A Man Alone

(Another title that is interesting to no one except me, this time taken from a spoof title given in "Traveling Light," but it's been running through my head and seems fitting)
This post is not especially funny or filled with pretty photos, it's just me, thinking out loud. To the Internet. And you all.
The past few days we've been visiting Stratford-Upon-Avon, birthplace and home of one William Shakespeare. It was beautiful and charming and I look forward to telling you more in the weekly roundup, but for now, forgive me, because I spent a lot of time thinking and feel like sharing a few thoughts.
Even though in this flat of 20 people we do most things together, London lends itself well to solitude. I've journeyed out several times on my own, oddly, with much less fear than I usually have walking around by myself in Salt Lake City. And I really like to be alone.
The thing about being alone though is it removes me from the distraction of other people, forcing me to confront my demons and fears, sometimes to crippling self-consciousness. Not too often, anymore though.  In photos taken of me on this trip, I see something I do not recognize, something of myself I wasn't aware existed. There was one taken a week or so ago, I won't say which, that I truly did not realize was of me. I pointed it out to my new friends and asked, "Don't I look different there? Does that look like me?" They didn't see anything strange. I didn't know any of them before this trip began. They only know and only see this Dani of London. So does every shopkeep I hand coins to, every passerby on the tube, every fellow traveler at a museum. My face passes without a story and I wonder what it conveys because it certainly isn't the same story as two years ago, when I began to learn what it means to be alone, maybe not even the same story as a few months ago.
I've been told my face is an open book, that it's easy to read my expressions and emotions, even without me trying, but I'm not too good at reading my own face, in part because I so rarely look at myself. In this photo though, I think I read joy. I read self-assuredness and health and most astonishing of all, I read ease. I'm wound up so tight most the time that I lie awake at night, high on my own anxiety, but in Stratford, I swear, I laid my head down, commanded sleep, and received it, instantly. I don't remember that ever happening before.
I'm not cured of my anxieties, by any means. Fears about identity, school, belonging, and my ability to function as an independent, self-sufficent person, whole in my relationships and endeavors go round and round my head when I'm alone. This is normal though. There's no massive fear, no overpowering problem at present to consume me, so my agitated mind has to find some smaller things to fixate on. I feel like I'm being healed and also gently taught by the city and I am grateful to have the opportunity to be here. That's all I have to say.

(Bonus! If you thought this post was boring and you feel gipped, feel free to amuse yourself by finding references to Moriarty from Sherlock in other posts (there's at least two) or by taking bets on whether or not I'll actually talk to a British boy.)

Weekly Roundup! - May 27

Monday
Lecture within the flat on playwright Edward Bond given by our own Professor Richard Scharine (for the first few weeks we've had two additional professors traveling around with us, just for the fun of it. Our director's wife and son are here too. And our event coordinator's husband, sister, niece, that niece's friend, Princess Diana, a moose, and Madonna. A lot of people, basically). Richard is something of an expert on Bond, having written several books on his plays, so it was a treat. Then it was off to the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre for one of his plays, "Chair," with a pre-play discussion with Bond himself. The Hammersmith has a rooftop balcony, so it was nice to get there early and sit around among the lavender bushes discussing the Vagina Monologues (acting students can relate anything to a play, ANYTHING, I tell you....).

(By the by, that's Richard on the far right)

The discussion was...strange. Bond refused to answer any questions, choosing instead to give a long and rambling lecture on what he called "the gap" between drama and....I don't know, language or something, I wasn't too enraptured. He also did a lot of criticizing of modern playwrights, with the arrogance of an old man who knows he is very important within a very select group of people. So that was that.

"Chair" was brutal. 

It takes place in an oppressive futuristic society. A woman named Alice attempts to give a chair to an elderly woman prisoner waiting for a bus with a guard outside Alice's flat. An ugly scuffle breaks out when the woman reaches out to Alice, resulting in her death via gunshot and an inquiry for Alice. This is a problem because Alice has been secretly harboring a foundling, Billy, for 26 years. Because he's never left the flat or interacted with anyone but Alice, Billy remains childlike, spending all his time making crayon drawings. Billy stays hidden during the inquiry, but the investigator, suspecting something is amiss, orders regular home visits for Alice. Rather than face the consequences of breaking the law, Alice hangs herself in the flat and leaves instructions for Billy to scatter her ashes in a parking garage, which he tries to do, but is shot before he can finish. 

