I write to you all from yet, another week gone!
And finally THE RAIN HAS COME!!
I'm having such a time here, that the days are literally flying past me. It's been a packed week full of all sorts of meanderings and I'll try to remember them now
MONDAY: Monday saw us off to Kew Gardens in 'Kew', and I still cannot get over the beauty of that place! It was soo gorgeous!! My mother can attest, I've never been really one for seeking the company of flowers...dirt, and bugs...gardening has never really been my thing. I have to say though that I could not get over the beauty and vast spender of how big and beautiful those grounds were! I loved going into the greenhouses, my favorite was the Princess of Wales conservatory especially, where each room or section of the greenhouse you would enter, would be like entering another zone or climate somewhere in the world (Pacific Northwest, Rain forest, etc.) It was funny to see all the Englander's captivated by cactus's and desert plants...when I entered that area and was hit by all the dry air, no more humidity...I was like..."Yup...this feels familiar."
TUESDAY: I'm really enjoying our classes. We had quite a deep discussion in this days class, in pre-discussion on the play we would see that evening. That night we were to see 'God of Carnage' by Yasmina Reza (Yes, same woman that wrote 'Art') I was, to say the least, very excited to see this play as it featured (my hearts beloved) Ralph Fiennes and Yasmin Greig (of 'Black Books' fame!) We spoke in class about history and the arrival of 'existential' thinking within the realms of theatre. Darwin, Freud, Newton and others who brought the attention of perhaps life without the presence of a God. I thought about this...about the questions that, that's night play 'God of Carnage' presented. Is there only a 'God of Carnage'? That we are all doing good deeds for our own consciences...I say no. I think that people...pessimists tend to settle. They settle so much that they become comfortable for not striving for anything more, for the betterment of society. They think if there is no God, they have no cause to better themselves. On the other hand, they pose good questions...are we to busy to get to heaven that we forget to better the world we live in today.
I'd prefer to be an optimist.
The play that night, was WONDERFUL!! All of the performers were on that night...the curtain goes up with a fleshy modern red set, with a modern home dwelling.
The plot surrounds the meeting of these two parents meet up to discuss the punishment and what is to be done about there sons, where one of the boys hit the other in the face with a stick. The beginning of the meeting starts off quite strained, and awkward but civil...by the end of the play it is chaos with each of the characters defending their motto's of life, and it becomes almost a school yard of immaturity and madness. I loved it!
AND got signatures from each of the performers...including Tamsin Greig, AND Ralph Fiennes!
WEDNESDAY: We took a tour of the National Gallery @ Trafalgar Square. I saw Monet's, Van der Weyden's, Da Vinci's, and Van Gogh's.
THURSDAY: It finally happened! On instinct, on impulse....I when crossing the road looked to the right for traffic. Finally correct, finally on instinct!
I guess I'll get hit by a car back in Salt Lake.
FRIDAY: Early Friday morning began our 'Shakespeare Walking Tour' led by our director Tim Slover. We saw so many interesting things...including Middle Temple, a Great Hall where many people have dined including Elizabeth I, Elizabeth II, and Shakespeare. Shakespeare's first performance of his play "Twelfth Night" occurred in that hall, and the hall itself was the inspiration for many other theatre's being the first 'indoor' theatre itself. We then walked around, hitting sights like the new Globe (where we'll be seeing 'King Lear' in a few weeks) the site of the original Globe, Rose, and Blackfriars. It was kind of humorous, seeing employee's working at modern buildings starring at us theatre nerds gaping at sites these theatre's 'used' to be, and they had no idea. We also saw Christopher Wren (renowned architect) and Southwark Cathedral, where Shakespeare attended church, where a memorial is built in his memory, and where his brother is buried.
The tour ended at the perfect place. BOROUGH MARKET!!! This place totally trumps ANY farmer's market I've ever been too!! They're was yummy food, and yummy stalls, and people shoving samples of bread, oils, CHEESE, CHOCOLATE! Into your arms!! All i could think of was, how could I possibly stow away some of these things into my bag and explain it at customs!! Certainly they would understand that Pear & Raspberry juice is just too good to leave behind!!? I had so much food there..
-A Hamburger (not just any hamburger...a pork & stilton hamburger, with unions and mustard...I thought I could just die.
~Our director bought for all of us THE best brownie I have ever had in my life. These things weren't brownies...they were the perfect combination of both the "cakie" brownie, and the "fudgie" brownie at the bottom...they were literally HUGE BRICKS of chocolate!!! I thought I would just die
-I had delicious 'Olde Fashioned' Ice Cream, made from ~(get this) clotted cream, egg yolk and honey. And if that weren't enough the flavor I had was 'honey and lavender'!! There were bits of flower in my ice cream!!! I could have just died!
-Pear & Raspberry juice, I was so close to smuggling it across.
-Pistachio Baklava.
I could have just died!
I went back to the flat very contented that night, and looked forward to our Contemporary play we were seeing that evening @ at the National Theatre called 'Fram' by Tony Harrison. Tony Harrison is an interesting playwright I hope to learn more of, who believes extremely in the continued use of "public poetry", and so all of his plays & works are done in complete rhyming verse. THIS ENTIRE PLAY RHYMED! I really have to say, that I loved this play. The plot is frenzied taking three different themes and individual plots and winding them together in the end. From the Arctic explorer Hjalmar Johansen & Fridtjof Nansen, who were the closest to the North pole...these two men, who's personalities detested each other, only survived by sewing their sleeping bags together and huddling together. Through some of the different stories in this play including the famine of Russia in 1921, the play presents the realization that though civilizations and cultures of people, though we may distrust and hate one another, we must bind together when the world ends, and turns to ice...we must all huddle, cuddle together for warmth. After Fram,
I opted for walking along the river Thames, and it was so nice to have that experience by myself. I took night pictures of the river, Eye of London, Parliament and Big Ben.
SATURDAY: Saturday was a mixed day for me. I started out with the best day! I had a cornish pasty (quickly becoming one of my favorite things!) And I was off to Portabello Rd!! I knew I was on the right track because I just followed all the umbrella's. I've come to be knowledgeable and careful of my head as when cattleling down a sidewalk, smushed together with the rest of the pedestrians in the rain, you have to be quite careful of your face or neck getting scratched or poked by a neighboring umbrella. Knit-knacky type clothing shops surrounded me on all sides. I passed stalls selling antique spoons, tin types, printing letters, prints, jewelry, scarves, including football scarves for Chelsea and Manchester Unt. All was going well, I had a delicious churro in my hand...and I reach down in my bag to take out my camera, and find it wet...with raindrops!! I turned it on, only to find that it wouldn't turn on...and still doesn't. So until I can find a place to hopefully get it fixed, we will be without photo's for a while:(
I miss you all! I hope you are liking these blogs! It's helping me remember and collect my thoughts about the week.
Love you! Until next week, or sooner!
-ellesse
And finally THE RAIN HAS COME!!
I'm having such a time here, that the days are literally flying past me. It's been a packed week full of all sorts of meanderings and I'll try to remember them now
MONDAY: Monday saw us off to Kew Gardens in 'Kew', and I still cannot get over the beauty of that place! It was soo gorgeous!! My mother can attest, I've never been really one for seeking the company of flowers...dirt, and bugs...gardening has never really been my thing. I have to say though that I could not get over the beauty and vast spender of how big and beautiful those grounds were! I loved going into the greenhouses, my favorite was the Princess of Wales conservatory especially, where each room or section of the greenhouse you would enter, would be like entering another zone or climate somewhere in the world (Pacific Northwest, Rain forest, etc.) It was funny to see all the Englander's captivated by cactus's and desert plants...when I entered that area and was hit by all the dry air, no more humidity...I was like..."Yup...this feels familiar."
TUESDAY: I'm really enjoying our classes. We had quite a deep discussion in this days class, in pre-discussion on the play we would see that evening. That night we were to see 'God of Carnage' by Yasmina Reza (Yes, same woman that wrote 'Art') I was, to say the least, very excited to see this play as it featured (my hearts beloved) Ralph Fiennes and Yasmin Greig (of 'Black Books' fame!) We spoke in class about history and the arrival of 'existential' thinking within the realms of theatre. Darwin, Freud, Newton and others who brought the attention of perhaps life without the presence of a God. I thought about this...about the questions that, that's night play 'God of Carnage' presented. Is there only a 'God of Carnage'? That we are all doing good deeds for our own consciences...I say no. I think that people...pessimists tend to settle. They settle so much that they become comfortable for not striving for anything more, for the betterment of society. They think if there is no God, they have no cause to better themselves. On the other hand, they pose good questions...are we to busy to get to heaven that we forget to better the world we live in today.
I'd prefer to be an optimist.
The play that night, was WONDERFUL!! All of the performers were on that night...the curtain goes up with a fleshy modern red set, with a modern home dwelling.
The plot surrounds the meeting of these two parents meet up to discuss the punishment and what is to be done about there sons, where one of the boys hit the other in the face with a stick. The beginning of the meeting starts off quite strained, and awkward but civil...by the end of the play it is chaos with each of the characters defending their motto's of life, and it becomes almost a school yard of immaturity and madness. I loved it!AND got signatures from each of the performers...including Tamsin Greig, AND Ralph Fiennes!
