HA! Because I'm a tourist...

The past few days in class we have read some interesting things...first, we read Alice In Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass...both quite strange, but once down to the nitty gritty of them, they made a whole lot more sense. They are mostly critiques of the Victorian Era educational system and parenting ways. We also read the Defence of Guenevere by William Morris, Culture and Anarchy: Sweetness and Light by Matthew Arnold, and some other poems not really worth mentioning.

Tomorrow and Thursday we are going to be in Oxford. We'll be checking out the Ashmolean, Kelmscott Manor/Press, Christ Church Cathedral and some other stuff...It's about a two hour drive from London to Oxford...then to get to Kelmscott, we have to travel another hour and a half. I'm going to get to listen to a lot of music...

We are thinking about taking a trip to Ireland for a couple days. We have one thing at 0930 on Friday, 8June, a free weekend, and we are going to try and convince our professor that we've had so much overtime in class that our 'free' class should be that Monday. So, in essence, we would be flying to Dublin on Friday afternoon/evening, staying in a hostel Friday and Saturday and possibly Sunday night, and heading back to London. Plane tickets are about $100, which isn't too shabby...and if we can find a hostel...even better. If not, I'm sure we can all cram in a room! We can trade nights for who gets the bed...

I'm still trying to find a way back to Prague. I proposed to my friend Brendan that he meet me there because he will be finishing up with his training for the National Guard in Utah about the same time- I don't know what he'll say, but it would be really awesome to be there with him. I could show him the ropes of the Czechs =)

Also, I'm taking up a fund....it's called "we want to see Kelsi travel to lots of places while in Europe and deter the cost of food because it's double to triple what it costs in Iowa" fund. So, I'm currently taking donations =)

On another note, expect my grammar to be 'good' (I did that on purpose) within the next few weeks because I've worked it out with my professor that she's going to help me with it. Awesomeness.

Other than that, nothing too new here, I'll post some pictures below from the Dickens House Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum (because those were some of the pictures I accidentally deleted) and then from the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms! The Museum was nothing short of amazing...well worth £9...Have I ever told you guys how much I LOVE history??

Have a good one.

<3 kelsi

Dickenses' bathroom

Dickenses' bathroom

my flat from the Dickens House Museum

VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM

Triton and Neptune

Tipoo's Tiger

The Book of Martyrs, by John Foxe, 1563

A Gentlemen's Guide to the Restraint of Negroes

3 Reliquary

Close up of the Relics

Me in a crinoline...hot, huh?

Hammersmith Rug by Morris & Co.- 1889

Paintings by Raphael

CHURCHILL MUSEUM

British War Cabinet Room

From a diary of a little British girl

Winston Churchill with his troops

Winston Churchill's hat

September 11, 1940

Some of the many medals Churchill was awarded

Churchill's Nobel Peace Prize

Churchill's Christening Robe- 1874

Churchill's revolver, flask, pocketwatch

today we went to kensington palace...it was quite remarkable!

it's been raining here all day...first time i got to use my umbrella...

but anyway, i need to do some stuff for class...have a good one!

k

written by  flaminko on May 27, 2007 from London, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: 'Ello Guvnah
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written by Jean Jenkinson on May 26, 2007

This was a comment written to me on my last post. My response is this: who are you? The manuscript police? That's what I thought...find something better to do you bitter old hag.

But, on a more positive note...we went to the Leighton House today and then to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Spent five hours wandering around...we must have found something interesting...I'll put pictures up later this weekend.

I'm heading home to take a nap!

k

written by  flaminko on May 26, 2007 from London, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: 'Ello Guvnah
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But anyway...the trip to the British Museum was pretty cool yesterday...I've got pictures and descriptions below!

me and Assyrian Bull

Close-up of the Assyrian Bull

Elgin Marbles. These sculptures are in the middle of a bitter custody battle between England and Greece. The Parthenon in Athens was built about 2500 years ago as a temple dedicated to the Greek goddess, Athena. After that it was the church or the Virgin Mary of the Athenians for a thousand years, a mosque, a gunpowder store and then an archaeological ruin. In 1687 when the Parthenon was used as a gunpowder store, there was a huge explosion and it blew the roof off and destroyed a large portion of the remaining sculptures and had been an archaeological ruin ever since. A lot of archaeologists agreed that the sculptures could never be attached, and by 1800 only 50% of the original sculptural decoration remained. Between 1801 and 1805, Lord Elgin (British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, which Athens had belonged to for some 350 years) removed about half of the remaining sculptures from the fallen ruins and from the building itself and took them back to Britain to preserve them from future weathering. The Ottoman authorities had full knowledge and gave him full permission to do so. In 1816, the British Museum acquired the sculptures. Greece believes they should have them back, England says they shouldn’t. You can learn more about the debate at: www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/gr/grparth.html

There are pieces of the Parthenon in the Louvre, Vatican, Copenhagen, Vienna, Wuerzburg, Palermo, Heidelberg and Munich.

