The Cliffs of Dover

So today was pretty much fantastic. We went to Dover. Right after we finished our last readings class we headed to St. Pancras station to catch a highspeed train to Dover Priory Station. Good grief that train flew! It only took us an hour to get there and that was with 4 stops at other stations. Dover was absolutely beautiful, I was pleasantly surprised at how small the town was. It was really just quaint and postcard perfect. The items on our agenda included checking out Dover castle "the key to England" and the famous white cliffs. Dover is only 20 miles of ocean away from France and on really clear days you can see the French coast in the distance. As we toured the castle we learned a good bit of British history. Dover Castle was built by King Henry II. In medieval times Dover sevrved as a point of passage for pilgrims wishing to visit the grave of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury. During WWII Dover castle was most famous for its use as the base of Operation Dynamo. This operation was the successful evacuation of British forces from France through Dunkirk port after the Nazis had taken over the country. It was all really interesting. The planning and execution of operation Dynamo occurred in a secret network of tunnels beneath the castle, which we got to tour today. The tunnel network at Dover was also used during the Cold War. Dover castle was defiantly my favorite castle of the trip and the white cliffs were certainly a site to see. We enjoyed it all so much that we stayed at the castle until they kicked us out at closing time. There was just so much to see and explore there (people were free to roam and read info at their own pace, no guided tour) we could have easily stayed for several more hours and still not seen it all.

Rub a dub dub... Romans in the tub

There was a mutiny today. We were supposed to go to Oxford, but the profs decided not to require it, sooo... we went to Bath. I was kinda glad to get out of Oxford seeing as how I've already been to Cambridge and believe it to be the better of the two anyway. Bath was great! it was another of those delightful audio tours. It was so strange to think that the paths we walked were thousands of years old and that they were walked by people I study today. Latin was everywhere and that was interesting to me... but I should probably brush up on my vocab before I take the next class.... After we went to Bath we checked out the Jane Austen Centre for a while before we caught the train back to London. Once back in London we headed straight for the Texas Embassy. It was Wade's Birthday and he chose it as the best possible celebration point. While we were there we all headed upstairs to leave our names on the Wall of Texans. It was pretty fun.

It's shocking how quickly a place can become your own. South Kensington has become my home in this city. After a really long day like today I can't help but feel relieved when I come out of our tube stop. It's so similar to the feeling of driving down 608 towards my house or strolling up the academic walkway to Brooks. And as much as I love returning to the quiet in South Ken I've found that I love the heart of the city just as well. I like the rush, it reminds me that life just keeps moving whether you know what is around the corner or not. I've even grown used to the Londoners, with their straight faces and busy movements. Would you believe that tourists annoy me now? or that I no longer need to consult the tube map? I never fancied myself as the city type and while I miss things about home and especially people at home I find that I wouldn't mind staying here. In fact I think it will be quite sad to leave, all the more reason to "suck the juice out of" our last week here.

New pics

I finally got all the new pictures up. New things can be found in the albums London 2 and Paris.

Bikes, Baguettes, and Berets Oh My!

