The Aran Islands

I took a ferry today over to the largest of the three Aran Islands, Inis Mor. I wasn't originally planning to visit the Aran Islands, but when I found out that they were called the "Erin" Islands, I had to go. It was 24 euros for the roundtrip bus and ferry ticket to go to the Aran Islands, but definitely worth it. I was on the 10:30 ferry there and the 4:00 ferry home, so I had five hours to explore the island, and I'm pretty sure I saw all there was to see.

Inis Mor has a total of 800 people still living there and are one of the very few areas left in Ireland where people still speak Irish as their first language. The island is only 9 km long so its very easy to explore by bike. In addition, as soon as you exit the ferry, there are at least 50 different tour guides waiting to drive you around the island, which makes it very interesting that my tour guide who grew up on the island just happened to have a brother that lived in Park Ridge!

One of the main attractions to the islands is Dun Aonghasa, an ancient fort located along the Atlantic Coast side of the island. I also visited a seal colony and was able to catch out multiple old thatch cottages. The visit was a lot of fun!

I made it back to Galway about 5:30, just in time to meet up with one of my friends from London, Sana Jamie!

Next stop: USA!

The Burren and The Cliffs of Moher

I got in to Galway at 12:15, dropped my stuff at the hostel and immediately hopped on a 1 o'clock tour to the Cliffs of Moher, Irelands #1 tourist attraction. I went on a tour run by Healy Tours that was 16 euros and lasted 5 hours. It takes between an hour and a half to two hours to reach the cliffs, but our tour went passed a lot of cool sights along the way. The Cliffs of Moher were incredibly beautiful and are definitely worth a visit!!!

On the ride to the cliffs we went across the Burren, an area of Western Ireland filled with mountains and limestone rock spanning 200 square miles. We passed Dunguoire Castle and stopped to take a picture as well as Leamanagh Castle. Along the way I saw lots of cows, sheep, horses and even an alpaca! We also stopped at the Poulnabrone Dolmen, a 2500 year old burial ground. There are lots of Dolmens around Ireland, all of which are ancient burial grounds. This one got the name Poulnabrone Dolmen based off the area it is located in.

And I'm Off!

I'm leaving for the airport to head to Ireland in 1 hour and will be traveling for the next 12 days! Sadly I didn't have a chance to patch up my last 4 blog entries before I took off, but check back at the end of September for updates and to hear about my Euro adventures (a convention of more than 5,000 of the worlds redheads from over 50 different countries and skydiving may be involved...).

***

August 28 to 30
GALWAY

***

August 30 to September 2

DUBLIN

***

September 2 to 6

HOLLAND

***

September 6 to 8

PRAGUE

***

September 9

Last day in UK then
HELLO USA!!!

***

Clubs&Pubs

London is great for a variety of reasons. And one of the major reasons that this city is so great in my opinion is the drinking age. At the ripe old age of 19, I had no trouble going to any club, bar or pub anywhere in the city, a feat that I cannot say would happen anywhere in states even with a great fake ID!

Probably my favorite club of the summer is Fabric, located in East London not far from Farringdon. Fabric is known as one of the best and largest clubs in for the dubstep and drum and bass scene. It usually has a £12 cover, but features about 15 DJs on a Friday or Saturday night. Throughout the summer I saw major dubstep labels here such as Shy FX, Dub Police and Caspa.

The Hawley Arms is a pub/bar located along the canal in Camden Town and has a atmosphere. Regulars here include Amy Winehouse, her father and Russell Brand's dad, as well as a large punk crowd.

The pub chain O'Neils can be found across London, but my favorite one is just off Leicester Square and really fun to visit. This O'Neils is 3 stories and often features live music. During the week, it is free to enter until 11:30 and on Friday and Saturdays its free till 9:30. O'Neils also has great pub food, so if you feel like checking this place out, come early and use the money you saved on a cover charge for food while you wait for it to get crowded!

The best place for an American (or anyone who is into Americans) to go on a Tuesday night is the American Sports Cafe located just off Piccadilly Circus. Tuesday nights you'll forgot you're in London as you are surrounded by loads of lax bros, beer pong and typical American tunes!