WEDNESDAY: We took a tour of the National Gallery @ Trafalgar Square. I saw Monet's, Van der Weyden's, Da Vinci's, and Van Gogh's.
THURSDAY: It finally happened! On instinct, on impulse....I when crossing the road looked to the right for traffic. Finally correct, finally on instinct!
I guess I'll get hit by a car back in Salt Lake.
FRIDAY: Early Friday morning began our 'Shakespeare Walking Tour' led by our director Tim Slover. We saw so many interesting things...including Middle Temple, a Great Hall where many people have dined including Elizabeth I, Elizabeth II, and Shakespeare. Shakespeare's first performance of his play "Twelfth Night" occurred in that hall, and the hall itself was the inspiration for many other theatre's being the first 'indoor' theatre itself. We then walked around, hitting sights like the new Globe (where we'll be seeing 'King Lear' in a few weeks) the site of the original Globe, Rose, and Blackfriars. It was kind of humorous, seeing employee's working at modern buildings starring at us theatre nerds gaping at sites these theatre's 'used' to be, and they had no idea. We also saw Christopher Wren (renowned architect) and Southwark Cathedral, where Shakespeare attended church, where a memorial is built in his memory, and where his brother is buried.
The tour ended at the perfect place. BOROUGH MARKET!!! This place totally trumps ANY farmer's market I've ever been too!! They're was yummy food, and yummy stalls, and people shoving samples of bread, oils, CHEESE, CHOCOLATE! Into your arms!! All i could think of was, how could I possibly stow away some of these things into my bag and explain it at customs!! Certainly they would understand that Pear & Raspberry juice is just too good to leave behind!!? I had so much food there..-A Hamburger (not just any hamburger...a pork & stilton hamburger, with unions and mustard...I thought I could just die.
~Our director bought for all of us THE best brownie I have ever had in my life. These things weren't brownies...they were the perfect combination of both the "cakie" brownie, and the "fudgie" brownie at the bottom...they were literally HUGE BRICKS of chocolate!!! I thought I would just die
-I had delicious 'Olde Fashioned' Ice Cream, made from ~(get this) clotted cream, egg yolk and honey. And if that weren't enough the flavor I had was 'honey and lavender'!! There were bits of flower in my ice cream!!! I could have just died!
-Pear & Raspberry juice, I was so close to smuggling it across.
-Pistachio Baklava.
I could have just died!
I went back to the flat very contented that night, and looked forward to our Contemporary play we were seeing that evening @ at the National Theatre called 'Fram' by Tony Harrison. Tony Harrison is an interesting playwright I hope to learn more of, who believes extremely in the continued use of "public poetry", and so all of his plays & works are done in complete rhyming verse. THIS ENTIRE PLAY RHYMED! I really have to say, that I loved this play. The plot is frenzied taking three different themes and individual plots and winding them together in the end. From the Arctic explorer Hjalmar Johansen & Fridtjof Nansen, who were the closest to the North pole...these two men, who's personalities detested each other, only survived by sewing their sleeping bags together and huddling together. Through some of the different stories in this play including the famine of Russia in 1921, the play presents the realization that though civilizations and cultures of people, though we may distrust and hate one another, we must bind together when the world ends, and turns to ice...we must all huddle, cuddle together for warmth. After Fram,
I opted for walking along the river Thames, and it was so nice to have that experience by myself. I took night pictures of the river, Eye of London, Parliament and Big Ben. SATURDAY: Saturday was a mixed day for me. I started out with the best day! I had a cornish pasty (quickly becoming one of my favorite things!) And I was off to Portabello Rd!! I knew I was on the right track because I just followed all the umbrella's. I've come to be knowledgeable and careful of my head as when cattleling down a sidewalk, smushed together with the rest of the pedestrians in the rain, you have to be quite careful of your face or neck getting scratched or poked by a neighboring umbrella. Knit-knacky type clothing shops surrounded me on all sides. I passed stalls selling antique spoons, tin types, printing letters, prints, jewelry, scarves, including football scarves for Chelsea and Manchester Unt. All was going well, I had a delicious churro in my hand...and I reach down in my bag to take out my camera, and find it wet...with raindrops!! I turned it on, only to find that it wouldn't turn on...and still doesn't. So until I can find a place to hopefully get it fixed, we will be without photo's for a while:(
I miss you all! I hope you are liking these blogs! It's helping me remember and collect my thoughts about the week.
Love you! Until next week, or sooner!
-ellesse
1 comment:
What fun you are having! Too bad that it has started to rain, but London wouldn't be London without rain! We love you and we miss you! Jack misses his aunt Leese!
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