Leeds, Rochester, and Hangin' Out

Well Oxford was fabulously fun and chill, but it was back to work on Monday (as always). Our weekend trips our wonderful, but because we see and do so much, we're always exhausted and reluctant to return to work. So, our weeknights have been probably noticibly chill, but have also lately been getting a bit more active as you'll notice. The week we came back from the Oxford trip, GP and I started our attempt at "A Show A Week," initiating it with A Few Good Men (starring Rob Lowe!!!). The show was pretty good, especially when it's a movie that I've seen a good amount, but it was v. exciting to see it on stage and starring someone as great as Rob Lowe. We also started going out a bit more to explore things like pubs. The BUNAC Pub Meets took us to an old church-turned-pub that also had a bit of a Harry Potter feel to it and a handful of us went a different night to Ye Ole Cheshire Cheese (a pub dating back to the 15th and 16th century with such past visitors as Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle). Kate and I also went to the Tate Modern and decided that neither of us "did" modern art very well. Most was pretty distrubing, but it was still cool.

That Saturday was a day to hang out around town. I got up early and did laundry before catching a bus to Notting Hill to go to the Portobello Road Market. It was super busy and I didn't find a purse that I was looking for. I got a bit lost, but got a nice tour through Kensington (one of the most posh areas of the city) before meeting Kate on Oxford Street to attempt a bit of shopping there (though it didn't work well either). With the busiest shopping street in London at midday on a Saturday, it was a bit more than ominous when they started giving out free knives at a department store. Adding a bit of a rain shower, Kate and I hustled towards a pub to catch some lunch and ended up at the Sherlock Holmes, our favorite London detective and the face of our favorite Tube stop (Baker St.!!!). Kate then went home and on her errands while I went to the National Gallery, determined to accomplish something and do something new that day. I took a guided tour of the museum, free and stopping to interpret a few of the most famous paintings. Trace met me at the Gallery and we started wandering around town.

Not really having anywhere to go, we went from the Gallery at Trafalgar Square towards Westminster and the Abbey (first time to the Abbey), through St. James Park to Buckingham Palace (1st time there too), back through Picadilly to Trafalgar, and then crossing the Thames at the Jubilee Bridge. We then went along the river towards the Millenium Bridge, taking time to stop and listen to a guy playing the guitar while relaxing by the river with a great view of the city and Christmas lights. After crossing the Millenium Bridge, we were at St. Pauls and headed towards the Cheshire Cheese and surrounding areas for some dinner and hanging out before finally returning home. I tried to calculate the length of my walky-walky and figured it was at least 10K, though most likely more like 15-20K for the entire day.

The next morning Kate, GP, and I met Trace at the Tube stop to meet the BUNAC bus to go to Leeds Castle and the Rochester Dickens Christmas Festival. Since some of our tube lines were down for the day, we got to walk by the Sherlock Holmes statue where I of course got my photo taken (I've had strange fascinations with both Sherlock Holmes and with sheep since I've been here). On the bus, we again were faced with the OSU girls from teh Bath trip, who very soon realized that I went to UofM, though I was soon decided to be "one of the nice ones."

The castle itself was very cool, though not as cool as Warwick. We wandered through the hedge maze, down through the grotto from the center of the maze, and back through the Aviary to the Castle itself. The Castle was refurbished, but mostly as a modern-day conference center. Much of the castle did have various period-decorated rooms with historical information, but there also were a few of the conference meeting rooms as well. My favorite room was the library and all the old books on the shelves, of which I did take many, many pictures. After the Castle itself, we wandered the grounds a bit more before heading back to the bus.

A short drive and we arrived in Rochesterto their annual Dickens Festival. Rochester was the home of Charles Dickens at various times, and he also refered to it, either directly or indirectly, in many of his books, inparticular Great Expectations and the Pickwick Papers. We were all just hungry, but instead had to go on a bit of a tour with a local guide. I was initially excited for this, but our guide stuttered and stumbled quite a bit, enought to make us all get restless and try to find ways of escaping. After leaving the tour, we headed through the Winter Carnival in the ruins of the old castle (a Norman castle built on an old Roman one) into town to try to find a pub for a Sunday roast (attempt #3 for Kate and I). Instead, we settled for some delicious vendor food while also enjoying some mulled wine and bagpipe music by one of the visiting piping groups. We kept wandering down the high street, occasionally pausing for pictures with some of the locals in costume. The best part of Rochester was by far the local people that dressed in Dickensian period costumes, some in characters, wandering around the streets. Some played the hand bells, a British soldier and tried recruiting kids to the army, a man dressed as Scrooge was pulled in a wagon with a plate on the back saying "SCROO U" (so absolutely hilarious!)

We stopped at a little church for some food there and afterwards tried some roasted chestnuts (not what I expected, though delicious) while a group of costumed people did a bit of a routine to "The 12 Days of Christmas." Standing around, eating roasted chestnuts, and in a large crowd of people all laughing and singing carols was so wonderful and finally put me in the Christmas Mood. Up til then, there'd been no snow and it was definately not cold enough to seem like anywhere near December. Eventually we made our way back up the street towards the castle to look around before staking out some room to see the parade. A man wandering up the street was dressed as the Phantom of the Opera. I wanted to get my picture with him too, though I soon discovered that he had definately been drinking and insisted on posing for the picture as they did in the movie. We saw the bagpipers again, saw all the characters in costume, and even got to see Scrooge again as he demanded that we "get all the ugly children" out of his way and that our season would be full of all sorts of misery, etc. Though tired, we all had a great time that day.