August 3

Cambridge/ travel back to London

After checking out of St. Cat's, we set up at Starbucks to get some coffee and wi-fi.  Sure they can split the atom at Cambridge University but you can't get wi-fi in your dorm room.  Really?

I took a quick pic of my Birkenstocks that I bought yesterday...for not very much money.  You can get them really cheap over here!  :)

After a pleasant train ride back to London, we arrived at the Jesmond Dene to find that our room - now Room 9 (on the top floor) - was not ready, so we walked around to McGlynn's Pub to have a drink.  But the kitchen was closed.  So...

We walked around to The Boot Inn, which was Charles Dickens' favorite pub!  We sat in his booth!  We had more Pimm's!  We had to take naps!

After our spacious dorm at St. Cat's, our tiny room at the Jesmond Dene will take some getting used to.  A lot of getting used to.  At least we are close to the bathroom this time.  :)

We decided to walk down to O'Neill's for dinner and passed the glorious St. Pancras International Train Station...which also includes a hotel!  The building is beautiful, and here it is!

After a Creamy Mushroom Melt, Guiness Battered Fish 'N' Chips, and a bottle of white, we are ready to call it a day.  Back to the Jesmond Dene to catch up the blog and call our husbands, whom we miss dearly!

August 2

Cambridge

A continuation of the shopping...Karen in a large hat at a boutique called Sahara.  Indeed.

Me...in a much smaller hat...at the Cambridge Market.

Inside the mall called the Grand Arcade, I found a store called Schuh.  And what do they sell...shoes!

At Jane Norman's...we decided against this particular sweater...but did buy jeans here!

OMG!  We found authentic fresh Mexican food!  HALLELUJAH!!  We had frozen margaritas, nachos...

...and a steak quesadilla...and more frozen margaritas.  It was heavenly!

Uh oh!  A chocolate store?  Liza, guess who has a treat coming???

The entrance to the Grand Arcade, across from the Post Office.

A popular store...where Karen bought a couple of cute blouses.

Unfortunately, Jane Norman is going out of business!  Sad face.

And the Cambridge Market...lots of vendors - jewelry, purses, handmade soap, fudge, food vendors, fresh fruit, Cambridge clothing, hats of all types...like a huge flea market that is open every day!

Our final Shakespeare play of this year's Festival was Much Ado About Nothing - one of my favorites!  Beatrice was played by the same actress who played Adriana in The Comedy of Errors, and Verges was played by our favorite Dromio!  She is truly a gifted comedic actress!  Lots of comedy and liberties taken with this one...  I really enjoyed it - this would be my first choice if I were to direct a work of Shakespeare.  Aaahhhhh...gravity.

August 1

Cambridge

This morning we will go punting.  Which means riding in a small, flat boat up the River Cam.  It will look like this one.

From our boat, we got a magnificent view of King's College and the Chapel, which took over 100 years to complete.

These are the student accommodations of King's College - most of the student accommodations are along the river.  It makes for easier pranking of the first year students...

Here is our punt master, Peter.  He gave us all kinds of interesting history of the colleges.

Oh, a gaggle of geese on the tour as well!

I don't remember if this is Clare College or Trinity Hall...

This is the Wren Library of Trinity College, where some valuable manuscripts are held...like the handwritten first copy of A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh, the only sample of John Milton's handwriting, and some of Shakespeare's first plays.  There are no books on the first floor, as a precaution.  The River Cam wasn't always so predictable, so the books were placed on the second floor in case the river were to flood.

Trinity College, founded by Henry VIII - the most wealthy and largest college of Cambridge University.

This is the Bridge of Sighs, which connects the student accommodations to the academic buildings, where examinations would take place.  Students would "sigh" as they crossed it.  It is designed after a Bridge of Sighs from a prison that would take death row inmates to their deaths.

The ivy grows up the side of the student accommodations of St. John's College.

The Mathematical Bridge - it was originally constructed using only principles of mathematics instead of nuts and bolts.  Until...some students decided to take it apart as a prank...and were unable to reconstruct it.  :)

The tower of Great St. Mary's Church in the middle of Cambridge - it would be impossible to photograph all of the churches and colleges there are...they all look alike and would be difficult to tell apart!  This church, however, is an important landmark...as it directs us to the Cambridge Market!

We did A LOT of shopping today!  We found some shirts, sweaters, pants, shoes, and accessories!  We may have to ship some things home or donate some things before we leave London for Scotland - our suitcases will never close!  :)

Our Shakespeare Festival experience continues with MacBeth (that Scottish play) at Trinity College Gardens.  See how the set is covered with a pagan ritualistic symbol?  Spooky!  During the second half, the sky changed and the clouds made a huge cross just above the break in the trees - I looked at Karen and said, "Oh no.  Jesus doesn't like the play."  

The actor who played MacBeth was also in The Comedy of Errors - I remembered him as the doctor with the magic ball.  He kept looking at the front row of the audience and saying "don't look at my ball!"  Also, Lady MacBeth was fantastic!  She really committed to the crazy, sleep-walking scene before her suicide.  Lots of blood too - a goodly play!

July 31

Cambridge

I am attempting "a trail of breadcrumbs...as it were" so we can find our way back to our dorm room.  We have to go up these stairs, through a locked door, up to the second floor, through a door marked "2", to our door, which is Suite 2...

We have to go around this stretch of building to get the previously mentioned stairs...or through a short hallway to the left...

We pass this small garden...of which Karen pinches a lavender bloom every time we pass...

Here is where we turn left to enter the area by the small garden...see the door directly across the green?  That is the dining hall where we enjoy chocolate croissants for breakfast!

