Artists, History, and Theatre (And Good Eats ~Alan)

So, my Shakespeare presentation went well, and for the most part I really enjoy my classes. I only have one professor I don’t like, and that is because she is very boring and doesn’t include us in her lectures. Mostly she shows us slides and talks about things we already know and doesn’t once ever ask us anything. I think she just talks because she likes to hear herself. Anyway, every other class is a trip to an art museum, so it doesn’t much matter cuz I only ever have to hear her once every two weeks.

Speaking of the art galleries, Monday we went to Tate Britain. Our assignment was to look at the works of John Constable and William Turner and the Pre-Raphaelites. It was all well and good, though I don’t much like the Turner artwork or the people that attend the museum for fun. They tend to be rude and uptight and get angry if you are trying to write a paper about the work they happen to be looking at that very moment.

Over the weekend we took a trip to the Churchill museum and Cabinet War Rooms. It was fun. It was historic and the history was interesting. It was a little bit cramped and there were a bunch of people there, but I suppose it wouldn’t have been any better if you had to live there back then.

Alan would like me to post a shout out to the fabulous dinners he’s been making. They are delicious, I must say. We’ve been doing pretty well with money too. We are actually spent a little to buy theater tickets. Yesterday, we went to see Les Miserables at the Queens Theatre. It was amazing. I loved it. It was beautiful. The best part about it is that we were 6 rows from the stage and the tickets were only £30 a piece. If it had been on broadway it would have been hundreds of dollars.

Today we went to the Wallace collection. The Wallace collection is a house in London that was donated to the city by Mr. Wallace’s widow. The house is left almost entirely in its original condition, completely full of artwork that today is work hundreds of millions of dollars. There are rooms completely full of armor and weapons that he collected because he liked to look at them. Full on cannons and jousting saddles. The rooms…there are Rembrandts and Velázquez and just bunches of others. And the front stair way…is absolutely gorgeous. Gorgeous. If I had billions or trillions of dollars, I would live there. Alas I don’t. Also unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed to take pictures in there and there is a nice person standing in each room making sure that you can’t sneak any. Which is sad cuz it was all so gorgeous.

But, we'll return to the beginning because I’ll talk about classes again for a minute. I really do enjoy them. Last night I wrote a paper on The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Harry Potter, and there evolution from Literature to Film to Video Game as evidence of the progression of British Popular Culture. Which is pretty much nothing I would ever do in an Organic Chemistry class at home. It just makes me happy.

Everyone here is sick though. I’m praying I don’t get it, but we’ll see. Wish me luck.


Here are some pictures for your enjoyment.


My favorite Constable painting from the gallery on display. I stole this picture cuz I wasn't supposed to be taking them.


Buckingham Palace after the Churchill museum and CWR. I think I look silly in this picture, but Alan likes it.


Pin holes in the map on the wall in the CWR. They were taking the boast in the ocean. These were all put in place in the 1940s during WWII. I thought it was really cool. It really makes history more real.


The phone room thingy. The green ones are scramblers, which encrypt the messages so they were hard to interpret if intercepted. The wax man at the end has a sugar supply in front of him that you can't see. This was found in a desk in the CWR labeled with the guys name. It was his sugar supply and has been in that desk drawer since the 1940s. So cool.


Mrs. Churchill's room during the war. For the wife of the prime minister, her room even makes dorms look good!! I am very glad I will never have to live in that building.