Wednesday was the CAPA commencement ceremony… and I thought all along that I'd go to it as I wasn't going to make my home university's graduation in May. Plus, I just like ceremony of any kind! So, it was therefore ironic that the S&T students were no-shows to this…
BUT--there were pretty much all my other students represented. And it was a lovely little shindig. Believe it or not-- this was my first chocolate fountain! It was good-not-great. The chocolate fountain itself is amazing and you can't go wrong there. BUT they didn't have or had already run out of interesting things to dip into it. There were a few strawberries, bits of bananas, and marshmallows (yuk!). I remembered back to chocolate fondues past (OH-- we have to do La Fondue next time I'm in the Bay Area!) and their varieties of dippables… other chocolates, other fruits, cookies and such… And somehow it was easier with fondue forks than the bbq skewers they provided at the hotel Wednesday.
ANYWAY… There were than many many speeches… This is a boring and necessary part of the ritual/ rite of passage. My little group of students gave a speech and showed a video that was totally cool and sweet. Almost got weepy about it! It was THAT kind of evening… And we were by far the smallest group-- but we were able to bond because of it… And I do hope some of my students keep in touch with me AND with each other! They were a really good group!!
Earlier on Wednesday I took advantage of a nice day in London-- like the Midwest, I have learned never to take nice days here for granted-- to go to Kew Gardens one more time. I really like the fact that I got to see it in the winter and the spring. It makes for nice comparisons and I get to appreciate that nature is lovely all the year round. Especially when a team of gardeners are paid to make it so! Last visit, I focused primarily on the greenhouses-- as it rained some of the time while I was there and it was chilly. This time, the weather being nicer, I avoided the greenhouses almost entirely and just wandered around the grounds the whole time. I was there seriously almost the whole day. And I breathed in the redwood grove smell… and cherry blossoms at the Japanese garden… and tulips in the shape of the flags of the UK and NL in commemoration of something WWII related (they were pretty--that was my focus)… and I sat by the pond and listened to the ducks and geese converse (they had NO fear of me--it was a bit alarming)… turns out ducks are adorable when they sleep! and I walked over to the pagoda… and I wandered through the bamboo grove… and more apple, cherry, and other fruiting trees blossoms! It is amazing how little I duplicated of my first visit: The one greenhouse I entered was the water lily pond house-- which was closed in the winter! Otherwise, last time, there was the Princess of Wales house, the Alpine house, and the Tropical zone greenhouse… nope!… AND a fun museum of a woman who wandered the world after she retired and painted all the plants she saw… then hung them all over the place in her house-- which is now in Kew Gardens… All that was the previous visit. When you CAN sit by a pond and listen to geese flying overhead, you do! :)
And then you go to your school's commencement ceremony and get a box of chocolates!! ;)
Thursday, then, was Shakespeare's Day (assumed birthday and KNOWN death day) as well as St. George's Day which is a big deal in the UK. AND it was the opening day for the Globe's summer season. AND I got myself a ticket to go the minute they became available back in February, I think it was… Meanwhile, my students never did-- no matter how many times I reminded them. THEN, last month, CAPA emailed me and said they had extras and would I want them for my students. A Shakespeare miracle! So they got to go after all!!
Anyway, first I had to figure out some "last chance" tourism stuff to do before the evening show. The Globe is in Southbank-- so I naturally thought of Borough Market and Southbank stuff. There is a tiny little museum there called the Old Operating Theatre that I'd been thinking about visiting. Right in the shadow of the Shard… So I made that my first stop. It's a Victorian era attic conversion over a church that was made into a teaching hospital. It's where Florence Nightengale got her start, in fact. Even Keats studied there. There was the actual operating theater-- and displays of era-appropriate surgical implements-- revolting! And an herb garret-- for making the various medicines. All I could think of was the Whitman line about "what was removed" dropping "horribly" in the pail-- or in this case the convenient saw dust right beside the surgical table… Made of wood-- so hygienic! This was a hospital focused on women, as well, so a lot of the surgical implements were to do with childbirth. OMG that was some scary shit!!!!!! I did NOT take pictures, in fact… I didn't want to terrify any mothers I know! The hospital was boarded up and neglected when Flo Night moved to a different part of London. I was just rediscovered in the mid-20th century, and is being restored bit by bit ever since then. It IS fascinating-- in a "this was the same time as the elephant man and omg what people did to each other" kind of way!
After that, I ran-not-walked to a nearby coffee shop called Monmouth. It's a big deal here-- one of London's best, ask any publication you like. Usually there's a line half way down the block… But this time there were only about 5 people ahead of me… I asked for a flat white (Americano with warmed milk)… and then wandered around Borough Market… for potentially the last time… THIS trip… Grabbed yummy veggie food from one of the food stands. OH how I love London street food!! And then I sat in the churchyard next door with about half of London and ate my late lunch/early dinner/TEA! After that, there was a spur of the moment parade through the Market of a paper dragon and some England flag wearing fellows for St George's Day (patron saint of England). And I grabbed a pint at a nearby pub to celebrate the day, as well…
Neat little moment where I had Wifi and both brothers were at their phones as well and we had a Google hangouts chat… CA, MO, and UK represent!!
FINALLY, it was time to head over to the Globe… where I realized there was a queue for the groundling standing area (where my tickets were). SO I grabbed a spot and waited like a good girl with the rest of them… The standing spots sound terrible-- and it's a pain to stand, sure. BUT it's the best way to see the show. So even if you don't mind spending more money-- it's the way I would recommend seeing the show.
Speaking of the show… The play was Merchant of Venice, and Jonathan Pryce (one of those British actors who is in EVERYTHING) played Shylock. It's such a disturbing play-- and they went there and allowed it to disturb us… Nothing says a fun spring evening like the Venitian Inquisition and converting Jews to Christianity by force!!… And then the play is a comedy… so 2/3 of the time was spent cracking up! Which made the disturbing bits stand out even more… I had read this play way back in undergrad… but I didn't remember much. So I was just along for the ride, as it were. And they really had all of us in the audience eating out of their hands-- almost literally. They pulled people (one of which being a student from CAPA) up out of the groundling area onto the stage for one part… They would speak right at certain people in the audience at different times… (I was one of these people-- I am very tall and he probably meant to look at someone two rows behind me… I was being described while one man was deciding NOT to choose the golden box but rather the lead… I was mentioned as wearing LOTS of makeup-- NOT!) It was all such a fun event. Lovely night-- amazing to be SO CLOSE to the stage and seriously actually a part of things. And Jonathan Pryce was amazing!! Shylock of course is the reason people watch the play-- it's THE part. The rest is kind of a bland comedy…
And I am going BACK Tuesday to see Romeo and Juliet!
Maybe the nicest part of the evening was watching the various CAPA students after. They were having the times of their lives! It was heartwarming in an almost literal sense! Thursday evening was their second to last evening, so they were going out right on top!! Walking back to the tube over the Millennium Bridge after seeing a show at the Globe. It is a pretty excellent moment! :)
Today-- Friday-- I have no theater plans. What?! It is ridiculous that this is the exception not the rule. Lots of stuff I wanted to see just came out this week… What can I do?! SO I think I'll turn today into "go to museums one last time" day. That will also make it a bit cheaper… so maybe I'll go out for a nicer lunch or something… Friday nights are later at some museums, too… There is an exhibit that just opened at the British Museum about Australian Aboriginal art. And I LOVE all things Aussie! (Hence the cat named just that!) And we'll see what other trouble I can get into after that… :) Not too much, I think, as tomorrow is also my last day trip out of London and early morning… I'm going to Brighton again, baby!!
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