Renaissance Girl

Have checked friend's list. Was extensive and confusing. Will simply talk to people at New Year's, Imissyousomuch!

Last night...saw His Dark Materials, Part I. Am in awe. Attempted to write in journal, was mostly overwhelmed by the gorgeousness of it all and the utter amazingness of watching those books come to life in front of me. The stage was incredible--moving set of brilliance, I tell you, coming from the Bathhouse (which I LOVE, you know, but it is small)...this set had a moving ring round the front, a rising half circle so that entire rooms rose and sank below the floor...the bears were amazing. The witches rock. The daemons were beautiful floaty things with glowing eyes and oh, it was so brilliant...
Maybe I am spoilt by being an actor from a young age or by Shana's use of young people &c. so well, but the only thing I had trouble with was believing that Lyra and Will were twelve. I got into it after a while, though. Hee. Ooooooooh la it was good.
Tonight is more! Cannot describe, words useless. Ask me later if you really want to know and I will do my best.

This morning we saw Raphael at the National. I like Degas better. Hee.

Love all, cannot wait to see you on New Year's...

Finally I have uploaded some pictures from England...not all by half, obviously (or even a third, or an eighth), so if you want to see the rest you'll have to find me in real life, as they call it.
Also there's pictures of Anneka, Adrienne, Charlotte, Joel and Philip--lemme know if you don't want your picture up there and I'll take it down. They're all good pictures though...(hint-leavethemup-hint).
Go here: http://photobucket.com/albums/v382/elanor_two/

More half-remembered dreams this morning. I wish I could remember enough to write them down, or wake up enough to write them down before I fall asleep again and forget them. I'm going to bed early tonight...must not sleep in so late.
On the other hand I swallowed my pills properly...so I'm inordinately proud of myself. :)

Wandered about Oxford without a map, getting lost.
Wandered about Oxford with a map, getting not lost.
Been asked for directions to Licolin College. Gave them. Kind of.
Went to Natural History Musuem, poked at dinosaurs and fake dragons and old skeletons and dead things. Lovely place.
Went punting on the Cherwell and gotten soaked when it rained.
Went to the Botanical Gardens, sat in a tree and read for an hour.
Kept time by church bells.
Went to Merton College, sat in the garden (slice of Shire in the middle of Oxford--no wonder Tolkien started The Hobbit there).
Went to New College and tried to poke my head in but wasn't able to; I wanted to find them filming Harry Potter and pester the camera crews but I couldn't find them.
Poked at the door the HP crews installed in the Divinity School. It's a pretty door.
Been to Duke Humphrey's Library (if you've seen the Harry Potter library, you know how beautiful it is. Be assured it's a hundred times better when you're there and smelling the old books).
Tried to get into Exeter College. That was closed too.
Been hit up for money by a Welsh Monk.
Chatted about star signs with same Welsh Monk. He guessed I was a Pisces but couldn't guess my birthday.
Ate chocolate ice cream.
Bought Earl Grey tea.
Been to Blenheim Palace, wandered about gardens.
Failed utterly to go horseback riding.
Watched hours of Olympics. Actually found some USA spirit somewhere; lost it again after the gymnastics. (I wanted Paul Hamm and Carly Patterson to win, and they did, so I can go back to rooting for other people now.)
Found out that the graffiti here is way cool: 'Hey You. Smile! :)' is an example.
Been ice skating. Nearly fell on my arse.

Missed everyone back home very much. One more night in Oxford, two in London--one day left in London to see something (maybe Sweeney Todd the Musical, ha ha) and then back home to Seattle. England is fantastic. But I miss my city.

I am in internet cafe on High St. in Oxford.
I may be going riding tomorrow.
There are only one more night in Nanford Hell House before moving to hostel (big big yay).
Watched dressage on Olympics this morning, beautimous horses. Want cross-country.
Am wandering around in Oxford. OXFORD.

Have not yet found Jordan College. :)

It just started raining really hard, big fat drops. I love that kind of rain.
It's been rather tropical here...hot sun, humid weather, downpour--repeat. Wonder if it's cooler in Oxford...

