BeAuTy aNd tHe BeAsT aT tHe BaLLeT

Wednesday, October 29th

History class again today. I really enjoyed today’s class, and we covered quite a bit, and a very wide variety of topics. A few of the topics covered included:

-opium wars with China
-Benjamin Disraeli
-Manchester as the leading city in Industrialism
-Cutty Sark and Great Clippers
-Great Clippers Races
-Threat of Industrialism, with the steamboat taking over
-Railway engineer and architect, Brunell (Paddington Station)
-Irish Potato Famine
-Poor conditions of the poor working class
-child labor, etc.
-Educational System
-tradition, no creativity, facts only
-students given no identity “girl no. 20”
-Charles Dickens novel

We spent the second half of the class walking around town again, this time closer to our flats and Regents Park. We walked down to a classy little villa called Park Village, full of ‘affordable’ townhouses. These little white houses were fenced in with gardens, and were designed by John Nash for the middle working class. They were commissioned by Prince Regent (George IV) for new ideas of fancy architecture by his favorite architect (who also created the Royal Pavillion and the flats where I live, as mentioned in previous entries). I guess that these ‘affordable’ homes go for about 1 million pounds…

Just a few blocks down was some other interesting architecture as well. A bunch of white, classical buildings lined the streets, much resembling the feel of Greek Temples. One that we saw was a building to celebrate the Triumph against the French Wars in 1815 (once again showing the rivalry between the French and the English). The building was filled with ionic orders, columns, and an elaborate pediment depicting the victory.

Continuing down the road, we came to a Danish church. There was a stone with a scripture on it that shows the Christianization of Denmark. Tolkein used this scripture as inspiration for the Elvish language in his series, Lord of the Rings.

Nearby we also got to see some houses used by monks and nuns of the Church of England. I learned that they wanted to practice much of the Catholic rituals, but even though they went a bit off of the ideals of the Church of England. I am somewhat confused with the transition of Catholicism to the Church of England and the history that goes along with that, so I plan on using that as the topic for my next research paper for the class. I have spent a great deal learning about the Protestant Reformation vs. the Catholic Counter Reformation in my art history classes, but know nothing about this. Cody and I addressed it a while ago when going to mass at St. Paul’s and Westminster Abbey, however, we need to figure out quite a bit more, as it is rather confusing…

Fun Fact: On all of the gates and lamp posts are the inscriptions G IV R or E II R. I have been wondering what this meant the entire time we have been here, but kept forgetting to ask. I figured it had something to do with the King or Queen, but wasn’t sure. I found out that G IV R, stands for George IV Rex. This would mean that George IV was the one who was king during the time of the development of the area, and with the Latin word Rex for king. E II R would mean Queen Elizabeth was queen during the time of the development, with the Latin word Regina for queen.

On all of the gates outside of our flat, a man has been outside painting each of these inscriptions with gold leaf. It is fun to watch, and interesting that the city actually uses real gold leaf to keep up with such maintenance. It is a traditional art, and really, shows the ‘posh-ness’ of London.

after dinner, I left to go the the ballet with Cody. We got tickets to go to a ballet interpretation of Beauty and the Beast. I had never been to a ballet before, and it was phenomenal. It was probably one of the top 5 best things I have done since coming here. The music was awesome, a full pit and beautiful arrangement. And the dance was so elegant and artistic. The set and the costumes were so detailed and beautiful as well.

I had a discussion with Cody after the performance, and I really find it interesting how all of the arts are intertwined. I don’t know the first thing about dance, but I noticed so much, as far as the movement, and the use of space and composition in their performance that related to the visual effects. The music definitely shapes so much of the drama as well, and the set and costumes definitely play a big part in the final production as well.

We took a bus back to Picadilly Circus after the show, and window shopped all the way home. There are sooo many beautiful displays, and they are so artistically done. It really is a work of art. All the way down Regents Street, we saw the Christmas decorations going up as well. We think that decorations are too early at home, well, apparently London likes to celebrate even before Halloween… but I LOVE CHRISTMAS! So I’m totally ok with that!

When I got back to my room, I was really tired, so I finished my pointer article, and talked to Mary for a bit online. :)

Also, speaking of Christmas, and my discussion… it snowed last nite! I woke up to my roommate yelling about how it was snowing out and there were international students outside going crazy because they had only seen snow twice in their entire lives (which I later discovered was Cody’s roommate from Tawian). When we left for class this morning, there was still snow on people’s cars parked outside, and we got to throw a few snowballs. It isn’t really incredibly cold yet, but I guess winter is coming…