Power Paris Finale

photos: laura and i eating our angelina's pain au chocolat on the balcony

...So we get to the hotel and ask for our key , "trente-et-un" and the man at the desk says "trente-et-un?" and we say "oui." He proceeds to then ask for name, tell me we are no longer in trente-et-un and that we are now in room soixante-et-un. Huh.
Nonono sir, we were in 31 already; we stayed there last night; all of our things are scattered about the place.
He apologies and repeats 61.
Laura says: no. our stuff? all of stuff was in 31. we have a different room now?
Man: Yes
LAura: So our things are now in this room?
Man: yes
LAura: so we're in a new room and you've moved all of things there and now someone else is in 31?
Man: Yes
Us:...uhh... merci?

Then we traipse up to the sixth floor to find our new room... which has only one bed? i see. But at least it had a balcony and a nicer shower. We think some tricky things were done. However, when i looked on the ticket it said "room type: standard twin/double," which we though meant the pricing, though i suppose they could swing it to mean one room of each. Anyway, i don't know enough french to argue it, so we dealt with it.

We woke up early once more in order to walk down the Champs d'elysee, a very large, shopping friendly street. Since it was Sunday, most shops were closed, but we were able to get croissants and that's really all that matters. At the end of the street is l'Arc de Triumphe, which is QUITE large. We had some trouble getting over to the island area where the arch was, despite the rather obvious sign nearby. We eventually found said sign and went under the crazy traffic to walk right up to the arch. Since we were tired and in a bit of a rush, we did not go up the arch.
This was the end of power paris.

We walked back, stopped at Angelina's for a pain au chocolat, and walked back up to, not 31, no, but 61. After packing up all of our things, we went out on the balcony and at our delicious pastries in the beautiful weather. Shortly thereafter we bade adieu to the Frenchies at the desk , turned in our key, and took the bus to the airport. While waiting for the drug sniffing dog to finish excitedly sniffing everyone and everything in sight, we saw Dave Coleman and co. again, for apparently they were two seats behind us on this flight. The flight went very quickly ( we don't actually get our drink and snack until we start the descent), though at the end everyone got a bit concerned about the sobriety of our pilot. There was a bit of swaying, but i think we just hit a wierd pocket of wind as we landed. The man next to me seemed less than pleased...

I was so excited to be back home in London, and hearing a loud cockney accent telling a woman to "go down those stairs over there ,love..." was like music to my still popping ears.

Power Paris Part Deux

(photos chronologically go in order from bottom to top,but i'll caption them this way:cat in the wonderful bookshop; the outside of the bookshop/library that i believe was run by brits, since it was mainly english; rose window in notre dame; laura and i at notre dame; the nave of notre dame; stained glass window in st. chappelle; me in the st chappelle; rose window in st. chappelle that apparently depicts armageddon; van gogh painting; laura and i in the musee d'orsay; le jardin de tullieries, le louvre; i've upset the lion; the code of hammurabi; venus; me; me outside le louvre)

Saturday, the second day of the Parisian trip, was the quintessential Power Paris day, since we saw pretty much every important place in Paris. We awoke nice and early, stopped at Angelina's to get some croissants and went straight to the Louvre. Somehow, we managed to see a good deal of the Louvre in about 2 hours. This included the Mona Lisa (La Jaconde), the code of hammurabi, the venus de milo, the winged victory of samothrace (nike), the napolean apartments, the wedding feast at cana by veronese, and conveniently one of the paintings of the battle of san romano by paolo uccello that happened to coincide with the topic of my art history paper. It is a hugely impressive musuem, and it happened to not be very crowded. We did not have to wait in line for the Mona Lisa, though they do have a huge are roped off. Everyone kept telling me how disappointing it was, but i did not find it so at all. I guess since i knew it was relatively small and dark i knew what i was getting myself into. Still, it was pretty cool to see it in person, though it took a while for it to set in. I often see these hugely important works of art or buildings and i just cannot grasp the magnitude of it, so i takes a bit for me to realize that i was actually there.

After the Louvre, we had a quick lunch at a cafe in le jardin de tullieries (luckily, it was a beautiful day saturday). We both had crepes as well: laura had chocolate and i had "creme de marron", or "chestnuts". It was quite good, but i am more of a croissant person myself.

