So I now have another paper to write this week, pretty fantastic. It is going to be on the Alchemist which we are going to see on Monday…I suppose I should read that as well. We were assigned to read it because it is by Ben Jonson, Shakespeare’s contemporary, therefore in verse, and therefore confusing. I am currently at the parent’s hotel, the Millennium Gloucester, where I will be staying the night so that we can be out early tomorrow to Windsor castle. After class today, I attempted to catch up on these which is difficult since my internet is messed up again and will only work in the hallway now. I suppose that extra 3 feet really makes a difference.

We weren’t quite sure what we wanted to do this evening for I think we were all tired. So we finally decided to go to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese for dinner. Jenna and I went here back in the day on our fantastic London trip, and I loved it. It is the oldest pub in London, I believe, seeing as it was rebuilt in 1666, I don’t know if it counts it from then or from its original construction, the date of which I am not sure. It is an old, dark pub which was frequented by the likes of Charles Dickens and Dr. Samuel Johnson. I think Dr. Samuel Johnson was the man who wrote the first dictionary, or at least this is what I learned from blackadder.

It is three levels, not including the cellar bar. Each room is for something different: drinking, drinking and sandwiches, drinking and snacks, dinner, private dinners, etc. We ate in the Chop Room which served quite delicious meals, and we topped it all off with some treacle pudding.

After stopping at tescos to buy some tea for me and jaffa cakes to smuggle back to the states for scott, we came back to the hotel where i watched extras. This is the new show of ricky gervais (of the office), which is the only bit of telly I watch all week. It starred Daniel Radcliffe this time, and he was a bit inappropriate; not as good as last week’s David Bowie episode, but still highly entertaining british comedy. I recommend it to all of you.

WAY too many photos. i apologise. but its better than reading my drivel

(photos, what photos? you say: laura and I are pretty excited to be at warwick castle; the castle! ; british longbow man in front of the castle; our knight friend in the courtyard; the trebuchet mid-fire ; on our way up to the tower; place we did not go up into but looked pretty: “The Mound”; I am on a tower, everybody come look at how tall I am; view of castle from tower; we all took photos in the castle with the silly hats and fake butler; another old library I want ; “I’m henry the eight I am” ‘; shakespeare’s house in stratford; jenna, laura, and I in front of shakey’s home ; the street art knight conversing with a biker; the gate and shakey’s house; ice cream in Stratford mmmmm; jenna and I have decided to wave and speak in person rather than call each other due to cheapness)

We woke up early and headed down to meet laura, who would accompany us on the trip. After a quick breakfast in the refectory , all 20 of us climbed aboard our half empty bus. This trip for some reason did not sell very well, people are silly. My advice to you: if you have a chance to go to a castle, go. For there is nothing doing that can be better than a castle.

I unfortunately could not sleep on the bus, as most people did, but those that were awake liked to take pictures of me making faces for some reason. So there are many photos of me looking ridiculous on a bus in existence.

About an hour and a half after our departure we alighted at Warwick Castle, which was beyond fantastic. Besides being an amazing castle complete with historical interpreters, they also had a working medieval trebuchet. Which, in essence, is a terribly large catapult operated by people running in a large hamster wheel. A lady came up to us in the courtyard at the beginning of the day and said they were looking for two more people to run in it if we were wearing trainers. Since I was, I very much wanted to take part, but I knew that we had less than two hours to see the entire castle and if I chose to be a human hamster, I would miss the rest. So I politely declined, wept a bit, and went on my way.

We caught the tail end of an archery demonstration where a costumed man shot a longbow into the center of the target with ease. Once we went through the actual castle wall, we saw a man dressed up as a knight and I promptly insisted we take a photo with him. He was very witty, and he ensured that we go see the trebuchet ( I later found out our new friend was the man who had to give the entire presentation to the audience as they prepared the trebuchet on the other side of the lake).

We did a quick tour of some of the rooms starting with the torture chamber and the dungeons. Very happy stuff. I have been in a few dungeons now, and for the first time I felt fear being in one. It was a poorly lit, dank, smelly room, with manacles on the wall and a tinytiny window letting a smidge of light in. The thing that I found very eerie though, was the oubliette in the corner of the dungeon. Oubliette, which means “forgotten” in French , is the place you toss people into and forget about them. For those of you who have seen the labyrinth starring the amazing david bowie, the large oubliette with the magic door in it is NOT an oubliette. This oublietter was a miniscule hole in the floor covered by an ironwork gate; I suppose this was so you could breathe and prolong your own torture. There was about enough room for one to curl up in the fetal position; which is the position you want to be in as you wish for death to come release you from this torture. In a matter of days, the victim becomes entirely insane.

So…yeah.

We then went into the castle’s exhibit called “kingmaker” which had a number of life size figures cavorting about in beautiful stately rooms. They also had display with a blacksmith that was ever so reminiscent of the farm, as well as a large animontric war horse that looked like Gus.

Laura, Jenna, and I then made off towards the grounds and arrived just in time for the trebuchet display starring our "chevalier" friend (i am becoming fully english by throwing french words into everyday situations). It was pretty awesome, I must say, definitely worth seeing. Perhaps I am uneducated, but I actually never knew that people used to catapult dead disease ridden animals over castle walls in order to try to besiege those inside by spreading infection. The whole Monty Python frenchies' animal launching makes a lot more sense now.

