I'm so lazy I ain't done much lately

I am currently watching the Lollapalooza Webcast. It's not so bad. I am seeing bands I want to see, without putting up with the heat or the crowds or the $150 price tag. However, they keep panning across the crowds, and I can see the bright blue skies and the skyline of Chicago, the Field Museum and the lake, and it's making me ache to be there.

Anyways - it is absolute crunch time with this thesis, so there won't be too much of me doing fun things around London. All I've managed to do in the last week was hang out with Claire last weekend at Soho Pridefest, and make a daytrip out to Stratford.

Soho Pride was alright. They shut down all the streets in Soho and had DJ booths, shopping and bars out on the streets. We ate some cheap, yummy Thai food, and walked around people-watching and collecting free things. It was good fun at first, but it got pretty crowded pretty quickly, and by the end I was glad to get out of there.

Yesterday, Danielle and Claire and I woke up early and took the train from Marlyebone to Stratford-Upon-Avon to spend a Shakespearean day.

We got in around 11:30, and headed into town and walked around.

The first thing I saw was this:


Ha ha. Danielle and Claire wanted to eat dinner there, but I wouldn't let them.

We window shopped a bit.


I also found the library.



Geeky, I know. But I want to work in a tudor style library!

Then we headed over to the RSC theatre to pick up our tickets. We were mostly excited because starring in the performance was none other than Mr. Patrick Stewart. Woot! Since Danielle and Claire are still younguns under the ripe old age of 26, they were able to purchase the cheap £5 tickets to see "The Tempest" at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, and we got me snuck in for that much too.

We were seeing the matinee, but we still had a few hours to kill. Danielle had not been to Stratford yet, and I had been there on Christmas Day, but nothing was open. Claire had done Stratford a few times, so she went shopping while Danielle and I toured Shakespeare's birthplace.


I've snapped this photo before, but this time there are flowers and it's not 40 degrees outside.


The back of the house which is surrounded by pretty gardens.

There is an exhibition that you wander through first, before going in the house. It's informative, but not much I didn't know. The best part was this (Newberry nerdiness alert):


Another copy of the first folio. I totally had to sneak a photo. This one is only bound in boards and plain marbled paper. It's not as fancy as the Newberry's copy.

The little snippet about it said there were only about 200 remaining copies, I think? And I have seen two!

Then we walked around and went inside and toured the house. It's very pretty and filled with replica furniture of the time. There were a few tourguides to give you helpful information about the different rooms. The one guy in the glove room asked us where we were from, and when Danielle said Connecticut he said, "Ahh, so you've traded New England for Olde!" (I could hear the 'E' on the end.) I suppose working in a room full of gloves all day would make me a bit crazy too.

Here is Danielle in front of Shakespeare's house.



Once done here, we headed back in the direction of the RSC to meet Claire.

The RSC is right on the Avon, which is very picturesque and pretty, and filled with houseboats and row boats.



And ducks and swans.


The Royal Shakespeare Theatre


We headed inside and got our seats. They were wonderful seats. Sixth row, on the side. Can't beat that for £5!

The performance was wonderful, and it was very exciting to see Patrick Stewart perform! They reenvisioned the setting as a snowy, Nordic island rather than the typical tropical one. The main appeal of the play, I think, was the artistic interpretation rather than the performances themselves, but it was still very good.

Afterwards, we scoped out the place and found the conveniently labelled Stage Door. Although I felt foolish, we hung out for a bit to see Patrick Stewart come out. There weren't a lot of people waiting. I've seen giant crowds waiting outside theatres in London.

He came out at last, and we hung in the background until it was our turn and I had him sign my ticket and told him I thought it was a great performance. He thanked me. Another girl had told him she was coming later in the evening and asked him how it was, he said (about me), "Well, she liked it."

That was the extent of it! He didn't want to take any photographs because he was "off duty," so I don't have any, unfortunately. Then he briskly walked up the street into town, and we kind of followed him. We were heading that way anyways, and we just kept our eye on him until we couldn't see him anymore.

Then we ate dinner in a very swanky pub called The Swan something or other. Then we walked around a bit more until it was time to catch our train back. We rolled through the country side for two hours, and then we were home.