The musee d'orsay was not a far walk, and we made it there at just about the time we had planned. Interestingly enough, the Musee D'Orsay was a large train station that has been fashioned into a museum to hold a number of impressionist paintings. Well it had other things too, but i was mainly interested in the impressionists. There were probably about 40 Monets, including a bunch from the waterlilies series and two of the woman with the parasol (dont know the actual name of that). There were a few Van Goghs as well, and the musuem allowed photography without the flash, so i took a bunch of photos. Laura tried to take a photo of every Monet there so that she could show her mom; she gave up when we hit the fourth room full of Monet paintings.

We left the museum half of the day behind and moved onto the second part: churches! The St. Chappelle closed earlier, so we went there first and waited in line for a bit. I was not sure what the St. Chappelle was until i got inside and saw a church literally covered in stained glass. It was then that i realized i had studied, and been tested on, this structure in my art history class last year. Right. I am a bad student. Each of the 15 sections of stained glass represented something from the Bible, and the large rose window at the end apparently told the story of the armageddon. I did not realize horses were involved in the end of the world, but that's because i am a bad catholic. The St. Chappelle was absolutely stunning, but since it was full of people, and it was a church, it employed a professional shush-er to keep it at a respectable noise level. Everytime the buzz grew too loud you would a very loud: "SSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH! Respectez le silence!" A bit hypocritical i think. Let's respect the silence of the church by YELLING at everyone to respect the silence of the church. It amused me. I wonder how much shushers get paid...

After this we headed over to Notre Dame, which happened to be having a service at the time. It was a bit crowded, as i assume it normally is, but it was quite special to be able to walk around while listening to the choir. I maintain that music is more important than most people make it out to be. I have been in a countless number of churches and cathedrals, all built and decorated in the most magnificent and ornate fashion to honour God; and the first time i felt a remotely religious experience was in Notre Dame, solely because of the music.

After Notre Dame we headed over to the Quartier Latin, stopping at this intriguing bookshop on the way. It was called "Shakespeare and Company" and must have been run by British people since the majority of th books were in English, not French. The bottom level was a new and used book store, with books covering, quite literally, every inch of the store. The building apparently used to be a monastery and it is quite old, though i don't remember exactly. Towards the back corner is this tiny, narrow, steep staircase which leads up to the "library" section of the building. Apparently you can go upstairs into any of the rooms, sit down on a chair or bed, and read old books til your heart is content. Watch out for the cat though, i got quite a dirty look when he came into the room and found me sitting on his chair. So i got up, and then he was happy again. This bookstore alone makes me want to move to Paris for at least a short period, but i won't, since i am going to live here in England for the rest of my life.

We walked about the Quartier Latin buying scarves and looking in stores for about an hour before we chose a restaurant. I had beouf bourginon for dinner with the most delicious creme brulee for dessert. It was all relatively cheap, though i considered the whole city to be very inexpensive, which is not normal. Life is not as it should be if you go into one of the more expensive cities in the world and think "wow this is cheap!" See what London has done to me?

We had planned on going to a jazz club that night, but they didnt start til very late and we were tired. So we went back to the hotel fairly early...

Power Paris Pictures

(photos here since the other post wasnt working:laura and i at angelina's with our hot chocolate; le croque monseiur; laura with the hot chocolate; me with my hot chocolate and whipped cream; view of the seine from the eiffel tower; eiffel tower; it is windy; several other other views from the tower)

Power Paris!

I suppose i should really go back to this whirlwind weekend that was Paris. Power Paris, if you will. So let's travel back to the weekend of 6 october to 8 october 2006:

After 4 hours of sleep, i wake up at 4:45, grab my backpack and my camera batteries and run downstairs confusing everyone on the way. You see, the school was also running a trip to Edinburgh that weekend that happened to leave at very similar time in the morning, so the few people i met along the way told to that i was late and needed to run to catch the bus. I said thanks, gave a one sentence explanation why this did not concern me, and set out towards Laura's dorm. That was a nice sleepy 30 minutes of walking in the dark. We got on the tube for the one hour ride towards heathrow, after purchasing a nice loaf of bread and some water. Nothing like a good hearty English breakfast...

