London Town and Other Activities

London town.
On Wednesday the 23rd, Laura, Daye, Apryl and I caught the 9:05 train from Falmer (where we live at Paddock Fields on the South Downs) to Brighton Station, when we then caught the 9:30 or 9:45 to London. The trip to London took about 45 minutes including all of the stops at the surrounding villages. We arrived at Victoria station at about 10:15/20, I suppose and walked to Buckingham palace. I was expecting the main Victoria station terminal to be much larger than it actually is. I was imagining something on the scale of Grand Central station, but it was nowhere near as large. Which brings to the front of my mind an important fact: London is NOTHING like New York City. And Brighton is not, "the little London by the sea"... It is nothing like it at all. The comparisons are ridiculous. London is London, and that's all there is to it.
At Buckingham palace, I went and saw the Queen's gallery and the state rooms. Although the collection displayed at the Queen's gallery was not remarkably large, it was beautifully exquisite almost to an unbelievable degree. The craftsmanship of all the items was inexplicable. The detail in the tapestries, painting, Fabrege eggs, Savre porcelain, furniture, inlaid chests, metalwork, everything was breathtaking. Each piece took months, some of them took years to complete, and the effort they put into them really shows. It makes me want to learn that kind of patience so I can create such beautiful things. I discovered that my new favorite colors are a Savre blue called, "Petit Verde", which means a blue that's a "little green" and the blue, "bleu celeste" which is a beautiful turquoise blue. To make the porcelain, they first mix the paste, then shape it, fire it, and after all of the handles have been attached, they decorate them. They apply a "ground", which is a background colour, in layers until they get the desired depth of color, and then the paint scenes or designs on top of that, firing after each layer of colour, and finish with a gold enamel and gloss and a final firing. Savre is still in production today, actually. They used to only make "soft porcelain" which required more firings and was more temperamental with the kiln, but now they only create "hard porcelain" products because of it's superior look, firing properties, and pliability. The process to make hard porcelain was not used by Savre until the 1760's. Until that time, only the Chinese knew how to make it, using an ingredient missing in the soft porcelain. Eventually, soft porcelain was abandoned because of it's tricky nature.
There were some paintings from the 1600's, as well as "caskets" (used as packaging, not something to bury a dead person). There were several beautiful gifts and things from India and other nations. There are many Fabrege artifacts as well, not only the famous eggs, but stamps and little figurines all made from precious stones and semi-precious gems, carved, polished and decorated.
There was a lovely painting by a woman, but I can't remember her name. It was huge! She would have had to have a ladder to paint it, or turn it on it's side. The painting must have been nine feet long! Everything just had an air of pride and regal finery. But nothing in Buckingham palace is "overdone". Everything is perfectly placed and perfectly classical. There is nothing distasteful of any of it. Even though there is a lot of pride, it is not boastful or ugly.
"Where there is a real superiority of mind, pride will always be in good measure," said Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice.
A lot of the British people walking around became very excited as they walked through the rooms, realizing this is where other country's diplomats would be walking. They are very proud of their heritage. And why shouldn't they be? They are one of the oldest countries in the world.
There was a special exhibit of the Queen's dresses and her gifts when she visited the Common Wealths or Great Britain. I thought to myself, "America would have part of the common wealth." and that was a strange thought. There was nothing even remotely hinting at American culture, except for some Innuit carvings from Canada. I saw some familiar work from the Maori's and Australia, which was nice to see. I love Aboriginal and Maori works of art. The Maori's carvings are so beautiful and ornate with mother of pearl accents and the painting patterns of the Aboriginal people are so vibrant and colorful. Seeing the blunt style of the Australians was also refreshing from the entirely classical interior of the State rooms. Classical interiors are beautiful and lovely, but there was no funk anywhere. Everything was just perfect. And while it was beautiful, it was almost unbearably perfect. But it does command respect, and I mean no disrespect to the neo-classical taste. I am very fond of neo-classicism and classical styles. However, I would not want to live in those conditions... I would be too scared to touch anything! I hope the Queen does not live with that kind of stress.
Her dresses were beautiful, by the way. Of course. Perfectly tasteful, modest, cut, sewn, decorated, tailored, etc. Just perfect. I would be too scared to put on something that expensive. It would feel very strange. The most expensive thing I have ever worn was worth $200. To wear a dress worth thousands, maybe priceless, would be scary! I would be nervous just wearing the dress, maybe I wouldn't be nervous meeting the country's diplomats, but I would be nervous I would mess up the dress. It would make it hard for me to concentrate. But it makes me wonder how long it takes to make one of them... A LONG time. There must be a Royal Tailor's Assistant position I could apply for...
