British Museum & Other Cool Stuff

Rosetta Stone

     When I was little, I loved reading about ancient Egypt. Ever since I watched the movie "The Mummy" with Brendan Fraser and Rachel Wiesz, I've loved learning about that kind of stuff. If you haven't seen that movie yet, you should! I was really into mummies, and even got my own mini mummifying kit, where you could make your own mummy doll! So, naturally, I was really excited on our way to the British Museum today. A major scene from "The Mummy II" is actually shot in the British museum as well. We had three hours of class in the morning first, and I was struggling to stay awake. We've had pretty full days lately, so we haven't had much time to do our homework. Pretty much all of us were up late last night reading Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, which is written in Old English, so it's not fun like reading The Hunger Games. After 3 hours of class, we took the tube to Tottenham court road. We go pretty much everywhere on the tube. The British Museum features artifacts from all over the world, artifacts that the British empire has collected over the years. There are exhibits from ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, Asia, Africa... As soon as we stepped through the front doors I booked it to the ancient Egypt rooms. The Rosetta Stone was the first thing you saw walking into the main room, which was pretty sweet. There were a bunch of cool relics and statues, but I was ready to see the mummies! We went to the rooms upstairs and saw sarcophagi, and baboons, snakes, and cats that had been mummified. We saw human mummies too! They were pretty cool. They have on display one man whose body was preserved, because he died in the hot sand. There's even still hair on his head! We went into the Greek and Roman rooms and saw chunks from the Parthenon. There's actually more of the Parthenon in the British museum than in Greece! Our professor wanted us to go look at ancient European artifacts, and we did, but I just don't think that stuff is as cool as ancient Egypt or Rome or Greece. I was thinking that my little brother Colton would have loved the stuff on the ancient Greeks, because he really likes learning about that kind of thing. One of the coolest things was this man they found in the peat bogs called the "Lindow Man." They found out that he probably died around 70 AD! It's pretty crazy how his body was kept together just by staying buried in some cold mud. One of our professors, Nick, (our other professor is named Matt, and they're brothers) said that if anyone were ever to ask him what his secret to greatness is, he'd say it's the Lindow Man :) We only had a couple hours in the museum, which is definitely not enough time! Hopefully, if we have some free time towards the end of the trip we'll try and go back there.

On a walk through Hyde Park

Peter Pan Statue

     Along with our English and history classes, we have a one-credit class called London Walks. Some of the walks we do together as a group, but some we're required to go off and do on our own. Today, we had to go do one of the required walks, so Katherine Hart, Amanda Ricks and I decided to go walk around Kensington Palace and gardens. It was basically a walk through Hyde Park, so I loved it! It was raining just a little bit, and Katherine called it "powder sugar rain." Will and Kate live in Kensington Palace, so it was cool to walk past and think that they're in there! I was surprised that there weren't any guards standing around like at Buckingham Palace. Amanda and I decided to try tebowing by the river (we just call all water here the Thames), then we took pictures by a statue of Peter Pan. I love, love, love Peter Pan, so I was way happy!
     About half of the group went to see Matilda the musical tonight, so a group of us girls went to a place called Ben's Cookies to get pazukis, or cazukis, or fazukis, or whatever you call them! They call them cookie monsters here, which is way easier to remember. The Matilda goers said that it was awesome, so I'm excited to go! I'll be able to go with another group on May 15. Plays and musicals here are super cheap, so we're trying to go to as many as we can without breaking our budget. I'm sorry for the lack of pictures! I've been putting all my pictures on facebook, but if you don't have facebook, hopefully someone who does can show you what I've been up to! There'll be more to come! 

Westminster Abbey & Les Mis

As you can tell by my title, today we went to Westminster Abbey! All but four monarchs have been crowned there, and most of them have been married there, including Will and Kate! Besides this, the Abbey is still used as a church, and there are lots of monuments to soldiers, monarchs, poets, and authors. Outside the main entrance above the door are a bunch of statues commemorating important people from the 1900s, and our guide pointed out Martin Luther King Jr. for us, which I thought was pretty cool! The ceiling in the part of the church called the nave is 101 feet high, and 3,300 graves are found in the Abbey. When you first walk in is a grave marking the “unknown soldier,” which not even the Queen is allowed to walk on. It’s a tradition at royal weddings for the bride to lay her bouquet on the grave. This grave is honoring all the unnamed soldiers who died in WWI. WWI to England is like what WWII for us—it’s a much bigger deal here than in the States. Also towards the front is a monument to FDR, as well as the oldest piece of furniture in Britain still used for its original purpose—the coronation chair. The chair was built in the 1300s, and is still used in the coronation ceremony today. I have no idea how it hasn’t fallen apart! 