When we got to Heathrow and found the Air France section, some tall kid walks up to me and says "hey stacey". I was quite confused for a few seconds, until i realized that it is the one and only Dave Coleman (who i've gone to school with since Nutswamp). He is studying in London as well, and i hadn't actually seen him at all until this random rendevous at an airport. Well, it turned out that Laura and I were sitting directly behind him and his friends on the plane. They however, chose to stay in a hostel (which was an option i did not see on the website);whereas we were staying in l'Hotel Marigny. More on that later.

We parted ways at the Charles De Gualle airport as Laura and i went in search of the "Rossibus" to take us into actual Paris. As we drove along, i came to the conclusion that i find all mass transit extremely soporific, and merely stepping foot in one alerts my brain that it is now sleepytime.


Our hotel is apparently run by a very angry type of bald bespectacled man who simply glared at us for the entire checking in process. Tres gentil, n'est ce pas? So we dropped our bags in room 31 (keep that number in mind), which was a nice little room with two twin beds, a desk, a tv, and a built in bathroom, and went on our way.

Lunch was at the lovely Angelina's, which Laura had been to before. The line was out the door so i took that as a good sign. It was quite a tease in line as we stood there shifting weight, stomachs growling, and stared at the hundreds of pastries and chocolates surrounding us. Cruel, I tell you. Finally, we get a table upstairs, which was quite lovely, and we order our French food. I got a croque monsieur, which turned out to be surprisingly delicious. If you are unfamiliar with the croque monsieur it is a delightful sandwich made of slices of ham, covered with a creamy cheese, encased in two thick slices of wonderful white bread, topped with some more cheese and heated up. MMMmm french food. After our lunch, we got some of the famous hot chocolate, which, we maintain, is actually just expensive chunks of fancy chocolate melted down into a drinkable form. It was very rich, as one might expect, but it was very tasty.

After Angelina's we made our towards the Eiffel Tower by using the supposedly good, but actually confusing metro system. We had some confusion as to whether or not we could walk all the way to the top so we decided to take the elevator. This turned out to be a great decision because it was cold and windy and there were many, many stairs. The lift took us up quite far, and it was exciting because we were right next to someone who was freaking out. Here is my suggestion to all people: if you are deathly afraid of something, do not try to publicly confront it on a day with the worst possible conditions. Hence i do not fly to Kansas in search of tornadoes. It is common sense my friends.Anyway, we land on the first level and leave frightened girl and frightened girls peer pressuring friend behind.

The view at this level was quite impressive, but not good enough for us! So on we go; another lift to level 2. Glorious as well, but no! Not acceptable! We want to feel the sway of the building; fight against the wind to walk; we want to feel alive! (put in triumphant background music here) To the top, I daresay! To the top!

At last, we arrive at the highest possible point of the Tower that visitors are permitted to stand on. We look around as the wind whips by, and realize we're very high. Luckily neither of us are afraid of heights. We took many many photos, including some daring ones by holding our arms out through the barrier in order to get shots of the base of the Tower. The view was fantastic, despite the less than perfect weather, and we left quite pleased with our Eiffel Tower visit.

After this, it was fairly late in the day so we decided to set off for dinner. We had planned on going to this place Laura had been, and after much running through the rain, it turned out to be quite different and full. Now that we were fully soaked to the bone, we decided to just go into some random cafe and get any food at all. So we did that, bought some cookies on the way back, and returned to the hotel. This new man at the desk this time was quite pleasant, and he handed us our key with a "Bonsoir!" After killing a package of cookies while watching some French American Idol type show, we went to sleep in preparation for Saturday, certainly the most powerful day of Power Paris.

two plays in three days: thats the life

(photos: christopher sieber and i, he is quite tall actually, i think he may be slouching a bit; tim curry signing things!; tim curry and i !!!!!!!!( i didnt even think he was smiling in said photo, but laura ensured it))
Monday, i was so glad to be back in london, though i kept having to check myself from saying "pardon" to everyone on the tube, instead of "excuse me."
I had a trip to Covent Garden for my architecture class, which was great because somehow i seemed to have missed this though i had walked entirely around it. There are some fun little shops and stands that i did not have a chance to look at, but i will return on another day when i am not following around my quick professor while he rolls his bike along.

