Shepherd’s Bush Market and the BBC

Today we went to Shepherd's Bush Market. It was another cold, drizzly day. We all had our umbrellas, so we were prepared. The tube station at Shepherd's Bush is closed for work, so we had to get off a station before and walk, which was no big deal, except the street is under construction as well, and the sidewalk was pretty torn up. We walked through the Shepherd's Bush Market; I finally found a fat curling iron to replace the one I melted, so I was a happy camper. This market reminded me a lot of the flea market at home, but lots of fabric stalls and several meat stalls. I will be so glad to see Publix meat, on Styrofoam trays and wrapped in plastic. We went for lunch at a Lebanese restaurant – I had chicken soup. Everyone seemed to enjoy their food. We did have some baklawa (not baklava – I didn't spell it wrong!) for dessert that was incredible. It was absolutely delicious. The service at this place was incredible, the guy was really going out of his way to make sure we enjoyed out food.

We did find a "Everything's a Pound" store, and I found some really great stuff. I got this really huge bag, because my laundry hamper from the Dollar Tree is down to one handle, so I figured that for a pound, I would get this really big bag to hold my laundry. Well, we ended up shopping a little more that we intended, so I had to stuff all my bags inside the giant bag. When I say "giant," you'd really have to see it to appreciate it. It is monstrous. I bet I could put my niece inside of it. We found this mall, sort of, and there was a store in there that was having a sale. It was so cool outside; I bought a sweatshirt, and another shirt and 14 pairs of socks. It was a really good deal. We also got 10% off, by showing our student ID cards, which was just an extra bonus. There was a grocery store in this mall, so we wandered through there, and bought a few more things.

Our tour at the BBC was at 4:15. We had a wonderful tour, very informative; we actually go to see inside the news room and inside some of the studios. We got to go into this interactive studio, where Jonathan was part of the news and Lindsay, our Graduate Counselor, got to be on a game show. It was pretty cool. We came back, had a fire alarm, and now I'm off to pack for Scotland. The cab is coming to pick us up tomorrow morning at 5:15!!!
By the way, I am not taking my laptop with me to Scotland, so I won't be doing any more posts until I get back late Sunday night. I'm sure I'll have tons of pictures and stuff to share!

Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London and a BAD mood

I started off today, Wednesday in a bad mood. I guess I just got up on the wrong side of the bed or something, but I was in a icky mood. It didn't help when I checked online and realized that Westminster Abbey doesn't allow pictures inside. My dad gave me specific things to find and take a picture of for him – the graves of David Livingstone and William Wilberforce. Now, it's time for a little useless trivia here: David Livingstone's grave (which I did see) contains his body, minus his heart – that is buried in Africa. I never saw William Wilberforce's grave, it will take another trip for that I guess. William Wilberforce is supposedly responsible for slavery being outlawed in England and the movie "Amazing Grace" for which my favorite singer/songwriter in the whole wide world Chris Tomlin wrote an extra bit for the old classic hymn "Amazing Grace." The old hymn was written by John Newton, who had been a slave trader himself. Apparently, John and William were buddies. So, that's enough of the factual but basically useless knowledge, back to Westminster Abbey. We were on a tour and had a time limit I guess, so I feel like we ran through the Abbey like we were on fire. I can't remember hardly anything specific about what we saw, mostly just tourists listening to little headsets. I do remember the stained glass with the broken spot from World War II, which ironically enough, has a quote from Shakespeare, "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers" which serves at a memorial to those pilots of the Royal Air Force, who took part in the Battle of Britain. My dad would have liked to have seen that. We also saw the grave of George Frederic Handel, who is special to my family, as one of my mother's wishes, was that we play "The Hallelujah Chorus" at her funeral. The building itself is magnificent, and history just oozes out everywhere you look. I got scolded a bit by the Blue Badge guide, she thought I was going to sit and she wanted to show us something – I was really just trying to get out of the way. The scolding didn't help my grumpiness at all, let me tell you. I would love to go back again, and get a headset of my own, and get in other people's way and take my time. I think we raced through in about an hour and half – 1000 years of British history in 90 minutes or less. We left the Abbey, rushed through the subway stations and up the street to some boat dock. I can't tell you anything about it, because I needed to use the "necessary room" so badly, I was oblivious to where we were or what we were doing. We were just running in a pack. Finally, we had enough time to take a deep breath, and dear sweet Andrea found a restroom. Then, she bought me a Coke, so after that I was much happier, although I was still confused why we had to hurry so fast, just to wait for half an hour.

