Southwark, Steak and Mushroom pie, and George Bernard Shaw

Today we went to London. Got up at 7 for breakfast at 8, met the bus at 8:30 and we were off. I would have preferred to sleep on the bus, but I think part of me knew there was no chance of that. And that part of me was right. We arrived in Southwark, on the south side of the Thames, around 10:30. I had chosen to go on the tour of the Globe and Rose theaters, instead of the science museum.

The view from the Globe was rather nice, dominated by St. Paul's Cathedral (designed by one Sir Christopher Wren) across the river:
As you can see, it was a bit cloudy. File that under foreshadowing. We had a bit of extra time before our tour, so Professor Hailey led a miniature tour of Southwark. We saw a replica of the Golden Hinde, the ship Sir Francis Drake took on his journey around the world from 1587-1580:
We also saw the ruins of the palace of the Bishop of Winchester (which was destroyed either by the London fire or the blitz, I can't remember which), and the Southwark Cathedral, which was still standing:
When we were finished, it was almost time for the tour, so we ate our packed lunches and went inside. The museum within was very nice, with exhibits about pretty much every aspect of Shakespeare's time, not just theater. We met our guide, Kitty, in the center of the museum, and she led us to the theater itself.

This was actually the third Globe theater built. The first was constructed in 1599, this is the one that Shakespeare would have known and written plays for. The first one burned down in 1613 during a production of Henry VIII (apparently some brilliant director decided to have a real cannon go off as a special effect inside the theatre, which is entirely wooden, with a thatched roof. It burned down in about 2 hours). It was then rebuilt in 1614, which was 2 years before Shakespeare died, so it is assumed that none of his plays were put on in this second Globe. This second theater was destroyed by the Puritans in 1644. The new Globe was built in 1997 by an entrepreneurial American actor who thought Shakespeare's plays ought to be seen in the original theater for which they were written. The new Globe is not, however, on the same site as the first two.

Kitty (pictured above inside the theater) was a wealth of information on how the plays are put on nowadays. They still allow people (called Groundlings) to come in and stand in the yard for a small fee. These groundlings must stand, however, and cannot use umbrellas in the case of rain. They just have to grin and bear it. I would imagine it is a unique experience, though, since groundlings are actually allowed to lean on the stage, and the actors occasionally interact with them by directing questions toward them (for instance, Hamlet will ask the audience if he is a coward, and will wait for a response).

The stage of the Globe Theater. The blue paneling is not always present. It was a decision made by the
director of A Midsummer Night's Dream, which is currently running.

All the costumes and special effects used are similar to those used in Shakespearean times. One example is the use of large, visible ropes when an actor descends from the trap door in the ceiling or is called upon to fly. Audiences in Elizabethan times were rather suspicious, so if they couldn't see how these actors were flying, they would call witchcraft and start a riot.

Another curiosity of Shakespeare's time was that the best seats were not the best view, but rather as close to the stage as possible so that the lines could be heard. Thus all the rich people (who weren't nobility) sat in special sections next to the stage. The nobility were allowed to sit wherever they want, including behind the stage among the musicians, and even on the stage itself. Evidently, they would also frequently come in 45 minutes late, sit on the stage, and ask the actors to explain what had happened in the play so far. This was allowed because they were nobility.

From the Globe, we moved onto the Rose theater. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to see. Evidently, archaeologists found the site in 1989 in a construction zone for an office building. The original plan was for the building to have an underground car park, but this would have covered the site, so there was a big to-do in which hundreds of people (including such famous actors as Ralph Fiennes, Sir Ian McKellan, and Dustin Hoffman) protested the project.

A photo of some of the protesters at the original Rose site. You can see Ralph Fiennes (circa late 80s) on the far left.
The man on the top right is Sir Ian McKellan.

Eventually, the city compromised with the group, and chose not to include the underground car park in the project. Today, visitors are allowed to enter the basement of the building, but apparently due to the fragility of the site, it has to be constantly covered in water and in the dark. So, as you can imagine, we couldn't really see anything. They did have red lights installed into the ground to show the outline of the building, but that was about it. Photographs were pretty much out of the question.

