This is the view of the back of our flats from Regents Park
Thursday, October 30th
Another art and paper class. Good times. As I was leaving class, I ran into Diane’s husband, who we have coined the nickname ‘Tim-Tom’ and greeted him as Cody and I left for lunch. I’m sure that his daughter Mya was ecstatic to see him when he arrived, as she was chatting up a storm and asking about when he would get there every 15 minutes or so while we were in class.
Cody and I ate lunch and then took a walk through Regents Park. Despite a bit of rain, it really was quite nice and cleared up to be a wonderful, relaxing afternoon. The colors were pretty, however nothing close to walking through High Cliff back home. Here, there are some pretty colors, however for the most part, everything just kind of turns brown and fall off the trees.
After our walk through Regents Park, we decided to take our chances with the rain, as it was getting a bit darker again, and go hit up a few stores down the side streets over by Oxford Street. London weather is very unpredictable.
We walked by Marks & Spencers, a nice department store that our IS 381 professor said we should check out, but it wasn’t anything too special really. It was basically the same as any of the big department stores in the Fox River Mall, except… it was in London. It was however, extravagantly decorated with Christmas décor, even though Halloween is tomorrow. I guess it makes sense with all the tourists that they would start so early, since most of them will be buying Christmas gifts.
Anyway, we left Marks & Spencers, and started to head down to some of the other stores, but then it began to downpour. It didn’t seem like a good chance of it stopping anytime soon, so we decided to change our plans a bit.
Before I left the states, Mr. Van Boxtel told me I had to go to the Sherlock Holmes museum, so today was the day. The museum is a house on the commercial area of Baker Street, which is only about 3 blocks from where I live. This is where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes was supposed to have lived. The crickety old house was separated with each room belonging to a different character, displaying the atmosphere in the stories.
When I got to the museum, I walked into an extravagant gift shop, filled with magnifying glasses, detective hats, and pipes. I bought a ticket and went next door to the galleries, greeted by a ‘policeman’ upon my entrance. I went upstairs to the first room and began chatting with the room attendant. He was a very solemn but cheerful old man (if that makes any sense at all…), hunched over a bit in a blue suit and tie. He looked like he should have been smoking a pipe and reading a newspaper.
There was also a very cheerful, over-enthusiastic Chinese woman who I started talking with and ended up touring the rest of the museum with. She was really funny and I enjoyed her company. This first room I walked into was the study, complete with a fireplace, bookshelves, and Watson’s desk. There is a coffee table and two chairs where tourists can sit in front of the fireplace with selective hats and a pipe to pose for silly pictures- so of course I did.
The Chinese woman was so funny, taking tons and tons of pictures of absolutely everything, even though she obviously had no idea what half of it was. She kept insisting that she take pictures of me doing various silly poses, so I have lots of random shots on my camera. I went into the other characters’ rooms and finally made it to the top floor, which consisted of really crappy wax figures that were supposed to be in the scenes from the books. Maggie, the woman from Bejing, had a ball in here!
I have to admit that however very interested in the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I have not really read much of it at all. I read the ‘Hound of the Baskervilles’ in high school and really enjoyed it, however having more knowledge of the stories would have given me a more beneficial experience. Even without much knowledge on the individual stories, I still knew enough about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to successfully enjoy the museum. I think my favorite part was the ridiculously cheesy wax figures placed in the scenes from the books, and the reactions and enthusiasm Maggie presented. If anything, it gave me a good laugh, and the inspiration to read more of the stories upon my entrance back into the states.
I have really enjoyed meeting so many different people on this trip, from all over the world. Even at dinner tonight, I met a really nice guy from an island near Fiji. He told us that he was studying political science in London (by wishes of his father- he really wanted to be an accountant. Personally, I’m with his father… who would be crazy enough to be an accountant?!). It’s just incredible having the opportunity to meet such a wide variety of people and seeing what they all have to offer.
The rest of the evening, I hung out with my roommates and we did some planning for Halloween festivities the next day. We ended up doing a bit of house cleaning as well… which at this point was a necessity. Ha. I tried to get some other work done, and then watched the first half of Nick’s football game from a dvd that my family sent me a while ago. It is sad that this is the first chance I’ve had to watch it- and not even the whole thing!
I don’t regret this trip at all; it has been an incredible experiences and has contributed a lot to me as a person in more ways that I can ever explain, however, I am really disappointed that I had to miss all of Nick’s senior year of football. (Don’t mean to brag, but he is kind of a big deal…) Plus, Kimberly won state last year, and are doing just as well so far this year, playing on a new synthetic turf field, in an awesome stadium, with more of a university atmosphere than a high school level. I sure will miss that… ok, maybe I do mean to brag… just a little bit…
When I got to the museum, I walked into an extravagant gift shop, filled with magnifying glasses, detective hats, and pipes. I bought a ticket and went next door to the galleries, greeted by a ‘policeman’ upon my entrance. I went upstairs to the first room and began chatting with the room attendant. He was a very solemn but cheerful old man (if that makes any sense at all…), hunched over a bit in a blue suit and tie. He looked like he should have been smoking a pipe and reading a newspaper.
There was also a very cheerful, over-enthusiastic Chinese woman who I started talking with and ended up touring the rest of the museum with. She was really funny and I enjoyed her company. This first room I walked into was the study, complete with a fireplace, bookshelves, and Watson’s desk. There is a coffee table and two chairs where tourists can sit in front of the fireplace with selective hats and a pipe to pose for silly pictures- so of course I did.
The Chinese woman was so funny, taking tons and tons of pictures of absolutely everything, even though she obviously had no idea what half of it was. She kept insisting that she take pictures of me doing various silly poses, so I have lots of random shots on my camera. I went into the other characters’ rooms and finally made it to the top floor, which consisted of really crappy wax figures that were supposed to be in the scenes from the books. Maggie, the woman from Bejing, had a ball in here!
I have to admit that however very interested in the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I have not really read much of it at all. I read the ‘Hound of the Baskervilles’ in high school and really enjoyed it, however having more knowledge of the stories would have given me a more beneficial experience. Even without much knowledge on the individual stories, I still knew enough about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to successfully enjoy the museum. I think my favorite part was the ridiculously cheesy wax figures placed in the scenes from the books, and the reactions and enthusiasm Maggie presented. If anything, it gave me a good laugh, and the inspiration to read more of the stories upon my entrance back into the states.
I have really enjoyed meeting so many different people on this trip, from all over the world. Even at dinner tonight, I met a really nice guy from an island near Fiji. He told us that he was studying political science in London (by wishes of his father- he really wanted to be an accountant. Personally, I’m with his father… who would be crazy enough to be an accountant?!). It’s just incredible having the opportunity to meet such a wide variety of people and seeing what they all have to offer.
The rest of the evening, I hung out with my roommates and we did some planning for Halloween festivities the next day. We ended up doing a bit of house cleaning as well… which at this point was a necessity. Ha. I tried to get some other work done, and then watched the first half of Nick’s football game from a dvd that my family sent me a while ago. It is sad that this is the first chance I’ve had to watch it- and not even the whole thing!
I don’t regret this trip at all; it has been an incredible experiences and has contributed a lot to me as a person in more ways that I can ever explain, however, I am really disappointed that I had to miss all of Nick’s senior year of football. (Don’t mean to brag, but he is kind of a big deal…) Plus, Kimberly won state last year, and are doing just as well so far this year, playing on a new synthetic turf field, in an awesome stadium, with more of a university atmosphere than a high school level. I sure will miss that… ok, maybe I do mean to brag… just a little bit…
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