the 39 steps

After a spontaneous decision, I ended up going to a show Tuesday night with some friends.  We saw "The 39 Steps," a spoof of Alfred Hitchcock's film with the same title.  The show was amazing and so, so fun.  Our seats were in the third row which put us up close and personal with the actors.  It also meant we got fake snowed on at the end.  Anyways, on our way home we were in the tube station waiting when we saw the lead actor from The 39 Steps, Andrew Alexander.  So of course, we followed him.  And took lots of pictures (which I am still waiting on).  Basically it was a really fun night.

Wednesday we had off with no plans whatsoever.  A friend and I went to the Victoria & Albert museum which was great.  The funny thing happened on our way back.  We got into the tube station and I saw some elders with their luggage so of course we went over to say hi.  After talking for a minute they asked where we were from so I said "Boston."  One elder looked really excited and after talking to his companion for a moment, he exclaimed, "Boston! Like in New York!?"  I was astonished.  I quickly corrected him and once we got out of sight (and earshot) I started laughing and couldn't stop.  It doesn't sound that funny but it really was.  I can honestly say that is the first time that's ever happened.  And when I questioned his origins, he said Louisiana and gave the fact that he's never been to the Northeast as his reason why he didn't know where Boston was.  All I'm going to say is that is so sad.

Leadenhall Markets

Does anybody recognize this?  We discussed it in class on Thursday so once I got my homework done I went out to see it in person.  It reminds me a lot of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele which was built about 20 years prior.  They are really similar though this one has the distinction of being used for several films, one being the first Harry Potter film and the other, one of my favorite Bollywood films, "Love Aaj Kal."


We finally saw the sun on Saturday!  It was absolutely beautiful outside and the sun made everything seem a million times better.  We had gorgeous blue, blue skies, so after our walk in the morning, a friend and I went to Portobello Road where I started looking for souvenirs to bring home.  We walked through almost all of the market though decided to stop because it started getting sketchier the further we went and it was also dark by that time.

Sphinx near Cleopatra's Needle on Victoria's Embankment

the lake district and other adventures

 We took our first road trip these last four days and it was wonderful.  Early Wednesday morning we got up early and headed up towards Ambleside in the Lake District with a stop in Manchester to see the Manchester City Art Gallery and Manchester Town Hall.  It was really great to learn about Manchester's history and especially the history behind the town hall. We even got to see several rooms that are normally closed because we happened to be there when no one was having meetings.  The tour guide was also careful to point out some alleys within the town hall courtyards that were used for filming the most recent Sherlock Holmes film.  

When we finally made it to Ambleside we had to get dinner.  Luckily some friends and I found a delicious pub called "The White Lion" that was so good, we went there the next night for dinner.  I had my first fish and chips of this trip and it was wonderful, really well done.  While in the Lake District we got to stay in adorable Bed and Breakfasts.  Ours was called Lakes Lodge and it was the perfect location for exploring the town.
The next morning we headed out to explore the area a bit and first went to Brantwood, former home of John Ruskin, a famous art critic during the Victorian era.  His home is situated on hundreds of acres so of course they are several walking paths as well as a dock out onto the lake. It was beautiful and I loved it.  Our second home of the day was Wordsworth's but it was closed and so we ended up walking around the grounds a bit but it wasn't nearly as amazing as Ruskin's.  Our final stop of the day was Castelrigg, a stone formation similar to Stonehenge but not as big nor well preserved.

The next morning we headed off towards Liverpool, stopping in Preston to get a church history tour from a local.  It was really interesting though the headsets weren't working very well so that plus the blustery weather made it difficult to enjoy.  There is some great church history there.

In Liverpool we first stopped at the Walker Art Gallery where we some more Pre-Raphaelite art (seemingly the whole point of the trip) as well as a range of interesting other exhibits.  One of which was about Barack Obama and his campaign and later inauguration.  It was a novel idea and while I didn't agree with everything the artist said, it was well done.