When at a castle, one must go in a tower. So we clambered up the 500 plus stairs and went up in Guy’s Tower, which had a breathtaking view of the surrounding area. I proceeded to take many photos, then we quickly and carefully descended the spiral staircase so that we had enough time to run into the “Royal Weekend Party” set up in the state rooms , as well as the Great Hall. In the Great Hall was a special exhibition of costumes from Shakespeare plays worn by people like ian mckellan, jeremy irons, and judi dench. At this point we had 5 minutes to get on the bus, so we walked at a quick clip back to the bus to head off to Stratford- upon- Avon.

At Stratford, we stopped to get sandwiches before going to Shakespeare's birthplace. I found out many things about willy , including that he was married to Anne Hathaway ( once again I am just uneducated, but I had no idea who she was til this trip). We got to walk all around the Shakespeare family home which was one of those English timber framed houses one often sees in photos. What I really enjoyed about the interior was the painting cloth walls, an early form of wallpaper. There were very elaborate and skillfully done. We were not allowed to take photos inside the house so I only have photos of the exterior, but that’ll do.

Walking down the quaint little street, we saw many fun stores, as well as King Edward VI s Grammar School, where Shakey went. We stopped in at Holy Trinity Church, and saw Shakespeare’s grave, and the famous marble bust of him that we kept reading about at the birthplace museum. Jenna, Laura, and I, then met up with some of my other friends on the trip and we went to get ice cream cones, because it is necessary. Jenna also got fudge, and we made friends with the fudge lady who let me try “Turkish Delight” since I had always wondered what it was. It is not spectacular, but I was pleased to have tried it. We sat on a little wall outside Shakey’s house, eating our ice cream cones and enjoying the glorious day, until, sadly, it was time to get back on the bus and return to school.

Jenna, Laura, some friends from school and I went to the Metropolitian Pub five minutes away on Marylebone Street for some fairly cheap food and watered down drinks. Good times were had, and we returned to school so that jenna and I could get 3 hours sleep before waking up at 4 to catch the bus to stanstead. She did in fact get on a bus, get to the airport, get on the plane, and safely land, so that was all well and good.

I promptly went back to sleep around 5:30/ 6:00, only to wake up, do two loads of laundry, and meet the parents - who had just arrived - for dinner in the refectory. I took them for a quick walk around Regent’s Park, and then they went back to their hotel, and I did a bit of homework before calling it a day.

I bought one souvenir at Stratford. It is a magnet with a quote from twelfth night which states : "Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit."

I concur.

now let's all go back in time: JENNA visits!

(photos: tower bridge overpass, it was raining, you see; me on the pedestrian overpass of the tower bridge (jenna took it from the other one); the river thames; the gherkin, the tower, and other buildings from the overpass; jenna drowning her sorrows in sugar cubes and tea; me with tea…I refused to use the flash in any tea photos; the super delicious tray of greatness; cheers to cucumber sandwiches! ; jenna and i in the pub, her in my specs and me in my roommates ridiculous sunglasses)

Jenna’s flight got into Stanstead airport at 23:40, where she got on a bus to Liverpool station with her friend. There they took a cab, apparently one they thought their friend had ordered, but in fact it was an unregistered man in a VW. Right. So they got pulled over by the cops, who asked questions about said driver, who was making all sorts of illegal turns and such. Then the cops told the girls not to worry…and promptly drove away. Leaving Jenna and her friend with the fake cabbie. Well done, constable, well done. So Jenna calls me from the corner of the street and we manage to find one other with a very dramatic reunion. Since I live literally in a park, apparently the gates close at a certain hour and I do not know if there is anyway for vehicles to get in. This is what caused the mass confusion. But if it’s the price to pay for living in a park, I’m ok with it.

We finally get back and into the building at approximately 3 AM. We talk for a bit before crashing around 4:30ish, only to get up around 10 and head off into the rain. Yes that’s right, rain. London finally couldn’t hold the rain any longer despite the fact that it usually listens to my wishes, and so it poured the entire afternoon. This was slightly inconvenient since we decided to go to the Tower Bridge exhibition, which required a bit of outdoor walking.

The exhibition was very interesting, and slightly mind boggling since I have never quite understood how one builds and works bridges. I still don’t know, but it makes a bit more sense now that I have watched videos on it and seen the engines, water heaters and hydrolic pumps. Part of the tour was also to take a look at some other possible designs for tower bridge, and let me tell you, some people had some pretty terrible ideas. I’d say this man wins hands down, despite the fact that the people wouldn’t accept it at first. The two tower secitions do not actually bear weight, and are there mainly for aesthetics –to blend in with the tower of London. The parts of the bridge that open are weighted so that the however many tonnes of stone move about a bit more easily. Also, the bridge has a pedestrian overpass so when the bridge is raised for a prolonged amount of time, pedestrians can still cross the river. Years ago, this was closed off to the general public due to lack of use and but it remains part of the tour. You can get a lovely view of the River Thames from up there, so of course, jenna and I took many photos.

