and things to see. We made it down to Victoria Station, which is basically a giant mall as well as a Tube and bus station, and had to ask directions to finally find the Grosvenor Victoria Hotel. It's pronounced "GRAHV-ner," apparently; and people say French has too many silent letters! Once we knew where it was, we still had a while before we had to be there to meet the bus. We got some Subway for lunch in the Victoria mall thing, because it was decently inexpensive, then Grant and I split up to wander and do some shopping. I picked up a couple of pretty pashmina scarves and walked back up Victoria to find a little street market we'd passed before. The boots I bought in Tours are already starting to wear out from all the walking we do all the time, so I bought a new pair for when they completely fall apart.
At 12:30, Grant and I met up back at the Grosvenor Hotel. We were waiting for a while, and ended up talking to a couple of women from Connecticut who were also waiting for the tour. Finally the bus showed up, they checked our names and we got on, and we were off! It seemed to take forever to leave London, and then it was about an hour and a half's drive to get to Stonehenge. Grant and I both fell asleep, and it was really cold in the bus, so my nose was numb when we got there.
The first thing they kept pointing out were the barrow mounds that apparently are really common around that area. We saw lots of them before finally entering the site itself. Everyone tells you that Stonehenge is a lot smaller than they expected. Maybe because I've heard that so often, I wasn't actually surprised at all. It was a gorgeous day for photography, and I took countless pictures. I also took lots of general pictures of the English countryside, and the flocks of sheep that were right nearby. The crowds of tourists (of which I was obviously one) kind of ruined any mystery the site might have had, though. Also the audio guide didn't really tell me anything I hadn't heard before. Still, it was an experience just to walk around and see a monument that old and that puzzling, and I'm very glad I went. It also didn't hurt that what must have amounted to several murders of crows apparently lived there, and you could see them occasionally wheeling around and being ominous. On our way out we touched the blue stone and sarsen stone that they set up at the exit; the blue stone is supposed to be warm to the touch no matter the weather. I couldn't really tell too much of a difference, except that the sarsen seemed to leech away my body heat the way sitting on concrete does, and the blue stone didn't at all.
Then, we were back on the bus, and back to London. Grant and I hadn't officially planned anything after the 'henge, but we figured we might as well go around and see some more things, since we could. We went to Trafalgar Square and took pictures, and got some souvenir stuff. I, of course, as a self-respecting Neil Gaiman fan who adores the book "Neverwhere," had to find myself a "Mind the Gap" t-shirt. We also stopped by Piccadilly Circus and took more pictures, and then since we were there we decided to indulge our inner twelve-year-old. We took the Piccadilly Line all the way to Cockfosters at the end, took pictures, and rode back. When we got to King's Cross we realised there was another important sight to find: Platform 9 3/4! So we got off, and went to find it. Unfortunately it's kind of hidden away; they've put up a sign and installed a cart stuck halfway through the wall, but we had to ask one of the employees to point out the way. He was kind of funny; when we asked, he scoffed a little and said "Oh, you don't really want to see that, do you?" We kind of looked at each other, laughing, and said "Yeah!" Maybe you weren't eleven when the books came out, guy, but we were!
After our various photo ops, we finally got back on the Northern Line and came back to Katie and Allan's house. It ended up being almost midnight when we got there, so we paused long enough to check facebook and fell into bed.
It turned out that Victoria is a *very* long street, full of shopping and restaurants and things to see. We made it down to Victoria Station, which is basically a giant mall as well as a Tube and bus station, and had to ask directions to finally find the Grosvenor Victoria Hotel. It's pronounced "GRAHV-ner," apparently; and people say French has too many silent letters! Once we knew where it was, we still had a while before we had to be there to meet the bus. We got some Subway for lunch in the Victoria mall thing, because it was decently inexpensive, then Grant and I split up to wander and do some shopping. I picked up a couple of pretty pashmina scarves and walked back up Victoria to find a little street market we'd passed before. The boots I bought in Tours are already starting to wear out from all the walking we do all the time, so I bought a new pair for when they completely fall apart.
At 12:30, Grant and I met up back at the Grosvenor Hotel. We were waiting for a while, and ended up talking to a couple of women from Connecticut who were also waiting for the tour. Finally the bus showed up, they checked our names and we got on, and we were off! It seemed to take forever to leave London, and then it was about an hour and a half's drive to get to Stonehenge. Grant and I both fell asleep, and it was really cold in the bus, so my nose was numb when we got there.