It's disturbing and shocking, especially the hanging, when Alice's body remains on stage, dangling behind a doorway (I couldn't bear to look at it), yet depicts such a well-written moment in a realistic, even possible future that it ended up being one of my favorite plays. I'm never watching it again though. 

Tuesday

Class. Backstage tour of the National Theatre! (This place didn't mean anything to me at all before the program, but it's apparently Very Very Important Indeed if you're involved with the performing arts. One girl was literally wriggling with anticipation on the tube ride). It was amazing though, the National has three stages and we visited each one. Because it's such an important theatre, it usually has more than three plays going on at any given time, so they had to design the stages to accommodate two plays at a time. The middle-sized stage, the Lyttelton, has two stage-sized spaces behind and to the left of the main stage so the sets to plays can be built on moving platforms and slid forward or back. So for example, the set for "Traveling Light" was on stage at the moment and the set for "Misterman" (Cillian Murphy's show!) was behind it, off-stage. The biggest stage, the Olivier, is even more impressive. Its floor is a massive drum that actually drops down, below the stage floor, several stories, so an entire set can be stored beneath. The drum can hold 60 tons, which seems like more than anyone would ever need, but last year, the set for Frankenstein (with BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH!) was so close to the limit that each actor had to be weighed to make certain they wouldn't go over (including BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH). We saw some other cool things, like where sets are made and costumes are kept (anybody can rent them out!) and an original War Horse puppet (amazing detail).

Finally a play, "Traveling Light."

Compared to "Chair," this light-hearted piece about the beginnings of the motion picture industry was positively fluffy, but it was exactly what we needed after it. The story wasn't the most original or ground-breaking, but the set was great and it was fun to watch.

Wednesday

Hampton Court Palace! This is the oldest standing Tudor pleasure palace, originally used by Henry the 8th and in continuous use til present day. It has a little bit of a theme park feel, with actors milling around in period costumes as Henry and his wives, but mostly it's just a beautiful and historically fascinating glimpse into the past. My favorite part was a gallery of mostly decadent portraits of important lovers and wives of nobles because it had a great portrait of my favorite English noble, Charles the Second (he was the one to bring women to the stage in England and was very much into pleasure and fun. Plus he was a handsome devil). The gardens were AH-MA-ZING. And we could take photos!

View from one of the courtyards

Kitchens were huge and prepped to make mountains of meat. Did you know the Tudor diet was 75% meat?! (And I think the other 25% was wine)

These beasties have showed up in several other royal places, they represent nations (states?) under the United Kingdom. I like them, here are some more:

Hampton Court is home to the oldest hedge maze in the world and we went through it! We only got lost for, like, most of it!

Me in the maze!

"LOOK AT THE FLOWERS, GAHHHH, SO PINK, WE GO NOW" *Dani takes off running*

Baby cygnets are so cuuuuuuuute.

Finally, this rather uninteresting picture is of the world's oldest grape vine (England is big on "this is the oldest," "Britain's oldest stone wall," "Britain's oldest door," "Britain's oldest piece of gum stuck to a tube station")

Thursday

Class. Then, the Natural History museum! All day! Until they closed at 6! It's a fun change of pace being among a big group of artsy people, but I think there's still a limit on just how much theatre talk I can handle before I run away to find something else and the museum really hit the spot. 

It's a kiwi. A real, dead kiwi, you guys. (For those not in the know, I desired nothing more than a pet kiwi bird for at least four years)

Oh gosh this was amazing, the picture doesn't do it justice, basically a giant, lighted globe with an escalator taking you up inside it. 

Flatmate Eva: "Gems! Let's look at the gems! Gems good!" Me: "Uhhhh, gems? Really, gems?" *ten minutes later* Me: "THE GEMS! The gems are amazing!"

