London Long Review Part 2

Next we decided we wanted to go see Harrods andBuckingham Palace. On the way to Harrods, which was first, we walked through Hyde Park, which was a nice break from cars, but still full of people (probably because it was a nice day). Especially prevalent were the runners. Crowds of them just going down the path. We were just going to go straight to the famed luxury store, but realized Kensington Palace was right next to Hyde Park/ in it, so we stopped there.

But in actuality, we couldn't really see much. The gardens were laid out nicely but nothing much was growing and we couldn't see much of the "palace" or what I expected to see, so we moved on instead turning to watching small children get almost attacked by geese.

Which is what happened/ will happen if you give a baby bread near a pond full of giant swans. Seriously, they were probably 4 feet tall and not scared of people at all.

Moving on so as not to killed Birds-style, we found a memorial and concert hall dedicated to Prince Albert, which were a gilded golden statue and a giant collesium-esque building.

We found Harrads and then found Harrods completely overwheleming. We didn't get past the second floor. There was just too many rooms, and I felt the whole place was very contrived. Not fancy, just tacky; like the store was trying too hard to be high class and just putting in too many costumes, too much gold, too much polish. So we left, and it was relief to get back out onto the street, where we took the subway close to Buckingham palace.

Buckingham Palace was super crowed and though we missed the changing of the guard I still really enjoyed seeing it, even though once again, it wasn't quite what I was expecting from a palace. I guess I was envisioning more of a castle rather than just a really big stone house...

We walked more. We walked a lot and by this point I was getting kind of tired and hungry. But we saw Big Ben and Parliament and Westminster Abbey (all from the outside) before we went to get sandwiches and rest at a Costa near Trafalgar Square. Big Ben, etc. were all very impressive in their size and how they imposed their presence over the city, as well as the incredible amount of detail in all the stonework. I wish I had been a little less tired, so that I could appreciate them a little more, but I do plan on going back to London.

Next, the end of the day at the British Museum, London Eye and Covent Gardens.

London Long Review Part 1

Now for the long overview.

We woke up at 6, showered and were out by 6:30 to catch the train by 7. The train ride was only about an hour long. There were some beautiful, open countrysides that were covered in frost. The whole trip (there and back) no one ever checked to see if we had tickets...and so we arrived in Paddington Station, already hungry and cold and tired, but ready to start our day.

We had considered buying an Oyster Card (like a SmarTrip card) but instead just bought day passes for the tube, only 5.60. They were definitely worth the price we paid and riding the Tube was really, really easy. Other cities take note. Also, we were at first panicked for a minute because the lines to where we wanted to go were closed all day (as well as a couple other lines), but we were easily able to get on another line and transfer.

We rode the subway to Notting Hill, where the Portobello Market. On the way, walking through the streets, several members of our party doubted my ability to read a map despite my impeccable track record with directions and maps (no sarcasm, here), but once we found our destination I was unspokingly deemed the Map Master and Direction Dictator.

Portobello Market did have mushrooms, yes, along with hundreds of others of fruits and vegetables, clothes, knick-knacks, paintings, junk, antiques. Two strange things: the convenience store-esque carts with toothpaste and the egregious number of antique cameras.

Overall, I really liked the Market; it was busy and diverse and full of lots of different people and really cool stuff. We didn't buy much but it was a good first experience in London getting used to the large crowds and reading the map and keeping everyone together.

Whirlwind Tour: London, Short Review

Got my paper on alchemy finished Friday. Want to get started on Necromancy before Wednesday, because Venice!

But yesterday, we (me, Tess, Ally, Julia, and Julia's boyfriend who was visiting:  Gerard) went to London for the day.

Brief overview: the weather was fine (clear all day, a little chilly), we saw a lot of famous stuff (Portobello Market, Kensington Palace, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Big Ben, London Eye, Trafalgar Square, British Museum), we were there for 12 hours (8-8), we rode the Tube a lot, and were very tired by the end of the day. Pictures are up, just click the ones to the right and find the London album for February 20th.

