Eye Spy

Well today was a pretty exciting day. I crossed off three things that I really wanted to do before I left London. Those being the London Eye, the National Portrait Gallery, and a big time musical. Yup, I was a busy person.

So I woke up and did my usual routine of breakfast down in the warm computer lab which always makes me feel bad about being there. So I left and decided to go ride the London Eye. That's the big ferris wheel right on the Thames across from Big Ben. It was built in 2000 and is about 400 ft. tall. It's the tallest observation wheel in the world. It was partly cloudy but still sunny when I left so I thought it was a good idea to do it. Um, actually, it wasn't really. I took the bus over to Trafalgar and then walked across the Jubilee Bridge (picture 1). Outside the Eye, there were a bunch of street performers. They were pretty funny (mostly real-life statue people). I bought my ticket. Then I waited in line to get in my capsule. The wheel actually never stops moving (except for wheelchairs) so it's fun to watch people try and get on. The little kids love it. So as I was waiting in line, I saw a dark cloud on the horizon. Bad news. As soon as I got in the capsule, it started down pouring. :-( That is not good because the capsules have glass all around them and the rain drops just sort of stay on the glass. Thus, just about all of my pictures didn't turn out (except for picture 2 which I thought was pretty good). Which stinks, a lot. But at the same time, that isn't really that important to me. Sure, the ticket was pretty expensive but doing the Eye was something really important to me so just riding it and saying that I did it was nice. Plus watching the other people in the capsule was funny (picture 3). There was one little kid who kept talking about Superman. His dad was getting quite frustrated but couldn't really show it. Plus, the pictures didn't turn out but I could still see. It was awesome to see all the neighborhoods and areas of London that I have walked around. I have seen a lot! So I still think it was a good idea to do it but it could have been better.

After the Eye, I walked back over to the TKTS booth in Leicester Square (picture 4) and debated buying a ticket for a musical. Eventually I just gave in and bought one for The Lord of the Rings. It is a stage adaptation of my favorite books and movies. Granted I thought it was going to be interesting to see how they turned over 1000 pages or 10 hours of movie into a 3 hour musical, but I still wanted to see it. So I bought my ticket and found myself in the same predicament as the day before. I had a bunch of time to waste before the show started. So I went to the National Portrait Gallery.

The National Portrait Gallery is located next to the National Gallery. As the name suggests, it is THE place to see paintings of English people. The layout is totally chronological from the Tudors (Henry VIII) to the present. It was like a giant chronology of England. There was an info board in each room detailing what the room was about and who the people in the room were. I did have a few favorite portraits in the collection.My favorite, favorite portrait was of Dame Anna Neagle by McClelland Barclay (picture 5). She looks very beautiful in the portrait. The blue in the background and the gold of her dress match wonderfully. This was a favorite pin-up of the soldiers during WWII (it was painted in 1940). Another one of my favorites was of Edward Carpenter by Roger Fry (picture 6). Edward Carpenter was a socialist writer of the late 1800s and early 1900s. He wore sandals a lot and was gay and quite open about it which was odd at the time. I like the painting because Carpenter looks so so cool in it. I had a few other ones I liked like one of Princess Di and a photo of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

After the NPG, I sat in Leicester Square and read. My butt got sore from the crappy benches so I walked over to Stanford's again (picture 7). I went upstairs by where the Greece and Turkey books are and read some of them. I sat on a window sill with the window open and the sun shining (yeah, it was sunny all day other than when I was on the Eye). It was wonderful. On a separate piece of paper I wrote any tips that the books had because I don't want to buy the books. A woman was standing by me and said she used to do that too. We got to talking. She was going to go walking (long distance hiking) on Crete with her husband. She said that she has met a ton of Americans while she travels. They always list like 5 countries they are going to. She thinks that that is the wrong way to travel. She also told me that one of her favorite places is southwestern France (Toulouse, Pyrenees, etc.). Then she left. I left shortly thereafter and walked over to Covent Garden Market and watched some street performer until it was time to go to the theatre.

