[Quick note: when I wrote this post offline, I assumed I would be able to upload pictures. That hasn't happened, seeing as how blogspot doesn't seem to want me to. I will try to get these sorted as soon as ever I can. Until then, when I mention photos, please provide the chuckle you would give if a power point presentation shorted out in the middle. So, enjoy at my expense (no, I can't be bothered to go back and edit the text. Don't be silly.)]
Well, it should come as no surprise that after promising an update, I failed to provide it in the timely fashion I hinted at. Shocking, I know.
We’ve got three weeks to get through, so let’s roll.
Previously, I had mentioned a long walk on a Tuesday morning. Later that day, I took another walk to the first class meeting of the Art History course I’m sitting in on (some of the students get to take it for credit). We covered a few things in a classroom then moved for the second part of the course to…the British Museum. Yes, that British Museum.
This was, I admit, the first legitimate jaw dropping moment of the trip. We went through the wing devoted to Greek statuary and saw the Elgin Marbles (or the Parthenon Marbles, if you want to be PC…there’s a bit of conTROVersy (British pronunciation)). Utterly spectacular.
After that, I wandered back to the flats, cruising along Kingsway back to the east. I walked down Drury Lane (without seeing the muffin man), then back along Fleet Street again (I like Fleet street).
Later that same day (we’re still Tuesday 9/21), or rather that evening, a couple of my students wanted to go see Big Ben and Parliament (we want the funk…give up the funk…) lit up at night. I gladly tagged along, and in an effort to avoid the tube, we walked down to Waterloo bridge and took some long shots (well, they did. I’m still on photo veto). The other nice piece of info was that at night the Royal Courts of Justice are lit up a lovely shade of blue. Very majestic. So, in one day, I covered essentially the same route 5 times. A busy day.
Fast forward to that weekend. We took our only organized overnight trip with the students, up to York. Some of you have seen some of my photos (80 or so of the 267 I took) on Facebook, but here’s a few more.
In short, York was amazing.
York Minster, my favorite massive building thus far, is so epically large that it actually looks unreal (I’d say the same about St. Paul’s in London…). I think this is because it’s so massive that as you walk by it or around it doesn’t appear to move, which screws with your brain’s ability to process spatial dimension. Or something along those lines. It kind of looks like it belongs in a Lord of the Rings movie, if I’m honest.
The rest of the city center is also very cool, having preserved to various degrees its medieval layout (that’s why we ended up going, after all). This continues my earlier thoughts that the spatial logic is quite different…the streets wind around and back onto each other. I got “lost” several times (in quotes because it’s really such a small area and I always found my way back).
So, overall, the York trip was a success.
The following two weeks, I spent a lot of time organizing things for the course I’m teaching. Nevertheless, I did go visit the National Gallery (twice) with the Art History class, and also continued to explore.
There was a very interesting exhibition at the Tate Modern (the modern art museum), which had to do with photography, voyeurism, spectacle, and so on. A very cool exhibit drawn largely from a photography collection at the San Francisco museum of modern art. I only took issue with one small section (Civil War photographs…way, WAY more complex, in my mind, than simple “images of violence”), but overall it was intriguing. Even picked up a few notes to add to the project (I’m just calling it “the project” or “my project” now…because “visual rhetorics, architecture, and stuff in London” just has too many syllables. Especially when I try to elaborate on “stuff”).
Of course, the Tate Modern is an interesting building in its own right, since it is a converted turbine power plant. A very large, very utilitarian looking brick and steel building that houses…modern art. It’s an interesting space to move through.
BUT…The real highlight of that two week period (after York, before Sarah) was two evenings spent at the Globe theatre. Technically, it’s “Shakespeare’s Globe.” Yes, I know it’s a reconstruction, completed in the 1990s, and the concrete floor and electric lights underscore that point, but inside, you wouldn’t know it. I was a groundling at Henry IV parts 1 and 2 on consecutive evenings, respectively, and that was amazing. First, it was an incredible production, with some smashing acting, second, it was IN THE FREAKING GLOBE!, and third, I heard David Bevington’s soothing, scholarly voice in the back of my head: “Shakespeare…[smiles] balancing the…eh…historical usurpation with an argument against usurpation…” and “Ah…Falstaff! Heh heh…” Very cool to see it done, very cool to be in the space, and even better to have fond memories of reading and studying the plays. And…I took pictures.
And then, the highlight of my month. My lovely fiancée came to visit for a few days.
