Day 28

by feather

We started the day with our Last Super/lunch at 12:45pm with the rest of the group

All paid for including drinks and dessert! Of course!

it was a great lunch, we played spades until the food came and then Kristyn amazed us with her card tricks, and all hung out for the last time

The rest of the day was a quick run here and there to grab things we wanted to get (postcards for assignments mainly)

And the rest of the day was naps, packing, t.v., dinner, and blogging..

A nice restful day. Kristyn put it best, “I am worn out, I don’t care if we don’t do anything tonight”.. she’s been asleep for the past 3-4hours now

And now that all the blogging is caught up! Yes! It is, and all the pictures too! I am going to retire for the evening.

I would like to say that I’ve had a truly amazing time here and  I have seen more than I could ever imagine seeing in 28 days and learned a lot more than I was expecting too! But, I am ready to come home, get hugs, hear voices, pet my kitties and Budweiser, and take a real shower!

Thanks for being so supportive! And I hope you’ve enjoyed our blogging and pictures Cant wait to see you all in person!

Cheers! -feather

Day 27

by Kristyn

Today was fantastic. I am in the middle of a game of spades, however, so I will have to write your eyes off about it later. One highlight that needs mentioning, and obsessing over, though, is the fact that Feather and I got to meet none other than: JENNIFER TILLY!

I can die now.

If only we could all look like her when we’re 51…

by feather

So the rest of the day was pretty amazing too:

woke up early unfortunately, but we ended up lying around that we were almost late to our Backstage Tour & Workshop of the Globe!! yeah, I ended up running as fast as I could from the tube stop to the Globe because of course this was the one thing we COULDN”T be late too! I don’t think I’ve ever run so fast.. a little over a half mile in under 3 minutes through crowds of people, oh and dare I say (don’t look mom) barefoot… fun times. MADE IT! Kristyn was close behind. We got in! Even though they had already started. I had to sit down for a while. whew!

The tour was fine.. learned some history, but the real fun was when we went below to the rehersal rooms. We actually had an “acting” class. MUCH FUN! Did I mention I LOVE theatre! Kristyn and I both want to take the Intro to Acting class at tech in the fall we’ll see…

After that we decided to go to Camden which is a big market, but also shops all up and down the streets, punk rock stores next to posh stores next to antiques. It was good just for the experience.. I think that’s the true London that you don’t see all the time Got two dresses! And so did Kristyn! We’re set for our weddings when we get back!

Then we came back to chill in the flat and had Christy, Kristen, and Lauren over.. we were all going to work on our assigments/homework together, but after about 5 minutes we all played Spades a new card game! .. for the rest of the night… till we went back out to the theatre where Grasses of a Thousand Colours was playing so we could catch Jennifer Tilly and Wallace Shawn when the came out after the show

YAY.

Great Night!!

Day 26

Class in the morning.. and all afternoon. Since it was our last class, and last time to really get together and talk for hours.. Also we each had presentations about our free weekend & what our intentions were & what we learned. Kristyn and I talked about our experience together so people wouldn’t have to hear it twice.. it’s all updated on the blog now too- but I did write a poem about the trip so I will share that with you now:)

Quiet Fields,

Full of grass

Whistling

In the wind and

The presence of

Ghosts walking the fields,

Of Reality,

Captured in,

My imagination,

Yearning to leap, into

My thoughts of what once was,

Honored to step

The same steps,

Thumps of one boot,

Infront

Of the other,

Four times,

To a melody

of calm,

silence.

We got early, which was nice, because we came back to nap, blog, work on assignments. We went out that night to a bar with Chirsty, Lauren, and Kristen for a drink after Thai food. It was good, but it was an early  night.

Day 25

by feather

Finally! A day we can sleep in!! Nothing planned until The Cherry Orchard at 7:30pm. But Of Course! Since it is our last week we still have things we Must do!

Up at 8:30, which actually is sleeping in here, just think of that dad! Never thought I’d say that.

Anywho, up at 8:30 to be out the door around 9-9:15 to catch the tube, go across the city to the WICKED theatre to see if we could get some matinee tickets!

There was a line.

Luckily it wasn’t too long, and we hoped that they all wanted to go to the night time showing.. x x x x fingers

We get up there and ask. show our student ids.. then get a pause. No expiration dates on our VT studend IDs.. Great. The ONLY theatre that we’ve had a problem with, and he was totally going to do it, but then a manager type person came over and decided not to. I asked if we could show our driver’s license to show our age because I thought that might help, I even said I had the phone number to our professor that was here with us doing study abroad.. but whatever. They did have two tickets off to the side a bit 4th row, for 25 pounds. That would be the cheapest w/o student ids. I really wonder what kind of seats we could have had if they had accepted them. BUT can’t go back. We got the two tickets off to the side 4th row back..

