If the days were flying by before, now they are official flying at the speed of a supersonic jet!! The last few days have been so crazy with excursions and excitement that I must update you all before the thoughts leave my head!
This past Wednesday was exciting for several reasons. First, my 18th century English history class went on an excursion to Greenwich, which is in the south of London. It was beautiful, but so cold because it is right on the river Thames. But perfect weather, aside from the cold. The purpose of our visit was to go to the Maritime Museum, which was all about the East India Company, the British Empire, and British naval power, which was a force to be reckoned with in history. I wasn't expecting to find it that exciting because I'm not the most nautically minded individual, but it was actually really cool! They had all these immaculate, perfectly built to scale models of all these cool ships that were actually used in the 18th and 19th centuries. The rooms about the East India Company and their trade in the East and West were very interesting as well. But our next stop on the excursion was probably the most exciting, because we trekked up this massive hill to the Royal Observatory, the home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian!!! Nerd alert, nerd alert. The only problem was, once we got there, we learned that you have to pay 7 pounds in order to have the right to stand on the Prime Meridian. I feel that all citizens of the world should have that right, so that was pretty annoying. But I was able to stand about 10 feet away from it behind an iron gate, so I was close!! I felt like such a peasant, standing outside those gates unable to partake in the excitement of standing with one foot in the east and the other in the west.
That night, I had Indian food for the very first time (two thumbs way way up!) and we had to attend a production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar for my Shakespeare class. The interpretation was very modern. It was set in a play within a play in a women's prison, so the world of the play was not the prison, but rather, the women of the prison were putting on the play. Although the production was at times very jarring and a bit bewildering, it was a very interesting take on classic Shakespeare, and I appreciated it for that reason. Probably not my favorite play I've seen here, but I am glad I saw it! All the women were great, especially the actresses who played Cassius and Brutus.
The next day was SUPER exciting for me!! That morning, I went down to the Apollo Theatre to pick up day seats for that night's production of Richard III (I had done the same for Twelfth Night a few weeks before - only 10 pounds per ticket!) and to my great elation and happiness, I was able to score STAGE SEATS. That is, in order to recreate the experience of being up close to the action at the Globe, the production designers have placed wooden stalls on either side of the stage so people can sit up there for a very expensive price. However, since they scatter the day seat tickets all over the theater, I ended up being able to sit up on the stage so I was RIGHT THERE with the actors and the action!! It had been a pipe dream of mine to be able to sit up on the stage, but since tickets were going for at least 80 pounds, I only thought it would be a dream...but it came true!!!! It was SO fun being up there on the stage, I felt like a VIP! And, best of all, Mark Rylance (who is a genius actor and plays Richard and I love him dearly) was up there on the stage before the play started, all dressed up and in character as Richard III, actually came up to me and talked to me in character!! At first, I wasn't sure whether he was just being creepy or was actually in character as Richard, but the more I thought about it, I decided he was being Richard haha. Mostly because he kept leering at me. But I don't care, because he is Mark Rylance and therefore a god. Being on the stage made the play so much more exciting! Quite a thrilling experience. I will never ever forget that night!
To build on the excitement, the next day, Friday, was our last official AHA excursion to Hampton Court Palace, the home of Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, and so many other kings and queens. I was BEYOND stoked, needless to say. It has been a dream of mine to visit Hampton Court Palace since forever. Such a gorgeous palace! Walking around, you really feel like you are stepping back in time. The large cobblestone courtyards, the beautiful grounds, the fountains, room after luxurious room....all so wonderful. One part which was hilarious was that we actually ran into Henry VIII himself, and took a picture with him. So great. It was so funny, because he asked us where we were from and my friend said she was from Los Angeles, and he said, "Ah, the city of angels. I assume you have dealings with the Spanish?" and gave her a hard time about that haha. And then, after we had taken the picture, I said thank you, and his response? "Oh, it was your pleasure." hahahahaha. Oh, Henry. If I had to pick a favorite part of Hampton, it would probably be the grounds (they are gorgeous and immaculately kept) and Henry VIII's apartments. It would be a tie between them for sure. After we were done at Hampton Court, we went back to London, had dinner, and then went to the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland, which is basically like a theme park in Hyde Park during Christmas, and took a ride on the Carousel Bar, and had a fantastic time!! So so so much fun.
Today I went on the London Eye! That was really exciting, and I also went to a chocolate market too. Time is running out!! At this time next week, I will be home. Crazy thought. Such mixed feelings. Excited to seem y family and friends, and UP will be fun next semester, but I will miss London more than I can put in words.
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