There's No Place Like London

Last day in London!

Just kidding, I'm not leaving.

Just kidding, I will have to be forcibly removed from the premisses.

Anyway, I had a wonderful last day today. After a beautiful Foy class that I understood 0% of ("Dr. Foy, what is anti-matter? Dr. Foy, what is dark matter? Dr. Foy, make a Star Trek analogy!"), we decided to make the musical pilgrimage to end all pilgrimages...

Abbey Road!

Oh yes, we were those tourists.

Fab Four!

It was worth it. Abbey Road is a magical place.

Writings on the walls outside Abbey Road Studios.

So many people have made the trip out there. I can tell that it's extremely irritating to the drivers that go through that road, but what can you do.

We all need to take a moment to appreciate this dog driving by. Look at it.

After Abbey Road, the Houcks and I split up. They desperately wanted to see the British Library and I really wanted a second go at the Victoria and Albert! They were going to meet me after they had finished their tour, so I decided to give them a chance to catch up by getting myself some afternoon tea at the V&A.

I will not leave. You can't make me leave this place.

After tea, the ETA for the Houcks had arrived, so I headed to the lobby to meet up with them. I got to sit in one of the best chairs ever designed. It was basically a hollowed-out top that would roll 360º with the slightest movement while you were inside. That entertained me for a good 10 minutes or so. However, as the minutes inched by, the Houcks were not arriving, so I ducked in and out of some of the exhibits closest to the lobby until they appeared. We did a run-through of the ball gown exhibit before the staff kicked us out. Now that I have been to the V&A, though, my love for the British Museum has been called into question. The V&A is pretty damn amazing.

To finish our evening, we went out to my favorite Italian restaurant from long ago... Cotto Italian! Gluten free bread, pizza, and a tiramisu. It was all beautiful. We rode the tube for the very last time on the way home... I'll miss London. It still remains my favorite city of all time. I'll be back. Sooner rather than later!

Goodbye, strange London Olympic mascot that I see everywhere!

Packing for Dublin! We'll see how that goes!

Canterbury Tales

We got to wake up ridiculously early yesterday to head out on our long drive to Dover Castle! The countryside we drove through was really beautiful, and entirely green. I kept waiting to see this huge castle come into view at any moment, but it never came. Instead, upon hitting the city limits of Dover, we were engulfed in a massive fog for miles around! I'm sure they piped it in from somewhere for effect. It was like out of a movie! Jokes were exchanged about accidentally driving off the White Cliffs of Dover. But low and behold, emerging from the mist...

Dover Castle!

Once again, due to the unique way that our itinerary is structured, we had to make a mad dash about the castle to see what we wanted. Dr. Facinelli highly encouraged seeing the Secret Wartime Tunnels underneath the castle first, since that takes the longest, and then branch off to see other parts of the castle. We got great views along the way in trying to find the wartime tunnels, and even caught a glimpse of the ocean (people kept trying to see France across the channel. It was a thick fog. You can see the problem with this).

One of the guard outfits and an entrance to the tunnels!

The Secret Wartime Tunnels were utilized in WWII for Operation Dynamo, and the people at Dover tried to re-create this effect by adding some educational videos and audio for us to see as we traversed the tunnels. It was an incredibly cool experience, and we got to see what life would have been like for the soldiers of the time, running deep underground! Luckily, someone glanced at their watch while we were about mid-way through our tour and discovered we were way past our meeting time! At some heckling from Dr. Facinelli, out tour guide wrapped up the tunnels and we sprinted back up the hill to our coach.

The fog! We got to see the exterior of the castle, mostly.

Although the Wartime Tunnels were very exciting to see, I was kind of disappointed that our tour ran over and we couldn't see the rest of the castle. I love architecture, and it would have been wonderful to see a real, live castle! But I got my fill of architecture at our next destination, Canterbury Cathedral!

The gates and the first tower!

We arrived to some gorgeous weather and got some lunch in the square outside the cathedral. Luckily, we were allowed a free-for-all tour of the cathedral on our own, so there was nothing to worry about in terms of seeing what I wanted to see! I'm a sucker for the gothic style, and Canterbury was definitely drool-worthy.

Check that vaulting

The site of Thomas Beckett's gruesome murder and the shrine to him that Henry destroyed

Stained glass!

Edward, the Black Prince's tomb and the altar

Some scenic outside shots in the cloisters!

Overall, a wonderful visit. The area was packed with tourists and the dreaded French teenagers, but we all had a good time. The coach ride home was long, but I got two seats to myself and slept on the bus. The rest of the night was spent finishing our readings and writings, and preparing to pack for our last day in London!

All the World's a Stage

Today was a bit of a change for us! Instead of heading straight to class in the morning, we instead headed off to the famouspiGlobe Theater!

Shakespeare's Globe Theater!

