"Paper faces on parade....Masquerade!"

I had an amazing weekend! Spent way too much money, ate some Texas-style food, and saw my favorite musical!

Daniel came down from Leeds on Thursday evening. We made some pasta and garlic bread for dinner and then went out to a fun club. The next day I had to work, so when I got back home Friday night I was pretty exhausted. The roommates had left for (hopefully sunny) Malta, so we had the flat to ourselves! Woohoo!! We actually decided to take it easy, though, since we were going to have a big night on Saturday. We went and saw a movie at the theater nearby, then just chilled and watched TV for the rest of the night.

The next day, we decided we wanted to see a bit of the City before we went to the play that night. We got dressed up early on so that we could go straight to the play later--see album for outfit courtesy of mom/grandma/camden market (the necklace!). Then we headed toward the Thames to see St. Paul's Cathedral, which is close to the Millennium Bridge. St. Paul's was beautiful both inside and out, but unfortunately we could only take pictures of the exterior. Here's one (there are more in the album):



We walked over to the Millennium Bridge, which is parallel with the London and Tower bridges. It's a metal pedestrian bridge that spans the Thames, and when you're halfway across it you can see St. Paul's at one end and the Tate Gallery at the other. There were vendors selling sweet roasted chestnuts, and the sun was hitting the water at a really pretty angle, so we stopped and took a few pictures. That's St. Paul's from the bridge--funny how it looks more like the American concept of a government building.

                                             here's the Thames with the Sun on its way down...


Once on the other side, we saw the Shakespeare Globe theater. It isn't currently theater season, but they are still doing tours. There weren't any going on at the time we showed up, so we just wandered around. It's a cool wattle-and-daub building which, I'm told, has actually been renovated several times. The gift shop and cafe areas inside seemed pretty new. I got a tiny little unabridged copy of Twelfth Night, my favorite Shakespeare play (we're talking really small - like 2 X 3 inches, kind of like a pocket bible). I definitely want to take a tour of the Globe later, just to hear some of the historical background.  Here's the Globe (so-called because of the round theater seating):



The sun was setting and we wanted to grab a quick bite before the play (we had eaten a late lunch, so we were going to wait until after the play to eat at Texas Embassy). We got a sandwich at Pret a Manger, after catching the tube to Charing Cross and walking across Trafalgar Square into the theater district. Wicked, Phantom, and several other musicals and operas were currently in the area. We went inside Her Majesty's Royal Theater and got our tickets (I bought a program, even though it was 3 pounds....hey, you only see Phantom live in London once!). Then we went upstairs to find our seats. We weren't down in front, but we weren't in the highest balcony--right in the middle, and in the center of our row as well. They were really pretty nice seats.

Phantom was everything I thought it would be! This sounds really corny, but I cried a little bit towards the end. Some of the singing gave me goosebumps, and I've always felt so bad for all the characters....it's one of the few stories I like that doesn't have a strictly happy ending (but not strictly sad either)! Photos were not allowed in the theater but I managed to snap one or two of the chandelier used in the play. 

It gets hoisted up during the Overture at the beginning, then cut down later in the play by the Phantom. It's a very plush, richly decorated theater, the kind with old wood and gilt and red velvet. It was a good temperature for us, but I bet it would get extremely stuffy in the summer--like when were sweating through The Importance of Being Earnest in Dublin. The Phantom was hot. He was Persian. Not that I saw his face...but he sounded hot.

After an amazing play, we decided to try out the Texas Embassy Cantina. It was right around the corner, and had been recommended to us by a fellow London Austinite (Bryan). We were NOT disappointed. First of all, there's a massive Lone Star flag outside the place, and a Mexican one inside. We were immediately served chips and salsa, and were assailed by the sounds of the Dixie Chicks. There were Texan road signs and license plates all over the walls, and I had an amazing sirloin steak with mushroom salsa. Daniel had enchiladas and a Dos Equis, and for dessert we got pecan pie. It was heaven, I tell you. It actually makes me miss Texas a lot.... and I didn't even realize it until now. Anyway, our feet were hurting from our dressy but less-than-comfortable-when-walking-for-ten-hours shoes, so we headed home. Here's our food, though! I was so excited I had to call Mom!