There are so many famous people buried at Westminster Abbey, and that was my favorite part about it. Some of the famous scientists buried there are Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday, and Clark Maxwell. They also have monuments to past prime ministers, and I found out that some people in Britain call policemen “bobbies,” because Robert Peel was the prime minister who started the police force. Interesting to finally know where that comes from! One of my favorite parts was seeing the grave of Mary I and Elizabeth I. I wish I could have taken pictures inside! Mary and Elizabeth were half-sisters born to King Henry VIII, (Hampton court guy, king who beheaded all his wives) and they didn’t get along. Mary (known as Bloody Mary for killing so many Protestants) tried to have her half-sister Elizabeth killed, because she was afraid Elizabeth would try to take over the throne.  When Mary died, Elizabeth became the queen. Elizabeth was afraid that Mary, Queen of Scots (different from Mary I) would try to overthrow her, so she had Mary put on trial and killed. After Elizabeth died, James VI from Scotland (son of Mary, Queen of Scots) took the English throne and became James I. James had Elizabeth and Bloody Mary buried next to each other, which I think is hilarious! I’m sorry for all the history, and I know it’s confusing, but I had to explain it so that it makes sense why it’s such a big deal that the sisters are buried right next to each other. “Divided in life, but together in death.” I think James did it just to spite Elizabeth, who killed his mom! Anyways… my favorite part in the Abbey is a place called Poets’ Corner. Geoffrey Chaucer, known as the Father of English Literature, was the first poet buried there, and ever since, famous poets and writers are represented there: John Milton, William Shakespeare, John Dryden, Edward Spenser, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Oscar Wilde, D. H. Lawrence, Longfellow, Keats, Shelley, Robert Southey, T.S. Eliot, Jane Austen, Wordsworth, Samuel Johnson, Samuel Coleridge, the Bronte sisters, Robert Burns, Charles Dickens, and Rudyard Kipling, just to name a few J It was so awesome! All the other English majors and I were freaking out, because those are all major writers that we’ve studied! Oh, and as a side note, the oldest door in England, made in 1050, is in a part of the Abbey called the Chapter House :)

Tonight, after a delicious meal of ribs in the centre, we went as a group to Les Miserables! I’d never seen it performed before, so I was so excited to see it! It was amazing! The songs were beautiful, and they all had good voices, especially the actor who played Jean Val-Jean. I had seen a spoof of it done at the Desert Star with my grandma and cousins, so the whole time I kept thinking of “Jean Levi Jean!” It was really good, but I think I’m still more excited to see Wicked and Phantom of the Opera. I don’t know if anyone can beat Gerard Butler, though, but we’ll see :)

Hampton Court

     Today, we went to Hampton Court Palace, the favorite palace of King Henry VIII. He had about 60 other palaces, but this one was his favorite. He's the king that had 6 wives, and beheaded almost all of them, because they only had daughters. His second wife, Anne Boleyn, is famous, because she was the mother of Queen Elizabeth. While I was walking around, I kept thinking of an SNL skit where Kristen Wiig acts like a tudor girl and calls herself the "other, other Bolyen girl." The palace was amazing! We put on these medieval-looking robes that made me feel like we were in The Village, and walked around the palace, listening to our audio tour. We toured the king's kitchens, his private rooms, the great hall, and also the William and Mary part that was added on later. The tour said that the servants had to prepare dinner for 600 people! I thought, man, I'm never going to complain about washing the dishes ever again! King Henry himself even came walking into the courtyard when we were there, and we got a picture with him! He was actually kind of intimidating! My favorite part of Hampton court was the gardens. They were so beautiful and huge! I took about a hundred pictures, so don't worry. There's a maze in the gardens that we were all excited to go through, but it cost about 4 pounds, so we decided not to. We had a nice sunny day too, so it was perfect! I decided to wear my rain boots for the first time today, and of course when I do, it doesn't rain. I walked through all the puddles though :)

Hanging out with the wooden courtiers 

Beautiful gardens at Hampton Court

     Tonight, a few of us went to see The Avengers. I won't give anything away... but I will say it was awesome! I'll probably end up seeing it again in the States. I feel like seeing a movie here was an important cultural experience. You should all go see it... when it comes out in America :)
   

Bill Shakespeare

Yesterday was so fun! On our way to Stratford, we stopped at a little town called Chipping Norton and had a quick lunch of pizza and apple turnover. The drive to Stratford was about two hours in a coach, and the English countryside is beautiful! England has about twenty different shades of green, and we passed these huge golden-yellow fields, but I'm not sure what kind of flowers they were.