On the way out , the man at the till asked us if we wanted to look at the picture they had taken of us on the way in ( much like the way they take your photo on a ride at an amusement park, and once you get to the end , you can look at it and decide whether or not to buy it) . However, unlike an amusement park ride, we took 2 hours, not 20 seconds, to get to the end of the attraction, and they must have just deleted our photo to put someone elses there. So when this European man asked us for the piece of paper that says our file number, he looks it up on the computer and goes “ oh sorry, 13 s not working”. No matter that jenna saw the picture of two elderly people who stole our spot in 13. He definitely didn’t think that lie through…but no worries..we weren’t going to buy it anyway. So we just laughed. Then he asked where we were from. We said the states, then more specifically, new jersey…and he proceeded to ask us if that was near Kentucky. We said no. He then mentioned how he was reading something about Kentucky and it mentioned that they had bluegrass there. He seemed very interested in this bluegrass. I didn’t understand him half the time because I think I have a hearing problem. We got a bit confused and eventually left, only to figure out what he was talking about in the gift shop. Jenna suggested we perhaps go back and explain to him that bluegrass is a type of music, and that all of the grass in Kentucky is not, in fact, blue; but once we left we couldn’t get back in. Oh well…he’ll find out about it when he asks the next tourists about this colorful foliage. Nice guy though.

The rain had stopped the entire time we were inside, but the moment we stepped out, it began to pour. And it does not usually pour in London; rather it is a pleasant little shower here and there. I was already quite soaked, despite the macintosh and brolly (raincoat and umbrella), but of course, this is not enough; for we had decided to go get afternoon tea at the orangery, and what good is tea if you don’t look fully bedraggled. So a bus promptly sped by and splashed some gutter water directly onto me, thus remedying the situation. Smells like flowers. I did some sort of strange “ew ew this is unpleasant” dance, as only a Stacey molski can - and would - do, and all was better.

We sloshed onto the tubes , looking forward to our clotted cream, scones, and hot cuppa at the orangery in Kensington gardens only to arrive and find it was closed for some sort of fancy fashion week event. Bugger.

At this point we were starving, so we remembered a five star hotel we had passed on the way into the park and decided to try that. The doormen gladly let us in ( it must have been my sweet street water perfume) and we sat down in one of the more intimidating rooms into which I have been admitted. We perched on some floral couches and looked around at the people in the room, all of whom seemed to be French. Quoi? A waiter came up right away to ask if he could start us off with tea before we even looked at the tea menu. So we said we hadn’t decided yet, and he decided to leave and not return for a good 45 minutes. Right. Perhaps we insulted him? We did eventually order our tea ( I got Lemon Peel and Jenna got Chocolate Heart) and we tried to get across the fact that we required the afternoon tea complete with finger sandwiches, scones, and pastries. The waiter left, and we were unsure if we’d ever see him again, so we did what anyone would do in this sort of situation: eat many, many sugarcubes. Jenna was most definitely adversely affected by this and she almost did something drastic like take a scone off of a tray that was put in the center of the room merely to taunt hungry visitors. I said “No jenna! No! you mustn’t! it isn’t proper!” So she didn’t. I then decided that if I were to leave and go to the loo, I mean “cloakroom”- explain that one to me- that the food would promptly arrive. And so it did.

We dug into the scones, slathering on clotted cream and assorted jams. Never had food been so delicious. At the end I hear jenna say “ Would it be improper to lick my knife? Because I just did.” We are not upper class folk. But surprisingly, we did not attract much attention from the frenchies in the room. This is because one can be as strange as one wants as long as one does so in a quiet, seemingly reserved manner. Trust me, for this is the only way I have been able to be accepted in social situations.

After the scones, we moved onto the finger sandwiches: cucumber and cream cheese, tomato and cheese, ham and mayo, salmon, and egg salad (the last two I did not eat due to my aversion to fish, eggs, and mayonaise). I started to feel a bit full at this point, which could only mean one thing: time to gorge mysef on pastries. The strawberry tart,to start, was my favorite part. Then we moved onto the cheesecake, fancy cupcake, and éclair. Wow.
I am fairly certain I had my first heart attack around the time of the fancy cupcake, and the second when I tried to stand up when we were done.

We paid our absurd fee of 25 pounds each when we had finished…probably three hours after we had arrived due to the super slow service, and the doormen let us out, just as gladly as he had let us in.

After this we decided to take it easy and just stop in at pub near my school, called the Globe, to which I had never been. It is always quite busy, with a bunch of people hanging out in the street…but they must be rich. I paid 6.50 pounds for a drink. That’s about 12 dollars to you americans. At least it was a double. This is why I refuse to imbibe here anymore, I have many other things I would rather do with my money. It was still a good time though, laughs were had by all.We called it a fairly early night, and went to sleep so that we could wake up in time for the school sponsored trip to warwick castle and Stratford upon avon on Saturday.

more museums and charades!

On Wednesday I had brit lit again, we started reading Daisy Miller by Henry James , and I love it so far. And I don’t know why. I should have majored in English I think, this art history thing isn’t really panning out. But enough of that. I came back , ate a quick dinner and then met the parents at their hotel (which is quite nice). I like doormen as well. My house will have a dumbwaiter and a doorman, even if it is me.