We decided to spend Sunday at the Design Museum. I've been wanting to go here for a while, and it was SO worth it!! It's actually pretty small -- just two floors, with two current exhibits. We're assuming they constantly rotate them out. One exhibit was the "Brit Insurance Designs of the Year 2009." Apparently the core concept behind all of the design ideas is promotion of sustainability, risk reduction, and efficiency. Not sure how some of the things fit into that scheme, but whatever....

There were furniture designs, print/graphic design, architectural models, inventions, fashion design, and even products like a bike that filters water as the rider pedals it back home from its water source. The Obama campaign logo and the famous depression-style Obama "PROGRESS" poster were a couple of the winning graphic design examples, as was the logo for the British show Big Brother and a popular British Airways ad. Not all of the entries were British, though! They were from all over the world. One of the weirdest displays were these "Life Support" systems, featuring a cloned lamb providing dialysis for humans, and a greyhound on a treadmill powering a respirator. It was....pretty odd.



The other exhibit on the next floor down was a tribute to the last decade of work by this Turkish/Cyprian/British designer named Hussein Chalayan. I'd never heard of him before, but he's a fashion designer who also comes up with concept films and projects and likes to present his work in a historical or cultural-displacement context. It was a bit over my head to be honest, but pretty cool. I really can't explain the pictures except verbally, because they're hard to explain. But check them out anyway....and go to the design museum's website for more info.




After seeing both exhibits, we went to the gift shop and I plunked down too much money.... Oh well, though, only live once! I got a book on typography and a book called "1,000 Greetings" with lots of design examples for invitations and greeting cards. I also got a little deck of cards called "Type Trumps," which you use to compete with other people in figuring out the font, year, designer, and weights of various typefaces. I got a DM t-shirt as well, because the logo was really cool -- it looked like something Brittnee would have drawn a tattoo of, very chaotic and graphic-style. I got a postcard for Brit and they even a free tote bag from the Museum because I spent over a certain amount (I won't let you know how much that is, haha....). Here's a picture of my merch(!):




Yay!! It was pretty great and awesome. Daniel bought an Architecture-themed deck of playing cards that had famous buildings on the faces, and we took a few more pictures on the Thames. There's Mom's favorite building, the "Gherkin" (it's the pickle-shaped one on the right, in case you hadn't guessed):



Later that night Daniel and I began planning our trip to Amsterdam and Paris. We've got our flight from Leeds to Amsterdam and our flight home from Paris to London....we're still trying to figure out that middle leg of getting from Amsterdam to Paris, but I have a few leads. I think I'll see if I can look up Samantha while I'm there, since I reeeeally can't get around at all with my 'orrible French.

Hope everyone's doing well in the States! Love you and miss you all!

p.s. all new pictures are in the "London!" album

Romans and Royals and Stones, Oh My!

Hey all!

Time for another update! I hope you guys got to look at some of the pictures-- I won't have nearly enough space to post them all on here.

So, as I said, we went on a day trip last Friday to Stonehenge, Bath, & Windsor Castle. We hopped on a bus from Victoria Station, and we actually had a knowledgeable guide who told us a bit about each location before we got there. She said very quaint british things like "higgledy-piggledy" and had a stuffy accent--she was really funny (unintentionally, I think).

First we went to Windsor Castle, which is said to be Queen Elizabeth's favorite residence. When she was active in Parliament, she used to leave early on a Friday afternoon, drive (by herself) to Windsor for the weekend, and then return to London on Monday (to live at Buckingham Palace during the week). Now that she's older she doesn't move around as much, so she actually wasn't there. Her standard would have been flying on the castle, we were told. Anyway, it was her favorite home, where she has family Christmases and likes to go hunting with her dogs and horses or whatever.

The castle is situated in the town of Windsor, which is small but posh, from what we could see. There was a little Galleria of shops ("Royal" shops), and you could see the castle rising right in the middle of the town, atop a hill. Apparently William the Conquerer had a bunch of castles built around England to keep his subjects in check, but Windsor is the only surviving one. I took some pictures of the castle itself, and a little courtyard garden inside. First, though, you'll see the security we had to go through! Pretty much like the airport, except I didn't have a laptop to take out.








Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures inside the State Rooms, which is where I spent most of the 2-hour stop. I went through Queen Mary's Dolls' House collection--which basically consisted of one MASSIVE dollhouse (about 30-50 rooms) encased in glass that you could look through to see the little miniatures. Some of the rooms were labeled (kitchen, maid's quarters, parlour, king's bedroom, princess's bedroom, etc.). Then there was a gallery room with painted portraits of Prince Charles and the Queen, as well as priceless drawings from the Royal Collection (including a bunch of old Da Vinci drawings).

