In London They Have Bank Holidays...

HI!

Yesterday was Monday, and it was a Bank Holiday...that's something the Brits do. Not sure why, but it meant that we had TWO DAYS off of school instead of our usual Sunday.
Tyler (from home) was in town this weekend so I saw him. On Saturday we walked like 10 miles...not exaggerating at all.

We started at my place, walked down Regent Street, to Trafalgar Square all the way to Buckingham Palace, then to Parliament Square, across Westminster Bridge, all along the Southbank to the Globe, across Millenium Bridge, back to Trafalgar Square, then to Leicester Square, all the way down Oxford Street, then we ended up here ---



221b Baker Street.
Home of good old Sherlock Holmes.
I had a major fangirl moment because...Benedict Cumberbatch.

So moral of the story...we walked A TON.

Sunday was AWESOME because we went to Harrods to have afternoon tea. At the Disney Cafe. It didn't even matter that we are all adults. No one is ever too old for tea at the Disney Cafe.

It was a BEAUTIFUL weekend, so we finished off our Bank Holiday with Regents Park.
Amazing. So many dogs. So many little children. It was literally gorgeous.

Tonight, a couple of us took another trip to Shakespeare's Globe to see Midsummer Night's Dream. Aside from the incredibly tall human being (I didn't even reach his shoulders) sometimes blocking my view, the show was so, so good. London has given me a very new opinion of Shakespeare.  AND IT DIDNT RAIN ON US! 

And that, my friends, has been my past couple of days here in London!

Navigating the Underground.

It's been two and a half weeks and I have hit a new milestone: NAVIGATING THE UNDERGROUND BY MYSELF.
Up until last night I have been quite the public transportation follower. But last night no one wanted to accompany me to the play Gutted at the Royal Stratford East Theatre and so I was forced to figure it out on my own...and I did it with only minor mistakes. I was super impressed with myself.
I also made friends with a baby on the tube. She was really sad when she had to leave and I couldn't go with.

ANYWAY, last night I went to see my first non West End show. Technically it is considered off-West End. However it was SO far away from West End theatre that I just want to call it fringe.
The play was called Gutted. It was incredibly intense and experimental in many ways. Basically it's about a dysfunctional family...and when I say dysfunctional, I mean it --- think incest.
FABULOUS.
I laughed. I cried. Intense.

Today we got a tour of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. It was nice to get a better view of the stage since my last view was of the column in front of me. The crew was in transition mode after closing The Tempest last night and opening Midsummer Night's Dream tonight, which I always find interesting to see. So that was all very exciting. 



And tonight a couple of us went to see Spamalot at the Playhouse Theatre in the West End. So interesting...SO different from the three times I've seen it in the US. They changed the lyrics of 'you can't succeed on Broadway if you don't have any Jews' to 'you can't succeed in the West End if you haven't got a star'...I have to say I wasn't a big fan of that.
The whole production was very cartoonish, and instead of the big, traditional foot of God descending from the sky like I've seen in past productions, there was a projection of Eric Idle dressed as God...
SO FUNNY but also really kind of weird.
I'm not sure how I feel about it.
But I mean...it's Monty Python. It's Spamalot. These things NEVER get old for me and I was amazed that I still remembered all of the lyrics (except for the ones they changed...SHAMEFUL).
Monty Python can do no wrong for me, so yes, I enjoyed myself.
I also FINALLY got ice cream at the interval. That's a thing here in London...not entirely sure why it's a thing, but I won't complain. It was a good time.

cheerio

Helen Mirren and Other Celebrity Sightings

Here's a fun update of what I have recently been up to:

Yesterday our group went on a tour of the National Theatre. I'm convinced we did this because they tried to get us tickets to a show at the National but couldn't...so this was the next best thing. It was cool. The theatres are ugly, but hey it was built in the seventies. We got the inside scoop on how they change from one show to the next so quickly and we went backstage and looked at props and such. It was all VERY exciting. 

TODAY after class a couple of us went to Leicester Square to get food since we were seing The Audience tonight in the West End. While we were making our way to the theatre from the restaurant we noticed a massive crowd in the square...so naturally we went to check it out. It just happened to be the London premier of the Hangover Part III. Of course there was a HUGE crowd around and we couldn't see much, but I got this really great picture of Zach Galifianakis doing an interview...

