Shoot…it’s been awhile since I last wrote. So let’s pick it up.

Classes have been good. Greek is getting consistently harder. However, if there’s one thing I love, it’s sitting in Preceptor’s office and listening to him read Greek. It’s so pretty when he speaks it, especially since he speaks so softly, and I feel like I’m going to fall asleep. It’s one of the most pleasant things in the world, and Greek for that reason is good, and I feel very relaxed…and then I realize that THERE ARE 24 WAYS TO SAY “THE” IN GREEK and I quickly snap out of that nonsense because that’s lame.

So that’s that. Last night we went to King’s for evensong, and that was pretty cool. While they have the most impressive chapel and the most technically perfect choir, it was not my favorite evensong. I think the chapel is just too big and the sound gets lost. The chapel at St. John’s is not as big (but still beautiful) and then those kids belt it out and it completely fills the room. Nevertheless, it was still cool to get into Kings and have a look around.

When we got home, we made some dinner, played paper telephone with the folks at the house, which was a goodly time, and then we hit Fitzwilliam’s for a Mars Bar Toastie and a drink. Then we came back to the house and watched “The Prestige.” It was a good movie but it did not resolve well, in my opinion.

So we got about 4-5 hours of sleep and then got up this morning to go to London. We got to London and saw Buckingham Palace first. Kind of lame. There weren’t any guards with those big stupid hats, just guards with regular hats. And one would stamp his foot sometimes. I think that’s the best thing that happened at Buckingham palace.

Then we went to see Westminster Abbey, and that was pretty impressive. I’ve never seen a church that big before in my life. They don’t make them like that in America. We saw that we could get into the Abbey for free at 3 for evensong, so we resolved to do so. We’ve been to so many evensongs since we’ve been here.

After that we took a look at Big Ben and Parliament, yes yes very nice. Then we headed down to Trafalgar Square/the National Gallery for some good, free and cultured times. I saw DaVinci’s “Virgin of the Rocks,” just like we saw it in Weier’s World History class on that Renaissance art slide show. I was impressed.

Then we went to the British Museum, which is also free. I love how museums in England are free. And that was pretty cool…I took a ton of pictures there. They basically have exhibits for every world culture in every period of time, and it’s all just a bunch of collected artifacts, etc. So we spent some time in there and then headed back to Westminster for evensong.

Evensong was beautiful. What a church, let me tell you. And since it was still light out, we actually got to see what the stained glass looked like, as opposed to other evensongs. I’d love to actually take a tour through there and hear about the history, since there are so many different little wings and monuments that we didn’t get to see. But Lord knows I’m not going to pay ten pounds for that when I can get into the place for free for evensong. Maybe next time if I’m feeling particularly reckless.

Then we got some dinner at Frankie’s American Italian restaurant, which was pretty humorous. It’s weird being on the other side and having a bunch of English people pretend like they have an authentic American restaurant going (that serves authentic American milkshakes in silver shakers!). What the heck is an American restaurant anyway? Anyway, my 10 inch pizza tasted incredible. We were so hungry.

In front of some important government building (I guess?) there was a peace rally to “free Palestine” and that was pretty intense. We had to walk through this HUGE mob and I collected like, twenty pamphlets. But my experiences in Dearborn allow me to have sympathy, and I liked being amidst the mob, if only for a minute or two.

Then we walked around some more, but we were distressed because our bus didn’t leave till 8:30 and we were ready to go at 6. So we went to the bus station, asked the driver if we could take the 6:30 bus back to Cambridge, and he said yes. We were soooo happy. And that’s that.

All in all, London was pretty cool. Although, upon stepping off the bus back in Cambridge I realized how happy I was to be living there instead of London. Aside from all the huge, architectually impressive historical landmarks, it’s just another massive city. And I’m not much of a city person. Which is why I like Cambridge…it is a city, but not in the conventional sense. Not to try and undermine London in any way…I can see why so many people would love it. And obviously I have a lot more to see and do and check out. But I suppose I’m just grateful for where I am right now.

Filed under: Uncategorized