Found a lovely pub right next door 8 pounds for 2 meals! PERFECT. Ate there then did some window shopping until it was time.

WICKED! If any of you haven’t heard of this play: it is the story of the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphabe, from her point of view. At least, that’s all I knew about it.

It actually talked about BEFORE Dorothy comes and how she “becomes” wicked. yeah.. IT WAS AMAZING. Right up there with The Lion King! I think I really like musicals more so than just plays… but seriously, AMAZING. LOVED IT.

Their voices were just jaw-dropping.

Sadly it ended and we ran on over to the other theatre across a couple tube stops to meet up with our group mates to see our next play of the day. Not until after we ate a really interesting dinner at a place called Bangalore, an Indian restaurant. I’m not too fond of Indian food, but it was cheap and there was rice.. (don’t like curry). But there was a make-your-own meal that looked appealing. I got the “mildest” curry and it was actually really great! I wouldn’t put any more curry on it than they had, so I’m glad they didn’t douse it.

Alright alright, enough about food -you can see the pictures below

The Cherry Orchard. So, we were tired.. and it was a very slow play and the characters were dozing off and going to bed and there were a lot of long pauses. So needless today I missed a lot of the first half, but Kristyn got it, she missed most of the second half, and I got that. So together we saw the whole play. Ethan Hawke was in it! That kept me interested as much as my eyes could let me. Didn’t much care for it, but the entire idea behind the entire production sounds amazing. I’ll explain it:

So Kevin Spacey owns The Vic which is the theatre we saw the play in, and he’s friends with this British actor guy, who’s name escapes me, but when it was said I knew who it was right away, so big name, anywho- what they’re doing is performing 2 shows a shakespeare and then another one of their choosing and with the same group of actors – half british, half american, they’re putting on both shows and touring around the world. It’s supposed to be a big “coming together” of cultures and amazing experiences.

Sounds really cool

Cheers!

The stage of Wicked!

optimistic

hesitant

Dessert!!!

Day 24

by feather

Breakfast at Jane’s, a nice walk to class, two amazing guest speakers: Lemn Sissay and Hannah Pool, a run to the Lion King theatre to try and get tickets for tonight.. x x x cross your fingers.

YES!

An afternoon in Covent Garden for lunch, cookies, street performers, and then a 5 o’clock tour of the National Theatre!!

I wasn’t sure what to expect… and I got SOO MUCH MORE than I could ever imagine. I’m speaking for the both of us when I say, we have new career paths. We got to go backstage, side stage, into the rehersal rooms, into the artist’s studio.. shall I say that again? Into the artist’s studio.. I did not want to leave, and apparently they have internships that last as long as you want them too, and one paid apprentice-ship for an entire year helping them create all the different sets! and they show between 22 and 25 productions a year! The entire experience was amazing and I now want to work on sets in theatre’s and movies. AND kristyn does too, but the tech & backstage stuff I’ll let her talk about her experience.

THEN, we had to quickly head out so we could make it to the theatre on time for.. The Lion King.

I have never witnessed in my life something so spectacular.

It was the best performance I’ve seen so far. Some of the acting and acents weren’t up to par for such a production.. but the dancing, acrobats, singing, and other acting adn acents were Awe-Some. I was engulfed in the play and my eyes were teary at three separate times, and I almost might have actually shed a tear at one point. I can’t even begin to explain how I felt being in the experience, I wish it never ended and I could see it on repeat. And I wouldn’t get sick of it, I know..

I bought the soundtrack of course

And of course! This just sealed the deal for me wanting to work on sets

Anyway, I’m sure you get the point. I need to get to bed though because we’re waking up wonderfully Early to get good tickets to the matinee of WICKED for tomorrow!!! We’ll let you know how it goes.

so far… BEST DAY EVER!!!

The Lyceum Theatre: The Lion King

Me!

Day 23

by feather

Another early morning wake up to find out that we forgot to get our new tube passes for the week. oops. so to the Tower of London we had to walk to get there by 8:45am for our private tour Before the compound opened!

It was a brisk walk..

