Frantic catch-up post

It's been a while, we know.  So instead of trying to get through the backlog in anything approaching thorough-ness, we'll give you the super-quick version of the last few weeks.  Then we'll do our best to keep up in the future, I promise.

Wednesday, July 28 - Five Days in the Lake District, Part 5

The day began in Keswick, a town of pubs and outdoors stores.  Seriously, there's not much else.  I've never seen so many outdoors stores in such a small area.  But given Keswick's centrality in the Lake District, it makes sense.  After a lazy morning wandering around Keswick, we hopped on the bus to Carlisle, where we raced around the cathedral and castle.  At the Carlisle train station, I practiced my forward defensive shot, much good that it did me.

Tuesday, August 3 - Our First Night of the Proms
Each summer, Royal Albert Hall hosts "the world's greatest classical music festival," a series of daily classical music concerts.  Seats aren't cheap, but there's the wonderful tradition of "promming" - show up a few hours before the concert and buy a standing-room ticket for just £5.  We went to Prom #23 and heard Fould's Dynamic Triptych, Vaughan Williams's Serenade to Music and "The Lark Ascending," and Elgar's Symphony #1.  We'll prom at least once more this summer, so we'll provide a fuller report then.

Thursday, August 5 - Went the Day Well? at the BFI Southbank
My adviser recommended this, a WWII film that imagines a German invasion of a strategically located English village.  Full of simple English folk, from all walks of life, doing their duty.  Rather charming.


Friday, August 6 - The National Gallery
We met up with a friend from college (and elementary school, in my case) at the National Gallery to see the exhibit on Fakes, Mistakes and Discoveries.  If you have any doubt about the role that science plays in the art world these days, have a look.  It also raises all sorts of questions about authenticity and the experience of seeing works of art - does a work suddenly become less powerful because it turns out that it was done by a student of Rembrandt rather than the master himself?

Sunday, August 8 - A day with the birds

Another nice day brought us out to the London Wetland Centre in Barnes.  Wholly man-made, it has a zoo-like section with micro-climates supporting birds from around the world as well as a larger, more open area where you're on your own in terms of spotting the birds.  I'll leave the list of birds we saw to Becca - she's much better at identifying them than I am.  I'm pretty sure these guys are ducklings, though.

Monday, August 9 - Harrods
Becca's cousin arrived last Monday.  She enjoys a good department store, and we hadn't been to the spectacle of Harrods yet, so off we went.  Our visit was made all the more sweet by the fact that I had a gift certificate (thanks, Mom and Dad!) just waiting to be used on chocolate truffles.  Harrods isn't really the sort of place where graduate students actually buy anything, so this was mostly a time for ogling.  If only I had £1,200 for that smoking jacket...

Tuesday, August 10 - An afternoon at the palace
Liz and Phil  spend their summers in Scotland, which means the likes of us get to scope out their place.  A good day for it, too, since the rain that had been holding off for so long finally descended on us.  What struck me is how you can trace the history of the British monarchy over the past few centuries through the changing styles and decorations of successive rooms.

Wednesday, August 11 - Othello in Waterlow Park
Somehow I've gone the first 28 years of my life without seeing Othello.  Yes, it really is that good, and yes, Iago really is that devious.  The actor playing Iago was superb, not least in dealing with the hiccups that inevitably come with outdoor theatre, like a group of loud, loutish teenagers walking by in the middle of a monologue.  Is there any better way to spend a summer evening than seeing Shakespeare in a park while drinking a beer?

Whew.  With that, I'll turn it over to Becca for a recap of our weekend in Paris.