The Garden's were once again, as the rest of the palace, perfectly classical. The leaves are just starting to change the tiniest bit, so there was a nice gradient to the colours of the trees and plants. I met a very nice lady from Florida who had been touring the UK for a couple of weeks. She took my picture and we parted at the Garden gates. They only let you see a tiny portion of the palace and gardens, for security reasons, I'm sure. The security guards were all very nice, but looked terribly bored. Happy and cheerful, but bored.
I walked around the perimeter of the Palace waiting for Apryl to call me. She and Daye went to Westminster Abby while I was touring the state rooms. I walked past the Duke of Wales arch... at least I think it was the Duke of Wales... I'll have to verify that.
I also walked by St. James's Park which is a very nice park outside of the entrance of Buckingham palace. I also walked around the mall in front of the palace, and it was surprisingly not very crowded (the changing of the guard was not that day). I understand why they don't let anyone know when they are changing the guard, because then all of the tourist companies in London would probably try to book their time for it... it would get rather ugly, I would imagine. They don't tell anyone when they are changing the guard. You don't know unless you walk by and look at the gates. There was a sign that said, "No Changing of the Guard Today". It doesn't look like it does on TV. On TV it looks like there would be huge buildings behind the camera, and that you are on a narrow street, but it's actually a huge mall with a very large fountain and it is blocked off to traffic. The nearest building is very far away and there is St. James's park which is very large and full of large trees. There is still "VR" on everything in Buckingham palace for Queen Victoria. The Royal mail service has "E II R" for Elizabeth the Second, although there is one in Brighton that says, "GR" for King George. But I guess they keep the "VR" for historical reasons. She was one of England's greatest monarchs.
I was reading an article about a family who received an honor for their son whom died while in Iraq, and I was very surprised to read that one of the recipients accused the Queen of not responding quickly enough. It's tough being the queen. I am not under the illusion that she lives a life of luxury. Monetarily wise, yes. But her life is not easy, by any means.
I saw the lady from Florida again and she let me see her map which was a terrible one, by the way. Tourist maps are awful. They didn't have road names or anything. Just famous locations without any help or hint about how to get to them by the underground, or walking, or anything. I also had some people ask me if I was local and if I knew how to get to Westminster. I also had people ask me where Hyde Park was. At least it's good to know it looked as if I knew where I was going.
Apryl eventually called me saying they were through at Westminster Abbey and were waiting for me at Leicester Square (pronounced "Lester" square), which is where all of the movies premier in Europe. So, I started walking, in what I thought was, that direction. It wasn't until about half an hour later that I realized I had just walked all the way around Buckingham palace...twice. Finally, I made it to Victoria station, but couldn't find the Underground terminals... they were right behind me. So after feeling stupid about that, I got on the circle line going in the wrong direction. Luckily, I realized something wasn't right and got off at the next stop. I looked carefully at the map and determined I needed to take the District line East to the stop that changed to the Northern line, got out and determined I needed the Northern line North, but somehow, magically, ended up on the Southbound platform, but I learned from my mistake before, checked again, realized I was on the wrong platform, so I went back the other way. I had missed one little turn. It would be really easy to get lost in the underground if there weren't signs everywhere. It's still easy to get lost even though there are signs everywhere. I had some girls ask me where the exit was, and I pointed at the sign and said, "It says the 'Way Out' is that way", right in front of them. I felt their exasperation...
Anyway, I FINALLY made it to the Leicester/China town stop, and walked through China Town. Had to ask a guy at a news kiosk how to get to Leicester Square.. he just looked at me blankly for a second and said, "You just cross the street".
*sigh*
I got the total crash course in how to get around London.
I thought it was interesting... I asked a Londoner how to get to Westminster Abbey and he only knew how to get there by the tube. He had no idea how to get there by walking.
I was expecting it to be like New York where the Subway is located at predictable locations and the roads would have some sort of rhyme or reason to them, but I was wrong, and once again, LONDON IS NOTHING LIKE NEW YORK.
So, I had a sandwich in Leicester Square and watched a policeman interrogate some guys on the other end of the park. I think he arrested them. The guy acted really tough at first, but that police man was tougher. He interrogated three of them by himself and then called another policeman to talk to them. That was strange.