At that point, the tour ended. Our next activity was a literary tour of London, led by Professors MacGowan and Hailey. We split up into two groups, and I ended up in the MacGowan group. We saw various historical landmarks, specifically residences of famous authors, such as Kipling, Melville, James Barrie, even Benjamin Franklin. Our last stop on the tour was the house of Dr. Samuel Johnson, perhaps most famous for his A Dictionary of the English Language. Here, we were able to go inside, as the building had been made into a little museum. Johnson was a London man through and through and something of a xenophobe, as evidenced by his definition of "oats": "a grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people." There are several such humorous definitions in his original dictionary.

After we were done with the house, we caught the other group walking out of a nearby pub. Apparently they had just gone to Dr. Johnson's house and then straight to the pub for a few pints. I was a bit irked. Here we were walking all over Westminster searching for signs of literary history and while they were all sitting at a pub. I wanted to sit at a pub. They owe us. I should've gone in Professor Hailey's group.

In any event, from there we went to dinner at Porters Restaurant, which was quite nice. I had the steak and mushroom pie with mashed potatoes. The pie was excellent, but the mashed potatoes for some reason tasted like vinegar. I wasn't a fan. Doug, the guy sitting across from me, didn't like the pie, so I ended up eating his too. I was satisfied.

After Porters, we walked to the Old Vic to see Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. This is the original play upon which My Fair Lady is based. And it was an excellent performance. The actress who played Eliza was especially good, I thought. It was very funny, and the end to the play was different from its musical counterpart. I liked this ending better.

After the play, we loaded up the bus and headed back to Christ's. A pretty good day, all in all.

The University Museum of Zoology

Several classmates approached me today to see if I wanted to join them on their visit to the University Museum of Zoology Cambridge, on Downing Street. It was within walking distance, there was no charge for admission, and I had nothing to do, so I accepted.

The museum houses approximately two thousand so-called "type specimens," that is, original specimens from which new species are named. The museum is also somewhat famous because it houses several specimens (specimens is a big buzz word in zoology, apparently) from Darwin's voyage on the Beagle to the Galapagos island. As you probably know, this voyage is notable because it formed the basis for Darwin's theory of evolution. Darwin, of course, attended Christ's College. The building itself seems rather small for a museum, at least compared to, say, the Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian or the Chicago Field Museum. But it is just packed with creatures of all sizes, from the world's smallest beetle (it looks like a speck of dust) all the way to the huge finback whale skeleton, which is so large it must be displayed above the entrance outside the museum. They even had to hang stuff from the ceiling:


There are also some pretty big bugs. This grasshopper is a good example:


Yes, that was labeled as a grasshopper. It looks like it could eat my finger off.

There are even some archaeological finds, most notably the skeleton of the extinct giant ground sloth, possibly the highlight of the whole museum. Picture an herbivorous bear that looks like a sloth, then add some size. I couldn't get a good picture of the skeleton at the museum, but here's a good example:


Let's just say that I wouldn't want to run into one of those, ever.

2 for 1, and the start of classes

I woke up at noon on Sunday, still having trouble adjusting to local time. I decided I ought to have food to eat for dinner, so I went to Sainsbury's Central, the supermarket down the street. It seems everyone in Cambridge goes to Sainsbury's. You walk down the street, and it feels like every other person has one of their trademark orange shopping bags. That, and it's crowded all day until it closes at 10pm.

My options were limited in terms of food, not because Sainsbury's lacks selection, but because of my lack of tools with which to cook. There are a microwave and hotplates available, but no pots or pans, and no oven. I therefore resolved to buy pre-prepped microwavable meals. Luckily, Sainsbury's has an entire aisle devoted to pre-prepped meals. I also bought some ham, cheese, and bread for sandwiches, and some Walkers brand crisps. I am fairly satisfied with my purchases. After all I only need to cook for one meal a night, and I imagine I'll be going out rather extensively anyway.

