Randomness Around England

It's definitely been a while. I know I've been absent from the blogging scene for almost two months, but don't be fooled: this is not due to a lack of adventures in the UK. I won't go into great detail describing everything that's happened as I imagine that might become boring. As a sidenote, I wanted to include pictures in this post, but a cursory search for my cable proved that I've (hopefully) temporarily misplaced it. Anyhow..

In the beginning of February, I witnessed London's first major snowfall in eighteen years. This city is not equipped to deal with this type of weather. Eight inches of snow shut down the major airports in the area and the entire public transportation system for much of the day. With going to school in upstate New York, this was a little comical.

I've also explored a couple other museums in London, namely the National Portrait Gallery and Victoria and Albert. Although, truth be told, I wish I had a greater appreciation for art, many of the paintings in the National Portrait Gallery were quite impressive. Several people have told me that their favorite museum is Victoria and Albert, and after visiting it, I could see why. It had massive collections of a wide variety of art, ranging from clothing and jewelry from different eras to sculptures and paintings created by well-known artists.

One of my former roommates Asa had free tickets to a cinema in Piccadilly Circus to see BAFTA Award nominated films, so we watched The Dutchess and Changeling. Both were enjoyable, but for some reason, I thought the latter was better the first time I saw it in Cannes.

A few weeks ago, in an effort to temporarily escape the madness of London, Kay, Mara, and I took a spontaneous trip to Windsor. Don't get me wrong; we LOVE London, but sometimes it's just nice to leave the city for a while. We were so surprised by how close Windsor was. Oddly enough, we were all under the impression that it was at least an hour away, but it took us less than thirty minutes to get there. The castle was exciting to see, and there was a particular painting of a thirteen-year-old Elizabeth I that I found fascinating. Maybe the commentary from the headset I was listening to had a little to do with this, but I wish I could have taken a picture of it. After exploring the castle grounds, we walked around the town for a while and wandered over to Eaton College, which is the school Prince William attended. It was rather late by the time we walked there so we couldn't tour the actual campus because it was closed to the public, but it looked nice even from a distance.

Not that I needed to be reminded that I love live theatre, but seeing The Lion King on the West End definitely did that for me. Although the story is familiar because of the animated movie, the musical was still spectacular and nothing less than what I had expected. I'm not sure why I had never been interested in seeing this show on Broadway. The costumes were absolutely incredible as were the actors' performances. People's creativity never ceases to amaze me. It was quite possibly the best live show I've ever seen. The ensemble completely blew me away.

The other day, Mara, some of her university friends, Kay, and I ate at Vapiano, which is a German chain that has Italian food. Mara is from Berlin and has been to several in Germany so she recommended that we go there. I'd never heard of it before, but apparently there are a few restaurants in the U.S. The food is delicious and I have to say that now it's our favorite restaurant. We've eaten there twice in the past two weeks and tentatively plan to go again when Kay's sister and Jackee visit.

We had been talking about booking tickets for weeks, but Kay, Mara, and I finally visited Oxford on Sunday. We truly lucked out with the weather as it was absolutely gorgeous. Oxford is a beautiful city, and we really enjoyed ourselves. We climbed to the top of St. Mary's Church to get an amazing aerial view, took a walking tour of the city, which included admission into several of the University of Oxford's thirty-eight colleges, and attempted to eat at two of the rather famous pubs in Oxford: Eagle and Child and then Lamb and Flag. Apparently, a writers' group that J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were members of frequently met at these places. Unfortunately, Eagle and Child didn't have the dishes we wanted to order and Lamb and Flag was no longer serving food by the time we got there. As an alternative, we opted for Thai food at a different pub. My Pad Thai was amazing and lasted me three meals! After dinner, we got ice-cream at a quaint cafe that a friend from church and Kay's friend from home recommended. It was a fantastic way to end a perfect day.

I also recently finished reading Revolutionary Road. Although the events that unfold are hardly uplifting, it's such a well-written book. I don't want to ruin the plot for anyone who wants to read the novel or see the movie, but I would have to say that few stories move me the way this one did. The characters are so rich and multi-dimensional that you can't help but empathize with them.

Last but not least, I suppose I should mention that I've found a job. It's just a temporary position and far from the most exciting work in the world, but I'm lucky to have it. It's paying the bills and providing me with all my necessities: food, accommodation, transportation..... and traveling, of course. :D

The next several weeks should be fun. I'm looking forward to it all. Until next time.. (and hopefully that'll be sooner rather than later.) xo