Then I went through a series of really beautifully decorated private chambers. There were rooms that aren't used anymore (like the king's bed chamber and dressing room), a suite that Napoleon III (I think?) stayed in, with his and his lady's initials on the bed, and a dining room that is still used for state visits. A few rooms were destroyed in a fire in the early 90's, I think, so they used that opportunity to restore them to their original decadent decor. I also saw a suite of Henry VIII's armor; I think that's like the third time I've seen one, in various stages of girth.  (semi-related note: my boss was complaining today that his "gout" was acting up

1 I didn't even know that really happened to modern people, sine I'e only heard of it in the context of Henry. I had to look it up on Wikipedia.)

The castle was pretty cool all in all. I listened to info about most of it on this audio tour guide that came with the entry price. You press a number whenever you walk past a certain sign that has one written on it, and then hold it up to your ear like a phone to learn information about where you're standing.

On my way back through the village and royal shopping centre, I grabbed something at a place called EAT. It makes you think of Urbana Garden but it's actually kind of a posh chain around England (we have several in London, but I'd never had it), similar to Pret a Manger (not bothering to find the accent marks!). I got a really yummy sandwich and a fruit cup with kiwi and pomegranate seeds. As I was walking past the shops I spotted a Jo Malone boutique, which I've ALWAYS wanted to go in. It's a perfumery that lots of celebrities shop at, and if you know about me and perfume then it's pretty self explanatory. She even gave me a free sample of White Jasmine & Mint...in a bag....with a bow..... I have to check this place out in London sometime and explore the smells!




While eating our lunches on the bus, we drove past Ascot. We couldn't see much except for a few white fences and a big statue of a man on a horse (Can't remember who that is...oops), but we were told that on the rare occasions the Queen expresses emotions, it's usually at Ascot--when her horses are doing well or poorly.

About a half hour later we got to Stonehenge. Although it was still a brisk temperature, by this time the sun had come out and Stonehenge looked beautiful and perfect! Just like I'd always imagined...(except, of course, when I was little I always imagined I'd be able to go up and stand by the stones, to compare size. You can actually get like 10 yards away I think...but I'm not the greatest judge of distance). There were pastures all around and sheep bleating in the fields, so it made for a very picturesque setting. It reminded me a bit of Ireland. But then, almost every part of the UK countryside does....

Here are some pictures of The 'Henge:







After that, we drove on to Bath. Bath is the site of several parts of Jane Austen's novels, as it was a very fashionable retreat town during the Georgian period. According to our guide, it went out of fashion for a while but is now becoming extremely popular and trendy again. What drew people there a few centuries ago is the same thing that drew Romans there when they established a post there: the baths! Fed by a hot spring, the Romans were able to direct and enclose a source of warm water to bathe in. It was considered very spiritual, as they didn't know where the water came from or why it was hot. The Celts who worshipped at the springs attributed them to Sulis, the equivalent of Roman goddess Minerva (and Greek goddess Athena) and thought it was imbued with her wisdom. The Romans kept the reference and named the town Aquae Sulis and built a sacred spring and temple to Minerva.

Then, in the 1800's, many British elite viewed it as a health spa destination. They thought various chronic ailments could be cured and general well-being enhanced with enough hot baths...but I don't think it usually worked like that. (What was that weird movie set back in the early 1900's about that? I can't remember...but I vaguely recall seeing something about it...)

Anyway, here are some pictures of the baths:







The steam was actually rising from them, and when you stuck a hand in it was definitely warm. There was also a museum attached that had a model of Bath and several restored mosaics, floor tiles, and other artifacts. The city itself was beautiful, especially when we were around there at sunset. There's lots of Roman architecture, white buildings, fancy shops, and gorgeous vistas from the hilltops. We got VERY little time there compared to how much I would have liked to spend (and nothing at all to do with Jane Austen!), so I think I'll probably arrange to go back.

The rest of the weekend I felt pretty yucky and had a headache, but it's pretty much better now. I'm trying to cut down on the Red Bull (I'm embarrassed to say that yeah, I drink them now....I can't stand that much tea like everyone else drinks in the morning here).

