Vegan Routes and Banksy

I tried to relax this weekend since last week was extremely busy and full of siteseeing. My original plan was to not leave the house at ALL today, and just watch "Skins" and write my multiculturalism paper. I did do those things, but I also went to...

"Exit through the Gift Shop" directed by Banksy
Banksy started out as a graffiti artist in London (the picutre I've posted is one of his most famous works), but eventually held a proper art show and all sorts of celebrities bought his work. But the film is mostly about this absolutely insane French dude called Thierry Guetta (aka Mr. Brainwash), who got obsessed with filming street artists. I won't say any more, as it will ruin the movie, but I did enjoy it. It definitely made me think twice about the artistic process...

Vegan Routes
This is a restaraunt I went to with Donnie and some of his friends from school on Saturday night. The restaraunt is actually located inside a red double-decker bus! The bottom part of the bus has a kitchen and cash register, while the top part of the bus is decked out with couches, tables, a heater, and even a flatscreen T.V. I got a delicious risotto and side salad with an orange and rum cake for dessert.

Ta-ta!

Rebecca

FAMILY!!

So, Mom, Dad and Rach came this week, and it was amazing! My only regret is that I didn't get to spend more time with them... I basically didn't see them Wednesday or Thursday because I had class, work and Sean's birthday party. But on our other days out, we had so much fun and ate SO much food! They did a lot of siteseeing on their own, but here are some things we all did together:

-Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace
We showed up just before the guards (and marching band?) marched from some smaller palace to Buckingham, so we ran alongside them with the rest of the crowd and got some good photos. Once they went behind the gates of the palace, we couldn't really see anything, but stuck it out for a while anyway.

-St. Paul's Cathedral

-Tate Modern

-London Eye
The Eye was pretty good. It was a little overcast when we went so we didn't get a lot of great pictures. The young-ish couple who were in our pod asked us, "Have you guys found any place to eat around here?" Um... actually yes, it's a huge city with a million great restaurants. Dad told them to get Rick Steve's. The other funny thing that happened was at the end of the ride they take a photo. Rach and Mom refused to get in it, but Dad and I did. The problem was, I had no idea where the camera was, so in the photo I was looking way off to the side and Dad was actually looking at the lens. He bought it anyway...

-Westminster Abbey
It was really cool to see the stone of scone and the tombs of old royalty... and to even just be in the place where nearly every king has had a coronation ceremony. Poets' Corner was probably my favorite though... I saw headstones for Jane Austen, Rudyard Kipling, and Charles Dickens.

The most memorable part of the Abbey, though, was Isaac Newton's tomb. Rachel wanted to find it because she could get extra credit for school by taking a picture of herself on Spring Break with her Calculus book. Isaac Newton's grave seemed like an appropriate backdrop. It took us forever to find the tombstone. No photography is allowed in the Abbey, so we had to quickly and subtly take the picture before being accosted by one of the many guards milling around. As you may know, subtly is not a particular strength of the Ogle family... as Mom took the photos, Dad paced, I fled the scene altogether, and Rachel giggled continually and nervously. After 2 very blurry photos were taken, a guard walked over and told us not to take any more, at which point we left abruptly. Only the Ogles.

-"The White Guard" at the National Theatre

-"Billy Elliot" at the Victoria
Rachel and I loved the show and giggled through most of it. It's much more lighthearted, humorous and showy than the movie, which is actually a bit somber. The actor who played Billy is the youngest to ever have done so! Dad didn't like it quite as much, as he doesn't really like musicals. He and Mom wanted to leave before the final number, but Rach and I stayed, and it was quite amusing as the entire cast wore tutu's.

-Gordon's Wine Bar
Near Trafalgar square, this place is the oldest wine bar in London. The food was just okay, as it was traditional British food (pork, beans, various kinds of potatoes, etc.) The venue was really cool, as we sat in a very dark cellar that looked like a cave, lit only by candelight. Rachel hated it, the rest of us gave it a "thumbs up," as Dad always says...