The best part though was the dinosaur exhibit. It wasn't clearly marked and was oddly dark and empty. You had to walk along a mysterious overpass with fossils sort of dangling from the ceiling in places, but there were so few bones I was a little disappointed until I turned a corner at the end of the overpass and found a LIFESIZE, MOVING AND GROWLING T- REX. It was so realistic it was actually kind of scary but so amazing I want to go back just to watch it. I took some kickass videos of my bro T, but Blogger is being stupid and won't let me upload so please remember to ask to see them!

Friday

Westminster Abbey! Um, it's old and there are many, many important dead people buried within and there are no photos allowed within. It was originally constructed as a shrine and resting place for Edward the Confessor, who still lies at the heart of the building, but the general public isn't allowed to see it up close because it's so fragile....but we totally got to, it was awesome, our coordinator Jane rules. 

It was actually kind of surreal walking around inside because a number of people have elaborate statues and shrines, but there are even more buried underground, with just slabs on the floor to mark where they are, so you're just WALKING on these really important figures, including most of the people I knew, like Charles Dickens, Edward Lear, and best of all, Charles Darwin. Paying my respects to him was the best part of the day.

In the evening, a play at the Young Vic theatre (in case you're curious, yes, there is also an Old Vic), "The Suit." This one was interesting, it was written in the 1950's, making it, I believe, the oldest play we've seen and it had live music and singing. It was about a man in South Africa who catches his beloved wife having an affair and forces her to treat her lover's abandoned suit as an honored guest in their home as punishment. The set was simple, just a few chairs, metal frames, and two tables, but the acting and singing made the somewhat convoluted story pop. I liked it.

Also, Jammie Dodgers on the cheap. Don't ask how many I've eaten...

Saturday

Visit to a tiny and very beautiful gallery, the Courtauld. Post-impressionists like Van Gogh, and Monet and Manet and Gauguin and I should be used to suddenly seeing famous works of art by now, but it still floored me to see Self-Portrait with a Wounded Ear by Van Gogh and Two Dancers on a Stage by Degas. SIGH, so much art to appreciate.... 

Oh, just an amazing and gorgeous courtyard stuck in the middle of nowhere, London, you so wacky.

Then it was back to Portobello Road because...I have no idea, I had nothing else to do, but I had a tasty sandwich for lunch at the market and a grande cookie crumb frappachino for less than two pounds each (there's a happy hour at Starbucks for frappachinos? SCORE!).

 And later we tried to go to a club and it didn't really happen and I ended up riding the tube home alone past midnight (I know, I know, outstandingly stupid, I was terrified every moment but I got home safe and sound).

Sunday

Church service at St. Paul's cathedral. Amazingly beautiful building, amazingly beautiful choir.

 This is where they sing Tuppence a Bag in Mary Poppins! Crazy!

After, I sort of wandered around by myself for a while. I have to say, it is a remarkable experience to be in a new city so long that you can pop up at a tube station you've never been before and immediately know where you are and how to take the scenic route home. Photos?

'Paul's from a distance

If you can find the river, you can find your way home.

Best Play of the Week

Must be "Chair"

Most Magical Moment of the Week

Flopping down in the grass at Hampton Court in the heat of the day, braiding flowers into Eva's hair, watching the cygnets, and realizing summer had finally begun.

Weirdest Moment of the Week

Jane asking if I could lead a tour and discussion of the Natural History Museum with the rest of the group. I had to politely decline ("Uhhh, this is petrified wood. It's made when trees get, like, majorly old."). She said I was the "most qualified." You know you're in a seriously artsy group when the most qualified person to lead a tour of a natural sciences museum is a twenty-year-old psychology major. 

