London IV: Sorry, just highlights.

I am actually taking classes while I'm in London (okay, and I've visited lots of places lately), so I'm a bit behind. I'll try to pick out the highlights.

Monday: London
A group of us tried to go to a free symphony concert in Trafalgar's Square. They had the square sectioned off with fences covered in white plastic material, which means that many people couldn't see. Londoners and travelers really like to see the orchestra as they give a free concert, so they ignored the event guards and tore down the walls. Well, the plastic covering.

Londoners love free music.

Tuesday: London
My friends and I went to the National Gallery, which is in Trafalgar's Square. The inside of the building would be gorgeous without the paintings, which got me to thinking about the significance of how a museum presents paintings and whether or not where the painting hangs affects how we view its, I don't know, greatness, but I won't bore you with that.

Other than seeing paintings by Van Gogh and Pissarro, my favorite part might have been hearing a mom explain a mythological scene with Juniper and a girl. She said, "Basically he's going to do quite a few terrible things to her. It's a bit rude." Yes. Yes, a bit.

Wednesday: London

My history class visited the parish of St. Bartholomew the Great and Guildhall. We got to stop at the cafe in St. Bartholomew's because my professor was "gasping for a cup of tea." I did not spill my tea after tripping over the threshold of a 12th century church. No, I did not.

I just almost did.

Unfortunately, you can't see the man who
kept shouting "scum!" when reading
his paper.

Guildhall (They found the remains of a Roman amphitheater next to it. Pretty sure my professor helped dig it up.)

Thursday: London
Ah, Thursday. My short story class eavesdropped in Trafalgar's Square and the National Gallery. (It's less creepy if you're a writer.) Then a man somehow conned me into drawing a picture of a double-decker bus on a gridded canvas... and paying him. (Everyone has to have one dumb tourist moment. This was mine.) Later I visited Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey, where I gave Chaucer's tomb (though I think they moved him again) a loving pat while reciting the first 18 lines of The Canterbury Tales in my head. I also saluted memorials to Jane Austen, Shakespeare, and the Bronte sisters. You think I'm exaggerating, don't you? 5 pounds says I'm not.

Friday: Bath
I have to admit that I originally heard about Bath from Jane Austen novels. The characters kept traveling there when they were ill, and in middle school I just didn't understand what was so amazing about a place called "Bath." I think I get it now. Also, the Romans were brilliant.

Classic Roman Baths pictures

We toured the Jane Austen Centre, which sadly did not live up to my dreams. Then we waited 40 minutes on a staircase to have a Jane Austen themed tea, which did live up to my dreams. While we waited, we read Austen's brief history of England, where she tells us how much she hated Queen Elizabeth I (controversy!). The workers asked if we were forming a book club.

Just in case anyone forgot how wonderful Alan Rickman is.

Saturday: Stonehenge and Salisbury
Basically we took a bus to Stonehenge, saw pigs, swans, and sheep on the way, and made a dent on the bucket list.

What's funny is that Stonehenge is right next to a highway.
For some people it's like seeing the peach at Peach Park on the way to the beach or something.

I mean, you all know what it looks like.

The neglected stone (obviously my favorite)

Annnndddd then we ate fish and chips and went to a market to buy jazz CDs.

I promise more people were there than this picture suggests.

I also discovered that Turkish Delight is not good enough to betray your siblings. (Hannah did warn me.)


I'll try to keep up so the next post isn't just an overflow of more "and then THIS happened...and then this..."