We had our tour around the grounds (pictures below) and I guess someone was sleeping because the Crown Jewels tour building was supposed to be open for us.. but it was not, so we had to wait until 10am when it opened to the public. So several went us to Subway – which is apparently the CHEAPEST place in London.. 6inch sub and drink for Two Pounds! amazing.

Then back to look at all the Royal Bling. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside the exhibit, but it probably would have been too shiney anyway. Very over the top with the jewels and gold, but I guess you have to be if you’re royalty. Then we went to the Henry VIII “Dressed to Kill” exhibit in the castle on the grounds. It was all about armor and weapons, horses, artillery, and of course outrageous “special” armor for his man parts that I’m sure was at least 50 times an exaggeration. In fact, a bunch of us wondered how he could even walk in that armor But you gotta protect!

It was pretty cool. It took all morning and into the early afternoon. After that we found ourselves enjoying Ben and Jerry’s icecream next to Fred one of our professors and his wife and adorable children.

Then it was off to get our tube tickets and home to rest our feet…

As you like it at the Globe Theatre 7:30pm, standing tickets.

I wasn’t sure how well I’d hold up, standing still for about three hours.. I didn’t read this play, but that’s because I wanted to be surprised. (I read the others and wasn’t surprised So I didn’t want to spoil this one. It was pretty good- that is, the second half when we were right up against the stage – leaning on it, putting our elbows on it. (the first half we were in the back.. and of course in the rain) It did clear up though, so it wasn’t pouring, and it did stop by the second half. Then it was off to bed, only because of exhaustion

Our guide for the Tower of London

Old Roman wall inside the Tower complex

The Royal Crown Jewels building/museum

a memorial in the actual place where all 5..7? royalty members were beheaded including the two wives of Henry the VIII and other kings/royalty

Kristyn being silly

One of the 9 ravens on the grounds of the Tower ... there is a lot of superstition in this complex.. there HAS to be at least 6 ravens on the grounds OR ELSE the tower, castle, bridge, and monarchy will crumble to the ground.. so they have 9 just in case.. by the way, these birds are HUGE. watch out Lenny & Carl!

the sky/landscape as we were walking to the theatre

Us inside the Globe

ADDITIONS AND PICTURES

Please note:

Thanks to Feather’s hard and very much appreciated efforts, the first two days of our excursion to Hadrian’s wall are now complete, as well as the past few days. More pictures are also up on most posts that were notably waiting for them. Please skip back on the blog to catch up on these days, and let Feather know how wonderful she is for skipping an afternoon nap to work on them!

Day 22

by Feather

What a beautiful day it was outside! We didn’t set any alarms, and hung out watching a British teenage soap opera. We tried to go to BodyWorlds in Greenwich, but found that nearly impossible with the tube strike still going. It was a very relaxing morning. Then we gathered a group and headed out to the Originial Hard Rock Cafe!

After an hour detour from the tube stop we ended up about 2 minutes from it (on the other side) whoops! and found ourselves with fake tatoos, cupcakes, and a groovy server. Unknown to me (feather) all the staff does NOT actually dress up every day to come to work.. but because it was Hard Rocks 38th birthday they all got too! I think they should dress up like that every day! it was a lot of fun, there were punk rockers, lots of hippies, and some outrageous costumes and face paints..

On the down side the prices were just as outrageous and their vegetarian options were close to non exsistant. Four pieces of brocolli for Four pounds.. yeah, thanks to Kristyn I got two orders for the price of one. BUT it was fun and the company was great.

Hagrid also greeted us with his presence early outside Hard Rock, unfortunatley Kristyn and I did not see him, but the others did. (He’s in Harry Potter, for those of you who don’t know.. and the actor, not the character)

Anywho! Can you guess what we did next! Yeah! You bet… to the movie theatre it was! X-men: Wolverine Origins [and it was AWESOME!]. Seriously, even the small, weird smelling theatre’s are better than the ones in the states

Hard Rock Cafe Group... hmm. i think it's blurry.. oops

Kristyn's first tattoo!

Feather's new tattoo! with sparkles!

HRC's (free!) 38th birthday cupcakes for all of us!

Day 21

by Feather

How about a 6am wake up call on Saturday morning. To Jane’s for a quick breakfast of wonderful herbed rice, bread, tea, coffee..fruit juice, and then over to Buckingham Palace for the Queen’s official birthday; Trooping of the Colours! A huge parade thrown for the Queen each year on June 13th. Thousands of people were lined up against the sides of the roads to watch the parade go by. Beefeaters lined the streets, the fuzz walked up and down, and also road on horseback [aww..isn't she precious spelling "rode" like that?] as well as some beefeaters. Then there was a marching band, lots of different troops walking together (they each had something different about them to help you distinguish which troop they were, but we didn’t know what meant what) didn’t really matter either..