The first thing they kept pointing out were the barrow mounds that apparently are really common around that area. We saw lots of them before finally entering the site itself. Everyone tells you that Stonehenge is a lot smaller than they expected. Maybe because I've heard that so often, I wasn't actually surprised at all. It was a gorgeous day for photography, and I took countless pictures. I also took lots of general pictures of the English countryside, and the flocks of sheep that were right nearby. The crowds of tourists (of which I was obviously one) kind of ruined any mystery the site might have had, though. Also the audio guide didn't really tell me anything I hadn't heard before. Still, it was an experience just to walk around and see a monument that old and that puzzling, and I'm very glad I went. It also didn't hurt that what must have amounted to several murders of crows apparently lived there, and you could see them occasionally wheeling around and being ominous. On our way out we touched the blue stone and sarsen stone that they set up at the exit; the blue stone is supposed to be warm to the touch no matter the weather. I couldn't really tell too much of a difference, except that the sarsen seemed to leech away my body heat the way sitting on concrete does, and the blue stone didn't at all.
Then, we were back on the bus, and back to London. Grant and I hadn't officially planned anything after the 'henge, but we figured we might as well go around and see some more things, since we could. We went to Trafalgar Square and took pictures, and got some souvenir stuff. I, of course, as a self-respecting Neil Gaiman fan who adores the book "Neverwhere," had to find myself a "Mind the Gap" t-shirt. We also stopped by Piccadilly Circus and took more pictures, and then since we were there we decided to indulge our inner twelve-year-old. We took the Piccadilly Line all the way to Cockfosters at the end, took pictures, and rode back. When we got to King's Cross we realised there was another important sight to find: Platform 9 3/4! So we got off, and went to find it. Unfortunately it's kind of hidden away; they've put up a sign and installed a cart stuck halfway through the wall, but we had to ask one of the employees to point out the way. He was kind of funny; when we asked, he scoffed a little and said "Oh, you don't really want to see that, do you?" We kind of looked at each other, laughing, and said "Yeah!" Maybe you weren't eleven when the books came out, guy, but we were!
After our various photo ops, we finally got back on the Northern Line and came back to Katie and Allan's house. It ended up being almost midnight when we got there, so we paused long enough to check facebook and fell into bed.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
European Public Transit Has Earned My Love Forever
Today, I finally started my adventure in London! Yesterday was spent in a rush of finalising plans, information, tickets, packing, etc, and then this morning Grant and I woke up bright and early so that we could leave the house by 6:30am. We had to walk down to the Gare (the train station), and our train was leaving at 7:06am.
We ended up being about 15 minutes early, and found the train easily enough. When we got on and sat down at first, though, the lights were out in the car. It was kind of creepy and weird, so Grant checked it out and we moved down to a different car. That one had little eight-seat compartments rather than the usual seats, so the two of us took a car together, put up the arm rests, and mostly slept on our way to Orléans. It was kind of funny; at one point when we were both almost asleep and the train was going decently fast, a TVG passed us going the opposite direction and it sounded like a dragon howling past right by our heads! Grant screamed, and we both bolted straight up! We were a little confused about what the train was doing when we sat in Orléans for a long time, and a couple of women joined us in our car since the train was filling up more. Getting to Paris was pretty uneventful, except that we were about 12 minutes late; which is unheard of in the French train systems.
Once in Gare Austerlitz in Paris, we found the Métro to take us to Gare du Nord, where we were going to catch the Eurostar. We were briefly above ground, and managed to see the tops of the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame, but that was the extent of our Parisian experience. I'm really going to have to go back; I missed it even just from the Métro itself.
The Gare itself wasn't that hard to navigate, although I hadn't really thought about the security necessary since we were going to another country. We had to fill out a card for non-UK residents. Then we got our passports stamped by the French border patrol (my first passport stamp with a train on it!) and had to talk to the British border patrol about 5 feet further on. The X-ray and stuff was ridiculously simple, and then we were through to the boarding lobby. Grant had had some kind of mix-up with his ticket and was scheduled to be on the 12:13 train rather than the 11:13 with me, but we talked to the desk and they got him on the earlier train, although not in the same car. I was in Carriage 1, the very first on the train. There were a couple of French girls sitting beside and across from me, a British girl across diagonally, and there was a Spanish couple with their two young boys across the aisle. The father was cute; he kept trying to mind the two boys, calling them "mi amor" and stuff.
The Eurostar was pretty nice, as trains go. Grant and I both realised that when we didn't know whether we'd crossed the Channel yet all we had to do was see which way people were driving on the freeways. I was expecting the Chunnel to be more of a big deal, but it was basically just a long black tunnel; I honestly didn't even notice we were through until I looked up from my book and everything was grey and misty and *so* typically obviously England. The Eurostar was also about 15 minutes late (we had bad luck, I guess), but we still managed to get out of the St. Pancras station, cross over and find King's Cross, and meet up with my Aunt Roxanne's friend Katie in front of the appointed Burger King. Grant and I both got some British pounds from the ATM, got some lunch (mmm, traditional pasty with beef and potatoes and onions...), and went with Katie to the Underground.