Next up, The Beatles Story!  This was ridiculously fun and very personalized.  You could learn as much (or as little) as you wanted about their backgrounds, the formation of the band and their subsequent success.  We had some great fun taking photographs and posing with the exhibits.  I had a blast, especially with them playing Beatles music throughout the experience.

Sorry this is such a long post, but I'm almost done!  Our last day we stopped in Port Sunlight at the Lade Lever Gallery.  Port Sunlight was a model village, started by the Lever brothers to house and take care of their factory workers.  It was unheard of at that time and many saw it as a huge risk, but it paid off and they became even wealthier.  The museum was cool (though I don't remember much).  From there we went to Birmingham to their city galleries.  The highlight was definitely a Government Art Exhibit which included works of art from different government agencies and embassies around the world.  This is the first time its been collected all together and it was really awesome.

P.S. We went to our first musical, "Kiss Me, Kate" and it was wonderful. I loved it! It was hilarious and so well done. [a link to the poster in case anyone is interested]  I am so excited for the rest of the six musicals that we will see this semester!

long walks

These last few days have been crazy busy, so for now I'm just going to do the highlights of each day.

Wednesday: Meredith and I went to the Wallace Collection - a beautiful collection of art in a historic townhouse.  An adorable elderly British lady gave us our tour and she knew so much! That afternoon we toured Kensington Palace.  They had a special exhibit about Queen Victoria that was fascinating, especially in light of our class and the movie.  I never realized how tiny Victoria was, she couldn't have been more than 5'1''!  A group of us went to see "Richard III" that night and it was well-done though I fell asleep during the end of it.  I was awake for the ending but I wouldn't have been able to follow it had I not already known the history!  It was certainly interesting to see how Shakespeare tweaked history.

One of my favorite paintings from the Wallace Collection.

Victoria's wedding dress

Thursday: Classes and catching up on homework.

 Friday:  A fantastic day! We went to the Tower of London in the morning and a group of us stayed there until lunch time just exploring the buildings and reading the history.  After doing some homework we went out for dinner to an Italian restaurant that was fantastic. I got a chicken and rosemary pizza that also had peppers and goat cheese. I was in heaven. We went to the mall to get some frozen yogurt at Snog (also delicious!) and then on my way home I stopped for some lunch food items and my friends and I ended up trying another frozen yogurt place (Yogland) that I almost like better than Snog.

My amazing pizza.

Saturday:  We went on an amazingly fun and wonderful walk through Kent.  We took the train out to Eynesford and walked through adorable little towns and tramped through the muddy countryside for about ten miles stopping once at some ruins and again at a cute little shop.  Pretty much one of my favorite days, ever.

One of many photos.

on getting lost

Well, not really.  Somehow every day since I've been here (granted that has only been about four full days) I have managed to wind up somewhere I did not plan to be.  Hopefully that means I will be a pro soon enough.  But it could just mean I am terrible at directions.  However, I still get to where I need to go and these last few days have been jam-packed of long walks, short classes and seeing the city.
Sunday we all went to our wards and that was a very long day.  My group was lucky in that we didn't have church until 1pm so we figured we'd leave at about 11:45 (which we did).  Unfortunately we weren't sure of exactly where the building was and so we ended up walking about thirty minutes trying to find the building.  We got there only thirty minutes late! Our ward is great, we bore testimonies and filled out new member sheets and are team teaching a Primary class on Sunday for one of the members.  It should be a fun and busy semester!  Going home we went the "shorter" route as suggested by the same member.  It still took us an hour and a half and we got home after they had started dinner.  Luckily they hadn't eaten all of it just yet.

Monday morning was classes and an attempt at meeting up with William.  Unfortunately due to travel delays on his end, we missed each other.  Guess I'll just have to wait and see him in six weeks when he comes back from Rome!  That afternoon we attended a Pre-Raphaelite exhibit at the Tate Britain that was fantastic.  Apparently it is the largest exhibit of art from this period that has even been done and is likely to ever be done.  I bought some postcard versions of my three favorite paintings, of which my top favorite is "Ophelia" by John Everett Millais.  Monday night after dinner we attempted to watch "A Man of All Seasons" but it didn't work (to the relief of many students) and instead we watched "Elizabeth: The Golden Age."  I enjoyed it and it was interesting to see what they changed from history to make the story more fast-paced.

