Day 86, 4/16/2010

Will I ever be caught up?
Not unless I write everyday


Day 74, 4/4/2010

Wow am I really 12 days behind...

I had a hard time getting up this day, but I still was on the train by no later than 8:20, which was twenty minutes later than I wanted but still not bad considering I had no one yelling at me to get up. This was the best day I've had in the entire time I've been here, only rivaled by the previous visit to the Lourve, and a later visit to a couple of Berlin Museums, I'll talk more about those when the day comes up. So, this day like all started on the tub, going to my destination. This morning it would be the Globe theater first. I had made the decision the previous day that it was just something I couldn't miss, no matter what. I had to get off at the St. Paul's tub station again, then walk across Millennium Bridge like I did the day before to get to St. Paul's just in reverse order. Well I got there when the place opened at about 9ish. (Yea, I know, the trains take forever). However, the first tour of the interior of the Globe wasn't until 10. Well I didn't plan on going into the exhibition about Shakespeare but since I was going to have to wait an hour anyway, I went in. Interesting fact, no one actually knows how he spelled his name because he spelled it differently in ever signature that has survived from him. Weird right. I started through the exhibition and I wasn't even half way through when the gong rang to go on the tour. So I hurried out to catch the tour guide. He introduced himself, I can't remember his name, and we immediately went over to the Globe. Well, sadly this is the third Globe theater. All of the others are gone, including the original Globe where Shakespeare's original plays were performed. They only just barely pinpointed the location of the second one a little over a decade ago. Mostly because they found the remains, still intact of another theater in the area called the Rose. It was a rival theater in the Banks of the Thames. This allowed them to pinpoint where the Globe was originally. However, the one we were in was just a replica, as close as they could get, to the first Globe that burned down in 1613 because of cannon fire during a performance of King Henry VIII. The wadding caught the thatched roof on fire. There were no casualties, according to the tour guide. We first sat up in the second story balcony area so we could look at all the features of this Globe theater and he talked a little about the previous two and their locations. We also talked about the similarities of this one and the first one. Another interesting story on how that theater came into being is about a man named, Sam Wanamaker, who came to London in the 40's naively thinking he was going to get to see the original Globe, not even the second one, the first one. The one that burned in the 1600's. Well, needless to say at the time they didn't even know where the location was let alone have a theater standing. Well this upset Sam and he made it his literal life goal to get a new one built as close to the approximate location as he could get. in 1993 his goal was realized after a life time of campaigning and money collecting. Sadly, he did before it was finished built but he died knowing that it would be. This was quite a moving story for me because rarely does someone have that kind of passion to have something done. This Globe was built like the first one, with a thatched roof and everything. It was pretty amazing to be in a building that was built as close to the old one as possible, using the same building techniques and everything. We sat and listened and talked a little up on the second level before continuing down to the bottom where the common people would have stood for a performance. You would pay 2 penny's to stand on the ground for the three hour performance,1 more penny to sit on the second and another on the third. A whole shilling to sit in the Lords rooms or on the balcony on the stage. The point of sitting there was not to watch the play but to show the world how rich you were by paying to get to sit there. Another thing I learned is that everyone went to see these plays from the lowest to the highest, including royalty. It amazing, to get to see this replicated place of history. I only wish it could have been the original. After talking on the second level we were allowed to go down to where the common folk would have stood for the play in the pit area. I believe the nick-name for them was "pit dogs". It was very interesting to get this insight into this place. I enjoyed it quite a bit even though I had planned to go to a different museum this one was well worth it. After we finished in the Pit area we headed out to look at the name blocks outside and with that the tour was over. I immediately went back to the exhibition. I didn't want to spend too much more time there but I was still interested in everything. I pretty much just started taking pictures of all the signs. The place wasn't too big so I was able to get a picture of all of them. Mostly for Sean and I. I wanted to be able to read them but simply didn't have the time for it. Hind sight tells me that I should have paid more attention to my camera batter and not taken so many pointless, by that I mean deleted later, pictures. After that I went and bought the things I picked out of the store the day before. Then I was off to the British Museum, where I would see things that I had no idea they had or would even imagine me seeing. I was way too exciting. This