Rocks and Research

March 16, 2010

And a week later…

I sure haven’t done very well with this blog this week. And the really sad thing is, I had the hardest time remembering what I did all week! It was only a few days ago! Anyway, this isn’t going to happen anymore. I’ll be here every few days like usual, no putting it off. It is midterm time here. But instead of midterms, I have like a million papers due! And a presentation and two exams… ugh. Especially not fun when the awesomeness that is London sits right outside my window… Well, my window actually faces the west side of the Dutch embassy, so I see people working at their cubicles all day, but still. It’s all out there, waiting for me and I’m stuck inside writing about the Great Fire and British politics… boo!

Somewhere in my foggy memory, I was able to remember that earlier this week was quite exciting. We went to Covent Garden on Wednesday! I left the flat around 11 and did some errands before meeting up with a few friends later. I stopped at the London Underground offices in St. James’s Park to do a bit of research for my history presentation, only to be callously escorted off the premises when I didn’t have a staff pass. They treated me like a terrorist threat! Seriously, freaked out when I got to the reception desk. I wanted to have a look around because the architect that designed that building also designed a lot of the tube stations. Two big guys in suits appeared on both sides of me and shepherded me out the door. I felt like an idiot. I bought a Cadbury Crème Egg and everything was better.

Oh, and before this researching disaster, I saw someone get hit by a car! I knew seeing a car accident of some kind was inevitable. London roads are a recipe for disaster… terrible drivers from all over the world, none of which ever learned how to drive on the left side or in a backwards car… zero crosswalks so pedestrians have to run for their lives when crossing the streets… the narrowest streets, seriously, two compact cars can barely fit… huge red double-decker buses that think they own the roads…and lastly, brave people riding their peddle bikes in the car lines. I haven’t decided yet if the bikers are courageous or just mad. End of story, I saw a man trying to cross the street and get hit by a little BMW. Scary! He was okay, but it looked like it seriously hurt. Broke the front window and everything. He rolled up over the car and fell off the roof. If it wasn’t so scary I might have laughed. He was fine! Up and walking in no time. These Londoners are tough.

After all this misadventure, I walked across town to Covent Garden and had a bit of a look around. I walked down Bond Street wide-eyed, of course. Great shopping, people watching, and something that is uniquely British. Or maybe, London-ish. I can’t describe it. This funny feeling that this place has so much history but has so much more to give. It never rests and everyone loves it. I found a theatre that was showing a play with Kim Catrall and Matthew MacFayden. I think I’m going to have to see that sometime. I love Pride and Prejudice. Seriously.

And then I found Covent Garden and fell in love. So many little shops and cafes. It is crammed into this old brick open-air arcade/building riddled with alleys and courtyards and huge windows in the ceiling. There is free entertainment in the center all the time and the street performers all over London are amazing. Seriously, better than what is on the radio here. In Covent Garden, there was this funny trio of balding, pudgy old guys singing “Sound of Music” songs. It was great! I listened for a bit, until I met up with Hal and Viv.

Next, we descended on the London Transport Museum for a bit more research for my presentation. But this assignment quickly turned into one the best trips to a museum we’ve had. And we’ve seen a lot of museums. First, the gift shop, which is the true indicator of a museum’s worth, was great. So many great books and funny souvenirs with tube maps on them. A book about the history of lawn gnomes? An alarm clock with the lady’s voice that announces the tube stops and disruptions asking you, very politely, to wake up? It was great. I’m definitely heading back to that shop before I leave. And the museum was phenomenal, too! They had all the old subway cars, steam engines, and double-decker buses for us to sit in and take pictures. It doesn’t sound like much, but Hal, Viv, and I spent the entire afternoon pretending to be the crabby bus driver behind the wheel or a petty society lady in her own coach on the old steam train. We even found a car that resembled the Hogwarts Express! So fun.

Thursday… I went for a run in Hyde Park, had history class, and did homework. Really boring day. And sadly, this pretty much sums up most of my weekend, except Saturday. Have I mentioned that homework it really hard to do here? It takes me twice as long and somehow the royal family, my love of the tube, and British swear words sneak into all of my papers… I’ve been brainwashed. I love London and I can’t help it!