 First, we stopped at Anne Hathaway’s cottage. The house was built in medieval times before Anne’s family lived there, and you can still even see the fingerprints in the walls from when it was built! Pretty cool. Shakespeare famously wrote in his will that to his wife, Anne, he left nothing but his “second best bed,” and upstairs they had that bed displayed. Shakespeare was only 18 when he married 26 year-old Anne, and their marriage had to be done quickly, because Anna was already 3 months pregnant. Or at least, they think it’s the same bed. In the kitchen they still have the original floor laid down by Anne’s grandfather during the reign of King Henry VIII. More about good ole king Henry will come later. We learned some interesting things about how the household was run back in Shakespeare’s day. The tour guide told us that husbands were allowed to beat their wives as long as the stick they used was smaller than the width of their thumb. This is where the phrase keeping someone “under the thumb” comes from. Also, husbands were only allowed to beat their wives during daylight hours, so as not to keep the neighbors up. The house has no foundation or cellar, so I have no idea how it’s still standing! And, apparently, 13 generations of Hathaways lived in that house. Pretty cool! The gardens at the cottage were also so pretty!

Stratford-upon-Avon

 We drove the rest of the way to Stratford-upon-Avon, and visited the birthplace of William SHAKESPEARE!! I was sort of geeking out the whole time, but it was so exciting! Next to his childhood home, they have a birthplace museum, and right outside it is a garden with every flower, herb, and tree ever mentioned in a Shakespeare play. We walked through Shakespeare’s house, then, once we were outside, a lady in costume recited lines from Romeo and Juliet from an upstairs window! How cool is that? We then went to Trinity Church, the church were Shakespeare is buried. It was so awesome! Outside the church is an old cemetery, and it amazes me how these old buildings and headstones are still there! My camera died right when we were outside of the church, but I designated Katherine to be picture taker, so I’ll have to get pictures from her.

Graveyard at Trinity Church

Before going to Twelfth Night, we walked around Stratford for a bit, then got some dinner at a little café. The theater we went to does a bunch of Shakespeare plays year-round; it’s not the famous Shakespeare theater, The Globe, but we are going to go to a play there later in the trip. Our seats were up in the nosebleeds on the side, but because the way the theater was set up, we could still see everything. The play was so good! It was hilarious. The actor who played Malvolio (the bad guy) did such a good job! He reminded me of the Duke in Moulin Rouge. The play was a little difficult to understand at some parts, but because I’ve read the play a few times, I didn’t get lost. I'm so glad I was able to visit the famous Shakespeare spots; they're places I've wanted to go my whole life! This place is a dream come true! 

Get Stuck In

     Ollo! Today has been a pretty great and relaxing Sunday. We all got to sleep in for the first time since we've been here, and it felt awesome. We all went to the Britannia singles' ward, since we hadn't been assigned to wards yet. It took us about a half hour to walk there, but we walked through Hyde Park so I loved it. Church was a two-hour block, since the ward is pretty new. Apparently it's the only singles' ward in Europe! It was kind of funny though, because the bishop had a Spanish accent, and one of the counselors was American. I am surprised at how many Asians and Africans are here. I guess I just expected everyone to be white!
     We went straight home after church on the bus (not a double decker), and then had to help with dinner for the last time. I love the people in my crew! It took us about an hour and a half to clean up after, because we were quoting homestar runner and teen girl squad, and singing Saturday's warrior. It was so fun! After dinner, we met for a fireside in our classroom to be assigned to our wards. We're all being assigned to the Wandsworth stake south of the Thames. A bishop from one of the wards came to speak to us about some of the differences between the church in America and the church in England. He told us that most of the members are converts here, so our knowledge of the gospel from growing up in the church will be a big help to them. He advised us to really make the most of our time here, and to "get stuck in." He said it was like the American equivalent of "go get 'em." He suggested we do things that are uniquely English, things that we can't do in the U.S. His speech really inspired me to make the most of my trip, and to do and see the things I want. Turns out I got assigned into his ward with about five other girls! I'm super excited, because he seems so awesome! We didn't get our callings yet, but he asked us what we're studying at BYU, what we want to do with our major, and callings we've had in the past. He said we'd get an email with our callings before next Sunday. Generally, he said they put girls in either the nursery, primary, or the relief society. Personally, I hope I get put with the little kids! Our ward will start at 9, and we'll take the tube and a train to get there. It will be an early morning, but it will definitely be nice to have time to do some reading once we get home.
     We're going to Stratford on Avon tomorrow, and if you can't tell, I'm pumped! We're taking a coach to get there, which I think is just like a charter bus. This week is going to be jam-packed with stuff. I'll try my best to keep my blog updated! Cheerio!

