Oxford and Home Again

It drizzled as we drove out to Oxford on Sunday, but the weather didn’t bother us then, since we were headed into church. The meetings were nice, but I fell asleep for a few minutes during the first talks of the sacrament meeting (which was the third hour). The munch and mingle was enjoyable, afterwards; there was lots of good food and fun company.

After things were winding down, most of the company departed for downtown Oxford, but since our services were the latest, we spent some time practicing and relaxing at the chapel. Towards the end, the bishop visited with us for a few minutes about his single adult days with Sister Hall in London. The best story was how she spearheaded a production of Saturday’s Warrior. It is hard for me to see that — she puts on a good front!

The rain had died down by that point, so we made it to the bus stop without too much difficulty. However, when we were arriving at the center of town, the rain had picked up! So, our dash to Wadham was a little wet, but really quite fine. As long as the rain doesn’t keep up for the next few weeks straight! We got to the Chapel early, so we sat down and mostly journaled.

The rehearsal with the Wadham College Choir was ok, but I’m realizing that this choir isn’t the best. I wonder if there is a “ranking” of the choirs at the University. I understand that the purpose and general choral system are different than at BYU and most US universities, but there must be some sort of understood “ranking.” In rehearsal, we didn’t spend time fixing general concepts that could’ve applied across lots of moments in the music. And the students are not very invested, almost unexcited to participate.

My voice was tired, and just got tireder as we headed into the performance. In between the two, we went into the choir commons room and had biscuits. I think that is a fairly common tradition across England. It would be fun to start that in our intermissions in America. The service was somewhat unusual and long. But I enjoyed the experience and will be more prepared for when I return to the UK for school. Also, I learned that the colleges have very different attitudes and feelings about them, and researching that will be of vital importance to me as I make application choices. Wadham was very casual (no robes or dress standard for the choir) and too radical for me.

The performance went surprisingly well. However, I realized that it was missing the testimony of a BYU concert. I doubt that many of the students are Anglican or even religious, which is sad. I could feel the Spirit during the service when I was trying, but it was not ever-present like it frequently is at BYU concerts, even when singing secular texts.

Also, I still struggle with the organist as choir director. If they have good training and personal experience, I think it can work, but our director frequently sang flat when demonstrating and didn’t warm up the low end of our voices. She wasn’t a terribly director, but I could tell that she lacked some important training.

Afterwards, there were “drinks,” but I just anxiously waited to play the organ. Once people had headed over to dinner, I played my Buxtehude piece. It wasn’t perfect, but was pretty good considering how little I’ve practiced recently. Oh, to have an instrument like that available for daily practice…

Our dinner was really good. Eating in a Great Hall is fun — I can’t wait for Cambridge! Everything about Oxford just made me more excited for my time in Cambridge and made me want to come here for my education! We had to wolf down our food, since our Evensong was the last performance of the day (from 6:30 to 7:40) and the coach was leaving at 8:30. We had a serving place up at the front and then servers took our empty plates away. I wonder what level of service we will have in Cambridge. Apparently, the level of formality was different at different colleges.

All in all, yesterday turned out well. That really means something, considering the exhaustion I felt after being on the move all weekend. The weekend did a lot of good, but it made a lot of people tired, me included.

For the afternoon, Jake, Andrew, and I wandered over to the Science Museum and scoured another floor. I really enjoyed the space section. There were lots of artifacts and interesting details about our current start studies that I’ve never heard of. I’m glad we went.

The rehearsal with the Bach Choir of London was very interesting for me. This was the first large choir that we have observed during rehearsal and I was able to see some consistencies from the smaller ensembles.

The choir had a very funny balance. There were about ⅔ women in the choir, equally divided between sopranos and altos. The men, obviously, comprised the remaining ⅓, and were also equally divided. This trend towards heavy treble voices in England is not something I agree with. I like the BYU concept of firm foundations in the bass and alto sections. The human ear naturally hears the higher pitches, we don’t need as many people on those voice parts.

However, the tone was remarkably pure. Frequently, large choirs have a heavy vibrato that doesn’t match from voice to voice, or section to section. But the London Bach Choir did a great job.