From my bedroom window I can see this lovely neighborhood joint, The Queen's Arms. Especially on a Friday afternoon, you'll likely see a decent size crowd hanging out at this pub and even more people pouring into the alley of this South Ken joint (not actually sketchy. The alley is really nice).

Though it seems like a tourist trap, the Absolut Ice Bar is definitely worth a visit. My mom and I went to this 12 degree bar made completely of ice. Here you get to enjoy Absolut cocktails out of glasses made of ice! The Ice Bar is definitely very "cool" place.

The best happy hour and mixed drinks in London can be found at Strawberry Moons located midway between Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus. My mom and I discovered this place after the Ice Bar and enjoyed it so much that we went back for their 5 to 8 o'clock happy hour two days later! My friends and I went back the next week as well. The atmosphere here is great and the make some of the best Mai Tais I've ever tasted!

Whether you're looking for a pub, bar or club, London has it all!

Final touristy sights!

In a city as old and as large as London, its impossible to see everything there is to see in just 8 days, but I tried to squeeze in as many sights as possible during my mom's visit.

On Sunday we went to Evensong at St. Paul's Cathedral. The cathedral that stands here today is the 5th church here and was designed by Christopher Wren. The first church to stand at this site was built in 604. The dome of St. Paul's is one of the tallest domes in the world, second only St. Peter's in the Vatican. The cathedral normally costs £10 to enter, which is why I had us go to evensong. Not only do you get to see St. Paul's free of charge, but you also get to enjoy the choir.

I realize I haven't mentioned Hyde Park since my first entry, but since its about 100 meters outside my door, I decided to take my on a walk through the park Sunday afternoon. We went through Kensington Gardens to see Kensington Palace, then to the Serpentine (pictured), and over to Royal Albert Hall and the monument. It was quite a nice walk!

When we arrived home from Bath, my mom and I took a walk from Covent Garden to Trafalgar Square. In both locations there are tons of street performers and both are excellent places for people watching. We had a nice time sitting out in Trafalgar Square enjoying the music, drinks, and climbing up the lions (my mom did too!).

Monday afternoon we headed over to Tower Bridge, not to be confused with its uglier sibling, London Bridge. We took an elevator up to the top and walked across. You could see Canary Warf and Greenwich to the East and the Eye and St. Pauls to the West. It was a quick stop, and my mom said that she could have down without it. From there, we took a great boat ride along the Thames back to the next sight I'll describe, Westminster Abbey.

We went to evensong once again at Westminster Abbey Friday afternoon. The choir was much more impressive than St. Pauls and was enjoyable to listen too. I'd definitely suggest attending evensong at the Abbey at 5 pm rather than paying £15 to enter for anyone thinking of traveling! Inside the abbey are the royals Henry VII and Elizabeth as well as Charles Darwin.

On my mom's last day we took a "flight" on the London Eye, which was a lot of fun. Unfortunately it wasn't the sunniest out today, but we were still able to see all of London during our 30 minute rotation. The eye was built for the millenium and originally only costed £5 to ride, but now its about £17.

Last Dartmouth Shows

I've now officially gone to my final shows this summer for school! I had my last required play was Wednesday night!

Thursday the 19th we went to see The Tempest at the Old Vic Theatre, my 30th performance of the summer. I was very pleased to see the cast squeeze this over 3 hour play into an intermissionless, slightly over 2 hour production! And that feat was pretty much the highlight of this show.

Saturday we went to an all day performance entitled The Great Game: Afghanistan at the Tricycle Theatre that was surprisingly good. I expected a three part day long play to be exhausting to sit through, but the compilation of short stories told the history of Afghanistan over the past 150 from so many points of view and was captivating to see. The show really reminded me why we went to Afghanistan and was incredibly powerful.

Monday night we traveled back to The Globe Theatre for my 33nd show, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and we fortunate enough this time to have seats and not be stuck in standing room like we were for Macbeth. The play was really funny-it felt like a sitcom. The set design was quite impressive: there was a walkway that ran through the audience and cut the groundlings in half and a flower garden and love seat that were cool to see. And the show was equally well directed. Definitely one of the better, more serious plays we went to see.

Tuesday night we went to La Bete at the Comedy Theatre and it made absolutely no sense to me. The end.