After this, i went to a play entitled the 39 Steps for my theatre class. The 39 Steps was originally a suspenseful book by John Buchan ( which i am reading, but have not finished). The book was adapted into a movie by the great Alfred Hitchcock ( same title, but some large alterations were made). The play is an adaptation of Hitchcock's movie, however, it is done by a cast of fou people who play over 130 roles throughout the show.

It was absolutely hilarious, in a farcical, fast paced, silly, British kind of way; and i was very impressed with the acting. I can talk more about this but it is really not exciting unless you have seen it or are particularly interested in this sort of thing. I loved it though,and i would certainly go recommend it if you ever see it being produced somewhere. In addition to having particularly good seats, this was also the first play i went to with class that i didn't have to write a paper on.

Tuesday was paper writing.

Wednesday, Laura and i wound up going to Spamalot. We bought tickets on monday. We are fans of spontenaiety, apparently. Somehow we were able to get seats in row k of the stalls, which meant we were quite close and could see everything in this fairly small theatre. Now although Spamalot will never be the same amazing wonderful fantastic experience that it was the first time with the original cast, it was still very enjoyable. Tim Curry and Christopher Sieber were still in it, though the rest of the cast was unfamiliar. I was somewhat surprised to find out that they changed a good deal of the musical, including the addition of new bits of song and the editing of old songs. Such as changing the song "you won't succeed on broadway" to "you won't succeed in show biz" and talking about the West End rather than broadway. Many things were made a bit more English, of which i approved. It was also cool to see the set, which remained the same for the most part, though had to be adjusted for this different stage. Anyone, i am obsessed with Spamalot and it was magnificent, despite the fact that i am now sad since i will probably never see it again.

Tim Curry sounded especially great, and Christopher Sieber (the dad on that olsen twins show i used to watch: Two of a Kind) seemed to have a bit more confidence with the role than last time. Both were amazing. Laura and i decided it was neccessary to stalk them outside the stage door...but we had planned on doing that all along. So with cameras and programs in hand, we joined the queue of people around the side of the building which consisted of ...two people. About 20 people wound up being there in the end, so we made sure we had good positions. I have noticed that the London actors have this tricky exit plan: a few big steps out of the building, they smile and wave, they sign autographs for two people in the front, take two more big steps, two more autographs, then run away. It is a sneaky strategy and i commend them.

These two did the same, in essence, though no one knew who christopher sieber was, so when he left he kind of smiled and looked around for a moment before he started to leave. I was brave and said "Mr. Sieber" to get his attention; so he came over for a photo and autograph. He was a very nice man...i think he may be from new jersey too. Then Tim Curry came out about 5 minutes later and everyone clapped. He signed a couple of autographs but seemed in a hurry. I managed to get a picture since laura is fantastic, though he did not seemed very pleased with people asking for pictures. He was quite nice, but obviously is not into the meeting fans/ signing things/ taking photos as much as Jeff Goldblum is. But still, i met Tim Curry, star of Clue and the Rocky Horror Picture show and other things fantastic. This pleases me .

Important things forgotten from Thursday

Right. So. Not sure how i forgot about this, since i truly embarrased myself in front of a video camera and three people i don't know. My friends and i found out about this audition for a game show that was looking for american people living in london. I still don't know exactly what it is about, but i think it is a Who Wants to Be a Millionare- esque, make fun of stupid americans type game show. So of course i need to try out. Laura, Rebecca, Rebekah, Ashley, and i went over to the American Church (how apropos) on Tottenham Court Street, and walked down the stairs to this room where two ladies were conducting interviews.

First we had to take a written test that was seemingly eay, but actually a bit hard. So what if i don't know the difference between a Harley Davidson and a chopper? That doesn't make me a bad american. oh wait. it does. Really though, all that matters is the fact that the first question had four photos of male celebrities and asked: Which star of The Lost Boys is Donald Sutherland's son? I got very excited and circled Kiefer about three times. That must be a good sign.

