Day 11 - Heading back to the States

We are headed home today. Our flight leaves at 2 p.m. and we get back into Chicago at 5:05 pm. Don’t let that deceive you, the flight is almost 9 hours long. I got about 4 hours of sleep last night. I guess I’m anxious to get home. It was like I opened the door and let thoughts of what I need to do at the College and at home, etc. flood in and I couldn’t turn it off. So it must be time to get back home and back to work.

Overall impression of London. Considering that we arrived at the same time that a record-breaking Siberian cold front decided to descend upon the UK, the weather could be excused. It did make getting around much harsher, but we didn’t let it slow us down too much. In spite of the weather, London is a great city. Easy to get around and helpful people. I remember when we were her for 1 ½ days in 1997 that I was amazed by the variety of languages you could hear standing on a street corner. That feeling was brought home again on this trip. Being here really bring the entire world to you awareness, the different cultures, languages, foods, dress, etc is all on display here in London. The only other city I’ve been to that I felt that same type of globalness was Toronto. I will miss London but I’ll be happy to sleep in my own bed again and see the cats, dog and fat fish.

Day 9 - Trying to Make Up for Lost Time

Callista woke up feeling just fine, full of energy. She wanted to go back to the British Museum to we split up in the morning. I went to Covent Garden for shopping and they went to the King’s Cross Underground station to get her picture at the 9 ¾ platform from Harry Potter. Then they went to the British Library to view the Magna Carta, Shakespeare’s handwriting and the original scribbles of the Beatles. After this they walked over to the British Museum to see the mummies and a few other exhibits.

I went to Covent Gardens and shopped a bit. Not a lot of vendors were open because it was so cold and a Monday, but I did manage to buy a teapot made in Chelsea, and a very cool bag for Callista. I also found a birthday gift for Satori, my granddaughter. I was hoping to find a nice piece of jewelry but never really came across anything that screamed “I have to have this”!

Callista went to ‘class’ with George and apparently the students enjoyed having her there. She made really funny faces when George talked about what he thinks about when he is on stage to make himself cry. She’s already an honorary Bradley student.

After George’s class we took the Tube to the Charing Cross station to go to Trafalgar Square. The photo op is to have your picture taken by one of the lions, but there’s no easy way to get up to the lions other than boosting yourself up about 5 ½ feet. George cajoled Callista into getting up there, but halfway up she changed her mind. But we were not to be deterred from our photo op and both of us together pushed her up, almost throwing her up on the platform. We were laughing so hard that a few other visitors laughed with us. But we got her up there, whether or not we had to throw her up there or not! I really wish someone had been shooting video, truly. Since it’s been below freezing for a week, the fountain of course was not running and the pool was frozen over, so the square itself didn’t really hold any further appeal beyond the photo op.

We had some extra time so we trekked up the hill to the National Portrait Gallery. George wanted to show us the Tudors, portraits painted of the members of royalty around the time of Henry VIII. One artist in particular (I’ll have to look up his name) was able to capture the details and perspective to bring the paintings to life. They look almost like photographs. Amazing.
We ventured through some of the other galleries to see the other incredible paintings. We couldn’t stay too long because we had to head back to the Hotel for High Tea.

The entire Bradley group attended the tea, not just George’s group. We had egg salad sandwiches and two different kinds of scones with clotted cream and strawberry preserves. We had our choice of coffee or tea as well. To cap it off, cake was served, a wonderful concoction of chocolate cakes with a light whipped frosting with raspberry liquor in the center and chocolate shavings on top. Absolutely yummy!

After tea we ran off to see our last show, The War Horse at the New London Theatre. First we had scrumptious pasta at Pasta Brown’s (appropriate, don’t you think?). Our last meal in London. I would have liked to have one last serving of Bangers and Mash, but the pubs were very full. So Italian is was and it was delicious.

How do I describe the War Horse? It is such a moving story anyway, about the horses used in the British Calvary in WWI and the absurdity of having a charging Calvary go up against barbed wire, machine guns and bombs. But the story is about one horse in particular and the boy who raised and trained him, how he was sold to the Calvary and captured by the Germans. It’s truly an amazing story written by Micheal Morpurgo.