Katie is American, but her new husband Allan is from Scotland and works in the Royal Air Force, so she moved to London after their wedding. She very graciously agreed to let me and Grant spend a few days with her during our vacation, and she seems to be purely adorable and sweet. I went ahead and bought a 7-day pass for the Underground, since I'm planning to ride it everywhere the whole few days I'm here, and it's just simpler. Katie showed us how to take the Northern Line (which is actually one of the more confusing, since it splits and meets up and splits again) up to her house. It's an adorable little two-bedroom apartment (I'm sleeping in the guest bedroom and Grant agreed to take the air mattress in the living room) where there's apparently mixed civilian and military housing. We also got to meet Mazzie, who is Katie's wiener-dog mutt. I'll have to take pictures of her before I leave, because she is adorable.
After dropping off our luggage and settling in a bit (and I changed, because it was pouring down rain and I was soaked), the two of us headed off on our own again to see a little bit of the city. We went to Embankment, which is right on the bank of the Thames, and took brief little pictures of the London Eye and Big Ben. The main reason I wanted to go was to see Cleopatra's Needle, which is an Egyptian obelisk that was taken from Egypt when the British defeated Napoleon and now sits in the center of London. We took a couple pictures, but it was very cold and rainy, so we quickly headed back down into the Tube. We went up to the theatre district, near Leicester Square. On Monday we'd decided that it would be fun to see a show, but before it began we walked around a bit. It was amazing to see all the lights and posters for all the various shows that are playing: Lion King, Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Les Misérables, Billy Elliot, and a hundred others.
For dinner we decided on a little Italian restaurant. It was really small and close, but cute. Grant got a pizza, and I had Penne Marco Polo, which was penne pasta with duck and mushrooms in a plum sauce. It was really, really good, and really sweet, which was interesting. I also tried something called Fruitisa, which was some sparkling pomegrante juice, and that was okay. What absolutely made the restaurant, though, was the dessert. We split a piece of cheesecake with red berries and sauce on top, and it was absolutely the lightest, sweetest, most heavenly piece of cheesecake I have ever tasted; and the berries were sweet and tart and added just the right touch of flavour.
After dinner, we headed back towards the Wyndham's Theatre, which was where our show was. The website had said that you come out of the Tube station and the theatre was right there, and they weren't lying; you could basically walk 5 steps from the station awning to the theatre awning without even getting wet! The show we went to see was called "An Inspector Calls," and is a British play about a well-off British family whose dinner party is interrupted by a strange Inspector Goole, who shows up and starts asking questions in regard to the suicide of a working-class girl, Eva Smith. We had considered going to something more well-known, but a friend of mine who's in theatre told me that the best thing to do in London was to see British theatre, rather than a show that you could see any time back in the States. It definitely paid off, too! The theatre itself was obviously a little old (there was a renovation fee included in our ticket price), but it was elegant and the seating was perfect. We were in the very last row in the very top balcony, but we could see and hear everything just fine.
The show itself is extremely different. It kind of plays tricks with your mind, and you're not really sure what to believe at certain points. They had magnificent effects, though; the stage was built so that half of it was this huge mechanised cutaway house, which could open up so that you could see the inside, and had a staircase that moved up to lock in place and connect it with the rest of the stage. At one specific part in the play, they used pyrotechnic explosions and the mechanics made the house fall down, and it was really startling and a little terrifying for a second. The plot is really twisty, and it's definitely not what you might expect it to be. I left at first going "what the...?" and it wasn't until I'd really thought it over a bit more that I decided I actually liked it quite a lot. The actors were fantastic (in my, admittedly very limited theatrical opinion), especially the Inspector himself.
After the show, Grant and I took the train back to Katie's house, where we got to meet Allan for the first time. We sat up and talked for a while, and then they told me how to use the internet here. Now, I need to go to bed. Tomorrow we have even more things planned, and I need to get some sleep!
We ended up being about 15 minutes early, and found the train easily enough. When we got on and sat down at first, though, the lights were out in the car. It was kind of creepy and weird, so Grant checked it out and we moved down to a different car. That one had little eight-seat compartments rather than the usual seats, so the two of us took a car together, put up the arm rests, and mostly slept on our way to Orléans. It was kind of funny; at one point when we were both almost asleep and the train was going decently fast, a TVG passed us going the opposite direction and it sounded like a dragon howling past right by our heads! Grant screamed, and we both bolted straight up! We were a little confused about what the train was doing when we sat in Orléans for a long time, and a couple of women joined us in our car since the train was filling up more. Getting to Paris was pretty uneventful, except that we were about 12 minutes late; which is unheard of in the French train systems.
Once in Gare Austerlitz in Paris, we found the Métro to take us to Gare du Nord, where we were going to catch the Eurostar. We were briefly above ground, and managed to see the tops of the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame, but that was the extent of our Parisian experience. I'm really going to have to go back; I missed it even just from the Métro itself.