Good Eats

Here's the thing: before I came to this fine country, one of my greatest worries was that I would completely loathe the food and probably starve to death. People do not come to London for the food, I gathered, they come for everything else and settle for the food. That's why they drink so much, I thought to myself, to distract from the fact that everything else that goes into their mouths is utter rubbish!
How wrong I was.
Two nights ago was the first time I had a meal that wasn't absolutely delicious (margarita pizza at a theatre), and even then, it was a far cry from "bad" or even "bit not good" and I've been here nearly three weeks! The food is amazing. Everything. I spend a worrying amount of time dreaming about my next meal and I am never disappointed.
Here's a bit of breakdown: typically, I try to eat two meals at the flat and one meal out every day, which means I should be spending more time preparing meals than eating out which means I probably must describe my new friend - the British grocery.
Enter Sainsbury's.
This large shop is the furtherest thing we regularly travel to on foot (a mile), but it's hard to beat for selection and price. The hard part is that you have to bag your own groceries and if you're like me and experience a certain amount of social anxiety, it gets worrying to have to bag, figure out the correct amount of change, remember whether it's bag first or pay first, and do it all quickly so the next person can go. Picture going through the security scanner at the airport, only you have to wrap Christmas presents as you go and present the officer with Monopoly money. And actually the harder part is getting home. See, most people in London don't own cars (and why would they?), so they're forced to carry home their purchases on foot, just like us, limiting the amount of things you can buy at a time. I've seen a number of older women shopping with these curious little suitcase-type thingies on wheels and have been wondering if maybe I could rent one out. It's good fun having to go frequently to the store though, plus it forces one to have to buy fresh produce sparingly (so it's always new and delicious).
What do I actually buy at the store?
-Cheese
-Yogurt
-Satsumas
-Bread (which always proudly notes, "Made with British Wheat")
-Dried pasta (greater selection of fresh here though)
-Cereal bars (THE BEST EVER)
-Instant Porridge (Instant oatmeal exactly, it's even Quaker Oats, except THE BEST EVER)
-Granola and berries cereal (NO REALLY, THE BEST EVER)
-Chorizo (I don't know either, it's delicious and lasts a long time)
-Crumpets/scones
-Honey
-Peanut butter (THE BEST EVER, I MEAN IT THIS TIME, I EAT IT STRAIGHT FROM THE JAR AND I'VE NEVER DONE THAT)
-Some article of JUNK (to be discussed later)

Three things about the selection of cheese and yogurt here: the selection is astonishing, they're pretty cheap, and they. are. THE BEST EVER.
You may or may not have noticed I didn't have milk or eggs on the list. Milk here is sold in a variety of forms, notably boxes, bags (?), and tiny cartons, which are what most people buy. I only bought one tiny carton, at the start, which went bad almost immediately, but I tried again on today's trip just so I can eat my delicious cereal....also eggs are not kept refrigerated. This does not especially bother me, I just think it interesting. I don't buy eggs because I'm sure I'll break them on the long walk home.

Oh yeah, and junk food. Brit junk food is the bomb.com. The board of education officially closed down the school, it's so dang cool. There are chips, of course, which are just big, greasy fries, and crisps, which are chips, but the selection of biscuits and cakes (cookies and doughnut-type things, seriously, who says you don't need to know another language to visit this country?) at Sainsbury's always manages to floor me. See, plenty of folk still do observe tea time, which means there must be accompanying snacks, usually digestive biscuits or scones, I think. I bought a very basic, store-brand variety pack of biscuits for tea today for a pound and I'm having to exercise serious self-disipline to keep from eating the whole pack right now. So there are cookies and gummies and lollies and cakes (not pies though, "pies" refer to meat pies, which are incredibly, surprisingly delicious) and then, then, there are Jammie Dodgers. Oh my. Jammie Dodgers. They're just shortbread cookies with raspberry filling but so heavenly, I would buy them ALL if they weren't also so outlandishly expensive.
Plus, there's the chocolate. It's typically a lot richer and better than back home, but I'm not much of a chocolate eater so this didn't much impress me until we arrived to a tube station half an hour early and had to kill some time at a cafe. I bought a "special hot chocolate" in the smallest size available (very small indeed, only a few ounces) and it tasted like they'd just melted a chocolate bar into a styrofoam cup. It was so rich, it nearly put me to sleep, making it very hard to get around for a bit (typing this out made me realize it sounds like there was something very dodgy in that hot chocolate, but I'm going to assume it was just very rich, but very innocent chocolate).
Ummm, sadly this post seems to be lacking in photos, which seems very mean considering you'd probably like to see all the delightful food I've been describing, but I honestly never think to take pictures before I eat. Here's some of my groceries?