Then royalty trotted by and the Queen’s sister and grandchildren? in a carrage [I love that Feather asks me to proofread, and I simply keep her mistakes because they make me giggle so much] and soon after the beautiful 83 year old herself (i think..)

Of course the entire ceremony took about four hours total, I just summed it up real quick. Half way through I couldn’t take the shoving and pushing and closeness to ALL so I backed away and went and sat on the grass in the park and people watched. What a fascinating species..

When the big to-do was for the most part over, Jane Ruth Kristyn and I were all treated to lunch by Virginia Tech’s credit card! Thank you very much VT! hehehe. It was a hole-in-the-wall pub, or so you thought. Looks here are deceiving.. a small alley way, a tiny door- really can open up into a huge establishment that you would never believe fit into that spot! Fish and Chips all the way! Kristyn and Jane tried the local pub beer- lemony Cricket.. it was alright.

After an entire morning afternoon event Kristyn and I ventured back home to get off our feet, catch up on reading and quiet things, in fact if I’m not mistaken, I took a good long nap

I think I’m going to have to say *to be continued* because I can’t remember what we did the rest of that day.. and Kristyn’s napping now so I don’t want to wake her.. I’ll let her finish the day!

Trooping of the Colours

more trooping

horsies!

we did get more pictures, and an entire video of the bag pipes, the band ON horseback and almost the queen, but then the camera battery decided it had enough.. the other picture I took of the queen.. had Jane’s waving hand in it blocking her.. so.. I’m sure you could google what she looked like. Little lady in a fancy blue hat.. that’s about all we saw anyway.

Day 20

by Kristyn

Thanks to Feather’s 13 hours of sleep, she was full of energy this morning when she came and woke me up, begging me to come run with her. What else could I do to keep her from bouncing off the walls?

We were scheduled to be in Regent’s Park to see a performance of The Tempest in the open-air theatre at12:45 so we decided to run the 3 miles from our apartment to the park and hang out and read until we needed to officially be there. Then we decided, however, to try and get student tickets to The Lion King, since we would actually be able to get there close to 10 am when the tickets go on sale.

So we ran the 2 miles down to Lyceum Theatre to discover that not only is London a dirty city air-wise, but apparently you can only get student tickets for The Lion King Tues-Thurs, and no on Fridays like we were trying to. So, with hung heads, we walked the 2 miles to Regent’s Park, and I was delighted to find that not only was there a tea house, but a full service cafe starting at noon: about 40 minutes from when we arrived.

Sitting myself down with a cup of English Breakfast and next to our friend Robin, who we unexpectedly ran in to, was plenty enough for me, but Feather, because she’s crazy, decided she hadn’t run enough yet to deserve food, so she headed off for another 2 mile run around the park, making it back just in time to join us and the other 5 who had shown up, for lunch. Chargrilled vegetable ratatouille with steamed rice, bread, and butter. Delicious.

*to be continued*

feather’s half

Delicious! I’ve never had ratatouille before, and all I could do was think of the movie, but it really was amazing. Then we headed towards the Open Aired Theatre! The Tempest, which I just read (but not the end because I like surprises) was todays feature. Kristyn will tell you she hates the plot, and I thought it was quite dull and only partially looking forward to the play, but I like to keep that glass half full. It was FUN. I think though, it was a children’s production of it (there were about 3-4 other big groups, but they were all under 12…) We fit right in! I really enjoyed how they performed it, and had water shooting out at us, and audience participation, although, I was hoping for some controversy in the end.. but it didn’t happen, it all went according to plan, no surprises Oh well.

Lets see.. oh yes, Kristyn and I ran/walked back to our flat, arriving before any of the tube goers did! woo hoo. showered and got ready for the night. we missed heading out on the architecture/art adventure (which was to see Anthony Waugh’s architeture studio/work place, and then to an artist opening in Brick Lane- which I would have liked to have done.. but it was also in a sketchy place, and the professor going is notorious for wandering off really quickly leaving the followers to find their own way- not fun) Anywho! I believe we grabbed a group and went off to, what else, the movie theatre! Star Trek! And it really is amazing. The movie theatre is also Really Amazing! SOOO much nicer than the ones in the states. And very different commercials and previews, a worth-while experience.

That’s all for this day!

Regents Park Open Aired Theatre for The Tempest