The Gare itself wasn't that hard to navigate, although I hadn't really thought about the security necessary since we were going to another country. We had to fill out a card for non-UK residents. Then we got our passports stamped by the French border patrol (my first passport stamp with a train on it!) and had to talk to the British border patrol about 5 feet further on. The X-ray and stuff was ridiculously simple, and then we were through to the boarding lobby. Grant had had some kind of mix-up with his ticket and was scheduled to be on the 12:13 train rather than the 11:13 with me, but we talked to the desk and they got him on the earlier train, although not in the same car. I was in Carriage 1, the very first on the train. There were a couple of French girls sitting beside and across from me, a British girl across diagonally, and there was a Spanish couple with their two young boys across the aisle. The father was cute; he kept trying to mind the two boys, calling them "mi amor" and stuff.
The Eurostar was pretty nice, as trains go. Grant and I both realised that when we didn't know whether we'd crossed the Channel yet all we had to do was see which way people were driving on the freeways. I was expecting the Chunnel to be more of a big deal, but it was basically just a long black tunnel; I honestly didn't even notice we were through until I looked up from my book and everything was grey and misty and *so* typically obviously England. The Eurostar was also about 15 minutes late (we had bad luck, I guess), but we still managed to get out of the St. Pancras station, cross over and find King's Cross, and meet up with my Aunt Roxanne's friend Katie in front of the appointed Burger King. Grant and I both got some British pounds from the ATM, got some lunch (mmm, traditional pasty with beef and potatoes and onions...), and went with Katie to the Underground.
Katie is American, but her new husband Allan is from Scotland and works in the Royal Air Force, so she moved to London after their wedding. She very graciously agreed to let me and Grant spend a few days with her during our vacation, and she seems to be purely adorable and sweet. I went ahead and bought a 7-day pass for the Underground, since I'm planning to ride it everywhere the whole few days I'm here, and it's just simpler. Katie showed us how to take the Northern Line (which is actually one of the more confusing, since it splits and meets up and splits again) up to her house. It's an adorable little two-bedroom apartment (I'm sleeping in the guest bedroom and Grant agreed to take the air mattress in the living room) where there's apparently mixed civilian and military housing. We also got to meet Mazzie, who is Katie's wiener-dog mutt. I'll have to take pictures of her before I leave, because she is adorable.
After dropping off our luggage and settling in a bit (and I changed, because it was pouring down rain and I was soaked), the two of us headed off on our own again to see a little bit of the city. We went to Embankment, which is right on the bank of the Thames, and took brief little pictures of the London Eye and Big Ben. The main reason I wanted to go was to see Cleopatra's Needle, which is an Egyptian obelisk that was taken from Egypt when the British defeated Napoleon and now sits in the center of London. We took a couple pictures, but it was very cold and rainy, so we quickly headed back down into the Tube. We went up to the theatre district, near Leicester Square. On Monday we'd decided that it would be fun to see a show, but before it began we walked around a bit. It was amazing to see all the lights and posters for all the various shows that are playing: Lion King, Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Les Misérables, Billy Elliot, and a hundred others.
For dinner we decided on a little Italian restaurant. It was really small and close, but cute. Grant got a pizza, and I had Penne Marco Polo, which was penne pasta with duck and mushrooms in a plum sauce. It was really, really good, and really sweet, which was interesting. I also tried something called Fruitisa, which was some sparkling pomegrante juice, and that was okay. What absolutely made the restaurant, though, was the dessert. We split a piece of cheesecake with red berries and sauce on top, and it was absolutely the lightest, sweetest, most heavenly piece of cheesecake I have ever tasted; and the berries were sweet and tart and added just the right touch of flavour.
After dinner, we headed back towards the Wyndham's Theatre, which was where our show was. The website had said that you come out of the Tube station and the theatre was right there, and they weren't lying; you could basically walk 5 steps from the station awning to the theatre awning without even getting wet! The show we went to see was called "An Inspector Calls," and is a British play about a well-off British family whose dinner party is interrupted by a strange Inspector Goole, who shows up and starts asking questions in regard to the suicide of a working-class girl, Eva Smith. We had considered going to something more well-known, but a friend of mine who's in theatre told me that the best thing to do in London was to see British theatre, rather than a show that you could see any time back in the States. It definitely paid off, too! The theatre itself was obviously a little old (there was a renovation fee included in our ticket price), but it was elegant and the seating was perfect. We were in the very last row in the very top balcony, but we could see and hear everything just fine.
The show itself is extremely different. It kind of plays tricks with your mind, and you're not really sure what to believe at certain points. They had magnificent effects, though; the stage was built so that half of it was this huge mechanised cutaway house, which could open up so that you could see the inside, and had a staircase that moved up to lock in place and connect it with the rest of the stage. At one specific part in the play, they used pyrotechnic explosions and the mechanics made the house fall down, and it was really startling and a little terrifying for a second. The plot is really twisty, and it's definitely not what you might expect it to be. I left at first going "what the...?" and it wasn't until I'd really thought it over a bit more that I decided I actually liked it quite a lot. The actors were fantastic (in my, admittedly very limited theatrical opinion), especially the Inspector himself.
