Oh goodness...the spectacle I just witnessed...
The jetlag finally hit me today. Just after I posted the entry on Windsor Castle, I promptly passed out in bed and only woke up just before dinner. I proceeded to feel very tired for the rest of the evening, so I didn't go out with Nicola and her friends because I was afraid that I would pass out on a table in the pub if I had anything to drink. My gain.
Jack, Lindsey, and their sister-in-law Donna (married to Jack's brother Johnny) introduced me to probably the most eccentric yet amazing music contest ever, Eurovision 2007. Formerly known as A Song For Europe, the contest has been going on since 1956. The most notable winner ever is probably ABBA, who won in 1974. Looking at the list of winners, I've never heard of any of the others. Over fifty European countries have participated at one time, though this number includes countries such as Morocco, Turkey, and Israel...European? Maybe. This year there were over 42 countries entered, including FYR Macedonia (I didn't realize there was a country Macedonia), Malta (again, didn't know), Ukraine (okay, I knew that one :-P), Belarus, Armenia, and Moldova. And then the typical Germany, Spain, France, Ireland, and United Kingdom.
The interesting thing is that countries tend to vote in blocks, so the Western European nations who started it all rarely get any points. They all go to the Eastern European block (Serbia won). Lindsey called it rubbish. :) But we didn't stop watching. The songs, and especially the singers, were ridiculous. It was like American Idol on crack. Really poorly manufactured crack. And it lasts for three hours on the final night. But, it's only once a year. Oh, the British commentator was hilarious, too. Eventually I was watching just to hear what he would say about the people performing or giving point results.
Other than that, we had a really fun night at the Indian restaurant...I like Indian food a lot, I have decided. :) Donna is really fun. She is a singer/performer...she was part of a production of Chicago in London a while back. She has a very strong Scottish accent which brings out Jack's and Lindsey's a whole lot more than usual, which meant that I had to ask them all to repeat a lot of what they said at dinner. I never realized how many possible UK accents there are. But apparently my conglomerate American accent is cute.
Bedtime for this American girl. :) I've been made fun of all day, but I guess we make fun of our foreign friends when they're in the States, too. I'll go on defending those darned colonists who didn't pay their taxes. ;)
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Windsor
Before I go into Windsor, here is the link again to that Facebook album: http://wlu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012634&l=8e80e&id=19000059 I just added pictures from Oxford and Blenheim Palace. Sadly, that album is now full...so I created a "London, Part II" for the Windsor pictures, and whatever comes next. :) That link: http://wlu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012659&l=62f42&id=19000059
Jack, Lindsey, and I left Princes Risborough around 9:30 to drive to Windsor, about an hour away. I like driving through the English countryside. :) It's really pretty. On the way we got to see part of a cricket match and lots of cars headed into the town for the Royal Horse Show. Pretty cool. I really liked Windsor because it actually looks like a castle. Between Spain and Germany, I've seen lots of castles, but most of them tend to look like really ornate palaces. Windsor looks exactly like how I picture a castle. :)
We got there just in time to watch the changing of the guard, though there were a lot of people watching with us so it was tough to get a good view. After that we went inside the cathedral for a while and saw the tombs for George VI and the Queen Mother, Henry VIII and his last wife whose name I forget, and some of the other monarchs/members of the royal family as well. :) I forget which ones at the moment. It is a very beautiful cathedral, parts of which date back to the early 13th century.
After that we walked through the royal apartments. We saw lots of beautiful drawings, paintings, chinaware, furniture, ceilings, swords, armor, and guns. It was definitely one of the bigger castles/palaces that I've been to. Sadly, again, no pictures of the inside were allowed. We went into the town for some lunch after we toured the castle and then we drove back to the house, just in time for the buckets of rain to start plumetting down again.
Jack has gone to pick up his sister-in-law, Donna, who is also spending the next few days with them. I'm sitting here resting a bit until they get back. We're going to an Indian restaurant tonight, and then afterwards I'm going out with Nicola and her friends to celebrate a friend's 18th birthday, a big deal here because that is when they're allowed to drink. By the way, I asked Lindsey...their dogs are English Golden Retrievers. :)
Jack, Lindsey, and I left Princes Risborough around 9:30 to drive to Windsor, about an hour away. I like driving through the English countryside. :) It's really pretty. On the way we got to see part of a cricket match and lots of cars headed into the town for the Royal Horse Show. Pretty cool. I really liked Windsor because it actually looks like a castle. Between Spain and Germany, I've seen lots of castles, but most of them tend to look like really ornate palaces. Windsor looks exactly like how I picture a castle. :)
We got there just in time to watch the changing of the guard, though there were a lot of people watching with us so it was tough to get a good view. After that we went inside the cathedral for a while and saw the tombs for George VI and the Queen Mother, Henry VIII and his last wife whose name I forget, and some of the other monarchs/members of the royal family as well. :) I forget which ones at the moment. It is a very beautiful cathedral, parts of which date back to the early 13th century.
After that we walked through the royal apartments. We saw lots of beautiful drawings, paintings, chinaware, furniture, ceilings, swords, armor, and guns. It was definitely one of the bigger castles/palaces that I've been to. Sadly, again, no pictures of the inside were allowed. We went into the town for some lunch after we toured the castle and then we drove back to the house, just in time for the buckets of rain to start plumetting down again.