Our final show of the summer was Sweet Charity, a Neil Simon work with Fosse's choreography. Time Out called this the "Best West End Musical" of the summer, but neither I nor my Dartmouth classmates agreed. The dance was amazing, but the story itself was kind of uninteresting. I was really surprised to find out it was written by Neil Simon.

35 plays later, and I'm finished for the summer! But there's a few shows this winter that I'm definitely interested in catching (Roald Dahl's Matilda! at the RSC and the 1970 film Love Story is going up as a musical this winter). I may just have to come back to catch them!

Oxford

I decided very last minute (2 am last night...) to go to Oxford at 9 am this morning, but the trip was totally worth it. I took the Oxford Tube, a coach bus that was only £13 round trip and an hour and a half journey, to the city. The coach reminded me of the Dartmouth Express, as most people on it were students and using their laptops to surf facebook just like we do going from Boston to school. I only spent 7 hours in the city, but was able to walk through the entire college and town with no problem--aside from the pouring rain!

When I arrived in Oxford I headed to the tourist information center to pick up the £1 walking tour guide that my guidebook recommended and it was great, aside from the pouring rain that lasted all night long. The tour took me past all the major sights, highlighting thirteen colleges and multiple other sights.

My favorite college was Christ Church built in 1546. Here you can see many locations out of Harry Potter films, including the dining hall and multiple staircases! It is one of the most elite of Oxford's Colleges.

Just across the road from Christ Church College is my favorite shop in town, Alice's Book Shop. This shop is where Lewis Carroll's inspiration for Alice of Alice in Wonderland used to shop (she was the Dean of Oxford's daughter).

About half way through my tour I came to England's first ever coffee shop, The Grand Cafe, built in 1650. I stopped for tea and a piece of cake (desserts are the only thing this country can cook!) to get out of the rain for a bit, but it was really cool.

The Harry Potter Dining Hall

Oxford is very beautiful and definitely worth a visit!

I'm going to miss: TEA&CAKES!

London may be missing many things that makes me wish for home, but baked goods is definitely not one of them! I think desserts may be the only thing that the Brits can do better than Americans! :-)

In my neighborhood, the best place to visit is The Hummingbird Cafe. The counter is lined with dozens of different varieties of cupcakes, and pictured below are the amazing selections of cakes (shown above)! My favorite thing to order there was the carrot cake. A slice is about £3 for take away and £4 to eat in, but is totally worth it. I probably visited here a few more times than I should have this summer!

Delectable Desserts!

Musicals with the mamma!

My mom and I had quite a busy week theatre wise and went to see three West End musicals.

Monday night we went to see Avenue Q at the Wyndham's Theatre. We were able to get pretty good seats in the second row of the second level for just £20. The show was basically Sesame Street for the adult viewer, and included muppet sex, drug use, intense profanity and schadenfreude (taking pleasure in other peoples pain). Of all the shows I've seen this one is the one that I think my brothers would most easily be able to sit through. Just to give you a glimpse into the style of this show, my favorite numbers were "Everyone's a little bit racist" and "The internet it for porn." Avenue Q was 100% a bundle of laughs!

Wednesday we went to see Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act at the London Palladium. The show itself was amazing and so well done! Whoopi played Mother Superior rather than her movie role of Deloris, but was still excellent. This casting worked very well because Mother Superior was a very large role, but suited her well since she's now almost 20 years older than when the film was made. Whoopi's acting and singing did not disappoint, and the women who played Deloris, Patina Miller, was a knockout. We had the added bonus of seeing Andrew Llyod Weber among the audience! He owns the theatre, but hasn't been at a performance of the show since it opened last year. Even though I despise his works, it was cool to see him in person. My mom said this was her favorite show of the week, and I completely agree that it is one of the best musical productions that I've seen in London. It is also one of the only shows I've seen here that got a full standing ovation (the Brits never stand to applaud)!

Friday night we went to see Mamma Mia at the Prince of Wales Theatre, and I absolutely loved it. My mom had seen the show before in Vegas, but I had never seen the show before. It's quite possibly my favorite show and such a great feel good hit. The show is very high energy and a very ludicrous story; my mom and I were both shocked to see so many kids in the audience. Maybe as a result of all of the Mai Tais we enjoyed pre show at happy hour or maybe because the show was so great, we were both occasionally singing/dancing along in our seats--thankfully we had our own private box so we didn't bother anyone!