Yesterday we went down to Leicester Square to get half-price tickets, and as the line was incredibly long, I left my parents to it and went on to Old Bailey by myself (aha, braving the London Tube without a soul to accompany me...hee). Old Bailey was really interesting...
Firstly, yes, all the lawyers wear funny little yellow curled wigs and black gowns. We (the public) were in three rows of seats above the room, situated so we couldn't see the witness-a deliberate move, probably. I heard some of the prosecution, and then some of the defense (although I'm not sure which was cross, because I don't know which called the witness). It was a murder trial--a man on trial for killing his wife--and the witness was his daughter. Heavy stuff.
But overall I found that everyone was very...polite, I guess. There was a slower and quieter and almost kinder air to it than the US courts I've seen. The prosecution did have a bit of an edge, but he was polite as anything anyhow. Also the court was admitting a lot of hearsay (lawyer kept asking the witness questions like, 'and what do you think was his motive in writing this paragraph?' which would be strenuously objected to in the US), and lots of leading questions, which also would be objected to (both used them, which means it wasn't just on the cross).

Then we walked to a theater...stopping on the way at the BBC store, and oh my did I make out like a bandit. Whooboy. We ended up buying the CDs of the Lord of the Rings dramatization (to replace our tapes, which are dying and missing and old), and the CDs of the dramatization of His Dark Materials. Whooo! so incredibly cool, I cannot wait to listen to them, eee!
My parents are cool. A little weird, but cool. (They're always really really careful about money, and my mom especially can get uptight about it, but she's put aside money for this trip and now she's spending it on theater and CDs and clothes and everything with abandon. I'm not complaining.)

We saw 'Anything Goes' at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and it was--of course--fantastic. We were in the very very first row, so we saw the rips in the bodysuits and the sweat on their foreheads (got nearly hit by it a couple times) and my neck was craned up the whole time...really amazing show, though. So good. Especially Reno, she was incredible, and Sir Evelyn was hysterically funny (quintessential typical English gentleman, ha ha). Also the accents were impeccable, Moon's especially. Chicago gangster in one. Brilliant.

Had dinner at a really good italian place, went across the street to another theater and saw 'Old Masters' by Simon Grey, directed by Harold Pinter. Hmm. Very well done play, but I'm not sure I liked it. Most of the characters were gits and it was a bit slow to watch at the end of the day when I was tired. But theatrically, I'm glad I saw it, which I guess is what counts.

I might be going to the Globe again to be a groundling today...maybe. If the rain lets up, which it won't. I'll just bring a coat or something. Wheee!

Nearly to Oxford...twelve days till home.

So. Saturday morning woke up early...
Caught train to London Bridge, walked to Victoria Coach station (right by Buckingham palace), caught the coach to Stratford.
For the record, I dislike coach rides immensely. They're hot and dull and and send me to sleep even though I hate sleeping on them because I wake up groggy and with a bad taste in my mouth.
But anyway.
We got to Stratford-upon-Avon (glory be to the Bard!*) and wandered about a bit before going to the Swan Theater to see 'The Dog in the Manger' which is a play from the Spanish Golden Age. The theater was weird--sort of vertical--we were looking down from very high up, but very close to the stage.
'Dog' was FANTASTIC--it was a brilliant translation, amazing acting and directing, incredible costumes and set and lights...whoo. I really liked it.
We went to Shakespeare's birthplace in the afternoon...nice Tudor house. The Globe actually felt more...Shakespeare-y, even though it's a replica. Hmm. And we ate dinner at Garrick's Inn (a non-smoking pub...unusual), at which I nearly got a drink before remembering that I don't like alchol. I did have elderflower cordial at June's. That was tasty.
Anyhow. We went back to the Swan and saw 'House of Desires', another Spanish play--also very very good, althogh I think I liked Dog better. They play in repertory, so it was the same actors...the comic role was played both times by Simon Trinder, who is brilliant beyond compare. God, he was funny...ah. I love good actors.
Got a cab (how posh) to Warwick...slept in a B&B-hotel-place.
Woke up, walked about Warwick. There was a lovely image of a man in medieval dress at a cash machine...nacro. I love it.
Local bus to Coventry, where we saw the cathedral and didn't really do much before taking the coach back to London.
It's wonderful to have a house to come back to.
And now I'm going to go eat...necesito comida. Ahora.