Jack has gone to pick up his sister-in-law, Donna, who is also spending the next few days with them. I'm sitting here resting a bit until they get back. We're going to an Indian restaurant tonight, and then afterwards I'm going out with Nicola and her friends to celebrate a friend's 18th birthday, a big deal here because that is when they're allowed to drink. By the way, I asked Lindsey...their dogs are English Golden Retrievers. :)
Friday, May 11, 2007
Executions, Castles, Harry Potter, and Friends
So by now you have seen the pictures from the Tower. Pretty interesting stuff. Max, Lavinia, Dima, Becca, and I headed down to the tower after lunch, braving the wind and the rain. Jenny and EJ met up with us there as well. We had spent the morning in a class with an editor and a PR representative from The News of the World, a UK tabloid newspaper that's on the more sensationalist side as news goes. They were pretty interesting, though. It was strange to see how nonchalantly they talked about setting up surrepticious interviews with important people who didn't realize they were reporters. Would never fly in the US. Anyway...
Yesterday was actually a good day to visit the Tower because it was raining. Not many other people did. We basically walked through the building that houses the Crown Jewels, whereas people usually have to wait in line to see them. The pictures say most of it. We went on an hour tour in the beginning which was really just our tour guide telling us stories about famous executions and such in the chapel. He also pointed out the main exhibits to us and we checked those out afterwards. We had a lot of fun hypothesizing about what it was like to be there, torture instruments, and personalities. :) It was a good afternoon. Afterwards we wandered through the city in search of a Japanese restaurant described in my London guidebook, only to find that since publication the restaurant had gone out of business. We went to another pub, and got back to the flats in the late evening ready to collapse into warm clothing and spend a chill night indoors getting ready for our day trip today to Oxford and Blenheim Palace.
Oxford is awesome. We left London around 7:30 and got there around 9, though we weren't supposed to until 10, so we got to have a break to get some breakfast. After that we met at the Martyr's Memorial, dedicated in the mid-nineteenth century to the Anglican martyrs during the reign of Queen Mary (aka Bloody Mary). We also got to see the place where three of them, including Thomas Cranmer, were burned at the stake. Oxford is divided into thirty-some independent colleges that each have their own faculty and buildings. The students live, study, and dine at the colleges. The only one we were able to go into was Christ Church, the most famous and the one where several scenes from Harry Potter were filmed. :)
About half of the group had read Harry Potter and the other half hadn't. So half of us were squealing with excitement when we saw the stairs leading up the Great Hall (I mean, wouldn't you?) and when we went into the dining hall. I swear the scene from Chamber of Secrets with Harry, Dobby, and Lucius Malfoy at the very end was filmed in a hallway that I took a picture of there, too. I got to explain to Max why we were so excited about the stairs and why they didn't just film the entire movie at Oxford, too. Good times. He still doesn't understand the obsession, but oh well. Michael and Becca were just as excited as I was.
The grounds around Christ Church and the chapel are beautiful. Took some very lovely photos. I also took some nice ones around the town. After we walked around, we got to meet up with Lord Butler for tea and biscuits (cookies :-P). Lord Butler was a member of the House of Lords before it was downsized, and he served under five prime ministers. He's a pretty important guy. We got to meet with him for an hour and ask him questions. He was very nice and very quintissentially British. We talked to him a lot about what it was like to be a lord, to serve under the prime ministers, and about his role in the Iraq War. He headed up an investigation into why Iraq was invaded when there was not absolute evidence confirming the presence of weapons of mass destruction known as the Butler Report.
After that we went to Blenheim Palace, home of the Dukes of Marlborough, otherwise known as the Churchill family...as in Winston. Too bad he was the second son or he could have been duke. We heard a lot about his family history and saw pictures of his ancestors and relatives, and the room in which he was born. Lots of ornate tapestries, pretty pictures, and nice furniture. We had about an hour afterwards to tour the gardens (beautiful!)...in the rain, of course. At 4:30, I met up with Lindsey in the parking lot!
For those who don't know, Jack, Lindsey, and Nicola Hazelton are a family that my family knew in California...Nic is the same age (basically) as Caelah. I am at their house right now and will be until Monday night. They have set me up in a very nice room opposite Nicola's complete with wireless internet and a very comfy bed. :) They are dog breeders and showers and have six...Remy, Megan, Coram (I think?), Clipper, Teal, and Rhea. I may have spelled some names incorrectly. The dogs are very cute, sweet, energetic, and large.
Today was Nicola's last day of grammar school = high school for Americans. Brits don't graduate, they just leave school. There is no big ceremony or anything. It's rather anti-climactic. But Nicola is part of the performing arts group at the school and they had their final show tonight. They still have to sit exams, but that doesn't start til next week. The show was great, kind of like W&L's Student Showcase. There was a mix of singing and dancing, mostly Broadway shows (though nothing from Wicked or Rent, sadly). There were two songs each from Les Miserables, We Will Rock You, Grease..........and High School Musical. Oh yes. It was fantastic. Nicola sang "I Dreamed A Dream" from Les Mis...great voice!!! She sounded awesome. :)
Well, time for me to be off to sleep. We're leaving early tomorrow morning to visit Windsor Castle! Hopefully the Queen isn't there so we'll be able to see most of it. I'll post more pictures to Facebook tomorrow and then update the links.
