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.
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