Last Monday we went on a walking tour of Leighton House. Leighton was an artist in the 19th century who was part of the orientalism movement. The movement consisted of a group of men in London who indulged in an opulent and excessive life style. The best known member of the movement is probably Oscar Wilde. The house was incredible. It was all overly decorated in a culturally muddled and inaccurate style, that was none the less breath taking. One of the rooms in the house is designed to look like an Arab palace, complete with a fountain in the center of the room. It was a very cool place to see.
That night we went to see In a Forest Dark and Deep, a dark comedy starring Matthew Fox, an actor from LOST. Being a LOST fan, I was incredibly excited to see this play. I was very disappointed. The script wasn’t bad, nor was the story. The acting was atrocious. It was very hard to get into the story when you are so distracted by how poorly the actors are performing. The quality of acting was similar to a high school production, it was that bad. Even Matthew Fox’s good looks couldn’t get me enthralled with the show. I am glad I got to see him, but I don’t know if the 2 hour play (without intermission) was worth it.
Tuesday was fairly uneventful, but was followed by an incredible Wednesday. After theatre class with Professor Punter Liz and I went to see Taylor Swift at the O2 arena! We got on the O2 express boat by the London eye and headed down the river to the arena complex. On the boat we held a belated celebration for Liz’s birthday by toasting with some champagne. It was about a half hour ride down the Thames to the arena, which was incredible. The actual arena is located in the center of the round building. Around the arena there is a mall like area full on tons of restaurants and even a movie theatre. The size of the place is incredible. After a quick dinner we headed to our seats for the show. It was absolutely amazing. I have always been a Taylor Swift fan, but the concert was even better than I thought it could be. Taylor is a great performer and is clearly very grateful to all of her fans. Occasionally between songs she would simply stop and stare out into the crowd, clearly overwhelmed by the volume of people who had shown up. My favorite part of the show was when she came into the crowd and performed three songs about 15 feet from where Liz and I were sitting! It was very cool.
Liz and I before the concert
The arena from our seats
Taylor!
From when she was right in front of us!
Loved her guitar
My favorite set/ dress of the night
On Thursday we went to the Horniman museum for our museum tour. The Horniman is a hands on museum with a local feel. It is directed at local schools and benefiting the immediate community around south London. It is very different than the museums we’ve have been to before. So far, it is my favorite. This is probably because we had a talk from a curator of the museum in the hands on area, where there are hundred of artifacts available for you to handle. These artifacts include cultural costumes from all over the world, musical instruments and toys (the museum focuses mainly on natural history and cultural history). We were told to explore the museum after our talk was over, but a group of us ended up staying the hands on room for about an hour and half just playing dress up and messing around with the instruments. It was incredibly fun. I don’t think Professor Coyle’s intention in bringing us to the Horniman was to release our inner children. But that’s what he did. I wonder how he will react when he learns tomorrow in class that we used our museum exploration block to play with recorders and dress up…
This caught my eye the second we walked in...
Eliza in the dragon costume
Myself looking like Poseidon
Corey, Dan, Natalie, Jordan and Liz all jamming
I got to try it on!!
On Friday we had a day trip to Bath with the Colgate economics group. We took a walking tour of the city and then had some time to wander around. It was a very cool place, and I would love to go back and spend more time there. We didn’t have enough time to take advantage of the famous hot springs that give the town its name. I hope I can find a weekend before we head back to the states to venture back to Bath! That night Liz and I had dinner with John, Kevin and Dan over at their flat. John made a very impressive meal of Cordon Bleu with asparagus. I think it was the first time I’ve really had vegetables in quite some time… probably a good thing. After dinner John, Dan, Kevin and I went to the bowling alley down the street to collect John’s prize for having the high score for the January through March quarter. I still can’t believe that his by chance 211 managed to stay the alley’s high score for 2 months. His prize was a large bottle of bourbon. Unfortunately, none of us drink bourbon so the bottle will mainly just be on display as a trophy.
a shopping area in Bath
The Abbey
the Pump Room!
The original Roman Baths
Spring is here!
The Royal Crescent
Assembly Rooms, very Jane Austen.
The Pump in the Pump room
Elizabeth and Corey 'taking the cure'
On Saturday Liz and I made dinner for a large group. We cooked a TON of pasta with a cream sauce and chicken. We ended up feeding 12 people by the end of the night and still having left-overs! That night we headed to Rocket, a pub/bar type establishment, with our usual group as well as some Colgate kids visiting from St. Andrews. It was a lot of fun, despite the fact that the Rocket wasn’t very crowded that night.
Jordan and I before heading to Rocket
Yesterday Liz and I went to the foundling museum. The museum was originally the foundling hospital, where fallen women would leave their children in the care of the hospital in order to give them a better life. The children at the museum were raised to be workers for the state and were normally never told the identity of their parents. As sad as it seems now, it was actually a great institution that saved the lives of many children who would have otherwise been abandoned and left to die by parents unable to support them.
Today we don’t have a walking tour or a play to go to. Having a free Monday is very weird! I will be using it to get ahead on some work, since this weekend I will be in Dublin and don’t plan on doing any work while I am there!
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