The pigeons scared Apryl. She was afraid they would run into her face. They did come awfully close, but none of them hit you. I was just afraid they would poop on me. I hate it when they do that. There are some gnarly, beat up pigeons in England. Some of them are so ugly. Pigeons aren't very pretty birds to begin with, but when they have red eyes and look like they haven't bathed in weeks, it's worse. The attraction is less. A lot of them have the mange, or the bird's equivalent because their feathers are all thin and falling out. I think it's because they eat human food and don't get the right bird nutrition. And people DO feed them! I could punch those people in the face! DON'T FEED THE BIRDS! There are signs all over saying this, but they do it anyway... I bet they are American... But I try to do the proper thing and pretend to try and kick them when they start circling round me like the pack of vicious possessed creatures they are.
So, after the sandwich, we walked through China town and down to Soho. We went into Hamley's Toy Store where it must be a policy to know where everyone is from. Everyone in that store asked where we were from. One guy tried to guess, "Let me guess, French?"
"No."
"Italy?"
"No."
"Spain? Germany? Denmark? Switzerland?"
Apryl piped and said, "It's not in Europe."
"Canada?"
"No."
"American?!"
"Yep."
"I knew that..." Although, poor guy, I was wearing the Canadian pin my parents got me when they went to Bamf, so the Canadian one was a good guess. But I thought he would have guessed that first... guess not. I thought that was hilarious, though.
And he had actually been to Idaho. He said it was his favorite country he had ever been to. He had gone on a road trip through 25 states and loved it. He asked Apryl where she was from and she said, "New Mexico."
"That's not part of the U.S.... is it?"
"Yes!!"
Ha ha ha!
Anyway, Hamley's was a lot of fun. Five levels of nothing but awesome toys. We were all very happy there. We spent two hours in there. We were waiting for about 6:45 to roll around so we could go back to the West End and get discounted student tickets to Les Miserables. It was drizzling, or misting more like it, off and on. We walked up and down some side streets in the Soho district and eventually made our way back to the West End. The buildings in New York City are so tall they almost completely block out the sky, but the buildings in London are very short. Only a few stories tall. One commonality London has with New York is it's inhabitants walk everywhere. Although there are a lot more residential drivers, but a lot of people still walk. Jaywalking is not illegal here, but you better be careful! Those hackeys won't slow down unless they absolutely must. They just honk their horn and they don't slow down, they just make sure you are running for your life. I didn't have to run for my life, but I saw quite a few of other people sprint to the curb.
After returning to the West End, we frantically looked for a cash machine so we could buy the Les Miserable tickets. Originally, if you are buying before 7:00pm, tickets are 59 pounds. But, if you are a student, and subject to availability you show up and pay in cash after 7:00pm, they sell you the tickets for 27.50 Pounds. Awesome! So, three of us got to see the show for less than two people would be able to see the show. That made us very happy. Les Miserables had terrific singers, the set revolved and was very intricate, but still really cool. I shed many tears during the course of the show. The show always makes me cry. Just the piercing words and story and music... it all combines to make me cry. But in a good way. They got a standing ovation at the end and three bows. They did a great job. Jean val Jean was REALLY good. As was the "Master of the House" and his wife. Eponine was very loveable, as was the little kid who gets shot. He was awesome. The acting was very good. The captain, Chaevin, (I can't spell his name) was a terrific singer as was Fontine... All of them were so good. There wasn't anyone who was short of the mark, except one guy who was fidgeting in the background when he was supposed to be a ghost during the song, "Empty Chairs and Empty Tables"... but it was still alright. I enjoyed it thoroughly, we all did. The stage was very small, compared to the large stages of NYC. The theatre wasn't even that large. I have a couple pictures of it... It was not very wide, but very deep. The actors wore their microphones on their foreheads.. it took me a little while to figure out what those dots on their heads were... and the band was amazing. They were wonderful.
At the end we exited into the very busy, crowded street, and crossed back through China Town and got on the train to Victoria station. We caught the 11:06 back to Brighton and then walked to the Bus stop by Churchill Square. We got back to the flat at almost 2:00am. I was so tired, but it was so much fun!!! I can't wait until I go to London again... I now have three top cities: NYC, Sydney, and London. I want to make it to the British Museum soon, they have a Moctezuma and Aztec exhibit going on until June that I would really like to see.

