Taking on the Tower

"Off with your head!" is a phrase that, when used in the context of English history, brings once place to mind: The Tower of London.

The Tower of London from the
backside, with the Tower Bridge
behind it

Anyone who's ever seen the Tudors (on HBO, I highly recommend it- even if English history isn't your thing, you get to watch Jonathan Rhys Myers for hours on end) knows that the history of the English crown and commonwealth is full of two things: blood and sex! Although the Tower of London was not considered by English monarchs to be the greatest location to have a scandalous sexual encounter, it played a large part in the blood-and-guts part of English history. It was originally built by William the Conqueror in the 1080's, and served as a residence, war fortress, and prison for multiple English monarchs for decades. It housed the Royal Menagerie before the animals were moved to Regent's Park to make up the London Zoo, and is still considered a Royal Residence.

The Imperial Crown of India,
1911

The Tower draws hundreds of visitors a day, who come to experience the history and mystery that lie within its stone walls. There are exhibits set up, marked, maintained and labeled, and guided tours given by men (and one woman) dressed up as Yeoman (more commonly called "beefeaters"). The guided tours are always spectacular, and the guides have to go through rounds of auditions as well as rigorous training in order to be permitted to work at the Tower. Although the exhibits are brilliantly done, what draws the crowds in most are the Crown Jewels, which are housed in a vault in the Tower, and the bloody history that the Tower represents.

The Tower was the site of multiple imprisonments and executions that have become immortalized: Edward V, twelve-year-old successor to his father's throne; Anne Askew, protestant martyr; Hew Draper, accused sorcerer (he left carvings on his cell walls that you can still see today- so creepy); John Gerard, Jesuit priest; Sir Thomas More, Chancellor of Henry VII; Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's second wife; Anne Howard, Henry VIII's fifth wife, and many more. It is remarkable to think about if the walls of the old fortress could talk- some of the stories they would tell would, I'm sure, be terrifying.

The Orb and Sceptre- these are held
by monarchs during the coronation
process. LOOK AT THE SIZE OF
THAT DIAMOND! 

On a brighter note, the Tower also houses the Crown Jewels in a vault that is strictly monitored and securely locked every night after visitors leave. The Tower houses the crowns for rulers George I and George II, as well as the Imperial State Crown, and the Crown of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Some of the jewels in these pieces were the size of golf balls- they were unbelievable. The jewels are still used today for coronations, special ceremonies, and sessions of Parliament. The most amazing thing to me (in a room full of jewels that cost trillions of dollars) was the fact that there were multiple "in use" signs in the displays. Part of the attraction to the English monarchy is the splendor that always accompanies their ceremonies and encompasses their history, and it is remarkable to think that these pieces are still utilized today. Unfortunately, you are not permitted to take any pictures of the jewels, so all of the ones included in this post have been ripped off of the internet, and I encourage all you crazy jewelry freaks to look up some more (don't be shy, you know you'd love to wear a diamond the size of a grape). Fun fact: the largest flawlessly cut diamond in the world can be found within the Crown Jewels. It is located at the top of the Sovereign's Sceptre, and weighs a crazy 530 carats! This monster is known as the Star of Africa.

That's about it for this post, keep your eyes peeled for another shortly about the Britain At War museum, which I am re-visiting tomorrow. Cheers!

Ready, Set, GO! (Where G is for Gatz, and O is for Oxford)

Long time no...write? Read? Either way, my apologies for not posting sooner. I was struck down with a very nasty stomach bug, which kept me down for the count for a while. However, I am on the mend and ready to catch you up on everything pre-virus.

So, in the last few weeks, I have been a busy girl, and once tomorrow roles around, I will have exactly one month left in the UK. Crazy! I am, admittedly, very homesick, but have still been having wonderful experiences nonetheless and trying to utilize all my time left here before I fly back to the US. For the sake of time (and the fact that I am using this post to procrastinate internship work,) I will recap two of the highlights I've experienced since my last post. They are both represented in the title of the post: Gatz, and Oxford.