First, we walked all over London to help her beat the jet lag, then had fish and chips and a pint with Ann. The next morning, we caught a train to Nottinghamshire, specifically to the village of Edwinstowe…alleged home of that notorious rascal, Robin Hood. We spent a good 3-4 hours just walking the nature paths in Sherwood, and it was in the top three of cool things I’ve seen in England. I’ll admit, I was worried that it would be a little tourist trap-ish, but my hat is off to the Brits; the visitor’s centre was pretty classy, and the most touristy thing was the movie posters hung up in the café. Plus, the forest was absolutely beautiful. They’ve done a lot of work to maintain the ecology of the forest, which involves repairing some of the damage done by the coal industry and the second world war (a lot of materiel and troops were concealed in the forest to keep the Germans from spotting them). All in all, they’ve done a great job. The place has a public feel, of course, because of the nature trails, but it still very much retains the sort of sanctity afforded to it by its status as a Royal game reserve (it’s now a national park area).
There is a massive range of foliage in the forest, from newer trees and undergrowth to centuries old oak trees, including the “Major Oak,” which was supposedly the meeting place and camp of Robin Hood’s Merry Men. Regardless of this factoid, the thing is probably pushing 800 or more years of age, meaning it was probably a couple hundred years old when Chaucer was active. Pretty stunning.
Of course, if you live near Sherwood Forest and you’re an archery enthusiast, you might set up shop near the Major Oak to give archery lessons…as Sarah discovered much to her delight!
We stayed in a very nice, very small bed and breakfast in Edwinstowe, then headed back down to London the next day. A short trip, but a fantastic one. It was good to get out into the country, and away from the hectic intensity of London, for a while. I think that the countryside is a view of England that a lot of people have, and it was nice to experience it as well.
Back in London that evening (Sunday), we went over to Brown’s Hotel for evening tea, which was very classy indeed (and really tasty, especially the desert tray. Yes, I like sweets.).
On Monday, we slept in a bit and then, ambitiously, sought to tackle the British Museum. We saw the Elgin marbles and a good portion of the medieval Europe rooms before running out of steam. It was also quite crowded, and I have to say I was not particularly impressed with the way many people were moving through the space. Granted, everyone is allowed to experience the place the way they want, but I do have to wonder how much time people can spend LOOKING at things and thinking about them when they are snapping photos the whole time (granted, I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately). Here I am judging, true, but it was a little frustrating to be bumped out of the way so someone could get a picture of themselves in a goofy pose next to this or that artifact. But, there you go.
After that, we cruised down Charing Cross road (undergoing major construction, avoid) to have a late lunch at the crypt at St. Martin-in-the-fields. Good food, good price, good crypt. Weird how that works.
That evening, we took the Westminster by lamplight tour, which took us around, well, Westminster, specifically the Abbey and Parli-…that famous building with the famous bell tower attached…you know, the one that has had its name conflated with the bell inside. Very neat, with some cool photos (I broke my London photo moratorium while Sarah was in town).
The next day (Tuesday), we grabbed a bit of lunch with some of my students, then hit my favorite attraction so far: the Churchill War Rooms and Museum. Granted, I have to confess my nerdish bias for the time period, but I really did think the place was laid out extremely well. One part of the museum consisted of faithfully reconstructed (from photographs and testimonials) rooms from the War Cabinet offices, and the other was a dedicated museum to Churchill himself, from birth to death. It was the perfect mix of text, artifact, audio/visual, and interactive material. The handful of pictures I took don’t really do it justice, even a little bit. It costs to get in, but I would recommend it heartily.
We spent almost three hours there, then had to RUN over to Westminster Abbey for evensong. That’s the trick, by the way. You pay to get in as a tourist, but you can go to a service for free. We actually sat over in Poet’s Corner, and the rather intimidating bust of William Blake was hovering over me the whole time. Scary. After the service, we lingered about as people were queuing up to see the relics of St. Edward the Confessor. We said hello to Chaucer, Dryden, Tennyson, and a few of the boys before being shooed away by an annoyed looking Anglican priest.
We walked along the south bank afterwards, past the Eye and over to the Millennium Bridge. After that, it was off to a pub for a meat pie and a couple pints. We also took in the first half of the England-Montenegro Euro qualifier. England had the better of play the whole time, but just couldn’t seem to put it together in the last third. This apparently remained the case in the second half, since it ended in a 0-0 draw.
Then, today, Sarah had to fly back home. That was less than awesome, to say the least. We said our goodbyes over coffee and porridge in Paddington station, which was pretty pleasant, and then I came back down to the City to go on the “Legal and Illegal London” walking tour with the group. Learned a lot about the Inns of Court and the law in England, which was good, even if I was a bit distracted.
For the rest of this week, I’ll be catching up on all that work I haven’t been doing. Sheesh.
Plus, my photo moratorium is up tomorrow. Which leaves 9 weeks to go into phase to of “the project.” Before I do that, of course, I’ll need to get some of my scattershot impressions down on paper…
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