Stratford

First--the show Friday… Treasure Island! Such an amazing display of set design… Maybe not the best-written version ever. But omg the ship coming out of the stage and rising four stories up, the people climbing up the riggings out of sight into the railings… and this animatronic parrot that was FANTASTIC… (my favorite part, I think) and the lights in the ceiling that made out the various constellations. It was fantastic!!

AND before that--I tried out another veggie restaurant: Food for Thought. SO YUMMY sweet potato bake… That thing kept me going for all the rest of the day!

Saturday, I finally got to Stratford Upon Avon… It only took three visits to London to do so! It was a tour, and not the most leisurely/I'm in control visit… so there were things missed (Anne Hathaway's cottage) that I would have made a point to check out had I been on my own. AND the UK weather took a turn for the CHILLY today…because the UK is not famous for its weather, after all… (or rather it is, but not in that way…) But it was still definitely worth the visit. :)

We did see Shakespeare's birth house--and the site of his fancy house where he stayed with his family after he "made it." (understatement alert) We also saw the church where he is buried--with a fun little quote/poem/curse on his tombstone about not messing with his bones… Which is really just good advice. :)

And the town itself is picturesque to the hilt. There is nothing like that kind of Tudor architecture in London proper… so it's nice to see a Shakespeare-era town…that just so happened to be Shakespeare's town. (I suppose I should say Elizabethan era…but I don't wanna!)

Side note: I also had a brie and cranberry baguette for lunch--off a barge on the Avon. (Hello, did I mention quaint?) So tasty! I'd never had one before…

The tour also stopped off at a medieval castle, now mostly in ruins, that was a fun photo-op stop… it was called Kenilworth… (Fill in the Eddie Izzard line about being up to one's ears in frigging castles, and that would about get to it…)

I spent the day as well hanging out with a colleague and a student--both lovely--and it made the bus travel time pass entertainingly! These are the days I love my job!!

High tea--so classy!

I swear--it counts as teaching! So, yes, Wednesday's class involved a walking tour of Clarissa Dalloway's London (a portion of it, at least) combined with a high tea at a swanky place on Piccadilly--a street Clarissa mentions, of course!

The walk was fine-- saw the street where it is thought the Dalloways might have lived. And walked the start of her walk, until we got to Piccadilly… so we walked along St. James Park, along Green Park… Didn't hear a car backfire-- but lots of 21st century sounds like horns and sirens. I asked the class about the fact that people hear Big Ben so clearly in the novel…and we agreed it's just so much noisier now.

And I told them to get a bit dolled up for the tea-- if Clarissa gets to have a party--then so do we. Have I mentioned that afternoon High Tea is frigging expensive?! Well it is, but I tried my hardest to find as reasonable of one as possible. And we weren't AT the Ritz, but we were in fact next door… (not to shabby). This was MY chance to do a proper tea, as well… and it was definitely something I wanted to do at least once while I was here…

It's all about the tiered plate, I think… that and the tiny crustless sandwiches… and the SUPER tiny desserts. Yes, it is about those things! ;) I was explaining to the class about the culture of tea in the 19th and early 20th century… Young women would show off their grace and skill at serving tea just right. No dripping, no clattering or anything like that. Marriageable men would then judge the women based on their beauty and poise during these scenes… We were all pretty horrified about this--and went to unintentional great lengths to prove that we wouldn't have been much sought after back in those days!! I clattered my plate at one point (who didn't see that coming?). Another student did, too. A student actually burned herself a little on the hot teapot… We were a bit of a mess. ;) But there were no real casualties, and it was a lot of fun!! A box that most of us had wanted to do at some point and can now check off.

AND it totally counts as class! 

Ridiculousness continued… We had a little more class time--not enough to do the tour I'd been thinking around Bloomsbury/Woolf territory. But we just kept walking Clarissa's walk, instead. (Tea took a bit longer than I'd planned--which I should have known.) At one point, I read a bit from Mrs Dalloway as she writes about the street we were on and looks at the shops we were looking at. And that was fun to do! (Of course, the Londoners rolled their eyes a little, I think…) And then we ended at Hatchard's, London's oldest bookstore AND mentioned in the novel. It was the end of class, so I told the students they were free to go and that I would hang out there longer. That is not the ridiculous thing. Rather, it's nuts that I let class out at 5:30, and I didn't get home until something like 8:30. Half of the class, as well. We just played around in the bookstore for HOURS! At some point, other US exchange students overheard us and came to chat, as well… It was a lot of fun… :) And I talked myself hoarse!