But the puppetry used to conceive the horses was brilliant. You can see a video of some of it on the website - http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/warhorse. The three puppeteers are outside of the puppet when he is just a foul, but then he bursts on to the stage as a full grown thoroughbred standing 7 feet tall (I don’t know how many hands that is) and he is breath-taking. Two of the puppeteers are now inside the body and the one who controls the head and neck movements is still outside but within minutes, seconds even, you stop seeing the puppeteers and only see the puppet as it come to life. The movements, sounds and reactions of the puppet are so perfected that you can’t help but let him come to life on the stage for you. On other puppet that is worth mentioning is a goose puppet. Again the puppeteers skills are such that you stop seeing him running behind the full size goose puppet and start see the it as a real goose.

All I can say is that you must read the book and if you ever get a chance to see this production, you must, absolutely must see it. Come to London even if only to see this show!

Days 8 & 9

We didn't get to do anything yesterday as Callista ran a fever all day. I did find a Superdrug that had chewable pain reliever. She slept all day and through the night. We all woke up around 5:30 this morning. She broke her fever sometime during the night and is feeling much better this morning. Whew!

So today we have to make up for lost time. I'm venturing to Covent Garden to go shopping while Callista and George will go back to the British Museum to see the mummies and other stuff.

George meets with his class today from Noon - 2 pm and then we are going to enjoy High Tea at 4. Should be fun.

Tonight we are going to see the War Horse. George said this is the show that has most excited him in the last 25 years, so that's saying quite a bit. I'm excited to see it after seeing the press materials and listening to George talk about it.

So I'm off shopping!

Castles and Calamity

Well, bad news. Callista is really sick today. She’s running a fever and stuffy nose. So we aren’t going anywhere today. We had to wait until 10 for the Boots to open. Another difference between the two places. We could run to Walgreens when it opens at 8 or go an extra mile to the 24/7 Walgreens, but here nothing opens until 10 and the stores close between 5 & 6. Not saying that is necessarily bad, but it’s very different from what we are used to.

I sent George to Boots to get medicine for her but apparently Boots doesn’t open on Sundays until 11. Ok…It’s wonderful to travel! It makes you appreciate what you do have and makes you much more patient. It makes you realize that you have it pretty easy living in the US.

Yesterday we took the train to Windsor which is just West of London. It is where Sir Elton John lives as well as Queen Elizabeth.

It is the largest occupied castle in the world. And it really looks like what we envision castles should look like. We were able to tour the state apartments and see the priceless art they have. Also the rooms and architecture is incredible. There was a fire that destroyed over 100 rooms in the castle. Some through the roof so that all you saw was the bare rafters. This gave them the opportunity to restore all of the rooms, some of them exactly as they were, using the same materials and construction techniques as the original, others they embellished and restored a few of the room to great Georgian splendor. Pretty spectacular. They also displayed set of china back from the early 1700’s.




Here are a couple of gargoyles at the castle:



It was freezing yesterday and we were out in it most of the day. We came back to the hotel and did nothing. Callista went to sleep and didn’t wake up until 7 this morning.

So we got her some medicine and we’ll see if that makes her feel good enough to trek over to the British Museum again. Thankfully it is only 2 blocks from the hotel, so if she starts feeling bad again, we make it back to the hotel quickly. No trains to take.

Day 6 - Disappointment, death and drama

Friday was a mixture of disappointment and excitement. We were booked for the London Eye but as we emerged from the Tube, we could clearly see that it was not running. We walked across Westminster Bridge to see what was going on only to be told that there was a good chance that it would not be running at all that day. Oh well, no one can control the weather.

We walked back across the bridge past Big Ben and the Parliament to Westminster Abbey. It is an amazing place. People have been worshiping on that ground since the 700's!! The abbey was built in teh 1000's and added to as funds were available. They still hold daily services there and have a minute of prayer every hour. Besides the amazing architecture, it is incredible to walk around and view the tombs of royalty, kings and queens, artists and scientists. Handel's tomb is there, as is Jane Austen, David Garrick, Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. Ben Johnson is buried standing up.

