Venice

--pictures from Venice--

Milan

--pictures from Milan--

again, no description for the moment, though the pictures have captions

London (with mom)

-- pictures from London --

I'll skip the descriptions for now... I'm just trying to get pictures up while I have a speedy internet connection and some free time

A Brief Interlude of Traveling, then Paris

-- pictures from Paris --

Upon leaving Bruges, I took the train to Bruxelles-Zuid/Midi or whatever that train station wants to call itself today, and then took the Eurostar through the Chunnel to London. That was quite the hassel, and unfortunately, it was after dark and I couldn't see anything. The following day I picked up my mother, we saw a bit of London, and then the day after headed to Paris.

Paris had its ups and downs. I had become used to staying in hostels -- where you can get recommendations for cheap food, meet people, etc. The hotel we stayed at was nice, but impersonal, and the staff were kinda useless. Regardless, Paris was beautiful (and frigidly cold).

We went to the Louvre, and I have to admit, I had a difficult time with it. I had been spoiled by the quiet, relaxed atmosphere in, say, the National Gallery in London. The Louvre was filled with frantic tourists, flashing their cameras, trying to tick the Mona Lisa box in their mental masterpiece checklist. The cameras... no one was stopping people from using their flash. It was... appalling.

For me, the highlights of the Louvre were da Vinci's Madonna of the Rocks, Géricault's Raft of the Medusa, and the building itself (which is overpowering in its scale).

Other best moments: the Eiffel Tower lit up EU-style and sparkling, going up to its second level on Christmas day (the top was closed), the Christmas market on the Champs-Elysees, the view from Sacre-Coeur, and the artists at Montmatre

Finally, there was our excursion a bit out of town, to Versailles. It was a pilgrimage of sorts for my art history interests, and it didn't disappoint. Salon after salon of elaborate ceiling paintings, leading up to the drama of the Hall of Mirrors. I wish it had been a less busy time of year - I wouldn't have minded lingering in there for some time. It was one of those surreal times when you finally encounter that which you have discussed and discussed and written papers about and so forth... excellent.

Though cold, I enjoyed Paris, and I even spoke a bit of French here and there (just enough to get into trouble, no more)

Bruges

-- pictures from Bruges --

The next stop along the way... Belgium. Bruges manages to be a gorgeous quiet small town, despite being the number one place for tourists in the country (helps that we were there in the middle of December).

Highlights include... the chocolate museum, climbing the Belfry, cheap soup at the oldest pub in town, Belgian waffles, Belgian chocolate, fancy raspberry beer, the Flemish masters art gallery, how most shopkeepers spoke Flemish, English, and French, and (of course) wandering around.

I remember walking around, on my own, across this rather picturesque bridge. This French couple approached me and the girl asked me to take their picture (she asked in French, and I actually understood her). I nodded, took the picture, she said "merci," and without thinking, I replied "no problem." Totally caught her off guard... I got a strange look for that. Good times.

Bruges is one of the most quaint places I've been, especially with Christmas decorations up. Highly recommended.

And no, I didn't go there because of the film. I swear, I got asked that a dozen times (there's a recent film called In Bruges that is supposed to be good, but I haven't seen it)

Amsterdam

-- pictures from Amsterdam --

I realized that the main things we did, I don't have pictures of. We went to the Anne Frank house and the Van Gogh museum, and both were fantastic. I could have probably just sat in a corner of the Van Gogh museum for hours and just absorbed the greatness of it all... just being surrounded by such wonders.

København

-- photos from Copenhagen --

I finally got some reliable internet access in Florence...

Highlights in Denmark included a friendly hostel, getting into Tivoli for free, getting into the Glyptotek for free (and seeing their fantastic collection of statues), and the Danish changing of the guard

Prepping for break

It rather snuck up on me... but Friday I leave for my month of winter break adventuring. I have so many things to do in the next 24 hours, yuck. I'm not going to detail out all the dates, but here's the list of places I'll be over break:

Copenhagen
Amsterdam
Bruges
Paris
Nottingham
London
Milan
Venice
Florence
Pisa

The first three cities are with a friend, the next three (over Christmas and New Year's) are with my mom, and the Italian cities are on my own, although friends will be in Venice at the same time as me

I'll have internet access now and then, but for the most part I'll be off who knows where. I'll probably post some updates when I need a break from running around.

So yeah... otherwise, I'll be back in the US on January 18th, and back at WM on January 20th. Crazy.

