Jack

Yesterday I hopped on a train and went to oxford town.(please sing the bob dylan song as desired.)

The train was about an hour long and upon arriving, I wasn't so sure I was going to love this new place. Anyway, the group I was with started exploring the town a little and we went around to a couple of really cool churches and even went up into this beautiful building that Christopher Wren built.sidenote: I have become a little obsessed with this architect since I've been here. Mainly because he was an astronomer and all of his buildings somewhat tailor to the love of having a place to see the stars above the city. Smart man. So we explore oxford a little and then we were told that we needed to meet back at this bookstore at 12:30 to have a tour about the Inklings around Oxford. When we arrive I see this awesome old British chap wearing sweatshirt grey keds. not kidding they were the coolest shoes. He also is wearing what you picture older fellows wearing slacks, a white collared shirt with a tie. Anyway, he starts giving the tour and i love it because hes telling these stories about Lewis and Tolkein that I would have never known, and you hear the stories he's telling and seeing the places where they happened. It was all quite wonderful. Here are some of my favorite.





Back of the Church
















Front Part of the back. Also, the place where Lewis gave his famous sermon "The weight of glory"





Front altar









outside of the church










Built by Christopher Wren, used by Oxford Graduates.









Tolkeins Room in College, some random student is living there now.














If you saw shadowlands, this is the bar where Lewis meets Joy Gresham for the first time.




Eagle and Child, favorite bar of the Inklings















Rabit Room Inside Eagle and Child







House where Tolkein edited the Hobbit and Lord of the rings














After the tour our group went out to a place called the Kilns. Which is where C.S. Lewis(Jack), his brother Warnie, and Joy Gresham(Jack's wife of 4 years) lived. It was really funny because at the time when Lewis lived there, there were not a lot of other houses but some have been built sense and as we're walking up many of the houses have been named Narnia or Caspian, at least... something to that degree. Anyway, we all went inside the house and walked into this amazing study filled with books and old chairs and pipes and all sorts of wonderful things you expect a c.s. Lewis room to be filled with. So we are sitting there and this man is telling us about Lewis and the stories are wonderful and he asks if there are any questions and I raise my hand and say "what in this room was actually theirs?" the man replies with well, just the flooring in this room. I was a little sad to tell you the truth. The man explained that when the Lewis brothers died another family bought the house and at the time when the brothers died many things were auctioned off or donated to salvation army, however, they did have many original photos of the house and the places that things were and the decorations that were used in the house when the brothers lived there. Furthermore, they did have some original furniture stored up in the attack of the house and warnie's original typewriter. Once we started going room to room in the house, I began to really love it. I mean I was sitting in the same space where lewis created and imagined his stories. The same space where he lived everyday and eventually died. I know it is just space but it was great to imagine for a bit what it might have been like.




The Kilns Then.









The Kilns today.










Jack and Joy Lewis







Warnie's typewriter








Jack and Warnie







The room was recreated to look like Lewis's room.

















The famous Shrowd picture that Lewis always kept on his wall.












Room where he wrote most of Narnia.












The only real furniture that belonged to the Lewis or his brother






Austin sitting in the chair
















Pathway to pond behind the house















Pond where Lewis would go skinny dipping.








Room where Lewis died




After the tour we went and saw his grave sight and eventually made it back to town where some of my friends and I ate dinner at the eagle and child. we sat in the same room where the inklings met every tuesday morning and thursday night to discuss among other things, their books.






grave site







Graveyard where Jack and Warnie are buried

V & A Museum

So far this museum has been the most enjoyable to walk through. The Imperial War Museum is still my favorite but the V & A (Victoria and Albert) museum was so interesting. I had been once before but came back to see some of what I hadn't looked at yet. After I went to the museum I wondered around and found these really cool buildings that were near a park and then right next to them was this old tunnel that people used to sleep in during Air raids of world war two.

Here are some pictures













One of two identical carpets made in 1536 for the King/Emperor of Iran

























Dress made during the 1700's. The description said that the girl actually had to walk sideways through doors because of her petticoat.













Plate from the Rennaisance









Lantern.



















Crown for the Dutchess of Manchester.










Original Winnie the Pooh drawing

















Peter Rabit drawing








Peter Rabit Textile










Banksy










Building One










Building Two










Tunnel

Field Trip

I'm taking a C.S. Lewis Class and one of the requirements of the course is that the class takes field trips to places in London and even outside of london where Lewis and his friends spent most of their time. A couple of days ago, my class went to the British Museum and The Winston Churchill War Museum. Once we arrived at the British Museum, i immediatly found the Egypt wing. The Rosetta Stone was on display and while that sounds like something great to see, and it was neat to look at for a few seconds, it wasn't that cool. I know we can now read hieroglyphics because of this rock but it also just looked like an ordinary stone. Anyway, we walked through these ruins and it was great because they had taken parts of old tomb walls from the pyramids and put them on display. It was so detailed. I loved looking at it because it wasn't trimmed in gold and there weren't a lot of decorations, it was normal stone that had been carved and chiseled to tell a story about the king and the peoples history.

We went down to the Africa section and that might have been my favorite. The art being displayed was very bold. There was a chair that was made out of guns and knives and michetti's(sp?). The art has a lot to do with the genocide and the war that has gone on in that country and is still going on, but at the same time they had a wall of masks that people wore during ceremonial dances and when these people danced.... I mean they danced. They had videos of it and it was beautiful. It was tribal dancing but it wasn't at the same time. The way the people moved and the way their faces looked while they were doing it... I wish I could see it in person. I don't think I'm really giving it a great description.

