A Quite Sunday

Some of us went with Gammon to church today. We attended St. Giles Cripplegate behind the London Museum. The congregation was pretty small as it was a small church, but everyone was really friendly. Gammon nearly died from happiness as well because he took communion over John Milton’s burial site. It was also the church where John Wesley’s grandfather went. And something about one of the Cromwells marrying there too.

St. Giles Cripplegate


Kelsey, Steph, and I walked around the area and saw some of the old Roman walls found when the area was bombed in WWII. Then we went back down to the Thames River Festival and look at the stalls Steph and I missed the night before. They had some pretty unique stuff—lots of leather and jewelry and scarves. I got a really pretty scarf for cheap because they were all trying to get rid of their stuff.

We came home and took naps. I got groceries and some laundry detergent to FINALLY do some laundry. Yay!! Clean clothes!!

Londoners Like To Play With Fire...

Saturday Sept 12:
Slept in and went to an Internet café to do my papers for Monday. Had lunch then went to find the Hunterian Museum by the Royal College of Surgeons. It was a huge collection of specimens from Dr. John Hunt—so about 200 years old. Some stuff was a little gross: lots of fetuses, dissected animals, dissected body parts, eyeballs, etc. Pretty much every part of the body.

On the way to the museum this is what I came across. Didn't you watch this show on PBS, mom?!



I listened to a retired surgeon talk about how the body heals itself. He also had a lot of information about scarring and how surgeons work to reduce scarring etc. etc. It was very interesting! I wandered around some more and even watched some videos of surgery: an artery bypass, removal of a brain tumor, and something else. I literally couldn’t take my eyes off the screen—it was fascinating, but I don’t think I’d be able to do it. I’ll stick to studying dusty books, thank you!

Then meandered down toward St. Paul’s and home for dinner.

Went with a big group to the Thames River Festival. There were a ton of people walking around, lots of little stalls, lots of food, and some nice live music. And for as much as these people complain about the Great Fire, there was A LOT of fire there! I mean big displays, lots of little fire displays, and a lantern with fire someone floated up and away.
One of the MANY fire displays at the festival.


And all these fire hazards taking place by the Tate Modern and Shakespeare’s Globe with it’s thatched roof which long ago caught fire and burnt down. Uh…not very smart, people!!! But everything was really pretty. At one of the stalls I got this really pretty necklace with a Peruvian moon stone in it and something from a gum tree holding it in. The guy who made them all was really into all the “meaning” behind his stones. I just thought it was cool :) but sure!

London Bridge all decked out for the festival


We got some gelato too! Yum yum.

Show at the Globe

Friday, Sept 11
Met at the Globe Theatre for our morning tour. The guide was an actor and director, so he knew all sorts of things and was very fun and was really funny. I loved when he explained how Shakespeare was meant to be heard, not read, and he gave examples of all the homonyms in his work. Fascinating!! It makes me want to check them all out just for the hidden double meanings!
"Heaven" over the stage



Steph and I got lunch at a little Italian place not far from the Globe called Viva Verdi (a lovely theatre theme). It was really modern and was pretty non-traditional—no spaghetti and meatballs there!

Then back to the Globe to wait for our showing of “As You Like It.” We checked out the shop and I got this coaster set with quotes on them, Love and Insults! I loved all the insult stuff, they were pretty hilarious to have all together!

Our show started at 2 and I’m really glad we sprung for the seats instead of standing for 2 ½ hours! It was absolutely packed with people! And people were still coming in!



And the play was FABULOUS!!!!!!! It was so so so funny, even though at times it was difficult to hear because of a plane overhead, or they were facing away, or talking too quickly. The guy playing the jester was adorable and sooo funny! He did absolutely shameful things with and to us, the audience making it even better. There was some great interaction going on. My other favorite character/actor had to be the melancholy guy. He reminded me a lot of Kevin Klein, especially because his hair looked just like Kevin’s from Pirates of Penzance and he sounded like him, too—nasal, in a way—kindof like the hooka-smoking caterpillar from Disney’s Alice in Wonderland! :) He was AWESOME!!!

But the absolute best part was the end. There’s the quadruple wedding—including the really cute jester with his hilariously mismatched lusty old peasant woman and they kindof went after each other’s necks like vampires (gross and hysterical) during the whole scene—and they all start this very traditional wedding dance. Then the music changed to something really upbeat and the actors lined up around the outside of the stage and start doing this crazy choreographed dance!! It was almost like breakdancing in parts, but nobody was spinning around on the floor or anything. They all had these awesome, perfectly choreographed moves and were having a great time. We were all laughing to tears!!! It was so funny and so UNEXPECTED!!!! It was an incredible show and that was just the cherry on top of it all. WOW!!!!!