The other, slightly less important parts of my time in London

-- pictures --

I was in London from the third to the sixth... a busy couple days. I got there in the early afternoon Wednesday, and had to waste a few hours before Eddie Izzard time. I walked through Leicester Square... happened across the UK premiere of the film Twilight. I climbed up a bit to see what was going on, and saw from afar the two lead actors and the author of the books. I'm not a huge fan, but it was kinda neat for a distraction. I then had some delicious sushi... the first I've had in months. Yum. The rest of my evening was all concerned with Eddie Izzard, as I wrote before

Thursday I planned on attempting to get Hamlet tickets -- with David Tennant as Hamlet, and Patrick Stewart as Claudius. Like my Love's Labours Lost tickets in Stratford, these have been sold out for months and months. I showed up early at the theatre, and waited for the box office to open (hoping for the best). One of the girls in front of me in the queue happened to work for the editor of the RSC Complete Works, so she had some neat inside stories (like how apparently Patrick Stewart isn't the kindest of people). I did manage to get a ticket... but in the altitude-sickness-inducing grand circle. I could see the whole stage, and the performance was excellent, but I wish I could have been closer. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll have another chance... a slight letdown. Before the play, I spent the rest of the day wandering around the British museum and Soho

Friday I was kinda all over the place. I went to the Globe theatre (not super exciting), walked around the Eye (there were street performers and a Christmas market), and went to both Tate museums. The Tate Britain had some sort of late-night weirdness going on, with odd performances and stuff. I was feeling a bit lazy, so I went to the movies and saw Burn After Reading, which I thoroughly enjoyed. After that was part two of the Eddie Izzard experience... then to bed.

Saturday, I killed a bit of time in the National Gallery, and headed back to Nottingham.

Lots of famous people in a couple days. I was actually just a couple feet from Patrick Stewart after Hamlet, and could have gotten his autograph/picture if I had been paying attention. Plus, since then, I have realized that I got extremely lucky -- a couple days ago, David Tennant injured his back (he's got to have some surgery now, the poor guy) and won't be back in the theatre until at least after Christmas. During Hamlet, he jumps all over the stage... there's no way he could continue with back problems. The role of Hamlet has been taken over by Edward Bennett, who normally plays Laertes. It looks like I was lucky to see David Tennant as Hamlet at all... hopefully he'll be feeling better before the run finishes in early January.

Eddie Izzard

So, in short, I met Eddie Izzard in London.

Less briefly... I found out a few weeks ago that a) he was doing standup, b) he was doing it in London, and c) there were still tickets available for December 3rd. Over the past few years, I've said multiple times: if the opportunity ever arose to see him perform standup live, I would take it, regardless of cost and inconvenience and whatever else. And so I did.

His latest routine, Stripped, was pretty excellent. I'm of the opinion that his more recent works, Circle and Sexie, were weaker than the earlier ones... but this was fantastic. I'll admit, it started off a little slow, and I was worried, but the second half picked up considerably. Of course, since he's pretty much my hero, I would have been content with him reading the phone book for two hours.

People who have seen his routines know about the broad range of subjects he manages to cover... I'll just list a few highlights: giant squid diaries, Noah's ark, the development of human language, scrabble, dyslexia, the stone age, GPS, farm animals, Hamlet, the ten commandments, the burning bush, intelligent design, Sarah Palin, creme brulee, James Mason (very briefly), badgers, wikipedia... and so on

After the show, I thought I'd make an attempt at finding the stage door. I had to make two loops around the block, because it wasn't labeled, but the second time I found about ten people who were waiting outside a nondescript door. If you don't know what I'm talking about -- sometimes in theatre, the performers will come out the stage door after a performance and sign autographs and whatnot

We all bantered and had a good time for a solid half hour, hoping that Eddie Izzard would make an appearance. At last, he did -- and he was super friendly. He signed autographs and took pictures for everyone who wanted one, while ignoring this one obnoxiously drunk guy who kept interfering. I got the picture, and I got my program signed, so I was rather thrilled

That was Wednesday night. Friday night, I was slowly making my way back in the direction of the hostel, and passed by the theatre. I realized it was just about the time when he had made his appearance outside before, so I wandering around to see. There were fewer people, about half a dozen, standing around. I reassured them that he had come out Wednesday, and that it just took awhile. Just after that, the door opened, and there he was again. I watched people getting their autographs and stuff, standing back. I made the comment that I'd seen him on the US election coverage (he was in the US at the time, and did a short BBC interview that I saw purely by chance). We talked about that for a minute or so, he expressed his optimism for the future, he offered me a handshake, and then said goodnight and headed off

Whew. So I saw him perform, got a picture and autograph, had a conversation, and shook the man's hand. All of this is after having resigning myself to the thought, a year or two ago, that he was probably never going to do standup again. I was so very glad to be wrong

I'll write about the rest of my London adventures later, and my other celebrity encounters... because there's more... But at the moment, it's dinner time

BBC Licensing Fees

So I was reading an article that talked about the BBC licensing fees - what British people pay yearly for access to the BBC. There was a little detail in there that caught my eye, and I don't know what to make of it:

"The cost of the licence fee is set by the government. It is free for people over 75 and half-price for those registered blind."