This weekend, my roommates are going to Malta. They were trying to find someplace warm and cheap but I don't think it's really going to be that warm there...we are still in the Northern hemisphere in February, after all. Daniel's coming down tomorrow (Thursday) night since he has no class on Fridays. I have to work a half day on Friday (don't HAVE to--but offered to, since our other designers will all be gone), but then we'll do something that night, as well as Saturday and Sunday.

And on Saturday night.........*drumroll, please*.......we are going to watch a live performance of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA!!!!!!! Yes!! It's a favorite musical of both Daniel's and mine, and it's being put on at Her Majesty's Royal Theatre. It's supposed to be one of the most elaborate productions of the show in terms of costuming and sets. I don't want to talk about how much I paid for it, but it's SO worth it because I've wanted to see this musical and I wanted to see a live production in London. Now I'm killing two birds with one stone, and doing it with someone who appreciates my Phantom passion!!! The current actors playing Christine and the Phantom are the youngest ever to play them, I think, so that will be interesting.

Don't forget to look at my photo album for other pictures of Stonehenge, Bath, Windsor, and Wales! (See previous entry for link).

Pictures!!

Further descriptions of my day trip to Bath, Stonehenge, & Wales are forthcoming-- I promise. It took me about three hours to get my stupid internet to upload all these other ones, though, so have a look and I'll blog for you tomorrow :)

http://marenslondonpictures.shutterfly.com/

Lovely the woods, waters, meadows, combes, vales; all the air things wear that build this world of Wales

In case you haven't heard, it snowed in London. A lot. A Michigan amount. Unfortunately for London, they have no snow ploughs. Apparently, they have no salt, either. We got home Sunday night from Wales (Don't worry, I'll get to that!) and it was snowing in a pretty, soft way. We figured it would stop eventually--it was very wet with big flakes and looked like it would melt rather quickly. When we got back to our flat, there were some kids outside who had never seen snow before. We think they were from South America or something--they were taking pictures of each other standing in the snow and stood out there for several hours. Anyway, woke up the next day and looked out the window, and it was not pretty. I think we must have gotten close to six inches. It was very icy too, and it took me a long time to trudge to work. Around the end of my walk I got sloshed by a truck going through a puddle, and my entire left foot was cold and soaking wet. I was glad it happened when I was almost to work so that I could take off my boots and socks and let my feet warm up. Except, OH WAIT--no one else was there when I got there. Didn't have the key of course, and I called the office and heard the phone ring from inside. I knew the trains would have been delayed, but I told myself I'd wait until 10 (I got there at 9) to see if anyone showed up. Surely we wouldn't have a "snow day" from work?

At 9:45 I called the office again. This time it tripped over to my boss's mobile phone. He told me that "no one could get in." I said, "Oh, so you mean like...everyone's going to be late?" And Kurt said no, they weren't coming in at all. Nothing was running. Trains stopped, buses stopped, businesses closed....basically life shut down in London. I just thought it was really bizarre since it's such a huge and industrious city. How can they shut down LONDON for a day? I walked back home, managing not to fall and somehow managing not to get frostbite on the foot that had been wet for about an hour. My roommates were at home too, since they got the day off as well. Would have been a nice opportunity to do something, except....we couldn't go anywhere. So it was pretty much just a lazy day, and I probably wrote way too much about a snow day, but I just thought it was really weird since I never thought I'd get another one in my life. Wish I hadn't had to get out of bed though. I have now ensured that all employees have my "mo-bile" so I will know not to come to work when this happens!

Okay, so let's rewind to WALES!!


That's Caerphilly Castle, one of the oldest and largest castles in the UK. And it's just a preview for later in the post :)

We got up early Friday morning and took a bus (or "coach," which my roommates discovered did not mean coach seating......) to Cardiff, Wales. Cardiff is a bay city on the Southeastern coast of Wales. Wales itself, however, is in the WESTERN part of the island that is the UK. Here it is on a map, for reference:


The journey there was pretty, once we woke up from our naps (it was a 3.5-hour ride)! It reminded me a bit of Ireland in the sense that there were low fences, grazing animals, and signs in two languages (the Welsh looks a bit like Gaelic). And of course, there were sheep. Lots of sheep. 10 million Welsh sheep compared to 3 million Welsh citizens! Unfortunately, Wales was also incredibly, ridiculously cold. I don't know if London has some kind of smog insulation, but it never felt as cold as Wales did this weekend. It's pretty wimpy of me to say that since I go to MSU, but keep in mind we had on the kind of coats you would wear in October in Michigan. When we got to Cardiff Station we hunted down our hostel first and dumped our stuff off. It's a nice place, but the bathrooms smelled exactly like a certain other hostel's, where I had a bad experience in the past.... Oddly, it had its own licensed bar, a little kitchen where we could prepare food, and a TV area with a bunch of DVDs and couches tucked away from the main area. We definitely made good use of the kitchen (*cough* okay, and the bar).