I returned to my room and read for a little bit, until I came to find that several classmates of mine were headed to the Cow for dinner. The Cow is a restaurant and bar that serves 2 for 1 pizza and cocktails from 5-7pm each day. That's a deal I can go for any time. There were 12 of us, so we decided to split 6 pizzas, and we each got our own cocktails. I got 2 Raspberry Collinses (Their selection consisted of rather fruity drinks). The pizza came out to be about 2 pounds per person, which I thought was a pretty good deal. Afterwards, I went back to my room for the night.

This morning I got up at about 7:45 for breakfast and then headed to my first class, "Cambridge Writers." "Time in Science and Science Fiction" is right afterwards, so I didn't even have to move between classes. They look to be rather interesting, in particular the "Time" class, as I've always had a layman's interest in such things. Furthermore, it looks as though my background in Physics will help me understand some of the concepts, at least to a certain degree. I think it'll be good.

Oh, I forgot to mention Wimbledon. As I may have said in previous posts, I have yet to find any televisions which I can reliably watch, so I didn't even see the final match, though I read about it. I had thought about going to see it in person, but the logistics of the whole thing proved to be too difficult, what with having to get up especially early on Sunday and getting to the bus and all. It was disappointing, but I got over it rather quickly.

The most important word in any language, and November 22nd

I set my alarm for 8am this morning so that I would have time to shower before breakfast at 8:30. I didn’t get up until 8:30. Apparently I’m not quite used to waking up at 3am Eastern time. Breakfast was fine, with scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, cereal, juice, etc. Usual breakfast fare. I enjoyed it.

I showered after that, and then went over to the Accommodation Office to see about getting internet in my room. Ms. O’Donnell gave me (and most everyone else who wanted internet in their rooms) the proper instructions, but it simply didn’t work for me or anyone else when we got back to our respective rooms. I gave up around 10:20 and decided to see if I could catch the tour or punting lesson, which as I mentioned before were both (originally) supposed to leave at 10. Alas, they had already gone. I came back to my room and read and took a nap until it was time for the 1:30 tour.

Our tour guide, Sheila, met us at the Porter’s Lodge, and led us to the oldest building at the center of Cambridge—St. Benet’s Church, built in 1026. Sheila is, in a word, a pistol. She reminded me a bit of my grandmother in that she could talk all day and all night about anything, though her favorite topic was obviously Cambridge. “What is the most important word in any language?” she asked at one point. “I’ve had some good answers in the past—money, sex, beer…” When no one had a reasonable guess, she gave the answer, “Why.” She then launched into an explanation as to why the road through the center of Cambridge was straight. “It’s a Roman road of course. The English have never made a straight road in all their history.” I took a video of her talking to us inside King's College Chapel. It's only about 30 seconds long and not all that interesting, but it gives you an idea of her style. You'll have to pardon my friend's head blocking part of the camera.

Sheila led us to Cavendish Laboratory, est. 1884, where the Atom and DNA were discovered, and where the idea for the computer was first invented by Babbage in the early 1900s and then later brought to fruition by Turing. The first Professor of Cavendish Laboratory was one James Clark Maxwell, author of Maxwell’s equations and perhaps the third most important physicist of all time, behind Einstein and Newton. The Cavendish is just tiny; it’s really quite remarkable that so many important discoveries were made in this one little building. It remained in use until 1974, when the new Cavendish was built a little bit outside the central city. Next to the new Cav is the Gates building. Bill Gates, that is, who also has a scholarship named in his honor which allows foreign students to study here at Cambridge. Cambridge professors have won 73 Nobel Prizes, with the majority being for scientific breakthroughs. Below are a couple pictures of Cavendish.

Our next stop was the Eagle Tavern, where Sheila told us about the ceiling, on which old R.A.F. and American pilots would inscribe their names and squadrons back in World War II. The Eagle is now an official memorial site for World War II pilots, thanks to that practice.