Yesterday was actually a good day to visit the Tower because it was raining. Not many other people did. We basically walked through the building that houses the Crown Jewels, whereas people usually have to wait in line to see them. The pictures say most of it. We went on an hour tour in the beginning which was really just our tour guide telling us stories about famous executions and such in the chapel. He also pointed out the main exhibits to us and we checked those out afterwards. We had a lot of fun hypothesizing about what it was like to be there, torture instruments, and personalities. :) It was a good afternoon. Afterwards we wandered through the city in search of a Japanese restaurant described in my London guidebook, only to find that since publication the restaurant had gone out of business. We went to another pub, and got back to the flats in the late evening ready to collapse into warm clothing and spend a chill night indoors getting ready for our day trip today to Oxford and Blenheim Palace.
Oxford is awesome. We left London around 7:30 and got there around 9, though we weren't supposed to until 10, so we got to have a break to get some breakfast. After that we met at the Martyr's Memorial, dedicated in the mid-nineteenth century to the Anglican martyrs during the reign of Queen Mary (aka Bloody Mary). We also got to see the place where three of them, including Thomas Cranmer, were burned at the stake. Oxford is divided into thirty-some independent colleges that each have their own faculty and buildings. The students live, study, and dine at the colleges. The only one we were able to go into was Christ Church, the most famous and the one where several scenes from Harry Potter were filmed. :)
About half of the group had read Harry Potter and the other half hadn't. So half of us were squealing with excitement when we saw the stairs leading up the Great Hall (I mean, wouldn't you?) and when we went into the dining hall. I swear the scene from Chamber of Secrets with Harry, Dobby, and Lucius Malfoy at the very end was filmed in a hallway that I took a picture of there, too. I got to explain to Max why we were so excited about the stairs and why they didn't just film the entire movie at Oxford, too. Good times. He still doesn't understand the obsession, but oh well. Michael and Becca were just as excited as I was.
The grounds around Christ Church and the chapel are beautiful. Took some very lovely photos. I also took some nice ones around the town. After we walked around, we got to meet up with Lord Butler for tea and biscuits (cookies :-P). Lord Butler was a member of the House of Lords before it was downsized, and he served under five prime ministers. He's a pretty important guy. We got to meet with him for an hour and ask him questions. He was very nice and very quintissentially British. We talked to him a lot about what it was like to be a lord, to serve under the prime ministers, and about his role in the Iraq War. He headed up an investigation into why Iraq was invaded when there was not absolute evidence confirming the presence of weapons of mass destruction known as the Butler Report.
After that we went to Blenheim Palace, home of the Dukes of Marlborough, otherwise known as the Churchill family...as in Winston. Too bad he was the second son or he could have been duke. We heard a lot about his family history and saw pictures of his ancestors and relatives, and the room in which he was born. Lots of ornate tapestries, pretty pictures, and nice furniture. We had about an hour afterwards to tour the gardens (beautiful!)...in the rain, of course. At 4:30, I met up with Lindsey in the parking lot!
For those who don't know, Jack, Lindsey, and Nicola Hazelton are a family that my family knew in California...Nic is the same age (basically) as Caelah. I am at their house right now and will be until Monday night. They have set me up in a very nice room opposite Nicola's complete with wireless internet and a very comfy bed. :) They are dog breeders and showers and have six...Remy, Megan, Coram (I think?), Clipper, Teal, and Rhea. I may have spelled some names incorrectly. The dogs are very cute, sweet, energetic, and large.
Today was Nicola's last day of grammar school = high school for Americans. Brits don't graduate, they just leave school. There is no big ceremony or anything. It's rather anti-climactic. But Nicola is part of the performing arts group at the school and they had their final show tonight. They still have to sit exams, but that doesn't start til next week. The show was great, kind of like W&L's Student Showcase. There was a mix of singing and dancing, mostly Broadway shows (though nothing from Wicked or Rent, sadly). There were two songs each from Les Miserables, We Will Rock You, Grease..........and High School Musical. Oh yes. It was fantastic. Nicola sang "I Dreamed A Dream" from Les Mis...great voice!!! She sounded awesome. :)
Well, time for me to be off to sleep. We're leaving early tomorrow morning to visit Windsor Castle! Hopefully the Queen isn't there so we'll be able to see most of it. I'll post more pictures to Facebook tomorrow and then update the links.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Rememeber, Remember the 5th of November
No trip to London is complete without a trip to the Tower of London. And that is just where I went today! With Dima, Max, Livinia, and Becca. Sadly, I am out of time at the moment, having used it uploading pictures to Facebook. Luckily, Facebook allows me to set fixed links so that others can see my albums, too! So, today you get pictures. I'll give you some stories soon. Tomorrow we're going to Oxford and Blenheim Palace, and then I'm going to stay with the Hazeltons for the weekend. I'll try to update while I am there!
