LOVE

I’m in Love. Yes. Love. The kind that makes you excited to wake up in the morning. The kind that makes you smile for no reason and makes you glow. The kind that gives you goose bumps. The kind that keeps you awake at night. The kind that creates questions and  makes you think and want to search for answers. The kind that makes you dream of bigger things. I’m not talking about my man, Nathan (although he is all these things, too). I’m talking about London.

I’m in love with London. This is the greatest city EVER. I’ve only been here for 3 weeks and I know I’ll never want to leave. Every day, I discover something new. There are so many things to do and see here. To live in a place so steeped in history…I’m not even a history buff.

Last week, we visited the skin exhibit at the Wellcome Museum (Free), Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace. I also went shopping at Borough market for class. Monday we went into the houses of parliament and tasted food. Tuesday I spent the morning at a NHS (National Health Service) clinic – no worries, everyone is fine. Tuesday evening we experienced british gfootballYesterday was probably my favorite outing. We biked about 8 miles along the Thames ending at the most fantastic Palace I’ve ever seen! We spent the afternoon at Hampton Court Palace wandering through rooms and gardens before riding the train home to rest our tired legs and feet.

Just a few thoughts and pictures.

Skin Exhibit. This exhibit at the Wellcome Museum was all about skin. It looked at skin from scientific, religious, social, and cultural perspectives. I could go on and on about this exhibit. But I wont. Ask me if you want to know more!

Westminster Abbey. This beautiful church is so unique. While it is clearly a religious institution, it’s walls and floors are decorated with mementos of secular life. Great people in history are buried here – some not so great people in history have paid to be buried here. A few interesting graves that we walked on – weird to say I’ve walked on graves – Henry Purcell and a ton more musicians, Charles Darwin and a ton more scientists, and tons and tons of monarchs, Edward the Confessor being the most noted.

Oldest Garden

Buckingham Palace. Pretty cool place. Although, not my favorite. Perhaps the killer cold I had put a damper on things. I did take a lovely nap in St. James Park right by Buckingham Palace.

Borough Market. Don’t let the name fool you. This is a high end, ritzy, “fashionable” market. The food at this market is all organic (although in London organic is unbelievable cheap and easily accessible), sold in a specialty shop, or made by artisans. It was interesting to see, but I’ll stick to my cheaper markets like Church Street, where you can get enough vegetables to feed you for a week for about 1 pound ($1.60)!

National Health Service. Unbelievable cool that as students, we can just walk in, sign up, and get help. Obviously I do not know the ins and outs of National Health Care, but there are so many things working here!

British Football. This was an experience. Watching a football (soccer) match in a home stadium is nothing like watching a professional level sports match in the states. Nothing. It compares a little more to college sports in atmosphere. The fans cheer, chant and sing. They taunt the other fans. I swear they spend more time intimidating the other fans than they do watching the game! Perhaps this was because it was a rival game (Queen’s Park Rangers v Millwall). We cheered for the Queen’s Park Rangers and shouted and chanted right along with the crowds and enjoyed the game thoroughly even though it was a draw! I would suggest this activity to anyone coming to London.

Hampton Court Palace

Side of Hampton Court. Baroque style.

Tudor Entrance to Hampton Court Palace

Yesterday we rode to Hampton Court Palace and arrived in style, very similar to how Henry VII arrived at the palace. So far this has been the best activity. Even though it was rainy and overcast. The ride down the Thames was so beautiful, picturesque, post card worthy! It was “England” in so many ways. Every bend in the river, the boats, the houses, the green fields….I can’t do it justice in words or pictures. It was also nice to just ride a bike, to soak it all up and get some exercise that didn’t involve walking!

Can I have a weeping willow tree and a house on the Thames.

Biking down the Thames.

The Thames

My future house on the Thames.

The palace is HUGE. It was added on and renovated over a number of years and was opened to the public in the late 1800sby Queen Victoria. In many ways it is a “living” museum. They have actors around the grounds explaining various aspects of palace life. We all got to wear robes around as if we were royal ourselves (The child in me absolutely loved this!).

Never too old for dress up.

The palace is both Tudor and Baroque in style. Henry the VIII was mostly responsible for the Tudor architecture (Henry VIII was the 2^nd Tudor King) and William the III for the Baroque (William the III had asthma, so the stairs are all really shallow). The gardens are amazing – the hedges perfectly trimmed. Even in the rain, the experience was amazing!  

Still Obsessed. I want one!

Old school bathroom in the Georgian part of the Palace.

Garden at Hampton Court

I can just picture Henry VIII and his many wives sitting here - one at a time of course!

I am so incredibly jealous of all the local people who get to see these amazing buildings every day.  I wish I could just walk or bike down the Thames. I wonder if it ever gets old, looking out across the Thames at an amazing palace.

P.S...

So, apparently Madeline exists. 

