Day 4 - Catching Up (London Edition)

Yes. I know. My daily blog has been a "I'm gonna write once and leave everybody hanging" thing. I'm so sorry. Mea culpa.

BUT.

I've had very good reason to not write as we've been running for the past two days, and this is the first chance I've really had to chill. Since Tuesday we've seen a bit, travelled a little, and walked a ton. But for now, the London highlights. (I'm splitting up the past few days into two entries because it could get a bit lengthy.)

Wednesday was by far the coolest day I've had on the trip. Maybe, actually, ever. We left our hostel around 10, bought day passes for the Tube (which, by the way, we successfully maneuvered. #win), and made our way down to the Thames to the famous GLOBE THEATRE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, I realize that it's not the same one that Shakespeare worked with - that one burned down quite some time ago. But nonetheless....still awesome. The whole group saw "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in the afternoon, and it was INCREDIBLE. I'd never read or seen in before, so to see it live on the stage of the Globe was seriously the chance of a lifetime.

For those of you who have never seen the interior of the Globe, photos or otherwise, it's a circular theatre with seats all around the outside and a huge open area in the middle (which has no roof...we were thankful to have seats for the afternoon show as it poured down rain on the poor souls in the middle). Way back when, the middle- and upper-class would have sat in the three levels of seats, and the poor people would have paid their penny to stand in the center. Near the stage is a prime place to stand as you can lean against it - standing for three hours on a hard ground is a little taxing on the lower back - but we were warned by our tour guide that this opportune place comes with a price: the nearer you are to the stage, the more you're fair game for the actors. Example: in the evening we stood through "The Tempest," and at one point a character says something about eating his dinner. The actor grabbed a cup of beer from one of the nearby audience members, drank some of it, spat it out over the audience, and threw the cup of beer along with it. Another watcher got red paint all over his clothes when the same actor ran into him on his way of the theatre. So we stayed well near the middle and away from the stairs leading from the stage. A little sore, but at least not wet.

 

We grabbed a cheap pizza dinner between shows-

STOP. I know what you're thinking: "you go all the way to England and eat pizza." But before you scoff at our unwillingness to try new things, let me explain. In England (maybe not all England, but at this place at least), unless you explicitly ask for cheese on your pizza, you won't get any. We ordered one pizza with cheese (three different types, and none of this bagged mozzarella pish. Think creamy, fresh, wonderful cheese slathered on a crust) and another with four toppings in four different sections, and the only piece on that one that had cheese was the one that advertised having cheese. The others were just straight-up toppings on sauce and crust.

Wonky.

After dinner we booked it back over to the Globe for "The Tempest," which was pretty good but I didn't like it as much as the first show. To be honest (and probably to the chagrin of my English teachers) I didn't really understand most of the plot - I got the broad gist, but the details were a little fuzzy. But the costumes and effects were incredible, especially considering the simple set-up of the theatre. And one of my professors explained later that this play was Shakespeare's "farewell" to the stage somewhat; it was the last play that he wrote solo. Once we understood that, the final speech of the main character, the magician Prospero, became so much more impressive: Shakespeare was essentially giving up his art because he realized the power of his works over the common people, and he wondered if perhaps he had more power (potentially more dangerous power) than he should have. So cool, and a little chilling to think back about it.

It was about 10.30 by the time we finally got out of the Globe, and we successfully found our way back to the hostel via the Tube. We were all so exhausted that we went straight to bed, since we had another long day the next day, when we would leave London and head to Cheltenham.

And this, dear friends, is where I pause in this entry and go grab dinner. The next entry will pick up on our whirlwind exit of the hostel and our journey to the university in Cheltenham. Stay tuned - it's gonna be good. : )

Day 1 - Under the Union Jack

A lull. For the first time in twenty-four hours (I think....I can't remember anymore), I'm sitting. Not with somewhere else to go, not with something to worry about. Just sitting. In my pajamas. Nice and clean. On a hostel bed.

In London.

Today and yesterday have been on the longest combined days I've spent in a very long time. Monday morning we left our house around 10.30 to get to airport two-and-a-half hours before my departure. After a frantic "we might not make the early flight but we might if we run," we made it onto the early flight from Chicago to London. Nights on a plane being what they are, I am currently running on about two full hours of sleep. But that made no difference when we were dumped off at our hostel this morning around 10 and told to go explore.



So with no more guidance or direction than that....we went exploring.

You could really look at our day in two ways. First, you can argue that it was a really crappy first day. And you'd be perfectly justified. For one thing, the weather was ready to beat us when we arrived at the hostel this morning. It started raining around eleven and had just stopped when we got back around four this afternoon. This wasn't too promising when we yanked out our maps time and time again, only to have them completely fall apart under the freezing-cold rain. And though London doesn't seem that big, it can be fairly large when you walk past the same spot four times saying, "I'm sure this is the right way." By the time we got back to the hostel, we were soaking wet, frustrated, sore, exhausted, hungry, and wondering whose bright idea it was to turn us loose with a little map and a "have fun."

But then....

We sat on a ledge under an awning and had lunch across from Big Ben - we even got to hear him chime! We saw the Tate Gallery, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the House of Parliament, the London Eye, that gate that only the Queen can drive through, and the AWESOME fountain outside Buckingham Palace. We got seriously, SERIOUSLY lost (not "we were in danger and fighting off hoodlums" lost - just a "this is our first time in this city and we have no idea where the heck we are" lost), and through know-how, some very cute gentlemen who just happened to be around every time we decided to ask for directions (human. yes. I am human), and some inner Pocahontas blood that one of us possesses, we made it back to our hostel.

And get this: we walked. We didn't take the Tube, we didn't take a taxi (mostly because we didn't know how to call one and neither one of us wanted to look like an idiot by trying), and we didn't take a bus. We walked the whole thing.

And the only money we spent was on lunch.

WIN.

Tonight will be spent nursing blisters (not me) and catching up on sleep (that'd be me). In the morning we're heading to the GLOBE THEATRE!!!!!!!! to see "The Tempest" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Standing up. Potentially in the rain. Rockin' it Elizabethan style.

Because really: if you're gonna come all the way to London, why wouldn't you be epic? :)

I might not have a chance to write tomorrow - the internet at the hostel costs a pound for 24 hours, and it'll be free once we hit Cheltenham on Thursday. But we're all safe, happy, healthy, and excited for the days ahead! Much love to my family - we'll talk soon :)