Why half?

...Oh.

Belfast

-- pictures from Belfast --

I can now say I've hit all the countries within the UK, because last weekend I went to Belfast, Northern Ireland. We made our way over via a 1 hour flight -- the flight itself was easy, but getting to the airport and dealing with security and such is a pain. The city is interesting because it's partly similar to others I've visited -- the scenery is reminiscent of Scotland, and the combination of old architecture and new industrial is somewhat like Cardiff. However, there's a different atmosphere in parts of Belfast, because of the Northern Ireland conflicts... we passed a block of buildings that had been burned down due to fighting as recently as 2000

Our first full day in town, we went on a 'black cab tour.' There are a number of cab drivers in town who will take you on a tour of the city, and so we did this with two girls we met at the hostel. Walter, an elderly Irish man, told us stories about "the troubles" -- the local term used by people who didn't participate in the fighting. We saw both sides of town, the gates that separate them, and the murals painted on both sides

Belfast also has lots of areas with history similar to that of the rest of the UK - there's a cathedral, a city hall, and all the standard town areas that we've found elsewhere. Our hostel was right near the Queen's University, which had lots of large gothic-looking buildings. The second day we visited a variety market and wandered around town, and that evening we went to the Christmas market and admired all the lights

I split off on my own for the final full day, and went to Cave Hill park / Belfast Castle. It was about a 20 minute bus ride out of town, partway up a series of hills. The castle was rather fairytale-like, with silly cat statues in the garden and bits of pink trim. There were 3 trails through the park, and I set out on the middle one, which was supposed to take about an hour. However, it wasn't that well marked, and I soon realized that I was back where I started. Being unsatisfied with that, I started up the longest (and most difficult) trail, mostly so that I could go higher up the hill and get a better view of the city. I continued along for an hour or so, and got to where I could see all of Belfast spread out below me in the valley around the bay. There are pictures in the gallery. At this point, however, it was going to be rough going back the way I had came -- it had rained a bit, and my Chucks weren't exactly made for trekking down a steep hillside. I was debating my options when another hiker came along - a man with his two dogs. I asked if he knew a different route back down, without traveling the full length of the trail (which would have taken me several more hours). He pointed out the way, so by cutting across a field I ended up making my way back down with relative ease. Whew. It was quite enjoyable - I suppose even worth the hassle of flying.

I think I just lost two friends, but...

...gained one ticket to see Eddie Izzard in London on December 3rd.

(and I know exactly what he was saying when this screencap was taken -- "have I left the gas on?")

When I get a bit more motivated, I'll write about the past weekend in Belfast

You are not going to believe...

...who I am going to see in London on December 3rd.

And I'm not going to tell you until I get back from Belfast, hah!

Cardiff

-- pictures from Cardiff (normal) --
-- pictures from Cardiff (exceedingly geeky) --

Another weekend, another adventure -- this time in Wales. One of the first things we (me and Beth) did was to go to the Cardiff castle, which basically has everything you would want from a castle plus an extremely dramatic intro video. The rooms were lavishly decorated, the keep was ancient and awesome, and it was generally much better than the Nottingham castle. We explored the neighboring park, the city hall area with its winter ice rink, the waterfront, and pretty much all the major attractions.

Saturday I had to make a slight detour on my own... a bit of a science fiction pilgrimage. Cardiff is the home of Doctor Who, which is the British classic scifi. Step one was the Doctor Who Exhibit: home to costumes and monsters from the new seasons of the show. Step two was to buy myself a tiny TARDIS (time machine in the shape of a blue British police box). Step three was lingering around the Millennium Centre and some of the nearby buildings, which have all been filming locations. Step four was to take silly photos with my new toy (I only took one so far, but more will come).

That night, the Christmas tree by the waterfront was being lit for the first time, so there was a bit of a festival to go along with that. We hung out in the area, got some take-away fish and chips, and rather leisurely concluded our time in Wales.

Other highlights of the weekend include helping a new acquaintance from Iowa braid red dreadlocks into her hair for the Wales versus Canada rugby game, watching Meet Joe Black and Zoolander, and enjoying the delicious granola that came with our hostel breakfast.