Afterwards, we took the tube home, via Tesco. We don’t have class today, and the rehearsal we are attending isn’t until 11:15, so people stayed up late tonight talking and watching movies. I was in the talking group. The best news of tonight’s talking was visiting with Josh Pluim. It now looks like I will be traveling to the Netherlands with him after the study abroad is over. We would be staying with his family there. It would be an awesome experience and would save me a lot of money! I’m glad that some sort of plan is beginning to formulate for my two weeks of free time. I'll know more in a few days, but the prospect alone is exciting!

More Oxford Delights!

Today was a good day in Oxford. We ran to catch the coach behind Royal Albert Hall, and I was one of the last people to make it aboard. However, no one was left today; the lesson was learned yesterday. I didn’t sleep on the coach today, I got some reading done in my Hubert Parry biography. It is good that I am gaining momentum in that, but I really need to gain momentum on the bibliography…

Once we got to Oxford, there was a lot of traffic; I was not happy sitting on the coach for forever. After alighting from the coach, Jake, Phil, and I ran to eat at the restaurant under the University Chapel. Ruth told me about it yesterday. It is all locally raised food at decent prices. I enjoyed the food greatly and would recommend it highly. One of the great parts about the restaurant was the business card that mentions “Elevenses.”

Phil didn’t want to go too far away, so he stayed near the center of town while Jake and I wandered out to the University Park. We watched the college teams playing lacrosse and walked through the rest of the park. It was nice and basically looked like Virginia. We had a few minutes on the way back to grab a quick snack and I picked up the book detailing all of the Proms. They start in about two month and run for two months. I can get £5 tickets to hear some of the best music in the world played by a sampling of the best musicians in the world, in London, at Royal Albert Hall, just meters away from my current front door. Of course, when they start, I will be in Cambridge, but it is totally doable to catch the train in for a night of fine music. Oh, the joys!

We made it back to the center of town in time for the tour around town that Ruth was giving. I wish we had walked farther, but we still heard about some amazing things. The neatest moment, as far as shock factor goes, was seeing where C.S. Lewis got his inspiration for The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. As you walk out of the church, you see a door with a lion head on, with two Pan figures on either side. Then you look to the right and see a lone lamppost. That is just tradition, but it certainly is an interesting story. Hearing about all the traditions just made me want to have such traditions to be a part of; the schools here are old enough for traditions that go back to before America had been discovered!

After the tour, a group of us headed over to Magdalen College Chapel to hear the choir rehearse and then present Evensong. The room was incredibly cold! Of interesting note was the sepia-colored stained glass windows. The Chapel had the typical windows, as well, but the entryway windows were all in brownscale. Pretty cool.

They have a boy’s choir that sings the treble part. I enjoyed hearing the different texture that the boys bring into the choir. I was impressed with the balance that the college boys gave to the boys. The male altos and tenors did well.

Afterwards, we only had time to catch the bus and drive back to London. We grabbed a bite to eat at Pizza Hut and then have talked for a while. Now it is certainly time for bed, since we have to be on the bus to Oxford at 8:15 AM tomorrow morning. I haven’t been up and functioning before that time too frequently, so this could be a good adventure! But it will be a good day with lots of singing and good food!

Prime Time

Yesterday was fun, but nothing too earth-shattering. The day started fairly normally. I was up and functioning around 9 and we had good rehearsals at the chapel. Then we headed down to the pier to ride the ferry downriver to Greenwich. I don’t think I will ever be a big fan of boats! It was enjoyable, but I prefer land.

At Greenwich, we (Nathan, Steve, Emily, Jake, Allen, Phil, and I) ate lunch at a fabulous Italian restaurant. Then we headed up to the Royal Observatory/Prime Meridian location, running into Ruth Eldredge on the way. I’m glad that I know Ruth and will be seeing a lot of her over the summer, both on this trip and at Cambridge. Seeing the Prime Meridian was cool, but I liked the camera obscura better; the technological abilities that people had a long time ago are amazing! It was also fun to see most of the clocks that Harrison made to deal with the longitude issue. However, now I’m not sure which museum has the real H1…

Then we rushed down the hill to get to the rehearsal on time. They were actually starting later than we thought, so we got to visit with the director for a bit. Harry Christophers is an interesting and very gifted fellow. I liked the rehearsal, but I wish when the director had spoken, he had spoken louder for our benefit. I liked Harry Christophers’ rehearsal style. He knows his singers and allows for flexibility and fun, in moderation. The difference with his choir and most other choirs is the dependence he can have on their ability to resume focus very quickly. They would snap back into serious rehearsal mode at the drop of a hat and produce incredible sounds from the downbeat.