We then walked to the Victoria and Albert museum which is a few blocks away, passing the Natural History museum whose front yard has been turned into tents for london fashion week. We paid the extra bit of money to see the Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit. Now there is one interesting man. He was incredibly smart, I had no idea he did so much. I knew to an extent that he was interested in math and proportions and anatomy, but did not realize he had done so much with it. The drawings were fascinating, such skill, but so scattered in his own organized way. It is mind boggling. I have a new respect for him now; not that I didn’t respect him before…but I mainly respected him as Leonardo the ninja turtle…I mean painter.

Only certain areas of the museum are open late, so we saw only a few galleries. We looked at many silver objects (ooooh shiny!), and I took the time to make a stamp with this little area that is definitely for small children. I enjoyed myself. We also saw this room full of stained glass. It was fantastic. I watched a video on how they make it and it is quite complicated but intriguing. I think I am going to start up a hobby as a stained glass maker, i am sure it is a cheap little weekend activity. It is actually really cool to see the steps they go through, with making the original design, cutting the glass with a diamond cutter, staining it (sometimes it is already stained before cut), painting it, fitting it into the lead, cementing over it to make it waterproof, then scratching off the extra cement. So cool. You have to see it.

On the way back, we got some tea at this nice little coffee house down the street from the hotel, called, coincidentally, Coffee House. We took it back up to the hotel where we had that and some chocolate croissants. Mother insisted my dad walk me back to the tubes, which mind you, was literally around the corner. I don’t think she quite grasps the fact that I live here now…and walk many places alone, and go on the tubes alone. But she will never stop worrying so it is ok. I read my henry james book on the tubes, the trip is much more pleasant when you can read rather then be cramped in with a billion commuters in rush hour. Came home with every intention of showering ,writing my papers a bit, then sleeping; however, I saw a friend in the hallway who told me to come play charades with them down the hall. So I did. Good decision. Free chocolate and free fun. That’s what life is about.

British Museum

Turns out kevin spacey was meeting Willy for dinner. I’m a pretty good detective, living on baker street has worn off. Did the whole class thing yesterday, including a slight bit of homework. The parents came around 3:15 after class so we could run over to the british museum while it was still open.

I took them to the two main improtant things: the rosetta stone and the elgin marbles. They are quite astounding, but I am going to assume you know what they are to save me from rambling, since i am far behind on these posts (My sincere apologogies to you all, especially the rice girl). Then we wandered throughout other rooms of the museum until they closed at 5:30. We did see this really interesting sculpture made from the pith of reeds depicting some sort of Indian goddess, I believe. Her name may have started with a D( sarah rice this is where you come in and share the wealth of knowledge you have about a country i know nothing about). Anyway it was great. I also saw drawings by this man whose name I can’t remember besides the fact that I repeated it to myself a billion times…agadihr something? I shall look it up now. Avigdor Arikha. He was an abstract painter who started to turn towards realism later on in life, and though I don’t like abstract art (shocking I know, an art history major should be all over it), I really liked his newer work. He has a very interesting style. This is why I will not be an artist. I do not have a style, I merely draw what I see, and no matter how good or bad it is, we have photos for that sort of thing now. Reason number 345221 I should have been born centuries ago..in England.

We went to the museum tavern across the street afterwards and I had a chicken pie, quite British. Mom had fish and chips, dad had the roast of the day (chicken), and he also made friends with the Spanish bartender. Best of all though, was that this pub had a dumbwaiter! What a genious invention. That is something I want in my house. No matter how small it is, I want a dumbwaiter. Even if it just goes from the bottom to the top of my one room shack, it will be useful and exciting…for….changing light bulbs. Yes. And things of that nature.

After dindins, we went to Harrods, which is lovely but intimidating. We did not stay too long and we certainly didn’t buy anything. This is where I left the parents.

Laura then came over with her friend Caitlin who is staying with her for a while so we talked about London and life and crisps for a while, until they left and I began my homework. Then my other friend came because we need to start planning out our fall break. We are mainly going to stay in the UK, so if anyone has ideas on where I should go, let me know. As of now, i am making a pilgrimage to Doune Castle, where Monty Python was filmed, because, let's face it, i am a strange person.

So Jenna safely returned to Italy and the parents have safely arrived in London. I will recount the lovely weekend when i find the time, so don't worry. However, i did not want to fall too behind, so i will continue writing this week until i get the chace .
No parental stuff today, because I had a pretty busy class schedule then had to see a play at 7:30. We shall reconvene tomorrow.

In my Brit Lit class, we discussed James Augustus Aloysius Joyce and his fantastic book Dubliners. I enjoy him. We watched a bit of the movie The Dead ( which coincidentally starred one of the people in the play tonight), and then quickly discussed a handful of random poems the prof had given us. My favorite was “Why I am Not A Painter” by Frank O’Hara, if you are bored and want to look it up so you can pretend to live my life. What was extra great was that one of the “poems” was in fact a Tom Waits song, so we got to listen to that in class. How fantastic. However, I am now in a Tom Waits mood and the cds I burned from Phil are at home. I never put them on the new computer. Argh. So now I am using this free online radio to try to listen to him, but I am forced to listen to people supposedly similar to him as well, who are not nearly as good. The website is Pandora.com, if you want to try it out.

