Adventures in and out of London

Good grief, but life around here never stops. So many things to talk about, so little time. Hmmm, what to start with?

Going back to last week, Bath and Stonehenge were fun. Stonehenge is somewhat of a disappointment, as it was the last time I saw it. You just get to walk around in a circle around the rocks, looking at them from 10 feet away, trying really hard not to get blown away by the wind that is an inherent part of the Salisbury Plain (where the stone circle is located). Still, it is a beautiful site, especially in contrast to the agricultural life going on in the fields right beside the location. We did wonder if sheep raised in pastures next to Stonehenge bring a better price than regular sheep…

Me in front of the Pump Rooms

Bath is a gorgeous city. Everything is very close together and, unlike a lot of areas of London, Bath has retained much of its Georgian (last 1700s-early 1800s) architecture and atmosphere. The main attraction of Bath is the supposed healing properties of the water there. Wealthy people would drive down to Bath and go to the Pump Rooms to drink a glass of the water or go next door to the baths and submerge themselves in it in hopes of being cured. (Having tried a sip of the warm, sulphery water, can I just say GAG!)

The Royal Crescent, where all the really, really rich people live :)

Jane Austen's House- Number 13 Queen's Square

Jane Austen Centre

Me in front of one of the Roman Baths-
I wouldn't want to swim in there

We spent a good part of our time in the museum devoted to the Roman Baths, but my favorite part came on the walking tour. We not only got to see the Royal Crescent, where parts of the ITV adaptation of Persuasion were filmed, but we also got to walk by the house on Queen’s Square where Jane Austen lived for a majority of her sojourn in Bath! Personally, I would have rather taken the money they spent on our admission to the Baths and gone to the Jane Austen Centre, but they didn’t give us an option L 

Poor lonely little ruins

On Wednesday, we went on a walking tour of The City with our British Life and Culture teacher, Professor Fosdal. The City is what Londoners call the 1 square mile area that is the original city of Londinium, where the Roman’s set up the first real settlement. It is now the financial center of London. There is very little evidence of the Roman origins of the City now with all of the big (and often ugly) office buildings that house the corporate cogs of London. We did however see a very sad sight. Today, most discoveries of Roman structures unearthed by construction are catalogued, then recovered to preserve them. This has not always been the case. In the 1960s, they discovered the remains of the Temple of Mithras on the site of a new building. Rather than relocating the building or recovering the find after archeologists has examined it, they simply picked up the remains and moved them 30 feet away. Now they sit next to the building, looking very sad and forlorn and out of place.

My view of the stage at the Globe

Thursday night, we saw our first play at Shakespeare’s Globe. The Comedy of Errors is blessedly one of Shakie’s shortest plays because we were groundlings, which meant standing for over 2 hours. The play was very funny and well done. It was the play that went on tour this summer, so the company was much smaller, and many of the actors did double and triple duty in different roles. Despite being sore and ready to collapse at the end, we had fun.

The Royal Pavilion 

Friday, we went to the beach. Brighton, to be specific. Brighton has been one of the favorite resort towns in England since the late 1700s when the Prince of Wales (later George IV) decided he wanted to build a palace there. Ok, not just a palace. A gaudy monstrosity of decadence and indulgence would be a better way to describe the Royal Pavilion. We weren’t allowed to take pictures on the inside, but that’s probably a good thing. So many garish colors and gold opulence might have broken my poor little camera.

Me and my roommates Chanea and Kristi at the beach

Being a resort town, Brighton is primarily centered on the beach. Professor Fosdal made us take off our shoes and wade (or paddle) into the ocean (which was REALLY REALLY COLD!!!!). Unlike nearby beaches, the Brighton beaches are rock beaches. Rock beaches are a lot more painful on little feet than sandy ones, especially feet that were abused the night before by standing up for 2 straight hours.

The pier at Brighton

Along with the beach, there is a pier, much like ones you might find at Coney Island or the Jersey Short, complete with overpriced games, sketchy looking roller coasters, places to consume alcohol, and even a mechanical bull. Despite its somewhat cheesy exterior, I enjoyed the views from and of the pier. It was a really cool place to watch people. Some people were caught up in the frenzy of the games and rides, but others simply sat in these beach chairs and just watched the ocean for hours on end.

Well, I suppose I should probably get back to my homework now.

Cheers!