(tomatos, peanut butter, honey, some sort of quiche I bought for dinner, Greek yogurt with bits of ginger, porriage!, milk, and crumpets)

I just realized my finger is in the photo too. I would retake it but I spent the entire day at Hampton Court Palace in 80 degree heat and am now unable to get up from the couch. Sorry 'bout that.

Weekly Roundup - May 20

Monday
National Gallery tour. Our little group goes to a number of galleries and our director usually explains some of the highlights in each. It's quite fun and each time, some interested gallery goers end up listening in and following us around, thinking we're an organized tour group.
I never seem to take the time to learn about where we're going, so imagine my shock when we turned a corner in the National Gallery and I saw THIS, the Virgin of the Rocks! (Photos most definitely not allowed) Da Vinci is not only one of my favorite artists, but my very favorite historical figure and I nearly fainted when I saw it, I had no idea one of the versions was housed in the gallery. One of the best moments of the trip, by far.
In the evening, a play, "Conquest of the South Pole." It was in a tiny, intimate space, which was great because the actors were so close and impassioned, portraying four unemployed young men who escape their miserable lives by pretending to travel the South Pole in one of their attics. Very powerful stuff.

Tuesday
Class. Roommate Ian and I took a bus to a seedy part of town where we visited a rather lovely pub and saw Dark Shadows for only 6.4 pounds (roughly $10, going to the cinema -as it's called in the UK -is insanely expensive, these tickets were less than HALF of what the average adult would expect to pay on any given day). After enjoying a full 25 minutes of ads (mostly for booze...) and previews, we had a fun time watching Johnny Depp be gloriously sexy. Ok, I had a fun time watching Johnny Depp be gloriously sexy....

Wednesday
Tour at the Tate Britain.

I'm terribly sorry these photos aren't more interesting, but there's just no photography allowed indoors. Um, look, an advert for Picasso! I've seen Picassos!

I also took a walk by myself at Hyde Park, which was delightful. 

Peter Pan statue.

The Italian Garden. Albert had it built for Victoria way back when and you could hardly find a more romantic spot to stroll with your loved one. Or read Richard the Third on a park bench and shiver alone.

Also, a platform discussion with the writer and director of "Detroit," a play we're due to see in a few weeks and a play in the evening at the National Theater's Olivier Theater, "Collaborators." It was about Joseph Stalin! Yay! And there was a live jazz band in the lobby! And I nearly starved to death because I didn't eat before the platform! Yay for fruit-flavored tic-tacs in my purse that no one else wants to eat!

Thursday

Class. More cupcakes at the Hummingbird Cafe. A quick trip to Harrods, completely by accident, upon which we discovered bottles of wine that cost more than my entire college education will. Finally, a play, "Love, Love, Love" at the Royal Court.

This play moved everyone deeply. 

It was about a couple who met in the 1960's and went on to have two children and divorce, told in three acts. It was centered around the attitudes and selfishness of the Baby Boomer generation and the problems they created for the next generation. It was well-written and hit very close to home for many of us, especially the parts about the children not being able to get jobs or earn any money because their parents encouraged dreams they could never achieve in a recession-hit society.  About half the class loved it and the other half hated it because it was too intimate, too personal. I was part of the latter group. But afterwords, there was a Q and A onstage with the actors, who were SO lovely and humble that two of them were actually holding the door open for people as they left the theatre (me included!).

Friday

Market day at the Borough food market! It was incredible, every kind of food imaginable, all completely delicious. I bought a meat pie and some delicious candy known as Turkish Delight which you may remember Edmund (was it Edmund?) selling his soul for (was it selling his soul for?!) in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (was it even that book?!? I know this was a thing, help me out here!) and which I may or may not have stashed away in my drawer like a precious artifact. And our director bought us way too many enormous chocolate brownies, forcing us to stuff our faces and smuggle the leftovers home in our bags to eat at night while watching Stardust (would you believe the nearest video rental store is a good mile away and that the stock did not include Mary Poppins and that the staff had never even HEARD of Bedknobs and Broomsticks?!). So we were a very giddy lot at the Tate Modern that afternoon, looking at priceless works by Dali and queing up to see Damien Hirst's ridiculous fifteen million pound work, For the Love of God. If you're not familiar with Hirst's work, you're lucky, he's a tremendous fraud, this is basically a platinum cast of a human skull set with 8,601 diamonds. It's gaudy. It's pretentious. I'm not fond of Mr. Hirst, but what does he care, he's worth 251 million quid. Here, have a photo of me, pleasantly stuffed with sugar and indifferent to Damien Hirst.