Check it out: http://wlu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012634&l=8e80e&id=19000059
PS the title quote comes from a poem about Guy Fawkes, who was part of a plot to blow up Parliament in 1605 and who was imprisoned and executed in the Tower of London...there was a big exhibit on him, and he's pretty cool, so Google him or something ;)
Check it out: http://wlu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012634&l=8e80e&id=19000059
PS the title quote comes from a poem about Guy Fawkes, who was part of a plot to blow up Parliament in 1605 and who was imprisoned and executed in the Tower of London...there was a big exhibit on him, and he's pretty cool, so Google him or something ;)
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Leicester Square
Sad news -- 3:30 in the afternoon is apparently too late to get cheap theater tickets. We looked up Les Miserables, Avenue Q, Equus, Wicked, and The Mousetrap, and all were more expensive than advertised because it was too late in the day and all the cheap ones had gone. Oh well. We are bound and determined to try again. We have decided that we're definitely going to try to see Les Mis, Equus (ha we just want to see Daniel Radcliffe do something besides Harry Potter), and Wicked. "We," in this case, is Michael, Max, Lauren, Robin, and me. We all hung out this afternoon and spent some time exploring the Leicester Square area of Covent Garden. It was great hanging out with them cause they're all generally very chill and conversational people.
Leicester Square is basically a shopping district. There are mall-type stores (we saw a Nine West, Guess, H&M, etc), an outdoor market, and various pubs/restaurants/cafes. Pubs are my new favorite place to hang out. The atmosphere is really nice and cozy, mostly because they're very comfortable and generally quiet, which makes for good conversation and people tend to take their time whereas at bars...that doesn't always happen. :) One cool thing about Leicester Square was that there were a lot of musicians there, mostly fiddlers/violinists, trying to make some money so there was live music almost everywhere you went.
Michael knows London pretty well, or seems to anyway. His family was here last Christmas and it was his idea to head down to Covent Square. The five of us stuck together for about two hours, but then it became hard to keep track with the crowds, plus we really all kind of wanted to look at different things, so Max and Michael went off together and I went with Robin and Lauren, planning to meet up at 6:30. After that, we went to a pub called The White Lion with four other kids from the trip: Greg, Mason, EJ, and Jenny.
Today we experienced typical London weather: rain. Lots of it. My jeans are still a little wet. We're all pretty tired, mostly from walking around all day, but I think also because of the rain. And trying to figure out the tube system. We finally got our Oyster cards which allow us to go pretty much anywhere in London for the entire time that we're here. Very exciting.
So highlights of today were enjoying pubs, getting to know a few people a bit better, seeing all KINDS of cool London sites, and starting to plan for the rest of the trip. Robin, Lauren, and I are going to sit down tonight or tomorrow and plan out where we want to go. We have lots of ideas, so we're going to narrow them down a bit.
Oh, and Robin and I found another girl for church on Sunday. :) EJ is also an Episcopalian-turned-Anglican girl. She's from NY and her church split off last Nov/Dec-ish.
Time to head back to the flat. Good night, y'all!
Leicester Square is basically a shopping district. There are mall-type stores (we saw a Nine West, Guess, H&M, etc), an outdoor market, and various pubs/restaurants/cafes. Pubs are my new favorite place to hang out. The atmosphere is really nice and cozy, mostly because they're very comfortable and generally quiet, which makes for good conversation and people tend to take their time whereas at bars...that doesn't always happen. :) One cool thing about Leicester Square was that there were a lot of musicians there, mostly fiddlers/violinists, trying to make some money so there was live music almost everywhere you went.
Michael knows London pretty well, or seems to anyway. His family was here last Christmas and it was his idea to head down to Covent Square. The five of us stuck together for about two hours, but then it became hard to keep track with the crowds, plus we really all kind of wanted to look at different things, so Max and Michael went off together and I went with Robin and Lauren, planning to meet up at 6:30. After that, we went to a pub called The White Lion with four other kids from the trip: Greg, Mason, EJ, and Jenny.
Today we experienced typical London weather: rain. Lots of it. My jeans are still a little wet. We're all pretty tired, mostly from walking around all day, but I think also because of the rain. And trying to figure out the tube system. We finally got our Oyster cards which allow us to go pretty much anywhere in London for the entire time that we're here. Very exciting.
So highlights of today were enjoying pubs, getting to know a few people a bit better, seeing all KINDS of cool London sites, and starting to plan for the rest of the trip. Robin, Lauren, and I are going to sit down tonight or tomorrow and plan out where we want to go. We have lots of ideas, so we're going to narrow them down a bit.
Oh, and Robin and I found another girl for church on Sunday. :) EJ is also an Episcopalian-turned-Anglican girl. She's from NY and her church split off last Nov/Dec-ish.
Time to head back to the flat. Good night, y'all!
Welcome to London
Hello folks :)
Starting to get on London time. Everyone finally got to the flats after a lot of airport mishaps at Gatwick, but it all worked out eventually. While we were waiting, a couple of us decided to go down a block to hang out at a pub right across the street from the British Museum. After starting to fall asleep since we were sitting down, we decided a visit to the museum was the thing to do to keep ourselves awake. We wandered around there a bit, and then came back to the flats for a meeting at 4:30, and then dinner at a really nice restaurant (paid by W&L).
Some of us decided that grocery shopping would probably be a good idea so we stopped at Sainsbury's on the way back. I was really amused by the way they package food here. It looks all aesthetically designed and pretty. I mean, it's just food...but whatever. It looks pretty in my refridgerator. I found a large bag of pasta for 66 pence, I was pretty proud of myself.
My computer is still barely picking up the wireless signal from my flat, so I've given up on it. I'm just going to take it down to the computer labs and use it there, where it can get the strongest signal. Last night I brought it down and used AIM and the internet with it, while I used one of their computers to access email (for some reason, my computer isn't opening the Groupwise program, nor is it letting me access the website). ABC.com is also sadly inaccessible. I tried to get to the shows page to watch full episodes and it informed me that only Americans are allowed to watch ABC shows online. Looks like I won't hear about LOST or Grey's Anatomy until June.