I hope that you are quite comfortable as you read this, Because I plan to re-live my weekend in Paris to the best of my memory in this one. I'll start at the very beginning. After class the boys and I took off early. We wanted to get tickets to the Arsenal match on Sunday and the ticket booth was just a bit beyond Kings Cross St. Pancras Station. We were lucky and managed to nab our 4 seats together. With our prized tickets in our wallets we (and the luggage we'd been hauling) got back on the tube to Kings Cross. We got an early taste of French cuisine at a restaurant called Paul while we waited for our departure time. Once on board the train (yes I said train, this is the one that goes under the English Channel to Paris) I was surprised to find that my seat was not with another Baylor student... odd... I suppose I managed to get the last number or something. Just as I was starting to believe that the seat beside me would remain empty a plump little french man approached and asked me (in French) to excuse him in getting to his seat. I wordlessly complied. You see, I was exhausted from the night before when I'd gone to the London eye and been up packing, I planned to sleep on this train and had no desire to chat with this fellow. To bad for me I suppose. Within two minutes of sliding into his seat he began chattering in French, when he looked at me expecting a reply I simply apologized and said that I only knew English. Well, lucky for me... he knew English too (limited and with a thick accent). I realized I'd have to humor him for a while and so I answered his questions about who I was and where I was going. He was thrilled to find that he was sitting with an American... so thrilled in fact that despite my efforts to read my book or go to sleep he continually interrupted me with questions about The States, my lifestyle, etc... The most ridiculous was the time he shook me awake and said "I'm sorry... but I just have to know... How do you feel about president Obama?" I couldn't believe this guy. I answered his questions though, and decided to do some prodding myself. In the end I suppose we learned a good deal about each others cultures and It was certainly a learning experience... Once off the Train and away from my French pal Kevin we loaded onto a bus and went straight into a tour of the city. It was a lot to take in but helpful for getting our bearings. After the tour we checked into our hotel which was just down the street from the Eiffel Tower. Once settled we went exploring, or as Dr. McCormick put it "set out to discover the magic in the city". I must say that we did find some of that magic. Just as we were approaching the Eiffel Tower it lit up. I must say it was quite a sight to see. The Tower was beautiful and there were people everywhere just lounging on the grounds enjoying the site. We decided to stay put and just enjoy the atmosphere. Before long we got to see the tower sparkle, it was amazing. The next morning we got up early to go up into the Eiffel Tower on a tour. That was pretty cool, the view was stunning and even standing on the Eiffel Tower we just could not get over the fact that we were really there. After leaving the Tower we set off in search of the Louvre. This meant our first time on the Paris Metro or Underground or Subway... whatever you prefer to call it. At first we really struggled to understand their system but after a bit we had a solid handle on it and felt confident in our travels. Once we found the Louvre we booked it to the Mona Lisa. Gosh was she heavily guarded. On a wall all by herself I must say she was interesting to gaze at and even now I can't believe I've actually seen her. After the Mona Lisa we wandered through the Greek and Roman antiquities where I saw many a statue representing a story I'd translated from Latin, seeing them, and knowing what they were representing made the hours of translating feel well worth it. Next we headed for the Champs Elysees, where the event items from the Tour De France were all still set up. As we got closer to the Arch of Triumph we enjoyed browsing through stores that were way out of our league. We then took a break back at the hotel before setting out for our night in the Latin Quarter. The Latin Quarter is right next to the University and is filled with people our age and genuine Paris nightlife (not the touristy stuff) by day, Latin is still spoken in some places there. We really enjoyed ourselves that night. The Latin District was incredibly picturesque. Narrow, cobblestone streets that were free of cars, old buildings with the flowers outside, and French kids gathered everywhere. We had dinner at a really good restaurant and fun chatting with our waiter then we went to club type place called The Princess and the Frog, it was pretty cute.
On our second day in Paris we made reservations to see Moulin Rouge (I'll get to that later...) then set off to Notre Dame. Notre Dame was by far my favorite thing we did in Paris. It was the most amazing cathedral I've seen on this trip and the climb to the top was well worth it. The bell and the Gargoyles were awesome! There were even gypsies outside (you have to look out for those actually... we were told they're quite the pickpockets). After Notre Dame we hit the Musee d' Orsay to see some Monet and Van Gogh. That was pretty cool. I had no idea that Monet's Waterlilies was so big. After the museam it was back to the hotel to get ready for Moulin Rouge. Now, I'm not sure how I felt about this one... I felt wary making the reservations in the morning... but my whole group seemed set on going and they said it was like the New York City Rockettes. I figured that'd be pretty cool to see then, and after all, I'd heard about Moulin Rouge and I figured it'd be a very French thing to go see. So I went for it. I had no idea what I was getting into... the first act was amazing, vibrant, feathery costumes, neat dances and good music. I was feeling really silly for having second guessed at all in the morning... until the second act that is. It was quite similar to the first... just with a lot less costume. It was at this point that I began to wonder if I was witnessing legitimate French culture and entertainment, or just a glorified topless bar... I still haven't quite decided. The show was good though and the effects were mind blowing. I especially liked the bits between the dancing. They had the most talented juggler I've every seen. He could do seven glowing rods at a time, he was going so fast that the rods left patterns of light all around him. They also had some incredible acrobats and a hilarious ventriloquist. The show ended at 1:30am that gave us 15 minutes to get back to the Metro and get back to our hotel before the metro rail closed for the night. We dashed out of the the theatre and into the underground and were quite satisfied with ourselves when we caught our train. It looked like we would make it home in time easily... that is until our train came to a sudden and screeching halt. All was quiet for a while and we figured something had broken down and that we were just experiencing our typical luck with trains. Then an announcement was made in French and we could see shock on the faces around us. That was pretty scary, just being able to see that something was quite wrong but not being able to understand what it was or the instructions we were being given. I turned to the man nearest me and asked him ( in French, I had to learn a few phrases ) if he knew English. Lucky for me his response was "it's my native language" He and his wife then stuck with us and translated the announcements. What had happened was that the train ahead of us had hit someone, likely in a suicide effort. All trains had been halted and we were being given instructions to evacuate through the front of our train. We couldn't believe it. All trip long we'd been nervous around that ledge in the underground and quietly wondered if people ever fell in. It was a terrible thing to think of. I'm just glad it wasn't our train that hit the man, at least we didn't have to see anything. When we emerged from the underground we learned that the kind couple who had helped us were just in Paris on Holiday. The man was from England and his Wife was American. Together we navigated to the Arch of Triumph were we were able to get a cabs to our hotels.
Today we rode the train home to London, dropped our bags off at the college then went to the Arsenal Football Match. It was fantastic. I've never had so much fun at a sporting event in my life. The fans were crazy, the place was packed, and we were as into it as all of them. Arsenal won the match against the Celtics and that also won them the Emirates Cup. It was really something to see.