We saw the coronation chair that was used when Queen Elizabeth was crowned in 1952. The women's chapel's ceiling is an exceptional piece of art just in itself. If you see nothing else when you are in London, you must see Westminster's Abbey. I haven't downloaded the pictures yet, so I'll post them later.

That night we went to the Victorian Palace to see Billy Elliot, the musical. It was a brilliant production, but the actor playing Billy had such a heavy accent we never were able to understand what he was saying. There is this one hilarious scene where Billy and his father are at the Royal Ballet for Billy's audition and his father is standing outside with another father from London. They say something to each other and they can understand what each is saying! Yes, I'm vindicated! When I was in Lancaster in July 2003, I couldn't understand most of the people in town. I could understand that Scots and Welsh better than I could the English. It was hilarious. It reminds me of going down south or when we moved from Denver to Dallas. It took us a while to understand Texan. :-)

Saturday we are going to hop a train and go to Windsor to see the castle. Should be fun.

On Ubiquitous Wireless

You really don’t appreciate what you have until you don’t have it. At home, I have the web on my iPhone, high speed access on my computer at work, and wireless at home. You can go to Culver’s, Panera, One World ,some McDonald’s and other establishments and get wireless also. Pretty soon it will be everywhere. Already if you have a card for your laptop that allows you to connect through your cellphone provider, you can pretty much have access anywhere you have a signal.
The hotel we are staying at is really a glorified dorm but there is no internet access in the rooms and very poor access in the lobbies. So we had planned on adding all of this wonderful information to our blog posts but alas, can’t get to the internet in our room, where we like to write. We HAVE to go down to the lobby! Wow, what an inconvenience! J

But it has made blogging a bit more difficult and that is why our posts are not happening daily. Last night for instance, we were exhausted when we got back from Stratford and with Callista literally falling into bed, I was sort of stuck in the room. George had to run out to take care of some Bradley stuff. We also having been running non-stop since we got here. This morning (Friday) George is teaching his class, so Callista and I will have some time to catch up on our journals, download and sort through the pictures, and post to our blogs.

Day 5 - Thursday Jan. 7 2010

Today was our tour to Stratford Upon Avon. It was a 2 hour drive through beautiful, snow-covered countryside. When we arrived, we met our guide Wendy and started walking through Stratford. The first place we visited was Shakespeare’s birthplace. The workers were using regular shovels to chop through the ice and spread sand. Wendy said the last time they had a snow like this one was 1981! Wow. They probably have 4” of snow and below freezing temperature. Thankfully the sun was out today.

Interesting fact. Shakespeare was born on April, 24, 1564 and die on April 24, 1616.

When we toured the house the stones that cover the floor in the main room are original, so we were stepping where Shakespeare tread 400 years ago. It was really cool. The rooms are small and the ceilings are low to help keep the heat in. There were a number of things that one of the docents explained, particularly about the bedroom. The beds were small to keep bodies close together for warmth. They were short because people did not lay down flat as we do but rather recline in bed. The explanation he gave for this is because then when Satan would be out on his patrol for dead souls, if you were laying flat he could mistake you for dead and take you away in your sleep.

He showed us the trundle bed that was keep under the parents bed. It was a wood frame with ropes that could be tightened with a tool. The saying “Good night, sleep tight” comes from the tightening of these ropes. The tighter the better, more comfortable sleep.

After touring the house Shakespeare was born in, we walked through the town. Very picturesque. I imagine in the spring and summer it is a very beautiful, quaint English town. We walked down to the place where the house that Shakespeare purchased after coming back from London a rich man was located. The house no longer stands but they have a commemorative garden in place. We say the Guild Church and quarters where Shakespeare went to drama school. It is still a drama school. We then walked down to the Swan Theatre, which is on the river. It is being remodeled right now. Then we walked up to the Courtyard Theatre where the show was being performed. Past that we walked to the Holy Trinity church where Shakespeare is buried. Unfortunately there were working on the alter right where his tombstone is so we couldn’t actually see it.