Our next stop was perhaps the most important—King’s College (the grounds pictured on the left), named after King Henry VI, whose mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort convinced him to build a new college in 1441. Since, after all, it was chartered by a King, King’s College is the largest campus in Cambridge, spanning roughly 2 city blocks. It must be twice the size of Christ’s. The highlight of the visit to King’s is the College chapel, where construction began in 1446, but as Sheila said, “Henry VI was not such a good leader, so by 1456 he was—“ (slashing of the throat gesture)”—removed, and the War of the Roses began.” Five different kings, spread out over nearly 70 years, contributed to the construction of King’s College Chapel, until finally in 1515 the main building was completed under Henry VIII. It was probably the last Gothic structure built in the entire world

The organ inside King's College Chapel.

I made note that the Choir of King's College were holding a service today at 5:30pm, with the doors open at 5:15. Sheila said that you ought to get there 15 minutes before the gates opened if you want a good spot.Outside the chapel, Sheila told us about how King’s College was rather poor and in debt until one John Maynard Keynes became Bursar in the 1920s. Keynes managed to bring the College from red to black during the 20 or so years he was Bursar, despite the little problem of the inter-war depression. Rather impressive, I should say.

She also showed us Clare and Trinity College, Clare being the first college chartered by a woman, Lady Elizabeth Clare, in 1338. Sheila went out of her way to point out that Clare was the richest College at Cambridge, "the only one with enough money to rebuild their old school buildings," and made clear that it was no coincidence that the richest school was one chartered by a woman. Trinity is perhaps the most prestigious College at Cambridge, at least in the academic world, having received 31 Nobel Prizes. The grounds of all the colleges are just lovely. Trinity especially is just huge, and all you need do is step out of the back of the grounds and there's the river, with people picnicking alongside and punting along in it.

It was at this point that the tour ended, so I made my way back toward Christ's, making sure to stop and buy a map of Cambridge for a pound. I was hoping to find someone who would join me in seeing the King's College Choir, but everyone I ran into was on their way off to do other things.

So I set out at a quarter to 5, and got there with plenty of time to spare and got in the queue to go in. Once we were inside and seated, the organ began it's voluntary. Right on schedule the choir arrived, led by the choir master and the celebrant. They filed into pews on each side of the chapel (all the pews faced each other). The singers were marvelous, and the acoustic was perfect. The Nunc Dimittis was particularly impressive. Then came time for the Anthem.

The Choir filed up to the altar and faced the "congregation" (it was mainly tourists, of course), as the celebrant announced the piece:

"The anthem this evening is a setting by Benjamin Britten, of a poem by W.H. Auden, called 'The Hymn to St. Cecilia.'"

I swear I am not making this up. Cue unmitigated glee from me. My face lit up. I could hardly control my excitement, my anticipation. These voices, in this space, singing that song. (For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, The William and Mary Choir rehearsed that song during my entire freshman year but only performed it once, at the very last concert of the year. It's one of my favorite choral pieces of all time.) The Celebrant continued, "Cecilia is the patron saint of musicians, and her day, November 22nd, happens to be Mr. Britten's birthday. Blessed Cecilia appear in visions to all musicians, appear and inspire." It was as if the spirit of Dr. James Armstrong himself was inhabiting this old Anglican priest.

And then they started singing. How can I possibly describe it? It was the greatest single performance of choral work I've ever witnessed, and it was completely second nature to them. The part where the sopranos sing "love me" all on their own on whatever note it is (an E or an F or it doesn't even matter), I swore I would love every single one of those boys for the rest of my life.

And then the soprano solo came in. I could have died. A boy no more than twelve, making the most beautiful sound you've ever heard (with apologies to one Ms. Kate Aument), seemingly without effort, and it just made you ache. It was perfect. What more could I possibly ask after such an experience? I remember reflecting that, if for some reason the trip ended tonight, I think I would be completely satisfied.

I couldn't even join in on the final hymn. I was too... I can't even describe it. It was like weariness. Is it possible to become weary from beauty?