Then another trip to Harrods, for a hot fudge sundae.

Delicious ice cream, terrible service, and what appeared to be four members of the Mafia, eating strawberry sundaes with little bear cookies.

Saturday

Portobello Road - Take 2.

(The market gets busy)

This was our very first day free of scheduled activities, but it ended up being an incredibly eventful day for me. On the way to the market, I gave directions to a lost tourist, which I've been dreaming of doing since I got here. I successfully bargained for better mangos at a food stall. I got a cashmere sweater for ten pounds. And, after crossing the street at an inappropriate time (with a dozen or so other people), some guy yelled at me and I flipped him off.

......


I KNOW, RIGHT?
I did not mean to do it, let alone for him to see, but even though he wasn't even mad, I was embarrassed and ashamed for the rest of the day.
Later, a few flatmates and I journeyed out to an Irish pub because the food was supposed to be really good, not realizing there was a big football game going on. Yes. I have been drinking in a traditional Irish pub during a football game, complete with delicious meat pies, chips, and peas, and tough brawny men shouting and stomping. Also, there was a whole table of British hotties eating ice cream near us. ICE CREAM, I tell you! Also, it was wicked crowded so we had to fight off two snotty girls to get a table. It was kind of scary and totally awesome. Flipping off strangers, nearly starting pub brawls, I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO I AM ANYMORE.


Sunday
I finished Richard the Third and watched Doctor Who and wore my new sweater. All day long. I didn't even leave the flat. And I am not at all sorry to see the end of Christopher Eccleston, rude sod he was.

Best Play of the Week
Tough call. I'm going to say..."Collaborators" for set, "Love^3" for story, and "Conquest" for acting.

Most Magical Moment of the Week
It must be my Da Vinci.

Celebrity Sightings! (disclaimer: NONE of which were made by me. I am waiting, Mr. Cumberbatch)
Anna Ferris (I hear this group actually got pictures!)
Chris O'Dowd (Rhodes from Bridesmaids! He was seeing a play at the same theater as "Collaborators")
Cillian Murphy (Does not actually count because he's starring in a play a few people have gone to see)
And finally....




Are you ready? For reals?





ALAN RICKMAN! AT A PLAY! IT HAPPENED! MERE SEATS AWAY! BELIEVE IT, FOLKS!
The flatmate who saw him, by the by, did not open with this. He came home and let us sit around watching Stardust for a while before casually letting it slip that ALAN RICKMAN was sitting a few seats behind him at a play. At a play! Like a normal person! I told him it his moral obligation to obtain a cell phone/carrier pigeon/1800s style boy messenger if such a thing ever happens again to contact me and get me in the vicinity of ALAN RICKMAN.



Doctor of the Week
I want to hug David Tennant's face until he explodes confetti and marshmallow fluff.

Weekly Roundup

Saturday (May 5)
Walking around the neighborhood bleary and jet-lagged

Sunday
Walking Tour of Westminster

Monday

Ghost tour

Tuesday

First day of class. Walking about, Buckingham Palace, and Fleet Street (there really is a barber shop there...)

Wednesday

Tea at Hyde Park in the rain. Here's another photo at the Princess Di Memorial Fountain instead

Thursday

Class. Sherlock Holmes museum. Play, "One Man, Two Guv'nors"

(Yes, it's a toilet, but it's SHERLOCK HOLMES' TOILET)

Friday

Kew Gardens. 300 acres of botanical delights. We probably covered....like, 54 acres. Every inch glorious, my favorite part was the greenhouses, the oldest in the country.

This jerk was loud.