This morning we had a city tour of London for a couple hours. We spent most of it in the West End, and we were really in the bus the whole time so I didn't get many pictures. The only time we got out was to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, which was pretty cool. Our tour guide was great, and very British, right down to his sense of humor. I was thrilled. I was also thrilled to drive by the Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square (used once for one of my stories :) so that was very cool), the Thames, the London Eye, the Millenium Bridge (considered once for a story scene), Kensington Gardens, Harrods, St. Paul's Cathedral (umm...can we say awesome?), and a bunch of other places. :)
We just came back to the flats after lunch at the same pub we went to yesterday afternoon. I forgot that Sprite is called lemonade here. :) But the kind guy at the bar (who looked about twenty-five) reminded me. Like in Germany, Brazil, and Spain, lemonade is much sweeter than American Sprite. I couldn't quite finish my pint.
A bunch of the other kids are looking up travel agencies right now and deciding where they want to go over our long weekends. Mine, of course are already planned...going to see the Hazeltons this weekend, next weekend I have the worship conference with Tim Hughes, and over the last weekend I'll be hanging out with Mom and Dad. This afternoon we're planning to explore the Covent Garden area, which is right near Bloomsbury, where we are living. Apparently there is lots of shopping there ;) as well as places to get cheap theater tickets the day of a show. We're going to try to find something for tonight. I think I'm going to go check on what they are up to. More updates to come!
Starting to get on London time. Everyone finally got to the flats after a lot of airport mishaps at Gatwick, but it all worked out eventually. While we were waiting, a couple of us decided to go down a block to hang out at a pub right across the street from the British Museum. After starting to fall asleep since we were sitting down, we decided a visit to the museum was the thing to do to keep ourselves awake. We wandered around there a bit, and then came back to the flats for a meeting at 4:30, and then dinner at a really nice restaurant (paid by W&L).
Some of us decided that grocery shopping would probably be a good idea so we stopped at Sainsbury's on the way back. I was really amused by the way they package food here. It looks all aesthetically designed and pretty. I mean, it's just food...but whatever. It looks pretty in my refridgerator. I found a large bag of pasta for 66 pence, I was pretty proud of myself.
My computer is still barely picking up the wireless signal from my flat, so I've given up on it. I'm just going to take it down to the computer labs and use it there, where it can get the strongest signal. Last night I brought it down and used AIM and the internet with it, while I used one of their computers to access email (for some reason, my computer isn't opening the Groupwise program, nor is it letting me access the website). ABC.com is also sadly inaccessible. I tried to get to the shows page to watch full episodes and it informed me that only Americans are allowed to watch ABC shows online. Looks like I won't hear about LOST or Grey's Anatomy until June.
This morning we had a city tour of London for a couple hours. We spent most of it in the West End, and we were really in the bus the whole time so I didn't get many pictures. The only time we got out was to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, which was pretty cool. Our tour guide was great, and very British, right down to his sense of humor. I was thrilled. I was also thrilled to drive by the Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square (used once for one of my stories :) so that was very cool), the Thames, the London Eye, the Millenium Bridge (considered once for a story scene), Kensington Gardens, Harrods, St. Paul's Cathedral (umm...can we say awesome?), and a bunch of other places. :)
We just came back to the flats after lunch at the same pub we went to yesterday afternoon. I forgot that Sprite is called lemonade here. :) But the kind guy at the bar (who looked about twenty-five) reminded me. Like in Germany, Brazil, and Spain, lemonade is much sweeter than American Sprite. I couldn't quite finish my pint.
A bunch of the other kids are looking up travel agencies right now and deciding where they want to go over our long weekends. Mine, of course are already planned...going to see the Hazeltons this weekend, next weekend I have the worship conference with Tim Hughes, and over the last weekend I'll be hanging out with Mom and Dad. This afternoon we're planning to explore the Covent Garden area, which is right near Bloomsbury, where we are living. Apparently there is lots of shopping there ;) as well as places to get cheap theater tickets the day of a show. We're going to try to find something for tonight. I think I'm going to go check on what they are up to. More updates to come!
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
I'm here!
It's about 7am on Tuesday morning in Virginia...and it's about noon here in London. I'm kind of exhausted, but good. Our plane got in early this morning around 7am, and we got to the flats around 9:30am after going through customs, coordinating our meeting times, and taking a bus to Great Russell Street. So far, only six of us are here...the six who came through Heathrow. The Gatwick crew hasn't arrived yet, nor have any of the people who came early. Luckily, we don't have anything scheduled until 4 this afternoon, so they still have a couple hours to get here and get situated.
The wireless internet was a bit of a chore to set up, but it's working now, though the signal in my flat is very weak. I can't even access email with it. Happily, the internet and AIM both work. Hopefully email will work eventually, but if not I'll just have to go downstairs to the computer lab to check it. The signal is perfectly strong there.
Well, I am going to unpack a bit and head down to check my email. Just wanted to let you all know that I'm here and I'm safe!
The wireless internet was a bit of a chore to set up, but it's working now, though the signal in my flat is very weak. I can't even access email with it. Happily, the internet and AIM both work. Hopefully email will work eventually, but if not I'll just have to go downstairs to the computer lab to check it. The signal is perfectly strong there.