I went on a long walk/tour of London with the early group Tuesday and it lasted about three hours.  We saw many monuments and buildings in an attempt to help orient ourselves to the city.  There are so many places to visit and so many things to see, I'm so glad I have three months to do it!  That evening we watched "The Young Victoria" for our Victorian class and in preparation for a tour we are doing today of Kensington Palace.  I love that movie and I'm thrilled to go see the palace in person.  Plus, it's where Will and Kate live!

Churchill statue near Westminster

St. Martin-in-the-Fields

St. Paul's

first day

Now that I'm all settled in, I figured I should update this.
So my flight was delayed a while in D.C.  I got to the airport, checked in, went through security and found that my friend and I were in fact on the same flight.  We boarded, got settled in and were just waiting to take off when the captain came on saying there was an issue with the engine.  Apparently an alarm went off saying there was a fire in the right engine, so they went through the steps to handle it and found it was a false alarm. They then had people come examine it and found the plane was unsafe for further use. So they towed us back to the gate and we had to all get off and await further instruction.  Luckily they found another plane and we got to walk across the airport and wait to board that one.  On my way I ran into my cousin Andrew and updated him on the situation (I had texted him asking if he knew what was going on) before waiting another hour and a half to board the new plane.  Fortunately this one had no issues and we arrived in London only two hours behind schedule.  I did get to see the sunrise over England and other than ridiculously long lines at border control, the rest of the trip went perfectly well.

Once my friend and I got to the centre, we dropped our stuff off and I unpacked a little before we went out searching for food.  We ended up in Kensington Gardens and walked around the pond a little ways before going past the palace and then down past all the embassies towards home.

Saturday morning we were told to be up and ready by 9am for a short meeting where we went over rules of the centre, found out our wards (Crystal Palace), signed up for Student Oyster Cards, and got other assignments.  For our orientation walk we found the closest places to eat, grocery stores, tube stops and banks.  We also found out that a neighbor had a fire in his house.  Rumor has it he is the owner of the Chelsea Football team and that he had been remodeling for a few years when this fire occurred last night.  We took some pictures and then we were off.

A group of us went to Nando's for lunch, a delicious Portuguese chicken place that was fantastic.  We went to Piccadilly Circus and then wandered over to Trafalgar Square and from there it was short walk to the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.  The abbey was closed to visitors but we were lucky in that evensong started only a few minutes later.  We attended and it was a great experience.  Since it was the eve of Epiphany, it seemed even more special (and a little bit longer).  After taking some pictures of the London Eye, we split up again.  Hayley and I decided to check out the shopping and went to Primark on Oxford Street as well as a dozen other stores.  We were both exhausted by the time we finished and only stopped on our way home to get some food for dinner.  We had another meeting with everyone and when that finished I attempted to go to bed, but of course, could not sleep.

Trafalgar Square

The Brits are still decorated
for Christmas. "Marmite Gold:
You Either Love it or Hate it."

  

adventures

Well, today's the day! I finished packing this morning but have to rearrange a few things since its a few pounds overweight.  My winter break has come to a close and the last few days have been great.  I watched a TV show, "The Mentalist" and several movies (that take place in England).  I cleaned up a bit and made cookies (oatmeal chocolate chip with coconut and walnuts); I said goodbye to my sisters, brother and mom and will soon say goodbye to my dad.  I realized this morning as I was packing, my life at home, an adventure in of itself, has nearly come to an end and I likely won't live at home again.  When I come back from England, I will be graduating from college and hopefully moving to the D.C. area and getting a job.

But that's all in the future.  In just another day I will be in London, using the Tube, on my way to the London Centre with two friends.  It will be the start of a whole new adventure.    

My home for the next four months.