Time travel

Yesterday we went to the Prime Meridian in Greenwitch . It was about what you'd expect; we climbed a giant hill, waited in line, took a picture with our feet in both hemispheres, and left. We tried to bully ourselves into the museum since we had gone all that way but it was just all very dull (at least to us). After the trek back into town we stopped off for lunch. Now that was fun! Somehow it ended up being just myself, two friends, and the DG family (Dr. DG is my prof here and Head of the Psychology department at Baylor). His oldest son is about to start college... so it was only appropriate that we all share roommate horror stories. It was really cool to just hang out with my professor and his family talking about nothing related to class. It was a good thing that our day was relaxed because last night was the big Jack the Ripper Walk with world famous Ripperologist Donald Rumbelow. Among serial killer experts this guy is top notch. He's a retired Scotland Yard detective and is the one sought out to help Johnny Depp prepare to play Jack in the film From Hell. The walk was perfect, there was a constant drizzle and eerie cloud cover the entire time. Mr. Rumbelow told the story splendidly. His voice and knowledge made a once distant horror feel almost to close for comfort. He made us all feel as if we knew the victims personally, he demystified Jack, and took us back in time so much so that I half expected a horse drawn carriage to come around the corner in place of a London cab.
Today we went to Freud's house. Again, it was exactly what you'd expect... weird. After that Emily and I tubed out to Wimbledon to take a tour and see the museum. After dinner we went to the London Eye and got a magnificent view of the city. It was a good day. Tomorrow I'll leave for Paris. I don't plan to take my laptop so I won't be able to update the blog until I make it home to South Ken.

Why?

Why? why? why? I heard a lot of that today; we toured Stonehenge. We had more of those great tourist audio guides and after almost every bit of information the little British voice would say something along the lines of "But the question remains... Why?" Well, nobody knows... but we do know that Stonehenge means hanging stones and lots of other fun trivia about the place. After Stonehenge we went to hang out in Salisbury where we went to the Cathedral, which happens to be the tallest one in England. Salisbury Cathedral is also home to one of the four remaining copies of the Magna Carta. It was pretty cool to see but regrettably I couldn't snap a photo of it. After we finished exploring the Cathedral we made our way to a famous pub called Haunch of Venison. It was in this very pub that Churchill and Eisenhower met to make plans for D-day. I thought that was pretty cool. It's just amazing how much history we traipse across here. After dinner (back in London) we decided to search out Foyle's, the largest bookstore in Europe. It was a book lover's dream. Five stories packed wall to wall with every sort of book imaginable. I left with the British version of Harry Potter translated to Latin. That's right Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis. It was translated by a latin scholar living in Windsor. After we left the bookstore my pal Bo wanted to check out the Covent Gardens, he didn't know what was there and we all agreed to go simply for the reason that our professors said it was neat. As we were wandering around we were approached by a homeless man. He said he was only 60 pence short of a cheeseburger at McDonalds. For a split second I think we were all stumped, searching our minds for the best reaction. All of us except for my friend Emily, who cheerfully responded that she didn't have the change but would take him to the Subway down the street if he'd like. The look that came over the man's face was pure shock followed by a broad smile and acceptance of her offer. As we stood in line at Subway we learned that his name was Tom and that he'd been living in London for 50 years. Tom was very interested to hear about America and especially Texas. He couldn't believe he was meeting people from "real cowboy country". Once it was time for Tom to order he had no clue how to and we had to help. I've never seen a man so awed by sandwich options or so grateful for anything. I thought we was going to cry as he thanked Emily. Meeting him really made me think. It's ridiculous... I know... that I would have to come all the way to London to realize how blessed I am. I mean I'm surrounded by the homeless in Waco but I'd never spoken to any of them. I guess I just learned to look the other way, then donate to Mission Waco and let them worry about it; I suppose I just never realllllly mulled it over. And you know the strangest part? Tom thought himself lucky. Lucky to live in London rather than somewhere hotter, lucky to be healthy enough to get around, and lucky to have a sandwich in his hand. His genuine gratefulness for the things I take for granted really put some things into perspective. Had I not only hours ago complained about British food? On one hand I felt a bit ashamed and on the other I felt a rush of gratitude for the life I live. Suddenly all of my problems and worries seemed trivial compared to his. I hope I never forget our meeting with Tom.

