Can't buy happiness...but anything else!

A visit to Covent Garden...with a bit of Lamb's Conduit thrown in!

Before one can even arrive at the market, the street is filled with performers of all types.  I watched a young woman dangle from a ladder upside down while juggling "deathly sharp" knives.  There was a man dressed in an outfit made entirely out of recycled plastic bottles.  There are always homeless men with adorable puppies.  And there are the musicians, many of whom aren't actually homeless and perform just out of pure enjoyment.  This man, with a knowing look in his eye, seems to be a rather seasoned performer on the streets.  He was accompanied by a woman playing the harmonica.

This young woman was selling quite a bit of fresh produce.  There are a ton of stalls like this in every market, each advertising the familiar catchphrases of "locally grown," "100% organic," "fresh each day!"  I believe that's a spray of leeks there in front of her, but most of her selection was actually herbs.  I thought her expression epitomized the energy of the market.  This was lunchtime on a weekday, so although the tourist crowds weren't there, there were plenty of workingclass Brits out for a lunchtime stroll and snack.

This man was selling smoothies of every fruit imaginable--melons, lychee, strawberries, bananas, mangoes...plenty of fruits one wouldn't expect to be grown in and around London!  There actually aren't many beverage stalls at the markets, though--except for the ones selling wine!

I hate mushrooms.  With a vengeance.  But I couldn't help but snap a pic of the beautiful display of fungi laid out on one table.  I can't tell you what any of these mushrooms actually are but they certainly look exotic!  Needless to say, I declined to purchase any...my lunch instead was pesto-garlic focaccia!  Mmm!

Last but not least, a fruit and veg stall up the road from our university building (yes, it's one building).  There's a produce stand like this on nearly every corner, even in front of the grocery stores and mini-marts!  The deals on the produce here are amazing, too--I've gotten two cartons of strawberries for just a pound!

So there you have it--a taste (sorry I couldn't give you a real one!) of the London markets...and Covent Garden is one of the smaller ones!

The Best of Thames, and...the Best of Thames

There really was no downside to the Thames Festival.  It was free, it was accessible, and there was lots of fire.

Night one:
After stuffing myself with the sunflower bread I purchased for a pound (gotta love late-night discounts), we wandered across the bridge to the Tate Modern side of the shore.  There we found the first of many delights--a glowing display of urban poetry calling people forward like mosquitos to a light.

Then we regrouped at the fire garden, and it was truly an ethereal experience.  Glowing spheres of iron with fire pots mounted all around the rim rotated in the wind, while locals launched mini hot air balloons from a nearby balcony, twinkling against the night sky.  Further into the garden there was a woman surrounded by lanterns singing eerie tunes, and groups of young people with pots of incense and candle rings.  We felt like we were at a hippie pagan campground.  Nevertheless, journeying on revealed the true prize: a spinning wheel of water suspended above a pool of the same, with buckets of fire all around it that seemingly rained down into the water.  Water can't catch fire?  I've seen it.

Night 2:
I got over my fear of bridges and after a quick stroll through the innumerable food stalls (and some rather excellent vegetarian curry), we found a good perch on the Waterloo bridge from which to watch the fireworks.   However, good is relative, as the traffic was between us and the fireworks and was as interested in craning to get a good look as we were.  But aside from these interruptions, we had a great view of the display.

 

 

London sure knows how to throw a party!

Wimbledon...a while back!

A Trip to Centre Court
So far, the only touristy thing I've actually paid money for in London is, surprise, surprise, a visit to the All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.  And let me say, it was worth every penney (yes, they say penney, strangely enough, and not pence).  We started off the day at the club cafe, getting strawberries and cream and scones with clotted cream...this tradition exists for a reason--Wimbledon does strawberries pretty darn well.  Next up was the tour of the grounds, and this two-hour-long extravaganza was just that. 

We learned about the history of the tournament, which strangely enough started as a local club fundraiser when the "pony roller"--the giant tool used to flatten the grass courts--broke in two.  The joke goes that that's the last time a Brit won Wimbledon--because it was only Brits there! The fundraiser was so successful that they continued it, eventually morphing into what we all know as possibly the most prestigious Major of them all.

 

Then we got to go around to all the courts, including Centre Court.  We stopped for a history lesson atop Henman Hill, so named for the scores of Brits who congregate there to watch him, well, lose.  They're starting to think that Murray is Britain's new best hope, so we may be seeing the rise of Murray Mound someday soon.  

 

And lucky me--I got to sit at the press interview desk, where tennis legends like John McEnroe, Rafael Nadal, and I guess that Federer guy have all sat.  The UK government and Wimbledon authorities actually require players to accept an interview from the press if asked--with the variety of channels covering the tournament, a losing player might have to recount his failure to his own public, his opponent's public, the British public, and possibly other stations...and if the player refuses, he gets slapped with a nice fine.  Go figure.