If you like...squint a lot you can make out his face. I promise...he was there. As was Ed Helms and Bradley Cooper and the other members of the Hangover cast. And other people that are famous I guess that were attending the premier.

I wish I could say that this was my picture of Bradley Cooper. Unfortunately it's not. We swear that one of the kids in our dialogue group is a ninja because how else does he get a shot like this? He must have ninja-ed his way through the crowd.
So I'll just pretend that I was this close to him.
Whatever...either way I was in the same vicinity as Bradley Cooper. I'm pleased.

Then we decided we should probably make our way to the theatre.
The Audience was a show about the Queen and her weekly 'audiences' with the Prime Minister.
Mostly it humanized the Queen which I appreciated immensely.
Also, Helen Mirren.
She literally thinks she's the Queen...and honestly, I'm okay with that. She can pretend she's the Queen all she wants because the woman is FIERCE.
She changed from old queen to young queen right before our eyes, with people changing her wig and dresses right on stage but she didn't miss a SINGLE beat.

Wait...not only did I breathe the same air as the Hangover III cast and Helen Mirren...but Eddie Redmayne was in The Audience audience (lol) tonight. So yeah, I breathed the same air as Eddie Redmayne. It's casual. No big deal. Except I actually FREAKED OUT when I realized this. I required some deep breathing exercises to collect myself. Not even exaggerating.

SO many, many celebrity sightings today. Overall...lovely.

Recent Things.

Hello!

Since yesterday was Sunday it was our day off! That meant more touristy things. So, we went to the Tower of London. I was told that this was a tower where they executed people back in the day. That wasn't exactly what it ended up being...it was actually a royal palace. It was cool to see some historical stuff and so much of the architecture was beautiful.
There was a torture chamber with some really grody torture inventions, as well as bedrooms and royal chambers and cases with all of the weapons and armor and such.




There was also an EPIC view of the iconic Tower Bridge.










We also saw these guys with the funny hair.

Fun fact: there are seven ravens walking the grounds of the Tower of London. Legend has it that if one flies away, the tower and the whole monarchy will fall down. So the beefeaters (the guy in the funny uniform in the picture on the right) clip their wings so they can't fly away. This is a picture of the beefeater feeding the raven a lamb heart. Revolting. Things I have discovered - ravens are MASSIVE birds. They also don't really chirp like normal birds...it was more of a bark. You may think he's cute,
but I assure you he's not.
Scary stuff.
Straight out of Edgar Allen Poe.

 This is a dragon in the Tower of London. His name is Keeper apparently. It represents a bunch of British institutions...like military, government, monarch...and it's protecting jewels. I thought he was cool.

So that was my Sunday afternoon! At night we went to see The Great Gatsby at the Vue Cinema in Leceister Square. I know you're probably thinking that I can do that in America...and I can. However, it was a nice Sunday night activity. No regrets.


Tonight I went to see Les Miserables at the Queen Theatre in the West End. I had a pretty annoying restricted view as you can see below. But it didn't matter because I just wanted to hear the pretty voices. And hear the pretty voices I did. SO INCREDIBLE. Jean Valjean was the most amazing voice I have heard in a long time. I'm very pleased.

And that has been my past few days!

Shakespeare, Sondheim, and Stuff

Yesterday we went to see The Tempest at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.
First, however, we had class - a lecture from Bill Barclay, the music director for the Globe. He was actually an amazing person...between his casual mention of a friendship with John Krasinski and his say YES to literally everything attitude I was completely enthralled by his presence. Apparently our professor Antonio was his voice teacher once upon a time and he has worked a lot as an actor and musician and everything else art related in the Boston area, so we had that connection with him. He talked a lot about pursuing what you're passionate about and putting your face out there which was inspiring, especially because he has made something of his life in the arts. He also is a graduate of Vassar...which made me laugh since that was my top choice long ago.
This is his website...http://www.shakespearealoud.com
He's literally fascinating. Check it out.