As some of you sit there, scratching your heads, and wondering where the hell Gatz, England is, (since I hope you all know that Oxford is a smaller city located about an hour from London in the English countryside) let me comfort you by saying: it isn't a city! It is the longest piece of theatre I have ever seen in my life. How long? 6 1/2 hours. Yeah. That's right. There was a reason why I bolded that. Gatz was a play put on by the Elevator Repair Service (theatre company from the US) here in London that is not just loosely based on the Great Gatsby, it is a play in which every single word of the Great Gatsby is read aloud by an actor who functions as the narrator of the actions on stage, as well as the narrator of the text, Nick Carraway. The Great Gatsby has always been right up there when it comes to my all-time favorite American novels, and might be right behind Salinger's Catcher in the Rye as my all-time favorite novels, period. I had never heard of a theatrical piece that stayed so close to literature that it was based on, and since I figured it took me only about 2 hours, if that, to get through Gatsby, that the show would be a captivating, creative take on a book that I had read religiously and loved faithfully.

The play didn't jump right into the storyline of Gatsby, however: it began with a man walking into a dingy, scummy office, realizing his computer was broken, and seeing a ratty copy of the book on his desk, he begins to read it. As he does, the people working in the office with him start to become characters in the text, until the entire office and its employees are the set and characters of Fitzgerald's novel. It was an interesting transition to make, and the house was packing. I sat up in the third balcony (nosebleed) and paid thirty-seven pounds for them (currency) which equates to about fifty USD. The first act was 2 hours, followed by a 15 minute break, then the second act was an hour and fifteen minutes, 15 minute break, third act was the same (hour and fifteen minutes), followed by an hour and a half dinner break, and then we returned to the theatre for acts four and five, which were an hour and a half each. We arrived at the theatre at 2, curtain went up at 2:30, and we left at 10:45. It was a long day, and I think I've had my fill of Gatsby for a while.

This is a picture of the Quad of
Brasenose College. It is one of the
thirty-eight colleges that comprise
Oxford University, and I spied this
beautiful green space through a
wooden gateway- one of the
coolest discoveries of the day!

The second noteworthy thing I've been up to was a day trip that I took to Oxford last weekend. Since London doesn't really have much "British" culture, because it is such a major city in Europe and has become so multicultural that it doesn't feel much different from New York, we decided to go and search for some lovely Britishness that we were all craving. We ended up deciding on going to Oxford, which is the third most expensive city in England, following London and Cambridge. Oxford was really exceptional, full of cobblestone streets, ancient churches, thick accents, and...colleges. Oxford, England, is home to (you guessed it, smartypants!) Oxford University, which is not really like our American universities. Oxford University is actually made up of thirty-eight different collages that are scattered all over the city of Oxford, and when you get your diploma at the end of four years, you receive it from the University, not the college you attended.

Outside of Christ Church 

Oxford is also home to two other relatively famous: (and by that I mean the average layperson has actually heard of these two things) Christ Church, and Alice's Shop. Christ Church is an exceptionally large and beautiful church in the heart of Oxford, and is said to be one of the most beautiful churches in England. By the time we got there on Saturday, rain was threatening (shockingly), it was getting late in the afternoon, there was a tremendously long line to go in and visitors were charged six quid (aka pounds) to enter, so we opted to enjoy the view from outside.

This beautiful city also boasts of the fact that it was the place where Lewis Carroll lived (LC is actually a pen name, the actual name of the author was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) and wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and it's sequel, Through the Looking-Glass. Carroll was actually a mathematician, and wrote the first story for a colleague's daughter, whose name was Alice Liddell. One of the stories that I've heard regarding Carroll's popular story and stranger personality was about a letter that he received from Queen Victoria. The Queen wrote to him, exclaiming how much she loved his first book, and asking him to send her more of his writing. So, he sent her a recently published piece on some crazy form of Algebra- I'm sure that's not what she was thinking of, but I like that story nonetheless. Although Carroll died in 1898, Alice's Shop still stands today in Oxford as a testament to the fantastical story that Carroll created there, that is still read by millions around the world today. Alice's Shop is small and very crowded, and you are sure to find any Alice in Wonderland paraphernalia within its walls. The actual shop is where Alice Liddell used to go to buy barley candy as a young girl (a hard British sugar candy). Although it is a good experience to venture into the store once if you happen to be in Oxford, it is not an experience that I believe to be worth repeating, as you are perpetually squeezing between the fifty other people there who wanted to pop into the small shop.

That's it for now- please stay tuned to hear about my adventures this weekend, which hopefully will include a visit to the Tower of London! Cheers!

