Museums Galore

(Quick explanation for the previous post: As well as updating my friends and family and whomever else is reading this blog, I'm using it for my London journal class, and our first assignment was to write about food.)

London is filled with so many museums. The best part is that, with few exceptions, the museums are free. On any given day you can just decide on a whim to go visit a museum for a few hours, and not feel like you have to see everything in one day. 

I've been to the British Museum several times now, for both art history and creative writing. The British Museum has mostly ancient art, including the Rosetta Stone, which is humbling. My creative writing class has been focusing on ekphrastic poetry and I wrote my first piece on the Parthenon Marbles. It's incredible to think how old these amazing sculptures are.

The other museum I've been spending most of my time at is the National Gallery. It's in Trafalgar Square which in itself is beautiful. The gallery is enormous and it's absolutely impossible to see everything in one day. 

Lately I've been focusing on the Impressionist. It's incredible to get so up close to all these paintings I've heard so much about and seen in pictures. Manet is one of my favorites. I wrote another ekphrastic piece on Monet's Irises.

Today Ashley and I wandered down Oxford street to find the Border's book store (not a museum, I know. Whatever.) It's huge! Three

floors! We could have spent all day there, but I would have ended up spending too much money. I bought a new book, not too expensive, but I can foresee myself spending more money on books and whatnot than anything else. I'll probably end up with nothing representing London. ha! No, I'm sure I'll come back with a shirt or something...

My next post will be more exciting than this one, (it was a bit of a lazy weekend for me) we're taking a group excursion to Stonehenge!

Oh, by the way, my commute to my Shakespeare class is across the Millennium Bridge and looks like this: 

Coffee and Tea and the Java and Me

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a coffee fiend. I love coffee (I’m also much nicer when I’m caffeinated), which is why I’m always on the prowl for good coffee shops. London does have Starbucks, a surprising amount of them actually, they really seem to be everywhere. Of course Starbucks isn’t exactly anything new. But if I need a piece of home, I can just pop in a Starbucks. Two other big chains here are Cafe Nero and Costa. I am a fan of both. Costa I think is my favorite, and there’s one fairly close to our flat. Come to think of it, there’s probably a Costa as well as a Starbucks on every block. But Costa has a nice atmosphere and they don’t play music unnecessarily loud like Starbucks does.  

In general, the coffee in London is stronger than regular coffee at home, which I do not have a problem with. It’s typically made with milk, which is also a plus, and isn’t nearly as sweet. Of course, it is possible to order American coffee, but why bother? When in Rome, do as the Romans, or some other such cliche. I do not recommend the coffee from Fresh Cut. First off, why it’s called Fresh Cut I have no idea. Shouldn’t it be Fresh Cup? True the coffee is cheap, only 1pp, but it tastes like it only costs 1pp. It’s bitter and not so enjoyable, plus, they don’t exactly give you a full cup.

I’ve been drinking more tea here too. I don’t know why really, it’s not any different than tea at home. I think I’m just drinking more because we have it in the flat, and it’s good, so why not drink it. Plus, there is not coffee maker in the flat, so tea is the next best thing. We do have instant coffee...but that’s not my style.

Speaking of tea, I highly suggest going to enjoy an English tea. Scones with clotted cream and jam is one of the best combinations ever thought of. I know, clotted cream sounds less than appealing, but it’s very tasty. The scones are better than any I’ve had in the states...well, except for that Great Harvest bread place maybe. But these scones were smaller and sweeter and buttery with raisins. They’re absolutely delicious.

Fruit stands everywhere in the city, just randomly on the streets. It’s quite nice actually. The fruit is good, and not too expensive. But a word of caution: watch out for bugs. Ashley and I bought a box of raspberries the other day, which were really good, aside from the little green worm perched on one of the berries. I’m sure he meant not harm, but I wasn’t too keen on having him on my food. Bugs are a great source of protein, I know, but I decided to pass on that delicacy.

Another warning: if someone offers you “Indian sweets” just say no. Yumnation at Bloomsbury Square makes fantastic smoothies (I highly recommend the Cranberry Daze: cranberry juice, blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries), but their Indian sweets, which supposedly “taste like fudge!” are bad. I don’t even know how to describe them, but they are certainly not fudge. It’s more crumbly, and the green, which I foolishly assumed would taste something of pistachio, tasted more like it had been infused with Pine Sol. Not a pleasant experience. Joe seemed to like it well enough, but I advise against it.

I’m not totally turned against trying new food, although for the most part I anticipate sticking mostly to the familiar. 

Old Time Religion

As it turns out, Opera is very popular in London. I attempted to see La Traviata today, but when I got there found out the show was sold out. Who knew? So today was a bust, unfortunately.

Yesterday I went with Jenny to explore the Middle Temple and the Inner Temple. It's mentioned in "The Da Vinci Code," but I read it a while ago and don't 

remember that. But it's a great place. It feels like it's not really in the city. The whole area feels like authentic old London. Now the place is used for lawyers and barristers and such.

