The Lion (King), The Which (Way Should I Go?), and The Wardrobe (of Clothing at Petticoat Lane)...as well as some other Not-So-Tackily-Described , Non-Literary-Alluding Places.

After the buses made their way back from Canterbury, Kevin and I went out to the Hammersmith area, to a little independent movie theatre that was showing The Wind that Shakes the Barley—an awesome film which I’d been wanting to see for some time. It deals with Ireland (of course) in the 1920’s, and with the struggles of the Irish War for Independence, and the fate of a family ripped apart by the Irish Civil War…So sad. Poor Kevin—he had to sit there and wait for me to finish crying my eyes out after the film ended!

After class on Thursday, I went to the Lyceum Theatre in the West End to see The Lion King. It was really a remarkable production—the most fascinating aspect of which was the costumes. I’d heard great things about them, and I was not disappointed! The play itself was nice; very geared towards kids, and not very thought provoking, considering we’d all seen the movie, and the musical has virtually the same lines as the film…but cute.

The next day, Jeanette and I started hatching some brilliant travel plans… During the intermission of The Lion King the night before, we had been chatting about spring break plans. I’d confided that I was probably going to end up going to Italy by myself (since none of my flatmates seemed interested in going) when Jeanette informed me that she was going to Italy with some friends in the Hogarth building. It was a complete stroke of luck that the girls were also planning on seeing the three cities I had most wanted to visit: Rome (and the Vatican City), Florence, and Venice. Also, they were planning on going from March 2^nd to March 9^th—which was perfect, since my mother and sister will be coming to visit on the 10^th, and I have to be home to greet them at the airport. Jeanette welcomed me along, and on Friday I bought my plane tickets. I’m so excited!

It’s awesome, because Jeanette and I have discovered we really have very simiilar interests in traveling—we like to go on the cheap, haha, and we’d like to see the same countries and towns…we both like off-the-beaten-path areas, and the little-explored neighborhoods of the larger cities. All in all, a great traveling companion for me. So we also booked a flight for this upcoming weekend, to Montpellier, France—a nice town by the southern coast, where we’ll most likely take a bus and stay in Sete, a small seaside village. Perfect! And believe me, more travels abroad are in the works…

So after the delirium that accompanies booking these amazing flights, and dreaming about all we’d see and do, we decided to have a picnic. Initially we’d wanted to go outside for it, but the incessant London rain altered our plans, and we ended up camping out on my living room floor with some warm, crusty bread loaves, croissants, brie and camembert cheeses, mushrooms, carrots, oranges, and a tall bottle of red wine. It was wonderful. (Now, unfortunately, the UB40 song ‘Red Red Wine’ always goes through my head when I think of our drink of choice—which is, actually, a small price to pay for such delicious stuff.)

Afterward we explored the area around High Street Kensington—our local high street. Apparently this is the road that Lady Diana, when she lived in Kensington Palace, used to go to for her shopping. Apparently that’s where she got a speeding ticket, too, according to the tour guide on one of our previous field trips! There are some pretty chic stores, which we didn’t go into—instead we opted for the resale store. Ha ha!

That night, the flatmates went out to Islington for a pretty fancy Italian dinner. I was far too stuffed by the picnic, and decided I’d meet them after dinner when they headed to a pub. By the time they’d finished eating, though, most of the bars in the area had closed, so I never made it out there. It turns out that although Courtney came home shortly after dinner, Jenn and Laura ended up finding a late bar, and hilarity ensued.

As a recap for personal recollection, let me just say: never let a certain flatmate drink more than she ought, or else you might find her making out with a random, short man named Rowan who claims to be a film director, yet has directed no films, much to the amusement and indignation of another flatmate. Not to mention the fact that Rowan was decidedly quite old for said flatmate, and that his friend was likely married, though he also claimed to be an actor, yet could not describe in which roles he had acted.

Needless to say, I heard some very interesting stories the next day! On Saturday, Jeanette, Karissa, and I went out to Portobello (Jeanette made it this time!) and saw the sights—again, pretty darn early in the morning. It was raining, though, and by the time we got back to the flats, I realized my boots did little to keep away the moisture from my poor, chilled, soaking feet! It was fun, though, and I bought some more of that 50p cheese blocks…Mmm…

Afterwards, we were too soaked to brave much more of the storm, so we stayed inside and made tacos—my first Mexican food experience in Europe! It wasn’t quite the same as Cozumel, or even Pepe’s, but it hit the spicy spot. And was delicious.

Then we settled down into watching My Fair Lady. I can’t believe I’d never seen it before, since I love Audrey Hepburn! We’d learnt a lot about the musical in my theatre class, and how it was based on Pygmalion, so it was great to finally see it acted out. For the past few days, now, ‘Wouldn’t it Be Lovely’ has been running incessantly through my brain. I can think of worse fates…

Courtney finally took her LSAT exam on Saturday—so she can finally come out to pubs with us! To celebrate, Flat 3 (minus Jenn, who’d instead gone to a show by the Metrics with Jack and Kevin) headed to The Troubadour, a bar/restaurant that’s got a really lively music scene, and once hosted the likes of—you guessed it—Bob Dylan! Obviously I was excited to see it, but the place was so full, we should have placed reservations… Instead, we ended up at an Italian place called Dell’ Artiste, which had some great pasta dishes.

On Sunday, Jeanette and I headed to Petticoat Lane (for real this time; I saw more than just street sweepers!) and checked out the cheap clothing scene. It’s an interesting market: all clothing, on a street littered with graffiti and grubbiness, and grizzly East Enders peddling their wares with soap-box calls like, “c’mon, ye ladies, every bloomin’ thing fer a pound, ye know a good deal when ye see un” and such. Very much the haggling, rowdy market scene—I bought a pashmina and went my merry way.

I wanted to stop at Le Pain Du Jour for some of those cheap sandwiches by Goodge Street, but it was sadly closed… So we wandered around until we came upon Chinatown, where all the decorations for the Chinese New Year were already out: bright red lanterns strung everywhere along the streets, like so much laundry, and banners with golden Chinese characters, no doubt proclaiming the coming holiday, although I am by no means proficient in Chinese. After a bit more walking we came to The Mean Fiddler, the venue where I’d seen The Sounds. I recognized the area as Soho, then, and we eventually stopped in at a Greek restaurant for some al fresco dining, and watched the world go by as we nibbled on some delicious baguette sandwiches and coffee.

We waited at a bus stop after lunch (the bus system is very difficult to figure out, so use the underground if you need to be completely sure of where you’ll end up!) and randomly decided that rather than go directly home to Earl’s Court, we’d head to Marble Arch and see if Speaker’s Corner was still busy. It was, and we heard a lot of religious and political debates, and it was interesting to see this tradition of free speech in action. We passed a silent man with his eyes solemnly closed, wearing a sign stating “Don’t Believe Anyone—Even Me”, and I couldn’t help but wonder what it was he was trying to say! My favorite bit, though, was the man with the “Free Hugs” sign. I’d heard of the Free Hugs Campaign when I was in Missouri, so I was glad to see an actual “Freelance Hugger” on the street. I believe the whole thing was started in Australia, and its mission is just as simple as you’d expect from its title… Of course I gave him a free hug, and a whole bunch of other people, too: it was amazing, really. It works! I walked away completely giddy with happiness, feeling that it had restored some of my faith in humanity, and saying that I should spread the campaign to Springfield, Missouri—where it would no doubt flop, but it’s the idea that counts, right? Haha… We walked home through Hyde Park, since it was such a lovely day, and wrapped up the evening with a visit to the King’s Head pub.

Monday brought cold, wet, dreary, windy, crappy, miserable weather. Unfortunately, this was the day my Tale of Two Cities class was scheduled to have a walking tour of London’s canal system…Yikes. We started off at the canal museum, which was fascinating. It’s up by King’s Cross tube stop, so it’s on the slightly ugly, run-down side of town…it made me feel at home, haha, like the Southside! Ha! The museum had a giant store room underneath it, as the building had initially been used to store ice. We learned about the beginnings of the canals in the late 1700’s, and how it evolved into the complex system it is until this day. The canals aren’t used for industry and the transportation of goods the way they once had: the heyday of such things was in the 1800’s, and up until WWII.

The most interesting thing, I thought, was the ‘boat people’, as the lecturer at the museum called them. These were the men and eventually entire families that lived and worked aboard the vessels that pushed loads up and down the canals. They had a fascinating way of life: when the rest of the working classes had compulsory school after the Education Act of 1870, the boat people did not, and subsequently remained illiterate. So when courting, young couples would leave love letters dictated to literate lock-keepers, who would pass along the messages when their suitor’s family boat came through the lock—an interesting way of managing things! Also, they didn’t pick up on the new trends, fashions, and cultures of land-lubbers, and were wearing the same styles of clothing for the working class from the early 1800’s well into the 1900’s. In truth, these people reminded me of gypsies: not in their way of making ends meet, or any sort of thievery (as gypsies are often stereotyped), but in their separate culture from mainstream society, despite the advancement of time. The boats they lived in were so small, but so brightly and gaudily decorated, much like gypsy caravans… I thought the whole thing fascinating.

After the museum, though, we had a walking tour in the rain, along the canals all the way up to Camden Town. Quite a hike in the brisk, wet air, but it was still interesting. I kept wanting to sing ‘Erie Canal’, which of course made me reminisce about my little car, Sal (named thus thanks to the old folk song—she’s my little mule), and I could almost picture horses tugging the boats along, full of coal or timber. In some of the older bridges, I could actually see the deep grooves where years of use and thousands of ropes connecting horse and boat had dug their way into the iron that protected the stone…how awesome. In the end, though, I was more than ready for a change of socks (for my boots had failed me again!) and some hot cocoa. By the time we got back, though, I had barely 5 minutes to warm up before I had to head back to school for my night class…

Tuesday was pretty uneventful, due to a full day of class. But I got to talk to my sister, and Dan, and Jandrew, and Jason….so thanks, guys, for being there for me! I miss you all!

Today’s been another cold, wet one (anyone sensing a trend here?? haha) and I’m more than ready for the sun to show it’s lovely, warm, golden-bright face…mmm… Anyways, our program had its field trip at the British Museum, where our really great tour guide showed us the Reading Room, the Rosetta Stone, some ruins of Assyria, the ancient (and much debated over, politically) stone works of the Parthenon, and even some Egyptian mummies and artifacts. I’ve definitely got a lot of exploring to do there; there’s almost too much to see and talk about.

But today is Valentine’s Day—so happy V-Day to you all!  I’m not celebrating, as per usual. Instead, I’m going to see the Woody Allen film, ‘Annie Hall’, at that Hammersmith theatre with my friend Kevin, while my flatmates presumably hit the bars… Haha, no lovebirds, here!

Hope you're all having a good holiday!