Thursday's class didn't get to have high tea… they're not a food class…so it would be REALLY hard to sell that to a curriculum committee. :) But we did have a walking tour of our own. This week's was themed: US authors in London. Twain and his friends, and those who came before and after. There are LOTS of US authors who lived in London during some point… but a lot were scattered around, or not memorialized with these fantastic blue plaques that I've become obsessed with. So the ones we did check out were Pound, Eliot (conveniently another Missourian), and James… then we took a bit of a flaneur jaunt through Jamesian London… then finished up with Melville (OMG how did I not know he lived in London just before writing Moby Dick??) and Ben Franklin. In the middle, we went to the archives at the National Portrait Gallery, where they had a solid collection of US portraits. Poe lived in the suburbs of London as a child-- we couldn't get out there, but we COULD see a portrait of him at the archive. Lots of pictures of Twain tooling around London and Oxford… An engraving of the signing of the Declaration of Independence… Franklin with his ridiculous coonskin hat. One of my students is interested in Library work, so I like to fit in archival elements where I can in class.

Ben Franklin's house is also a museum… we couldn't make it work to visit it today, but I might try to get us reservations for another week. :)

Thursday's class was also supposed to be "dull and dreary," weather-wise. But it was a lovely sunny day. Just a little hazy, but perfectly pleasant walking weather. I only wore a sweater--no coat. It is so great that London is turning into spring. AND that I found a way to take both classes on walks through some of the prettiest parks in the city when all the daffodils and other early bulbs are coming out!

We end class with lunch, too. That way we're sitting and able to talk about the book and assignments and such… and we've got to eat sometime… and I had been obsessing about where to take them (nothing would compare to the extravagant day Wednesday). Then it occurred to me to just eat in a little cafe in a park. Nothing special…but just the opportunity to sit out in the sun and actually long for sunglasses for once! It was great!! AND we weren't the only ones to feel this way!!

Last thoughts: a couple of students took pics of the tea spread. I asked them to forward--and when they do I'll post here. C:

Friday is class--and maybe/hopefully a play or something fun and Friday the 13th-esque! Crazy busy weekend coming, too. Stratford Upon Avon Saturday and Harry Potter World Sunday. SQUEE says me!!

Quiet day/Loud play

Yesterday was one of my "run around and do the walking tours I'm planning for class so it won't totally look like I'm flying by the seat of my pants" days. And of course, I packed too much into the day. I walked out both classes' tours… which made it another Disneyland-worth of walking days… Oof!!

So the tours for Wednesday and Thursday are: A Virginia Woolf tour of London--and High Tea (That just needs caps, doesn't it?). Then US Authors in London tour with a visit to the archives at the National Portrait Gallery (bc sometimes we just need to see a caricature of Poe in person). And oh-so many blue plaques… :)

My fave blue plaque of the day? Probably Herman Melville… Who knew he lived in London shortly before writing Moby Dick?? Also, he was neighbors--separated by only 100 years or so--with Benjamin Franklin…

I'm going to take Thursday's students on a bit of a Henry James tour, as well. We're not reading him… but he was a contemporary and acquaintance of Twain's… and there's a nice walking tour I found for him. Put him together with Woolf the day before, and I get to talk about the flaneur twice in two days for my classes!

Amid all my running around, I desperately wanted to have Chipotle! So I tracked one down and was so happy to finally find it! This is--I believe--my first US restaurant in the UK, not counting Starbucks, of course. I go to plenty of chains, but they're British/European chains… (Wagamama, anyone??) And, just like each of my students, pretty much, have posted in their blogs, eating at a US chain in the UK is just not the same. They try to be as similar as possible, but it's not the food I was craving. I should have just gone to a Mexican restaurant… The other week, I tried a Wahaca, a local chain, and it was delightful!! In other words, I just got to learn what I keep telling my students… Never too old to learn, right?? No matter how many times I get to learn it… ;)

THEN, I went to a show, The Ruling Class-- a play starring James McAvoy, a semi-big name--one of the biggest I'll see here, I think. Anyway, if Ralph Fiennes is the standard by which I will be judging these guys, McAvoy is right up there. He was great-- the play was fun (bitter satire as usual--that seems to be all that's out nowadays). He rode a unicycle on the stage-- in his tighty whities no less!! Jumped all over the stage… Really put in a lot of effort-- and it showed…

