Hiatus

Hey there everybody,

I've got finals for the next week and a half--all papers--so there isn't much time to write for fun, but I'll be back on the blogging horse after that. I'll tell you about my weekend trips to Ireland, the Netherlands, and France, and we can talk about springtime in the park, heavenly cheese, vintage shopping, the best haircut ever, and a curious difference I've noticed between the States and Europe.

It's also just about time to register for classes again for the fall semester, and I'm tremendously excited to get back and take something in my major again that really makes me think. Even if it means I'll have to go back to only getting six hours of sleep a night, I still want to do it. A break is nice, but I just need the challenge!

In the meantime, here's some music to check out.:

• Clouds - Claude Debussy (a nocturne) that I read about in my music class (it's in the impressionist style of music that came at the end of the Romantic music/literary era). It's eerie but soothing.

These next three are from a playlist called "Winter to Spring" that I found on Bitch Magazine's website. They'll put a spring in your step. Heh.

• Another Green WorldAnother Green World - Brian Eno (great, mellow, super short)
• Pale Green Things - The Mountain Goats (sad lyrics, phenomenal guitar)

• The Sprout and the Bean (instrumental) - Joanna Newsom cover (beautiful harp)
• They Say It's SpringThey Say It's Spring - Erin McKeown (perfect, warm, swingy)

See you soon, and enjoy!
~Red

Acton

Hello everyone,

I've seen a lot of the city of London, but I wanted to get a feel for suburban English city life, so I took everyone on a day trip to Acton on the outskirts of London. We took the Tube to the West Acton station--it was a long ride into Zone 3 of the Underground.

Outside the Tube stop, there were many little Chinese restaurants. We strolled through a residential street and it looked just like Privet Drive from Harry Potter. I half expected to see a Professor McGonagall cat on the half walls around the yards. Didn't see any cats, but we did notice that the hedges are made of Christmas holly! It was refreshing to be out of London and in a peaceful place with fresh air and sunshine.

Our first stop was 3 Creswick Rd: Peacehaven. My mom went on this same study abroad trip when she was in college, and that's where the students stayed--not in London. So I got to stand on the front steps of the building she lived in when she was my age, halfway around the world from home. I got chills in a good way; it was one of those moments where you just feel really connected to everything.

Peacehaven

Past Peacehaven, which is now an international guest house, we saw a nice little park called Springfield Gardens and then a bunch of Middle Eastern fruit stands and grocery stores on Acton High Street. We went into a tiny shopping mall--this place was really miniscule: it had six stores! We went to our first 99 pence store (like a dollar store) and bought biscuits (cookies), gummy coconut mushrooms, and a Swiss cake log. It was a foot long and three inches across. Obscene!

Fruli in the background of a gummy mushroom

Gummy meercats: there are weird
gummy shapes over here

Springfield Gardens park

After the mall, we made our way down the street to the farmers' market on the Mount where I picked up some scarves as a souvenir. The best deal for patterned scarves you will get is 3 for £10. I talked to the woman selling scarves, and she was upset about the snow that was coming the next day and the cold snap they were in, which is our mild late-March weather in Wisconsin. I tried to be sympathetic.

Market on the Mount

St George & the Dragon signboard

By that time we were tired of walking, so we spent a few hours in a pub called St George & the Dragon, which has been there since 1759. We had a good time just talking, playing spoons, and eating that enormous Swiss cake. I got a pint of Fruli, a Belgian strawberry beer made of white beer and strawberry juice. It is absolutely delicious; try it if you get the chance. I just looked it up on the company website; it looks like it's available in the States--imported by PUSA in Littleton, CO. So get to it, folks!

My mom told me that the Indian food in Acton is really good, but I think the demographics have changed to more Middle Eastern and Chinese, and we had difficulty finding the Indian restaurant that I'd found online. We ended up walking a few miles too far and had to backtrack. Then when we finally found the building, it was closed for lunch on Fridays, contrary to the Google review page. Lesson learned: don't trust the internet for everything.

