After a long and somewhat stressful day of studying on Monday, this was the best way to unwind. We attended a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performed the piece spectacularly. I'm one of those people that jams to classical music just as hard as I do rock or indie, so if you'd have looked over at me during the performance, I would have been at the edge of my seat, bobbing my head with eyes closed. What's more, because I wrote a blog post about this piece for an assignment in my humanities class, I enjoyed it even more. Lovely. Also, the Prince of Wales was there. No big deal.
The first picture is the interior of a ship (HMS Victory) we toured in Portsmouth on Tuesday--it had been in full use even in World War I! On the bottom are just a few other ships we saw (but didn't tour).
Later that day, we visited the town of Winchester and its cathedral. We were told Jane Austen was buried there, but I didn't realize they meant right in the cathedral! Guys, I've just met one of my literary heroes! Well, not really, but you know what I mean. Jane Austen will forever be relevant in my life.
In Greenwich on Thursday, I straddled the Prime Meridian! You can see the European city names on either side. I never imagined I'd get to do something like that. Guess I'll have to go to the Equator to complete the set.
This is the Octagon Room in the Royal Observatory; it's one of the only remaining interiors designed by Christopher Wren (the architect for St. Paul's Cathedral, among many other things). I loved how open and light it was. The whole building housed a steam-punk exhibit, so that explains the intriguing dress in the middle.
Hello, grandeur. What you see here is the Painted Hall in the Royal Naval College. My favorite part about visiting this was being able to determine what design period it was from--the Baroque era. See, I'm learning things!
These two pictures are of the Chapel in the Royal Naval College. Quite something, huh? The exterior is definitely by Christopher Wren.
The National Maritime Museum displayed some fascinating exhibits; one of them discussed and showed the progress of determining how to measure longitude. I'd never given much thought to how longitude came about, so I found it really interesting. Also, the quote on the bottom struck me, so naturally I had to save it.
Hooray for more design nerdiness! This is the Queen's House by architect Inigo Jones in the Neoclassical period (18th century). I loved the spiral Tulip Staircase best of anything in the house.
Thursday night, I saw the encore of Frankenstein done by the National Theatre. Just like the book, this performance will always stick with me. While I loved that my favorite actor--Benedict Cumberbatch--was in it, what impressed me was the story and how they portrayed it. They took this dear book of mine and made it come to life. Through the creative lighting (using those thousands of light bulbs as pictured above), the beautifully haunting music, the ingenious sets, and the immaculate acting, I experienced Frankenstein on an entirely different level. It has profound applications in life and causes one to examine their relationship with others and with God. Frankenstein might be my favorite performance I've seen here--I'm still pondering about it, and probably will be for a long time.
And now... HALLOWEEN.
For those of you who know me, you understand that Halloween rivals (and in certain aspects surpasses) Christmas as my favorite holiday. This particular Halloween was the best I'd ever had. Hands down. It began with class--humanities and Shakespeare, both wonderful--and then proceeded with cycling through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park with my friends. If only I could take pictures and ride a bike at the same time... Everything about it was perfect: the heavy, golden light; the crunchy leaves strewn in scattered piles; the people--clad in stylish fall clothing and hanging out with friends or family; and the crisp, fresh air. I can still sense all of it.
After our glorious bike ride, we ventured to Covent Garden Market to explore and get a Halloween treat. Mind you, this picture was taken at 3:45 or so, and the sun's near setting!
Here's another shot of Covent Garden Market, though I chose to focus on the sky. Oh, and the treat I bought was a crepe with Nutella, strawberries, and ginger biscuits. Excellent.
For dinner that night, our lovely and extremely talented cook made us a sort of pumpkin and shrimp goulash. The ensemble was fun because she served it in pumpkins with jumbo shrimp dangling from the top. Though I couldn't eat it (dang cheese), I could appreciate the creativity. Afterwards, we all divided into our Hogwarts Houses (GRYFFINDOR PRIDE) and competed for the House Cup with all sorts of fun games. For a while, my house was way behind, but we miraculously pulled ahead--just like in the books! Since Dumbledore wasn't there to give us extra points for our bravery/good deeds, we only came in second place. Ah well! Everyone got pumpkin chocolate chip cookies in the end, so it was fine.
Later on, we went "trick or treating" to each of the rooms and flats in our building. We were a bunch of giggling 19- and 20-year-olds knocking on our professors' doors and squealing "Trick or treat!" at the top of our lungs. The picture below was my haul for the year. Not bad at all, especially because it's all European candy and chocolate. (I kid you not, American candy bars are better/different here.)
My friends and I later had a dance party in the classroom and then their room (other people wanted to watch a movie). Good music and good people make the best company. The three hours before I went to bed were spent talking with friends about movies. I was asked what my favorite movie was, but since I've seen and loved too many, I had to pick my favorite from each film genre. This evolved into a huge discussion about everyone's favorites, the memories and feelings associated with them, and some cool insight to each person's character. We even discussed books and (inevitably, if I'm around) Sherlock. Overall, this Halloween was an amazing and satisfying end to my week--and month, I realize!
Here's to hoping November will be just as cool as October. Cheers!
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