AND, this was the noisiest/rowdiest audience I've been in yet. They/we were up to mischief. What is the word for happy hecklers? That was us… We would interrupt the play, cat call, whatever… But it was all in good fun--everyone was having a blast. I counted twice that the performers had to pause in the show to wait for us to stop clapping/laughing… :) At one point, McAvoy's character made an obvious pun (for the life of me I can't remember it-- something about his staff or rod or something obvious like that)… and this one person off to the side of the audience (not me, I promise!!), called out like it was the cleverest joke in the world… It was the FUNNIEST sound--and it wasn't even from the stage. ANYWAY, we lost our ever loving minds in the audience. The performers had to stop and do double takes, too… At one point, McAvoy was addressing the crowd as part of the show, and he said "Listen to me…" and was supposed to go on. But we were all howling so loudly from whatever he'd just done (this wasn't the unicycle even) that it took a while… I get the feeling his "no, really, LISTEN TO ME" was ad libbed… :)

It was such a fun show! Right up there with the Ralph Fiennes (Man and Superman) and The Woman in Black and a few others for absolute faves…

And apparently it killed me… because when I got home--around 11p-- I decided it would be a good idea to flop on my bed first thing and just close my eyes for a minute… Sigh! And then I woke up this morning--still in my coat--on top of the covers--Sheesh!

Today was a quiet day-- it really had to be after yesterday, I suppose. More frantic planning for my classes tomorrow and Thursday-- and I'm nowhere close to being ready. But it will all come together in the end, as it always does. :)

I'll let you know about the high tea-- ;)

Liverpool pt2

So writing this far into the next day... Day 2 of Liverpool broke my body! We'll not really this day, but rather the day after day after day of Disneyland walking and too much coffee (oops!) and not enough sleep (see above) is what really did the breaking. I always say we can sleep when we're dead... and now I'm testing that... ;-)

One good thing about my return to coffee insomnia was that I was up early enough to have a chat with Wendy before she left for Vietnam... Woot!!

(Also I might have outlined my next book brilliantly... but I didn't remember it well in the morning...)

Thursday was Beatles day... bc of course! I'm not a big tour person, but sometimes they're useful and informative and entertaining. The bus tour around all places L'pool Beatles was like that... I'm glad I did it...and now I have the pics of Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane and all that for posterity. No Abbey Rd, of course... that's in London silly... I'm waiting for cooperative weather for that one... A Brit tourist made a comment to me that Paul was the best one... I thought Lady, I'm not touching that with a 10 ft pole. Tho I think Paul is my fave, actually.

The tour was long and ended at lunchtime... I decided I would *not* do hippie food just for a change. So I found a pub in a cute old renovated dock building... Sometimes a sandwich and fries and view of the dock canals is just the thing! And a cider with the lunch deal that tried to kill me... Had it been a while since I drank alcohol too? Had I lost my alcohol as well as caffeine tolerance? Either way, the Museum of London was a lot more interesting...and wobbly... and seemed like a lovely place to nap... (I didn't nap... I wasn't *that* out of it!)

Cute museum in a new building for once... C: I was there close to closing time. Saw an exhibit and short film on the Beatles (I know...surprising!) and the obligatory L'pool during the wars. I liked the Beatles stuff better.

But I was seriously running out of steam. I had promised myself to take this day easy. But then I read some of Redburn by Melville that is set in part in L'pool and in which he discusses his love of just wandering around the city. So I took an aimless and semi pointless walk in the morning before the tour... taking pictures and checking out the university....

And that was catching up with me...

And it was getting time to head home anyway... grabbed a dessert snack to maintain my health regime.... ;-) tried to read some school books to feed on the momentum of the sleep deprived ideas of the evening... Got a good way through the book too. And then got to the train station a little early like I always do.

And guess what?  I slept on the train... C:

Omg... last though... there is this town symbol creature statue called the Superlambanana. It's so weird and cute and all over town. I think they make an excellent edition to my cat photo collection...

Also I decided London: New York :: Liverpool: Chicago... C:

Liverpool pt1...

Trying to do something during CAPA break week...but I have a class Friday... so it could only be a mini break... and so the Bristol and Liverpool plan!

Two days in Liverpool... just finished day one... Got into town around noon... it's nice to not have to get everything seen in one day... I'm not leaving at 8pm! So I tracked down this ridiculous touristy cafe... Central Perk. I love it when I *know* I'm at a tourist trap (a random one... why Liverpool??) and yet I still love it! And I got my first cappuccino since Lentish... I'm back on caffeine!! They had a script for "The One with the Sweater" signed by the cast (Ah Chandler and Phoebe!!) and episodes playing in the background... and an orange couch of course!! Just sat there and watched the one where Rachael has the baby and gets engaged to Joey... Couldn't stop myself...didn't wanna!! Janice cameo!!