                                 ^the hostel

                                ^the bar & common area

So after dropping our stuff off, we went on a little journey around town. We walked to Cardiff Castle and took pictures of its exterior as well as the surrounding park. There was a weird Welsh dragon made of mud that we took our picture with, and a circle of stones that are apparently very old but very underwhelming compared to Stonehenge. I probably could have lifted one myself. Maybe.

                                ^the dragon. I conquered him, obviously.
                                 ^Cardiff Castle, in the middle of the city
                                 ^these weird Celtic whale tails (Wales Tails?!)

                                    with Welsh landmarks engraved on them were

                                    all around the place.

                                                          

We explored a bit of the city as well, going into these little "arcades" that were like internal pedestrian malls but still technically outside. It's hard to explain, but I remember seeing similar little sheltered shop mazes in places like Killarney and Galway.



                                           ^walking down one of the arcades


We bought some pasta, some pastry, some garlic bread, and some MORE garlic bread, then took it back to the hostel and ate it all between the three of us. It was one of the most carb-laden meals I've had since I've been here, but we were all starving and cold (and Shannon was really sick), so we pretty much deserved a little indulgence. Here are Shannon & Abby with our meal, which was one of the best things I've eaten in my life:



The next day was Castle Day!! Or so we called it. We took a train about a half hour away to a town called Caerphilly (cahr-FILL-ee). It reminded me of Sligo, kind of nestled into hills but with a small-town-attempting-to-be-a-bigger-town feel. When we got off the train we were able to see the castle in the distance down the hill a ways. It was actually right there in the middle of the city center, since the town had grown up around it. It was very medieval looking, and the crumbly stones were pretty well intact, considering. It was a little off-putting to see construction work on one of the walls, but I tried not to include that in the pictures!


                                ^This is Gnorman, whom I decided to include in

                                   my travels. He's a ROAMing gnome, if you will.

                                   A gnome-away-from-HOME. HA! okay, i'm done.

                                          ^(wo)manning the arrow slits!

When we got back to town we took a bus to the nearby town of Penarth, because Abby wanted to see an ocean and there was a "beach" there. I think the girls enjoyed themselves, but I can safely say it was one of the ugliest beaches I have ever seen. I don't usually see beaches in the winter, and I think there's a reason for that. Give me white sand and turquoise water, please. At least give me sun!!! Only then can you apply that word to a strip of coast. Anyway, you can decide for yourself:


                                 ^I'd really like to cloud-bathe on that gravel.


That night at the hostel we decided to go find a place to hang out with some Brazilian guys we met. One of my coworkers had gone to Cardiff Uni and was familiar with the nightlife, so he recommended Clwb Ifor Bach (known locally as "The Welsh Club")--and yes, that's supposed to be a 'w', because that letter makes the 'u' sound in Welsh. There wasn't much authentic about the place, except for the people dancing inside, but we definitely had a lot of fun.

                                ^Brazilian guys (L to R) Bruno, Will, & John

                                   with Shannon and Abby.


The next day was even colder (man, I miss Texas!) when we went to see Cardiff Bay, which has some cool modern buildings and shops:

                                 ^reflective tower thing a la Millennium Park




OH! And speaking of cool buildings, I forgot that Cardiff is really proud of this "Millennium Centre" they have. It's where international and interleague rugby tournaments and matches are played, I guess.

                                And another Wales Tail!




We all agreed that Wales was beautiful, but we also all agreed that it would be a hell of a lot better in the Summer. I can only imagine how pretty it would be with sunlight in the valleys and on the water. But at least it was still very green!

Next up, Daniel and I really want to plan a trip somewhere, like Bath or Hampshire or some pretty countryside village in England. If I can ever get a hold of him on a weeknight when he's not out dancing!

Anyway, that's it for now, so Nos Da ('goodnight' in Welsh)!