Monday
Today, we split up in the morning and went our own ways for Holly, Will, and Jon to buy tickets to Wicked, and for me to get a few errands done. I went to the British Museum as well, which was really, really crowded, but was full of a lot of interesting artifacts. It was a actually really disturbing how garishly the many, many sarcophagi were displayed in the Egyptian section. I definitely was not very happy with the way that the museum tried to make a solemn tradition surrounding death into a tourist attraction. Moreover, the Japan section was closed!
After that, I walked over to Chinatown to buy some more ingredients to make Zaru Soba soon. After wandering around for a fairly long time exploring, I went back to the room to meet the rest of the gang. After making some dinner, I went to choir rehearsal, which is starting to get really close to the performance and is thus heartily scaring me.
Tuesday
Unfortunately, today was Holiday's final day in London! We went out to breakfast in the morning at a pub, for an authentic English breakfast (for those who don't know, it consists of sausage, bacon, eggs, toast, baked beans, and sauteed mushrooms). We had a nice conversation, and then had to say our goodbyes. It was a short time that she was here, but a fun one!
After that, we went off to Westminster Abbey for a tour. It was truly an amazing place; unfortunately we couldn't take pictures inside, but here is one of the outside:
Ok, 2. Can you blame me?
The inside was similarly large and beautiful. Every nook and cranny is filled with graves, memorials, and tombs. Among the people represented are queens and kings, Winston Churchill, poets, scientists, and basically every important person in British history. Of course, the best part was the musicians. Purcell, Britten, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, and Handel all were memorialized somehow in the abbey.
Afterwards, we went home for a quick dinner, and then went off to Duncinane, a play written as a sort of sequel to Macbeth. The writing was, despite the setting, very modern and easy to understand. Moreover, being by the same author as Midsummer, the dialogue was extremely funny and entertaining. The story was about England's army being stuck in Scotland trying to keep the peace, which they made abundantly clear was symbolic of a certain war that Britain is taking part in currently...
Political undertones aside, the play was probably my favorite I've seen so far in London. The actors were great, and I loved the way the stage was set up. David Greig (the author) is definitely a wonderful modern playwright, and clearly very diverse as well.
Wednesday
Today, we had class all day, including watching the movie "Brassed Off" for Music History. We also had to act out scenes from a very dramatic play for Theatre.
After that, we went to the Royal Opera House to see Cosi fan Tutte. It was set in modern times, with an extremely bland set (as in literally everything on stage besides the people was beige). This definitely did not add to the intrigue of the plot (I would have much rather seen a period performance), but the musical performances by the singers made up for the boring setting. I was swept away in Mozart's music for the whole 3 hours.
Thursday
Today, we had class for basically 6.5 hours straight, which was absolutely exhausting!
Afterwards, we made Zaru Soba for dinner, which is a Japanese cold buckwheat noodle dish. It was absolutely delicious, and reminded me of home and Japan both!
Then, we went to the Coliseum to see the English National Opera do a performance of Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. The ENO does everything in English, which was interesting, but convenient in listening to the music. The show itself was incredible! The music was dramatic, and chilling, with a glass harmonica playing off of the mad cries of Lucia as she becomes insane. The singer who played Lucia had a gorgeous voice, with an incredible range and touch for hitting notes just the right way. The staging was also very interesting, with lots of old photographs showing up in different places. eventually as headstones in a graveyard.
Friday
Today, after music theory, I went and bought a ticket to see Handel's Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall on Good Friday, which is one of the most exciting concerts coming up! Then, I went and bought a ticket for the early performance of Avenue Q in the West End.
The show was really good, an extremely sardonic parody of Sesame Street, only with more mature themes. It portrays real life with the same cheesy music and puppets that are used to teach children, which is absolutely hilarious. I knew the music beforehand, so I expected many of the jokes, but the staging made many of the jokes much funnier than I originally thought they were. Also, a few of the jokes were changed for the British version (they had to throw in a dig on the French), which was very interesting to see.
Well, I think that's about all I have in me right now!
Cheers,
Ethan
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