Just Another Day in Paradise

Today was another amazing day in London. This morning, a couple girls and I went running in Hyde Park, the park about one minute from the centre. The park is absolutely gorgeous!! Everything is so green! It was a little rainy, but it felt good to run in cooler weather. The park is really into Peter Pan, which makes it even more awesome. There’s a Peter Pan statue and a Peter Pan park, but you can’t play at the park unless you have little kids with you. Good thing the professors have little chillins :) Running through the park is exactly what I imagine the countryside in England to look like. It was like stepping out of Becoming Jane or Pride & Prejudice! A group of kids in the centre go running there every morning, and I think I might join them, at least on some days. It’ll make me feel better about eating so many sweets :)

Lauren and I with our raclettes

The first thing we did as a group this morning was to go to Borough market. I think on my last blog post I might have put Portobello market, but I meant Borough. The market is in Southwark, which is south of the Thames, so we walked across London Bridge to get there. You bet I sang “London Bridge is falling down,” and I've had Fergie’s “London Bridge” stuck in my head all day. Borough market is the great food market of London. We got hot chocolate from this place called artisan de chocolate, and it was amazing! Seriously, the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had. It was made with dark chocolate, so it was kind of bitter and sooo rich. Yum!! I got the best toasted cheese sandwich I’ve ever had, too. It's called a raclette. It had onions in it and was flavor packed! Oh, it’s making me so hungry just to think about it! The market had other good foods like meat, cheese, fruit, and smoothies. We’re going to go back there again before we leave to get some raspberries; we tried some and they were so sweet! Whoever said that London doesn’t have good food is crazy!

Melting the cheese for our raclettes at Borough Market

We went off on our own around the market, and then met up at Southwark cathedral. These chairs in the chapel were labeled with names like William Shakespeare, John Gower, Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, and William Wilberforce, which I thought was super cool! A priest inside the cathedral told us that Shakespeare went to that church, and his brother is buried there. The priest asked us where we were from, and when we told him Utah, he said he knew the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and BYU! He called it the famous Mormon university. It’s cool to hear that people in Europe know of the church! When people here, especially tour guides, learn that we’re from America, they try to spin whatever they’re presenting in a way they think will interest us. For example, the priest told us that inside the cathedral they have a special room for Harvard students to come when they graduate. Also, when we were in St. Paul’s, the tour guide pointed out a stained glass window that has all the U.S. state flags. The window is a memorial to the U.S. soldiers who died helping England in World War II. Anyway, it’s interesting to see what Londoners think of Americans. I know they think we’re loud, because every time we ride the tube they always look at us like we’re little hooligans.

Anyways… sorry, got off track! After seeing the cathedral, we went to the Tate Modern museum. On our way, we saw Shakespeare's globe theater, which made me so happy! We're going to see Henry V there towards the end of the trip. We're going to Stratford on Avon on Monday to see Twelfth Night, and I can't wait! We also passed by Millenium Bridge, the bridge the death eaters blow up in Harry Potter 6! If someone could tell my roommate Alison Brand that they rebuilt the bridge, that would be grand :) So, I wasn't a big fan of the Tate Modern. I don't really like modern art, so I wasn't fond of most of the artwork in there. Our assignment was to write down which piece we liked the most, and which piece we had a hard time seeing as art. The one I disliked the most was probably a painting that looked like a 2nd grader could have done it. I think I took a picture of it... I'll have to post it. My favorite was "The Metamorphosis of Narcissus" by Salvador Dali. The other ones were just plain weird. 

We broke off in groups to finish the Southwark walk when we were done at the Tate Modern, which was basically a walk along the Thames. We got some cool pictures with Big Ben and the houses of Parliament in the background, but we're going to go there as a group some time later. On our way home though, we passed by Trafalgar square and I'm so excited to go there! We're not going there as a group, but this Friday we have nothing but class, so we're all going to journey over there to check it out. We took the tube to a store called Primark, and it reminded me of H&M/Forever 21. My little sister Courtney would love it! I got some rain boots finally, and a bigger messenger bag to carry my stuff around. I had a somewhat embarrassing moment in Primark... I was looking at a pair of shoes and bumped into this guy on accident. He said sorry in his British accent, and I said sorry back in a British accent! I started saying it that way then realized I shouldn't, but then it was too late. Katherine overheard and started laughing, so then I started laughing, and I think the guy thought we were making fun of him. Whoops! 