Castles, Palaces and Fortresses

This past week my mom and I visited three of London's biggest sites and I went to a forth with Dartmouth after her departure.

Buckingham Palace is only open to the public for two months of the year and was very interesting to see. I've frequently passed it on runs this summer, but went inside for the first time Monday with my mom. The palace was incredibly building, with the majority of the design dating from the Georgian period and with remodeling done under Queen Victoria. The palace is the Queen's official residence in London and we went through the nineteen States Rooms which are used to welcome and entertain royal guests. Its one of the only remaining working palaces in the world. Admission included a free audio guide tour which was really interesting. The tour took about two hours and at the end of our journey, my mom and I decided to have tea and cakes at the Garden Cafe in Buckingham gardens! A very fun morning.

Windsor Castle is about 30 minutes outside of London and we went for a half day trip on Thursday to see the Castle. Unlike Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle is still a medieval castle, with buildings dating almost 1000 years. It is the oldest castle in the world and remains a weekend getaway for the royal family. One of my favorite sights in the castle was Queen Mary's dollhouse, a miniature complete with plumbing, paintings donated by famous artists of the day and actual china. St. George's Chapel, circa 14th century, serves as a burial ground for ten past monarchs and was incredibly beautiful. From Windsor Castle, we ventured a short way across the Thames to Eton, the home of Henry VI's Eton College. The all boys college (what we'd call High School in American) is one of the--if not the--most famous schools in England and has many notable alums, including multiple prime ministers and Princes William and Harry.

The Tower of London is located in central London along the River Thames and is a completely medieval fortress. Surprisingly, efforts to open the Tower to the public only began during the past ten years and the Tower of London just become open to the public in 2006. The earliest parts of the tower date back to the 1066 but majority of the fortress was built during the 12th and 13th centuries under Richard the Lionheart, Henry III and Edward I. The grounds have been the sight of many executions over the years, including Henry VIII's wife Anne Boleyn. Many of the towers contained grafitti from prisoners that were held captive within the palace walls over the centuries. One specific tower showcased medieval torture devices used at the tower: the rack, which stretched the victims body; the Scavengers Daughter, which smushed the victims body; and the manacles, which handcuffed the victim hanging just off the floor. One of the main highlights within the Tower of London is the Crown Jewels. Most of the jewels are from the period of the 1660s onward because Oliver Cromwell destroyed much of the earlier works, but the collection is still amazing to see.

Sadly I had to visit Hampton Court Palace with the Dartmouth group after my mom left, but the palace of Henry VIII, William and Mary and the many George's of the 18th century was very cool to see. About 40 minutes from central London, the palace was very beautiful with most buildings dating back to the 16th century and remodeling occurring up through the Victorian age. Unfortunately, the audio guide tour was quite corny and left a lot to be desired. However, the palace had some of the most impressive gardens that I've seen in all of London. The gardens at Hampton Court included a full maze made of 6 ft tall bushes, extensive private gardens with beautiful fountains and flowers as well as a large area of gardens open to the public. The gardens at Hampton were definitely the highlight of the journey!

Each of these ventures cost between £10 and £18, but if you check back later I'm working on an upcoming entry about "How to do things for free."

Bath

by Kathy Klein

Erin's got me doing an entry for her on here. We took a day trip to Bath today. It was a very scenic city. We went into Bath Abbey which was a beautiful cathedral and to the ancient Roman Baths where hot water bubbles out of the ground. You were able to walk right up to the bath. They had signs everywhere stating do not ouch the water- I was afraid to touch it because it was discustingly dirty!!! Apparently in its heyday the Baths used to be super crowded and people would throw in dead cats and dogs at the bathers to cause trouble. Dispute the uncleanliness, the baths were very neat to see though. They gave you cups of the water to taste on the way out. Erin and I took one sip and threw them away.

The city was pretty small so we took a free guided walking tour of Bath which was 2 hours long. Our guide was very informative (and walked incredibly fast to ensure we saw the entire city) and we got to see and hear the history of Bath. One such thing she told us was that Queen Victoria came to Bath but was told she had a big butt so she never returned. We also saw the Royal Crescent which was a historic building in the shape of crescent which is now super expensive housing. We also saw this area called the Circus built in a circle and you could see where WWII bombers struck during the blitz.