place is what made me fall in love with London. The first thing I saw was the oldest piece of art the museum had called the Swimming Reindeer. It was made from the end of a mastodon tusk 13000 years ago. After that I saw (Not in exact order) some Native American stuff from America, I also saw one of the Easter Island statues, a Crystal Skull, many old Stone Age items, pieces of the Yorkshire Hoard as well as from the hoard found in 2009 just recently, The really good stuff that made me so excited was a piece of Egyptian sculpture of Ramses II, as well as other smaller less famous Egyptian stuff, a piece to the beard of the famous Sphinx in Egypt, and several mummies. Out of the Egyptian section and into the Assyrian. I saw yet more Lamasu, yet these were different than the ones at the Louvre but these weren't as interesting because we didn't study these specifically. After that I saw the Lion Hunt relief, which is something we looked at last semester. Then the biggest highlight of the whole day because my camera was still working was getting to see The Black Obelisk of Shalmanezer III. This just made my day. It was one of the more specific things we wrote a paper about last semester. I studied this thing very closely just like the relief in Munich. I was able to see it in person. It just made my day. I took so many pictures of it because I wanted to document it. After that it was on to other rooms. I didn't get upset until about half way through that section when my camera died. I wasn't too happy about it, because right after that is when I walked into the best sections of all, these next there were all things we specifically studied in class. The first one was the Mausoleum of Halikarnasos. Well whats left of it. It is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. I've now seen one of the wonders!! (Again, what is left of it) I was able to get my camera to work for one picture of the monumental statues representing the two people that were buried there. It is thought to be a wife and husband, named Mausolus and Artemisia. The word mausoleum comes from this monument. It was amazing. I just sat there and looked at it for some time before moving on to my next big surprise. Again another thing I didn't know was at this museum, The Nereid Monument!!!!!!!!! The exclamation points don't even come close to how in awe and excited I was. It was amazing. Yet again I got lucky enough to get my camera to work and I got a picture of it. It wasn't a bad picture either except the girl in front that was moving at the time, but I didn't care I got a picture. The Right after that the second best room after the Nereid Monument room. This one had the sculptures from the Parthenon. It was all the Metopes, Friezes, and Pediments. The Centaurmachy and the processions. Both, pediments and the famous bust of Iris. I really need to stop going into detail or I'm never going to finish this day. Good thing is that right after that there wasn't anything that absolutely made me weak in the knees sorta speak. After that I went to get some quick lunch right as the cafe was closing, I got some really hard pizza. I was kinda disappointed because I should have gotten the fish and chips. After that I went through what I could of the rest of the museum. At one point I didn't realize that I had missed the Rosetta Stone. I just completely missed it. I don't know how it was right in front of me when I walked into this area but I didn't see it. I guess I just saw this large stone with writing on it, went huh 'thats cool' and moved on. So when I couldn't find it on my map and I had to ask someone where it was, it was a *face palm* moment because there it was. luckily, yet again, and for the last time I was able to get my camera to work so I got one picture of it. After that I went upstairs. This area was mostly Indian and Hindu artifacts. That was interesting because I didn't know anything about any of it. I loved being able to see something new as well. The very last thing I saw was peices to the famous Yorkshire hoard and the one found in 2009 that changed our thinking about the Vikings. The other thing that I saw was the Lewis Chess Pieces. Which turns out aren't really chess pieces, but since at this time they were basically shoving us out the door we had to go and I didn't get the time to read the rest of the information. After that I headed to the the book store to find one of the books that I had been looking at periodically throughout the day as I would pass the store. When I got back to one of the stores that had post cards I grabbed a few and decided that it was a good idea to get one of the water bottles that was there. A Rosetta Stone one. I really liked it and I wanted a water bottle. Although I'd rather not compare the price to what I would have paid in the states. Yea it was probably WAY too expensive, but whatever. After that I headed out of the museum for the long walk back to the station. I didn't mention earlier but the station was quite a ways from the Museum itself. Along the way I found a souvenir shop that had some dolls and DP!!! I didn't even see the dolls at first because I headed straight for the Dr. Pepper. MMMMM it was so good. I didn't even make it back to the hostel before It was all gone. Anyway while I was there before I paid for the DP I saw some dolls. They looked really bad at first then I noticed some porcelain ones right next to them. These were exactly what I was looking for. A culture specific doll to the area. It was perfect. I find it a little weird