Jewelry

Today was a great day, really. I woke up, ate my breakfast, finished my homework, ate lunch, and headed off the the glorious Victorian and Albert museum.  When you first walk in it seems like and average museum filled with interesting sculptures and paintings behind glass.  We then wandered off into and exhibit about the apartheid in South Africa during the 60's and 70's.  It was all photography which I find very interesting.  It was a moving exhibit. Then we went upstairs and found the "box and key" exhibit.  Sounds kind of strange but there were a ton of really old boxes and tins along with keys and dead locks.  It is weird but my imagination runs wild when I see these very personal objects from the past. I can just imagine the people that used them.

Next stop was the magnificent jewelry room. Ah jewelry (said with awe and wonder).  This room was breathtaking.  Ha I have discovered that I have a physical reaction to beautiful jewelry generally my heart beating faster, little to say it was pounding in this room.  They had tiaras, necklaces, breast ornaments, rings, earrings, everything from centuries ago to present. Wonderful. This picture isn't that great but it is all rings, huge sparkly beautiful rings.  I couldn't help but think how much my mom would love this place.  Amazing.

We then headed to the theatre and performance exhibit where I got to see jumpsuits worn by Elton John and Mic Jagger.  There were also so amazing costumes from shows done in the past as well as a dress up corner for the children or adults like me who love to play dress up :) Unfortunately the picture is on someone else's camera.  I will have to get that and let you enjoy. 

After all of that I was pretty tired but not too tired to shop! I found a list of London's Top 20 Vintage and Thrift stores so me and Katie 1 decided to start chipping away at the list.  We went to what is called a charity store. It has people donate clothes and then the proceeds go to cancer research. I got this adorable navy blue silk top for £10.  There will most likely be pictures of me wearing it pretty soon.  It was the nicest thrift store I have ever been to, it didn't even smell weird.  I also saw these cowboy boots that were so cool for pretty cheap but I am a scaredy cat and knew I wouldn't wear them because they are too cool.  Oh well.  

Then it was time to see Little Eagles performed at the Hamstead Theatre.  This was the first show I have seen here that I really did not care for.  It was about the race to space from the Soviets perspective. It was mostly about Sergei Korolyov, the one man who made it happen.  The topic was quite interesting but the acting, directing, and script were greatly lacking. It was a long 3 hours. Here is a lovely picture with my two Katies. 

   

And since I have failed at keeping up with the blogging I will tell you all that happened today cause I know you all want to hear :)  First thing in the morning we headed to the National Theatre right off of the Thames river.  We were able to take a tour and learn a lot about the work they do at the national. They are a government subsidized organization aimed at being what the title claims, to open up theatre to everyone from all nations.  They really strive to keep shows always playing for everyone's taste so they operate under what is called a repertoire theatre.  This means they have a different show every other week meaning they have to move and entire set and props and switch it out for another one once a week. Isn't that crazy cool?  I love their aim.  That is what I want to teach my students, that is the beauty for theatre, it is for the people.

We then went on the "BIG BUS TOUR" that was provided with the program.  Here is a picture of Katie 1 and I on the top of the bus. 

Probably the most exciting part of the tour was the fact that I got some sun because it was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day, about 73 and sunny.  The next most exciting part was catching a glimpse of some type of Muslim protest.  It actually was kind of unsettling however I think it is kind of amazing that I am currently abroad right now during this big time in history and am able to see how different countries are reacting to this event.  

I then came home and decided to take a little nap before I took a shower and got ready to see a show however, when I woke up I had a horrible headache and decided to postpone the show until tomorrow so I could go back to bed.  And now I am here catching up on the blogging.

Before I go I just want to share a little something about London that I don't like.  I know crazy thought but, it is too true!

There it is, the smallest shower in the universe.  I don't think it can really be shown by the picture but it is probably about 2.5 feet by 2.5 feet maximum.  You cannot bend over without hitting the side of the shower.  To make matters worse there is zero water pressure.  Lets just say I cant wait to take a real shower when I get back to the states.