After the show, Grant and I took the train back to Katie's house, where we got to meet Allan for the first time. We sat up and talked for a while, and then they told me how to use the internet here. Now, I need to go to bed. Tomorrow we have even more things planned, and I need to get some sleep!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Vacation Already
I've really been slowing down on blogging, mostly because not as much has been happening recently. This past week I've had classes and stuff, of course. Except for Science; that was canceled this week since the professor was gone, and we're just going to have to add time on to subsequent classes to make up for it. I need to start writing a journal for school outlining what I do in each class; Rawson wants it so that if we end up with a bad grade or something doesn't transfer, she can give us the benefit of the doubt and add on points from the journal.
Sunday we four girls kind of hung out. The Musée des Beaux Arts (which is a museum that's literally a five minute walk from our house) has free admission on the first Sunday of every month, so we went over there after brunch. The first thing that really strikes you is the giant tree in the courtyard; at some point I need to put the pictures I took of it on facebook. The actual museum itself was a little boring; lots of random paintings. There were some kind of interesting sculptures of fish and animals and things that were pretty cool. One of these days I need to go back and walk through the grounds, though; there are these gardens that people wander through and walk their dogs and stuff, and it looked really pretty through the windows. On the other side of the courtyard from the entrance is a random little exhibit with what might very well be a fake elephant. It's supposed to be Fritz; a Barnum & Bailey circus elephant that went crazy in 1904 and had to be put down. The circus donated the body to the city, and the skeleton was in some museum until it was lost in a fire. It was kind of cool, but random. Most everything is closed on Sundays, usually, but we wandered past the little park in front of the museum and saw that there was a little antiques market in the street. We also found a patisserie that was open. It's a really cool place; they make gigantic pastries but charge about the same as any other patisserie in town. We bought a little chocolate & cherry tart thing for a treat and shared it between the four of us back at the house. Then we decided to watch The Notebook, which I had never seen before. It was an interesting experience; any girl who's seen it knows that it is impossible not to cry at multiple points throughout that movie. Unfortunately the bell for dinner rang just as the movie was finishing, so we all had to go down with tear stained faces; of course that would be a night that Daniel would come to dinner! They all thought we were crazy emotional females, but whatever; dinner was paella again and that made me happy.
The rest of the week was less interesting, so I'll just give quick rundown of the highlights:
Monday was relaxing; in Greek I decided that my professor is cute (lol!), but only when he's talking about Greek. Linguistic passion? Definitely a turn-on. After class, I was talking to Giovanni on the way back towards home, and we made a date to go get a drink after class when we come back from vacation. That should be fun; he really seems to like talking to people from all over the world.
On Tuesday Valeria was sick, so she stayed home most of the day. I kind of missed my day of solitary relaxation, but that's okay; I have vacation coming up!
Wednesday was nice, since I didn't have Science. My translation class continues to be slow, and actualités continues to require no actual work, so that's good.
Grant decided to come with me to the Italian class on Thursday, which was fun. It was really cold and snowy, though; the temperature has plunged again this whole week, and I really want it to be spring finally. We ended up walking through some little shopping centers to warm up on our way back home from class. Thursday was also when Valeria left for Paris to meet up with her family, who had flown to Europe to visit during our vacation.
Friday I had class early, as usual. There were just six of us; I'm guessing most of the others had already left to start their vacation. She had us listen to some weird songs in French, but the class went fine.
Yesterday I did very little; Xavier and Jaqueline woke me up early wondering where Mamie and Sierra were, since they'd stayed out all night with the French boys. So I spent my day enjoying vacation, relaxed, and worked a bit on planning my trip to London. Yesterday evening was also when Alexandra came to the house. She's also a Cobber, but she's been studying abroad in Germany and is only here for a couple months during her school's vacation.
Today one of Geneviève's friends (I think her name was Michelle) came to brunch to meet us all. She was really sweet, and really talkative. Xavier kept going on about how much she talked, but I think that's just because she's the only person I've met so far who can talk more than him. She asked us all what we were studying, and told us about her life and her family. Apparently she was 18 and had three kids when her husband died, and in France at the time the age of majority was 21. So she was telling us about the house she had her son build, which has a bedroom for every one of her kids in case they ever need to come home. She kind of reminded me of my own grandmother, and I really liked her. After brunch, Grant and I took Alex on a tour of the city, to start her getting oriented. I finally took a bunch of pictures, since I haven't really gone around and done that much yet. We went inside the walls of the Musée des Beaux Arts, although not in the actual museum, and also looked at the cathedral. One whole section is closed off for construction and upkeep work, but it was still beautiful. I'm nothing near a Catholic, but I absolutely love cathedrals. Tonight, Daniel visited again and we had puréed vegetable soup and quiche for dinner, with tiramisu that Daniel had made for dessert. He's really good with desserts; it had too much cream and kind of fell apart, but it tasted really good. After dinner, I stayed downstairs for a little bit and watched some of Ice Age 2 in French with Mathias.
Tomorrow, I need to pack and make sure I'm ready for London, since Tuesday is when I leave! I'm really excited!