So I saw The Lord of the Rings musical at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane (picture 8). I thought it was a visual spectacle. By that I mean the singing was ok (Galadriel was fantastic), the story was ok (not nearly as good as the books or movies) but the set and costumes and visual effects were incredible. They had a stage that turned in a circle but there were about 10 different elements in that circle that turned that could go up and down individually. They had cirque du soleil type rope acrobats. There were some big choreographed music numbers. The cast was over 50 people. There was a wind turbine, smoke machine, leafs falling from the sky above the crowd, insane light effects, incredible costumes, a giant spider, and a bunch of other stuff. All those elements added up to an absolutely incredible experience for the senses. My one big beef was that Frodo's voice was nasally and insanely annoying. Other than that, I thought it was great and I was really glad I went to it.

After the show got done, I walked to the bus and on the way, bought some pasta salad stuff from Tesco for dinner (I had only really eaten around 11 am). I rode the bus back and ate my pasta salad in my flat. Then I went to bed. I had a lot of fun today even though it was kind of expensive. 5 days to Paris! Two weeks to Istanbul! AHHH!!

Bye!

It's A Great Day To Be Alive

As I have said, the past few days I have just sat around in the computer lab or had class so they were pretty boring. Today was not boring. I had a lot of fun today just walking around two neighborhoods of London. These walks (and most of the walks that I have done and will continue to do) are from the Eyewitness London book I stole, ahem borrowed, from the the common room where I live.

I woke up kind of late and got ready to go. I didn't mention this before and maybe I shouldn't now, it might create a commotion or something but I thought about growing a beard or something. I didn't actually go through with it. I shaved the neck part to see what it looked like. I kind of liked it actually but I wasn't ready for it yet. Some day I will have one though. Anyway, I was kind of on the fence of where to go but I decided to walk around Covent Garden and then Holborn. Both are located west of where I live. They are the areas between Trafalgar Square and St. Paul's Cathedral. They are right next to each other geographically but are worlds apart historically.

I started to walk the well-trodden path along Hyde Park, Green Park, and St. James's Park to get to Trafalgar Square but I was slowed down by a couple things. First, there was a parade of soldiers marching with either an insturment or a gun back from Buckingham Palace to another building just a couple blocks away (picture 1). They go to Buckingham for the changing of the guard. I walked alongside them for a little bit. Then I saw that a bunch of flowers were in bloom so I took a couple pictures. One of them,(picture 2) is just absolutely amazing if I do say so myself. I truly love this picture. After those distractions, I made my way to Trafalgar Square and on to Covent Garden.

Covent Garden used to be, well a covent garden for Westminster Abbey to get its vegetables from, then it was London's first square (designed by Inigo Jones), then it was worn out warehouses and streets. Now it is a stylish place to shop and just walk around in. I started off at the Central Market and Piazza. It's a covered mall type thing that has stylish shops and stuff inside (picture 3). Near one end of it is St. Paul's Church. You don't enter on this side though. There were a bunch of people standing around watching a street performer. He balanced stuff on his chin and hand-stand walked over 4 people. It was pretty impressive I must say. I walked into St. Paul's Church by going in the designed back door. Inigio Jones designed it and wanted people to enter from the West which is unorthodox so they made him switch the door around. He still designed the big entrance on the side facing the Piazza, just without a door (picture 4). I walked around some streets with little shops and cafes. My next big stop was Stanford's (picture 5). It was established in 1852 and is the largest map and guide retalier in the world. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Honestly, I could spend a whole day in there if there was better seating (there isn't any, probably for the exact reason I just said). There were TONS and TONS of guide books. I didn't even know where to start. I only spent about a half hour in there. It's too bad I am broke and can't really afford to buy anything.

Next I past St. Martin's Theatre which has the longest running play in the world called The Mousetrap. Near there, is the Seven Dials. It's an intersection that has seven streets converge at it. At the center of it is a column with seven sun dials on the top. Pretty cool. Then I walked on Neal's Street and Neal's Yard which has shops along it. Specialty stores and just clothing stores abound here. I have noticed that there are so a lot of places to shop in London. Notting Hill, Camden Town, High Kensington, Oxford Street, Neal's Yard, the list could go on forever. It's a good thing I don't like it that much and don't have the money for it. Neal's Street is still cool because all the building used to be warehouses and grungy homes which you can still kind of tell but in a good way. There was also an areacalled Thomas Neal's which is a small indoor mall built in a courtyard. I walked to the Royal Opera House next (picture 6). It was rebuilt in the 1850's after a fire. Just about every famous dancer or opera-ist (I don't know what you call them) has performed here. The building is really cool looking and I liked the ballet statue in front of it. From the Opera House I ended my walk of Covent Garden. I walked out to The Strand walked along it just a few blocks to the next neighborhood, Holborn.