*Reminds me of Phlip's Hallelujah Bard speech...which, by the way, Philip, you did infinetely better than the CWS we saw in London. As did Patrick do much better the opening gambit. Ah. Missed you both.

Well, thanks to some of those questions and to Anneka's insights on love and Rosalind, I've been thinking. (Oh, no, I hear you cry, not thinking, please no...)

( Random mutterings... )

In other news, we saw The Mousetrap today, the longest running play in the world. And I can't tell you anything about it, we were sworn o secrecy. :) I can say that I was good, although I liked Patrick's Paravaccini better, and Chris Wren was better in the Ballard version. Yep. Fluffy little people, I like them.

I love you, people. Really I do. I'm going to go to the Bathhouse and elsewhere and I expect lots of hugs when I get back. Cheers.

Hallo from England!
I'm getting used to this slightly different keyboard here....in preparation for a rather long post. Sorry. (I'm not, though....:))

Hokay. So. (Here's me; I'm chillin;, damn, you are thinking...well, yeah. Nevermind.)

July 20--Airplane to Portland, a funky little jet with blue leather seats. Waited around in PDX for forever. (In Portland, but not...argh!). Portland to Frankfurt, on a big plane...long. Very, very long. Mostly dull, except for a few patches of terribly interesting turbulence, in which my stomach was left behind a couple times. Whoo boy.
I watched Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights on the plane--dumb movie, yeah--but the dancing was good and Diego Luna's nice to look at for two hours. I want to learn to dance like that.
Also watched part of 50 First Dates but it wasn't much better.
Short flight to London-Heathrow, after sitting on the cold floor of Frankfurt airport for a while. Fun.
Took the Tube into the city (I love the tube. Can't think why. It's just really interesting...also I kept thinking of Neverwhere (why didn't I bring it?) and looked for Door and people. Didn't see them, though).
Went to Peter's house (friend of my parents through Alex-Tech work), stayed at his house overnight. Lovely little place in Charlton (twenty minutes from London by train)...him, his wife, two kids, two rats and two guinea pigs. I get to take the rats for walkies everyday. :)

July 21 and 22--Took the coach (Brit lingo: "bus" is in-city, "coach" is between cities. Mostly) to Bath--which is a fantastic place and I want to go back and spend about a week there just hanging about. The baths are beautiful, the city is easy to navigate (relatively), the restaurants are nice--there was a fantastic Museum of Costume, and a good walking tour; stayed at St. Christopher's Inn, which is a good hostel. The theater in Bath is beautiful, but the play wasn't very good. (Pooh.)

(A brief quote from our guide at the Baths: "They thought he (Emperor Claudius) was a bit of a duffer--which is why he was chosen as Emperor, because they thought he could be manipulated. They stopped thinking he could be manipulated after they were all suddenly, horribly dead.")

July 23--Picked up rental car, drove to Wells first, to see the cathedral...nice place. You know, a cathedral...but the stairs leading to, and the Chapter House itself, was lovely.
Went to Glastonbury, saw the ruins of the Abbey (destroyed by Henry 8th...I really don't like him), and walked up the tor. Beautiful place...Glastonbury town itself is sort of a hippy-new-agey place, a little silly-wise, but nice. Spent night in small B&B outside Avebury, in a twin room. I got a bed to myself but my parents shared one and consequently snored rather badly.

July 24--Morning spent at Avebury, much cooler stones than Stonehenge (which we stopped by the day before and stared at through the fence). Beautiful....(to get a little mystical for a moment, had a lovely occurance of seven crows in the circle as I walked to them, and found seven crow feathers as I walked through them. Found and eighth as well but let it go, maybe it was a tengu feather. Seven being a secret never to be told, which I thought fit the place rather well.)
Drove to Chedworth Roman Villa--ruins again--but there was a reconstruction society there, doing all sorts of Roman things, so that was fun. Spent a while there, then drove to Trevor and June's house, in Shipley, near Bradford, in Yorkshire.
They are both tremendously entertaining people to be with--you know the sorts of people that you can talk to about anything and somehow it's funny and interesting? Those sorts of people.