While on our walking tour our guide stopped in front of the new Bath Spa which is a fully modern spa equipped with 4 steam rooms each with a different scent and a heated outdoor bath on the roof.We decided we had to go to the spa and try out the steam rooms and pool. It was definitely a great way to end a busy day!!!

Us at the Roman Baths

Us by the Royal Crescent

Shows Week 8 & My Final Show

This week Dartmouth only had us scheduled to see 1 show, but since my mom arrives tomorrow I went to two of next weeks shows this week. Fortunately shows 25, 26 and 27 were all great productions.

Monday night I went to The Beauty Queen of Leenane, a darkly comic Martin McDonagh play about a mother and her 40 year old daughter set in Ireland. The play was hilarious and had unreserved seating and the tickets for under 25s were just £10. The entire audience was laughing the entire time so I highly recommend the show-or just even reading the play.

Tuesday night I went to see War Horse at the New London Theatre and was amazed by the show. The show was completely different from anything else I've ever seen. The show is set during the first World War and features life size puppets. Three people controlled the horses in the show and they so completely captured the mannerisms and essence of a horse that you completely forgot you're watching puppets.

Wednesday night I went to see a production of Shakespeare's As You Like It at the Old Vic, part of The Bridge Project between English and American actors. Rosalind reminded me of Elle Woods, from Legally Blonde, and was pretty funny. The show was not that well directed, but the play is so funny that it was still an enjoyable show. I also liked seeing the show because I played Celia in a scene workshop this summer.

Friday the 13th was the last day of Lamda and our final performances were Thursday night. My group performed The Maid's Tragedy directed by John Baxter. The show was a million times better than the Shakespeare performances, and I had a great part. I played a mother who wants revenge and put baby powder in my hair to make me look old. It was a lot of fun, but I'm definitely looking forward to two weeks of free time.

Up next week: London with my mom!!!

Edinburgh!

I traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland with my friend Jaclyn this past weekend for a vacation and the Fringe Festival. We were only there for a period of 36 hours, but managed to squeeze in a lot and have an awesome time (did not really sleep while there...). I think Edinburgh may possibly be my favorite city and hope to go back to the Fringe again and have more time to sight see.

The first place I visited in Edinburgh was the Castle, home to Scotland's oldest chapel (St. Margaret's Chapel, built during the 12th century). The castle is also the birth place to James I of England and home to a 2000 year old outer gate, the sword and scepter used in the coronation of Mary, Queen of Scots, and prisoner of war dungeons. The palace was £14 to enter, but definitely worth it.

The architecture in Edinburgh is beautiful: the entire downtown area is made of stone and looks completely medieval. Along the Royal Mile, which runs along High Street from the Castle to Holyrood Palace, are huge stone tenements separated by alleyways just a few feet wide called "closes". These closes run off High Street, which really is high in elevation, down cobblestone stairways to the surrounding streets. Up until the mid 1700s, High Street was enclosed by a man made lake on one side and a wall on the other three, enclosing 57,000 people in tenements along the Royal Mile. Underneath the city run tons of underground vaults. I went on a Ghost Stories tour through the vaults (cool to see, not worth the tour).

The Fringe Festival has been happening in Edinburgh for more than 50 years now, and this years festival featured more than 2500 different shows. I saw five shows while in Edinburgh, making my show count reach 24 this summer, and an Oxford Acapella Group.

I saw a production Spring Awakening Saturday at the Pleasance Courtyard Theatre (one of the bigger venues) by the Royal Scottish Academy. Saturday evening I saw Angel City, a play by Sam Shepard and directed by Trevor Nunn, which was in a super small venue that sat at most 60 people. The play was about two producers trying to create the next big thing and interesting to say the least.

Sunday was basically a female power day. First thing Sunday morning I went to I, Elizabeth, a monologue given by Queen Elizabeth during her 20s that I found painfully boring. Most of the people in the audience were much older than me and enjoyed it. One of my favorite shows of the weekend was Bunny, another monologue written by Jack Thorne, one of the writers from Skins. Fair Trade, produced by Emma Thompson, focuses on the sex trade in Europe. It wasn't a bad show, but felt like a not so great version of the Vagina Monologues to me.