London, part three

-- picture from London --

I got somewhat distracted and forgot to record my third adventure in London. I'm going to make it rather brief... I arrived on a Friday afternoon, and found my hostel -- converted from nurse's accommodations for a nearby hospital. I spent the evening wandering around central London, including spending a good couple hours in the Tate Modern art gallery. Saturday morning was spent in the excellent Camden market, which is an artsy eclectic maze. The afternoon was with my art history class in the 17th century French art section of the National Gallery, and the evening was spent seeing 6 Characters In Search of an Author, which turned into one of the most surreal experiences of my life. The market was amazing, the gallery was crowded but impressive (oh, look -- a Van Gogh... a Da Vinci...), and the play was just fantastic. Sunday morning I headed back to Nottingham

Two nations separated by a common language

I recently received some mail from my bank. I had very carefully given them my UK address over the phone, and was pleased to see that it had been sent to Knotting Ham University

Stratford-upon-Avon

-- pictures from Stratford-upon-Avon --

I finally ventured off on my own for a few days: I spend thursday evening, friday, and saturday morning in Shakespeare-land. One of the first things I realised about the town is that it would be indistinguishable from any other small English town, if not for the influence of a certain bard.

Anyways, I got there thursday after a few minor mishaps, including nearly getting lost in Birmingham (had to walk from one train station to another, and the signs managed to mislead me). I wandered a bit, but mostly just made my way to the hostel. It was very nice -- an old converted mansion, supposedly. Luckily for me, I was the only person in my room (the floors creaked all the time, so no late-night visitors was a boon). I made friends with a family from Brighton, who were visiting the nearby Warwick castle for Halloween, and talked to the staff about how the Royal Shakespeare Company theatre works

A side note about that -- the RSC has been doing three productions for awhile now: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, and Love's Labours Lost. The latter two both feature a British actor, David Tennant, who is relatively unknown in the US... he plays Doctor Who at the moment, if that rings any bells. He's an enormous star over here (perhaps I could say he's an English Brad Pitt, or a Christian Bale who never made any big Hollywood films, or something). Because of his popularity, tickets for those two shows sold out as soon as they became available (about a year ago). I came to Stratford with no real hope of seeing anything -- and Love's Labours Lost was the only one I had the opportunity to see at all, because of timing

So yeah, I talked to the staff at the hostel, and discovered how to stand a chance at getting a ticket. If someone bought one who could no longer attend, they can sell the ticket back to the RSC, and these 'returns' are made available. If I was willing to queue up early friday morning, I could just maybe get lucky

And that's what I did... I went to bed early early thursday (10-ish), and found myself awake at 4:30am. A bit earlier than planned, but I was awake. I talked to the night security guard for awhile, had some tea, and bundled up for the walk. Yeah... the hostel is two miles from the edge of town. It was barely light out. I walked it.

When I got to the theatre, there was one girl who was the first one to queue for tickets. She told me something exceedingly helpful -- for every performance, the RSC holds 10 tickets for 16 to 25-year-olds who show up the morning of the show. Tickets that cost 5 pounds (they're normally 30 or more). Suddenly, being second in the queue, I was guaranteed a seat. All that was left was to wait for the box office to open at 9:30...

Anyways, I got my ticket, spent the afternoon wandering through town (and eventually taking a nap back at the hostel), and made my way to the theatre at about 6:30. The show was absolutely fantastic. Love's Labours Lost is one of the lesser-done Shakespeare plays, because the language is even more daunting than usual, but the actors were just so superb that the audience was falling off their seats laughing. I really just can't describe how amazing it was...

Then, to top it all off, that night was a special performance -- after, the actors changed out of costume and came back out on stage to answer questions. We got to find out some neat stuff, like who played the bear (a brief dance by someone in a bear costume), and how in one part David Tennant tosses a hat onto a tree branch (during our performance, it didn't fall off, and apparently that was only the second time it didn't fall)

So after that I took the bus back to the hostel (it just doesn't run early in the morning), passed out, and then spent saturday getting back to Nottingham. It was basically 3 hours by the train, and I met some more interesting people along the way... an easy ride.

From having no expectation of seeing anything, to seeing an absolutely fantastic RSC production... I don't think it gets much better.

How to dress like a female English university freshman

I've been working on a little graphic to depict what I see on a daily basis. No, thankfully, not everyone is quite like this, but it's far too common for my comfort.

Random Street Encounters

On the way back to my dorm today, I was accosted by two guys representing the Church of the Latter Day Saints. One of them was from Utah.

And that's all I'm going to say about that.