ANYWAYS. We then went to see The Tempest.


This is me at the Globe. We were groundlings which makes it sound like we were unfortunate peasants for the night, but really it just meant we were standing. And freezing. And susceptible to the possibility of the sky opening up with rain. LUCKILY, the unreliable London weather held out on us and we didn't get poured on. So that was a plus! However, there was a column right in front of me that made it very difficult to see what was happening. (The dreaded column is in the picture below...)

Restricted views, three hours of standing, and freezing cold weather aside, the production was fabulous.
I wouldn't call myself a Shakespeare buff since I have only read a few plays and I find it difficult to understand...but this production really made me appreciate dear William.
It was the type of play where the actors looked like they were having such a great time onstage that I wanted to join in...which for me is the basis of great acting.
The physicality was extraordinary - the actors were so light on their feet and constantly jumping, climbing, falling. It was amazing to watch. It really was pure, honest Shakespeare without the frills of tech and commercial entities. SO COOL.
Also, the actor playing Ariel was Colin Morgan...yeah, you probably have no clue who that is, but he plays Merlin in the BBC series over here.

(This guy...Colin Morgan).
And Prospero was played by Roger Allum...another pretty famous British actor over in these parts. He was also fabulous. The actor playing Caliban was the other stand out for me. He probably had seven pounds (actual pounds, not the British currency) of latex burns on his body, but he totally worked it. He also interacted with the audience constantly, and even slapped my friend standing next to me on the face three times...probably the highlight of the whole night for my group.

After the show a couple of us were walking home and we saw Bill (Bill Barclay...the guy I talked about earlier) and HE WAVED TO US. So naturally we felt like we were pretty popular. And then we went home and to bed because...we had just stood for three hours straight.


Today in between classes a couple of us took the bus over to King's Cross Station to check out the famous Platform 9 and 3/4...from Harry Potter.
Basically what this is, is a brick wall with a sign that says Platform 9 3/4 and half a cart stuck into the wall...so it's like you're running into it, like they do in the movie. Sounds glamorous, am I right?
So we got there and there was this big line in the middle of the train station with people waiting to take a picture...SO WORTH THE WAIT. They gave me a Gryffindor scarf to wear - and that's me pretending I'm about to go on the train to Hogwarts.




Spur of the moment decision this morning...I convinced two of my friends here to come see Merrily We Roll Along tonight in the West End. YAY IT'S A MUSICAL!





It was really appropriate that this show was at the Harold Pinter Theatre since the play went back in time...just like BETRAYAL (a Pinter play).

I enjoyed it.




That's all for now!

Theatre and Pubs

On Wednesday my friend Tori and I went to see theatre!
YAY!
The show was called Beautiful Thing and was at the
Arts Theatre in the West End.
It was the twentieth anniversary of Jonathan Harvey's play that first debuted at the Bush Theatre in London. I had NO IDEA this was a play...but I did know that it was a movie that I watched a couple of months ago so I knew what I was getting into.
Long story short, it's about coming of age, coming out, and love.
It was absolutely charming as they say here in Londontown - incredibly feel good. But also really well done and acted with a very clear message (they played Macklemore's Same Love at the end to drive their message home for us).
Tori and I sacrificed a good view of the show for cheap tickets...we had a sort of restricted view because we were right in the front and there was a platform on the stage so we couldn't always see what was happening upstage. It really didn't matter however, because we both really enjoyed it anyways...and so did the very drunk threesome sitting next to me.
I was very pleased with my first West End theatre experience and I CAN'T WAIT to go see more.

And then yesterday the whole group of us (except for the boys) went on the Camden Town pub crawl.
We were brought around to four different pubs and then ended up at a club called Proud, which our pub tour guide called a blub...cross between bar and club.
It was definitely a good time. We met a lot of interesting people, including one guy from Northeastern which was a CRAZY coincidence.
The club was blasting EDM and apparently the DJ was Calvin Harris...I still don't really know who that is, but I was told he's a big deal. So that's exciting I guess.

(This is a picture of me and Tori at the first pub)

Besides our beloved professor Antonio going back to the states today, I have nothing else to report!
Tonight we go and see The Tempest at Shakespeare's Globe...
and that's all for now!