Anyway, we took a cruise along the Thames to the Tower of London. There are the most beautiful buildings along the Thames. I don't know what most of them are, or what they are for, but they sure are pretty. On both sides of the boat, just one gorgeous building after another. Most of our group went to the top of the boat, but Andrea and I sat on the bottom, where hardly anybody else was. We had practically the whole bottom deck to ourselves. We opened the windows, and I ran back and forth from side to side taking pictures like a mad woman. I think I took 145 pictures today, without any from Westminster Abbey.

We got to the Tower of London, had time for lunch, and then at 2, began our tour of the Tower of London. We began at the Traitor's Gate, and our guide told us a story of someone (sorry, can't remember who) who was brought in and refused to go in the Traitor's Gate, so she sat on a rock until the tide came in, and then, was probably dragged in. We went inside and saw the ravens. I always thought ravens were just crows, but these are the biggest blackest birds I've ever seen. The story is that as long as there are ravens in the Tower of London, the monarchy is safe, but if the ravens leave. . . Well, they clip their wings so they can't go far. We saw part of the old Roman walls that surrounded the city of London, and then a memorial for people executed inside the tower. Apparently some people where executed outside, in front of a crowd, but some inside. Our guide said that those executed inside were usually people that would cause trouble if the public saw them beheaded. They were mostly women, like Anne Boleyn, (who had 6 fingers on one hand) Catherine Howard, Lady Jane Gray, and others of course. There is a new memorial for those executed inside the Tower; it looks like a ring bearer's pillow. We saw some "Beefeaters" and our guide assured us it's OK to call them that. She explained that to be one of them, someone must have at least 22 years in the military, and 18 of that must be a clean record. There is actually the first female Beefeater, who is Scottish.

We finished our tour by viewing the Crown Jewels, which is nearly enough to knock one's socks off. The monstrous diamonds and all the other "bling" just blow my mind. I bought a book to read about them later. One of the most interesting things is the Coronation or Anointing Spoon, which our guide explained to us, but those poor people who didn't have a guide were making up some really strange stories about the spoon as we walked through. The Coronation Spoon is filled with oil, and the hands, head and chest of the new monarch are touched by the spoon, which symbolizes anointing with oil. The people behind me thought it was for breakfast or "royal oatmeal." They believe the spoon to be from the 12^th century.

One thing that has really amazed me is how old everything is. For example, the Study Centre building is a 17^th century building. We saw a tree in Oxford that was planted in 1801. In the US, our definition of old and the definition of old over here, are completely, totally different. I feel like I'm being steeped in history.

Today was Wednesday, so we had our American dinner prepared by Dr. E. Tonight's menu was meatloaf, with mashed potatoes, and green beans. It was delicious. We tried "Brown Sauce" which is kind of a combination of gravy, and barbeque sauce. The meatloaf made me feel better. By the time we got back from the Tower of London and had dinner, I was in a much better mood. Now, I'm going to bed, because tomorrow, we're going to the British Library, to Shepherd's Bush Market and then we're touring the BBC. Then, early Friday morning, we're off to Scotland!

