here goes!

so.... sunday came and went and no post was made. sorry about that. it's here now. everything started happening very fast and i ran out of time i guess. anyways...tucker and i are now in france (!) but more on that later. i need to finish updating on london. i don't remember what i all said last week so if something gets repeated, deal with it.
free weekend:
fri- mostly just hung out at hyde park w/ tucker, sylvia, and hannah. met a playful squirrel and did some sketching. i'm working on marker art and tucker is working on watercolor. not much else accept eating, and that was spaghetti house and pizza express. good but not too unique.
sat- saw phantom of the opera this afternoon! it was pretty good, even if the girl who played christine had an annoying grating voice. the phantom was good and raoul was too. some tried to be the movie and that got annoying, but... design was really cool, with skeletal candelabra rising from the ground and an angel statue that dropped and hung from the ceiling during my fav part of movie (the part where phantom sings, "you will curse the day you did not do all that the phantom asked of you on the gargoyles). and the music was fantastic to hear live
sun- went to portabello market, walked thru the shops. they aren't really my thing though: too many people. hannah found and bought some old keys though and they made her really happy. then a bunch of us went to this really awesome production of Hamlet. it is done by a company of actors called The Factory (check them out at seehamlet.co.uk) in a different venue every sunday, only advertised online, the audience brings props for the actors to use and are often part of the show themselves.
it was so cool- we saw it in this old chapel that was part mentally disabled rehab halfway house thing. the director gave them different directions for each act (kiss everyone your in a scene with, sit down when someone claps, etc.), one act was outside, tucker got hit on by ophelia during the show, the props (some) were a stuffed animal sheep, an inhaler, a watermelon, a Frisbee thing, a ladle, and a bunch of sunglasses. The duel between laertes and hamlet at the end was a piano duel. Awesome. One of the best experiences yet.
Mon- this was The best day during the trip. No question. Went to the Courtauld institute gallery: a pretty impressive personal collection- with a monet, some van gogh, telouse letrec, Seurat, degas, etc. and behind the building they were in, was a fountainy thing, where the water sprays up from the ground in a grid rectangle. Tucker and I, and poe, all had a blast playing in it. We got soaked but it felt so good. Annabelle took pics, and others watched us from the windows apparently. It just felt really good to let go, and then dry off in the sun.
after that some of us went to the chocolatier in chiswick. They have the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had. Mine was rose flavored. And the rest of the chocolates were really good too, though kind of expensive. When we got back, I went off by myself to Buckingham palace, and was kind of disappointed. It wasn’t that impressive, and there were no guards in fuzzy black hats and red suits. L oh well. Got pics anyway, and poe is in one.
The show tonight was …Sisters, and avante garde improv show loosely based on Chekhov’s (spelling?) Three Sisters. Each night it’s different, six actors (5 women, 1 man) play different parts that change throughout. Sometimes two are one character, or one just repeats the lines of everyone else that she hears, or one writes on a chalkboard bits of lines being said. It was a very small space, and had a lot of Brecht qualities to it, but I think it was unintentionally done. Not the best improv, but it was really interesting to see. Plus they had a live rabbit on stage at the end, just running around to show them being in a garden. Even if almost all of the story line was gone and no real plot was evident, you could still catch the themes in the three sisters.
After the show, some of us more adventurous sorts went to an Arabic coffee shop thing. All of the furniture was cushions and couchy things. Hannah, Sylvia, Tucker, and I, and Cody a little bit, sat outside, though, because we were smoking hookah. Don’t worry mom, it’s legal even in the states and better than cigarettes. It was so cool, kind of made me dizzy but when that happened I slowed down for awhile. But they lasted a long time. We had a strawberry and a grape one. A bunch of English guys, high school age, got one two and were sitting next to us for awhile. We talked with them until the shop closed, comparing England and America. They were pretty cool.