Forepart of a horse from the chariot group surmounting the mausoleum…made in 350 BC. As you can see, not in the best of shape…

The Rosetta Stone, 196 BC. The Rosetta Stone basically helped other people translate Hieroglyphics...the top language is Hieroglyphic, the second is Demotic and the third is classical Greek.

This was made in 2500 BC and it was found at the temple-tower of Ninhursag at Tell al-‘Ubaid. I don’t know how well you can see the picture, but the lion-headed eagle, Imdugud, is holding two deer.

Mummies from 1st century BC/1st century AD

Typical Egyptian grave with grave-items. Yes, the body is real…it was preserved so well because the sand caused rapid natural drying. This is from 3400 BC from around the Nile Valley.

Look at his mouth…I don’t think he died a painless death…

This is from 3000 BC when they started using coffins…you can see that the body wasn’t preserved as well by using coffins. Their early coffins were made from baskets, wood or pottery.

Mummy

Limestone stele, from the grave of Amathus, Cyprus, 5th century BC. It says: Here having met his doom Idagygos of Halicarnassus lies, son of Aristokles servant of Ares. That’s right, I speak Greek now!

Made in Cyprus, 4th century BC. It says: Theudaisios of Euesperides. (Euesperides is a settlement in modern day Libya)

Gravestone of Aurelius Hermia and his wife Aurelia Philematium in Rome.

Crocodile skin suit of Roman parade armour from 3rd or 4th century

American cash register from 1901

Items found in the Sutton Hoo. The Sutton Hoo is a group of burial mounds from the 6th and 7th centuries. Included in these mounds was a ship burial, which means a ship was used as a coffin type holder for the bodies and grave goods.

written by  flaminko on May 25, 2007 from London, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: 'Ello Guvnah
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k

written by  flaminko on May 24, 2007 from London, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: 'Ello Guvnah
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As for the title of this blog, I wrote it because it's funny and sadly enough, it's sorta true. Yesterday when we were waiting for our professor and her husband to meet us for supper we were standing outside of the ACCENT centre, which is where we have class and play on computers, etc. But anyway, we saw two blonde girls in sorority shirts or something playing Frisbee...not a big deal, unless you're dumb enough to do it in the street. First thought that came to my mind: Did I really leave Iowa City? Traffic in London is horrendous and there's no other way to describe it! The cars are coming from the opposite direction and they seriously don't stop for anything...Well as we were watching these broads I said my comment about leaving Iowa City aloud and my friend Alex responded with, "they must be Americans, no one else is that stupid." So, kiddies...go forth and play Frisbee in the street and support all stereotypes that Americans are stupid!

But anyway...we went to dinner last night at an Indian restaurant, it was pretty good...After that we all went home and were asleep by 930...sleep never felt so good. However, minor problem with the sleeping arrangements: I haven't slept on a bed in 6 months. How does this feel in the morning? It took me about five minutes to scoot off the bed to get up. AWESOME.

We went on a walking tour today of London...starting at 9am and not getting over until 315. My feet hurt!!! We saw briefly Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, the East End of London, and some other places. I forgot my cable for my camera otherwise I'd post what I saw and correspond them with my writings appropriately...but I'll do that tomorrow. Anyway...when we were outside Parliament, there were protesters across the street and we asked our guide what they were doing and who they were and she told us that it was Brian Haw. Brian has been sitting outside of Parliament since June 2nd, 2001- never missed a day. He originally started sitting out there because has against the economic sanctions on Iraq and the bombing from the UK and USA. After September 11, 2001, he widened his focus of being against the war and insists the USA and UK created acts of terror on Afghanistan and Iraq. Now, Brian being out there irritated Tony Blair to no end and various authority figures have tried to remove him...he took them to court saying he was exercising his right to free speech. A judge in the High Court agreed with him, and let him stay. In 2005, Parliament passed a law saying that because of terror, no one could protest within a mile of their building. They figured this would get rid of Brian. It hasn't because there has been constant battle between SOCPA and the courts. Some say the law should apply to him because it's a law, but others say it shouldn't because it was passed after he started.