Tonight, we went to dinner at a Thai place called Tuk Tuk Thai. I got pad thai with prawn (shrimp) and it was good, but not my favorite. We all ordered water, then the waitress asked us if we wanted it sparkling, and then she asked us what size we wanted. We all had no clue what she meant, so we just ordered soda instead. The soda is cheaper than water here! It was at that restaurant anyways. A big group of us went to see the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall after dinner. I wasn't sure how much I was going to like it, but I ended up loving it! I love it when people talk about what they love, so I loved it when all the musical people in the group tried to explain to me the different movements and terms. Mostly, I just smiled and nodded :) The music was beautiful, and I especially liked the Tchaikovsky piece at the end. My absolute favorite though was the conductor. He was hilarious to watch! He was jumping and almost dancing around up there! It looked like he was doing jumping jacks and running in place! I had to try so hard not to laugh. After it was over, I told everyone that I wanted to change my major to conducting; really, he was inspirational. While we were at the Phil, the other half of the group went to see The Avengers. I had already bought my ticket to the Phil, so it was too late to back out. Everyone said The Avengers was the best Marvel movie they've ever seen! Ahh I'm dying to see it! A group of us are going on Tuesday to see it, and I cannot wait! 

London is an amazing city, and I love, love, love all the people here with me. I miss you all!

   

The Tower... Which You Are Never To Enter...

Today has been a long, but very fun day! We started out our day going to the Tower of London, which was way cool! The tube ride was about 40 minutes, and it was raining when we got off. I'm trying to get used to the rain... I just keep telling myself that it wouldn't be London without it! I thought the tower was going to be an actual tower, but it's almost like its own little city inside. It's more like a castle I think, with a few different towers. First, we went to see the crown jewels. I think it's ironic that the crown jewels, which are a symbol of England and its monarchy, are kept at the Tower of London, which is known for torturing and beheading people. Just sort of interesting! The crown jewels are gorgeous, and I was blown away by the dishes they use at the coronation banquet. There's a golden castle bedazzled with jewels that's about a foot tall that they use as a salt holder! There's also a 3 feet wide golden punch bowl that holds around 144 glasses of wine. It's crazy! After looking at the jewels, we went to the White Tower, which displays armor and old weapons that the Brits used in battle. We went to the Bloody Tower next, where they display the different ways people were tortured back in the day. I had heard of "the rack" before, where they stretch you, but I had never heard of this one device where they do the exact opposite and compress you. It sounds terrible! We really wanted to find where Anne Boleyn was kept before she was executed, but apparently that tower no longer stands. All in all, I thought the tower was super interesting! I wish I could have gone off on my own though and explored, because when you're with a big group you have to wait for everybody, and all decide together where to go next.

We got lunch at this place called Pret A Manger, which was good. After that we went on a walk following the old wall of London. I was surprised again, because I thought we were going to be walking alongside an old wall. There are spots where the wall still stands, but the chunks aren't very big. The streets in old London have funny names like Houndsditch road, Jewry road, and Saracen's Head road. My professor said we were walking in East London, which is like Wall Street in New York. It had been pouring all morning, and then while we were walking the sun came out and it was beautiful! I think I know why the Beatles wrote a song about the sun--because it's so nice when it finally comes out, even just for a little bit! We went and saw a couple old churches, then we walked to the Museum of London. It goes through the whole history of London, and it took us a while to get through it. My favorite parts were the exhibits on the Black Death and the Great Fire. The Black Death killed off half the population of London, which was 40,000 people at a time. Half of the people in London died! The Great Fire burned down four-fifths of the city of London in 1666, and is believed to have been started by a baker who kept his fire burning during the night. Anyway, sorry for the boring facts, I just thought they were cool!

Tonight for dinner, we had pasta, broccoli, and corn, to balance out all the treats we've been eating. They make us such good food here! It's nice to come home to a home-cooked meal, even if we have to spend two extra hours helping to prepare and clean up after it :) Welp, right now I'm going to do some of the homework. Tomorrow, we're going to Portobello market which has excellent crepes and shopping. So pumped! On Sunday, we're all going to a single's ward together, then that night we'll be put into our wards and given callings. Monday, we're taking a coach to Stratford upon Avon where Shakespeare lived. We're going to see Twelfth Night, which is what She's the Man is based on! A quote from Samuel Johnson pretty much sums up my trip here so far, and motivates me when I get tired of walking: "He who is tired of London is tired of life." Cheerio!