We were pretty hungry and tired, so we headed to the nearest Tube stop, Acton Town, and got lunch at--get this--an American diner! It's jarring to see your own culture as kitsch. The place was called Jump In Jack's, and we got the most stereotypical American lunch possible, burgers and milkshakes, and it was the most perfect ending to our day out. The food was delicious, and they even made veggie burgers for my friend and me.

Vegetarian food is widely available here; I haven't had a problem at any restaurant I've been to in any town, city, or country on this side of the world, so America better shape up before I get home! Vegetarian food is made differently here: the burgers and breakfast sausages I've had aren't the soy protein/fake meat that they do back home. Here it's actually a fried, breaded patty made of fresh vegetables (peas, carrots, green beans, corn) held together in mashed potatoes. It's quite good, and I like that it's made of whole vegetables. One other thing you should know about the chips (fries) here is that they're thicker, not greasy, and served with mayonnaise. We bring ketchup packets with us so we can mix it into the mayo and make Fancy Sauce. I'm addicted.

All in all, I had a great time in Acton seeing where my mom lived when she was my age, and we all had a grand day out.

~Red

Victoria and Albert Museum

Howdy-doo, Americans!

Outside the V & A

Silver sculpture

Here's a cool (and free) place to check out in London: the Victoria and Albert Museum. The building it is currently housed in dates from 1899 and has a cornerstone laid by Queen Victoria, but they've been collecting since 1852. This museum is absolutely enormous and has galleries of pretty much anything imaginable, from huge marble statues to iron works to a long hallway full of things only made of silver.

Marble statue gallery

I went on a weekday and it wasn't crowded at all. I browsed around for a bit through the Greek statues, the jewelry room (no pics allowed, sorry), and the silver room before honing in on the modern furniture gallery. I have visited the modern furniture gallery of the art museum in Milwaukee, WI, but I wanted to see British modern furniture too. I like modern furniture and already have a '60s Space Race living room theme planned out for my first house. Anyway.

I discovered something awesome in the furniture room: the design of chairs evolves because of changes in society! I'd always thought that styles change because of some frouffy whims on the part of designers--like maybe they just switch things up every season so they can get you to buy all new stuff to be in style again. But no. Way more interesting reasons are behind the changes.

LCW and CTW

Check this out:

During the 1940s, chairs—as well as other furniture—had to be as utilitarian as possible so as not to waste desperately needed materials that could otherwise be sent to use in the war. An example of utilitarian furniture can be seen in the stark, waste-free design of the plywood table and chair set, the “LCW” and “CTW” from 1946-1949, by American designers Charles and Ray Eames.

Festival Pattern Group chair

There was actually a ration on furniture in Britain that didn't totally end until 1952, by which point British designers and consumers were tired of utilitarian design and began to take up the American styles of plastic furniture, futurism, bold colors like those of the Mod style, and mass production. An example of this new trend is a red plastic chair with metal legs that was made in Britain in 1951 for the Festival Pattern Group. The pattern of the holes in the plastic body of the chair, arranged in regular square intervals like the holes in a graham cracker, is derived from the x-ray crystallography of atomic structures. This is reflective of the influence that even emerging nuclear science had on fashion and design.

Single-piece chair and
yellow egg chair

In a later backlash against the mass production of furniture that had swept the globe after WWII, specialist industrial designers then began to generate new models and styles of chairs and other furniture, some of which are represented in the museum’s collection. An example is that of a bright orange chair from 1960 that was “the first plastic chair to be conceived entirely as a single piece”. Another innovation of the designers was the creation of the egg chair which is yellow plastic with a bright yellow cushion and looks as if the back could be folded down into the seat to create a little M&M-shaped pod. However, the futurist plastic furniture trend was laid to rest in the early 1970s as a result of skyrocketing oil prices that made the plastic too expensive, and fashion took a turn back toward more natural themes and materials.

So how was that? You just learned about world history through chair design. Are you jazzed? I'm jazzed. It's fun to see how the world works behind the scenes. That's why I like writing: I can show you the things you wouldn't normally see.

Cheers!

~Red

Sightseeing Walk

Hi-dee-ho, neighborinos across the pond!

Today we are going to talk about famous sites in London--the places you see on postcards.