The fact that Brian was going to be thrown out of the square made a lot of people angry and therefore, they have started to gather on Wednesdays to protest their right of free speech. Every person who wants to protest has to have a license...one man deals with these. A couple days before the demonstration, people come down to the police station and apply for a license and state what they will be protesting, where they will be, their name, etc, and then this one man has to do all of the paperwork associated with the licenses. He told people at one point that they could only protest for six hours and they asked how they could protest for longer...he said, if they moved the could...so now when people come in to get their licenses to protest, they get two or three and this poor guy is stuck kicking himself in the pants for ever saying anything...When they protest, they write silly things on their signs. Such as, Bananas are good, Dirty socks smell, There is too much paperwork for (insert name of one man who does all of it for licenses)! Amusing.

There is also a statue of Abraham Lincoln in the square across from Parliament. Why? They liked that he was opposed to the idea of statehood.

We also went to a place called the East End. A lot of immigrants used to (and still do, mostly Bangladeshi) live there. The Huguenots from the Reformation sought solace here, along with other outcasts of society like Jews, Italians, poor city folk. This was also Jack the Ripper's stomping ground. Much of that has been destroyed, though because of the memories. Speaking of which, there is a law that prohibits the demolishment of "listed buildings." That means they are old and to be preserved, and if anything is changed on them (even a window), Parliament should know about it. It's very interesting because one of the most recent places that was about to be demolished was saved by this law is in the East End. It was an old market with numerous identical buildings, and whatever was behind it was taken out...and a new modern building was constructed. So, you have this modern, mega-building with shiny silver and black everything right behind and almost connected to a beige-ish building from the early 19th century. It looks really stupid.

This somewhat deals with my topic for my final paper. In 1877, William Morris founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. I think I am going to write something about how that has affected the laws today, how much was destroyed, his influence, mention of it in his books, modern demolition of buildings, etc. I haven't figured out a focus point or a thesis, but I'll let you know when I find one. Apparently I can go somewhere in London to their office and read all their written materials- new and old. I'm pretty excited about researching this because it's something that I'm really interested in. Since I'm anti-tearing down really pretty pieces of history, I figure this topic suits me well.

As far as poetry goes, who ruined it with meter?

My favourite sign: Humps next 650 meters.

OBSERVATIONS OF THE DAY:
Even though the Brits drive on the wrong side of the street, they still walk on the right hand side of the sidewalk.

Only Mercedes have hood ornaments.

Have a good one guys!

k

written by  flaminko on May 23, 2007 from London, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: 'Ello Guvnah
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Where to start...well, from an airplane, Long Island looks like a lego city..the Statue of Liberty didn't look so large and the suburbs all look the same- go figure...

Once I got off my plane at LaGuardia, I had to pay $13 bucks to get a ride on a bus to JFK. Ten minutes into the ride I was looking around to figure out where we were- we were still in Laguardia...but it took us twice as long in JFK than LaGuardia, not to mention the insanely roundabout way we took to get there! I've actually added JFK to my list of airports I hope I never see again (the first being O'Hare)

I checked my luggage, hung out listening to people's conversations, road the AirTrain and bought a keychain-that was the extent of my trip to New York. Oh, and I've never seen so many Hasidic Jews in my life.

The flights overseas have become increasingly more comfortable than my first trip some seven odd years ago...A personal TV that you can choose what you want to watch, compfier chairs, moderinzed storage bins up top, and actually the flight attendants were incredibly nice people!...A baby cried the whole way...

Once we got to London, we waited for probably about three hours for everyone to arrive, then hopped in our two taxi vans and drove for an hour or so our rooms- which consequently looks like a dungeon..and comes complete with ants!!! But our taxi driver was cool as all get out...

The next couple days are just orientation and beginning classes...i posted some pictures to simulate what I've seen...so, no, I didn't take them

Long Island, NY

Hasidic Jews

Map of London

Gherkin

Double Decker bus!