I almost missed out on my entire architecture class because I wound up being 6 minutes late, due to the fact that my tube train decided it wanted to just stop and hang out for a while at a station and once again in the dark. So I scampered about the surrounding area of the South Kensington tube stop in a very frustrated manner until I finally decided to just waste my time in the Victoria and Albert museum since that was the only place the professor mentioned that we would definitely be visiting. I figured I would just hang out in the architecture wing until they came, but when I went upstairs they were there. Huh. I felt like a fool for not going there right away, but they weren’t supposed to be there right away. People seemed astounded and amazed that I was able to find them, but if I weren’t a moron I could have found them 20 minutes earlier.
This has taught me to give an extra 15-20 for tube rides on the circle line. Learn through my follies.

Now then; I went to see “A Moon For The Misbegotten” at the Old Vic Theatre, starring Kevin Spacey, who is also the art director and, I believe, owner, of the Old Vic. It started off a bit slow, and at first I did not think Kevin Spacey was in it that night since his character doesn’t come on stage for quite some time. But it turned out to be quite good, with great acting performances by all. It would be better if I didn’t have to write a paper on it. The play also took place in Connecticut, and since I go to school there the teacher asked me if the set was what CT looked like. It had a red clayish hard soil and was very flat and barren, much like Arizona or New Mexico. So I said no. She thought not, as well.

Around intermission, there was a bit of a buzz going around the theatre… apparently someone famous was here in the audience? So my friend told me and motioned for me to look over the side of the balcony, and sure enough Former President Bill Clinton was there wearing a yellow shirt hanging out and signing autographs for people down in the stalls. I did not find out in time to run down there and talk to him, but many people got a photo or a signature. I find it odd that I haven’t encountered him in the states, but on some random Monday night in London, we both happen to be at the same play. Strange.

So that was celebrity number one of the night. Celebrity encounter number two was simply waiting at the stage door for Kevin Spacey. He came out after a half hour or more, dressed in a pinstripe suit and looking less than pleased. He was probably waiting to go out and drink with Willy, and we were delaying him. The building had this little glass window in it, which he stood behind and signed autographs in, as if all 15 of us were going to maul him or something. He was pleasant enough, but seemed to be preoccupied…still, I met Kevin spacey and he signed my playbill. Good night.

Should probably do some homework now...

Rupert Everett anyone?

(photos: thats rupert everett looking less than pleased, but he looked that way in most people's photos. click on it to get a larger image. he was quite the witty, attractive movie star; laura and i looking pretty excited about our expensive, soon to be signed books)

I have mainly been staying around campus and " doing homework," which means doing anything but homework in a not so interesting setting. I did however go to Laura's dorm tomorrow, because she is here. This is fantastic news. She lives about a 20-25 minute walk from me, but there seems to be no other good way to get there... Anyway, so that was fun and exciting. Good times are to be had by all. I then came back to school and wasted time with people until 2 am, bad idea.

Today i went to class, laura came over here for lunch (because our food is quite delicious).
We took a quick stroll around Regent's Park and then i kicked her out so i could get to the National Gallery in time for class. Our professor for some reason chose to look at me for half of the lecture. I hate when people do that. He was speaking directly to me for most of the time. So i just nodded and occasionally made eyebrow movements to show that he revealed some sort of artistic secret and i was shocked and amazed. Perhaps he thinks i am a bit...slow.

After this i rushed back to school to eat a quick dinner and get ready to go to see Rupert Everett speak about his book. We got there quite early, so we got 2nd row seats in the center with a perfect view...good work us. I did give in and buy his book for 17 pounds because i found out he would be signing them and, more importantly ,i am a moron. It actually looks quite intriguing though; he writes well and he has some fantastic stories. He told quite a few very amusing stories at this lecture, including some about how he used to stalk ian mckellan. He apparently stood outside of the stage door of macbeth and looked creepy and used to follow ian mckellan home. He never spoke to him until he finally landed a job as an usher at one of the theatres ian was working in. Then he apparently cut a hole through his curtain so that he could watch the play, and this distracted ian enough to say something about it. Eventually they became friends. So stalking can end positively.

Someone in the audience then asked if he had any encounters with stalkers and if they were there in the auditorium. Everyone laughed, then Rupert went on to tell a story about this creepy asian women who stalks him. It was hilarious. He apparently once saw her walking home from the theatre down dark alleyways and in the fog, so he decided to stop his taxi and let her get in as well . He is quite a gentleman and "didn't want her to get knived or anything like that". So he invited her into the cab and she apparently made crazy faces and yelled NO! several times before getting in and continuing to be creepy. He then took her to her hotel, which was a bad idea, because the next perfomance she was waiting outside and asked to go into his dressing room. He thought" well what can i do? i suppose we're friends now" and let her in, only to have her creepily stare at him the whole time.

These stories are much funnier when told by him. This is why buying the book may be justifiable.

We waited in line to get him to sign our book, and he was being very lovely to everyone. He wrote to me (and everyone) " stacey- love from- rupert everett". only it looks like " slacey- lone jum-$igrl eh." But we all know it really means :Stacey, you're pretty great. lets be friends.
We were (surprisingly) allowed to take photos, though he didn't really smile for any of them. The lady who took it for me almost didn't take it because she didn't hold the button down long enough, so he may have been smiling in the beginning. There's no knowing. I like to think that he was. So yes, that was extremely exciting, and i am a fan. He is quite a witty man.

