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.