Greetings from Cambridge

There were several classmates of mine on the bus with me, but I was just too tired to attempt to introduce myself until we got off the bus. We all walked trudged, luggage and all, through Parker's Piece, where the bus dropped us off, and down St. Andrews Street until we got to Christ's. To the left you can see a picture of the Great Gate, which leads into the grounds. It took about 15 minutes or so, in all. The Porters were very nice when we arrived, gave us our keys and showed us all the places we need to know on the map of the campus.

The rooms are quite large. I want to say they're roughly the size of William and Mary doubles, except they're all singles. Each room has 4 chairs, a desk, a bed side table, a small coffee table, a larger table, a closet, and plenty of shelf space. It might even be nicer than my room at home, although the bed is only a single. The only issue thus far is that there's no internet. I guess apparently the woman will be in tomorrow so that we can pay and get our login info for the network.

Anyway, after I unpacked and settled in, I didn't really have much to do, since the Orientation meeting with Professor MacGowan wasn't until 7 and by this time it was before 2. I showered, hung out with some of the guys on my hall, and eventually decided to go out and roam. I found the grocery store, Sainsbury's, down the street, and got a sandwich, crisps (that's potato chips for the unitiated), and some fruit for lunch. Other than that, it was basically killing time until everyone else got here. I read a good chunk of Timescape until it was time for the meeting.

We all decided to go over to the room where the meeting was held at 6:30, in case we got lost or couldn't find the place. It's lucky that we did because, well, we couldn't find the place. We finally figured out where we were supposed only to find that the door was locked anyway. MacGowan didn't actually show up until 7:05. The meeting was rather pointless and may have even made things more confusing. There are supposed to be two tours of Cambridge for us tomorrow, one at 10 and one at 1:30, and Prof MacGowan had also scheduled a punting lesson at 10 for those who don't go on the 10 o'clock tour. Of course, the lady in charge of getting our internet working is only in from 10-11 tomorrow, and you can bet most of us want to be there as well (he passed around a sign-up sheet, and only one poor girl had signed up for the 10 o'clock tour). So apparently we're to go to the Activities office tomorrow and sign up for internet, and he'll tell the guide to wait until 10:15 or 10:30 so that we can get it all sorted out. I kind of feel bad for the poor guy, he's certainly more of a professor than an administrator.

Throughout the meeting, I kept looking for Monica Holt, the one person I knew who was going on this trip, but she wasn't there. I thought perhaps that I had been confused and that she was going somewhere else this summer, but as I was leaving, I found her coming out of her dorm.
"Hello Monica, I was wondering where you were."
"Is the meeting over? I slept through it."
So yeah, Monica Holt slept through the first meeting of our study abroad program. Not that she missed much.

Afterwards I was looking to find somewhere to go for dinner, so I walked around with Doug from my hall for a bit, but he said he just wanted a little something from Sainsbury's, so he picked up a soda and a Snickers and we came back to campus. As we arrived, Monica, Rory, Jenny, and Jen were just leaving, saying that they were going to a pub, so I said goodbye to Doug and joined up with them

We walked a good distance down Sidney Street, even over the river, and found a nice little place called the County Arms. We each had our first beverage in England. I got a Beacon Ale, brewed in Leicestershire. It was the cheapest one on the list, but it was pretty good. Rory got a Foster's, which I thought was rather silly. "I've never had one before, and it seemed like a special occasion." I only got a half-pint, because I didn't feel much like drinking. Jen got some sort of cider, which looked good so I decided to get that for my second drink, and it was good. I don't know the name of it, unfortunately. I also got a bacon cheddar burger, which for those of you who know my eating habits was an extremely rare occurance. But it was the special of the night I supposed. It actually wasn't too bad, even though the cheese was shredded and the bacon wasn't actual bacon, at least not in the American sense.

After the pub we moved on to a Spanish tapas bar down the street. Since I had already eaten, I just had a glass and a half of Sangria while everyone else ate. The Sangria was all right, thought certainly not as good as the true Spanish variety (Alyssa Shevchuk's beverage of choice.).

By then it was a little after 11 and we were all rather tired, so we headed back to Christ's. Now I'm off to bed.