Thursday the 24th, I slept most of the day waking up at noon. I got a note from someone saying our advisers needed at least six people to go to a photo shoot at the Moulescoumbe campus for the American Office. So, I went and did that. They said they might send me some pictures, but I doubt I will see them any time soon. Based on the time frame everything else seems to happen. Mary and Zoe drove us there, but I didn't want to go back, so I rode the bus into town and saw some people I knew. I rode up to Churchill Square and went shopping at Primark, discovered a craft store (with lots of nice yarn!) and got some groceries at Marks & Spencer which is a clothing/grocery market. A lot clothing stores, or department stores have their own grocery sections, or restaurants, or cafes. It's very convenient and saves on building space and cost, I suppose.
I got back to the flat and cooked meself some chicken, potatoes, mushrooms, and parsnips. It was a very white meal. I didn't realize it until I was cooking all of it how uncolourful the food looked. But, I suppose that fits into English cuisine. I met Harman's friend Sumi and we went out on the town. We went to a pub and then to the dance club "Oceana" which is the first hip-hop club I have ever been to. It was pretty interesting. There were a lot of strange people there, obviously, I expected that. And it was really hard to dance because there were so many people. I always attract the weirdos, I swear. So, because of that, we left. Went home and went to sleep.

Friday, the 25th, I woke up kind of late because, obviously, I was really tired. Then I went to the office and got my classes figured out, I hope. I will be taking Visual Culture, Communication Ethics, Drama in Society (which I hope isn't like Theatre 101..I already took that class), and Literature, Criticism, and Theory. This is the equivalent of 18 credits. I have class Tues-Friday, but my Friday class ends at 11am, so I have all day Friday-Monday free. Hooray! Visual Culture is a five hour class. Classes run in lectures and seminars. There is one lecture and one seminar per class each week. Some classes are only three hours per week, or two hours. But that Visual Culture class should be fun. The syllabus seemed very exciting.
So Young and I took a long walk up on the South Downs. You can look and see Brighton from the top of the meadow. There are snails everywhere and in all the vegetation, so when you are walking in the grass, you can hear them crunching under your feet (a rather unnerving snapping sound). We saw some cows. And a couple of back packers, one of them with their son. You can also see the little village by Sussex University, which I think is Falmer Village, but I'm not sure. All of the houses are brick colored. So Young thought the little fringing wood was like a jungle and she kept saying, "Agh! A bug!" And jumped two feet off the ground when a butterfly flitted past her. It was really funny.
The only other thing that happened on Friday was laundry (so exciting!) I was running out of clean clothes and the end of my bed was starting to smell unpleasant. I bundled all of my clothes in my Sarong from the British Virgin Islands and hoofed it Santa style to the laundry room. It is so nice to have clean clothes and clean jeans, mainly. I only brought four pairs of jeans, so they were VERY well worn in, having been worn for two weeks straight among the four of them.
I also talked to my family for about two hours. Other than that, Friday was very quiet. I spent almost all of the day alone in my room, cleaning it and doing laundry.

Saturday the 26th, today, I wrote some postcards, and went with Apryl to Sainsbury's for cake mix for Minjung's birthday tonight, and some other necessities. I finally bought a little plant for my home. I hope I can keep it alive. It makes the room feel a little homier. It needs a bright room without direct light, which is my room to a 'T'. I don't get direct sunlight until about 4pm. And most of the room never sees direct sunlight, although it is a bright room. The plant is a Camillia. Being Saturday, there were a lot of little tykes football matches outside of my window. It was nice to listen to the little kids calling and shouting about. The rest of day has been spent writing about London and the rest of my week, which has taken me three hours. I hope you appreciate this. I've been listening to music a lot and talking to some friends and flat mates.
Apryl and I baked the cake and it smells delicious! It is the first thing we have really baked since we've lived here and it makes the flat seem so much more homey. We also blew up a lot of balloons, and got really light headed so with all the baking and lack of oxygen we were very giggly.
Today I got an e-mail about rehearsing with a cabaret band, which is exciting. It's nice to be in a culture mecca where art and creativity can bloom. As ridiculous as that sounds, I believe it. I'm supposed to have an interview for it later this week, I hope. They are supposed to call me tomorrow... We'll see how that goes.
The sun is setting now and turning the the orange walls in the kitchen into an unbelievably vibrant neon orange. The sunsets are always spectacular here. I'm getting more and more attached everyday. Which is a good thing, I suppose since I will be here for a while.
Although, right now I am listening to Michael Buble's "Lady in Red" which always makes me feel very wistful about romance and always makes me feel as if I need a hug...
I miss my hugs.
But! Enough of that, Michael Buble! I refuse to feel sad right now. Life is awesome.
Cheers!

Hannah