Scott's "A Tale of Two Cities" - Chapter Two: The Fresh Prince of Corioles
Following a very busy week, I had a very busy weekend to look forward to: I had field studies scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Each will be addressed in turn.
Friday (May 5th) was my British Studies field study at the Palace of Westminster (which contains the Houses of Parliament) in London. We had to get up rather early to eat breakfast and pack a lunch, as the buses left the castle at 8am sharp.
We arrived at Cleopatra's Needle (a large Egyptian obelisk on the north side of the Thames) around 10am, where we were given free time until 3pm. Maureen and I had spent some time the previous night discussing what we wanted to do on our free time, and we decided to visit the famous Tower of London. So, a group of us (Maureen, Colin, Meghan, Kate, and myself) set off on the subway (hereafter referred to as "the Underground," or "the Tube"). We had originally expected that it would only take us an hour or so to look around the Tower, but we took the Beefeater tour and ended up spending the whole of our free time there. After looking at the crown jewels (which are pretty spectacular, I might add), we sped through the exhibits of royal armour and other artifacts, and rushed back along the Tube to make it back to the Palace of Westminster to meet up with the rest of our group on time for our tour.
What came next, our tour through the Houses of Parliament, could probably be described as the highlight of my life thus far. The Palace itself was absolutely amazing, and to walk around in the hallways and chambers where so much history has taken place was a truly phenomenal experience. That said, most of the Palace, (despite its appearance) isn't particularly old. It was constructed between 1837 and 1860 after a fire destroyed the original Palace of Westminster, which dated from the 11th century. You'll have to excuse the next few paragraphs, because I'm going to gush. They didn't allow photography, though, which broke my heart.
We started off at the Royal Entrance, where all the Kings and Queens since Victoria have entered the building to open Parliament. We then proceeded through the Queen's Robing Room to the Royal Gallery. The Gallery is absolutely amazing... it has statues of various Kings and Queens, along with two massive paintings - one on each side of the room - showing the great British triumphs in the battles of Trafalgar and Waterloo. From there we walked through the Prince's Chamber (which contains a large statue of Queen Victoria, and paintings of various monarchs and their consorts around the top of the room) to the House of Lords. The House of Lords itself practically defies description; it was one of the most lavishly appointed rooms I think I've ever seen.
From there we walked through the giant central lobby where the four main corridors of the building meet. Above each doorway is a portrait of one of the four patron Saints of the constituent nations of the UK. We then proceeded down south hallway to the lobby outside the House of Commons. This lobby is filled, at the suggestion of Winston Churchill, with statues and busts of "successful" British Prime Ministers. Those represented include himself (not surprisingly), David Lloyd George, and a number of others (including a few who I personally wouldn't rank as particularly successful). Our tour guide was a brilliantly stereotypical old Englishman who made a number of pro-Thatcher comments throughout the tour, and at this juncture he pointed out an empty pedestal beside the entrance as the spot where the statue of Baroness Thatcher is likely to be put. Needless to say, I was quite happy.
After that we walked around the sort of lounge area beside the House of Commons, and then into the Commons itself. It's an absolutely amazing place, again because you're standing in the presence of so much history. The room itself is surprisingly small - I'd estimate about half the length of the Canadian House of Commons. There are no desks and chairs like in Canada, just long benches on either side of the room where the MPs sit.
One thing I found interesting was that after the House of Commons was destroyed by the Luftwaffe during World War 2, Churchill ordered it rebuilt to its original specifications (which is too small to actually hold all of the MPs) in order to maintain its intimate feel. After leaving the Commons, we walked back out to the central lobby and then down St. Stephen's Hall (which was also filled with statues of various old Prime Ministers) to Westminster Hall.
Westminster Hall is the oldest building on the palace site, having survived both the fire which destroyed the first palace and the German bombing. The walls date from the year 1099, while the current roof, which is apparently a model of medieval engineering (they call it a "hammerbeam" roof, which uses beams sticking out of the walls to support itself, eliminating the need for columns) was built in the 1390s. It was integrated into the Houses of Parliament when the present Palace was constructed, and is now used for major public ceremonies. Unfortunately it was undergoing renovations when we were there, so we weren't able to walk around. That was the end of our tour.
After that we walked back to Cleopatra's Needle, boarded the bus, and drove back to the castle. The next day (Saturday May 6th) we were heading back to London again, this time for a "Cultural Studies" trip with the entire school population.
