dipping my toes in a little
First weekend. So the British Museum is vast. That's really the only way to describe it. As in "I spent over five hours in this place and just realized I haven't seen an entire wing of it" vast. I was astonished, and it was right up my alley. It's something like a cross between the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian with extra added awesome. I do have pictures, and I will upload and post them soon. I rather wish I could attach my camera cable to my iPod. Alas, I cannot. It was quite an intense experience for this museum nerd, seeing things like an Easter Island moai, a part of a stele with Hammurabi's Code, part of the Epic of Gilgamesh (!!), and the actual-honest-to-goodness Rosetta Stone. That's right folks: the Rosetta Stone. Apparently, the benefits of effectively owning big chunks of the globe means you get the cool toys for your museums.
After several hours immersed in Cool Old Stuff, I was dragged out of my trance by a text from my friend, Phillip, announcing his arrival (this was about when I was crossing from walls of ancient Sumerian and Babylonian murals into Greek Temple World. Seriously--awesome thrown in everywhere.). We made our way to the station where I had left my luggage--the same one, fortunately, from which we were to depart London for the countryside. I was again reminded that not only had I overpacked, I had done so badly. :-P After a pleasant train ride through I alternately dozed and gazed at the coutryside (and once chuckled at what the express that overtook and passed us might be saying to our train...sleep deprivation, all right.), we arrived at Northampton, site of Hardingstone, quaint village extraordinaire. A short txai ride later, and Phillip was lugging Superduffle up the stairs to the bedroom. This was followed by "meet the sister and her friend," "short nap," and "charming walk through the countryside." The Hardingstone part of Northampton is, indeed, quite charming, albeit smallish. (Rather like Louisville, KY, many English towns are divided into villages; Hardingstone is the village in Northampton where Phillip lives.) There is a lovely park filled with rabbits and birds I had never seen before:wood pigeons and a swallow or two. I was struck by how different foliage is here. Surprisingly, the green tones are different, embued with greyer hues rather than the amber tints I'm used to. Everything is "fuzzier," as well. I realize that sounds like an odd way to put it, but when I get pictures up, perhaps it will make more sense. The first thing I noticed that quite different: separate hot and cold faucets. I have discovered since that separate faucets is the rule rather than the exception. Also, gardens (yards) seem to be generally longish and narrow (watch a few episodes of Ground Force to get the idea) rather than squarish and wide. This does make for interesting landscaping possibilities. We had a fun dinner, and then I slept in a room with no ceiling fan for the first time in ages. That was odd.
The next day was a rise, breakfast, and shower before heading north to Leicester and then Nottingham. Leicester is a lovely city with what is apparently a top notch university. Several things really stood out to me here. First, Leicester doesn't feel like a "university town." This is an atmosphere I struggle to describe, but I'm fairly sure most of my readers will know what I mean when I use the term "university town." The thing is that Leicester doesn't feel dominated and driven by it's university the way American cities usually are. I'm told that's generally the way it is here: universities are just another part of the fabric of the town/city, generally speaking, rather than the dominating factor (I was offered Oxford as the exception. I guess I'll see when I get there. Haha.). Having been recently to Austin and living in LSU-world, I suppose the difference is even more striking to me. Another thing I noticed fully here is the city structure. Unlike US cities, UK cities have a city center. The city center is where the shops and restaurants are with housing, etc., spread out from there. In other words, if you are looking for a pair of red shoes in a UK city, you need only head to the city center and all the shops are there for your browsing pleasure. None of this trekking from shopping center to random boutique to strip mall. It was...well...really fascinating. I have posited that the difference between this organized structure and our ridiculously expansive sprawl is that by and large, our major periods of expansion and growth occured after WWII. This means that city growth has been largely founded on the automobile. And while I am a passionate adorer of the automobile, I can't help but feel that this fact has been to our detriment. I'll probably expound on that further in a later post. I also solidified my notice here that no one has window screens. No one. Yet, everyone opens their windows for air all the time. Apparently, their bugs are not as annoying as ours. Haha.
Whew. This is getting long. Thus I will end by saying that after more driving on the wrong side of the road and through traffic circles (whose value I am slowly coming to see...maybe), we arrived at the lovely home of Phillip's aunt and uncle in Nottingham (you know the place :-P).
PS: cars are all tiny here.