The front gate and entrance to St. Cat's.

A view of St. Cat's College from the street.

The door to the Porter's Lodge, where we met the Porter, who showed us to our awesome room.  Ok, I think I can find it now.  :)

Today we decided to hop on the City-SightSeeing Bus to get an overview of the sights in Cambridge.  A great idea - then we knew exactly where we wanted to go explore!  This statue marks a World War I soldier returning from war, looking over his shoulder at the Cambridge Train Station and marking his entrance back into Cambridge.  He was the landmark we looked for when we walked back to the train station after our days in Cambridge.

We saw so many interesting sites on the bus tour, including many of the colleges that make up Cambridge University (there are 31).  We also saw the Microsoft Research facility, an orchard that had been in use for over 100 years, an award-winning veterinary hospital, and the Cambridge American Cemetery, which is owned by the American government.  England gave America this land to bury the soldiers who had died here in service during World War II, among them being the famous Glen Miller, the bandleader.

With our bus tour, we bought a punting tour as well.  We walked back through Cambridge...although it being Sunday, most of the shops were closed.  So...we went to a small grocery and picked up some snacks before heading back to our dorm room.  It was a lovely, unstructured day!

July 30

London/ travel to Cambridge

Today was the RADA test!!!  Aaaahhhhh!  Karen and I were up early, running lines at breakfast, and we left early to get to RADA to practice before the exam.  We had an hour to run lines before we were called.  Lucky for us, our sight-reading scene was from As You Like It...which we had just seen in Oxford!  We knew just what to do and we made the judge laugh!  :)  Karen said one of her lines twice but that was her only flub; I rearranged a couple of my lines!  I thought we did pretty well.

After the test, we had a lovely train ride to Cambridge.  It was only an hour, and then we took a taxi to Girten College Gardens to see a matinee of The Comedy of Errors.  It was really funny and easy to follow - very slapstick and over-the-top!  One of the actors was Daniel Wohlberg's British twin - why does everyone have British twins??

All of the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival plays are performed outdoors in a college garden or park.  This is the set for The Comedy of Errors.

After the play, we walked into Cambridge (since we are used to walking...) but stopped for food at Sir Isaac Newton's Pub.  Finally!  We found some nachos!  And we had Pimm's and fish 'n' chips, too.

We continued our journey into Cambridge and found St. Catherine's college...but no porter.  We had to go to our evening play with our backpacks!  Unfortunately for us, the Shakespeare Festival sites are not well signed, and we were ten minutes late for The Winter's Tale because we couldn't find it!  Apparently, Leontes is jealous of his wife, Hermione, who he thinks is unfaithful but she's not and he gives away her daughter and her son dies and she dies but not really and the daughter grows up with a shepherd and returns later to Leontes who has realized that Hermione WAS faithful and she comes back to life from a statue.  Really weird.  I guess you have to read it.  IDK.

Here is our spectacular dorm room at St. Cat's.  The porter told us it was the best room on the whole campus.  Sweet!  We had two huge windows and a monster view!  It really spoiled us :)

This is the sitting area by the window where we had tea and hot chocolate every evening.

Here's Karen...trying to find the "plugger-inner" to charge the IPAD and the IPHONE.

It's going to be a trick to find our way out of the dorm...and back in to the room!  It was a bit of a maze to get here!  :)

July 29

London - Two Shows at The Globe

8:30am - English Breakfast at Jesmond Dene: bacon, eggs, sausage, BEANS (ugh!), toast, coffee, OJ
10:00am to 12:00pm - Laundry...there is a tiny laundrette just around the corner.  Clean clothes are good!!! :)
~Meantime...work on lines and paperwork for tomorrow's RADA test
12:00pm to 2:00pm - travel to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre for matinee

Oh, look...Tower Bridge...as we saw it when we walked across London Bridge

London Bridge from below

2pm - The Globe Theatre for Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe (taken during interval)

Faustus was really sinister!  There were lots of cattle-shaped skulls, huge black dragon skeletons, fun fire effects, fake blood, torture, and an appearance by Lucifer himself!

The front of The Globe, which includes the gift shop, the cafe, the box office, the education center, etc.

The Globe that is recognizable :)

The advertisement for the play - I didn't get programs for any of the shows we saw because the theatres charge at least 4 pounds for one!

My best picture of The Globe from today!  :)

7:30pm - The set for All's Well That Ends Well - notice the changes from the first show.  Same day...only 2 1/2 hours difference.  Karen and I spent the time at Pizza Express next door having garlic bread, veggie pizza, wine, tiramisu, and Bailey's lattes...while we rehearsed our lines, of course!

I was able to sneak up and take a pic of the "ceiling" above the stage.  The theatre is open to the sky!

10:30pm - Our first attempt to capture the London skyline at night...too much railing in this one.

This one is better - I kind of like the reflection of the lights in the River Thames!

The tube station that we had to find was by The Monument, which I discovered was erected to commemorate the Great Fire of London in 1666.

This is the view from under The Monument...at night...not very good.  The lighting is not suitable for taking a picture - much more breathtaking in person.  I will attempt to get more pictures of this landmark during the day.

It is currently 2:30am, and Karen and I have been rehearsing lines and packing for Cambridge.  Since we didn't "walk" today like we have been, we are kind of wired and can't settle down to sleep.  Hopefully we will get some sleep tonight because we have to be up for breakfast by 7:30am and out the door to RADA by 9:00am (it is a 20 minute walk) to be on time for our test at 10:00am.  Wish us luck!