A Fabulously Wicked Day

Today was a marvelous, wonderful day. We had so much fun. We explored Kensington Gardens, which had to be explained to me three times, is one section of Hyde Park. We began in the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground. This is a fantastic playground, but to be allowed in, you must have a child with you. We had to start here, because they were letting us in early, and we ran around like we were children. It is sort of a Peter Pan themed playground, with a pirate ship, a watery section just made for mermaids, and teepees for pretending to be Tiger Lily. The water section wasn't turned on yet, and one woman who worked there kept laughing at us, but we didn't care. We had a grand time. There were all sorts of secret places to explore. I found a treasure chest, and this gorgeous bench with ladybugs, and dragon flies and all sorts of cute insects carved into it. It was weird, because the people working there had to explain to some parents why we got to go in early. We had to leave when the park really opened, since we had no children, except ourselves, and it was sort of pitiful to look at the children and parents waiting outside the fence to get in. We left that part of the park, walking past the children and parents waiting to get in, and made our way through other parts of the park. Our goal was the Peter Pan statue, but we got distracted. Our photography focus today was using water in our shots, so everyplace we saw water, we were experimenting. We stopped at Round Pond, and watched the swans, watched people play with their dogs, watched little kids and their moms or dads or both. It was just a great relaxing, fun day. We walked on to the Peter Pan statue, took a group picture, (our second of the day, after the pirate ship!) and just moseyed on. We watched the fountains, and more swans, and kept practicing our water shots. I learned a lot about my camera today. We walked on around, and ended up at the Hard Rock Café for lunch. We were extremely excited, as the Hard Rock has free refills, which most places in London don't. That was extremely cool. We went back to the Serpentine, which is a manmade lake that has pedal boats and rowboats for rent. Most of our class decided not to do it, but Jessica and Jodi took a rowboat and Dr E and I attempted a pedal boat. Dr. E is a much better "pedal-ar" than I am, and after a few mishaps, including running into the fence around a duck island, and running around, we manage to pedal our way all over one section of the lake. She steered and I just pedaled. When we finally got back ashore, my legs felt like limp noodles. I was afraid I couldn't walk but I managed. After that, we went to the Diana Memorial Fountain, which is not like any fountain I've ever seen before. It looks sort of like a lazy river, with water flowing from top to bottom. People were soaking their feet in it, and wading around. I just took pictures of the people and the flowers. We left there and went to the Royal Albert Hall. Earlier in the day, we had seen this golden colored spire sticking up through the trees and didn't quite know what it was; we just thought it looked pretty. Well, we realized later what is was – it was the monument that Queen Victoria had built for Prince Albert. Someone told me that the people of England weren't too happy with it, that they thought it was a bit too much – after all, he was just the husband of the queen. (That's what I heard – not necessarily what I believe!) According to Wikipedia, it was finished in 1874 and cost 
120,000. Not being even remotely mathematical, I can't even guess what that would be equivalent to today. I think it's beautiful, but it may be a bit much. We went into Royal Albert Hall, and were going to take a tour, but we all were pretty tired and were feeling kind of hot and icky. We would have had to wait for the next tour, so we just headed back. We ended up taking the bus, instead of the tube and it took forever. We got back finally, and we all took showers and got dressed to go see "Wicked." I have wanted to see "Wicked" ever since last October, when we got to go to the AASL conference in Reno. I was reading the book on the plane and a seatmate noticed the book – it's kind of hard to miss with the green pages, and began telling my friend Connie and I how much he loved it. He even pulled out his iPod and played some songs for me from the soundtrack. As soon as I got home I put the soundtrack on my Amazon.com wish list, but I bought one tonight, so I can take it off the wish list. I tried to go see the play in Orlando at home, and just couldn't work my schedule out to get there. I was so excited and I think I must say for the first time ever in my life, I enjoyed the play more than the book. I liked the book, but there was lots of political stuff in the book that kind of confused me. I tremendously enjoyed the play. When she sang "Defying Gravity" I wanted to fly myself! I know this has turned into a really long post, but there is one more thing I want to share. A really strange thing happened today. Of course during the course of the day, I had to find the restroom in the park. One of our last visits, I was still in the stall and I heard this awful noise. Now, I live in Florida, I know what a bug zapper sounds like, I just didn't expect to hear a bug zapper in the bathroom. I yelped, afraid that my professor or one of my class mates had just been electrocuted in the loo! Now, that would have been an awful thing to blog about, wouldn't it? I was afraid to use the hand dryer, I left with wet hands. My other classmates laughed at me for being so worried. I still just think the bug zapper thing is the bathroom is just weird. So, I am pretty tired now, and need a little something to eat. Tomorrow, we're going to Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London. I'll probably take another hundred pictures tomorrow. That seems to be about average for me – 100 pictures a day. My family is going to have a GREAT time looking at all of those when I get home. I'll post some here to save them at least an hour of pictures!

Never on Saturday, no matter where you are

Well, today I learned something that appears to be a life lesson. I'm going to share that lesson with you. Here is the lesson – no matter what part of the world you live in, DO NOT, if you can avoid it, go to Wal-Mart on Saturday. Today, we ventured out to ASDA, which is part of the "Wal-Mart family." Now, I know good and well for my own sanity, the value of skipping Wal-Mart on Saturday and going to Publix or anywhere else. Well, the same is true of ASDA. We had to ride the tube to get there; it took us about 20 minutes. No problem, right? We went into the store, barely made it out in one piece, and headed back to the tube stop to come back home. Imagine our surprise when we hear, over the loudspeaker at the tube stop "We apologize for the inconvenience and the delay, but there is a body under the train at Queensway, so the stations from Holborne to White City are closed." In case you don't believe me, here is the exact quote from the Transport for London website at http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/livetravelnews/realtime/tube/tube-central-now.html. It says: "CENTRAL LINE: Suspended between White City and Marble Arch due to a person under a train at Queensway. Severe delays are occurring on the rest of the line." They just kept repeating the same message over and over again. It took us about 45 minutes to get back.