I also appreciated how he rehearsed the pieces. They would sing a few pages, or just measures, fix any problem (or just review) and then they were off to another section, pages ahead. Obviously, they were rehearsing music that they are incredibly familiar with, but this style during the polishing time was impressive. We do some of that at BYU, but I think we can’t do as much as they do because we don’t snap back into serious mode quickly enough.

After the rehearsal, we heard from Sally Dunkley, the group’s musicologist. All throughout the afternoon/evening we enjoyed the aid of Simon Berridge, a member of both the church and The Sixteen. He is a great man and will be helping us in a workshop and at Cambridge.

Phil, Jake, and I then explored Greenwich and found a small cafe for dinner. It was ok food, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else! After that, I grabbed some postcards, so those can start getting sent out soon! As we strolled back to the chapel, we walked past Trinity College, one of London’s conservatories. They have practice rooms with windows! There was someone practicing the violin and looking out an open window! I was a little jealous. I’ll have to look more into Trinity College, and not just because of the above-ground practice rooms!

Then we attended the official concert. I enjoyed it more than The Tallis Scholars. It was not for intonation, the Tallis Scholars had a little better pitch. But seriously, pitch complaints at tonight’s concert were only noticeable to musicians; they were incredibly in tune for the bulk of the performance. What did it for me was the great dynamic contrasts. This gave the concert a strong feeling of engagement. All of the performers really wanted to be there. My only wish was that I had gotten more sleep last night so I wouldn’t have been fighting sleep during the first half; I’ll admit that I fell asleep for about 5-10 minutes in a really long piece that we had heard during the rehearsal. Two nights ago was a late night! And as a side note, the chapel was gorgeous!

Today was interesting for a few reasons, but we will get to those as they arise in the day’s recounting. The morning was fairly typical, but we went to catch the coach behind Royal Albert Hall instead of going to the church.

When we got to Oxford, we wandered through town to meet at the Sheldonian Theatre. On the way, we passed the recital hall that seniors give their recitals at, where Haydn and Handel gave some premieres. Such history! Once we figured out the plan, I ran into the Bodleian Library Admissions Office and got things sorted out for using the collections to do my Hubert Parry research project. The lady who helped me was great and gave me my reader’s card. It is beyond cool to have official access to some of the oldest and largest collections in the world. After that was sorted out, Emily, Emilie, and I headed for lunch at McDonald’s. It was nice to have some true American food and sit in a familiar setting for a while.

We met up with Ruth Eldredge to head over to the Headington Girl’s School. We took a short bus ride and walked up to a gorgeous estate. We had a great time exploring the school’s new music building and attending classes with the girls. The building was finished within the last year and is immaculate. Their recording capabilities and the whole situation is great for educating young people about music. One of their great ideas was naming each room after a famous English composer and having it as a timeline, of sorts, from the department head’s office, all the way around the building. I was impressed with how eager the girls were to learn. I don’t think it likely for me to ever teach young people, but if I had to, it would be in such a situation. At the end of the afternoon, they had biscuits and drinks for us to enjoy and gave us two CDs. The English are so hospitable.

We had a little time before out rehearsal, so I went over to the special collections building and checked my plans with them. They copied my letter that has Dr. Bush’s signature on it and gave me instructions about officially requesting manuscripts when I’m about to arrive in a few weeks. Afterwards, I slipped into another room and used the internet. It was such a wonderful feeling to be sitting at a table in a university library again. And it was great to have a password that gave me access to their library system internet network. Taking such joy in these things reminds me why I have a goal of being a professor.

Jake, Scott, Ryceejo, Allen, Heather, and I met up for rehearsal with Wadham College at about 5:30. The chapel was very cold! We sang around the piano, underneath the organ. The organist wasn’t there. The rehearsal went well, but it was funny how loose the standards were. Not that the singers were bad, they are great sight readers and singers. They just had some texting going on and the policy about attendance is very lax. It was interesting to me that their director is from the US, near New York and Boston. It was fun to sing tenor. If I end up singing tenor in the fall, it will be good training for me to hear inner parts better.

