Odds and Ends

We have a lot to catch up on, you and I, so I figured I'd sit down tonight, take a breather, and get it typed out. Where to start though? Maybe at a bar, to get the words flowing. In London, there's a place down Heddon street called the Absolute Ice Bar. It is, as the name implies, absolutely made of ice. And they serve vodka drinks. Your admission in gets you 40 minutes in the bar with a sweet parka, a pair of gloves, and one free drink, served in a hollowed-out cube of ice. Mine was a house-drink (the Absolute London) but it was incredible, managing to simultaneously contain alcohol and taste like a cookie. Props to you, ice bar. The experience was pretty novel, and I'm glad I did it, but now that it's checked off the bucket list, I feel no compulsion to return.

Another cool thing I did was go to the British Library. Though this outing was required for a class I'm in, it was almost more humbling than anything else I've done since I've been here. In a dark, small side room off the main library, there's a fairly sizable exhibit, which primarily consists of books. Included: one of the earliest copies of Beowulfs, one of the earliest copies Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the original (handwritten!!!!) copies of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, A Salvador Dali illustrated copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, one of the few remaining pristine Guttenberg Bibles, an original Magna Carta, Korans from through the ages, and handwritten Beatles lyrics. To name a few. And it was completely empty! Why don't people flock there?!?! I was pretty shocked at how deserted the place was, but I guess it's just not publicized enough. I'm headed back there in a week or so, so I'll try to get some pictures for y'all then. By the way, the picture up to the left is a chapel in Oxford, since I didn't have an pictures of the British Library.

Two weekends ago we all went on a required trip to Stratford and Oxford, which was a lot more fascinating than I thought it'd be. Stratford was ok...we saw Anne Hathoway's cottage, where Shakespeare might have stepped once, his (refurbished) birthplace, and other such dubious relics. It was cool seeing where the magic all began, but it felt excessively touristy and contrived. Macki and I got tea in a nice shop shop there, which was pretty great. As you can see on the right, though, Anne Hathoway's cottage was pretty gorgeous. That's a real thatched roof, by the way.

Oxford was a lot cooler. We toured the university, which was really fascinating. Our tour guide was really knowledgeable and interesting, but also a reserved jerk who liked to test (read: make fun of) us. It was really humbling to have him casually point to a room and say "that's where Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings" or "that's where Philip Pullman used to relax." Most incredible, though, was the Eagle and Child, a pub in Oxford where the Inklings used to hang out and discuss philosophy. I had a pint in the room where they used to sit, and saw a handwritten letter to the pubkeeper, signed by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien et al. Talk about humbling and inspirational!

Continuing our Shakespeare binge, we recently went and saw Henry IV (part I) at the Globe Theatre in London. It's a pretty accurate replica of the theater where Shakespeare's crew would have performed, and we were in the "groundling" section, so I was standing right up against the stage. Talk about cool. I was right next to the actors for the whole performance, and even had to duck out of the way so they could make entrances sometimes. The performances, though, were incredible, especially that of Fallstaff. Henry IV part I isn't known to be one of the great man's better works, but as my parents always said, Shakespeare done well can be really, really good. I loved it, though my feet hurt afterwards from standing for so long. My interest in Shakespeare's work has totally done a 180 since I've been here, and I'm actually really looking forward to reading him later on.

That's about all. I went to Paris this past weekend, but that definitely deserves a full post, so keep your eyes peeled for that one. Over and out.