Friday was only marginally more exciting. We went out with our program for Indian food. Oh yes, curry always finds its way into my essays too. I’m always craving it. Seriously, go to an Indian restaurant! But make sure it is good before you go because bad curry is just really sad. We ate at this place down the street called Bombay Brasserie. The food wasn’t the best, but the design and décor of the restaurant was impressive. It is located on the ground floor of this really expensive restaurant, so they are used to a pretty affluent clientele. I think our horde from Wisconsin left them a bit stunned. We all had a great time. I realized how many friends I’ve made here and how I’m going to miss them so much. But, then I realized that they all go to Madison! I have 50 new friends and it is going to be great. If I don’t make very many British friends, I’ll have all these awesome people. And when we get back to the states, we can go out for curry!

Saturday was Stonehenge, Serum, and Salisbury. YAY! We woke up at the ungodly hour of 6AM and got on the coach bus for our two-hour side to the southwest of England. I slept most of the way. Our regular tour guide, Brit, has this voice that just lulls you to sleep. That, a moving vehicle, a little warmth and sun in my face always puts me right to sleep. And I listened to my new iPod! A few hours later we crested one of England’s famous rolling hills and there was Stonehenge. It was beautiful. Brit made sure we didn’t expect too much. She said people are often disappointed because they expect it to be massive. She also said, we shouldn’t be upset if we don’t walk away feeling healed or spiritually cleansed. Apparently, the stones are supposed to have some spiritual power and people have sued the British government when they weren’t healed or properly moved... We had a good laugh before getting off the bus. And I was taken back when I finally stood right in front of it. It’s huge! And it gave me chills. Spiritually healed for sure! No, but I was amazed. It’s just a pile of rocks, but around it is this huge ditch dug thousands of years ago and bunch of burial mounds. The stones are something like 5000 years ago and they are originally from Wales. How the heck did they get them all the way over here? 200 miles away? Amazing! We took a lot of pictures and checked out the gift shop… not that great. After about an hour of marveling at rocks, we boarded the bus and got on our way. Brit told us that Stonehenge isn’t unique. There are hundred of stone circles like this all over Britain. Crazy! But Stonehenge will always have a little place in my heart. I loved it.

We drove around the countryside for a few miles before beginning to climb this pretty steep hill. Brit told us the whole thing was manmade... Geez these old Brits were determined. And strong! At the top, we found the remains of an old castle, and it looked right out of a movie. I think the guide said they’d filmed a few things here. We had a laugh when Hal started running around like a Teletubbie, convinced this was the place they filmed the scenes where they run around on the grassy hills. So funny. Aside from the Teletubbie hills, we found the old remains of a cathedral that had been dismantled to build a wall… what the heck? Brit said this place is the originally Salisbury, now called Old Serum, but everything was moved to new Salisbury a long time ago. Regardless, the remains of the giant fortress on the hill were amazing to run and climb on. Seriously, we are all five-year olds craving a jungle gym and some fresh air at heart. Brit knows how to please!

After that great time, we headed down the hill to Salisbury. Being Saturday, there was a great market going on and the town was alive! Like all English towns, all the inhabitants perk up a bit on the weekends. The coach driver dropped us off at the huge brick wall, which Brit informed us was called a close. So this is the wall that stole from that cathedral on the hill. Didn’t look too spectacular to me. But then I discovered what it held inside… Salisbury Cathedral! Tallest steeple in England. And completely covered in this beautiful stuff called scaffolding. Seriously, couldn’t see half the church! They are fixing everything for the Olympics, I swear. Anyway, I still managed to take about 100 too many pictures and walked away pleased. Never have I been deterred by a bit of construction! After a long look at the outside of the church, we headed for the market for lunch. It was the perfect day to sit outside, so we all ordered food from different places and ended up sitting outside this old pub. I shared stuffed mushrooms with Viv. Yum! And then, I found Oatmeal Road! Seriously, a road named after oatmeal? My Quaker Oats?!? My love oatmeal! We all laughed. But I forgot to take a picture! Bah.