Sunday we four girls kind of hung out. The Musée des Beaux Arts (which is a museum that's literally a five minute walk from our house) has free admission on the first Sunday of every month, so we went over there after brunch. The first thing that really strikes you is the giant tree in the courtyard; at some point I need to put the pictures I took of it on facebook. The actual museum itself was a little boring; lots of random paintings. There were some kind of interesting sculptures of fish and animals and things that were pretty cool. One of these days I need to go back and walk through the grounds, though; there are these gardens that people wander through and walk their dogs and stuff, and it looked really pretty through the windows. On the other side of the courtyard from the entrance is a random little exhibit with what might very well be a fake elephant. It's supposed to be Fritz; a Barnum & Bailey circus elephant that went crazy in 1904 and had to be put down. The circus donated the body to the city, and the skeleton was in some museum until it was lost in a fire. It was kind of cool, but random. Most everything is closed on Sundays, usually, but we wandered past the little park in front of the museum and saw that there was a little antiques market in the street. We also found a patisserie that was open. It's a really cool place; they make gigantic pastries but charge about the same as any other patisserie in town. We bought a little chocolate & cherry tart thing for a treat and shared it between the four of us back at the house. Then we decided to watch The Notebook, which I had never seen before. It was an interesting experience; any girl who's seen it knows that it is impossible not to cry at multiple points throughout that movie. Unfortunately the bell for dinner rang just as the movie was finishing, so we all had to go down with tear stained faces; of course that would be a night that Daniel would come to dinner! They all thought we were crazy emotional females, but whatever; dinner was paella again and that made me happy.
The rest of the week was less interesting, so I'll just give quick rundown of the highlights:
Monday was relaxing; in Greek I decided that my professor is cute (lol!), but only when he's talking about Greek. Linguistic passion? Definitely a turn-on. After class, I was talking to Giovanni on the way back towards home, and we made a date to go get a drink after class when we come back from vacation. That should be fun; he really seems to like talking to people from all over the world.
On Tuesday Valeria was sick, so she stayed home most of the day. I kind of missed my day of solitary relaxation, but that's okay; I have vacation coming up!
Wednesday was nice, since I didn't have Science. My translation class continues to be slow, and actualités continues to require no actual work, so that's good.
Grant decided to come with me to the Italian class on Thursday, which was fun. It was really cold and snowy, though; the temperature has plunged again this whole week, and I really want it to be spring finally. We ended up walking through some little shopping centers to warm up on our way back home from class. Thursday was also when Valeria left for Paris to meet up with her family, who had flown to Europe to visit during our vacation.
Friday I had class early, as usual. There were just six of us; I'm guessing most of the others had already left to start their vacation. She had us listen to some weird songs in French, but the class went fine.
Yesterday I did very little; Xavier and Jaqueline woke me up early wondering where Mamie and Sierra were, since they'd stayed out all night with the French boys. So I spent my day enjoying vacation, relaxed, and worked a bit on planning my trip to London. Yesterday evening was also when Alexandra came to the house. She's also a Cobber, but she's been studying abroad in Germany and is only here for a couple months during her school's vacation.
Today one of Geneviève's friends (I think her name was Michelle) came to brunch to meet us all. She was really sweet, and really talkative. Xavier kept going on about how much she talked, but I think that's just because she's the only person I've met so far who can talk more than him. She asked us all what we were studying, and told us about her life and her family. Apparently she was 18 and had three kids when her husband died, and in France at the time the age of majority was 21. So she was telling us about the house she had her son build, which has a bedroom for every one of her kids in case they ever need to come home. She kind of reminded me of my own grandmother, and I really liked her. After brunch, Grant and I took Alex on a tour of the city, to start her getting oriented. I finally took a bunch of pictures, since I haven't really gone around and done that much yet. We went inside the walls of the Musée des Beaux Arts, although not in the actual museum, and also looked at the cathedral. One whole section is closed off for construction and upkeep work, but it was still beautiful. I'm nothing near a Catholic, but I absolutely love cathedrals. Tonight, Daniel visited again and we had puréed vegetable soup and quiche for dinner, with tiramisu that Daniel had made for dessert. He's really good with desserts; it had too much cream and kind of fell apart, but it tasted really good. After dinner, I stayed downstairs for a little bit and watched some of Ice Age 2 in French with Mathias.
Tomorrow, I need to pack and make sure I'm ready for London, since Tuesday is when I leave! I'm really excited!
Friday, February 5, 2010
Io Mi Chiamo Hallie; Sono Americana
Yay, I actually have all my classes now! Although getting there was a struggle. Basically there are four different Italian groups, three of which meet at the same time on Thursdays. Grant and I had tried one group, and the teacher told us it was full. He'd emailed the teacher for another group, and she'd said hers was full as well. He hadn't gotten a response from the third teacher, but then he found out that he didn't need Italian anyway, so he wasn't going to go. I decided to try that class anyway, and hopefully there would be room. When I talked to the teacher, however, she told me that the class with Madame Zapparatta was the one I should go to, and she took me over there and made sure it was okay. Basically I didn't end up in the class I expected, but it worked out eventually. The professor seems to be Italian, rather than French, which is cool. The only thing I didn't like is that she quickly found out that I was American and kept calling on me specifically for stuff and asking me if I understood what was going on (which I did; it really wasn't that hard and was mostly review of stuff I'd learned from attending the other two classes).