Laura, Erin , Rebekah, and i then went to this touristy pub nearby called "London pub." It was much too expensive. I will not be returning. But it was fun nonetheless.

Now i have to sleep and do homework and laundry all day tomorrow.
Jenna comes tomorrow!!!!!!!! :)
next up: jenna and stacey's english expeditions- part deux

Free plays! Freeplay...

(photos: awesome man at speakers corner.he has a fantastic sign. i should have spoken to him; inside the Horse Guards...he seemed to be ok with photo taking , but still not sure if its acceptable that i put that on the internet, to be honest...so let's hope the bobbies don't come knocking on my door; downing street. poor tony; tower bridge at night.)

I had big plans for Sunday, but they seemed to fall through for the most part. Though i suppose i did do quite a bit....

In the morning, i went to hyde park to try to find this area where "Horseman's Sunday"
was taking place. I never did find it, so i was a bit upset. I really wanted to see that...but it's ok, with some extensive counseling, i made it through that difficult period in my life. No, i really was a bit disappointed. I did happen to catch some crazy people on soapboxes and stepladders, proclaiming their beliefs to a crowd of bystanders. Man y arguments ensue, and i don't like confrontation so i did not stay to long. Unfortunately, i did not talk to the man pictured above, i regretted that. He looks like an interesting fellow; instead i just took his photo. Oh well...next time...i will go back with some pretty tough questions. For example; "What do you think the world would be like if denim was, in fact, red, not blue, and that was the common choice of trousers?" I am curious to see how he would respond.

I walked a bit down Portobello Road and looked in some vintage clothing shops, which i shall be going to. All i could think of was the fantastic Cat Stevens song called "Portobello Road." I do not have it in my computer, so i am unable to listen to it..but you should all find it and listen. I jumped back on the tubes...however i seemed to pick the wrong eastbound line, because by east they meant east for one stop then very very south. Threw in a little switcharoo. My fault though. So i had to get off at some place far away and switch to another eastbound line...where an old ish man was being very disorderly. He stormed up to the conductor, yelled out " are you going to move this train?! i paid my wage , i am in a hurry! now stop sitting there doing nothing and start it! this is ridiculous!! BAH ! i am old and english and angry! BAH!" with a whole lot of colourful language thrown in. Then they called the police on him and made him get off. It was fairly entertaining.

I got off near Whitehall so i could at least get to the Horse Guards while it was open to the public for the weekend. I waited about45 minutes to an hour before being allowed in with a large group. The Horse Guards is the building that is the headquarters of the British army, and also, the building you technically have to ceremoniously pass through to get to the Queen. We went up the stairs and met a tour guide/ soldier man who explained a bit about the building and the uniforms. The big furry hats worn by footsoldiers are called " bear skins" because they are made out of ....bear skin. Apparently they copied the Russians with that one, because snow just shakes off of the bear skin, where as with the Brits hats it would just pile up a few inches. The other hat we were shown was a busby, which is shorter and made of seal skin ( now synthetic) which is waterproof. So when the soldier needed a drink , he could tie a line on it and just throw it into a river, drin some, let his horse have some, and be off on his way. The tunics the soldiers wear now are almost exactly like the originals, very ornate, complete with hand embroidered gold thread. We were not allowedto take photos of that, so i have nothing to show you, but i really enjoyed this man's speech. it was quite informative.

We then went to the conference room, where a new fancy soldier type guy gave a speech, ignoring the fact that the guards were changing in the tiltyard and yelling loudly every few seconds. After discussing some of the paintings in the room, and the bust of the Duke of Wellington above the door, he led us through the central room underneath the dome (which is significantly smaller then they had planned because they ran out of money during construction, which was quite common back then). We stopped in the general's office, and he discussed some more things. Such as how the couch and a chair are shorter than the rest so that the queen, who was a bit small, could sit on them and not look ridiculous with her feet dangling in the air. The paint is also modeled on what was found there; they passed around a sample of all of the coats of paint the room had been through ( it was about an inch thick). The actual general's desk was clever as well, seeing as it had four recesses in it for his visitors to sit in. This way they could all be fairly close if they needed to look over maps or .. do the crossword puzzle together. I am pretty sure thats the actual reason. But yes. Wow, i did lots of things ....

So then i walked past the PM's house again, across Westminster Bridge and down to the open air Scoop Theatre by the Tower Bridge. That is a long walk when there is a crowd of people at the river festival. At least an hour. But i worked through the foot cramp ( i think my arches have fallen) as my friends laughed at me on the phone, until i found them. We first saw a farcical modern adaptation of Euripides "Cyclops" which was very fun and cute. The puppet Cycolps was unbelievable; i was very impressed. Then they took a break before the same cast and crew began the next play "The Caucasian Chalk Circle." I enjoyed that very much, considering i did not think i would like it...but it was great. I did, ,however, miss the fireworks, because the short, but probably awesome display, took place during the second play and i am incapable of leaving during a performance. No worries though....there's still
Guy Fawkes day ...mmm fire.

Today was dull. Just stayed around campus. Went to class and all.
Tomorrow may be dull too, but i'll see if i can think of a fun story...or make one. cheers

River festival

(photos: view of the Tower Bridge, city hall, and the open air theatre called Scoop; some of the boats racing, passing the tower of london; front view on awesome fountain sculptuer; view of another part of the sculpture; southwark cathedral with a fantastic statue in front of it, i want to be a knight like that guy)

Apparently this weekend is kind of a big deal. First of the all, there is the Open House London, then there is the Thames River Festival. Both of which i shall partake in. Yesterday we woke up early to get to the River in time for the River Race, which is a huge race with over 3oo assorted types of rowboats. We watched the first few boats from the Tower Bridge, but at the time we thought they were the last few boats so we walked away after a bit. Then after walking around for another 15 minutes, we looked over to the river and saw boats everywhere. It was fantastic, i have no idea who won.

I gave in and participated in some sort of river themed raffle for a pound. And i won! ....a coke zero. Right. I think i got the bad end of the deal, but hey, it was exciting to win so i was happy. A bunch of tents were set up with people selling jewelry, bags, ponchos, shirts, dresses, musical instruments, everything. I did not buy anything, although i may buy earrings when we go back tonight. We saw a bunch of performers playing music, doing short plays, or all sorts of performance art. One man we stopped to watch ( merely because i thought he was going to juggle since he had bowling pins on the floor) started his act by stating that he certianly wouldn't be juggling. Right. And he didn't. He proceed to do all sorts of shoulder dislocating as went through a coat hanger and got himself out of a straight jacket. It was pretty disgusting, but he was quite funny. At one point he said something offensive about Americans, and then was like " ohh sorry to all the americans in the audience" "Do we have any americans?" " raise you hands" "no americans?" So finally, i thought, ok sir, you obviously have some jokes set up, so i will be nice and help you out. I raised my hand and kind of waved as in "yes, yes. hello. yes. over here", and my friend, embarrassed, did the same. So he went through his american jokes and was happy. This including asking us : "are you on holiday?....or have you just come to learn the language?" I strongly resisted the desire to shrug, look confused, and shout out in french : "je ne comprends pas.." (i don't understand) or "ich nicht verstehen" im deutsch. Instead i just nodded to the learning the language part and let people go on thinking we are stupid. The people had a good time, and i certainly didn't care. But i did not give him money at the end, because i think i gifted him enough.
and i am cheap.

The river fest allowed us to see some places that we may want to go back to eventually. For example; the clink prison museum, southwark cathedral, a replication of sir francis drakes ship, a naval musuem on the ship which think was called the HMS Belfast (?), and a few little shops or pubs.

We walked the Thames from the Tower Bridge to the Westminster Bridge, and by the time we were done we were happy to be done walking, but happier because we had a fantastic time. I of course had an ice cream cone, since i saw approximately 25 ice cream vans on the way. I had no chance.

We came home, rested a bit, waited for the rest of the people to come back from a trip, and then left for the pub near us at 8 in order to aquire some nourishment. We hung out there for a while, came back home, wasted some more time, and eventually i went to sleep.

Right now i am headed for Hyde Park to acquire a guide to the open house as well as attend the "Horseman's Sunday" event. This is a yearly event where over 100 horses and riders are blessed after the sunday mass. It should be quite interesting. After that, i am going to see how many buildings i can fit in before heading back to the River to see a free play and watch fireworks on the River.

Go an boil your bottoms you empty headed food trough wipers

(photos: me scolding the fake pageboy at the Sherlock Holmes museum; me and the snazzy, dignified old man who worked there; Holmes study that i want to have in my house one day; handing an oil lamp to fake figures; i make a rather striking detective,yeah?)

I got some money back by returning a book that I apparently do not need for class, and then I promptly spent it at the bookstore across the street on tickets to a lecture series featuring Rupert Everett ( of the Importance of Being Earnest and My Best Friend’s Wedding fame). That takes place on Wednesday, though the book comes out on Monday. Hopefully he doesn’t expect us to have it read by Wednesday, because i must say that that may be a bit far fetched.

On the way back to school I saw some friends who were going to the Sherlock Holmes Museum down the street from the college ( we live right by Baker Street so many things are Sherlock themed). So I turned right around , paid my 6 quid and went into the museum that is set up exactly as Sherlocks house is described in the books. I wish I had read more of them, because it looked as though it would have been even more fun if I caught all the book references. Holmes’ study is the perfect room. I want to one day have a room just like it. Then I will live a happy life. My friends and I took a number of silly photos with the various lifesize figures of criminal and victims. More exciting though, was taking a photo wth a suit wearing, bowler derby clad, white haired, moustached man who worked there. I wanted to buy a deerstalker hat, but since I don’t want any restraining orders from woodland creatures, I refrained. For a very small museum, it was a lot of fun, my dear Watsons.

Finally, we watched monty python and the holy grail, because some people I know here have not seen it and I fully believe that that should be a box you need to fill out on the immigration form to get in. You should not be admitted entrance into the fine country of England unless you can recite at least one line from the French Taunter. Now go away, you sons of a silly person.