  

The Middle Temple is not so much a temple. It's a banquet hall and lots of other little rooms. There are portraits and coats of arms all over the walls. It felt a bit stuffy, to be honest.

The Inner Temple is incredible. It's absolutely 

beautiful. They're repairing much of the stained glass, so the scaffolding takes away from the feel of the church, but you can just disregard the renovation.

On the floor there are effigies of knights and other such important people. It's all very interesting.

Saturday night I went with a group to Evensong at St. Paul's Cathedral. It was an incredible experience. I have never heard anything like it. We were able to sit in the area where the choir sings. The acoustics were fantastic. Sound just lingers in the church. It's beautiful. I wish I could take pictures inside the church; it's so ornate and overwhelming. But photography isn't allowed...at least I don't think, and it would have been disrespectful to take pictures.

So, maybe better luck next time with the opera.  I'll put up pictures of the Globe soon.  Last time I was there for class the batteries in my camera were dead.  But I'm there twice a week, so no worries.

Feels Like Home

London really is beginning to feel like home for me. It's very different from the states, but it's a nice break. So far the people I've interacted with are nice. I haven't come across to many anti-American feelings, which I am thankful for. The police are friendly and good to talk to. In general I'm liking London better than the states. Although, the grocery stores are very different. Finding food can be difficult sometimes, but it's not a priority or anything... 

Coffee here is much stronger than at home; it's pretty great. I'm still orienting myself to the neighborhood, but I really love living in the city. This isn't to say that I don't miss being home. Today I was talking with my friends about pancake Sundays at home and our pets and family. So I do miss being home, but I know I'm where I should be now and I'm really settling in.

I saw my first show in London Thursday night, it was a Pantomime. It's not difficult to understand why Pantomimes are only popular in England and Scotland. Basically a panto is an interactive children's show. It's supposed to be funny, but it comes off being tacky. But it was funny when actors dropped lines and improved with each other and the audience. The show had its moments. And the man who played the Dame was fantastic. I thought he was hilarious and really knew how to play to the audience.

Friday I want to Camden town with some friends.

Very interesting place. It's not really my scene, but it was fun. There are a lot of side shops that remind me a little of the cheaper aspects of NYC. Camden also has a lot of piercing and tattoo places. I didn't get anything done while I was there, but I have to say, I was tempted.

Yesterday we spent the day in Greenwich. We took a boat down the Thames river which was really nice. It was a good way to see part of the city. 

The London Eye through the ceiling of the boat. I thought it looked pretty cool.

 

Big Ben. 

The Globe Theatre. I can't wait to have class there Tuesday.

The Tower Bridge. This is only a part of it. It's a large bridge and I couldn't get a picture of the whole things from inside the boat.

Greenwich is beautiful. I was amazed at how green it is, even though there are no leaves on the trees. Greenwich Park is so large, it's incredible. This picture doesn't do it justice. It's a great place to walk around and take pictures. We went up to the observatory to look down on the park. From there you can see the Thames and the opposite bank. The skyline shows the new modern buildings that have gone up. There's been a lot of controversy about modernizing London, some people say it's ruining London. But as such a global economic power, they don't have much of a choice but to construct these status symbols. The locals have nicknames for the new buildings like "the Gherkin" and the mayor's building "Ken's Testicle." Lovely, no?

At the observatory there is also the Greenwich Mean Time clock and a line where the Prime Meridian is. At night there is a green laser light that shows where the Prime Meridian is, which I thought was a really neat idea.

Before leaving we stopped at the Nation Maritime Museum. It's not really my type of museum, but it was interesting. There were small relics from the Titanic which was very interesting. But my favorite part was a small room with panes of stained glass. To be honest, I don't know why the glass was there, but it was beautiful. I'm sure I wasn't supposed to take pictures...but I did.

London really is a fantastic place. There is so much I want to do while I'm here. I know I'll be here for three months, but I know the time will fly by.  

Oh! P.S. Dan & Kelly, thanks so much for the camera, it's definitely the best thing I brought with me to London :)

London Beginnings

Hello from across the pond!  I made it to London :)  It's been a whirlwind two days, and there's more to come!

  

So far I've discovered that I dislike airports and I do not like flying.  But London is great so far.

Our flat is much larger than I anticipated and comfortable. I'm pretty sure we got the best flat of the bunch.

Our view is nice too.  

But so far the most interesting thing is the office building

across the street and we can watch the people working.  (Is that weird? hahahaha)

London will take some time to adjust to; I still can't believe that I'm really here.  4 months sounds like a long time, but I know it will fly by.  More orientations going on tomorrow.  Shakespeare won't start until next week.  We go see our first show this Thursday night!  I'm quite excited for classes too.

Everything is going well.  I'm safe, I'm getting settled, and I'm not too jet lagged (hahaha).  More exciting things to come this week!  Cheers :)