London Day 2

Today we spent our first real day in London. I was so jet lagged yesterday that I fell asleep just after blogging and then showering. I woke up again at 4pm but then fell back asleep after dinner at 8pm and woke up only at 9 this morning. After breakfast in the refectory, we reported to the common lounge for some quick housekeeping dorms rules and then got our first taste of class with Clare Kinney and Michael Levenson. Even in our short class this morning, I could tell how exciting and intellectually stimulating the semester is going to be. We briefly laid out some questions and notes about The Secret Agent that we want to be sure to discuss in our two hours tomorrow.
After class we had more lunch in the refectory and then headed out to St. Paul's Cathedral - the iconic house of worship that made London famous and was most notably visible to me in Marry Poppins. I even had tuppence but, alas, I hate birds so I wouldn't dare to feed the pigeons.
Despite my unfortunate fear of heights, Jon Readey helped me muster enough courage (and fear of going back down alone) to climb all the way to the very top of St. Paul's and once there, I was rewarded with some absolutely magnificent views of London from above. The observation lookout is at the very top of the cupola and we got a 360 degree view of the city - from the banks of the Thames to Regent's Park and everything in between and around.

After reaching traversing the less than opaque steps and reaching terra firma, we proceeded to the Tate Museum of Modern Art, one of London's many free Art museums. Tate is located inside a giant old power station so it was very unappealing from the outside. Once we got in, however, and went up to the fifth floor, we quickly checked out the State of Flux gallery and exhibition which gave us a very interesting and whirlwind introduction to Modern Art. We saw Lichtenstien (my favorites), Warhol, Russian propaganda posters and many, many others. I really liked Roy Lichtenstein's work the best since it seems so clear and yet very simple - he limits the colors he uses and produces shading effects by merely mixing dots of multiple colors. His paintings communciate very easily and yet they make impacting statements and are surely art in my eyes.

After Tate, Jon and Meg led a walking tour all around the city so that we could see from ground level all of the sights we saw from the Cupola of St. Paul's. We walked down the bank of the Thames past the National Theater Hall, the London Eye, and the Millenium Bridge which we'd crossed earlier. We continued back on government side and walked past the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.

We then walked by White Hall and the Cabinet buildings and got a peak at 10 Downing Street where David Cameron now resides. We then walked through Trafalgar Square, saw the National Art Gallery, and then ended up in Leicester Square. From there, we came to our ultimate destination for the night - Queen's Theater and a production of "Les Miserables".

We got tickets and then spread out for lunch and several of us made the excellent decision of going to Vixy's Irish Pub. The Sandwhich and chips I had there were excellent and we all enjoyed the really cool underground atmosphere.

After dinner we walked back to the theater and took in Les Mis which was excellent. Though I've been in choirs since 5th grade and have sung several of the songs, I've never seen the show until now. Jean Valjean was played by Simon Bowman who was excellent in the role.
After giving a standing ovation at the show's end, we trekked back to the underground station in the rain and finally ended up back to Baker's Street station from which we hiked to Regent's. I got home, skyped with Erika for the first time (I Love Skype - get it... and friend me....   simon.svirnovskiy), and am now blogging before bed. I'm excited to use my newly bought toiletries purchased from Boots pharmacy. If every American pharmacy was named Boots I'm sure I'd use them more often.

Here's a photo from two days ago when I visited my Aunt and Shalla in Long Beach with Wayne.

Cheers!
-Simon