After class, I headed back to the house, and did a little bit of shopping up Rue Nationale on the way. The sales are almost over (they end tomorrow, I think) so everything is at its cheapest. This also, of course, means that most stuff is pretty picked over, so it can be hard to find the right size or exactly what you want. I ended up getting a pretty teal shirt, a cute gray button-up, and a black vest/overshirt thing. Having a limit on how much I could bring was really hard, and I constantly feel like I have nothing to wear, so yay, new clothes!
This morning I had to get up early, of course, to go to my Writing/Oral class. It was pretty interesting; we ended up talking about the nature vs. nurture debate, which seems to be a topic that Beatrix really likes. She also let us go an hour early, which was pretty awesome. I'm not sure if she did it on purpose or if she'd lost track of time, but nobody wanted to say anything. When I came back I was pretty tired, so I took a nap. When I woke up I found out that we were supposed to go to some exchange student party for the galette des rois; apparently Jacqueline wanted us to go and thought it would be fun. So I quickly got ready and we headed all the way to Les Halles, which this big shopping complex building thing across town. When we got there we found the room where it was supposed to be held, but we didn't recognise anyone there. We waited for a bit, and then Jacqueline and Mathias showed up and they didn't know anyone there either. We figured there must have been some mix-up, so we came back to the house and Jacqueline made dinner. We had our own galettes (for what's probably the eighth time). This time, Joel, Mathias, and I found the little favours, and they told me I should keep mine. We're all hanging out around the house, and we're getting up early tomorrow. Maybe we'll go to bed soon.
After class, I headed back to the house, and did a little bit of shopping up Rue Nationale on the way. The sales are almost over (they end tomorrow, I think) so everything is at its cheapest. This also, of course, means that most stuff is pretty picked over, so it can be hard to find the right size or exactly what you want. I ended up getting a pretty teal shirt, a cute gray button-up, and a black vest/overshirt thing. Having a limit on how much I could bring was really hard, and I constantly feel like I have nothing to wear, so yay, new clothes!
This morning I had to get up early, of course, to go to my Writing/Oral class. It was pretty interesting; we ended up talking about the nature vs. nurture debate, which seems to be a topic that Beatrix really likes. She also let us go an hour early, which was pretty awesome. I'm not sure if she did it on purpose or if she'd lost track of time, but nobody wanted to say anything. When I came back I was pretty tired, so I took a nap. When I woke up I found out that we were supposed to go to some exchange student party for the galette des rois; apparently Jacqueline wanted us to go and thought it would be fun. So I quickly got ready and we headed all the way to Les Halles, which this big shopping complex building thing across town. When we got there we found the room where it was supposed to be held, but we didn't recognise anyone there. We waited for a bit, and then Jacqueline and Mathias showed up and they didn't know anyone there either. We figured there must have been some mix-up, so we came back to the house and Jacqueline made dinner. We had our own galettes (for what's probably the eighth time). This time, Joel, Mathias, and I found the little favours, and they told me I should keep mine. We're all hanging out around the house, and we're getting up early tomorrow. Maybe we'll go to bed soon.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Daily Grind?
The past few days have gone by fairly quickly, mostly in a haze of classes and gradually getting well again. On Sunday morning, after I had taken the magic medicine Jacqueline gave me, my fever was gone and I just had a sore throat and cough to worry about. That day, I mostly just stayed in bed and willed the sick away.
Monday I was pretty productive. I don't have class until late, but before then I went to the train station and got tickets for my trip to London during break. I'm really excited! I get to stay with a friend of Aunt Roxy's who lives there now, and Grant's coming for part of the time. Grant and Valeria had come with me, and after we went to the station we got sandwiches and sat on a bench to eat them. We had time to kill, so we went into a Hallmark that we saw, kind of out of curiosity. We quickly discovered, thanks to the rack of sexual gag gift stuff right next to the door, that Hallmark in France is very different than in the US. It was pretty funny, actually. After spending a while in there, I realised I had to get to class, so I walked up Rue National to the Tanneurs building for Greek. While waiting for the classroom to open up, I started talking to a nice guy named Giovanni, who's from a tiny French-owned island near Madagascar (I never really caught the name). That class was actually pretty brutal; they move along really quickly in French classes, and you have to keep up or be lost. We were starting Greek declensions, which are really complicated and difficult, and I'm going to have to review a bunch before next week. Giovanni and I exchanged phone numbers after class, so I'm looking forward to having a friend in that class.
Tuesday is, again, my off day. So I slept, did some of the little homework I had, and didn't do much. I'm really starting to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere here.