After the church we walked back to the theatre to see Arabian Nights by the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Theatre). It was an amazing show. The was the props and actors were used for scenery was very theatrical. Excellent acting, the caliber you would see in New York or Chicago, easily. Half of the theatre was filled with school kids, probably Callista’s age, so they really played to the kids. Fun, fun show.

After the show, we boarded the warm bus and headed back to London. Callista went right to bed, no dinner or anything. She’s exhausted. We have been doing a lot of walking and not really getting enough sleep, so the night will do her good. Besides, being out in the cold just takes it out of you.

Tomorrow we are riding the London Eye before they shut it down for maintenance, if it isn’t already shut down because of the weather. Then we will go to Westminster Abbey. We are going to see Billy Elliot tomorrow night which is our big musical show. Should be fun!

Days 3 &4

Yesterday we went to Stonehenge. It was spectacular. They have carbon dates some of the artifacts to almost 5000 years ago. They call is a pre-historic monument. They don't allow you to go touch the stones, but we walked all the way around.

After Stonehenge we toured The Tower of London. Saw the armor of Henry VIII. He was huge for his day. 6'1" and 240 lbs. A giant! Because he was such a large man, his armor weighed an incredible amount.

We also saw the crown jewels. There really are no words to describe them but they are gorgeous. We saw the Beefeaters who are actually the Yeoman Warders, the guardians of the Crown Jewels.

In the evening we went to the O2 entertainment complex and say Peter Pan. It was done is the round with virtual scenery and of course flying actors! Very well done, spectacular media.

We are goign to the British Museum, touring the Globe Theatre and tonight seeing Twelth Night. I'll post pictures later on! Gotta run!

BTW, it's snowing here in London!

Days 1 and 2 in London!

We just finished our second full day in London. It is now midnight on Monday, 1/4/10, and this is the first time we’ve had a chance to sit and catch up with our blogs.

Yesterday we got to the hotel around 8 a.m. and got some breakfast then met the students and went on a Tube tour. The Tube is the Underground (subway) here in London. We followed the tour directions with the students until we got to the South Bank across from Parliament and Big Ben. PHOTO OP!

Then we went our separate ways and walked along the South Bank to the Globe Theatre. It is frigid here but everyone is out anyway. They just dress warmly and get out. We saw a number of joggers running along the walkway as well. Crazy people! We saw the Footsbarn production of a Christmas Cracker, which is more like a revel or show than a play. It was fun and funny, if you have an appreciation for British humor. We were so logy from jet lag (having been up for almost 24 hours at this time) that some of the jokes just flew past us! J

We stopped to grab some sandwiches to bring back to the room and fell asleep around 7 p.m. I woke up at 1:30 a.m. and couldn’t go back to sleep so I read for an hour and then finally slept a bit more.

Our continental breakfast, which is free here at the hotel, consists of cereal, toast, fruit and coffee. Not bad. We got breakfast and met our bus tour guide and bus at 9 to tour London. It was fun. We drove by Parliament, Big Ben (which is actually called St. Stephens Tower and the bell inside is Big Ben), Westminster Abbey, drove across London Bridge, stopped at Buckingham Palace PHOTO OP!, Prince Albert Hall and memorial in Hyde Park PHOTO OP!, St. Paul’s cathedral for a refreshment break. We also stopped on the South Bank across the Thames from The Tower and had a picture perfect shot of the Tower Bridge PHOTO OP! and the Gherkin (the bullet shaped building in London). We found out some fun facts from the guide. London spreads over 600 square miles. It is actually made up of two cities, Westminster and London. You can tell which city you are in by the street signs. Most of the buildings in London were built during the reign of Queen Victoria, thus Victorian architecture. Some of the buildings are absolutely amazing.

Finally we got back to the hotel a little after noon, got a bite to eat at Pizza Express (our pizza lunch cost 31 pounds, which converts to about $45). It’s expensive here.

We came back to the room and caught a nap while George met with his class, then we dressed for the theatre and took the Piccadilly Line to Convent Gardens, ate Bangers and Mash at a pub and then went to the Novello Theatre to see Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with James Earl Jones and Phylicia Rashad and an amazing performance by Adrian Lester as Brick. The show was directed by Debbie Allen of FAME fame.