And it still doesn’t end there. When we got back to vandon house, tucker, noel, Sylvia, and elise joined Hannah, and I in our room, and we talked and laughed and hung out for awhile. Elise and Sylvia went to bed. But the rest of us stayed up til 4 am talking. Not one of our wiser choices but I don’t regret it.
Tues- an actor (making a living acting) came to speak to us during class this morning. He was really cool, named Charlie. He’s 28 and working with the factory (but he wasn’t in hamlet- he did a different show that night). Mostly he just talked about his life becoming an actor, and how it’s all he ever wanted to do, and how he did it. My favorite thing he said was, ‘why entertain the notion you’re gonna fail?” in reference to only going to college to have a fall back plan in case acting doesn’t work out. I think it is a great message to anyone pursuing a career in fine art, or anyone with a dream even. Do what you love, and do something else to support yourself if you have to, but don’t give up on your dream.
Today’s gallery was free choice. I wanted to go back to the tate modern but we had to pick something new. So I chose the national portrait gallery. 3 floors dedicated to portraits of all kinds. I loved it. Mostly just the first floor, though, cause that’s the modern stuff. Though there was some good stuff on second floor, too. but there were photos, paintings, airbrushings, sculpture, some digital work. I like faces a lot, so it was cool.
Spent a lot of time with tucker today, trying (and failing) to get things organized for backpacking. It was stressful at times, but we stopped outside the theatre and sat on this cool turf lawn with giant furniture made out of turf. All the couches were filled, though, so we lied down and sketched/painted, like we do. I’m not sure how I feel about the show we saw. It was called Afterlife, and it was about a man directing a morality play, and his real life ended up mirroring that play, with Death following him. It was kind of funny and kind of depressing and I liked the story enough but… I don’t know.
Wed- today we saw merry wives of Windsor in the globe during the afternoon. And it was awesome. I have a ribbon from the show, like a nerd. It was fun, being a groundling again. That night we saw 2000 Feet Away, which is based in Iowa and about pedophiles. It was a very small theatre, the smallest one we were in, in a sketchy part of town. It was an interesting show, not like I thought it was going to be. They did a decent job on the accents. Actually, there was a young girl in it who sounded just like Lacey (aka my little sister). She even had blonde hair and braces. It was kinda creepy. The show was pretty good, even if all the yelling and talking over each other got annoying. I’m not too sure about this one either, but I liked it better than Afterlife. It had a lot of deep things to think about, like the treatment of pedophiles and how they aren’t all the same creepers you think of.
Well, that’s basically London. After the show, we hopped on a bus to Gatwick, spent the night in a hotel, got up early this morning and went to the airport. Tucker and I said goodbye (a bit earlier than expected), went back to London, got on the eurostar (EXPENSIVE!) to france, had *fun* trying to figure out the metro, found the Eiffel tower, and spent a long long time trying to find a hostel. Then we did and they were full. They called another one, which had 2 beds left. So we walked there. It’s called Aloha, and is also expensive. but that is where we are. We have a room to ourselves, which is nice. The Eiffel tower is 15 mins walk away. We’re tired and sore. We were stressed, feeling like we were in way over our heads b/c we don’t speak French and our maps don’t have all the streets. Plus the atm was being stupid and tucker couldn’t get money out. It took me 3 times doing it for it to work. Hopefully, the rest of the trip gets easier. Now we’ve got plans, and know that it is better to make reservations for hostels, and find them beforehand so you can get cheaper ones. Well, this was long, and I’m tired. Don’t know when I’ll get pics up again. But I’ll try.
and if anyone ever feels inclined to put $ in my checking account (hint hint), that would be awesome. i'm not afraid yet for the amount in there, but if we keep running into hostels like this one and eurostar suckiness, than it might become a problem. just saying.
This is a link to tucker’s blog, specifically for our backpacking: tuckshelb-adventuresineurope.blogspot.com
Plus we have a shared email account, so if you want to send us some messages of love and encouragement and stuff, that’s where you can do it. : tucker.shelbi@gmail.com
hugs and kisses to all,
bubye