The tour guy had said he thought it was the best show they’d put on in 10 years and I’m sure after seeing the show he was speaking absolute truth. It was FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After the show, a few of us wandered down to Borough Market. I got some delicious chocolate and yogurt covered stuff at a sweets stand where the guys are always handing out free stuff. Every time I’ve been there they always give me stuff to try so I couldn’t help actually buying some this time and it was totally worth it!!
Later, Steph, Kelsey, me, Molly, Liz, and Megan went to Notting Hill for drinks. We stopped at the Old Swan pub where they had cocktails called the “7 Deadly Sins” and they were super yummy! Especially this one with mint and chocolate in it. That might be our new place when we need to get away!!

There were also some really nice Australian guys there who took our picture for us. When the one was doing it he took a fake step toward the door while holding Megan’s camera. He was joking about stealing it and Megan had a small heart attack. It was pretty funny and he was very sorry about scaring her and then was like, “No, seriously…don’t give your camera away so easily!” They were very nice and we saw them later while changing tubes, too.

Pictures at last!!!

I got the camera to work again thanks to Stephanie finding my camera's computer disk!!

Imperial War Museum
Shell from the largest gun ever built: a German 80cm Schwerer Gustav Shell



Tower of London
In front of the White Tower



St. Paul's Cathedral
View from the Stone Gallery



In front of Buckingham Palace
End of the changing of the guard?



In front of the Houses of Parliament
Liz, Megan, Molly, me, Stephanie

Thursday at Windsor

The group took the 10 o'clock train to Windsor on Thursday. It took about an hour to get there. We went straight to the castle where we got free audioguides. The castle and grounds cover a lot more space than I expected.

Got to see Queen Mary's Dollhouse. It was really big complete with working electricity and plumbing, real silver dinnerware, a mini set of crown jewels, and what was the first vacuume cleaner along with a lot of other stuff. It was pretty cool! Very detailed!

Then it was around to a small gallery with some original sketches by Davinci, Bernini, and others along with some original sketches of the Tudors and some of Henry's wives. One really cool thing was a book with a poem written in it believed to be Elizabeth I's handwriting. It was short and neat, so you could actually read it!!

Saw the incredible amount of weaponry on display in the castle from British conquest as well as some stuff they didn't steal! But it was all really cool--a gold tiger's head, a Thai crown, robes from other countries. Lots and lots!

Walked through a massive portrait hall, the king's and queen's dressing rooms, a bedroom that Napoleon III and his wife slept in while visiting (each complete with many many beautiful paintings), a dining room, and a beatiful, enormous, did I mention golden recieving room. Wow...

Also saw St. George's chapel. Really big, really pretty--of course! Was expecting something more grand for Henry VIII's tomb, but he had a slab on the ground in front of the altar much like those at Westminster with his remains and those of Jane Seymore, Charles I, and someone else too. Serves him right?! ;)

Then Steph and I got to take a picture with one of the royal guards!! It was kindof scary, like he could turn on you at any moment!! :D

Got lunch at a nice little pub a little down the road from the castle and then Steph and I looked around at some shops--I got some cute stuff. Then we stumbled on Windsor Great Park and what might have been The Long Walk before heading home.

Sorry, still no pictures, I screwed something up I'm trying to figure out how to fix!

I Love St. Paul's!!!

We met at St. Paul's Cathedral today at 1pm, so we had some time to sleep in and bum around a little which I enjoyed very much!

We went in and one of the first things we looked at was a small tower in the southwest corner with a winding stone staircase that was used in a Harry Potter film! (Unfortunately, no pictures because it's a church.) Way cool! Then we were split up into two groups, and honestly, Steph and I got in with the better one. Anne was incredibly bubbly for a Wednesday and really funny. You could tell she absolutely loved sharing all the stories about the church. And she totally has a crush on the first Duke of Wellington...

We sat and heard about the church's history and about Christopher Wren's (architect) adventures in trying to get it built and designed the way he wanted. She took us around to see Wellington's tomb and monument and Holman Hunt's last and largest painting of "The Light of the World." It was even more beautiful hearing the meaning behind the painting.

Then we got to sit in the quire--where the choir sits!--and get a better look at the ceiling. And OMG! They have to be some of the most beautiful mosaics I think I've ever seen!!! There were three massive ones above us depicting part of the creation story: land, sea, and air animals. All the church's mosaics were incredible in part because of the rough gold tiles used around the colored ones; I remember her saying they were placed at slight angles to catch the light which is what makes them sparkle so much. They were so so incredible!!! Check out the link, but just imagine them with sunlight making them glitter!!!

Then we went around the altar to look at the American Memorial with stained glass windows containing a picture for all 50 states. Iowa had a part of our flag--very cool.