Free Music

Music has always been an integral part of my being. Finding affordable venues to hear concerts performed by quality artists is rather difficult in the United States. Clearly, it exists, but not to the extent to which I am finding it in London. Last Sunday, I trucked across town (of course I got lost in the process) to St. George’s in Bloomsbury. It was a beautiful church (with really hard pews). The concert featured a cellist (Sophie Rivlin) playing Arnold, Britten, Debussy. The coolest part of the concert was the interpretative dance. The Britten piece was inspired by his trip to Bali. I’ve never seen Balinese dance, not my favorite, but certain very interesting to watch. It’s about subtleties – facial expressions, small hand movements. The other two pieces were performed with a contemporary/jazz dance performer. What was so cool was the way she danced with the music and the performers and not just to the music. She interacted with the cellist and the piano accompanist. She would take the bow or mimic the movement of the cellist hand. A few times she would reach over and play a note. I’m not doing it justice with my description. But, she really brought the music to life and told a story. Loved it. stgeorgesbloomsbury.org.uk Tuesday I went to a lunch concert at St. Martin-in the-Fields. I ate my lunch next to an odd group of homeless people on a wall in Trafalgar Square! The church has been putting on free lunch concerts forever – over 50 years. Tuesday’s program featured the Karelia String Quartet. The members were all conservatory students about my age…I know I am not cut out to be that good, but it does make me want to practice again! They performed works by Haydn, Schubert, and Britten. The Brits seem to love Brittan – he is in fact buried in West minster Abbey – I walked on his grave on Wednesday. Of course I loved the Haydn piece – my favorite composer. Although reading the program notes, I was a little disappointed…you see there is a lot of controversy surrounding Haydn and some of his works. There is a rather large collection of works attributed to Haydn that are most likely not his. This one, along with my favorite oboe concerto, is most likely not his. But, I just closed my eyes and listened to the music. Moments like that make me realize that it doesn’t really matter who wrote the piece – it’s still beautiful music. www.track0.com There is something really incredible about going to see live, high quality music played in historic buildings that is exhilarating. It makes me want to try to find it when I go home. Hopefully it’s out there because I’m going to be so spoiled when I get back! London has so much to offer – for FREE! I wish I had my own pictures to share – I forgot my camera both days. Eek. The ones attached are some Google images so you can see where I’ve been! More to come about the weeks school related adventures!

Father Time

24-hour clocks. I'm still getting used to this!

 

The Real Life

Fails…..

So I tried to go to a ballet class. Great idea – only I got lost. I looked up the address and how to get there and ventured off. Two and at least two-foot miles later, I came home. Turns out, the address was for the main road, but the studio was actually on a side street. Oh well! Better luck next week.

I tired to do laundry on Thursday. All I wanted was to wash towels – but they never dried. They were in the drier for 13 hours – drying for about 10. They are STILL wet. Now the adventure will be the Laundromat (no airing cupboard here…there is not top to the cupboard with the water heater so the heat escapes.)

Bonus = lots of time to look around in London. 

The Touristy Life

Successes…

I have an obsession with clocks. Needless to say, I had not qualms about going to a museum all about time! Wednesday, we went to Greenwich Village – home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian.

We walked under the Thames River (all the way under, like to the bottom in a tunnel). 

Foot tunnel under the Thames.

 Sometimes I wish I were Royal (but most of the time I’m glad I’m not). The palace in Greenwich is stunning – massive paintings and elaborate architecture… It was a favorite among the royal families. Today, it houses Trinity College of Music and Greenwich University.

 

The other reason I wish I were Royal – you get things built for you. If I can’t get married in a Castle, I will get married at the Queens House. This stunning classic renaissance home was built by King James I for Queen Ann – can I please marry a man who will build me MY VERY OWN house?! Inside, it has vaulted ceilings and chair rails. In the center of the home, is a cubical foyer – I mean it is a perfect cube. The best part of the house was the Tulip staircase – I’d show you a picture, only photography was forbidden. At the time, tulips were very rare in England but queen Ann loved them and had them planted on her property. The staircase does not have a central support so, as it spirals upwards, each step depends on the previous for support – unbelievable! 

The Queen's House.

Up the hill from the house is the Royal Observatory (it used to be at the Tower of London, but all the birds pooped on the telescope). We hiked up the hill and got an incredible view of London.

 

We looked into the Camera Obscura – a very neat device. You go into this completely dark room and inside is a table on which the scene from outside is reflected. I’m doing a terrible job of describing it. But it was pretty cool.

http://www.nmm.ac.uk/places/royal-observatory/camera-obscura/

 

This is not a painting. It's a reflection!

 

Best part of the day….I straddled the Prime Meridian! That’s right – I was in two places at once!

 

Last summer - the equator. This fall - the prime meridian. Next travel destination – the middle of the Atlantic to tread water at the intersection of the Prime Meridian and the Equator. 

 

The PRIME MERIDIAN.

 

Quintessentially British

I have been living in London for a week now - time certainly does fly. There are so many things that have done and seen in the last week that are just quintessentially British…

• Row houses
• Learning about Monarchs
• Afternoon tea
• Shakespeare at the Globe - although standing as a peasant, not my cup of tea
• Walking a lot (maybe not British, but Londoners are really good at it)
• Beer (well cider) on a bridge – ok again not necessarily British but certainly not acceptable in the States
• The Tower of London
• Fossils in a department store – that’s right, you can see and buy fossils at Harrods
• Simple and direct language

o   Walk = little green man

o   Don’t walk = little red man

o   Exit = way out

o   Assistance = help point

…and much, much more.

Exit from the tube - how easy!

Fossil at Harrod's

Entrance to the Tower of London

Tea at Harrod's

I’ve also had a few encounters with the past. I’m starting to put things together. I’m beginning to understand why our family did things a certain way or why we still do things a certain way. A few fun reminders…

·      Ribena

·      Hula Hoops

·      Jammy Dodgers

·      Library Busses - my mom used to take me to the library bus and I loved it!

Another Piece

Another Piece of the Jigsaw
I like to think of my life as a puzzle. Only when I die, will I know what shape and design my puzzle of my final puzzle. Everyday, every adventure changes my puzzle.
I am in London for 3 months and expect that my puzzle will change drastically, the direction of my life will be forever altered by my time here. I am so excited to share with you my experiences – the good and the bad, my thoughts, and my photos.
For those of you who don’t know – I am the Graduate Assistant for the “London Centre,” a Ball State Study Abroad program. I live with the students (18 undergrads in this case) and serve as the middle man - problem solver extraordinaire.

It’s an adventure!