because it is a police officer but then London is famous for the uniform the police used to wear. So after I found that I didn't want to get it without making sure it was made in the UK because all the dolls I have are from their country of origin. So I called Mom first and since it was Easter I wished them all a happy Easter. Yes I know I didn't mention it before except with going to Easter Vigil at St. Paul's. So while I was on the phone with them I asked them to look up the doll company for me. I hung up with them a milled about the store talking to the worker for a little while. Then I called them back and they gave me the go ahead. They told me that all the info they found about it pointed to that it was made in the UK by a certain lady and I asked mom if she was in doubt would she still buy it. She told me yes, so I got it. Then I headed back to the hostel to try and figure out a way to charge my phone. I forgot my plug converter for the UK so I didn't get the chance to charge my phone the night before. I rode the trains all the way back to the hostel. When I got there I asked the desk clerk where I could get a plug converter. They sold them there at the counter for 2 pounds. That worked out perfectly cause I was able to go upstairs and start charging my camera. I tried to get it charged enough before the sun went down but that didn't happen so I just settled for going to get some night pictures. After about an hour of waiting I headed for the train to get to the Parliament buildings and Big Ben. When I got there the sun was already down. I came out of the station and right next to the exit was Big Ben. I had to look straight up to even realize what it was. I was so surprised. After that I headed out to go across Parliament bridge so I could get pictures of the those buildings as well as the London Eye and Big Ben. After taking quite a few of them I headed over around the Parliament buildings to the back so I could see that side and Westminster Abbey was right there. So I took some night pictures of it as well. I also walked around to the front of it to get more pictures. Then I headed back to the station so I could back to the area near my hostel for some food. When I got there I tried a bar that I saw that had fish and chips but their kitchen was closed for the night. So, I headed down the street to try to find some place to eat. I ended up going to a cheap Italian place down the road a little ways. When I got there they didn't have a place for me to sit so I stood for a while then they took me down stairs where I had to sit by myself till they got a free table upstairs. When I finally sat down there I ordered Carbonara. Before I got my pasta two gentle men sat down next to me. It was a bit uncomfortable at first because the tables were really close, but it ended up being just fine. I don't know how the conversation started but we just started talking. Mostly about different things like all the stuff I had seen that day. I was a very good conversation I quite enjoyed it. These two men were there for business because they both work in the restaurant business. They were both from Newfoundland, Canada and the gentlemen I talked the most with owned a restaurant in St. Johns called Atlantica, or Atlantis. I wish I could remember because I can't find it on the internet now. I'm suppose to look them up any time I'm in St. Johns. I don't remember their names though. I think the shorter one, not the owner of the restaurant was named Terry. After a little while, I realized that I wasn't eating so I started trying to finish. When I had finished and they had they asked me if I wanted any dessert. I hadn't planned on but I ordered some cake and a cappaccino. It was a very good dessert. I quite enjoyed it. When it was over I pulled out my wallet to pay and they told me no that dinner was on them for making such a good conversation. It was really nice. I was too stunned to know why they did it. They insisted and since I didn't have that much money left I didn't complain. I thanked them a lot before we even got out of the restaurant. Once outside we ended up just walking down the street which turns out was the wrong direction for me but it was ok I was getting to talk to people who spoke English. After that I told them that we were heading in the wrong direction because my hostel was back toward the park. So we turned around and headed back. At one point they asked me about a sculpture on a store wall. It was just a representation of Neo-Greek with modern figures and after looking at it I told them so. After that we kept walking and I asked them where the Hard Rock was. The restaurant owner whipped out his phone and looked it up. Turns out it was just around the corner. So after that we walked all the way back to the hostel. I guess they were still enjoying the conversation because they walked me all the way to my hostel. We said goodbye and I went inside. I quite enjoyed the conversation. It put some confidence in me that I still had conversation skills. I went immediately up stairs. While up there I soaked my feet and watched TV. I also went down stairs on the internet for a little while. They gave me some extra minutes because of a messed up station. I didn't use the minutes though because Sean got off early and I didn't have anything else to do. So I went back upstairs (the computers were in the lobby) and watched TV till later. (Fiddler on the Roof). I finally just had to turn the TV off because I really needed to sleep so I could get going by 8 in the morning.