Holborn is the traditional home of the legal and journalism sectors. The journalism people left in the 80's but the law is still here. The main body of the law is the Royal Courts of Justice which is where all big civil cases take place (the criminal ones take place at the Old Bailey I believe). Totally neo-gothic building with lots of sharp points and tall windows and such. Just a super imposing thing to look at. From there, I walked along The Strand to the Twinings store. This store has been in operation since 1705. Twinings is a type of tea for those that don't know. It's the tea I drink here. From there, I walked to Temple. I had been here (and the Royal Courts of Justice for that matter) before when Vanessa and I walked along The Strand. It's still really cool. It was built by the Knights Templar in the 13th Century. There are the same stone effygies of the knights inside the church (picture 7). The area around Temple has tons of Law Offices. There was a little square right by the church where I ate lunch (picture 8). Incredibly peaceful and very pretty. While I was eating, I was thinking of all the cool places I have eaten lunch since I got here. It would be fun to make a little collage or just organize my pictures in that way when I get home. I could do a grouping of churches or of my favorite pictures or whatever too. I am getting a little ahead of myself by talking about getting home though.

From there, I walked past the Law Society. I don't know much about the building or what's inside but out in front of it along the railing are a bunch of gold lions. I thought they were really cool looking with the black railing underneath them and the gray building behind. They definitely stood out (picture 9). I continued walking to another area called Lincoln's Inn. This area is one of the best preserved Inn's of Court or so I hear. An Inn of Court is where people study law I think. I don't even really know. All I know is that there were some just amazing flowers there (picture 10) and I really liked the main building of the complex (picture 11). I went to the church but it wasn't open which was too bad. I just meandered around the area and took some more pictures. It was really cloudy but it didn't dampen my mood. I felt much better after seeing the all the flowers and just being outside and walking around.

My last stop was the Sir John Soane's Museum (picture 12). It is three houses in a row that the architect owned. He collected a ton of art through the years and when he died, he said he would turn it all over to the state on one condition. Nothing be moved after he died. The promise was kept and now its the museum. This is probably my favorite museum I have been to so far here in London. I know that that is saying something considering the multitude I have visited but its true. I liked it a lot. There are almost no electric lights in it. There a bunch of sky lights. One of the workers there told me to come back on a sunny day because it is much better. Ins bottom in sculptures or paintings. The Painting Room actually has walls that swing open so that more could be hung out. So amazing. Like I said, I really liked it. Right outside of it is Lincoln's Inn Fields which is now a park but uide the house are tons and tons of art. Some rooms have been left exactly the same way since Soane died in 1830. Others have been covered from top tosed to be a public execution spot. Lots of people died there.

From the museum I made my way back to the flats. I had a little snack and went off to the Royal College of Music. The Orchestra is pretty big and was fantastic (picture 13). The person who conducted the first piece, an avant-garde (meaning completely weird) piece, had just gotten his master's degree. The guy who directed the next two pieces was older and very famous. The second piece was a piano concerto. The guy who played the piano played it completely by heart. Phil said it was one of the toughest pieces of piano music out there and this guy was only 26!!! Holy crap. Lastly, they played The Planets which was just stupendous and awesome and so well done. I talked to Phil before the concert started and he told me that two of his sons live in Vale. One is traveled Central America a lot and is now going to India in this summer. The other has hiked the Appalachian Trail and is planning on hiking the Continental Divide trail. They are my heroes. That is just so cool, seriously.

Today was one of my best days here (which is saying something) I had a ton of fun taking pictures and walking around two interesting and different neighborhoods. The concert was phenomenal. Just a great day to be alive (a Travis Tritt song for those who don't know). I hope you all had a great day too!

Bon soir!