After the rehearsal, the director allowed me to go up and see the organ. I played a short bit to feel the action and to hear the different ranks the organ had. The action was heavy and the sound was incredible. She said I can have a little bit of time on Sunday, so I will bring some music to actually play! (Another note: I got an e-mail from the neighboring college in Cambridge, Selwyn, saying that I can practice on their instrument while I am there for two months. Their organist will meet with me to iron things out, introduce me to the porters and give me keys! So many doors are opening for me!)

Jake and I wandered to find a bite to eat after rehearsal (I had my first Cornish pasty — so good!) and then we met the group to travel back to London. I’m actually typing this as we drive. Maybe this means I will get to sleep at a decent hour tonight! Now that I’ve gotten to watch the countryside, I’m realizing how much it looks like Virginia. Honestly, if the cows were replaced by sheep, Virginia could pull of the look. At least, for this region of the country.

Today really was great! I’ve seen English countryside, learned to love Oxford (and hoped that Cambridge has a similar feel), played an incredible organ, sung in an ancient chapel, gotten access to the Bodleian, and just had a great time all around! I’m so happy to be studying here for a summer, and can’t wait to be here for an even longer time!

As a side note, blogger is giving me troubles uploading pictures, so check out my new picassa album. It has all of my London pictures and I will keep uploading all of them, enjoy! To get to it, click on the picture slideshow to the right.

An Afternoon Matinee?

Once again, we had an interesting day. I don’t know if there is any other option here in London!

The day started fairly normally and followed the basic schedule. I enjoyed Brother Wimmer’s discussion on the judiciary. Also, the rehearsal we had for Oxford went well. The Magnificat isn’t perfect, but we figured a lot of things out today. I feel much more prepared now.

After rehearsing, Jake and I rushed home to meet up with Phillip. We headed to the tube and rode down to see a show. The first on our list was Wicked and we were able to get AMAZING seats at student prices (£25). The timing just worked SO perfectly! We got to the theatre at about 2:05 and purchased our tickets by 2:10. We walked into the theatre and had the perfect amount of time to settle ourselves before the show started. The acting was great, and I liked being so close this time. It was hard for us to believe how close we were to the stage, considering our time frame and seat price. After all, we were in row N of the stalls (orchestra)!

When we got out of the show, we joked about seeing another one, but our jokes turned into serious discussion! We called up Emily to find out what was going on with them. We decided to meet up for dinner and figure things out. We met and found a pub, after multiple attempts, and had a delicious dinner. Nathan, Monica, and Emily joined us for dinner, as Steve had to run off.

After dinner, Phil, Jake, and I left to attend Phantom of the Opera. Everyone else had things to do. We flew through tube stations and the streets to get there in time. We got there, only to find out they don’t offer student concessions! That was no good. So we ran two blocks to see if Les Mis was an option. We got there, purchased our tickets, and then walked into the hall as the opening announcements were given. Wow! Too bad the actual performance left much to be desired… The ensemble sound was full and great, but the leads were not strong enough singers to carry the roles

Tomorrow should be a good day. And I’m really looking forward to the ferry ride on the Thames. Life is just full of adventures!

The Trafalgar

Yesterday was a great day! We learned a lot, had fun, and enjoyed a great concert. Our rehearsals went well, but it will be a lot of music to master. This will be a great experience in Oxford this weekend, on so many levels.

I particularly was appreciative that they let Brother Wimmer teach about the English governement for a bit yesterday. This is such a fascinating time to be here, with a hung Parliament. (However, it is not hung now. The Tories formed a successful coalition yesterday evening.)

For the afternoon, Phil, Jake, and I wandered through the edge of Kensington Gardens and saw the Albert Memorial. Amazing! Not the little stone that he requested of Victoria, that’s for sure. I loved the bison on the America corner and the frieze of famous/important men.