Well, I am going to unpack a bit and head down to check my email. Just wanted to let you all know that I'm here and I'm safe!
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Deutschland
So while you are all waiting anxiously for my first post about the United Kingdom, I’ll tide you over with an account of my choir trip to Germany over spring break. This post will be a long one! It was a nine day trip…
We were in Germany from April 13-22. Our group was about 26, I’d say…something like that. About 20ish students and six adults, not including our tour guide or bus driver. Coincidentally, both of them were named Jörg…so we had Jörg Eins (tour guide) and Jörg Zwei (bus driver). We began our trip in Füssen, a small Bavarian town near the border with Austria, right in the middle of the Alps. :) After a few days, we transferred to Frankfurt, and then ended our trip in Leipzig, stopping along the way at various other towns.
Füssen is a beautiful little town in southern Germany. Highlights included the monastery (above picture was taken out of a window there), Wieskirche, Neuschwanstein Castle (Ludwig II’s favorite, and the castle upon which Walt Disney based his own), Eis Cafes every other step (Eis = German for ice cream), and a wonderful beer garden. We also took a day trip from Füssen to Linderhof, Ludwig II’s other famous castle, which is near the town of Oberammergau, where we stopped for lunch. On the way back, we stopped in Garmish, a little town near the highest mountain in Germany, for after
noon cakes (or pretzels, in my case) and dipped down into Austria for a bit. 
Following the Wieskirche, we had lunch below Neuschwanstein Castle and a little time to shop before we had to hike (yes, hike) up for our tour. Apparently Germans like to build their castles on mountains. Very up high. Neuschwanstein was built by Ludwig II to indulge a few of his simple pleasures: swans, solitude, and his fantasy world, mostly consumed with the plays of Richard Wagner. I thought Jack, one of our baritones, summed it up when he said, “If I lived here, I would forget that poor people existed, too.” Unfortunately, Bavaria holds a copyright on the castle, so we couldn’t take any pictures of the interior. Sorry, folks. However, we did go to a beer garden that night. Jörg Eins taught us some German drinking songs. And we saw a bunny hopping around. Fun times. We also got to sing at Neuschwanstein…our only a capella song, “Daniel, Daniel.” This quickly became a song that we sang. Everywhere. Frequently.
Like in Oberammergau, where the Passion play takes place every ten years. The citizens of Oberammergau were spared from annihilation in the fourteenth century when the Black Plague did not strike their city after they fervently prayed for it to be averted. As a thanks to God, they decided to put on a play about the passion of Christ every ten years. It’s a really big deal. There is a special theater for it, and scenes from the Passion are all over town…painted on walls, windows, everything. It was pretty cool. And we got to sing “Daniel, Daniel” in the Passion theater. Awesome sound!
After Oberammergau, we made our way to Linderhof. Yes, another nice, long hike to one of Ludwig II’s little mountain getaways. Linderhof is cool. It’s pretty small as castles go, but when you consider that Ludwig never married or had kids (he was gay), it makes sense that he wouldn’t need a huge palace. Besides, he had Neuschwanstein. If only for a few months of his life. There are quite a few fountains at Linderhof, and a cave that Ludwig designed for himself after his favorite Wagner play. We stopped in Garmish on the way back to the hotel, and then dipped into Austria for a spell.
Incidentally, by that day it was April 16. There is a six hour time difference between Germany and the East Coast, and we found out about Virginia Tech that evening after we got back to the hotel for dinner. It was about noon in Virginia, so I called my mom and she told me that Jesse was okay, but we didn’t know about some of our other friends. We spent that whole night watching CNN International (the only English channel available in Füssen) and I got on the internet at a café nearby to check on everyone. I am so thankful that everyone I know was alright, at least physically. After that, I really wanted to come home and see Jesse…but I knew that he was okay, and that he was at home with Mom and Dad. It was time to pack for Frankfurt.
On the way to Frankfurt, we stopped in Rothenburg, an old German town that still has its original town walls from the Middle Ages! Very cool. We had a tour of St. Jacob’s church and then some time for lunch and shopping around the town. 
We spent one full day in Frankfurt, complete with a city tour and time to shop before we transferred to Koppern for our next official concert. The repertoire was great again, and this time we dedicated one of our songs, “In Remembrance,” to Virginia Tech. The song is absolutely beautiful and I could barely get through it before what happened, so I did a lot more mouthing the words than actual singing that night, heh. We also performed with the choir Polyhymnia that night, and they were great. Ute, their second soprano, rocked mine and Gaby’s world. Gaby and I were the second sopranos. The only second sopranos. It was good having backup. ;)
The next day, April 19, was our second big travel day on the way to Leipzig, in the former GDR (Soviet) part of Germany. On the way, we stopped in Eisenach, birthplace of Johann Sebastian Bach (he spent most of his life in Leipzig, though). Eisenach is home to the Bach museum and Wartburg Castle, where Martin Luther hid from the papacy after he was declared a heretic for posting his 95 Theses. He translated the New Testament into German when he was at Wartburg, which was a really big deal because at that time, no one read the Bible in their native language, also known as vernacular language. In fact, no one really read anything in their native tongue unless it was a common, everyday sort of document, like a letter or a commercial translation. Because no one read the Bible, all they really knew was the stained glass pictures in churches and what priests chose to tell them in sermons. This is why reading the Bible is so important to Protestant denominations today. It was awesome being able to stand in the room and look at the desk where Martin Luther had sat. :) We sang “Daniel, Daniel” again in the Singer’s Hall at Wartburg Castle.