Tree-top walk. Yep, we went up there, and yep, it was high.

Notice that tiny speck near the middle of the picture, above the trees? That's an airplane (it's a lot bigger and closer than it looks), the gardens are near the airport and planes are constantly whizzing overhead to land, disrupting the peace and reminding me of air raids.

Saturday

Market at Portobello Road. (Apparently this is quite famous from films and such, but I was only vaguely aware of it before then, so feel free to insert your own comments on "Oh yeah, THAT place!") I got some scarves and books on the cheap, as well as bratwurst and this DELICIOUS ETON MESS CUPCAKE from the Hummingbird Bakery. (Eton Mess is a regional special, it was strawberry with bits of meringue and whatnot)

Then Roommate Ian and I went out for a bit and ended up at a fairly swank speakeasy in SoHo where I had the most delicious drink of my life. We also went to the Tate Modern and saw some Picassos and other fascinating works. It was really just too, too cool.

(I wanted to take a picture of our delicious drinks, but it seemed way too 'I'm American and Twenty and Overly Excited about Being Able to Buy Alcohol in a Fancy Private Space I Needed an In on the Guest List to Access'. Plus they already carded me at the door so if I started flashing the side-ways peace sign at Ian's iPhone, they probably would have just taken away my fantastic drink and given me a glass of apple juice.)

Sunday

The Tower of London and church service therein. We wore Sunday best and looked very sharp indeed. There was outdoor market today as well, that took FOREVER to get to and it took FOREVER to get home because one of the Tube lines was down.

The Tower is tremendously old, originally constructed around 1080. Among other things, it's been used as a prison and as a palace (a very tiny palace, reconstruction above of bed chambers) and today houses the Crown Jewels. I don't have any photos at all of these lovelies, in part because I don't think they were allowed, in part because they wouldn't do them justice (seriously, a 500 pound golden wine tub?! Those diamond-laden crowns?!), and in part because the photo I really wanted was of myself in a grey t-shirt and jeans, listening to "The Thieving Magpie" through earbuds, wearing the jewels and murmuring "No rush..." to the guards. Obviously that couldn't happen, because I was wearing a dress and jacket. *SIGH*

(If you are baffled by this strange desire, then you have my deepest condolences because you are clearly unaware of BBC's Sherlock and that is just sad)

Best Play of the Week

"One Man, Two Guv'nors," a HILARIOUS farce based on The Servant of Two Masters. Several factors made this play even more enjoyable:

        -It was the freebie we got from the BYU group, regularly something like 40 pounds. Sweet.

        -The BYU group was sitting in front of us. The play had some incredibly raunchy bits and jokes, half of which appeared to fly right over their heads (...and hit us square in ours? Weird metaphor) and the other half had them gasping and clapping their hands over their mouths. Priceless. (Thanks again for the tickets though!)

        -The little group I went with did not have adequate time to finish our dinner. We got fish and chips from a takeaway stand and were forced to eat them while running to catch the show in time. We did not finish. We shoved them inside our bags and sneaked them in. I ate mine during intermission. You read that correctly: I, Dani Zimmerman, actually consumed cold fried fish and French fries out of my purse in the middle of a sold-out, first-rate play at the Haymarket theater (imagine eating a McDonalds hamburger at a Broadway production and you'll have a rough idea). Ridiculous.

         -The lead actor was hysterical. Audience participation was part of the play and at one point, he started jokingly asking for a sandwich. A wrapped parcel was thrust into the air and someone shouted, "I'VE GOT ONE HERE." The actor was genuinely floored (a more elaborate bit near the end actually was staged, but this one was not). Even better, somebody else, thrust up a bottle of wine. We lost him completely, and no one could breathe for laughing. Groovy. 

Most Magical Moment of the Week

Tie

-Walking around near St. James Place at night. No pictures will really show the beauty of this city at night. 

-Making extended eye-contact with a hottie after Portobello Road. He just stared...and stared....and I just stared...and stared....I should have run him down, I know, I know...

Trippy Telly Times

I've now watched Sherlock, Doctor Who, AND Harry Potter whilst in London. (Hey, I can't go out all the time)