Jubilee, Globe, and Tate Recap

These are the girls I have been
experiencing this adventure with-
and what fun it has been! L to R:
KK, yours truly, and BD

This is it! Drum roll please! The post that you have all been waiting for: the Jubilee post! That's right: this weekend, this touristy American went down to the Thames with the millions of Brits and other tourists from around the country to watch Queen Elizabeth float down the river on her royal barge. The weather was quintessentially British: overcast, misty, and damp. There were people camping out to get a good spot along the river as early as the night before, sleeping overnight along the river's South Bank to ensure they got the best spot for the following day. While I only saw a few people exhibit such enthusiasm and forethought, hundreds of thousands of people crowded down to the river as early as 7AM to prepare for the 2:30PM beginning.

William, Kate, and other (unimportant) members of the
Royal Family 

The most exciting thing about the entire ordeal was really just the ability to say that I've been there, since I most likely won't be alive for another monarch's Diamond Jubilee. We arrived at the riverside at 10AM, and were standing behind a few people at the riverside. We decided to walk around, and did so until about 30 minutes before the start- not a good idea if we wanted any sort of decent view. We most definitely did not get one of the parade. However- B and J were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, and as they were walking down one of the streets that ran parallel to the Thames, guards stopped them and told them royalty was coming by and they needed to block off the road. They stuck around, and saw perhaps the most popular members of the royal family- William and Kate! The popular lovebirds got out of their car and headed for the royal barge, as J and B snapped as many pictures as humanly possible. Since it was so crowded, and absolutely impossible to see anything at the riverside since the crowds were now 50-people deep, we watched QE's barge lead the way for the hundreds of other boats down the river on the large screens the set up along the roads. At that point, we'd had about enough of the crappy weather and crazy crowds, and headed back to the flat.

L to R: JR, BD, me, and KK

The following night, on Monday, there was a large scale concert held in front of Buckingham Palace. The performers were all super high-profile, including Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Shirley Bassey and Elton John. Tuesday was a celebration of the Queen's birthday, and there was a parade of the royal family in open air carriages. We went to neither, the former because it was ticket-holders only, and the latter because we were frankly tired of standing around in crappy weather watching parading royals. 


Today, Wednesday, it was back to business, and we had our second supplemental "field experience" class. These city explorations are meant to enhance our British Life and Culture class that we are taking here in London. This week, we first went to the Globe, and then the Tate. The Globe, as I hope you ALL know, is the recreation of Shakespeare's most popular theater on the South Bank of the Thames. The recreation was spearheaded by Sam Wanamaker, who was an American direction and actor. It took 27 years to recreate the theatre that WS staged his most famous plays in, and it currently houses a gallery that holds 700 standing patrons, and 900 seats behind. We took a guided tour that was hilarious- our tour guide also doubled as an actor, and he was extraordinarily entertaining. 

Side view of the stupid shark
exhibit

After the Globe, we headed over to the Tate, which is London's version of MOMA (again, I hope you ALL know what MOMA is, if not, do not ever tell me). We went to go see Damien Hirst's exhibit, "For the Love of God." In my personal opinion, Hirst is a pompous ass. He is a mega-millionaire, who doesn't actually create any of his own art pieces. He will sketch them out roughly, and then give the sketches to actual artists who bring his visions to life. His favored subject matter is the balance between life and death, and the living's inability to fully grasp mortality. In an attempt to spur this realization on in his viewers, he has created pieces such as the one currently held in Tate: a dead white shark, suspended in formaldehyde, in a glass case with its jaws wide open. The viewer is meant to stand in front of the shark and contemplate what it would be like if the animal was alive and about to kill you. His point is that it is impossible for the living to truly comprehend the fear that one would feel in this situation. My opinion? He is an idiot. 



Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on who you ask, we were unable to see that particular piece because Tate and Hirst charged an exorbitant amount of money to view it. His one piece, FTLOG, was basically a platinum cast of a human skull that was encrusted in about 50 million pounds (currency, not weight) worth of diamonds with human teeth. At right is a picture of the skull, which is currently selling for about 100 million pounds (again, currency). My issue with Hirst isn't his goal in creating the artwork- it is the fact that he is a commissioner, not an artist. By being so controversial, however, he helps his own cause because he is constantly being talked about. I am glad that I went to go see the exhibit at the Tate, because now I can actually say that the piece is as stupid in reality as it is in theory.


Tomorrow is my first full day interning at James Publishing, so hopefully that will go well. Stay tuned for more updates! Cheers! 