While Germany is a very rich and safe country, areas in the former GDR tend to be very run-down because the Soviets did not take very good care of East Germany after WWII. They are still playing catch-up in a lot of ways, but the people there are so very warm and friendly. Especially the churches, in many cases, are falling down because religion was not encouraged under the USSR. We started out the morning on April 20 singing “Daniel, Daniel” in the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. Incredible. The echo in that room seemed to never end. I’ll never forget that sound! I couldn’t believe that we had made it. After we sang, we took a city tour for the rest of the morning and then spent the rest of the day hanging out in the city. Some of us went to an orchestra concert that night, which was cool, too. Our last day was spent touring Halle (or, as we liked to say it, HOLLA!). Georg Friedrich Handel was born in Halle, though he spent most of his life in England. Again, we had a morning city tour and then spent the afternoon shopping. Rachel, Courtney, Robin, and I were tired so we sat down for a nice long lunch, shopped a little, and counted the hours until it would be appropriate to sit down for coffee and gelato. :)
Our last concert was that night in Holleben, a small German town a ways from Halle. Now, on this last day we were all a bit loopy…or, as Prof. Myers put it, we were punchy. I think we were all just kind of ready to come home, but we weren’t doing very well at the whole focusing concept. Our warm up for the concert was pretty good, and really fun as we had to try out a couple new things. By the end, the energy was being channeled into our geekier choir personalities, leading to us launching into an a capella fest and ignoring Myers trying to cut us off. :) The energy continued throughout the concert, dinner afterwards with the jazz choir “In Tune,” and on the bus where we sang a whole lot of Disney and musical songs, as well as “Shenandoah” and the W&L Hymn and Swing.
Myers proclaimed that we had entered the realm of Choir Dorkdom.
Eka noted that now he would have company.
We were in Germany from April 13-22. Our group was about 26, I’d say…something like that. About 20ish students and six adults, not including our tour guide or bus driver. Coincidentally, both of them were named Jörg…so we had Jörg Eins (tour guide) and Jörg Zwei (bus driver). We began our trip in Füssen, a small Bavarian town near the border with Austria, right in the middle of the Alps. :) After a few days, we transferred to Frankfurt, and then ended our trip in Leipzig, stopping along the way at various other towns.
Füssen is a beautiful little town in southern Germany. Highlights included the monastery (above picture was taken out of a window there), Wieskirche, Neuschwanstein Castle (Ludwig II’s favorite, and the castle upon which Walt Disney based his own), Eis Cafes every other step (Eis = German for ice cream), and a wonderful beer garden. We also took a day trip from Füssen to Linderhof, Ludwig II’s other famous castle, which is near the town of Oberammergau, where we stopped for lunch. On the way back, we stopped in Garmish, a little town near the highest mountain in Germany, for after
noon cakes (or pretzels, in my case) and dipped down into Austria for a bit. 
The Wieskirche was our first singing location. The name means “church in the meadow,” and it certainly was in a random location, yet not so random because it was planned that way. In order to get to the Wieskirche, you have to drive through the forest and partway up a mountain. According to the priest (Bavaria is a predominantly Catholic area), the Wieskirche was designed to allow as much light in as possible, so the upper rim of the church is all windows. No matter what time of day, the sun is always shining in. He also noted that without fail, whomever enters the church always looks up.
See, the Wieskirche was built in the place where a miracle happened. Local lore says that a statue of Jesus (which now stands in the church) cried real tears over the residents of the area. Those who come to the church identify with His suffering and come to bring their sorrows to Him, the one who understands. People look up because they are offering their burden to the one they know can identify with them. In doing so, they are all on an equal level, no matter if they are Catholic or Protestant or whatever. In order to come to understand the gospel, the message of Christ, we have to come to him humbled, recognizing our struggles, and knowing that He alone can bring us peace.
I thought that it was one of the best sermons I had ever heard.
See, the Wieskirche was built in the place where a miracle happened. Local lore says that a statue of Jesus (which now stands in the church) cried real tears over the residents of the area. Those who come to the church identify with His suffering and come to bring their sorrows to Him, the one who understands. People look up because they are offering their burden to the one they know can identify with them. In doing so, they are all on an equal level, no matter if they are Catholic or Protestant or whatever. In order to come to understand the gospel, the message of Christ, we have to come to him humbled, recognizing our struggles, and knowing that He alone can bring us peace.
I thought that it was one of the best sermons I had ever heard.
Following the Wieskirche, we had lunch below Neuschwanstein Castle and a little time to shop before we had to hike (yes, hike) up for our tour. Apparently Germans like to build their castles on mountains. Very up high. Neuschwanstein was built by Ludwig II to indulge a few of his simple pleasures: swans, solitude, and his fantasy world, mostly consumed with the plays of Richard Wagner. I thought Jack, one of our baritones, summed it up when he said, “If I lived here, I would forget that poor people existed, too.” Unfortunately, Bavaria holds a copyright on the castle, so we couldn’t take any pictures of the interior. Sorry, folks. However, we did go to a beer garden that night. Jörg Eins taught us some German drinking songs. And we saw a bunny hopping around. Fun times. We also got to sing at Neuschwanstein…our only a capella song, “Daniel, Daniel.” This quickly became a song that we sang. Everywhere. Frequently.
