Medieval History Heaven and the EYE!

After spending all of Sunday on the couch, I was feeling much better when I got up for class today. We had our History of London class at 11 followed by a walking tour at 2. We were told to meet at the Temple underground station. Liz and I mapped it out and decided to walk. The walk led us directly down to the bank of the Thames and we were able to see the London Eye, Big Ben and Parliament in the skyline looking down the river.

Looking down (well technically up) the River Thames

We met with the group by the station and went on a walking tour around the historic footprint of the city of London. What we think of as London now actually encompasses the City of Westminster (which is where the Palace and such is) and the city of London (which is now largely banking and contains St. Paul's cathedral). We passed by the Royal Courts of Justice, which are far more impressive than any court house I have seen back in the US. We also passed by St. Paul's, but didn't get close enough to really see it. We will be going on a tour of St. Paul's later in the year though, so I am not too torn up about that.

Royal Courts of Justice

One of the Griffins marking the City of London

St. Paul's from Fleet Street

Our walking tour ended at Temple Church. Temple Church was the chapel that served the Knights Templar monastic order in London. The Church is one of the oldest buildings in London. It survived both London fires and the Blitz, save for the caving in of the round roof which was repaired after WWII along with several stained glass windows.

Temple Church

The Round Roof

Knight's Effigies inside Temple Church

Stained Glass on the East Wall

The Rose Window

Me in Temple Church

A statue of a Templar Knight

The sheer age of the building was staggering to think about. There was so much history contained in this building, which was built in the 12th century. From Templar Knights to WWII, the church was filled with relics of British History. I am an unabashed nerd when it comes to English and Irish History, so this trip was a great treat for me.

After our walking tour, Liz, Corey and I decided to stroll down the Thames to the London eye. It was one of those very rare perfect days in London. There was not a single cloud in the perfectly blue sky. It was the perfect opportunity to ride the famous ferris wheel. We were lucky enough to not even have to wait in line for this attraction, which can demand waits of over an hour. 

A Capsule on the London Eye

The London Eye never stops moving at its extremely so pace, so you have to jump on while it passes by the loading platform. It takes 40 minutes to make one full revolution on the wheel, offering some amazing views of London and plenty of time for picture taking. We were fortunate enough to get on the eye very near sunset, so some of the views we had were incredible, though you can't tell from my photos which don't do them justice in the slightest. 

Liz and I on the Eye

Myself on the Eye overlooking Parliament

At the Top of the Eye

Sunset over the Thames facing Parliament

Sunset in London

After our ride on the eye, we had to speed back home to get ready for our first play of the semester. Every monday night for our theatre course we will be seeing a play. Most of these plays are contemporary theatre. Tonight's was The Woman in Black, a ghost story about a haunting in Northern Britain. I didn't really enjoy the play as much as I would have liked. There were several scary moments that had me jumping out of my chair, but overall I found the plot to be weak and the whole performance generally unimpressive. I hope I will like the next play better! Tomorrow I have my museum theory and London novel classes and then I will be setting off with some friends to continue the hunt for the perfect London pub (the Nell Gwynne was perfect, but too far from home to become a regular haunt). 

I am more excited than I look, I swear

Posing with another of the Griffons around the City

The Tower!

Yesterday, after being awoken by noisy student protests in Russell Square, we finally made it to the tower! Liz was still feeling under the weather so I went with Zigrang,  John and Kevin. I felt like a little kid going to Disney World for the first time, because I am that nerdy.

The Tower from the Ticket Booth

Outer Wall of the Tower

Since we arrived only an hour before the tower closed for the evening we had to take a speed tour. Alex Zigrang had been there before and was able to direct us to the most important parts of the complex, more specifically the crown jewels. Sadly, we couldn't take any pictures of the jewels, so I won't be able to post a picture of my new crown (after my marriage to Prince Harry, it will be mine). There was a lot to see, and even though we were pressed on time, we managed to get through just about every part of the tower.

THE TOWER!!

The White Tower

The Royal Raven Keep

I love all of the tradition and history that is present in a place like the Tower. For example, the ravens of the tower are a national symbol. It is said that if all of the ravens leave the tower the monarchy will cease to exist. Therefore, though several ravens are free to wander, many are kept in an enclosure beside the white tower.

A 5 ton canon

More Views of the Tower

King Edward I ruled from the tower. We got to walk through his residence. I very gracefully fell on my face in his royal throne room when I missed a step coming down off of a raised window platform. I strongly suspect this was Edward I's ghost attacking me because of my Scottish heritage. Edward I is also known as Edward Longshanks, the king who was famously portrayed in Braveheart as a ruthless oppressor of the scots. Jokes on you Longshanks, I came away with only some bruising on my knees.

Edward Longshank's Bedchamber

Worst Staircase Ever

Shortly before falling on my face

After leaving the tower at closing, sadly without successfully getting a picture of a beefeater, we made our way across tower bridge to find somewhere to eat.

Tower Bridge!

Classic Angle

View of the Tower from Tower Bridge

We walked around a bit before jumping on the tube and making our way to Angel in Islington. The tube station at Angel has the longest escalator in Europe. Other than this wonderful attraction, the area has a lot of shops, bars and restaurants. We stopped at an Indian restaurant. The Indian food in London is legendary, and even though I have only had Indian once before, I was excited to try it again. I found that I still am not a fan of spicy foods, but I did have Chicken Thali that I enjoyed. I don't think that I will be eating Indian any more often, but I did enjoy trying some new things. 