Today I absolutely have to do laundry, and then I'm meeting Donnie at Selfridge's for some shopping. Going out for Sean's birthday tonight (again)!

Locked Out & Other Stories

I had so much fun Saturday & today that I just had to write a little something...!

SATURDAY

Sean and I went, rather spontaneously, to the 4 p.m. showing of Avatar. I'm glad we went. The 3D was cool and the cinematography was incredible... buuut the cheesy dialogue and re-hashed Pocahontas plot line were definitely underwhelming. Oh, well. After dinner, we grabbed some Chinese and headed to Piccadilly, where we mostly hung out at the O Bar and Madame JoJo's, our usual haunts in that part of town.

Got home at 4 a.m., as it took us an hour and a half to get back to Ealing on the night bus. Walked up to my front door and realized that I didn't have my house key. Somehow scaled the 10-foot-tall fence to the backyard, hoping to get in through the side door. Side door was locked. Examined the possibility of climbing up to my 3rd story window... decided against it. Realized phone was nearly out of batteries. Called Sean & begged to sleep on his floor (of course he said yes and even let me borrow some PJ's).

SUNDAY

We tried to sneak out of Sean's house before his host mom came back (one of the main rules of homestays is absolutely NO overnight guests). But of course, her car pulled up just as we were walking out the front door. Luckily for me, she was really understanding, though poor Sean was definitely teased later. Sean is a bit addicted to Subway, especially since they give out coupons on every street corner, so we went there and grabbed some lunch.

After returning home, still in my going out clothes and smeared makeup, I took a much-needed shower. There are a few vintage stores near Brick Lane I've been dying to check out, so I hopped on the circle line & went to Liverpool St. I went to Blondie and Absolute Vintage. Both stores were really cool but overpriced. Still, I spent about an hour in Absolute Vintage and was unable to leave the store without buying a certain purse. The whole time I was there, I kept picking this purse up and putting it back down... I even hid it under a pile of other purses to deter myself, then had to dig through them all to get it. I wish I had a picture because it. is. gorgeous. Real leather & boxy with gold buckles... kinda 70's, like my style. It was wayyyy out of my price range but it's so perfect that I'll have it forever.

Cheers!
Rebecca

Friday madness

I had a really, really busy but fun day yesterday! Here's where I went:

-Brick Lane for a field trip with my fiction class. As usual, our professor didn't tell us much about where we were walking. He stopped us at a few historic pubs and talked about the famous fights that had gone down in each, but that was about it.

-Castlehaven (my internship, in Camden Town) to return a key to the storage closet. I found it in my pocket earlier that morning and figured they would need it.

-St. Martins-in-the-Fields for a free concert at 1 p.m. Students at the Royal College of Music played piano and sang opera. Gorgeous.

-Covent Garden Market, where I wandered the stalls for a bit & got a Ben's Cookies triple chocolate cookie. Somehow this market seemed more pricey than most... there was an entire hall of high-end stores that looked like they belonged on Oxford St.

-Somerset House, a huge historical building that contained...

-The Courtauld Gallery, some rich guy's small collection of art. The most famous paintings I saw were Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergere and Van Gogh's Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear. Most of the gallery is impressionism and post-impressionism (i.e. Manet, Monet, Cezanne, Gauguin, etc.) with some earlier and later stuff.

-In another part of Somerset House I saw a photography exhibit that had photos both of random people off the street and of Kate Moss, Audrey Hepburn, Prince William, etc. I still have no idea what the coherent thread or theme of the exhibit was... it seemed pretty random to me.

-PRI-MARK!!!! (The one at Marble Arch). In hindsight going there at 5 p.m. on a Friday was not the best decision. You couldn't even move. The line to the dressing room was 50 people long, and I'm not exaggerating. I got a sensible pair of black tights, 2 pairs stockings, and a new shirt.

-Home for dinner with Vera & international students. It was my favorite, chicken & "chips."

-A hookah bar in Ealing with Sean. We were a little wary about going in, as a huge group of thuggish-looking Middle Eastern guys were standing out front and the only people inside were Middle Eastern as well... but the owner directed us to the back of the store, which was much cozier. We got peach-pineapple flavor which was quite good, and a free cup of tea each! We also met a nice couple who were from Britain and Syria.

-The New Inn, our usual pub, for a pint before the tube closed.


Today will not be as fun, unfortunately, as I've decided it's errand day. Here's my to-do list:
1. Laundry
2. Bring boot with faulty zipper to shoe repair shop
3. Bring crappy camera to camera repair shop
4. Clean room

Cheers,
Rebecca

Barcelona Part II

During our last day in Barcelona, Donnie and I went to la Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's latest work-in-progress. He designed the whole thing before he died, but it's far from done. Most of the inside is a huge construction site, but we did see a few finished stained glass windows. They looked like typical Gaudi mosaics and were done in every color. I can't even imagine how gorgeous the entire place is going to look when it's done. We also took an elevator to the top of the chapel, where we saw a beautiful view of the city. We had to take the steps to go back down... there a lot of steps. A looooot. This is super embarrassing, but my legs are still sore! Guess it's been a while since I've worked out...

Anyway, Donnie and I also did a lot of shopping on our last day and went to Desigual, a cool & colorful Spanish brand. I splurged on a shirt and am too mortified to even repeat the price... but it is beautiful! We really did spend a lot of money though. We ate really amazing food for basically every meal. Secretly, I kind of missed my peanut butter & honey sandwiches, which is what I eat for lunch pretty much every day in London. Yummy and, more importantly, cheap.

Our flight got back on Sunday at 6 p.m., so you can bet going back to work this morning was definitely not easy! But I'm getting excited about a huge project I'm doing with a co-worker. The premise is, teens from 4 local youth centers (including ours of course) try out for a Big Brother imitation show that's going to be webcast live. There'll be 20 contestants and they have to stay in our youth center for 24 hours straight and complete challenges. It's going to be super intense, but fun!

Cheers,
Rebecca

Barcelona

Cool Things Donnie & I have Done/Seen So Far:

1. Park Guell- Gaudi intended the park to be an outdoor market and a "playground for the rich" (according to the guidebook), but it was bought by the city and now is basically empty except for a few stray street performers, vendors, and of course tourists. The architecture adorned with mosaics, as well as the plants and cavernous walkways, is absolutely beautiful.

2. Casa Museu Gaudi- This is a house in Park Guell where Gaudi lived during the later years of his life. The house is now a museum filled with lots of fantastical furniture designed by Gaudi.

3. Picasso Walking Tour- A guide took us on an hour and half long walking tour of some Barcelona streets where Picasso used to hang out with his buddies. We saw the Four Cats, the coffee shop where he had his first exhbition as a teenager, the apartment building where he lived with his parents, and the building where he took art lessons. Then the tour guide took us on a half-hour-long guided tour of the museum, where we saw some of Picasso's earliest works, including a self-portrait he did when he was only 15 years old (it was ridiculously good).

4. Barcelona's Contemporary Art Museum- Donnie and I saw an exhbition by Rodney Graham, featuring lots of cases for books and weird stuff in general, and one by John Baldessari, the highlights of which include an optical illusion of a chandelier and a video of the artist throwing potatoes at a gong.

General Observations:

1. Most people here know a few words of English, and I remember a few words of Spanish, so communication hasn't been difficult. Hand gestures and pointing make up the difference.

2. Locals don't serve lunch until around 2 p.m., and dinner starts around 9 p.m. Shops and museums are generally open until 8 p.m., which is awesome. Clubs don't really get started until around 1:30 or 2 a.m., which makes for some late nights and rough mornings...

3. None of the public toilets have toilet seats! And while we're on the subject, most bathrooms have timed lights, so it's a race to beat the clock or risk feeling for the toilet paper in the dark...

4. Weather has been mild, about 20-30 degrees warmer than London, which is nice. Honestly, just seeing the sun is enough to make me blissfully happy.

5. Spanish women wear very little makeup or hair products and still look gorgeous, while men seem to spend a lot more time on their look/clothes.


That's enough for now. More to come.

Hasta luego,
Rebecca