so i have been prodded and pressured by myself and others to chronicle the events of this weekend. here we go.to the best of my knowledge, sometime around 7:30 on saturday morning, a whole mess of us set off for the mysterious city of bath. asleep on the shoulder of a very patient seat-sharer in the back of the bus (because we're obviously the cool kids), i whiled away the time to stonehenge listening to joni mitchell croon me along the english countryside.
so. what is there to do at stonehenge REALLY?
not much. you stare at the rocks, take a couple of hilarious perspective shots in which someone is attempting to "lift" or "push" the structure.
you marvel at the sheer lack of any particular knowledge about the site. oh. and you visit the gift shop. i was this close to buying a "stonehenge rocks!" t-shirt for myself, but then i concluded i am not quite ironic enough to pull off such a decidedly ironic look.
after some hot beverages, the crowd to the left packed back up on the bus. as we winded through old village after dilapidated castle, i carefully jotted down a map of tommy's future living quarters, while nathaniel led us all in about a billion rounds of "the movie game." quite possibly the trickiest/simplest game known to man. whatever. it never ended.
we rolled into bath spouting obscure jim carrey movies at each other. our sweet little
tour guide, felicity, led us, bleary-eyed and wobbly, through the streets of bath. this is what i love about that city: it looks old. even the GAP had an old school stone facade. way to go city of bath. quaint and coordinated for over a century. we saw the circus, the famous royal crescent, bath abbey, and the river avon (no, not that one). the stone structures, the sandy color of everything, the subtle mix of architectural styles - all caught my eye as we slipped through alleys and climbed up steep hills.
FUN FACT: bath is the birthplace of the adhesive stamp. sometime around 1815, some postal worker licked a stamp and that was the end of the world as they knew it. and, since england loves museums more than any other country, there is, naturally, a postal museum in bath. what they have on display, i really have no idea, but there is a museum essentially dedicated to that fateful day in the early 1800's.
doesn't that blow your mind? i thought so.
lunch was spent on more movie game, and some rugby. the big international england v. italy game was on. we didn't really watch much. just got to hear a bunch of burly rugby guys shouting "god save the queen." rough.
so we headed over to have a peek in bath abbey - this gorgeous georgian structure popped right in the middle of everything. it was beautiful. so bright and well-lit. there are a ton of people buried there. no one particularly famous. but amazing stained-glass windows, a few small chapels, and some gorgeous monuments.
i lit a candle for jim whitmore, whose death i found out about early saturday morning. he was a beautiful man who i respected and enjoyed immensely. i'll never forget him, or our long, smoky talks that summer that seems like a million years ago. i'm glad he got to bookend his time at the players doing 'our town.' there's just something very fitting about that.
anyway - i had quite a pensive time in bath abbey. it was meditative but bright and cheery. i picture of hope rather than solemnity, which i very much appreciated.
YMCA hostel. i was literally put in a summer camp room. it was hilarious. 10 girls on bunk-beds. after tossing our stuff, we all suited up (quite literally) and took a visit to the thermal spas in the town. £20 bought us 2 hours of relaxation and swimming in hot tubs, wave pools, and a steam room. massages, showers, and silliness abounded. and the movie game continued. naturally. we got to watch the sun set from the thermal pool on the roof. the steam rising with the nearly-full moon. when our hands were as wrinkled as time would allow, we all wandered back out into the night, a great deal less tense than when we came in. we found a french restaurant willing to seat 11, and made a great show of things with all of our wine, appetizers, and various desserts. my vat of chardonnay got me sufficiently slurring about halfway through dinner. i'm so classy. we found a bar in which to sit and watch random music videos.
tommy and i wandered home, made a friend on the way who fell in love with our accents, and were nearly locked out of the Y and forced to sleep in the streets of bath.
sunday morning saw our visit to the roman baths; the whole reason the city exists. they were steamy and old. in the process of being re-furbished, so you're not quite sure what's legit
roman, or was carved in the 90's. they were beautiful, though, and i used my very first audio-guide. i'm growing up. so we all took a million pictures, i made a wish on a penny and tossed it into this wading pool, and we played with wooden swords in the gift. shop. all very enjoyable things.
maggie and i had a beautiful afternoon. at the fashion museum, the assembly rooms, and the jane austen centre. here, we are trying on industrial corsets and hoop skirts in the low-ceilings of the fashion museum. we saw a bunch of gloves from the 17th century, dresses spanning from 1700 - 1990's, and even queen victoria's morning dress. i bought a book on audrey hepburn, because i am cliche and obsessed with her.
jane austen was interesting too. apparently she hated bath, but lived there for about 6 years. she wrote two books, commenting on the ridiculous social nature of the city - as it was an 18th-century spot to see and be seen. big hats, fans, and plates with colin firth's face on them. brilliant. after tea & scones we stumbled back to the bus for more sleeping on my seat-mate.
the past few days have been more or less standard. maggie, tommy & i saw 'three days of rain' in the west end last night, starring james mcavoy, who was fantastic and looked delicious in that sweatervest. today we had a trip to the tate modern for my art class. i did my oral report on barbara hepworth, who married and procreated with some of the other most influential artists of her time. way to go dame barbara. we saw some creepy videos, a black bird etched into some paintings, and enough pretension to make my head spin.
tomorrow is back to the grindstone at RADA. our performance is on friday. we'll all be skipping, singing, and slap-sticking our way through the afternoon. then JENNY comes to me.
other big news: SETH is coming for spring break! it's officially official. we're spending the weekend in london, doing a bunch of neat stuff, including, but not limited to, torture devices in the tower, being groundlings at the globe, and the OBAMA musical. then PARIS for 3 days - baguettes, cigarettes, and the mona lisa. i cannot wait to fake french for 72 hours. it will be a beautiful week, and i cannot wait. 22 days!
and DUBLIN next weekend. i'm sure my overuse of caps lock is making you just as excited as i am.
i should go to bed.
i have literally lost my mind.
i hope mom, dad, ari, seth & tommy are all satisfied by this entry.
as they all were pushing me to update. so there. pictures and all.
i love quoting things.
i love fitting quotes.
and so i leave you all with this.
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