The Eye of the London (and other recent adventures)

(Get it? Like Eye of the Tiger except instead...Eye of the London!)

Yesterday was our first completely free day because we have classes here Monday through Saturday...therefore we have to plan our Sundays wisely since we only get three more...

This Sunday, we became UBER touristy...

SUCH A CLEAR, BEAUTIFUL DAY AND VIEW

We went on the London Eye...that really big wheel thing that I always thought was a ferris wheel but is actually an observation wheel thing.
So we picked a PERFECT afternoon to go since it was clear and sunny and we could literally see for miles.

This is me on the Eye.
With Big Ben behind me!
 So thats special.

Since we were already on the Southbank for the Eye, we decided to do the classic British thing...eat some fish & chips.

THEN...we went to the Tate Modern art museum. It was free, and it was weird. There was one room with some air conditioner ducts and some plywood put together. There was also a room that had pieces of art that literally looked like poop. But I'm glad we went because it was an EXPERIENCE and one of those things that you have to do when in London. 

This particular piece of artwork looks like entrails. As one of my professors, George, would say: LOOOVELY.

And then Hitler showed up and we were all like...
WHAT?

This one looks like Dexter should come and investigate.

Finally, after going to a really precious pub called the Old Monk in Westminster, a couple of us decided to do something totally American...the movie theatre.

We went to Leicester Square to the Empire Cinema to see Star Trek.

London does movies differently...the theatre was massive and had a curtain and everything. WITH TWINKLE LIGHTS ON THE CEILING. (as pictured below)

The movie was cool. And it was in 3D so we got to see Chris Pine all close up and personal. Well worth the (ouch) fourteen pounds.

Today I saw my first piece of London Theatre. 

Wozzeck at the English National Opera house. The show itself was quite strange and I don't think I particularly liked it. However, the lighting and set were amazing and the fake blood was FABULOUS.

Much more theatre to come.

THATS ALL FOR NOW! 

Tomorrow in class the soprano from Wozzeck is coming in to talk to us...so that should be very interesting!

CHEERIO!

I seem to be in London

In case you were concerned...I MADE IT TO LONDON!
We arrived yesterday around 7:30am (London time) and it was a pretty nonstop day between moving in,  unpacking, orientation, tours and our group dinner.
But I saw lots of London sights, some from close up and some from afar, so I would consider it a pretty successful day.

                                     This is where we are staying. It's rather nice and homey.

Trafalgar Square. According to our tour guide, Russel, it's a pretty historical place...although I couldn't repeat a thing he said about it because I couldn't get over the accent. Also, he told one of us not to film him because, and I quote, "I don't want to look like a tit on the facebook."

The classic phone booth.

Russell told us this was the Prime Minister's doorstep. Apparently they played beach volleyball here in the olympics and a big military thing is happening here sometime soon (clearly I was paying very good attention). Also, YES that is the London Eye in the background! Good catch!

This is NOT Big Ben. And Russell would be very upset if you called it that. He called it the The clock tower of the Palace of Westminster, or I guess it was recently renamed the Elizabeth Tower. Anyway, Big Ben is the bell in the clock tower, and we waited until the exact hour to hear it ring. Fascinating. 

The west facade of Westminster Abbey. This was pretty beautiful and cool to see it person because we talked about it often this past semester in my art history class. 

So that was successful and funny because Russell killed me. He was very anti every other country besides Great Britain. But, besides being offensive I was dying of laughter. 

Today classes started and that was fun as well. Overall, I'm in love with this city already despite the bipolar weather, the constant smell of cigarette smoke, the drivers driving on the WRONG side of the road, the occasional rude person and pushy walker...but mostly its pretty and should be a good five weeks.

MORE TO COME LATER...

Tomorrow I will probably go see a show...and then report back.

as they say in Londontown...CHEERIO

I made a blog....

London Calling!

So I made a blog...because I'm hopping on a plane to London tonight and I thought maybe some people might want to see what I'm up to...

Despite my technological deficiencies I will do my best to figure this out and post on here when the mood arises. 

ENJOY