As the program was supposed to go, we should have seen a show at the Globe. However, because of a little thing called the Olympics, the Globe has decided to put on a worldwide celebration of Shakespeare in the form of all of his plays being performed in different languages! And although this is actually a very cool idea (they did Othello in Hip Hop. We're not sure how that works), no one really wanted to see Merchant of Venice performed in Hebrew. So instead, we were given a personalized tour and a mini acting workshop in the Globe!

We were able to watch the performers of the next play, Henry VIII, rehearse in Castilian Spanish. Sitting in the stalls and watching everything play out under a roofless building with no set was actually captivating! The actors were also being playful with each other, since it was only a rehearsal, and we got to laugh at their interactions with the director. Even though we had no idea what anyone was saying.

After the performance, our tour guide (a Globe actor himself) took us into a rehearsal room to give us a workshop on how actors would have rehearsed in Shakespearean times. He gave us all scripts to read and had us practice iambic pentameter. We even got to do the chorus part of Julius Caesar with him giving us cues and stage direction, meaning that I have now acted in the Globe Theater!

The Theater! And "Globe to Globe" is the international theater productions title!

After the Globe we all rushed home to cram in as much Irish history as possible. It's a little difficult to change gears so quickly (especially after the scandal of Henry VIII!) but we did our best on our drowsy afternoon quizzes.

After class, we decided to make the most of our afternoon by hitting up the museums. Olivia wanted to go to the Science Museum, and I definitely wanted to go to the Victoria and Albert. After another infamous direction mishap thanks to yours truly, we finally made it to our destinations with only 45 minutes to spare. The speed run-though of the V&A commenced, and I hit up my most desired locations first!

The entrance, with its token Chihuly glass sculpture/chandelier!

The newest exhibit, the ball gown exhibit! I was able to see all of the dresses historically through the ages. Unfortunately, I couldn't see the expensive designer pieces by all of the greats... You had to pay to get into that one.

Sadly, I only had time for the one exhibit (of course the fashion exhibit was a priority!) but I would love to go back before I have to leave. The V&A is massive and beautiful, and contains more elements of design than I have ever seen in one place. I could easily get obsessed!

I am prepping for our departure on Friday with a late-night load of laundry! Plenty of time to catch up on sleep tomorrow on the bus ride to Canterbury and Dover!

Tower of Terror

Sorry for the untimely post! It has been a busy past two days, and I've been going and  going since yesterday! Yesterday, of course, was our big trip to the Tower of London! You really can't go to London without fitting that in somewhere.

We stopped at the Roman Wall first to squeeze in a quick picture for our group project!

We're so tiny!

And then off to the Tower!

Olivia and I in front of the Tower of London!

We were lucky enough to run into Dr. Facinelli when we got there, who helped us find the proper tour guide so we could be on our way. She prompt disappeared after that, however... All the same, we had a great tour!

Our guide! He actually guarded prisoners at the Tower once upon a time...

The brown horse supposedly belonged to Henry VIII... Poor thing.

The Jubilee Diamond! The Queen will be "lighting the streets" with it, apparently.

I busied myself in the gift shop by finding all of the Henry VIII merchandise, including (but not limited to) the Wives Barbie collection and the Henry + Wives Christmas ornament set (sadly, too expensive to purchase)!

We discovered in the Bloody Tower that everyone except the Royal family admits that Richard killed the princes... There was even a little tribute at the site where the Princes' bodies were found in the White Tower for visitors to see. Every once in a while, some audio would pipe in... "Uncle Richard?"..."Where is my brother?"

The beheading site of only the best of the best

After our various tours of the White and Bloody Towers, we made our way to the main event... The Crown Jewels!

NO PICTURES ALLOWED.

Now, maybe I just couldn't recall it, but I don't remember the Crown Jewels being that much of an... event... No pictures, obviously, and the moving walkway through the crowns was the same, but the hype was out of control! Video screens, new re-vamped lighting, more rooms, it was crazy! I'm sure it was all re-done for the Jubilee (they even have a video on loop of Queen Elizabeth's coronation, which was cool to see), but it was a little wild!

We concluded our visit with the last picture on on London group project list, which was in front of the White Tower!

The girls!

Last-minute picture in front of Tower Bridge!

After being out at the Tower all day, we decided to unwind before approaching our readings on Ireland! So we decided to try some Chinatown "bubble tea" on Olivia's suggestion.

We saw Les Miserables' theater on the way there... So close... Yet so far...

Tea with bubbles of tapioca in it... I can dig it

With a lovely day still ahead of us, Marissa wanted to visit Baker Street, which is home to the London Beatles Store, Sherlock Holmes' abode, and Regent's Park!

Baker Street adventures!

At the last minute, Olivia and I decided to rent some Barklay's bikes and have a ride around Regent's Park! It was beautiful and a really good idea (my idea!)

The bikes!

We finished the evening off by going on a haphazard hunt for fish n' chips... We found some, and apparently, they were excellent! We were all exhausted, though, and quickly found our way home... Needless to say, the readings were not completed on time, and I had to save mine for the next morning!

Can you tell we're tired? Headed home to Courtfield!