From Palaces to Pastures

My dear readers,

I am truly in a state of distress over my inability to provide you with good pictures regularly.  Soon I shall be getting a USB cord however and the good pictures will be posted!  I took a few with my phone camera though, so they and ones I'm taking from other people off of facebook shall have to satisfy you in the mean time.  My profoundest apologies.


Wednesday I went with Eliana, Stef, Jessielynn, and Hannah to Canary Wharf, which is one of the business districts of London.  There were far too many handsome British men in suits, it was hard to hold myself together.  They are just so well tailored here! At the wharf itself there are many cute restaurants at which we did not eat, as they aren't exactly in our weekday price range.  But we did go into the Museum of London Docklands (FREE!!) which was rather interesting, giving the history of London as a city all the way from the rule of Rome and talked a lot about the shipping industry.  There was a section of the museum that was a replica of a sailor chantytown which was awesome and even smelled like burning coal/wood, which was by far the best part.  After the museum, we headed back to the East End and ate at The Greedy Cow, which is going to be my favorite restaurant.  They specialize in exotic burgers.  I had a kangaroo burger, which was out of this world.  Hannah had a camel burger, which she said was good too.  I'm excited to be a regular and try out all the special meats. 

Thursday I finally got my class schedule straightened out - Black Writing in Britain and London Architecture on Mondays and Impressionist Art in England and France and The Dickens City on Tuesdays.  I'm incredibly excited not only for these awesome sounding classes, three of which have field trip components, but also just to start class and establish a routine!  Later in the day Lydia and I went to explore an area of the East End called Shoreditch in search of Old Spitalfields Market.   This is an awesome area with tons of restaurants and saree fashion stores on every block (I am not even kidding).   It turns into a large business looking area, where the Gherkin is! I love the juxtaposition of the house architecture against the Gherkin. After turning down a little side road, we soon stumbled across our destination of Old Spitalfields Market which is a giant fleamarket essentially, with dozens upon dozens of antique stalls that sell everything from spoons and records to furniture and clothes.  It was really neat and is in an area surrounded by restaurants one of which is a Cheese shop!!!! (For those of you who don't know, I LOVE cheese!) However, for that particular day, it was a little out of my price range. I'll be taking my parents there of course. :)  As we left out the other side of the Market right across the street was St. John's Bread and Wine which I knew was supposed to be fabulous and I was incredibly excited to find it.  Unfortunately, it too was very pricey and only serves full meals at 12 and 1 pm but a nice old Englishman was there next to me and assured me it was worth the price and that I should also just buy bread from them which they sell all day, and then pair it with cheese from the cheese store.  He and I are kindred spirits with regard to food it seems.  I asked him if he had any recommendations for eating in the area and he said there is a great tapas place near there.  I made a mental note of the advice for the future, but Lydia and I decided that since we were so near to Brick Lane, we would eat there, which is the heart of the Bangladeshi district aka OUR FIRST AUTHENTIC ENGLISH CURRY EXPERIENCE.  Just walking down Brick Lane is an experience in itself.  At every restaurant's door a man is standing outside harassing the passersby if they want curry and insisting that he has the best.  We were convinced by the man who offered us free drinks with the meal - never turn down complimentary white wine if possible!  It proved to be a great choice as the food was excellent and affordable!

Friday was my first venture into central London aka everything you think of when you think of London.  Amanda, Carolyn, Lydia, Katie - a new friend from University of Michigan - and I took the "Royal Walking Tour" in which a guide took the group around and showed us all the outsides of the buildings which have housed the royal family over the years, from Queen Elizabeth I in the medieval brick house to Queen Victoria redoing Buckingham Palace and even the house used in The King's Speech!  The guide was an excellent story teller and worked for Prince Charles for a while.  The tour finished at Westminster Abbey, at which point we ate in the Abbey's Cellerium.  I had a welsh rarebit sandwich, which was to die for.  Then we toured the abbey, which was really beautiful if a little morbid due to all the tombs in there.  After the Abbey we walked outside and saw Big Ben and in the distance the London Eye.  Then we went in search of afternoon tea, but in central London, there are only very expensive and posh places for such things so we ended up going home as we were severely underdressed for any such event.  However, we did find an Cheesemonger and went in; it smelled HEAVENLY.  I have to go back and indulge myself sometime with a purchase.

 Saturday proved to be the greatest day of the week and quite possibly of my life thus far.  Carolyn, Lydia, and I took our first train venture into the English countryside to the county Hampshire into the small village of Chawton where JANE AUSTEN'S HOUSE IS AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! It was life changing. And no, that isn't hyperbole.  I am in love with Chawton, and the countryside in general, and honest to goodness want to live there and have my own thatched roof cottage.  We were out of the city and as soon as I viewed the first pasture I knew that THAT was why I came to England. Not for London, but for everything else.  London is amazing and I am enjoying it thoroughly but it all comes down to the fact that I am just not called to live in the city forever.  The countryside is my home.  However, I digress. Back to the facts not the feelings:  We finally got to the train after a disastrous morning navigating and renavigating and renavigating again the tube which had closed the Northern line, throwing off our itinerary.  I've now been on the District, Central, Bakerloo, Jubilee, Piccadilly...and I think maybe one other line.  I really love the tube actually.  It's so clean and clear.

NOT THE POINT sorry, right, AUSTEN, ok, so we got to the Waterloo train station and headed out towards Alton as there is no direct line to Chawton.  It was the perfect day to go to Alton though as there was a street festival and the main street was closed off and filled with all kinds of vendors.  It was adorable and everything I could have wanted to experience in a little English town.  We then walked approximately a half hour to Chawton...on the wrong side of a very busy road...with no sidewalk...and really tall grass. And we took a wrong turn, up a curved road with thorny bushes poking out and risked our lives, only to have to turn around and do it all over again.  We survived, however, and were soon on our way down a quiet country road to Chawton, along which we saw lots of sheep and even had horses come right up to us to nuzzle!! And then we turned into town, walked a ways, and then, I saw it. Her house.  The Sign with a woman's silhouette on it. Across from a pub and a teahouse.  Perfection. 

The house was perfectly situated in a beautiful garden and had many interesting artifacts of the family inside, including the writing desk at which Jane Austen wrote what we know today as Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, and Persuasion. Magical, simply.  The gift shop was full of Colin Firth memorabilia which just added to its greatness. I want to own everything in there, but settled on a tea towel.  After we finished with the house we headed up the lane and stumbled across a cricket match in a park. MY FIRST CRICKET MATCH. I felt so authentic.

 Then further up is the church and mansion where Jane's brother lived, but we couldn't get inside because there was a wedding.  A wedding. I WANT MINE THERE.  In the graveyard of the church Austen's mother and sister are buried.
Regretfully we left Chawton and headed back to Alton and ate at a pub, The Crown Hotel.  I had sausages and mash and also tried Southern Comfort.  I have to say, I'm not the biggest fan of the latter, but the meal was great!  This was my first true pub experience and it was a great end to such a lovely day.  We then headed home on the train and I slept very well in reflection of the day which was a perfect way to mark one week of being in the United Kingdom. 

And with two gravestones to contemplate, I leave you dear reader!  Sorry that this was so long.  I shall try to be more regular in the future so posts are shorter.  This week I'll be going to Oxford on Wednesday and then Wales for the weekend so stay tuned! Thanks for reading!