Then we had our video interview in which we discussed some of our answers to the personal questions on the test. Mine was fine until they came to the unusual talents section. No one else wrote down unusual talents. I did. I wrote down that i could do a number of bird noises, and make a face that looks like a monkey. I was going to leave it at that since that is really enough awkwardness in itself; however, my friends all said they would no longer be friends with me if i didn't write down the exact phrase " i can do a mean tom jones". So after much deliberation, i wrote it down , thinking they would just ask me to perform one of the unusual talents (bird noises) and move on.

I have never been so wrong. The interviewers got so excited that i wrote down any unusual talents at all, that they not only made me do bird noises (pigeon, chicken, turkey), but they specifically asked about my Tom Jones singing.

What is one to do in this sort of situation?

Hence, i sang "She's a Lady" into a recording device in front of completer strangers. I transitioned quickly into a line from "What's New Pussycat" just to jazz things up a bit. Nice little medley. Though the interviewers seemed to enjoy it, and my friends certainly had a good time, it was a "what just happened?" type of moment. The interviewers then told me to go try out for Mamma Mia which was holding auditions upstairs. I declined. My friends are convinced i will make it on the show (though i would have found out by now i think). I am convinced i will now be part of the promo for the show as the stupid american.

So if you see a clip of a tall awkward girl singing like a Welsh man.... it's me.

Sunday , Monday, the rest of the week

(photos: flag on top of guildhall; inside of guildhall facing where the Aldermen would sit; the fun music boxes along the Thames)

So Sunday was fairly boring, at least i think it was since i legitmately cannot recall what i did. it must have been a homework day. Those are a bit of a waste, and have been happening too frenquently lately.

Monday, my theatre class went to the see The Alchemist at the National Theatre. It is an updated version of Ben Jonson's play, though the good old fashioned confusing words are all the same. Simon Russel Beale ( the man who took over for Tim Curry in Spamalot) and Alex Jennings were both in it, and they were undeniably great. They made the whole play, which could have easily been dull and boring, into some hilarious fun through the use of voice, costumes, and clever updating. Unfortunately i had to write a seminar paper on this, so i put a bit too much energy into focusing on the design (set, lights, sound, etc), but still enjoyed myself.

Also, there was this ingenious artistic installment along the Thames which we passed on the way to the theatre. A bunch of electronical boxes with images of different instruments on them were placed on a platform in the order of an orchestra. Every time a person sat on one, that box would play its part of the song, and the more people who joined in, the more complete the song was. It was really fun and brought people together in some sort of strange way. I liked to sit on the odd instruments, like the tuba, which made quite some noise. A few people would laugh when it started and look around to see where the noise was coming from. At that moment i would smile and nod, in a "yeah, thats me " kind of way. London is fun. Which is why i need to live here forever.

Monday night was workign on papers. Tuesday i went to the Guidlhall with my civ of london class, and found out all about the mayor and London government and all. It's interesting, but i will not recount it all here, seeing as it is in my notes already. Ask if you would like you know further information about anything i write, and i will try to supply it.

Wrote and read some more Tuesday night. Wednesday, went to the Victoria and Albery museum for my Renaissance Art class. I think i should transfer. I mean, really, what does Fairfield do? One trip to the Met? Art history class should be held in museums and theatre class should be held in theatres. This is what i am doing now, and this is interesting and fun. Let's keep it up, i say. Also on Wednesday, Laura and i decided to book tickets to paris...for Friday morning. Right. More on that later. Thursday was some more work as well as a bit of a pilgrimage to see The Man Who Sold The World, starring then none other than young David Bowie. My friends Rebekah and Adam came with me to the farthest tube stop on the line in order to see it on the big screen, which was certainly worth it .Pretty strange movie, but i enjoyed it. So after the crazy Bowie experience ( he is actually extremely good in this movie) we came back, i slept, for Paris was in the morning!

Apologies for the delays

Due to massive amounts of schoolwork (seriously now, this was not part of the original plan), and trips and things, i have fallen very behind. i apologize, but stay tuned for accounts of : Stonehenge and Salisbury, the play the Alchemist, the weekend in Paris,the play The 39 Steps, and things to come this week. Thanks for not getting annoyed and check back for updates since i may find time here and there. cheers

Stonehenge and Salisbury

(my photos are being difficult, and refuse to load anyomre. so yes, for now we have: stonehenger, salisbury cathedral's "garth" - the green area inside the cloisters; laura and i at salisbury cathedral; and view of the cloisters/garth)
So Saturday, the parents left, and I went off on a trip to Stonehenge (which is in fact 2 and half hours away, not one a half). I started off the day watching the Eddie Izzard’s skit on Stonehenge, which I then proceeded to recite for the rest of the day, either on command or for my own amusement. It was interesting as we drove, because we kept seeing signs for Stonehenge with a symbol next to it. Now I am entirely sure, but I think this is an official “henge” symbol… at least I would like to think it is.