A bit of looking around at the market soon turned into some seriously shopping. Like all good things do! But after a while, it was time to meet Brit for our tour of the inside of Salisbury Cathedral, so we headed back that way. Brit is expert on everything British. I don’t know how she remembers all these random facts and funny stories. She is a genius. And always so happy! I just know that if I were a tour guide, I’d probably snap at some stupid American asking too many questions or taking too many pictures. Brit is a godsend and she was in fine form at the Cathedral. She told us funny stories about almost all of the martyrs and saints that had statues on the façade of the church. Whether all these stories are fact or completely fake, no one can tell, but they are great fun to hear. Inside the cathedral we walked around for about an hour. Now, the inside of Westminster Abbey didn’t really amaze me and Westminster Cathedral has been my absolute avorite so far. Salisbury Cathedral fit somewhere in the middle. Probably my second favorite. It was so tall with so many arches and vaults and stained glass windows and monuments and tombs. There are pictures on facebook. I can’t describe it. I still can’t even believe I’m here!

My awe was broken when Hal cracked a joke, like always. Brit was telling a story about a man that was buried there. Apparently, the man went off the war and everyone thought he died. His best friend pressured the man’s widowed wife into marrying him, but she refused, insisting her husband was still alive. So, when the guy turned out to be alive, he was a bit pissed at his friend and wanted revenge. The story ended sadly, but in the middle of telling, I thought of that song, “My boyfriend’s back and your going to be in trouble…” I sang it quietly to myself and Hal heard. She then proceeded to change all the word to fit the story. It was hilarious. I couldn’t stop laughing in this quiet, solemn church. So embarrassing.

After that humiliation, we saw England’s oldest clock, a bunch of old deteriorating flags that I thought were really cool, and the Magna Carta…! Holy crap, I saw the Magna Carta. Well it was one original copy of it. There are four in total and they are all written in Latin. Didn’t stand a chance of reading it, but seeing it was great! On our way to Windsor a while ago we passed through the fields of Runnymede were King John signed the Magna Carta nearly 1000 years ago. So much history everywhere. When a building or a document or a piece of art is from the 19th century, Brits just scoff. Only the 1800s!? That isn’t old! Heck, Grandma’s house is 100 years old and I thought that was miraculous.

After meditating over the Magna Carta, we all got back on the coach a bit reluctantly. What a great day it was. After another thorough nap on the bus, we got back to London around seven. And then we hit the town! We went to this blues bar called Ain’t Nothing But… (Blues Bar). Catchy right? We saw this guy called Jeremiah Marx and everyone went crazy. I guess he is a bit of a local celebrity here in London. I couldn’t understand a thing he said and it was so loud! But a lot of fun. We stayed for a while before headed out exhausted. I crashed in my bed around midnight and didn’t resurface until about 9 the next morning.

And on Sunday…. I did absolutely nothing. Except homework. And we went to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D just off Piccadilly Circus. I thought the movie was okay. It was just nice to get out of the house after sitting around all morning on my computer.

And yesterday… was interesting. We talked about a lot of disturbing things in Contemporary Britain. Mostly the IRA bombing London for the past 40 years and the terrorist attacks on the tube in 2005. Oddly, all the Brits are terrified of guns, but they are accustomed to bombs. “I just went to work,” our professor said when we asked him what he did when the tube was bombed in 2005. He just found a tube line that was still operation and went to work! But he doesn’t like to watch movies with a lot of guns, especially if they are just owned by civilians. He thinks it is crazy that we should have a gun cabinet at home. So different! He said he was teaching a bunch of Wisconsin students in the 90s when a few IRA bombs went off outside the building… and that wasn’t the first time he’d nearly been hit! AH! It was eerie.

Anyway, after that downer, we went to a play in the West End for theatre class. We saw “Really Old, Like Forty-Five”. It was a comedy about age and dementia. It was hilarious, but also really sad at times. I almost died laughing when the play ended with this crazy lady holding a baby and saying, “I love turtles.” Look up “I Like Turtles” on YouTube. I almost peed my pants. And then proceeded to watch that and about a hundred other YouTube videos that night. Good night.

Aw, but I almost forgot. All that YouTube goodness came after I skyped my drunken family on vacation in Texas. Classic. That was great. Hal and I laughed about it the whole night. Apparently, I was just yelling into my computer and the whole flat could hear me. Our power went out, after someone blew a fuse (it happens all the time), and our first attempt at skype didn’t work so well with me being in the dark. But, we eventually got it running. I laughed the whole time. Mom and Linette cried. Derek bought a satchel. Dad, Gayl, and Scott were drunk in the background I think. I wrote on Amy’s Facebook wall after, that we can’t let them vacation without us. We miss them all too much and they were a complete mess. I love you guys!

Well, I have class now… ugh. And then another play tonight!

Cheerio!
Kelly