Day 7-9

Day 7:

Tuesday was so great! We went to Hampton Court all day and looked at the amazing palace and gardens. The palace was incredible. The most interesting part to learn about was how they prepared the food for so many people. There was a whole courtyard for bringing food through, a hallway that acted as a refrigerator, and numerous for cooking. They often made meat in a dish like a shepherds pie, but what was interesting was that they didn’t eat any of the bread that went around the meat. It was used simply as a way for cooking meat. There were people in charge of keeping track of silverware and leftovers and the amount of food eaten. I learned that many times people had to move from a place like Hampton Court because they had exhausted all of the resources around them, by how much they had eaten.

The palace had amazing artwork, most of them beautiful women in amazing clothes. My favorite part of the palace was the grounds. The gardens were incredible! There were trees that were cut to look dome shaped. There were French gardens that were very detailed. They had overgrown gardens with wildflowers and varieties of trees. A whole day didn’t even give me enough time to look at all of the gardens there.

That night we went to Lion King! I was wondering how they would do the costumes and the set, and I was so impressed with how they did it! Sometimes I forgot they were people performing. I thought the part where they had the wildebeest stampede was so amazing. The set was just so neat. My favorite characters were Rafiki and Mufasa. Their voices were like butter; they were so smooth and clear. I loved the extra African songs they added into the musical. It was funny when some of the actors tried to speak with an American accent. It would sound southern, then east coast, then west coast, then British, and then I had no idea what accent they were trying to do!

Day 8:

Yesterday we went to Westminster and had class for three hours. I am not super fond of three hour history classes no matter how interesting they are…

Even though I had been to Westminster  before, I loved going back and seeing new things or things I had forgotten. This time when we went we had a tour guide. I learned so much on the tour! Westminster was crowded! I could hardly walk, it was very different than the last time I had gone.

We saw the coronation chair while we were there which is the oldest piece of furniture still used for its original purpose in the UK. It was built in the 1300’s. It had been through a lot. Westminster choir boys had written their names on it many times. Suffragetes tried bombing it and succeeded without totally destroying it.

It was really neat to learn about some people I didn’t know were buried in Westminster. Thomas Tompian a famous clockmaker was buried there. It was interesting to learn how important clock making was to the English. It helped them with so many different trades and was really important. Michael Faraday who contributed a lot to the study electromagnetism was also buried there which was neat because I am taking that class in the fall. I saw Newton and Darwin’s graves as well as many other important scientists. The Herschels were buried there, one of which discovered Uranus. Flemming the man who discovered Penicilin was also there.

This time going through it was neat to see how many musicians are buried there that I didn’t know were. I saw Elgar, Britten, Handel, Purcell, Clementi,  and Vaughn Williams. I went home and read a lot about Britten since I hadn’t heard much of his music. I am kind of excited to listen to their music again. We are also going to see some of Handel’s original manuscripts later in the program, which I am so excited for!

I also saw the grave of Queen Elizabeth and Bloody Mary. It was even cooler to see that now knowing their family history, their religions, and that they hated each other. Honestly though, I think the British were a lot more excited about the Queens and Kings and I was more excited about the musicians, writers, and scientists.

I saw Chaucer and Dickens grave as well! I’ve been reading their works while I have been here, so I really enjoyed that.

Then came the highlight of the week! I saw Les Miersables last night! The story is so great. It is by far my favorite musical. Jean Valjean and Javert were so incredible. Eponine was African and she had a great voice. Gavroche was so wonderful. He had a good voice and he was such a great actor. I think the only time I cried in the whole play was when he died. It was so powerful. Cosette was awful! I mean she was terrible. She sang everything super rushed and she had a really obnoxious voice. The set was so cool. They did a lot with different pieces of the stage moving. They also did a lot of great effects with the lighting.

Greatest discovery of the day: Waffle Palace! I got a waffle with Belgian chocolate and vanilla ice cream. It was divine.

Day 9 Mostly…:

Today we had English for 3 hours. We talked about the history theater for the first two hours, and I really enjoyed it.

Today we also went to the British Museum. We only had two hours! Not enough time, I am so going back. Jaden and I did all the Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and early European history as fast as we could. Yep, we are definitely going back.

We saw the Parthenon, about 20 or so mummies, some telescopes, the Rosetta stone, and so many other things! Just a few neat things I saw… I saw the Lindow Man which is a man that they found who had been preserved since 60 AD. His skin was all leathery and his face looked like it was melted. There was also one of these men in the Egyptian section, but what was neat about him is that he still had hair! It was crazy. I learned a few things in the Egyptian exhibit. I learned that the Egyptians believed that when you died you had two spirits, the ba and the ka. The ba is the spirit that can go into the spirit world and wander around or the traveler. The ka stays in the tomb. For that reason they burry the deceased with things to do. I saw one mummy where they wrapped all his fingers and toes separately. I also saw eel, baboon, snake, and alligator mummies. It cracked me up all the things they wrapped up! It was really neat to see some of the Parthenon and read more about it. I was amazed by all the pieces they put together. I really just need to go back and read more though! It was just not enough time to go through!

Tonight is Matilda the Musical and then more tomorrow!