We left the castle around lunchtime and arrived in London (back at Cleopatra's Needle -- generally speaking it's our drop-off point) at about 2.30. At 3.00 tour guides boarded our buses, and we went on a coach tour of London. That lasted for about 2 hours, during which time we went all over the city and saw a number of things that I'm looking forward to investigating in person later on, including Australia House (where they shot the scenes at Gringott's Bank in the Harry Potter movies) and the HMS Belfast. A lot of major roads were shut down, however, due to a parade involving some moving French elephant statue (my details were sketchy) so I still haven't seen Trafalgar Square or Buckingham Palace!
At 5.00 we were dropped back at Cleopatra's Needle, where Colin and I had arranged to meet up with my friend Ethan and his girlfriend Ann. Ethan is currently on exchange in Copenhagen, and is travelling around Europe with Ann before he goes back to write his exams. We wandered up to a pub on Fleet Street called the King and Keys, and caught up on his crazy adventures over a pint.
At about 6.30, Colin and I left Ethan and Ann, and walked across the Millennium Bridge (the really cool, and somewhat famous footbridge across the Thames designed by Norman Foster) which took us right to the Globe Theatre. We met up with the rest of our group there, and saw a presentation of Shakespeare's play Coriolanus. It was quite good, but the acting and storyline were overshadowed by the fact that the actor who played Geoffery on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was playing the role of the Roman general Cominius, which was awesome.
After the play was over we all piled back into the buses again, and returned to the castle. We got back around 1am, I think, and I went to bed fairly quickly - in addition to being exhausted from the running around for the last two days, I had another early-morning field trip on Sunday! This trip, to Cadbury World in Birmingham, will be detailed in the next chapter.
Friday (May 5th) was my British Studies field study at the Palace of Westminster (which contains the Houses of Parliament) in London. We had to get up rather early to eat breakfast and pack a lunch, as the buses left the castle at 8am sharp.
We arrived at Cleopatra's Needle (a large Egyptian obelisk on the north side of the Thames) around 10am, where we were given free time until 3pm. Maureen and I had spent some time the previous night discussing what we wanted to do on our free time, and we decided to visit the famous Tower of London. So, a group of us (Maureen, Colin, Meghan, Kate, and myself) set off on the subway (hereafter referred to as "the Underground," or "the Tube"). We had originally expected that it would only take us an hour or so to look around the Tower, but we took the Beefeater tour and ended up spending the whole of our free time there. After looking at the crown jewels (which are pretty spectacular, I might add), we sped through the exhibits of royal armour and other artifacts, and rushed back along the Tube to make it back to the Palace of Westminster to meet up with the rest of our group on time for our tour.
What came next, our tour through the Houses of Parliament, could probably be described as the highlight of my life thus far. The Palace itself was absolutely amazing, and to walk around in the hallways and chambers where so much history has taken place was a truly phenomenal experience. That said, most of the Palace, (despite its appearance) isn't particularly old. It was constructed between 1837 and 1860 after a fire destroyed the original Palace of Westminster, which dated from the 11th century. You'll have to excuse the next few paragraphs, because I'm going to gush. They didn't allow photography, though, which broke my heart.
We started off at the Royal Entrance, where all the Kings and Queens since Victoria have entered the building to open Parliament. We then proceeded through the Queen's Robing Room to the Royal Gallery. The Gallery is absolutely amazing... it has statues of various Kings and Queens, along with two massive paintings - one on each side of the room - showing the great British triumphs in the battles of Trafalgar and Waterloo. From there we walked through the Prince's Chamber (which contains a large statue of Queen Victoria, and paintings of various monarchs and their consorts around the top of the room) to the House of Lords. The House of Lords itself practically defies description; it was one of the most lavishly appointed rooms I think I've ever seen.
From there we walked through the giant central lobby where the four main corridors of the building meet. Above each doorway is a portrait of one of the four patron Saints of the constituent nations of the UK. We then proceeded down south hallway to the lobby outside the House of Commons. This lobby is filled, at the suggestion of Winston Churchill, with statues and busts of "successful" British Prime Ministers. Those represented include himself (not surprisingly), David Lloyd George, and a number of others (including a few who I personally wouldn't rank as particularly successful). Our tour guide was a brilliantly stereotypical old Englishman who made a number of pro-Thatcher comments throughout the tour, and at this juncture he pointed out an empty pedestal beside the entrance as the spot where the statue of Baroness Thatcher is likely to be put. Needless to say, I was quite happy.
