London: Day 18 (May 30, 2012)

Today we had a workshop with Cicely Barry, who is quite famous among actors in England.  She is a voice coach and is considered one of the foremost authorities on Shakespeare.  She is also quite old and a little foul-mouthed.  It was a little funny to have this hunched over, really old lady dropping f-bombs everywhere.  But her language set aside, it was a great way to get into Shakespeare’s language and start to feel it and understand it. 

After lunch we went to a matinee performance of Richard III.  It was brilliantly done.  I generally get sleepy during Shakespeare’s history plays, but there was no sleeping in this one.  It was even funny at times.  Then at the end there was this massive battle seen where they were all on stage fighting with broad swords and in the end of the battle there were only two left fighting and their swords were making sparks when they hit.  It was pretty impressive!

We got back to London at about 8 PM and now I am doing laundry and wishing that somehow I could have fit a few more underclothes into my suitcase.  Oh well, I think the truth about laundry is that when it really comes to it – no matter how many underclothes you own, you still always wish you had a few more so that you could put off doing laundry.

London: Day 17 (May 29, 2012)

Today we travelled to Stratford Upon Avon to see the birthplace of William Shakespeare.  I was not necessarily looking forward to more museums and historic homes when I woke up this morning, but once I got there and looking around I perked up and quite enjoyed myself.  I saw the home of Shakespeare’s father, the site of the home Shakespeare lived in the last 19 years of his life, the home of his daughter, and the church where he was christened, married and buried.

I actually really like Stratford Upon Avon.  It is a total tourist trap town, but I still like it.  There is a lot of the same history here as in London but in a quaint country town. 

This evening we watched Julius Caesar at the Royal Shakespeare Company.  It was done by an all black actor cast and set in South Africa during the apartheid revolution.  It was quite interesting.  I enjoyed it.  I have never seen this show or read it.  I don’t usually go for the “history plays”, but this was alright.  Tomorrow we will be seeing a matinee. 

We are spending the night in Stratford.  They have put us up in a quaint Bed and Breakfast.  I have a really lovely room and the host will cook us breakfast in the morning.  

The River Avon - swans and all...

 Some houses in town.

The house where Shakespeare was born and raised.

This is the site of the last home Shakespeare lived in.  It was torn down but there is currently an excavation going on.

 The church where Shakespeare was baptized, married and buried.

London: Day 16 (May 28, 2012)

Today was a class day.  I really had to convince myself to get up.  I am quite exhausted.  I haven't really stopped since I got here and was going pretty steady before arriving.  But I did and had a great day.  I met up with Charly and Loren this evening and they took me to Regent Park where we had dinner and walked around.  We walked to the top of Primrose Hill where there is a great view of all of London.  We have been having really amazing weather for about a week, but it is not going to last.  It is supposed to start raining again so it was lovely to enjoy the last evening of really perfect weather English weather.

London: Day 15 (May 27, 2012)

We went to church today.  Alex and Peter were the speakers in Sacramanet Meeting and I was a somewhat spontaneous musical number.  They spoke about the first missionaries that came to Britain and I sang Come, Come ye Saints.  It was a lovely meeting.  I am so grateful for the church and for the safety and confidence that I have a in a foreign country just from knowing that the church is here and knowing the kind of people I will find there.

After church we had a leisurely Sunday afternoon, eating, talking and looking at Alex and Peter's wedding pictures.  And then Alex took me to the airport and I flew back to the Southend Airport and took the train back into London.

It was a fantastic weekend.  I am not even that sore from the cycling!

London: Day 14 (May 26, 2012)

Today we slept in a little, got up, dressed and Pete cooked us an English breakfast of sausages, bacon, eggs and toast.  It was delicious.  Actually, I can’t eat the English sausages, which are apparently really good – they all have bread crumbs in them.  But the eggs, bacon and toast were wonderful (I brought some gluten free bread with me).

Alex and I took a little walk with the dogs and I wish that I had brought my camera.  It was so beautiful and we ran into one of her neighbors driving a little wagon pulled by a Shetland pony.  But alas, those pictures shall remain forever only in my head.

Afterwards we got on cycles (or bikes, as we call them in America) and cycled down into town and on the coast.   There was a little food festival going on, but it was much smaller than the advertisement led us to believe, so we didn’t stay long.  It was a glorious bike ride, though.  It was a beautiful warm and sunny day, but not hot, just warm.  There was a great sea breeze and it was mostly down hill.