We drive up in our bus of tourists , look outside the window, and there it is. Stonehenge. “The greatest henge in the world.” It was surreal. I hopped out of the bus and ran to go see the sheep across from the parking lot because I was being impatient while people used the loo. That an I have never seen sheep before. Oh wait, I work on a farm. They looked very peaceful and sheepish. (That oh-so-clever play on words was for Ray Molski). Finally everone was armed with cameras and ready to go to the henge. We had to pass through a turnstile, and go up a ramp, which I must say took away from things a bit. It would have been a greater experience if you were dropped off a mile away and had to hike there, but I do understand why it’s necessary to have all this other stuff.

You cannot go right up to the rocks anymore, as you may know, because of hooligans and ruffians who thought it clever to graffiti the stones and chip pieces off. Well done lads. Talk about ruining it for everyone. It was still incredible, though. Quite mystical as well, actually. We began the circle around it and immediately started taking pictures. Stonehenge was not, in fact, built by the Druids, as many people are led to believe. The stones were put up a significant number of years before Druids existed, so it is still very strange and intriguing. The Druids do use it occasionally for solstice rituals, and they are the only people still allowed to go in among the stones on special occasions. Apparently there are many other henges around the area, and it is also the area where the most crop circles appear each year (hundreds apparently). I had no idea crop circles occurred so frequently, but it is a bit creepy. Make of it what you will. I am afraid I don’t buy into the aliens idea, though.

Originally on the site was a wooden henge, but when that began to rot , it was replaced by large stones brought in from Wales, perhaps rolled over on logs. Large holes were dug in the ground for the upright stones, and they may have made a sort of ramp to slide it into the hole, then prop it up and repack the soil. The lintel (top) has two indentations carve out which allow the two stubs of rock on top of the posts to slide in, thus securing the structure as well as one can. Some stones have fallen, and some have been replaced due to damage.

As we walked around and made comments and jokes the sky started to darken significantly. We heard a low rumble of thunder and saw a flash of lightening off in the distance, and a slow drizzle started. In a matter of minutes the sky opened up and it began pouring. Not a nice English shower. No, this is monsoon weather. Wind whipped, umbrellas inverted, people scattered, I laughed.

I shall be honest, it was a bit odd. Very Stonehenge-esque., Very “ah – uh – ah –oh- ah.” ( that was mystical music)

So we protected the cameras, took a few more photos, then got onto the bus soaked to the bone right as it was time to go.This provided a pleasant ride to Salisbury, where it stopped raining in a bout 5minutes. Interesting…

We passed a nice outdoor market, where I bought some handmade English moccasins for four pounds. What a fantastic buy; I am happy I treated myself. Then we went in search of food, finally choosing a rather crowded Italian restaurant, where I sat in my more than damp jeans and ate delicious minestrone soup and bruschetta. We passed on dessert and went to Salisbury Cathedral down the street.

Now i am sure i learned about this at some point in my career as an art history major, but seeing as i am terrible person, i don't remember any of it. I think it has something to do with Salisbury Cathedral having the highest spire of any English church, and also the vast amount of sculpture. yeeahh. that sounds about right. Well anyway, it was lovely and magnificent, but has been undergoing construction since 1986. And will continue until 2015. That's some slow repairing, but i am sure it needs it. It is quite big and old.