Stonehenge Rocks, or, The Steak is a Lie

Part I: Stonehenge

Friday's trip to Stonehenge was amazing.  And early.  But amazing nonetheless.

When you pull up to Stonehenge, you see sheep.  A lot of sheep.  But they aren't the only locals waiting to greet you--Stonehenge is also home to many Druids, or at least home to their protests.  The Druids claim responsibility for Stonehenge, and although nobody can conclusively prove they're wrong, carbon-dating of the animal bones used as tools to dig holes for the stones suggests that Stonehenge predates the Druids.  However, the Romans are off the hook, despite the English king's claims when the ruins were brought to his attention, because they're too young a civilization to have been around to craft the circle.  I thought this woman seemed very representative of a lost time and a lost culture.

The stones that need no description.  A couple of interesting notes, though--because of the immense weight of the stones, each is buried 5-6 feet underground at the bottom.  Also, each stone is tapered toward the top so that a view standing at the ground makes them look completely straight, despite their height.

 

The historical society's best guess as to what Stonehenge originally looked like.  Pretty impressive for something that was built about 5000 years ago.  So what's your theory? Pre-historic Druids, early Roman ancestors, or, the most popular theory, an alien signal to their home planet?

And, Part II: The Steak is a Lie.

Salisbury.  What comes to mind?  Salisbury steak, mayhaps?  Wrong.  Salisbury steak was invented by an American physician, a Dr. Salisbury, and has absolutely nothing to do with the town in the UK.  Needless to say, we were very, very disappointed.

 

But, luckily, Salisbury is not just another English country town (although a very good example of one!).  It is home to Salisbury Cathedral, an engineering marvel for both its design and the speed with which it was constructed...the entire cathedral took less than a century to build, and excluding the spire, less than a half-century!

There was a cute footbridge we took to the town market in the center of Salisbury, and the creek running under it was home to many mallards and a few swans.  They didn't seem to get along so well, though--most of the swans were trying to chase the ducks off!

 

This isn't a stunning work of photography by any means, but I thought the contrast of old and new here was kind of cool to think about.  Salisbury is a town with a long and rich history, and some elements of it--besides the cathedral--have changed little over the years.  You can still hire a coach and horses to take you around town, instead of opting for one of those new-fangled car contraptions.

 

CANDYLAND!  This shop had every type of sweet imaginable, including a special Salisbury confection.  Salisbury's local indulgence was a stick candy with "Salisbury" printed down the center of the stick candy, a part of each layer. I wonder how they manage that...

 

Leaving the cathedral.  I was hoping for a silhouette type shot here, but it turned out more of a "church spire spearing the sun" effect.  Alas, this side of the cathedral is not nearly as breathtaking, but that's only temporary--the scaffolding here is a sign of the refacing project on the exterior of the cathedral...once that's done, Salisbury Cathedral will be photogenic from all angles.

From Pole to Pole

Sunday's trip to Greenwich was fantastic...strangely, the whole "standing in two hemispheres at once" bit may have actually been the least interesting part of the trip!  But I can say I've done it, so I suppose that's something.

The trip started off with a boarding the buses (from the left side--very strange!) outside Faraday at 10:30.  We then drove through the city of London with our very capable narrators pointing out all the sights. I apologize if the next few shots are blurry but this was from a bus window...I think I've improved, though!  These are some pretty arches with a Latin inscription that I should be able to translate...oh well.

 

Love love love the sky in this shot...This is the clock tower, NOT Big Ben as many of you are thinking.  Big Ben is actually only the name of the bell in the top of the clock tower.  Despite the ominous-looking sky, we escaped any downpour and had a beautiful trip.

 

This is a view of what is now a college with the Thames in the foreground.  However, these buildings used to be for royal use, with the small building in the very back being known as "the queen's pleasure house."  She was evidently very bored while her husband was off being kingly, so this is where she had her private resort complete with personal entertainers and attendants.  Interestingly (and tragically in my humble opinion) there are no kitchens in that building.

 

A speedboat towing two canoes on the Thames.  There are a lot of water activities on the river, from lunchtime cruises to paddleboating!  However, we chose to go under the river to get across it--there's a tunnel that runs under the Thames from London to Greenwich.

 

One of the side entrances to the Greenwich Market...I like it better in black and white because the outside was so peaceful compared to once you entered! There were vendors selling every time of craft and food...I bought some Portuguese food for lunch, and my friends managed to find Thai, Greek, and Indian cuisine as well.  For dessert, we treated ourselves to a gourmet ice cream stall...who knew banana poppy seed ice cream would be so delicious?

 

A view of London from across the river Thames...this is from the hill that the observation tower and Prime Meridian marker sit atop.  Greenwich Park, which includes the hill, is a huge green space that was the product of some strange politicking...its original role was to provide a cushion for the town to make it less vulnerable to attack!  Interestingly, this park did serve military use in modern history--the tops of some trees were lopped off so that the British anti-aircraft guns hidden in the park could clear the trees.  Unfortunately, photography was not allowed up in the observation tower.