We then adventured to the Science Museum and explored the ground level in about 45 minutes. It will be fun to pop in a few more times and see the rest of the collections. The most interesting thing we saw today was the first clock created to measure a ship’s longitude at sea (H1) by John Harrison. I read the book about his life quite a few years ago, and was excited to his first go at the solution. He was dedicated, despite Parliament giving him difficulties.

We ended up getting to Cadogen Hall early last night, so we took the bus to find a place to eat. We found The Trafalgar. It is now my favorite pub. Maybe I’ll find another good one to replace it, but the food and atmosphere were great! The smell was right, but not overpowering. And there was space for lots of people at the same table — a real win for when you have lots of friends visiting together.

Of course, the concert was marvelous. Even though our seats were on the side of the balcony, I though they were perfect. In most concerts, I’d actually prefer the ability to see the music that the performers were playing, it makes it much more interesting for me. The concert last night was the Tallis Scholars at Cadogan Hall. They are as excellent as everyone claims they are. Of course, they aren’t perfect, but things locked so frequently; intonation was much better than pretty much any choir I’ve heard before.

In regards to the conductor, his style was unlike anything I’ve seen before. I wish I could’ve seen the music to know what time signatures (or lack thereof) he was conducting. I could not recognize his beats or indications, but his singers know his motions very well, and communicate very effectively.

After the concert we headed back to The Trafalgar, this time with a group, to get a bite (mostly dessert). The menu said they served food until 10 PM, but that was obviously untrue. At least last night it was. So we wandered on the tube back toward home, stopping at Tesco on the way.

While there, Jake, Phil, and I bought a chocolate truffle mousse thing. We ate it once we got home. It was divine! I still would’ve appreciated dessert at The Trafalgar, but it was a good substitute. We also discussed the musicals playing on the West End. It looks like we will be seeing Wicked this afternoon. I’m interested to see how cheaply we can get tickets. It might be under 20 pounds! Amazing! Oh, the joys of living in London as a student!

And for your viewing pleasure, the chapel where we have class:

The First Few Days

Saturday afternoon was wonderful. We got ready for the concert and took the 9 to Trafalgar Square. I just love the view from the steps in front of the Museum, overlooking the Square. You can see Parliament down the street and the architecture between you and Parliament is perfect. I took pictures. I think that will always be a special spot for me; yesterday, when we passed through there, I finally realized that I was in London. That view is now my favorite!

The performance on Saturday night was wonderful! Everything was not perfect, but it was enjoyable. We were at St Martin-in-the-Fields, with the Belmont Ensemble of London and the Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields (along with soloists). They performed a Baroque and early Classical concert.

My favorite part of the concert was definitely the orchestra. This orchestra was created 20 years ago and is still directed by its founder. They are all recent graduates from the conservatories in the area (most with graduate degrees) and are beginning/looking for jobs with the major orchestras in the area. And their conductor made me SO happy. He is a famous Baroque expert, and it showed. His style was with enough feeling to get the performers to reflect it, but his rehearsals must be strict enough to get the nice Baroque sound they performed with. So many conductors have trouble creating feeling in Baroque music; it all sounds so “pecky.” I’m glad they’ve become the default orchestra for this magnificent building, nothing but good will come from this!

The choir was impressive, considering they were volunteers. However, they got off to a rough start. As the evening progressed into the Requiem Mass, they picked up speed. Their start of the piece drew me in. I felt the Spirit there, which was wonderful. It is an incredible, inspired piece, though I couldn’t help but think of the movie Amadeus as I was hearing the music.

A random artistic note: I wish they would’ve used “God save the queen,” instead of “God save the king” during the Coronation anthem. After all, Queen Elizabeth II has been on the throne for almost 60 years! I guess I can understand the desire to be performing the original number, but it distracted me. Which is a shame, because it is one of my favorite pieces of ALL time.

And the “concert hall” itself was wonderful. I really enjoyed the sound’s qualities in the room. Hopefully the other halls we will be in will be similar. I really enjoy the architecture, especially the new east window that has a “cross water reflection” depiction. It is a great picture of 1725 England.

Afterwards, we wandered until we found a place to eat, a 50’s style diner. The food was good, but not quite American. But we were cold and hungry, so it won out. We took the tube home, but we take the tube or buses everywhere. I LOVE the transportation system here.

Yesterday was interesting. For starters, I woke up late. Very late. Which was good (I got almost 7.5 hours of sleep) and bad (I woke up and had almost no time to get ready to fly out the door). My alarm went off on time, but I rolled over to catch a few more minutes of sleep. As can be guessed, a few minutes turned into over an hour. I only woke up because Steve walked in and I asked him what time it was. When he told me it was 9:50, I leaped out of bed and rushed to get ready. Everyone else in the flat woke up late, too, so it was chaos!

We ran onto the tube and made it to Westminster with a little time to spare and enjoy the magnificence as we walked in. I was grateful for that. I thoroughly loved the experience and want to go back before my time in London is done. Even if we don’t go as a group, if there is time, I will make it on my own. I also will be going back for the paid tour, because the edifice is inspiring and beyond description!

I loved hearing the boys singing the treble part of the music at Westminster Abbey. They weren’t as good as professionally trained women, but the sound had a very different timbre that I liked. And for their youth, they were incredible. (Though, from what I hear, they were making faces at each other across the aisles to try and get laughs to emerge from each other! Oh, the joys of youth!)

Afterwards, we visited and realized we would be late for church. So, as usual, we dashed! We made it with about 5 minutes to spare. It was nice to attend services I was familiar with, but I felt a little sad about the music. I guess that is to be expected, due to my current focus in life! Even so, I need to work on being less judgmental at church, perfect the concept of “church ears” and “professional ears.” Also, I was disappointed that we didn’t sing with the organ. The pianist wasn’t bad — she just wasn’t able to play loud enough to support the congregation. (Although, we did swell the ranks quite a bit!) I felt it was a shame that such a gorgeous organ couldn’t be put to use.

Today was a good day, all in all. For starters, I woke up on time! Yeah for having time to eat breakfast and get ready for the day. However, the blogging did not get done like I planned, so I am working on it late tonight.

We had our first class session today. I’m excited, because I truly learned a lot and will think differently about things because of the topics in this class. One thing that was said today during class made me think. It was tangental to a tangent, but it was important. Dr Staheli made the comment, “We judge ourselves on intent and others on behavior.” Wow. How true. Think on that for a while!

After class, we wandered over to the college that is across the street from the chapel. Apparently they have cheap food in the dining halls. It was fairly inexpensive, but I was able to get cheaper prepared food at Marks and Spencer. So we went there, instead! Oh, the tomato and basil soup was divine! Similar food experiences just don’t exist in the States. I’m really beginning to love England, more than the States. Oh, the future is exciting!

Phil, Jake, and I were the wanderers today. After M&S, we traveled to explore Westminster Square; lots of pictures were taken. The architecture on that block is beyond description. However, we did think the statue of Abraham Lincoln was a little out of place. I agree, he is a great guy, but being a great guy doesn’t mean your statue should be in the British government square!

Then, we took the tube to the Millennium Bridge area. The “Harry Potter” bridge was great. So many famous things have happened in London - we keep seeing and hearing things from the movies and our history textbooks in living color! I’m having a hard time getting over that.

We made it over to the Southwark Cathedral for evensong tonight. It had a very different beauty about it, but I like the homey feel it had. While Westminster Abbey feels divine, I think it is easier to connect in Southwark. Even though it was simpler, the art was still amazing. We just don’t have these things in America…

The music they sang was very contemporary, and I frequently dislike contemporary music. However, it was overall very nice. I enjoyed myself and felt the Spirit. And as far as the organist (come on, you thought I would make it through and entire entry without mentioning him?!), he was incredible. Especially considering his youth. I would place him at 25, certainly not over 30. The music he played was difficult, modern monstrosities. He has inspired me to pursue a degree here in London, where one of my roles would be as a church organist. What a great way to learn the craft. Oh, the cogs are turning in my brain with all the possibilities!

After the evensong, we headed to a pub that the guide book said was good. It must’ve been good, there wasn’t room enough for the three wanderers, Emily, and Steve to sit together. That canceled that plan. Maybe some other time. We wandered, both above and under ground, until we came to a nice pub near St. Paul’s Cathedral. The food was good, but a little too commercialized. I need to find a more ideal pub. I’ll be more knowledgeable in a bit, perhaps?