Trafalgar Square monuments

When you go to London, there are certain sites that everyone and their dog wants you to visit. Even though they're mostly tourist traps, I still felt like I should at least see them for the sake of seeing them. So, during our second week here--that would be in late January--we went on a 7.7 mile walk and knocked out all the main sites in one spectacular, if slightly crazy, day.

During our walk, we passed numerous little fruit stands both on the street and outside shops. I saw one that had all the different fruits set up in plastic bowls for only £1 each! Fantastic deal--and I completely recommend buying from the vendors over buying in the supermarket if you can. Even better is that the fruit here is absolutely wonderful compared to fruit in the States. I actually just had some cherries and they were perfect: dark red, juicy, and sweeter than summer.

[from thaifood.about.com]

[Side note: there is a fruit called a lychee that seems to be at all the fruit stands. It's pinkish and spiky, and I have no idea how to eat it, but I'd like to try it.]

Trafalgar Square lions

Our first destination was Trafalgar Square. It's in a bustling area across the street from the Charing Cross Tube station. The National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery are on the north side of the square. In the middle, there are is a thriving population of mangled-footed pigeons, some fountains, and a tall, typically phallic monument surrounded by four enormous lions, which we climbed for pictures, naturally. From Trafalgar Square, you can see three Pret A Manger [preht ah mahn-zjay] fast food shops (it means "ready to eat" in French). Pret has freshly made, pre-packed sandwiches, salads, and healthy sides, like muesli and cubes of mango with a slice of lime. Their food is tasty and has "no added nasties" as they are fond of saying over here, and at the end of each day they donate all their unsold food to feed the homeless. I can't help but think that this business model would make a great replacement for the revolting fast food corporations in the States. Anyway, on with our walk!

Artsy shot of Parliament building

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament

After Trafalgar Square, we continued south to Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, passing by Westminster Abbey along the way. The buildings were done in intricate stonework and made for some beautiful pictures.

The Eye

Waffle with chocolate syrup

We stopped at a bench on the River Thames and looked out towards the London Eye, which is a giant ferris wheel that allows you to see over 45 miles away on a clear day. We walked across Waterloo Bridge to check it out, but it was a bit pricey at around £19 (about $30) per person, so we didn't go for a ride. By that time all the walking had made us hungry, so we stopped by the Eye for snacks. I got a waffle with chocolate sauce which was goodish, and all my friends got gelato.

River Thames

St. James Park

We decided to head towards Hyde Park, which I know from one of my favorite board games, 221b Baker Street, which is a super-awesome Sherlock Holmes version of Clue. We passed through St. James Park along the way, walking along the Princess Diana Memorial Walk. The park was nature-y and full of swans and angry geese, along with a large human presence, mostly mums pushing prams and couples. I have to say that I like the cultivated beauty of Regent's Park more though.
Then we walked down past Buckingham Palace, but it wasn't the right time for the guard change. That only happens on certain days at certain times, so you should really look it up before you go.

Our last stop of the day was Harrod's, the world's most famous luxury department store. We were completely overwhelmed by all the floors, and there were different rooms for almost every item you could imagine: a room full of only perfumes and cosmetics, a room of lingerie, rooms of men's clothes and hats, tons of rooms of women's clothes, several rooms of furniture, an art room, a chocolate room, a meat room, a cheese and deli room, a candy room..and all of it was connected by an Egyptian themed column of escalators with Harrod's sphinx heads. It was absolute debauchery at its finest. Unfortunately, no cameras were allowed, but I'm sure your imagination will work just fine.

By the end of the day, I was exhausted, well exercised, and happy to have knocked out all the tourist sites in one day so I could move on to the more interesting parts of the city.

Finally, an Update!

Hey hey, friends!

I do apologize for the lack of posts over this last month. February was absolutely chock-full of wonderful things, and I was too busy living them to get to write about them on time. I also had midterms in there somewhere to keep me busy. No worries, though, because I'm taking this whole evening off to catch you all up on my adventures over this past month. Even better: I'm getting good at taking artsy photos, so there will be plenty of eye candy for you.

Now off to set my hands to the keys for the evening. See you soon, and keep the comments coming!

~Red