This is along the way.  The castle in the background is one of 3 (I think...) castles on the island.

Both Alex and Pete said that they have the 2nd largest tide in the world. 

When we turned to go back, the first part was mostly flat but now we were cycling into that strong sea breeze that had pushed on our way before.  It made a big difference to my unexercised legs and lungs.  But I made it to the car show that was also happening in Jersey this weekend.  We walked around the car show and picked out our favorite cars.  I chose I vintage Jaguar in yellow.  I can’t remember what year it was, but mostly I liked the yellow color.

Alex had to go call into a meeting for the Nauvoo Pageant so Pete and I cycled to Gourey Castle.  This is different from the castle in the picture above.  This was quite a long cycle for a girl who never cycles, again into the wind, but not too bad as far as hills go.  I was cycling as hard as I could and poor Pete had to keep looking back and slowing down so that he could at least still see me.  We stopped once for a few minutes at a great picture spot, which was great because I was ready for a rest.  Then we continued on to the castle.  When we got to the castle Pete said that we cycled around about half of the Island. 

 Gourey Castle in the background.

The view of the castle grounds from the top terrace.

 The view of Jersey from the top terrace - looking away from the ocean.

The view from the top terrace - looking out to the ocean.

 Inside the castle on one of the narrow spiral staircases.

The castle is a medieval castle and was quite fascinating.  Different than Hampton Court, older and more rough seeming, crude maybe a good word for it.  From the top of the castle you can see a large part of Jersey Island, from one side and from the other side you can see the coast of Normandy, France.  We are only 10 miles off the coast of France.  You pay to get into the castle but then you just go where you want so it was a lovely little jaunt through the castle.

After seeing the castle we were all starving because all we had eaten for lunch was a bit of Jersey cream ice cream.  Thankfully, I didn’t have to cycle home because it would have been all up hill and I was exhausted from the cycling I had done already.  Alex cycled home after her meeting, got the car and met us at the castle.  We through the bikes in the back and drove home.

After dinner we went to the home of some of the other church members and watched a show called Eurovision Song Contest.  It is an annual event where all the countries of Europe send a representative to this song competition and then Europe votes for a winner.  The winning country hosts the competition next year.  There are some rules though.  I’m not sure what they are, but it seems to be that they can’t be professionals.  Anyway, it was a really interesting look into European pop culture.  Sweden won, if you are wondering.

It was a fantastic day!  Exactly what I needed.  And that bike ride was a great preparation for Southern France. 

London: Day 13 (May 25, 2012)

I am on Jersey Island today.  I arrived this afternoon.  Alex met me at the airport.  I walked up to her hugged her and said, “Alex I’m in Jersey!”  She said, “Is that a little strange for you?”  I said, “Yes! I’ve heard you talk about it so many times and now I am here!”  She drove me directly to the beach to the beach and we got out and walked around for a few minutes.   It was amazing.  We got home and had a few minutes to chat and eat something. 

You may not know, but Jersey is famous for the Jersey cow.  The Jersey cow is famed for its cream.  When I was a child I remember that my grandparent’ had a Jersey cow.  They had a lot of other cows, but just the one Jersey cow.  I remember very clearly one day, after the milking was done, my grandmother telling me that the milk from the Jersey cow had more and richer cream than the other cows. And because the Jersey cow looked different than all the other cows I know what it looks like.  When I first met Alex in 2007 she was amazed that I knew about Jersey cows.

Then we went to her brother’s 40^th birthday party.  It was quite a wild time.  I even got out on the dance floor for a few minutes. It was a rare moment in the history of Christy Rae Turnbow!  I’m not sure how it happened.  The Mackenzie’s are such enthusiastic and happy people and somehow I ended up on the dance floor and then next thing I knew I was doing some sort of kick line to a Queen song.  I took pictures just incase you don’t believe me (not of the kick line, but on the dance floor anyway).

I was so impressed with how loving and open the people here are.  It was a very fun evening.  


This was a very interesting portrayal of women for the women's restroom at the hotel where the party was held.  See the Men's Room first:

 Now see the Women's Room:

??? Is she meant to have spiky pony tails?  I thought it was funny so I had to take a picture.