On down to the Docks... (All docks are gentrified now, in my experience.) There are several museums and restaurants and all that... and the weather was much like Bristol... Cold as omg and sunny! So I took a bunch of photos too... C:

The museums were the Museum of the International Slave Trade (or something like that) and the Maritime Museum for Titanic stuff and the Tate Liverpool. It's interesting... the UK is spending some decent time reporting and recording it's history with slavery... how all that wealth really happened... Seems always connected to Docklands and that area. London has a good exhibit at the Museum of London Docklands...and there was something at Bristol... and now here. My fave part of this one I think was the stuff about the original history of Africa... That part was different from the others and I felt like I learned something.

The Titanic left from Liverpool... Woops!! It was also a good display... As was the Tate, small and modern art which I'm just not sophisticated enough for... but there were a couple that grabbed me and a lone Picasso... C:

Then after some Melville honoring wandering about, I went to the top Yelp rated vegetarian restaurant in town: Egg Cafe... they served more than eggs!! C:

Then I had to do something during the evening...since I'm here during the evening... I got a ticket for Mamma Mia for £10... Omg that's cheaper than Rolla!! What a fun show!! Yes I danced... C: I get why it's so popular!! Really, it's up there with Woman in Black for sheer fun (if different).

And now I'm getting ready to get rested up for tomorrow. When I will do all the Beatles stuff!! C:

Bristol!

I really didn't know what to expect with Bristol... but omg it killed!! It was the coolest day trip! I think I walked along more watery scenery than in some of my beach day trips... There was way too much to do in one day... And I got really *really* lucky and didn't get rained on. (Seriously, it rained/ "wintry mixed" on the bus driving in...but that was over by the time we arrived. It rained when I was in the first museum... and then I took a 1-2 hrs schlep to see the Suspension Bridge that would have sucked to have been rained on. I even told a shop keeper that I was running lucky today...at which he replied that I jinxed myself. He was right... it just started sprinkling when I was looking for dinner. Thankfully just a drizzle and just for a minute!!!)

So first stop... Banksy work North... this really cool part of town north of the station. Totally granola!! All artsy graffiti and organic restaurants and tattoo parlors. C: I wished I was hungry then!!

Instead I kept wandering to the St Nicholas Market... their indoor/outdoor street market. I checked out the stalls... which were really fun but nothing that absolutely grabbed me. But I was now hungry for lunch... and of course there was a veggie cafe at the market. So a samosa and chai later... I head to the waterfront...having seen more Banksy and other graffiti art along the way, ovbiously!

The waterfront was just gorgeous! I kept flashing on Scandinavia... Freezing cold and crisp blue sky and boats and bright colored buildings and random steel sculptures. If north town felt almost Santa Cruz or some kind of kin to that... the harbor was Stockholm... (High praise x2.)

I took a photo or two... ;) A few brightly painted homes and old boats... The to the M Shed... one of the town museums. Good history stuff... I missed the balloon festival. (I have to get to one of these!!) But I figured out the omnipresence of the Shaun the Sheep toys around the place... They're from Bristol too!! Their creator is to Bristol what Peter Jackson is to Wellington... animation studio and all... C:

Now was the 2 hr round trip walk to the Clifton Suspension Bridge... I kept worrying about getting rained on. But it was lovely... Cold as anything but clearing off to a bright day. My walk was along the river and then up the hill to the bridge (more pictures). And some LOVELY panoramas of the city!

Time for a snack as I wandered back into town. They have a coffee chain in Bristol called Boston Tea Party that I thought was just too cleverly named to pass up!

By the way, lots of the shops I saw were advertising "Bristol Bucks" which I thought was great...keep the money local! I did what I could... ;-)

Next stop was the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. Some Pre Raphaelites and lesser Impressionists and a Turner... And a few museum cat photos of course. But I closed the place out...5pm... and couldn't get postcards or gifts.

More wandering after that... cider tasting along the Christmas Steps (ap Bristol is known for its cider)... the main tower of the university... a little of the university overall...

And suddenly all the shops were closed!! I wanted (and I never want) to spend some money in some of these cute little boutique shops. But they all rolled up the carpets at 5 or 6...

Possibly the only bummer of the day. I then had to straggle along and find dinner...hopefully before my bus left! This took too long, but I did finally find a pizza joint... the "best pizza in Bristol." Of course I was starving and would have eaten my hat by this point. But NY- style pizza and a glass of "red wine" works too!!

And that was that! Tomorrow Liverpool!

Toilet Restaurant and Jack the Ripper… and SOUP!