Sunday morning I woke up super early to go for a hike up Arthur's Seat. If you walk down the Royal Mile toward Holyrood Palace, you reach the base of Arthur's Seat at the bottom of the hill. Supposedly the location of of the Arthur legends, Arthur's Seat provides one of the most breathtaking views of the city. The cliff is only 800 feet high, so it doesn't take too long to climb and is more than worth the trek.

A final highlight of the trip was stopping to visit The Elephant House, where J K Rowling wrote part of the first 3 Harry Potters. Here she supposedly scribbled out notes for the books on napkins!

A great city! I definitely recommend the visit!!!

The East End

The East End of London is one of my favorite areas to explore. As one of the last afforadable areas of the city to live, the East End is a very eclectic neighborhood to explore.

From Shoreditch Tube Station you can find Brick Lane, the location of my favorite market and a very interesting area to explore. The Northern bit of Brick Lane has tons of amazing vintage shops and is hipster heaven. The South bit of Brick Lane is home to London's equivalent of Little India. On Sunday mornings the neighborhood packs full of both androgynous dressed twenty-somethings and a very significant Middle Eastern population selling just about anything you can imagine. Shoreditch is also the exit for the Columbia Rd. flower market on Sundays and a block filled with adorable boutiques.

From Old Street Tube Station, you can find tons of clubs and live music just about every night of the week. Though central London has many of the big night clubs, the clubs in East London cater to a more alternative crowd. Probably my favorite club in London, Fabric, is not to far from here and is a great place for live drum&bass and dubstep music. It's pretty much a guarantee that Time Out magazine will be recommending at least one location in the East End every night out.

Taking a 10 minute bus north from Liverpool Street Station, you will find the Turkish neighborhood. Quite possibly the best meal I have had in London this summer was at a Turkish Restaurant on Arcola Street called Mangal. Our Dartmouth group dined here before a show and shared the mixed kebab platter-a collection of lamb, chicken and quail and incredibly delicious. The place also allowed you to bring you own wine, a definite dining plus!

The West End may have the glitz and glamour, but if you take the time to explore, the East End is filled with lots of treasures!

Teenagers selling their clothes out of suitcases at Brick Lane

Shows week 6&7

These past two weeks I had to see shows number 15 through 19 for Dartmouth. We saw Welcome to Thebes at the National Theatre on Monday and the play was okay, not my favorite of the week, but it held my attention for longer than most of the shows we've seen at the National. Directed by the director of Notes on a Scandal and written by Moira Buffini in response to claims that women cannot write political dramas, this show was very ambitious. The play commented on democratic commitment to helping repair African states effected by war and genocide through the Greek tragedies and democratic Athens involvement in Thebes. The plot worked very well and was interesting, but I felt the show moved a bit slow for me.

Tuesday the 27th we saw a production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons at the Apollo Theatre in the West End. This was my favorite show of the week by far and incredibly well done. Set Post WWII, this play revolves around the Keller family whose father was suspected of having built faulty planes during the war but cleared, and whose son is a missing pilot. As the story unfolds, we discover the family's younger son now wants to marry the missing sons sweetheart and that the father is not as innocent as it seems. It was refreshing to see such an American play done so well and a very relatable story.

Thursday night our Dartmouth group went to see a stage adaption of the Swedish film Through a Glass Darkly at the Almeida Theatre in Islington. The lead actress, Zoe Wanamaker, played Jane Eyre in the film and was incredibly convincing in her role as a crazy woman. The show was definitely done well, but I just don't find stories about the mentally insane all that interesting...

Monday the 2nd's show at the National, The Habit of Art, was very pretentious and I was not a fan at all. The play was a play within a play and set at the National Theatre. The play that the actors in the story were putting on was about a gay poet and a gay opera singer and a rent boy, which is the English term for "male prostitute."

Thursday we went to see a Caryl Churchill play at the Arcola Theatre in the East End called A Light Shines in Buckinghamshire. The theatre was really cool and very fringey-it only sat 150 people. The stage was a dirt floor and very eerie, but the show itself was pretty much a dud. Its a historical drama about the Cromwell era, which is an even more boring bit of history than the puritans. I had to do everything I could to keep from sleeping!

To be continued when I'm back... Off to Edinburgh for the weekend!