After, the British Museum we went to the War Museum. I was with my friend Brittany and Austin and we walked down to the basement because they had displays of World War 1 and World War 2. The displays consisted of officers uniforms and weapons they used during the war, they also had letters that soldiers had written to their families and friends. There were a couple of displays that showed what rationing looked like, as well as what women and children were wearing during the time. We then went straight up to the holocaust floor, and spent about two hours in that wing of the museum. I've always been very fascinated about world war 2 and concentration camps. I don't feel comfortable saying I love learning about it because its a very sobering subject as well as violent. I also think that in America we tend to romantisize the world wars and we kind of forget that it was horrible until we see an exhibition like this. However, I could have spent hours in that museum reading every display discription as well as watching the video interviews with some of the survivors.

Here are some pictures.


Part of a tomb wall from Assyria.


Close up of some soldiers on a tomb from Egypt.


Mummy from
Mesopotamia


Mummy Decorations?


The War Museum




Part of the Berlin Wall


World War One Uniforms


World War One


Different types of Lugars.


Shoes collected at Aushwitz


Prison Uniforms at Aushwitz

An Exploration that led to a park then to a palace and so on.

I woke up today with a whole afternoon of nothing to do but exploring. I decided it was about time I went to a museum, so I choose the Tate Britain. Which I now regret because I didn't really enjoy any of the wings I went to except for the hand drawn pieces. I took notes of the pieces I liked because I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside the museum which I thought was complete... how do you say it.... rubish? yes.

Anyway, I go to the gift shop and showed the man behind the counter the list I had made and asked him if he has any of the prints in stock. He doesn't. I ask them when they will have some, they say they don't know. I decided I should move on at this point because nothing in this museum is going to improve.

So I head out of the museum and stumble across Green park which is right next to the Ritz hotel. I'm sure I looked like such an American taking pictures of the hotel but I couldn't help it, I was looking at the real thing.

So I started going through the park and when I come out of the other side I'm in front of Buckingham palace. I mean who goes on a random walk and ends up in front of a palace. It was probably the best surprise I've had. Lets just say this Queen Elizabeth does not have it rough. when I was walking out the other side of this park I noticed there was a huge gate (I now know its called the Canada Gate) near the keyholes are huge E's with crowns and swords around it. I mean really? Her face is on the currency, does she really need to put her initials on gates? But I think I would do stuff like that if I was the queen, so I don't really blame her.

After that I walked along the walls of the palace that are about 12 feet tall with barbed wire and these huge log spikes attached at the top, every time I looked at the wall I was thinking in my head "God save the queen?", I mean it looked like a tad to much, but I'm sure its been there for hundreds of years so why not keep it?

It had been about 5 hours of walking at this point and I decided I wanted to sit down so I got on a double decker bus and road around the city for an hour, I ended up pretty close to where I was staying and decided I should head back for some dinner and homework. Here are some pictures from the day.




The Tate Britain








A random college I walked past. Chelsea School of Design.






The Ritz






The street where I found the Ritz.







The famous bar










Canada?







The Canada Gate. See what I mean about those "E's"









The fountain outside Buckingham palace.. I forgot the name.








Statue on the fountain














Regents Park. They Shot Finding Neverland here.










The Wellington Monumnet













Underneath the Wellington Monument

London Town

London is splendid.


Most everything is beautiful to look at, even the ugly and the dirty parts. Their culture is similar to america but more polite and considerate of other people, the Subway(or tube as they call it) is clean and doesn't smell bad and everyone uses it. Even the tube stations are pleasing to look at. Its such a difference to be in a place where people seem to care about the places that surround them, I mean maybe there is a huge fine if you are caught littering but still theres a pretty huge fine in America if you litter and people still do it. I mean I've done it, not often but I totally have, everyone has. Anyway, People don't litter here. I have yet to see trash in the streets and at first I thought it was just in the tourist places that there wasn't going to be any trash but even at my college and the surrounding neighborhoods, its all clean.

I walked over to Westminister Abby yesterday and sat on the grass for about 20 minutes looking at this wonderful church, noticing the tiny details that made this place so big. I couldn't really take it all in. I think you can understand what I mean by looking at the photos.














































I got lost several times and it took me over 40 mins to get back to where I was sappost to meet my friends. Not so much fun, but I guess somewhat necessary in order to become familiar with this city.

Today I went to church at St. Pauls Cathedral. It was built by a man named Christopher Wren in 1668, after it burned down like 3 or 4 times. It was the most ornate church I have even been in. I mean I haven't been to Rome yet so I better not say that, but I'm just going to say that those old catholics liked their churches.
Anyway, the london symphony played at church and all the songs were sung in latin which was awesome, but I really couldn't concentrate because they had us stand almost the whole time and My feet are so soar from walking around eveywhere, so all my concentration was going into not falling over. The main priest that gave the mass was a woman, which really surprised me... I didn't know that catholics were about that but she was so cool, she sang a lot during the service and with the acoustics in that church it sounded like something out of Lord of the Rings. I really could have listened to her all day.

I don't really have any more thoughts at the moment, mainly because I'm tired and in need of food. I'm now going to a store to try and find something cheap and inexpensive for dinner. I'll try and upload pictures soon, but I'm trying to not take a ton because I don't want to come off more american than my accent makes me.

Cheers.