Here's what I don't know – did the person fall under the train? Did the person throw his or her self under the train? Were they pushed under the train? I don't know. But I do know that somewhere, someone's family is going to be grieving, and a train driver is probably not feeling so great right now. In perspective, maybe ASDA on Saturday really isn't so bad after all.

A pilgrimage, of sorts. . .

Caution: This is an odd post!!! Read on at your own risk.

On Friday, July 11, Linda and I took a day trip (and wow, we really took the whole day!) to Oxford. We rode the tube, and a train, and buses all in one day. For this post, I'm kind of going to skip over the Oxford part, and get to the other part. We rode a hop on, hop off sightseeing bus, and took part of the route around Oxford. We got off near Magdalen College and wandered in. Magdalen College was originally founded in 1448. It counts among its alumni, Oscar Wilde, Dudley Moore, nine Nobel Prize winners, and most importantly to me, CS Lewis. Again, Magdalen (which is pronounced "maudlin" for some strange reason) will probably be another post, all by itself, but we're moving on to CS Lewis. I need to start by saying this: My faith, and my relationship with God, is a huge part of my life. My father is a pastor, I've gone to church my entire life, I was born on a Wednesday and was taken to church on Sunday and never missed hardly any since then. There are so many parts of the "Chronicles of Narnia" that crystallized and solidified issues of my faith. There are so many specific examples in the books of pictures that illustrate key pieces of what I believe about God, and faith. So, having said all that, yesterday Linda and I went to "The Kilns" which is the house that CS Lewis lived in for years, and most likely, the house where he wrote "The Chronicles of Narnia." This simple house became the home of evacuated children from London during World War II, and one of those children asked him what was behind the wardrobe. It took nine years, but eventually, his wardrobe introduced us to another world. Yesterday, we walked right up to The Kilns, knocked on the door and were invited in. We had made arrangements ahead of time, anybody can't just walk right in, but we sat in a study surrounded by books and pictures and right behind us to the left, a statue of Aslan, across from us, a framed map of Narnia. I can't even tell you how I felt because I'm not sure I know the words to explain it. We were interviewed, sort of, about our interest in CS Lewis, and then given a tour. Every room has its own feelings, and its own feeling. Again, I can't explain it – the whole experience was completely emotional and I was entirely drained when we got back onto the train. We also traipsed over the road, up the hill and down a hill to Holy Trinity Parish Church, where CS Lewis is buried and there is a Narnia window. The church was locked, we couldn't get in, but I saw the window from the outside. We did follow the small, discrete sign to see his grave. I know that this blog kind of rambles on and is not at all what I felt, but I can't say it. Linda worked on her blog all morning, and hers is probably much better than mine but even she was having a hard time saying what she felt.

A Magical Mystery Tour and some Royal Horses

Today was a busy, busy day. We started with the Royal Horse Guards Parade. We went, as a class, down past Trafalgar Square, to the Royal Horse Guards Parade Ground, and watched the Royal Horse Guards parade around. For our photography focus, we were supposed to work on action shots, on showing movement, mine didn't work out so well. Mine either look blurry, or you can't tell anything's supposed to be moving at all. I'll work on that again tomorrow. One thing I thought was funny was the sign that warns that the horses may bite or kick. That made me a little nervous, I must say. The guards don't move and don't talk to you, unless you do something you shouldn't, like walk too far under the arch, and then they can tell you to move where you're supposed to be. Of course, how would I know that???? One poor little guy rolled his eyes as if to say "Tourists" however, whenever Jessica and Julia from my class stood next to him, he didn't roll his eyes. We thought he needed a little treat from the other groups he had just been photographed with; we gave him two attractive young ladies instead. The parade involved a lot of the guards sitting perfectly still, while the horses, of course didn't. The horse closest to me was having some sort of tongue issue, and then I decided he was an ADD horse, if there is such a thing. He was having a very hard time standing still.