Real Texans Sign Here

So the last couple of days have been devoted to simple exploration of the city and hitting up some of London's most famous weekend markets. That's meant lots of walking, busing, and tubing and most importantly seeing lots of the city! Yesterday we went to Knotting Hill for the Portobello market. It was absolutely packed with people and interesting things to look at. It seemed to go on forever, we were to exhausted to go the whole way. After the market we found ourselves outside of the London Hardrock Cafe and figured we should go in. Did you know that it's the original Hardrock? Not bad for my first one. Once night rolled around we decided to go out in search of some fun. Guess what we found... The Texas Embassy! It was a restaurant that served real Texas food, had a wall for "real Texans" to sign and had flags and memorabilia from every Texas University. Country from the 90s was playing and they even served Dr. Pepper. It was like the mother ship calling us home, we had to eat there. It was really fun too. Live music started after a while and I made friends with the guitarist so that we could make request. I have to say that British renditions of country and southern rock are a bit different but they were definitely good.
Today we decided to start out in Hyde Park. I love that place and I hope I can find the time to wander around it a bit more. Since it was Sunday folks were speaking at Speakers Corner, now that was an experience. The day before we had talked to Dr. Dunn about our plan to go and he warned us to keep our mouths shut, no matter what. He said we'd regret it if we spoke out, partly because we'd be quickly identified as Americans. To be honest his advice confused us. What could possibly make us want to speak out? and What's so wrong with being pegged American? Well, we found out. Several people come to speakers corner with their step stools so folks can choose who to go listen to. We headed straight for the largest crowd. The man was talking about Christianity, and mostly how he thinks that the Christians need to rise to the challenges of the world. Nothing radical. Then the hecklers started in on him. They called God a figment of his imagination, called him a gullible twit, and took some below the belt hits. They asked condescending questions and were just plain mean. The guy kept his cool though, he was even able to give real answers backed up by scripture to questions they thought would stump him. However, they always interrupted his answer. I feel like I should clarify that these hecklers clearly were not the sort of people who had checked out Christianity for themselves and decided to disagree, their arguments were never intelligent and they demonstrated very poor knowledge of the Bible and basic church structure/history. It escalated pretty quickly and after awhile we noticed that the ENTIRE crowd seemed to be vehemently against this guy. That's when it was hard to keep our mouths shut. We wanted to lend him some support and we wanted to (lovingly, not harshly) try to explain some things to some members of the crowd. But we all reminded each other to heed Dr. Dunns warning (there had been some anti-American expressions) and kept our support down to some affirmative nods and a couple of amens. I have to say I've never been more grateful to live in the USA especially in the Bible belt area. I've never had my faith made fun of or challenged so extremely or with so much... well I feel like I can only call it hatred. I wonder why all of those people feel that way. Have they had bad experiences with Christians? Have they just been taught that way? and what was their problem with America? I mean I know that they have their little stereotypes of us (some of which are a right) but at the end of the day I thought we were buddies...
After getting all worked up in the park we made our way to a couple more markets, then we came to Spitalfield's Market. That was the best one yet. If you ever come here just hit that one and Portobello. Everything at Spitalfield's was really creative and artsy. It was really fun just to walk around and look at it all.