"and the doctor said, I know what your problem is, I knew the minute you walked in the door. You're a ferret." -Trevor

July 25--Got to sleep in a bit, and cook my own eggs. The English don't fry their eggs on both sides, you know. Trevor took us to Salts Mill, which was a mill but is now an art gallery-cafe-bookstore-etc on several levels in a lovely building. Ate lunch back at T & J's (I never ate so well), and then the parents and I went to the National Museum of Photography and Film, wandered about--some quite interesting things on photography and animation. Aardman is making a feature of Wallace and Grommit (but I forget what it's called). We drove through some of the Yorkshire Dales (god, that country is gorgeous!) to get to Annika's house, a friend of Trevor's, where we were staying for two nights.
Annika's house is so unbelievably posh, I expected a magazine photographer to come through at any moment. Annika was very nice, and her dog Katie fixed on me and wanted to be petted every minute. Gorgeous place...

July 26--Went to York. Went on a walking tour, led by a red handbag-toting old lady in pinstripes and perfect makeup, named Lillian. Lots of history, a roman walls, and medieval walls built on roman walls, and the manor house where James VI/I scratched his initials. Also apparently Boadicea is buried where Platform 10 at King's Cross is now; which supposedly is why the Hogwarts Express leaves from 9 and 3/4. Huh.
Went to the York Castle Museum--like time travel in boxes, wonderful--and wandered through the Shambles, the medival part of town.
Went to York Minster--the cathedral is incredible! It's so beautiful...everyone once in a while I come across a cathedral or a church that just makes all sorts of sense, and I think, aha, that's why...this is one of them.
We heard Evensong in the Quire, very lovely.

July 27--Slept in, ate lunch by the canal in Skipton (flashed on Chocolat, and then on the Gyptians); went to Malham--more Yorkshire Dales, cannot describe how beautiful they are!
Some of the roads get so very narrow...and you share them with odd things, like driving along at 2mph with a backhoe behind us and three horses in front. Wheee!
Lots of icky traffic and wrong turnings--but we made it to a stables, and went on a hack (huzzah! Want more), and then back to T & J's for dinner and sleep.

July 28--Drove to Wales. (I love how flippantly I can say that...)--to Conwy, wherin there is a castle and an amazing Tudor house, fully repaired and refurnished just like it would be in the late 1600's, and so cool! Gah! Wanted to live there...
Went to Caernarfon, ate, slept. Got slightly ill because we waited too long to eat (and when that happens I lose my appetite and don't eat, it's a bit of a vicious cycle)....

July 29--Saw Caernarfon Castle--quite interesting, different--drove around Wales. I don't even remember, I was sitting in the backseat falling asleep...:)
Wales was pretty though...gorgeous countryside, unpronounceable names--that's my summary of it. Har. It is a nice place, though, two days not long enough to do it justice.

July 30--Tried to take the rental car back to Bath. Traffic horrid. Got back late, missed our coach, spent the night in Bath at the Backpacker's Hostel (eeh...I liked Christopher's better).

July 31--Woke up early, caught a coach to London (I much prefer trains. I am so bloody sick of cars and driving), got back to Peter's house...

Ooofta. It hasn't really been that long, has it? Cripes. I fee like I have done far too much already. :)
London will be nice, we're in a house now, can cook our own food, take the train to London...maybe a canal boat in one day.
Oxford will be even more fantastic because I'll have a whole ten days in one place with all that time to myself. Yes! Edan will be there though, Alyssa too, I think. So I'll get to see them, which is good.

I should probably stop...and eat, and unpack and so forth.
Thank you to everyone who sent me emails (Anneka, Rose, thanks for your emails, Allie, I'm getting to the big long reply, As You people, I expect to hear the cast list soon, Kitty and Kate I'm sorry I can't come to your party and play but I hope they're both fantastic, Joel, thank you for the story, it's amazing to be greeted with a present like that--and if I missed anyone be assured I love you too!)

Cheers, all.