Week 2 in England

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Shows, Greenwich, and Bath

London has been full of new experiences for me! On Monday, we went to an Iraqi restaurant for lunch with our class. I wasn't sure what to expect and I was pleasantly surprised. There was pita bread, hummus, rice, chicken, and lamb. The meat was tender and perfectly cooked. Needless to say, I was stuffed at the end! That night, I went to "Phantom of the Opera" with Mulherin, Fletcher, and Murphy. It was a wonderful performance. Mulherin, the vocal expert of our group, said that the actor who played the phantom had a "pure" voice meaning he hardly wavered as he sang. I had a hard time surpressing my urge to belt it out along with the show. Don't worry, I didn't!

I was surprised that we didn't get much rain here in London... and then Tuesday, September 9th rolled around. We went to Shakesphere's Globe Theater for a showing of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". It was authentic as we stood in the area around the stage in the theater with no roof. It rained for the whole performance! But fortunately, the performance was really great and very funny!

The next day, we made a trip to Greenwich and the sun was shining. To get there, we walked under the Thames river through a very cold tunnel that echoed. I stood over the prime meridian and had one foot in the Western hemisphere, one in the Eastern! Later that night, we went to our professor's flat for dinner. It was fun to see where he lived and to get free drinks 😉

On Thursday, September 11th, we went on a double decker coach bus to Bath. I sat on the top in the front so I had great views the whole way there. It was about a two hour bus ride so we were not too far outside of London. Bath is so named for the ancient Roman baths that are there and which we toured. The "plumbing" that the Romans installed still work as hot springs water continues to flow throughout the building. The big bath in the middle has turned a greenish color from the algae because there is no longer a roof. If you look closely at the surface of the water, you can see bubbles rising to the surface as the hot springs water works its way to the surface. Then, we ate lunch at a small place called Sally Lunns which is known world-wide for these special buns they make. I had mine with homemade cinnimon butter. yum! There wasn't enough time to tour the Jane Austen Centre so that is on my list for my next European trip (whenever that may be... haha!) When I got back to my apartment in London, I packed for our trip to Scotland!

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