Yesterday was Wednesday, when I make up for Tuesday. I had to get up early to go to my translation class. At one point, it was looking like everyone here except for Sierra was going to have to take that class, but the other two girls decided to wait and see, so they didn't come. Also, Grant was feeling sick, so Aaron and Joel and I were the only ones going. We finished the English-French article we were translating and started one for French-English, and the professor was really depending on the British and American students to help her. I'm a little worried, if we keep having class at this slow pace. After class, I bought a sandwich on Rue National, on my way to Actualités. We didn't do much in that class, either; we mostly just debated about the roles of women and men and something to do with soccer teams in Africa, and then read an article about CD copyright issues. My French Sciences class added a couple people- one of them from Colorado, which is cool. We talked a little bit about how to write a summary of a scientific article (the French have really strict rules about how to write specific things, so there's formatting and word choice and different stuff like that to learn). Then we learned some vocab in preparation for watching a video called "From Conception to Birth". It was basically the same video everyone watches in 7th grade sex ed classes, complete with the moment where they show the actual birth itself and everyone looks away in horror. I really didn't think it was necessary for my French education to have that experience in French, but oh, well. On the way back home after class, I went into the Simply (which is a grocery store by Rue Bordeaux) and got some snacks for my room, since I assumed that we would once again wait for everyone to get back from classes and choir before eating dinner. That turned out to be incorrect; those few of us who were here at 7:30 ate then, and the rest just ate when they got home. It was a delicious dinner, though; breaded calamari with roasted potatoes and some mayonnaise sauce with lemon in it. I was very pleased.
Last night I also started planning out my London trip, with all the stuff I want to go and see and do. I got as far as making a list, booking a tour of Stonehenge, and figuring out all the information on the Globe before I got bored, and went to bed. This morning I got up late and went down for breakfast. I don't have class until 2, but since it's my Italian class and still pretty up in the air, we'll see what happens.
Monday I was pretty productive. I don't have class until late, but before then I went to the train station and got tickets for my trip to London during break. I'm really excited! I get to stay with a friend of Aunt Roxy's who lives there now, and Grant's coming for part of the time. Grant and Valeria had come with me, and after we went to the station we got sandwiches and sat on a bench to eat them. We had time to kill, so we went into a Hallmark that we saw, kind of out of curiosity. We quickly discovered, thanks to the rack of sexual gag gift stuff right next to the door, that Hallmark in France is very different than in the US. It was pretty funny, actually. After spending a while in there, I realised I had to get to class, so I walked up Rue National to the Tanneurs building for Greek. While waiting for the classroom to open up, I started talking to a nice guy named Giovanni, who's from a tiny French-owned island near Madagascar (I never really caught the name). That class was actually pretty brutal; they move along really quickly in French classes, and you have to keep up or be lost. We were starting Greek declensions, which are really complicated and difficult, and I'm going to have to review a bunch before next week. Giovanni and I exchanged phone numbers after class, so I'm looking forward to having a friend in that class.
Tuesday is, again, my off day. So I slept, did some of the little homework I had, and didn't do much. I'm really starting to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere here.
Yesterday was Wednesday, when I make up for Tuesday. I had to get up early to go to my translation class. At one point, it was looking like everyone here except for Sierra was going to have to take that class, but the other two girls decided to wait and see, so they didn't come. Also, Grant was feeling sick, so Aaron and Joel and I were the only ones going. We finished the English-French article we were translating and started one for French-English, and the professor was really depending on the British and American students to help her. I'm a little worried, if we keep having class at this slow pace. After class, I bought a sandwich on Rue National, on my way to Actualités. We didn't do much in that class, either; we mostly just debated about the roles of women and men and something to do with soccer teams in Africa, and then read an article about CD copyright issues. My French Sciences class added a couple people- one of them from Colorado, which is cool. We talked a little bit about how to write a summary of a scientific article (the French have really strict rules about how to write specific things, so there's formatting and word choice and different stuff like that to learn). Then we learned some vocab in preparation for watching a video called "From Conception to Birth". It was basically the same video everyone watches in 7th grade sex ed classes, complete with the moment where they show the actual birth itself and everyone looks away in horror. I really didn't think it was necessary for my French education to have that experience in French, but oh, well. On the way back home after class, I went into the Simply (which is a grocery store by Rue Bordeaux) and got some snacks for my room, since I assumed that we would once again wait for everyone to get back from classes and choir before eating dinner. That turned out to be incorrect; those few of us who were here at 7:30 ate then, and the rest just ate when they got home. It was a delicious dinner, though; breaded calamari with roasted potatoes and some mayonnaise sauce with lemon in it. I was very pleased.
Last night I also started planning out my London trip, with all the stuff I want to go and see and do. I got as far as making a list, booking a tour of Stonehenge, and figuring out all the information on the Globe before I got bored, and went to bed. This morning I got up late and went down for breakfast. I don't have class until 2, but since it's my Italian class and still pretty up in the air, we'll see what happens.
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