Apparently British Passport Control Has Recently Gotten More Stringent

Good Morning from London. I'm currently sitting in the central bus station at Heathrow airport. The flight was fine. I watched the Spiderwick Chronicles and got a little bit of sleep (~3 hours, hopefully I'll get more on the bus). The movie selection was quite perfect because it was all films I hadn't seen before: Be Kind Rewind, Definitely Maybe, Nim's Island (though I had seen most of that), and one other one that I can't remember. Anyway, the movie was good; it reminded me of the Labyrinth in that it was sort of a children's fantasy/scary movie.

I had been anxious because this is the first time I'm traveling abroad alone, but now that I'm through Customs (there was quite a line for passport control), I think it'll be all right. The lady at Passport Control asked me what I meant by "Student Tourism" (what I had been told to say), and then proceeded to launch into an all out interrogation:

Me: "Oh, well, there's a student group at Cambridge and there's classes and then we take weekend trips."
Her: "You're with the group, now?"
"What?"
"You're traveling with the group?"
"Oh, no, I'm meeting them at Cambridge."
"And they're from all around the U.S.?"
"Right."
"I see. What kind of classes are they?"
"College...?"
"What subject?"
"Oh, right. Well there's English and, .. well they're both English really."
"And the trips are all around the UK?"
"Yes... Well, just England."
"Uh huh. Are you a University student?"
"Yes."
"What do you study?"
"Mathematics."
"All right, have a good trip, don't study too hard."

The woman nearly gave me a heart attack.

The nice lady at the bus ticketing counter, Linda was her name, told me it would be fine that I didn't have my discount card. She initially tried to print a copy for me, but I guess her printer wasn't working. "Just tell the driver you haven't gotten it yet. It'll be all right."

My next "post" should be from Cambridge.

Destination Heathrow

Greetings from the plane. I'm not actually posting from the plane, but I thought I'd type up a little ditty in Word to post retroactively later. I'm anxious. This is first time I've traveled to a different country all on my own, so it's a bit of a difficult experience for me. I admit, though, that I feel better now that I'm actually on the plane. Of course I'll feel best when I'm safely at Cambridge and familiar with the area.

I'm also really upset with myself because I forgot to pack my swiss army knife in my checked suitcase, so when I tried to take it through security they confiscated it. They said I had the option to "go back out and try to mail it to yourself," but I was already running late and I certainly didn't want to miss the flight. It was a really useful knife, and now I haven't got one.

The plane was a bit delayed anyway due to "Aircraft Servicing," so we didn't get on until about when it was originally supposed to leave. The pilot said we should make up the time in the air, though, and the bus I'm taking doesn't leave until 9:30, so I should have plenty of time. I am a little worried about that as well, because I bought a ticket with a discount farecard, but I haven't got the farecard yet, so I might have to buy the ticket full price. I hope they accept credit card, if that's the case, since I haven't got any pounds.

Anyway, I'm probably worrying too much. Hopefully I'll be a better mood next time I post.

My Cambridge Blog: The First Post

I'm sure most of you reading this are thinking, "Wait... he's not in Cambridge yet, is he?" And you'd be right, but I thought I'd let you all know that I'll be doing this. I'll try to post anytime something interesting happens, which figures to be rather often, since I'll be in a different country and all. I'm going to try to post pictures on here as well, so it's a bit more interesting than plain text.

The Basics

• I'll be arriving at Heathrow Airport in London around 6:30AM local time on Friday July 4th. I'll catch the bus from there to Cambridge at 9:30, to arrive at Cambridge hopefully around noon.
• This is a William and Mary faculty-led study abroad program, so I'll be taking classes with William and Mary professors in classrooms and living in a dorm at Christ's College.
• Each person in the program is enrolled in two classes, mine are "Cambridge Writers" at 8am and "Time in Science and Science Fiction" at 10am. Classes meet Monday through Thursday.
  
• There are several day and weekend trips planned to various locales around England, including London, of course, as well as Stonehenge, Stratford-upon-Avon, etc. I will naturally write about those trips as they come.
• I return stateside on August 8th.