We left that in time to grab some chocolate from a chocolate shop and get back onto the bus, still wet, but overall happy. at least i was. I put on moccasins and slept for most of the ride home. When we got back, Laura and i ordered chinese food (which was actually quite tasty) and watched a couple episodes of A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry's sketch show from back in the day. it was quite hilarious, and i reccommend it to all of you.

my favourite new quote from it is when Stephen Fry was bored and began to say increasingly sarcastic comments, until finally, he just paused after one sentence and yelled " OH THATS INTERESTING!" that is my new thing to do now. so beware

Windsor Castle and Eton

(photos: windsor castle and some gardens; windsor castle courtyard; guards at the castle and a gate; two castle and flower photos. go ahead, ponder the juxtaposition. I like it; eton college and henry viii; streets of windsor/eton ; me in front of a building at eton; more castle)

On Friday, my parents and i decided to go to Windsor Castle, which also happened to be the day that one of the art history classes from here went on a field trip. As we got off the train, i spotted my friends, and very creepily stalked them and said hello. Then we parted for a while.

The parents and i went to the chapel first, which was quite fantastic, complete with elaborate gothic ribbed vaults and a good number of decorative bosses. We took the audio tour, so i did actually learn a lot about everything , i just don't remember since i have not had time to write. We saw the areas for the Knights of the Garter in the choir of the chapel, which included a little statue like area for each of them that had a helmet with a symbol on top, as well as a sword and a plaque. It was pretty cool, because apparently as a knight of the garter you get to pick your own symbol. I shall now design my own symbol just in case i ever become one..by marrying royalty, or doing some great deed for england, since i think that is how its done. While in the cloisters of the chapel, we were somehow introduced to an artist whose work was being exhibited at the time. i accidentally made eye contact with the woman who worked there, and she immediately took that as a sign to say , " hellohowareyou thisistheartist of all the paintings" and gestured towards him. So thats awkward, but we said hello and wound up talking to him for about 15 minutes about his stuff ( which was quite good) and art in general. As we went to leave, my architecture teacher, who at the time didnt know my name, walked by on his way to secure a group entry for the aforementioned class. So i said hello, and he looked very confused; however, the next time i saw him he asked if i was with my parents and if they bought me fancy dinner and expensive things when they came. Apparently that is his view on parental visits.

After the chapel we made our way to the State Rooms and Queen Mary's Doll House. The doll house was a replica of the actual state rooms, complete with furniture and tiny oil paintings created by the artists of the real paintings in the rooms. It was beautiful, and i cannot imagine how a painter was able to paint something that small. They must have used toothpicks, my brush of choice for small paintings. She also had some dolls with fancy outfits, which were nice, but essentially creepy.

The state rooms were absolutely magnificent. You werent allowed to take photos or i would have shown you. Some of the highlights for me were the rooms with all the elaborate weaponry. That sounds sadistic, i know, but i viewed it as an art installment as well, because of the way they displayed the rifles and swords on the wall. Things overlapped, patterns were created, it was good work, i appreciated it. I think that would be such a fantastic job. Maybe i will apply to be a weapons arranger. There was also a Great Hall, which was great, mind you, and was the main location of any banquets or feasts held by the royal family. I forgot what this other room was called, but it was a huge room absolutely covered in gold carvings. I assume the ornamentation is wood covered in gold leaf, but i never asked anyone..so i guess i'll never know...

After finishing up the castle, we headed over to Eton, and wound up getting to Eton College right after the last tour took off. This was a bit disheartening. But, what? ho! in the distance! a lady coming to catch us up with the tour! There was much rejoicing. She had a bit of trouble finding them though, but she decided to take us up into the area overlooking their Great Hall where the King's Scholars dine. The regular tour doesn't even get this, so it was quite a treat. We did eventually catch up, and found out things about the college that i never knew. Granted i went into the experience with very little knowledge. Our tour guide was a little old british lady who told fantastic stories of how the boys would get together at night after their curfew and fashion a stage and proscenium arch out of their beds so they could make a stage to put on plays. Apparently they were told to go to bed at 7, so obviously they amused themselves somehow. Eton was really quite nice, and i wish i could go there, but seeing as i am not a boy, i may have some difficulty. Though i did find out that you don't have to British to go there, of which i was unaware.

After Eton , we took the train back to the hotel area, and went to this place nearby called Pizza Organic, where i got the best pasta i have had in a long time. We then got some "sweets from Pauls" as the doorman called them, and went back to the room for tea and sweets.

I eventually left the parents, and returned to Regent's so i could go to sleep fairly early and be up in time for the trip to stonehenge on saturday. It was a good parents week, they wil lbe missed in London.