PS: For those of you who read these entries for the food descriptions, here is a small one for you: we stopped at a gourmet burger (beef, chicken, lamb, buffalo, you name it) restaurant after leaving the museum. I got a lamb burger with hummus, lettuce, tomato, cucumber yogurt sauce, and some sort of spicy Greek salsa. Unreal.

Magnificent Markets

Jubilee Cupcakes!

Even though today is the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, which was wonderful enough that it will get its own post shortly, I wanted to post a little bit about what I did on Friday and Saturday of this week- explore Portobello Road and Borough Market.

Portobello Road is located very close to where I am interning at James Media, which is how I stumbled upon its location. It is basically a small road in Western London, where dealers, merchants, artists, and growers bring their wares, art, produce and other foods to sell in an outdoor market. They set up small booths on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and the entire neighborhood really comes alive. We went on Friday, and it was an absolutely beautiful day. The heat has left London, thank goodness, but the sun was still sticking around and so it was a great day to explore this colorful and lively London street. There were multiple dealers selling antique jewelry, which was beautiful, and a few vendors that specialized in antique English tile. Many of the tiles were between 80 and 150 years old, and one would never know it. The colors are extraordinarily vibrant, and the clear protective glass coating on top of the colors were barely scratched or cracked. It was amazing. There were also many young artists, particularly ones that specialized in prints, that set up tents and were peddling their work. Their prints ranged from quintessential English sayings and pictures, "Keep Calm and Carry On," and Big Ben, to ones a bit more off-beat, "Keep Calm and Put the Kettle On," and pictures of street art. I myself picked up a few prints of vintage advertisements, and an artistic representation of Hamlet (I am such a sucker for Shakespeare!). 

Specialty Olives at Portobello Road

My favorite part of the market was, however, the food (shocking!). There was everything from home made breads and cakes, to pastries, salads, fruits, falafel trucks, and butchers. I went with JR and BD, and since B has a more serious caffeine addiction than anyone I know, almost immediately upon arrival we were looking for a coffee shop with urgency. We ducked into a small one, Gail's, and while B got her customary coffee, J and I decided to try small samples of the home made bread the cafe was known for. She got a croissant, and I, a brioche with cherry tomatoes, goat cheese, and basil. It was incredible. The bread was baked perfectly, the goat cheese was salty, tomatoes sweet, and the basil fresh. We emerged from the cafe determined that our mid-morning snack was going to be the best culinary experience of the day- and it didn't take too long for us to be proven wrong. When we stopped for lunch, I elected to go to a falafel truck, J got a baguette with avocado, mozzarella and tomatoes, and B got- you guessed it- another cup of coffee. My falafel was amazing! It was fried in front of me, and then wrapped up in a whole wheat pita with lettuce, tomato, pickled turnips, grilled eggplant, fresh tahini and some sort of spicy middle eastern sauce. Incredible!

One entrance to the Borough Market, with
The Shard rising up behind it in the
background

The next day, we headed out to Borough Market, which is in Southern London. Borough Market is very similar to Eastern Market in DC, but about 50 times larger (that is no exaggeration). It was so large that it had to be split up into separate sections, and it was primarily vendors selling various types of food and drink. There were some that sold more general products, like produce, and some that specialized in fresh squeezed juices, "drunk" cheeses (ones that are soaked in alcohol as part of the process in which they are made), salted beef sandwiches, or specialty baguettes. It was absolutely packed, which made it difficult to really get a feel for the entire market, since we were mainly concerned with making sure we didn't lose anybody in our group (KK, BD, JR and myself).

To make it even more interesting, the Market was mostly located underneath train tracks, so it felt as though you were in an underground world every time the train rattled above you. You could hear people on the streets and bridge above, and walking through the stalls in the market and hearing the noise above gave the entire experience a very secret feeling. The market's history dates back all the way to 1014, when it was located near the London Bridge. Parliament closed that market in 1755, and a group of Southwark residents raised 6,000 pounds to purchase the ground that the market stands on today. The picture above of one of the entrances of the market is particularly interesting with the building behind it- known as The Shard- which is about to become the tallest building in Europe, and will be completed by the end of this summer. This juxtaposition of an ancient market and modern architecture really represents the entire city of London, where there are historical old buildings next to ones that were built after the bombings in the Blitz, or ones built recently. The city has been able to create the feeling that as you walk down any given road, you are simultaneously in the present, past, and future.