So yesterday (Friday) was a lovely day--reminding me of the weather in January--before the February dreariness came in and I got sick through half of it!! It wasn't even that chilly. I had TOTALLY over prepared for the weather, and was broiling in my long-sleeve shirt, sweater, and coat. Oops!

I decided to walk to my class at U London… which is a little more than an hour walk… half of it through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park… and that's often the loveliest part of the walk/day/week! All ponds and birds and frolicking dogs… I love that park!!

Then, I was on a bit of a high for having no medicine in my system for the first day in weeks AND the lovely weather…so I found a fun lunch place to stop at on my way to class. It is called The Attendant, and it's a cafe made out of an old Victorian-era men's restroom. They turned the urinals (well cleaned) into the seating area… and served a variety of coffee and tea and sandwiches… including that lovely new cheese I've see here that I can't remember the name of (the grilled mozzarella-tasting one). So I did that, one more thing to check off a list that I didn't even know was there!

And off to class… to learn about the history of rice cookers and their technology AND their role in women's lives in Japan since the 1950s. It was an interesting talk, and for a few dizzy moments I thought about studying appliances for a book from the US perspective. Except, there aren't a lot of appliances to analyze in the 19th century, so I think I'll let that one go!

On the way to the Tube station, I stopped at UCL's little Zoology museum, and gazed at a jar full of preserved moles (yep, you read that right), the bones of a dodo, a croc skull (sans teeth, which bummed me out), a HUGE elephant skull (I suppose it WOULD be) and deer antlers--MASSIVE ONES, and a penis worm (I don't even want to know) and other things of an equally bonkers nature. It's a remnant of the 19th century need to collect all the dang things they could find--and kill them if need be. There was a selection of brains of various animals, for example, with a note that said that they are still used in classes there. THAT was interesting. It was a tiny museum, but right by class, so well worth a visit-- And the place was pretty busy, too, interestingly enough.

Then I wandered up to the Jack the Ripper Tour area, but way too early, as I often do. So to kill time, I checked out the Bank of London Museum. It's exactly what it seems like--a museum about the history of British money, and what role the bank has had to play in it. The most interesting parts of the museum to me was the tourist-friendly bar of gold they SECURELY allow us to pick up and a history of the coins of Britain before 1971. The gold bit is obviously interesting, but the money bit was like an explanation of all the books I've ever read (not quite, but a bunch). Like, wth is a shilling? or a farthing? can one care a brass farthing about something??

So--for any other nerds out there: The pound sterling is the oldest currency in the world. Originally 240 silver pennies would make up a pound--and if it was good quality silver, it would be "sterling." The Latin word for pound is libra pondo, and that's where the L is their currency symbol comes from. In 1971 they switched to 100 pennies to a pound, like normal currencies (THAT recently!). Before that, there were "threpennies," that were three pennies, a florin was two pennies, and sixpence (being six pennies), 12 pennies made a shilling (or "bob"), 20 shillings per pound. And a farthing was a quarter (four thing) of a penny… AND a crown was five shillings…

Got it?? Me either-- :)

After all that, I went for dinner… I had assumed I've have to go to a London chain, which would be fine, as there are still loads of chains I haven't been to yet. But as I was wandering I bumped into a place called the Soup Larder. Just opened, total mom and pop, new-style all organic and such, place. Four of their six soups were veg… Dang!! So of course I went there…

THEN I was ready for the Jack the Ripper tour. Yep--we went all over the Whitechapel part of London… and saw the sites of three of the five *known* murders. It was fun… not terribly spooky--it was SOOOOO touristy. We would pull up to a site, and there would be two other tours there, too. Our poor guide (a great performer) would have to shout. He doesn't take in the new (what was it? a Polish immigrant?) theory of who the Ripper was-- He thinks it was the Royal Doctor, as a way to stop a pregnancy (the Ripper collected uterus souvenirs) of the Queen's grandson… (I can't imagine that would have been THAT rare--a royal with a prostitute, and sometimes they get preggers… but there IS the issue of the missing organs.) Of course, everyone knows it had to be someone with medical training, and there had to be an accomplice, as the bodies were moved. It's an interesting case, still!

During the walk, we just so happened to go down Diagon Alley (SQUEE!) from the movies, and the pub where Guy Ritchie filmed Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch (Diamonds? What do I know about diamonds??). As well as the pub where the victims all hung out and lived nearby. Still there, still named the same thing, and totally hopping on a Friday night with London yuppies.

Now it's Saturday, and it's gray and raining again--February wants to go out with a whimper, apparently… So I'm thinking something indoors… Maybe a museum… Maybe…..