I had to wake up at 8 this morning and I opened the door from my shower and the fire alarm went off. The problem with the fire alarm is that it doesn't go off just in my room, but in every single room in the building. I ran and closed the door and it went off after about five seconds. I quickly left the building.
Art and Society was up first. We have a lecture for an hour on campus, then we head to a site for two hours and hear more about the place. Today it was the Banqueting House that I've passed by a number of times and wanted to go in. To get there I rode one of those big double-decker buses for the first time. It was way nicer than a CTA bus. I sat up top and it was a pretty cool view riding through the city. London has a bunch of that detailed architecture up high on the building where no one ever sees it and I got to get a better look at it.
The Banqueting House is the only remaining building from the Whitehall Palace, dating from the 17th century. It's particularly connected with Charles I who commissioned Paul Rubens to paint the ceiling in honor of his predecessor James I. It was also the site of his beheading, on scaffolding outside the windows, the only time a king has been executed.
The ceiling was pretty incredible, sort of a Sistine Chapel feel to it. The hall itself was just sort of a fancy empty hall, but enjoyable. The professor gave a lecture in the center of the hall while we all sat around on the floor. Everyone ended up lying on ground within a couple minutes, looking up at the ceiling. Kind of a crazy way to spend class, laying on the floor of a historic building where royalty holds parties.
From there I came back and had some lunch before heading over to Theater in London. The professor for that class is really cool, like a Mrs. Tucker without the angry side. We're going to six plays, most of which we have to book on our own, but it should cost about £100 total for all the shows. First up I'm seeing "Complicit" with Richard Dreyfus. I'm most looking forward to "Oliver!" with Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean). The class seems like it'll be rather easy, especially since I think a big chunk of it is writing a 1,500 word review. Pretty easy stuff.
After class I wanted to go to a speech from the Linnean Society of London (a natural history society in a huge fancy old building) about the history of tea (with free tea and snacks before). The Tube took too long and I couldn't find the entrance, so I got there after it started. It was packed with old British dudes in fancy clothes. The whole room with the speaker was full and there was an overflow room where I could have listened on the PA with a bunch of senior citizens. I passed.
Since I was already down at Piccadilly Circus, I walked to Oxford Street and went to Borders and bought a travel guide for Edinburgh. As I walked back, a cab almost cut me off, and the cabbie leaned out the window (on the right hand side, it took me a minute to realize he was the driver) and he said, "Sorry mate." I was really excited to get called 'mate.'
I went home and booked my trip to Edinburgh. I'm taking National Express at 11 pm on Sunday getting in around 9 am on Monday, staying at a hostel outside the castle, then leaving on Tuesday around 10 pm and getting in around 7 am on Wednesday, in time for my 10 am class. Kind of crazy, but I didn't know when I'd get there if I didn't go now. I'm looking forward to the castle and the old stuff around it, but I don't know much else about what's there. Plus it's named after me.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment