On Wednesday I'd wanted to go to Hampstead Heath, but the weather was gray and rainy, so I stayed in until Shakespeare class. I have been getting more and more frustrated with our Shakespeare teacher - she rambles on and on about completely off topic subjects, and when she does address the play we are reading, it is stuff like: "What are the themes? Oh yes, death, life, love. Oh see the word bones? And that flower, that represents death. And oh! isn't that little dog sweet." I am not kidding. After coming out of Professor Gless' Shakespeare class last semester having learned so much, I am dreadfully disappointed with this woman and seriously haven't learned a thing (apart from how to write postcards while acting like I'm taking pointless notes).
Thursday morning we met our art teacher at the National Gallery where there was a Picasso exhibition. I really, really enjoyed the exhibition. I didn't use to care much for Picasso, but I realize now why he is considered a genius. His paintings are in so many different styles, from realistic still-life, to cubism, surrealism, and on and on. My favorite painting that I saw there was analytical cubism called "Seated Nude." It takes some looking at to realize that it is even a person, but once you see it, it is beautiful.
After the Picasso we went to the main part of the gallery and looked at some of the most famous paintings in their collection including “The Wilton Diptych” painted on wood in 1395, “The Ambassadors” by Hans Holbein the Younger, and "The Japanese Foot Bridge" by Monet. So beautiful! It is amazing to see paintings that you have seen again and again in books and know that this is the real, original thing.
On Friday I got up at 8 am and took the 10 am train into Oxford; however, the train was delayed and while it was supposed to arrive in Oxford at 11 am, it arrived at 11:40. I was supposed to be at Sylvia's between 11:30 and 12 because we were going to meet a friend of hers at 1 pm and needed to catch the bus from her house about 12:15. I couldn't find a taxi so I power walked the first mile or so, and then ran (with my book bag on my back) the last 3/4 of a mile to her house. I arrived, sweaty and panting, at 12:08 and had just enough time to drink some water before we headed out toward the bus stop.
As it turns out we needn't have left so early, but given that she does walk rather slow since her broken hip, she wanted to give us plenty of time. We were going to meet her friend Chris (probably in his 70s) at the Bodleian Library and he (being an official library tour guide) was going to give us a private tour. The libraries at Oxford and Cambridge are not open to the public, and usually tours cost money, so this was a real treat. Once we arrived at the library in the center of Oxford (pretty much where I'd started running from lol), we were 15 minutes early and thus went into a free exhibit nearby that featured hand-written symphonies and songs from as far back as the 1300s. It was so cool because each note had to be written in by hand and it was all so beautiful - it is amazing anyone could ever do such things!
At one o'clock we met Chris at the library entrance and we started in the Divinity Hall
(which was used to film the infirmary scenes in Harry Potter). Built 1427–83, it is the oldest surviving purpose-built building for university use, specifically for lectures and discussions on theology. It is not used for that anymore, but it is still really beautiful. Next he took us int
o a connecting room that was used for meetings with the big wigs of the university. Today they still have meetings in there where all graduate alumni are invited to help solve university problems. It has been used in many films as the seat of a king and his advisers (since that is what it most looks like). Then we went to the actual library part above the Divinity Hall which was first built in the 1488 as Duke Humphry's library. However, all the books were taken away and destroyed in the 1500s for being "too Catholic." It was rebuilt in the late 1500s by Sir Thomas Bodley, however some of the same roof beams and other parts are from the original 1400s library.
After this Sylvia treated Chris and me to lunch in the restaurant of the church next to the library (also part of the school) and then Chris continued his tour. We got to go underground into the stacks where there are miles and miles of first edition books shelved. Like the British Library, the Bodleian is required to receive a copy of everything printed in the UK. They store some less requested books in salt mines in the country. Chris showed us a favorite shelf of his full of
original childrens books from the very early 1900s. We also looked at some old newspapers and I read a shocking article called "How Women Should Behave Themselves." It was really cool to see the convayer belt moving books around and whatnot. I found out later that even students aren't allowed to go down into the stacks, so this was a big deal! From there he took us through an underground tunnel to the Radcliffe Camera Building which is part of the library, and it was so beautiful inside (sort of like Wilson Library at UNC).
After our tour, Sylvia and I went back to her place and chatted over her homemade lemon drizzle cake before I caught my train back to London. It was a wonderful day, though I'd forgotten my camera during the tour, so I don't have any pictures. :(
On Saturday I went to Cambridge. It was bitter
cold, but the sun did make and appearance off and on and I got to visit several of the colleges (it is like Oxford in that there are many colleges that make up the University). I also got to watch people punting along the river (pushing boats with big sticks in the water). On my way back to the train station it started raining, so I sat in a Waterstones (bookstore) and read a travel book about Spain - I can't wait to go there! :)
When I got home from Cambridge last night I got a very sore throat and I definately have a cold now. However, I rested all day and should be feeling better tomorrow. I am going to "couch surf" tomorrow on the Isle of Wight off the southern shore of England. Couchsurfing is a thing you can
sign up for online where you type in a place you want to go and see if anyone in that area has a couch or a guest room they will put you up on. It has loads of saftey measures and I would only ever stay with single females, but it should be a great experience to meet locals (all over the world) and get an authentic experience of the place. I'm so excited and can't wait to update my blog when I get home on Tuesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment