Weekend Wanderings

Due today is our third major project, the digital story. This project is a combination of still photos, music, and narration. I used iMovie again, which I'm getting more and more comfortable with.

In my story, I take Chick on the tube to Harrods. There we explore the food halls and have some lunch.

I took the photos for this project on Saturday. We had the weekend free to catch up on homework and explore on our own.

I set off first to take some pictures of the London landmarks for my tattoo video. I took the tube to London Bridge and walked past pubs and parks to get to the Tower Bridge.

Love this blue sky after a week of London rain!

I skirted the Tower of London and then enjoyed a short portion of the Thames Path. I ended my walk with a jaunt over the Millennium Bridge, featured at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. The bridge connects the Tate Modern Museum and the area around St. Paul's Cathedral.

Looking towards the Tate.

Looking back towards St. Paul's.

Next stop: Trafalgar Square. In Portland, Pioneer Courthouse Square is considered "Portland's Living Room"--a site for festivals, music, and just hanging out. Londoners hang out in their public spaces--parks, roundabouts, even the courtyard of the British Museum--all the time, but Trafalgar Square, capped by the steps of the National Gallery, seems to be the living room of London.

On this day, there was a children's movie playing on a huge screen. It was sign language interpreted, which I've seen several times here. There was also a kids' art area right in front of the stage.

I hopped the subway to Harrod's next, to take pictures for my digital story and have some lunch. This was the most expensive meal I've had in London, but since it was school work, it's completely justified, right? Harrod's is really big and I only explored the food halls, which were four large rooms. I know there's more to it, but I'm trying not to do much shopping. One thing that really impressed me was the huge number of staff at the store, all gracious and helpful.

Chick's adventure on Saturday:

Tower Bridge

The London Eye 

Harrod's

Biscuit (cookie) tin: "Did I ever tell you I have two dads?"

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Sunday was pretty quiet. Again I had to make a special excursion as part of an upcoming assignment. Our free time is often spent researching or filming for our multimedia projects. I think this works okay if you do a project on something that you're particularly interested in, like the oral histories at the Foundling Museum. However, it is difficult to just get in and get out. I went to the Victoria & Albert Museum specifically to see and photograph some watercolors painted by Beatrix Potter, author of Peter Rabbit. I needed to get back to my flat to work on my video, but the V&A is huge--and incredibly interesting. I did browse the jewelry exhibits, which I had to walk through on my way to the paintings.

I was disappointed that the textiles and costumes have all been removed from display pending architectural renovation of those galleries. Bad news for the fiber artist in me, good news for the harried student.

Keeping up with the projects and the daily assignments, all while spending much of our days on group tours is challenging. All of the other students are writing fascinating blogs and making cool multimedia projects, and I don't have time to check them out! 

Tonight we're headed to the Globe Theatre to see Anne Boleyn (no spoilers, please!) and then practicing some nighttime photography. And I haven't even told you all about St. Paul's Cathedral, the Museum of London, Stonehenge, or Salisbury...

Bloomsbury Square with Dad

Today's photo assignment was to tell a story in five pictures.

I caught this little family in the park near our flats.

London Ink

Remember how I"m in London for SCHOOL? This isn't all tours, and shows, and pints, people. Sometimes we have actual assignments!

Today's assignment is to make and post a 1-3 minute video. My utmost appreciation goes out to Aubrey for the excellent camera work. (I only allowed her one take.) I cut out a few minutes, but this is basically 30 minutes compressed into less than three. Take your dramamine, it's a wild ride!



I was looking for a tattoo studio close to where we living in London, and I wanted to see an extensive portfolio from the artists, as well as positive reviews, since I don't know anyone here to ask for a recommendation.

I stopped by my chosen studio, Extreme Needle, on Wednesday afternoon and visited with Abz, the owner, about my idea. I wanted to be really happy with the tattoo, of course, but I also needed to have permission to film the process. No worries. He was open to the filming and knew just the artist to do the piece. I felt better about the price (not in my budget for the trip!) when he explained that there was no tip expected on top of the quote. Also, as we visited, he got a call from a "Nigel" who just happens to be the local health authority--hundreds of studios in Westminster, and he wants to schedule a tattoo at this place!

Our class had a work/rest day on Friday, so Aubrey and I walked down to Chinatown that afternoon. I had met Alejandro, the artist, earlier that day when I made my appointment and paid the deposit. Once we finally got the artwork to size and properly placed, the inking took just half an hour.

Alejandro, the artist

 

Abz, the owner

 

All done. Happy face.

 

Whoa! First placement.

I love London, but I don't want to MARRY it.

Several days later, I'm still thrilled about the tattoo. It's also healed faster than any of my other tattoos, which I think attests to the skill of the artist. The actual inking was not painful; he has a light touch.

So friends and fellow classmates, I highly recommend Extreme Needle for any of your London tattoo needs--just a fifteen minute walk from the British Museum, in case you get inspired.

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Filming by Aubrey Clark.

Still photos by Eliza Lane.

Exception: Photo of the Gherkin by Mike A. Lambert. From Flickr, follows Creative Commons usage guidelines.

Music: "Tryptamine Extraction (Hardoff's Remix)" by DJ Donna Summer. From the Free Music Archive, follows Creative Commons usage guidelines.

Wee Snippets

 

Musicians can get licenses to perform for tips in the Underground. The license is free--it just takes an audition "to prove you're mad enough to play all day in a tube station," according to this guy. His saxophone is a 1959 Selmer Mark VI alto--almost identical to the 1962 horn that has been played by my daughter, my mother, and me.
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Our flat did not come equipped with paper towels, dish detergent ("washing up liquid" in the local parlance), or soap. So I bought one of the cheapest bars I could find. Just 65p and it was transparent! (How posh!) Pears Soap turns out to be a true London original, first produced and sold in 1789. In fact, Pears Soap was the world's first registered brand and is therefore the world's oldest continuously existing brand. Cool, right? Also, you should know that it does not smell like pears.
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Tower Bridge, NOT London Bridge

You would think a girl from Bridgetown would be able to keep her river crossings straight, wouldn't you? But I've been calling the Tower Bridge by the wrong name all along. The London Bridge is one span up (or down?) the Thames. The famous rhyme is thought to have been inspired by an episode in 1014: "Tradition states that the bridge was pulled down by the Norwegian prince Olaf in 1014, to assist the Anglo-Saxon King Aethelred to divide the forces of the Danes who held the walled City of London and Southwark, on either side of the river; thus regaining London." Thanks Wikipedia.
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I didn't go inside the Tower of London, but I did walk all the way around it today.

Study in contrasts: the Tower of London and the Gherkin.

Everything you need to play knight and princess dress-up.

Need to escape from the Tower?

There's an app for that.

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 Maternity dress in the window of Harrods

I need to remember the sunscreen!

Those Poor British Bastards

On our first Saturday in London, we were scheduled to have a tour of Bloomsbury, the area in which we live. Somehow it got jumbled and our guide did not show up. Since it was pouring rain, many people chose instead to go to various museums around the city. I headed to the Foundling Museum, a short walk with my pink umbrella.

The museum explains the importance of the Foundling Hospital, London's first institution for housing and educating illegitimate children. Philanthropist Captain Thomas Coram spent nearly two decades trying to convince the crown that there needed to be a home for unwanted babies. He received support for his mission from some of the leading figures of the time including the artist, William Hogarth, and the composer George Frederic Handel.

The Hospital had two missions: to provide a home for children and to enable their mothers to re-establish themselves fully in society. Rules for admission were introduced in the nineteenth century which stated that a child had to be illegitimate and under one year old to be accepted. A lottery system was used to determine the small number of children that could be admitted to the Hospital.

The Foundling Hospital opened in 1741 and continued in much the same manner until it's closure in 1954. Single mothers would place their children in the home with no hope of ever seeing them again. The children, their names changed, would be fostered in the countryside until the age of five, when they would return to the Foundling Hospital School to be educated. When they reached their mid-teens, the girls would go into domestic service, while the boys would be apprenticed to a tradesman or join the military.

Life at the Foundling Hospital was harsh, with many stories of cruel punishments and bullies. Meals were on a weekly rotation, uniforms were always worn, and the entire day, from waking to sleep was strictly governed. There was little thought given to the emotional development of children, so many schools, even posh boarding schools, were managed this same way.

 

"Coram boys" waiting for their dinners.   

© The Foundling Museum

I found the special exhibit, Foundling Voices, to be particularly interesting. This exhibit features the stories of the youngest London foundlings. Now age seventy and older, they were the final students to progress through the Foundling School before social changes in the post-war era ended the institution.

With the closure of the school, the Hospital officially changed its name to the Thomas Coram Foundation for Children and continues today as the children's charity, Coram, supporting some of the England's most vulnerable children and families. The site of the original Foundling Hospital is now a non-profit playground called Coram's Fields.

 

Gingers at the gate to Coram's Fields, a children-only playground.

Our first major media assignment was to make a podcast. Since no photos were allowed inside the museum, this was a good subject for audio-only.



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I'm now posting stuff somewhat out of order. For example, today was a big day, but I'll be posting a blog (and video!!) about it on Monday. This is because we have assignments due on certain days and I sometimes need to save my big blogging to compliment those multimedia projects.

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Resource for the podcast:

The Foundling Museum - London WC1N's first ever public art gallery and Britain's original home for abandoned children. (n.d.). The Foundling Museum - London WC1N's first ever public art gallery and Britain's original home for abandoned children. Retrieved July 22, 2011, from http://www.foundlingmuseum.org.uk/index.php

Music: Handel's Messiah, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, 2002.

Lit Rally

Today we took a most literary excursion--to the city of Oxford. Let's see if we can count all the sites that figure into kids lit.

 

We caught the train from Paddington Station, immortalized in the stories about Paddington Bear. They sell Paddington Bear merch at the train station, complete with rain jacket and wellies. The statue, however, shows him with just a hat and tag. "Please take care of this bear. Thank you."

Photo by carmen_seaby on Flickr. Creative commons license.

The train to Oxford takes an hour. Once there, we headed to the Bodleian Library, Oxford University. The library was originally started with a bequest of 280 books in the early 15th Century (a huge jump from the 20 owned by the university previously). We got to see the oldest part of the library, where scholars used to use the resources while standing up, with the books actually chained to the desks. For average tourists like ourselves, no photos were allowed in this area.

And the kids lit connection? Parts of the Harry Potter films were filmed here. The oldest area, Duke Humfrey's Library (with false walls hiding the real 15th/16th century manuscripts), was the restricted area of the library at Hogwarts. And the Divinity School was used as the site for the Hogwarts infirmary.

 

The Divinity School

From the Bodleian Library website. Lots of CGI went into these movies!

Next stop: Christ Church. I had no idea that Oxford University was comprised of 39 different colleges, each with their own campuses, libraries, and dining and residence halls. Christ Church is particularly famous because Charles Dodgson was a mathematics tutor there. Who? You know, Lewis Carroll! Alice Liddell, Wonderland's Alice, was the daughter of the college dean.

Alice wanted to know what lay beyond the wall that separated her backyard from the Cathedral Garden, so she'd look through the keyhole.

In the Cathedral Garden. Also known as the
Forbidden Garden, since Alice was not allowed to play here.

 

Looking back at the yard that Alice knew.

Illustration by John Tenniel.

Public domain, found using Google image search.

Christ Church (don't call it Christ Church College, for Christ's sake) was also a location for...Harry Potter!

The dining hall inspired the great hall at Hogwarts. The filmmakers found it better to build a replica on a sound stage rather than attempt to film on location, but it's quite a faithful representation, don't you think?

 

I also made it to Alice's Shop and The Story Museum. This museum is so new that they offer tours of the building, but it won't open to the public until 2014. Regardless, the concept is brilliant (as they say here) and will be a wonderful addition to the literary life of Oxford.

The English Roses

Let's not talk about the kids book by Madonna--let's talk instead about flowers.

Nestled in the center of London is Regent's Park, a royal park within walking distance of our flats. Originally Henry VIII's hunting grounds, the park was re-imagined as an ornamental park in the early 19th century. The park has facilities for sports and recreation, a cafe', and an open-air theater. One of the most spectacular attractions is Queen Mary's Gardens.

Queen Mary, the wife of George V (reign: 1910-1936, grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II), must have loved roses. Her namesake garden contains over 330 different types of roses, in addition to the national collection of delphiniums and 9,000 begonias. 

I might be inclined to be a bit snobbish about roses, considering that Portland's International Rose Test Gardens has 550 varieties, but the roses here SMELLED so good! They had names like Velvet Fragrance, Valencia, and Woods of Windsor.

Chick plays at being Thumbelina.

Regent's Park is also the site of the London Zoo, where Harry Potter first talks to a snake on Dudley's birthday. Nearby is Primrose Hill where Mary Poppins and the children flew kites. We did that, too.

It's hard to see here, but the skyline is very cool.