We saw a statue of John Donne, the poet. It was made from a drawing he asked a friend to do of him of what he would look like dead. Anne said he kept it by his bed and would admire it every evening and morning! She was kindof in love with him too ;)

And then...the fire alarm went off. We decided it was the politest alarm we'd ever heard. "Beep. Beep. A fire has been reported. Please evacuate the building." etc. And sounding even better in a British accent! We had to go outside for about 10 minutes while the fire brigade checked everything out. In the mean time, we thought about how much that would have sucked for the people 365 feet above ground in the galleries at the top of the cathedral!

Once back inside we went down to the crypt to see Wren's tomb and the grand sarcophagus of Admiral Nelson. We also saw the memorial to Florence Nightengale and the tomb of the guy who illustrated Dickens' books--something Cruikshanks (Hermoine's--from Harry Potter--cat is named for him). The tour ended and we wandered around the shop a little. Then we made our way up to the galleries.

Holy crap!! A long, long 259 stairs to the Whispering Gallery, so named because if you whisper into the wall, the person on the other side can hear you. It was pretty creepy--like a ghost was talking or something! Then it was another 119 spiraling steps up to the Stone Gallery where you get amazing views of the city--so I got to take some pictures before my camera's battery pooped out :( THEN it was ANOTHER 152 very scary spiraly iron steps up to the very steep and very narrow Golden Gallery. Up there it's 111 meters above ground (365 ft--or days of the year because Wren was something of an astronomer). You could see what seemed like forever out around London--a full 360 degrees! Unfortunately, I only got about 1/8th the way around because........the fire alarm went off again!!!!!!!!!!! So we had to book it 365 ft all all all all the way down those scary spiraly staircases to evacuate the buildiing. And we're pretty sure there was just a faulty connection somewhere. How crazy.

By then, it was nearly 5pm and we would've had to leave for Evensong anyway so most of us went across the street to the Gormet Burger Kitchen restaurant. Some of us only got shakes--which satisfied my ice cream craving for a good long while. Molly and Andrea wisely shared one while Steph and I got our own....and as a result, had a major giddy sugar rush. Wow! :D

We made it back home and later got to hang out with Gammon and share funny stories about our lovely Simpson professors!

Tomorrow it's off to Windsor. We're leaving around 9 to catch the earliest train. Unfortunately, because of the recent postal striking, our tickets for the train and castle are lost in the mail so Gammon's going to have to get those tomorrow too. We'll see how it goes, but we're going to power through this minor setback!!

Parliament and Westminster

Today we met at the Houses of Parliament for our tour at 9:36. It's an incredibly beautiful building--like they're all turning out to be! It's hard to believe they put so much work into making such ornate carvings and statues and their awesome architecture. We should rethink our slabs of concrete!

We started at the House of Lords and worked our way through to the House of Commons. Our guide was great, too.

My favorite thing was hearing about all their crazy traditions. Here's one. The queen gets dressed, enters the H of L, and sits in this incredible gold throne with gold all around her. Then the speaker (I think) has to march the long long way down to the H of C entrance with everyone watching. Then the H of C slam the door in his face to remind the queen of when Charles I stomped in to arrest 5 MPs and then...eventually got his head cut off for that (and starting the Civil War). Then he bangs on the door to ask them to come to the H of L to hear the queen's speech because no member, not even the queen can ever again enter the H of C. When we went through to the H of C we even saw the gouge marks from where he bangs super hard! That is also the same entrance that had to be rebuilt along w/the H of C itself from the German bomb that destroyed it. Churchill wanted to keep the damaged archway there as a reminder, which was really cool to see.

Then Steph and I had lunch outside and walked to St. James's Park. We heard a band playing up by Buckingham Palace so we wandered up there in time to see what we think might have been the end of the changing of the guard. We got some video of two marching bands and the police/guards behind them going toward the park.

We went back to the park where I took a lovely nap. By the way, it is a beautiful day outside. Sunny all day and really warm, hot at times!

Then back to Westminster Abbey to meet up for our 2pm tour. Our guide was really funny and had lots of good info for us and fun side stories to share. I got to see the memorial to Isaac Newton, and tombs for Charles Darwin, Elizabeth I, Mary I (Elizabeth is buried on top of her!!), James I, Anne Boleyn's family tomb, Ben Johnson, and lots of others! I especially loved Poet's Corner where they had the memorial to Shakespeare, the Bronte sisters, Jane Austen, Henry James, Handel, and others. Along with Charles Dicken's grave!! It was really cool. It really is a magnificent church--so so beautiful and grand. We also saw the coronation chair that has been used since, I can't exactly remember, the 13th century maybe? Anyway, the one that the king/queen sits in on his/her coronation day...oh, and the one Westminster choir boys used to sneak to at night and carve their initials in!!! :D Now it's under some crazy surveillance all the time!!

Something on this computer isn't reading my camera so I'll try to get lots of pictures up next time.