Today I am spending my Sunday sleeping and catching up on some work. Though I was feeling better yesterday, I may have pressed my luck to far. Walking around in the cold English weather all day has set my healing process back, and I yet again cannot properly breathe and have a cough. Tomorrow we have class, a walking tour and a play to attend, so I don't know how long it will be before I can properly rest up and get over this sickness!

The Bedford Plague, round 2

I woke up this morning feeling terrible, again. After being on my feet all day yesterday at the glorious British museum and then staying up late looking at hotels for spring break, I seem to have lost my upperhand on whatever I am sick with. I have started calling it the Bedford Plague, because it seems like just about half of the Colgate study group has come down with it to date. Symptoms of the Bedford plague are: fever, sore throat, cough and fatigue. Unfortunately this puts a hold on the wonderful day of being a tourist I had planned, but I don't think the Tower, Big Ben or Buckingham Palace are going anywhere soon. After spending the day in bed today I will hopefully be ready to go tomorrow! For now, I need another cup of tea and a nap.

The British Museum, Part 1

this morning I woke up feeling a lot better after a pretty solid nights sleep (despite a hilariously terrible dinner at Garfunkels). We had our first real class session today. It was a real class in the respect that we are actually discussing and learning things instead of simply setting up the syllabus for the course. But more importantly than that, we had our first museum visit for our Museum Theory class. We specifically sought out three objects with Professor Coyle and were then set loose on the museum to see whatever we would like for as long as we would like. Liz and I decided to head up to the third floor of the museum to check out a nice sampling of Egypt, Greece, Rome and Western Europe.

Entrance to the British Museum

On the Stairs of the Great Room in the Museum

There is so much to see in the museum that it would literally be impossible to even write about everything I saw today, which was only about 1/6 of the whole museum. Some highlights were the Greek and Roman statues on the third floor.

I love his beard

My New boyfriend Gaius Caesar

Augustus looking concerned

Having a dace off with cupid

I also really enjoyed all of the Viking and Irish artifacts. There was a large display of celtic jewelry, weapons and other every day objects. It was really cool to see these things in person, since I have always been an avid fan of British and Irish history and have read about them so often before.

An Early Catholic Crucifix

Tiles depicting the story of Tristan and Isolde

Irish Brooches worn by Celtic leaders

After finishing off the third floor of the museum we wandered into the special exhibit, The Egyptian book of the dead. the exhibit displays pages from several books of the dead, a book in ancient Egypt containing spells that were used before and after death in order to help the soul navigate the after life. It was a very cool exhibit, but unfortunately you were not allowed to take pictures because of all the ancient papyrus that was on display. We will definitely go back to explore the rest of the museum. We have yet to look at the larger Egyptian, Roman and Greek artifacts, such as the statue of Ramses and the Parthenon casts. I couldn't resist taking a quick side trip into the Egyptian room to get a picture of the Rosetta Stone before we left. It was the one object I was most excited to see in the museum.

A blurry picture of the Rosetta stone

Tomorrow we plan on doing all of the classic tourist stops: The Tower of London, Big Ben and the Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, Parliament, The London Eye, Harrods, etc. I am seriously lacking in traditional London tourist photos. For this reason I couldn't resist taking a picture with the cheesy cut out located outside of the museum! Plenty more of them tomorrow!

Liz as a palace guard, myself as Paddington Bear

Feeling a bit Peaky?

Yesterday Liz,  John and I took another trip to Covent Gardens, which is quickly becoming my favorite spot to visit in London. Liz and I were making another attempt to find storage bins and we yet again failed. We did, however, get some other errands done, so the trip was not a complete waste in that sense.  Covent gardens is full of street performers. Last time we stopped there Liz got some great photos a gold covered living statue. This time we watched a tiny energetic hobbit-type man jump over a really tall dutch guy... it was not as impressive as his build-up made it out to be.

Hobbit man attempting to scale large dutchman

After a bit of aimless wandering we stumbled into our first completely authentic British hole-in-the-wall pub! In a class this past semester Liz and I learned all about Nell Gwyn, Charles II's mistress. We got really excited when we saw a sign pointing down a sketchy alley for the Nell Gwyn tavern. This place was absolutely tiny, dimly lit,  with peeling wallpaper, dark wood tables, and old portraits covering the walls. In a word, perfect. We hung out and had a few pints, which turned out to be the best decision ever. After about a half hour a large group of stereotypical old british people came in and sat down at the table across from us. I was beginning to lose faith in the existence of these perfect people, but my faith has been restored. So far, the Nell Gwyn has been my favorite find.

The Nell Gwyn Tavern

Unfortunately I woke up this morning feeling very sick. I think it may be because I never gave myself proper time to adjust to the jet lag. A few of my flat mates are also feeling sick. I'm hoping I get over it soon so I can keep enjoying all that London has to offer.

We had our first session for theatre class today. In the class we will be seeing plays around London on Monday and discussing them on Thursday. We are seeing everything from Hamlet at the Globe Theatre to an Opera about Anna Nicole Smith. The Professor seems awesome so far. He is very energetic and passionate about his subject. Sadly, this class is at 3 pm and is my only class of the day. This means I get to sleep in late, but it also means that by time I leave class the sun has already set but it is still too early to do anything. So I used this awkward period in my day to finish my book for my novel class tomorrow. It was a terrible, terrible book. I am not looking forward to talking about it tomorrow. We do, however, have a museum visit tomorrow and I am looking forward to that!