Bees

Busy, busy, busy.

No more papers "due" this week. But I do want to finish my Elixir of Life by Thursday (maybe Friday). And then get started on my summoning of spirits, get most of that done by Monday.

Lots of time in the library. Maybe going to Port Meadow tomorrow morning. Feeling a little worn out.

More music by Okkervil River, though!

Thoughts and Music

I've been thinking about what I'm going to be doing: this semester, this summer, next year, after college?

I'm feeling a little lost also. I found a couple programs related to woodworking internships, but they are all long programs or you have to pay to participate. Or do I want to apply to be a Ranger again to the Park service. Or VYCC? How about something like this group? I don't know.

I feel somewhat confused and stressed out about it. This statement however, does not adequately describe the turmoilishness I'm feeling, but I'm not sure how to say it better.

On a separate note, I found a new song I like.

Bristol+Banksy

This past Saturday Tess, Ally and I went to Bristol to go see some of Banksy's work and to check out what Bristol had to offer.

We were almost late for the bus, waking up 20 minutes before it was supposed to leave, but got there on time and dozed on and off for the 2.5 hour bus ride.

Bristol was a pretty urban city, I mean that it was much more urban than Oxford, a little gritter, more modern, much larger buildings. We went and got some pasties for lunch and found a map online of where some of Banksy's pieces were and went off to find them.

Oh, by the way, if you would like to read a little more on Banksy, HERE is a link to some more information about him. If you don't feel like reading it, he is basically a graffiti artist who travels all over the world making political statements through graffiti and different types of art installations. Here are the Banksy pieces we saw in Bristol (supposedly where he is from).

While these were really awesome, they were only a small part of all the awesome street art we saw. There were people actively painting, we added our names to a public art building that anyone could add to.

Then we saw a parade coming down the street with protesters from the community gathered together against the creation of a new Tesco (a wal-mart-esque corporation) because there were already two very close and they took away from small businesses. There was music and dancing and pictures being taken. It was really awesome to see people of all ages gathered together for this common cause.

Following this great hullabaloo we hurried off to see the Clifton Suspension Bridge (hurrying because we only had about an hour left of our three hours there). After swiftly walking, following signs, asking at least 5 different people for directions we turned a corner and found it.

It was pretty incredible. It spanned over this beautiful gorge, into which there was a path which we unfortunately did not have time to traverse.

After the bridge we had to hustle on back to the bus station. We made it with 15 minutes to spare and got on the bus to nurse our sore feet and doze on and off again back to Oxford.

Getting back, we decided we needed to rest, upload pictures and watch the Olympics. Which we did.

Since the 9th, Pt. 2

Thursday morning Tess and I tried to walk around and see some colleges, but they were closed to visitors/ we couldn't find some of the front doors. So, we decided to walk around University Parks, which we had been trying to do for a while, but we always seemed to end up there right as it closed. So we walked around for a while, saw a lot of ducks and geese and cyclists. It was a really pretty and extensive park. I really like that there are parks like this in Oxford that are not just tidy little patches of grass. There was an extensive path that was comfortably overgrown and meandered by the river. So although we didn't visit any colleges we did find a really nice path/ walking area/ park/ geese.

On Friday evening, Tess and I went to a lecture at Wadham college, which was a really big school. It's very easy see how one could get secluded in these colleges with their high stone walls and and pretty much everything you might conceivably need within.

We went to go see Zoe Margolis speak. She was a blogger who wrote about sexuality and feminism and changing views on sexuality through examples in her sex life anonymously until a newspaper felt it necessary to figure out who she was and ruin her career. She talked a lot about providing sexual health information and about the way that women are viewed in media and her experience as a woman going against the social norm of embracing her sexuality and being a subject in sexuality rather than an object of another's desire. She was a really funny and engaging speaker and I think she did a really good job of showing how her blog was not just a chronicle of sexual experiences, but actually related to a broader, more tenable desire for change within sexual education and the perceptions of women who want to/do embrace their sexuality.