I've had my first photo class and will be getting set assignments shortly, so hopefully you'll see some improvement in my photos!  I now have better software for editing, too, although my professor warned us that "Photoshopping a crap photo yields a crap photo."  I see his point.  

Thanks for reading!

London on the cheap

So the Friday night fish fry was a success...but 5 o'clock seemed too early for dinner so Nate and I headed to the British Museum for a cursory exploration.  We actually ended up staying almost two hours and we only did the ground floor!  I can't wait to go back--being so far away from the Smithsonian in the U.S. makes it nice to have access to the free ones in Europe!

Basically the first thing you see upon entering the museum is the incredibly famous Rosetta Stone, key to the translations of many ancient manuscripts.  Unfortunately due to its great value the stone is fully encased in glass, making it quite the tricky object for photography--the ones I took actually have Nate's reflection on the case, despite not using the flash!  However, the museum has a copy of the stone out for public display, so that's what you see here.  I also included a close-up of the inscriptions since the stone was so accessible.

There was so much information on the ancient cultures...tons of friezes, sarcophagi, statues, and other relics.  One that really caught my eye was this cat statue from Egyptian ruins.  The owner had made some changes to the statue to preserve it, including inserting a metal cylinder to make the head stay on as well as painting it this lovely shade of green.  This too was unfortunately behind a case, so I apologize for any glare!

 

 

As impressive as the objects in it is the British Museum itself.  The beautiful glass ceiling was completed in 2000, comprised of thousands of individual glass pieces.  It covers the central part of the museum and the two staircases that lead to the upstairs galleries and the restaurant.

 

What I originally thought was a very ornate baptismal font was actually a vase!  I can't really fathom what kind of bouquet would go in here, but rest assured it would be very large.  By my estimation, the opening was about 4 feet in diameter!

  

This is a beautiful, although unfortunately slightly blurry, example of nature and man working together.  The shell was sculpted into the shape of a helmet by whittling away tiny fragments, then painted with ink with a nautical scene.

  

This was an incredibly ornate (and accurate!) heliocentric model of the universe.

 

These aren't particularly famous nor noteworthy, but I loved the story behind these tips.  The early archeologists who discovered these thought that they were shot into cattle by witches or elves, because they were so fine and sharp.  In reality, these are arrow tips thousands of years old--modern dating estimates have come up with a range of 2500-6000 years of age.

After the museum we got take-away (not take-out, mind you) from Munchkin's, a fish fry right near our flat.  The price was right and we took our dinner and a blanket to Russel Square Park, and fought the pigeons and squirrels for our well-earned dinner.

Cheers to the weekend!

So on my 5 mile meander last night I neglected to bring my camera...so I made up for it by bringing it on my jaunt today!

 

This is the doorstop to my building.  There are 5 flats, but luckily I live on the ground floor!

 

There are motorbikes EVERYWHERE!  They are the craziest drivers, giving NYC cabbies a run for their money.  But I just had to snap a pic of this row of bikes...they are pretty.

 

Real double-decker buses! This is on Southhampton Row, one of the major streets near our flat.

 

This is our Sainsbury's...it's not the biggest or the best-stocked, and certainly doesn't compare to America's supermarkets.  But it's close enough that we can carry our groceries, and it has really good take-away Indian.

 

I am SO proud of this shot.  It's my attempt at using a leading line.  This was just a random building on Southhampton Row.  Everything here has incredible architecture, even the chips shops!

 

This is one of the many squares in London...there are tons of markets and stalls, as well as street performers who actually have to audition to have the privilege of performing there.  The outcome?  They're an excellent source of free entertainment.

 

Lastly, the British Museum.  Haven't actually made it inside yet, but it's free and super close to where we live so I'm sure I'll be spending lots of time here.

Friday means...FISH FRY!  Will be checking out one of the acclaimed chip shops for dinner tonight...Sunday is a trip to Greenwich!

Live from London!

So my photo blog will be alas missing pictures for now, but I promise I'll go back and put them in.  I've moved in to my flat, managed to get lost, but have at least recovered from jet lag.

 

There's also a kitchen and living room area off of our portion with two sets of kitchen appliances...definitely a happy sight for me!  I attempted making chocolate chip cookies today although the lack of chocolate chips (used chopped chocolate), leavener (used self-rising flour), and a recipe (I'm a good guesser?) made it a bit more difficult.

But the flat is nice--there are 7 of us living together but the 4 girls have their own area, and luckily our own bathroom! 

The school had some nice orientation events for us, including a presentation from a TFL personnel who told us all about getting around London.  I'm excited to try the driverless train on the outskirts!

Off to another orientation event now, but I do promise to add photos later...cheers!