After the Horse Guard Parade, and lunch, we went on a Beatles Magical Mystery Tour. We had our own special guide, who is a Beatles expert. Now, what I know about the Beatles could probably fit into a tea cup, with room left over for tea, but it was incredibly informative and I realized I knew more than I thought I did. He showed us the office for McCartney Productions Ltd., which apparently owns the rights to all kinds of music, including songs from Buddy Holly, and some musicals. We also walked past the Palladium Theater, which according to our guide is where "Beatle-Mania" really began. Now, "The Sound of Music" is playing there. We walked past the studio where "Hey Jude" was recorded and the club where Paul McCartney met his wife Linda for the first time. We actually stopped in an exhibit of Linda McCartney's photos, and they were amazing. We went on to Abbey Road, where the Abbey Road recording studio is located. We actually ran across the same crossing zone where the Beatles famous album cover was photographed. We ran across more than one time trying to get some good pictures. I actually knew Abbey Road, because one of my favorite musicians, Steven Curtis Chapman, has some "Abbey Road Sessions" and even his album has a crosswalk on it. Apparently, the crosswalk is one of the most famous places in all of London, and all sort of groups, and people come and pose in the crosswalk. There is even a live web-cam that shows the crosswalk – here's the link: http://www.abbeyroad.co.uk/visit/

If you'd been looking at the right time, you'd have seen us making multiple trips across the crosswalk. Mr. Everhart took a group picture of us sitting on the steps of the Abbey Road Studios. He had a plan, he got us ready, organized, marched us in there and took the pictures and marched us out. All in all, it was a busy day, entertaining, yet informative. I'm attaching a slide show of pictures.

Stratford, July 8

Tuesday was an interesting day. We had to get up early, because the coach for our day trip to Stratford was leaving at 8:30 SHARP! I ate a crumpet for breakfast – I thought it was the real version of what we call an English muffin – not quite! Then, off to the bus, well, coach. We decided to get in the coach with Brian, the Blue Badge guide who did our walking tour of Bloomsbury. He is fantastic! We were off through the London traffic to get to the M40, to go to Stratford. On the way, we saw a poor guy on a bicycle or motorcycle, who'd had a meeting with a taxi – the taxi won! We decided we thought his leg was broken. Yuck! The trip ended up taking about 2 and ½ hours. We stopped once at a "Services" area, and I knew as soon as we stepped it, this was NOT the Okahumpka Service Plaza on the Florida Turnpike. We walked over a bridge, with fountains, and fish swimming around. I wanted to take pictures but it was raining. On the inside it looked more like a typical service plaza, but it was extraordinary outside. We left the big road and took some winding little country roads. It was beautiful outside. We saw sheep lying in the green fields. As we got closer and closer to Stratford, I found myself feeling a little queasy. I haven't been carsick in years, but I was yesterday. By the time we got to Anne Hathaway's cottage, I was not in the best shape. I took the tour through her cottage sort of at a running pace, feeling very nauseous. The gardens outside were lovely, and I had a million questions about the thatched roof, but was afraid to open my mouth too much. We got back on the coach (much to my stomach's discomfort) and went into town. We were running a bit behind, so we all rushed into "The Birthplace. " The people say it like that, like it's all in capital letters. We took the tour through the exhibit, and then into the actual house where Shakespeare apparently was born. The whole experience was a little surreal. It was kind of like Shakespeare meets Disney World. They even have sounds and smells. Maybe it just seemed weird to me, because I felt like I was going to be sick, but as I write this on Wednesday morning, it all still seems rather odd. My wonderful flat mates saved me - Linda, found a Sprite for me, which helped tremendously and Katherine gave me some pretzels, hoping that would help, and it did. It was a rough day. Finally, after walking around off the bus for about an hour, I was feeling MUCH better, so Katherine and I found someplace to eat – it was about 2:30. I just had soup and some bread, but we sat upstairs in this little café and watched people on the street below. Then, this trio of people came up for tea. Eavesdropping a bit on their conversation, we realized they had an appointment somewhere and were just passing the time until their appointment. There were two men and a lady, and I found myself wondering what their story was. I finally got brave enough to ask them if I could take their picture, and they graciously said yes. They asked us where were from in the States, how long we were here, and where we were staying. I would have loved to have asked them a million questions, too, but we had to get back to the bus. On the way back I sat in the inside seat, instead of the window seat, and tried to only look out the front window and not the side window. Dr E gave me a motion sickness pill, so between the seat change and the pill, I made it back without hurling!