On our way home, we stopped by Tesco. They are my new favorite grocery store. I’m saving a special spot in my heart for M&S prepared food goodness, but for groceries, Tesco it is.

Life is good. I’m learning tons about me and music and the world and London and every good thing! Hope you enjoy the pictures!

And I'll close with some pictures to enjoy.

The protest camp in Westminster Square.

And one of their people leaving...

The Story of My Life!

Well, I am currently sitting in the front room of the flat, typing this blog update. It feels kinda funny to be a blogger now. And I guess it is kinda funny to think that I'm in London, now. It has been an adventure getting here, but I’ve enjoyed it and had a good first day in my new home.

The travel schedule for the last two days ended up as a nice guideline. Truly, the lack of adherence to the schedule was like the line from Pirates of the Caribbean, “they’re more like guidelines, really.” My flight from DC was delayed until almost 4 PM, because of air traffic jams in NYC airspace. But they put us on the plane at 3 PM because the airport was running short on gates for other planes to disembark. So, that meant we were on the tarmac in DC longer than our actual flight time!

I was afraid that I would miss my flight from JFK, but I made it in time for my now delayed flight to Heathrow! It makes sense that the next leg would also be delayed, especially after we learned that they were only operating with one runway at JFK, for all arrivals AND departures! What a nightmare, all the air traffic in one of the busiest airports in the nation and world being funneled through one runway… We sat on the ground for quite a while.

Anywho, the flight from JFK was LONG. I watched the movie Invictus, a very good film, and then slept, with the help of two Benadryl. That worked like a charm! I woke up in the morning when we were within a few minutes of London. We were flying in from the France side of things, instead of the Great Circle route, due to ash cloud problems over Scotland. I've heard talk of more airport closures across Europe in the next little while, depending on how the winds decide to blow.

Of course, my luggage was delayed. Story of my life, right? The TSA decided to check my bag at JFK and take just long enough for it to miss my flight. It got sent on the next flight, so I waited until a little after 9:30 to get it. However, Emily’s flight was also delayed, so it worked out just fine! Steve met me around 8, we wandered the airport and had breakfast while we waited. The tube ride to the flats was uneventful, but the tubes have reminded me of WWII movies. I LOVE how connected the city is with this transportation system! I’m currently looking at coming to the UK for grad school, and I’m liking the idea more and more.

For the days adventures, we decided to not go with a standard walking tour, but to explore the sights that Steve had discovered through the last week he was here. We got very familiar with using the tube system. I also got very familiar with how confusing the street layout of London is without a map! I will have one of those as I travel today!

My favorite thing that we visited yesterday was St. Martins-in-the-Field. The group that performed there last night was rehearsing when we walked in. The acoustics were incredible! And it was fun to sneak around where I could see the organ. What an organ! I wouldn’t mind getting to play that instrument in my lifetime. It will be fun to go to the concert there tonight!

Overall, I think one of my favorite parts of London, and I’m guessing most of England, is the longevity of buildings. A building outlives its original purpose. Instead of getting razed and building something new, they just do some remodeling and make it work. Like our flats, or all the stores. I LOVE the department stores that look totally modern on the inside, but have the look of a block of town-homes from the outside. To die for!

Besides being totally exhausted at the end of the day, my biggest sadness was that my camera died on the flight over. The battery is charged now, so good pictures can begin today. And I guess another sadness was this morning's rising...I woke up at 2:20 AM after going to bed at 10:30. I tried to fall asleep more than once after that, but was unable to...perhaps a nap will be in my future today. At least I was slightly productive with my time; I started my in-depth searching for graduate studies throughout the UK. I'm getting more and more excited!

And as a side note, our flats are in a wonderful part of the city! South Kensington is really nice. We are next door to one embassy, another is a few doors down and we pass other embassies in our neighborhood. Of course, the fact that we live across the street from Hyde Park and that Royal Albert Hall is just a short walk away, should have been a good indicator for me before I got here, but now I know that I love it!

So, the story of my life, yes the airport joys! But the story also seems to be good things and real joy happening after long trials. Not a bad story to have.

Well, I'll post the few pictures I've gotten before my camera died...

So close to DC...Ready to begin the adventure!

There were some gorgeous views from the airplane, of sky, land, and sea, and various combinations of the three.