Hi ya

(photos: me on a horse statue...not sure that's allowed..; me friend and i in the museum store trying on masks; the musuem- not the most architecturally exciting, though exciting on the inside)
Started off the day by finally working up the gall to go against my religion and interrupt people in the midst of their work. I hate interrupting people, and more then that, I hate making scenes. But you will be happy to know that a scene ensued when I asked for the chef guy because half the people there seemed to not know who he was (?). So yes, I was successful in gaining the cd. The whole ordeal was worth it though, because Ray LaMontagne is now at the top of my favorite musicians list. And I have been listening to him nonstop sicne I got it. It's unfortunate that i just found out about him, since his two London shows in October are sold out.

Directly after this event, we left for the museum of London for the Civ of London class, and though we did not have much time there it was very interesting. I will most certainly be going back. A museum dedicated entirely to London? You can’t get too much better than that. Although, they seemed to have a rather unnecessarily large collection of flint and flint tools….so I may bypass that section when I return , because, believe it or not, there is a point where one loses interest in flint. And if I lost interest in it, that says a lot. I am pretty easily amused.

Since I am a silly person, I led a series of slightly inane photo taking, which would have made a scene if people were there. Luckily they were not. We took a few photos in the gift shop, and a few outside the gift shop near/on a statue of a horse. No one seemed to care though ,so that’s good, I don’t like confrontation either.

We got back to school with just enough time to run to my next class which was theatre, where we found out the plays we will be going to see. The next is Moon for the Misbegotten at the Old Vic Theatre starring Kevin Spacey. So that should be exciting.

My friends were all going to see a free play called Cyclops that they needed to see for class , and they told me to go along. But I chose to eat dinner and plan out some stuff I wanted to see in London / England instead. They may be going back Sunday so I might go then. I really need to get ontop of this things I want to do list, so that I do the things I want. I did find out a few important things, which helped me plan out Saturday. There is a rather exciting river race on the thames in the morning, a thames river festival with a bunch of fun attractions, and the whole weekend is open house weekend. That means that over 600 buildings in London are open to the public for free, including many that do not otherwise admit the public. Hopefully I can take advantage of that, as well.

Everyone seemed to be in the mood to stay up rather late last night, including people who said “stacey lets just stay up til breakfast (8am) “ at which point I paused, laughed at them when I realized they were serious, said “I’m going to bed” and walked away. Before that, we were playing around online with this bogus website that supposedly matches your face structure to that of celebrities. We did two different pictures of me, which provided results that ranged from "oh yeah i can see that" to "hmmm...yeah..no" . My favorite two results were Whoopi Goldberg ( this I can understand because I do have the trademark very dark Polish skin tone, and dreadlocks Oh and I did star in Sister Act) as well as Mel Gibson. Yes. I look like Mel Gibson. This does explain why people often come up to me and ask for an autograph while yelling “ FREEDOM!” and painting half of their face blue. Glad I finally got that cleared up .

So i suppose it does rain in england....

(photos: view of the london eye and the river thames; man who decided to only wear blue and play the guitar...pretty cool actually; the stage at the globe; me at the globe, yeah i got there early and yeah i'm pretty tall, so i apologize to those of you behind me )

Another day of class; quite busy though. I had Renaissance Art at the National Gallery which really is quite nice. We just sit on the floor and look at actual pieces of art, rather than a textbook. How can Fairfield argue with that? I think I shall write to them and tell them I will not be coming back til graduation. I am sure they will have no qualms with this plan.

Since my theatre class was supposed to go to the globe tonight, i wound up just staying out and not returning to school to eat or do anything. I wandered around St. James Park, which is close to Buckingham Palace, and has assorted waterfowl. I just took a quick walk around the lake, while watching people feed birds and scare pigeons, before going down by the Houses of Parliament.

I walked all along the River Thames, which i suggest everyone do at some point in your life. It really is quite beautiful, as well as ...interesting. You will find many street performers/ performance art type people. I am not sure how to describe them exactly, but there were two people painted entirely in gold and silver and posed as statues. If you give them change they go into their little routine to thank you and provide a photo opportunity, then they slip right back to the pose. I watched as an old woman went to go take a photo with the pirate man and became very confused when he took handcuffs off his belt and put them on her. surprise surprise old lady, watch out for that.

After walking for a rather long time down the Thames, i finally came to the Globe Theatre. Apparently no stores exist near the Globe that sell sandwiches. So i ate a muffin for dinner. Here is my advice for you: Don't eat muffins for dinner. However, the play was superfantastic. Comedy of Errors does not seem too exciting when you read it, but seeing it was a totally different experience. The actors were quite talented and really brought out the comedy without the errors. The only down side was that it rained for the last half of the show (2 or 3 acts?),and seeing as we had the groundlings tickets, we were under the nonexistent part of the roof. But no worries, other than me getting soaked and the contents of my purse getting a bit damp, i did not mind. Well, it was actually a thunderstorm...but the actors did very well working with the distracted audience and the loud weather. You'll find there is a lot of interplay between the audience and the actors at the Globe which certainly adds to the performance. In Comedy of Errors, there are a few lines where one character keeps saying" and where is ____?" and the other responds accordingly...eventually he comes to a long pause..and an audience member just yelled something out that would fit in. I believe this happens often but for some reason tonight, the main character had a bit of trouble regaining his composure, which of course, made everyone laugh much harder. All in all it was a superb performance. I am now going to read my waterlogged book and try to sleep.