London Goodbyes and New Adventures

Gosh, I cannot believe that I am leaving London today. While absolutely trembling with excitement about my European backpacking adventure, it will be hard to say good-bye to this wonderful city that I love.
In order to combat the overly-sentimental and misty-eyed rambling in which I am close to indulging, I will instead reminisce about my favourite adventures of the past two weeks:

1. Borough Market - LOVE IT! This market is covered, displays all sorts of deliciously amazing food and is the most reminiscent of the farmer's markets in Minnesota. Needless to say I felt right at home there, sampling all sorts of lovely fair before paying a pound for a roll of cheesy bread stuffed with roasted veggies. Deeelicious! It was one of the first truly fine days, and Alex and I soaked up the sun on our walk from the market to St. Paul's - stopping in a flower garden on the way to inhale the lovely scents.

2. St. Paul's Cathedral - Alex and I were crafty with this one. Not wanting to pay the heavy fee to get in, we told the ticket man we wished to attend mass. Which we did, of course, or else our guilt complexes would have plagued us mercilessly. After a short mass (one of the perks to the Anglican church) we strolled around the main area admiring the absolutely awe-inspiring mosaics before heading down into the crypt. The crypt, full of dead people as they are, was rather ironic as right near the tombs and effigies was a gift shop and cafe. You know, so you could have tea next to your favourite martyr and then promptly buy a commemorative postcard of the event.

3. Ain't Nothin' But the Blues Bar - Followed by our groupies, my chum Damien and I made our way to the Blues Bar for a little jam session at open mic night last Saturday. It was a crazy good time for me. Not only did I get to listen to some really great artists, but I got to test out my improvisational skills in a fairly low-pressure environment. It was definitely novel playing with poor posture, not having to analyze all 500 aspects of my technique at once and not having to worry about certain Romanian violin teachers screaming that I have no personality on my violin. I must say, I'm a fan. Although Damien and I agreed we didn't play our best we had a really good time, and it inspired me to perhaps do something similar in the States.

4. Frisbee in Hyde Park - Yup, all you doubters. Lauren played frisbee. Twice. And threw out her arm. Ah well. Having never really played before I was a bit nervous, but it is actually quite a fun game! And I found that I can throw equally as well with my left hand as with my right, which is to say, not well at all. When we got tired of frisbee we played a game of tag until we were so exhausted that we collapsed on the grass. It was another truly spectacular day and we enjoyed the warmth of the sun, and the embrace of the breeze. I must say, I'm beginning to understand why the British always talk about the weather. When it's nice out, it is such a rare occurrence that one can't help but to remark with great joy on the beauty of the day. When the weather is terrible, people feel inclined to mumble their complaints. So you see, this one socially-acceptable subject actually does make sense.

5. The British Library - On my way to said library I was accosted by the St. George's Day Parade (the patron saint of England) in the City of London. It was quite fun with the various regiments represented (and swoon-worthy!) and various lords and ladies attired in medieval clothing. I honestly don't know how they managed to get full-grown men into tunics, tights and armor, but they bore the humiliation well. Once safely ensconced in the library, I was in heaven! Gosh, I don't even know where to begin. Well, for starters, they had a new exhibition up about Chopin and among various items of interest were his death mask and a cast made of his hand. You will not believe this but his hands were as small as mine! They were tiny! As if to make up for their size, his nose exceeded all other noses in length...accept, perhaps, for Pinocchio. Among the musical manuscripts I viewed were works by Beethoven, Mozart, Vaughan Williams, Handel and the Beatles! The Beatles exhibit was especially groovy as they had assorted pieces of paper that John and Paul had scribbled their lyrics onto. I believe it was Ticket to Ride that John had composed on the back of Julian's one year birthday card. I began forcibly freaking out when I viewed the first published folio of Shakespeare's work, his supposed handwriting, an un-published story by a young Jane Austen, and Charlotte Bronte's early writings. To view their original script, and the books in which they wrote, to actually read (with difficulty) the very words which they had, themselves, penned was absolutely incredible. There was no shortage of treasures at the British Library, but with regret, I had to tear myself away after three hours.

As aforementioned, in a few hours time I will be embarking on the first leg of my adventure, Paris. While rather apprehensive about the language barrier, I was assured by a lovely couple in a pub the other night, that the French absolutely adore Americans. Having heard the contrary all my life, I suppose I shall just have to discover this for myself.
Posts will be as sporadic as they have been the past few weeks as internet access will be scarce. However, I will do my best to convey my adventures in a timely fashion.

Au revoir,
Lauren