Here are some highlights from the past few days:
Wednesday (Day trip) at Dover--We walked through the "secret" wartime tunnels with this creepy lady guide who was incredibly awkward. She ended her comments with a beginning of a sentence so none of us really knew what was going on. While we were in Dover we were able to explore the castle, there were hardly any restrictions and we were able to walk everywhere inside the castle. When we were at the top of the castle we could look out to the English Channel and see France. We saw some white cliffs which weren't as impressive as I thought they would be. They were cliffs, and they were white. After this we went to Canterbury where we saw the Cathedral and St. Augustine's Abbey. At St. Augustine's we were able to walk on the ruins of the ancient structures, which made me a little bit uncomfortable considering rocks were breaking and ended up being more of a photo op than anything. Too bad I look like a ghost? Over the past few days the sun has been out and I feel like a mole. When I am back in the States over the summer I will need permanent sun glasses or I might go blind.
Thursday-- We went to Primark and got cheap clothes for our Copenhagen adventure. We didn't want to ruin anything while we were there. We are staying in a hostel, and may or may not be showering. I am a little grossed out by it, but europeans do it? Its time to go native!
Friday-- I LOVE the Whitehall banqueting house. It was the first great commission by Inigo Jones, the first classical building and the first building with tall buildings and portland stone. The vaulted ceiling was painted by Peter Paul Rubens. Pretty place. I sat in the banqueting house sketching for maybe a half an hour. I could have been there forever. I came home and ran a 5 mile loop to Buckingham Palace. There were horses out in Hyde park and paddle boats on the pond. We have all been listening to Lily Allen a lot this trip. She says many wise and applicable things. Friday, the theme of the day was "The sun is in the sky oh why oh why would I want to be anywhere else." Every time we pass tesco we sing LDN... "There was a little old lady who was walking down the road, she was struggling with bags from tesco." For those of you who don't know Lily, get acquainted with her because she has been a large part of my life here.
Saturday-- Anna and I were doing a "London Walk" for one of our classes when we stumbled across the set for Hereafter, a new movie with Matt Damon. We waited around and popped our heads in, and saw Matt Damon getting into his red range rover. He drove right past us, we could have touched his car. This doesn't end the strange things that happened on our walk. Right after this, we walked by these weird people modeling for a photo shoot. They weren't even legitimate. They were dressed in anime and devil costumes while making distorted faces. When we finished watching the creepos in costumes we went to take a picture of the Tower bridge when this weird middle eastern teenager and his friend asked if they could take a picture of us. We don't know why either. No offense to either of us, but we looked nasty. I hadn't showered that day. When we left our friend MO-Hammad, we went back to the tube to go home. Then I went to Portobello Road to buy some prints from the 1700s of old architectural sketches and a print of New York in 1877. I can't wait to frame them.
Damon and the entourage before they get into the car... I put my camera away when I saw him to try and play it cool. It wasn't worth it, I would have rather had a picture.
Anna and the "models" near the Themes.
Pre-Middle Eastern boy encounter.
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