Like in Oberammergau, where the Passion play takes place every ten years. The citizens of Oberammergau were spared from annihilation in the fourteenth century when the Black Plague did not strike their city after they fervently prayed for it to be averted. As a thanks to God, they decided to put on a play about the passion of Christ every ten years. It’s a really big deal. There is a special theater for it, and scenes from the Passion are all over town…painted on walls, windows, everything. It was pretty cool. And we got to sing “Daniel, Daniel” in the Passion theater. Awesome sound!
L-R Courtney, Becca, Robin, Eka, Rachel, me, Frank
After Oberammergau, we made our way to Linderhof. Yes, another nice, long hike to one of Ludwig II’s little mountain getaways. Linderhof is cool. It’s pretty small as castles go, but when you consider that Ludwig never married or had kids (he was gay), it makes sense that he wouldn’t need a huge palace. Besides, he had Neuschwanstein. If only for a few months of his life. There are quite a few fountains at Linderhof, and a cave that Ludwig designed for himself after his favorite Wagner play. We stopped in Garmish on the way back to the hotel, and then dipped into Austria for a spell.
Incidentally, by that day it was April 16. There is a six hour time difference between Germany and the East Coast, and we found out about Virginia Tech that evening after we got back to the hotel for dinner. It was about noon in Virginia, so I called my mom and she told me that Jesse was okay, but we didn’t know about some of our other friends. We spent that whole night watching CNN International (the only English channel available in Füssen) and I got on the internet at a café nearby to check on everyone. I am so thankful that everyone I know was alright, at least physically. After that, I really wanted to come home and see Jesse…but I knew that he was okay, and that he was at home with Mom and Dad. It was time to pack for Frankfurt.
On the way to Frankfurt, we stopped in Rothenburg, an old German town that still has its original town walls from the Middle Ages! Very cool. We had a tour of St. Jacob’s church and then some time for lunch and shopping around the town.
Schneeballen, or snowballs, kind of like fried dough...except harder to eat
We spent one full day in Frankfurt, complete with a city tour and time to shop before we transferred to Koppern for our next official concert. The repertoire was great again, and this time we dedicated one of our songs, “In Remembrance,” to Virginia Tech. The song is absolutely beautiful and I could barely get through it before what happened, so I did a lot more mouthing the words than actual singing that night, heh. We also performed with the choir Polyhymnia that night, and they were great. Ute, their second soprano, rocked mine and Gaby’s world. Gaby and I were the second sopranos. The only second sopranos. It was good having backup. ;)
The next day, April 19, was our second big travel day on the way to Leipzig, in the former GDR (Soviet) part of Germany. On the way, we stopped in Eisenach, birthplace of Johann Sebastian Bach (he spent most of his life in Leipzig, though). Eisenach is home to the Bach museum and Wartburg Castle, where Martin Luther hid from the papacy after he was declared a heretic for posting his 95 Theses. He translated the New Testament into German when he was at Wartburg, which was a really big deal because at that time, no one read the Bible in their native language, also known as vernacular language. In fact, no one really read anything in their native tongue unless it was a common, everyday sort of document, like a letter or a commercial translation. Because no one read the Bible, all they really knew was the stained glass pictures in churches and what priests chose to tell them in sermons. This is why reading the Bible is so important to Protestant denominations today. It was awesome being able to stand in the room and look at the desk where Martin Luther had sat. :) We sang “Daniel, Daniel” again in the Singer’s Hall at Wartburg Castle.
While Germany is a very rich and safe country, areas in the former GDR tend to be very run-down because the Soviets did not take very good care of East Germany after WWII. They are still playing catch-up in a lot of ways, but the people there are so very warm and friendly. Especially the churches, in many cases, are falling down because religion was not encouraged under the USSR. We started out the morning on April 20 singing “Daniel, Daniel” in the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. Incredible. The echo in that room seemed to never end. I’ll never forget that sound! I couldn’t believe that we had made it. After we sang, we took a city tour for the rest of the morning and then spent the rest of the day hanging out in the city. Some of us went to an orchestra concert that night, which was cool, too. Our last day was spent touring Halle (or, as we liked to say it, HOLLA!). Georg Friedrich Handel was born in Halle, though he spent most of his life in England. Again, we had a morning city tour and then spent the afternoon shopping. Rachel, Courtney, Robin, and I were tired so we sat down for a nice long lunch, shopped a little, and counted the hours until it would be appropriate to sit down for coffee and gelato. :)
Our last concert was that night in Holleben, a small German town a ways from Halle. Now, on this last day we were all a bit loopy…or, as Prof. Myers put it, we were punchy. I think we were all just kind of ready to come home, but we weren’t doing very well at the whole focusing concept. Our warm up for the concert was pretty good, and really fun as we had to try out a couple new things. By the end, the energy was being channeled into our geekier choir personalities, leading to us launching into an a capella fest and ignoring Myers trying to cut us off. :) The energy continued throughout the concert, dinner afterwards with the jazz choir “In Tune,” and on the bus where we sang a whole lot of Disney and musical songs, as well as “Shenandoah” and the W&L Hymn and Swing.
Myers proclaimed that we had entered the realm of Choir Dorkdom.
Eka noted that now he would have company.
HALLE!
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