After that we walked around the sort of lounge area beside the House of Commons, and then into the Commons itself. It's an absolutely amazing place, again because you're standing in the presence of so much history. The room itself is surprisingly small - I'd estimate about half the length of the Canadian House of Commons. There are no desks and chairs like in Canada, just long benches on either side of the room where the MPs sit.
One thing I found interesting was that after the House of Commons was destroyed by the Luftwaffe during World War 2, Churchill ordered it rebuilt to its original specifications (which is too small to actually hold all of the MPs) in order to maintain its intimate feel. After leaving the Commons, we walked back out to the central lobby and then down St. Stephen's Hall (which was also filled with statues of various old Prime Ministers) to Westminster Hall.
Westminster Hall is the oldest building on the palace site, having survived both the fire which destroyed the first palace and the German bombing. The walls date from the year 1099, while the current roof, which is apparently a model of medieval engineering (they call it a "hammerbeam" roof, which uses beams sticking out of the walls to support itself, eliminating the need for columns) was built in the 1390s. It was integrated into the Houses of Parliament when the present Palace was constructed, and is now used for major public ceremonies. Unfortunately it was undergoing renovations when we were there, so we weren't able to walk around. That was the end of our tour.
After that we walked back to Cleopatra's Needle, boarded the bus, and drove back to the castle. The next day (Saturday May 6th) we were heading back to London again, this time for a "Cultural Studies" trip with the entire school population.
We left the castle around lunchtime and arrived in London (back at Cleopatra's Needle -- generally speaking it's our drop-off point) at about 2.30. At 3.00 tour guides boarded our buses, and we went on a coach tour of London. That lasted for about 2 hours, during which time we went all over the city and saw a number of things that I'm looking forward to investigating in person later on, including Australia House (where they shot the scenes at Gringott's Bank in the Harry Potter movies) and the HMS Belfast. A lot of major roads were shut down, however, due to a parade involving some moving French elephant statue (my details were sketchy) so I still haven't seen Trafalgar Square or Buckingham Palace!
At 5.00 we were dropped back at Cleopatra's Needle, where Colin and I had arranged to meet up with my friend Ethan and his girlfriend Ann. Ethan is currently on exchange in Copenhagen, and is travelling around Europe with Ann before he goes back to write his exams. We wandered up to a pub on Fleet Street called the King and Keys, and caught up on his crazy adventures over a pint.
At about 6.30, Colin and I left Ethan and Ann, and walked across the Millennium Bridge (the really cool, and somewhat famous footbridge across the Thames designed by Norman Foster) which took us right to the Globe Theatre. We met up with the rest of our group there, and saw a presentation of Shakespeare's play Coriolanus. It was quite good, but the acting and storyline were overshadowed by the fact that the actor who played Geoffery on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was playing the role of the Roman general Cominius, which was awesome.
After the play was over we all piled back into the buses again, and returned to the castle. We got back around 1am, I think, and I went to bed fairly quickly - in addition to being exhausted from the running around for the last two days, I had another early-morning field trip on Sunday! This trip, to Cadbury World in Birmingham, will be detailed in the next chapter.
posted by Scoops at 11:38 a.m.
3 Comments:
Hands down, no doubt about it, a real life sequel to the 'Da Vinci Code' will unfold with you as the protagonist, unearthing revolutionary information on the British, as their so called afternoon 'tea time' was suppose to be held in the morning, but a secret society of men have created the afternoon fallacy to enslave the population for exactly 10 minutes everyday while they administer mind control pathogens into the London fog.
What I'm trying to say is, sounds like you're having fun. :)
hey scott!!!
do you have either dan or mike for marketing? haha... we had them in the winter term for that class... i think you'll enjoy international finance and the prof, Len... more ... either way, both classes are a joke haha enjoy!!!!
scottie.
it is nice to see the blog reincarnated, tho i can't pretend that i've read it yet, it's too long. however the length of it puts me at ease by assuring me that you're keeping busy and are having at least fun chronicling your adventures.
don't you. forget about me. as you walk on by. will you call my name?
kyla.
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