Photo Book: European Adventures

Photobook up! I'm pretty happy with it. I used Picasa which wasn't too difficult. I used picture pile on a few of the collages which is very creative for me. Woo hoo!
I'm officially back in Madison and off to work this afternoon. Though currently I'm sitting on the phone to my health insurance company. Super fun. I love REAL LIFE.
Putting together the Photobook was a nice way to remind myself, that yes, it was real. I was just in England as of four days. And now I'm going to work. It's a bit of a 180 but I'm dealing with it. Reverse cultural shock always does me because it sneaks up on me. Ah well, I don't really have time to be time-spatial confused.
Also, this year is Mexico's Bicentennial of their independence, if you didn't get a chance to see the "Viva La Libertad!" exhibit at the British Library. I'm mentioning this because lots of places are going to be having exhibits and events surrounding the Bicentennial. In 1810, Mexico and many other Latin American countries started their quest for independence from the Spanish. HEre is Exploradno Mexico's article as well as the Bicentennial website for Meixco. I mention this because I'm helping my boss prepare for an exhibit on this now that I'm back. Its going to be really fun. I can't wait!
Back to holding... I'm pretty sure I'm on my third repetition of "Hotel California."
Cheers!

We're small army

Back of Buckingham Palace

Really, we are. For the last three weeks we've been wandering around London, blocking stairs, taking up multiple tables and walking single-file down the stairs to the tube. Three long weeks the fourteen of us have traveled together, eaten together and gotten lost together (well technically in parts, but it was still a group experience). This was the first time I was part of a group all of the time. The previous times I have traveled abroad, Mexico in 2005 and Spain in 2007, I was part of a group but we did smaller trips together and class. But that was it. With this FSU program we got to know each other quickly because we spent so much time together. It is hard to be part of the group for so long, but it is a nice experience. This year I moved into a single apartment because I moved from Indy to Madison. When I first moved, I really missed my old roommates. It was nice to come Indy have a group of people in a flat and in a class that were always around. I did miss time/space to myself at times, but that's to be expected. On the whole, I liked having roommates. Also, I've never known as much about my classmates in a traditional class as I've learned about these people that I've traveled with all over London.
Therefore, its almost appropriately ironic that today we had a very individual day. We visited Buckingham Palace, which is only open for two months at the end of the summer when the Queen is in Scotland, so it was a rare and fun opportunity to see inside the palace. Most of us got audio tours and we individually made our way through the Palace. For a group that has spent more time together than some families do on vacation, it was a very solitary tour.
Unfortunately I have no pictures whatsoever as we cannot take pictures inside the Palace. Today was a really good for a Palace tour, actually, as we had our first typical English weather: rainy and chilly with random spots of sun.
Maybe this is London's way of sending us off?

Instead we're going to talk about Diana

I had every intention this evening to write a moving blog about the Oliver Stone's documentary, South of the Border, that I saw at the British Library. However, as its been a very long day full of hopeful developments for Latin America and shoe shopping, instead we're going to talk about Diana because Latin American deserves all my attention. Diana, Princess of Wales that is. Contrary to what many may think because of my age, I actually remember the day Diana died. I was riding in the car with my dad to school (middle school at the time) and we were listening to NPR. It was Morning Edition and I remember clearly that announcers reporting that Diana, Princess of Wales had died in a tunnel crash. Even at my tender age of 11ish, I understood this was a great lost. I don't remember her marriage but I remember hearing about it.
Hyde Park is full of memorials to this woman, who, by all accounts, was not very popular with the Royal family. She had divorced her husband, Charles, Prince of Wales, and seemed to be pretty independent and feisty. The royal family could have definitely made a fuss about a memorial playground, walk and fountain going up in the name of the this woman, but did not and these three exist for the enjoyment of everyone today. Queen Elizabeth II obviously understands when public opinion and love topples personal pain. Not to mention, it must be very comforting for her sons to see their mother memorialized and loved so much.
I really enjoyed these memorials. The playground was beautiful, lots of fun and very safe. I mention the safety because adults are not allowed into the playground (which is gated) without an adult. It may seem a bit restricting, but it is nice that it creates a safe and comforting environment for children and their parents/guardians/nannies. I definitely wish I had a playground like that when I was a child.

From 2010-08-03

But I truly loved the fountain. It was mentioned that there was some controversy when it was first built since its more of a lazy river type of fountain rather than a large upstanding one. It's made for people and children to go sit by the water and put their feet in on a hot day. Most of us gave it a try and the water was freezing. Too bad it wasn't warmer out. It would've been so comforting on hot feet during the winter. If you've ever been in Lake Michigan, it felt kind of like that. Chilly and will make your feet turn blue after awhile.

From 2010-08-03

From 2010-08-03

What a better way to wind down our trip than a walk through a park that has so well blended the worlds of royals with that of the people.

Oxford Misleading

I have an odd relationship with Oxford. I'm familiar with the schools and dynamics from Lewis and Dorothy L Sayer's Gaudy Night . I don't know the history but I feel like I know the people and atmosphere. Oxford shows up in books that are set in all different time periods; I think I most recently read a mystery where one of the suspects was an Oxford student and it's set in the mid-1800s. Oxford reminds me a bit of Madison actually; the University is an large but somewhat separate part of the town. University society definitely affects town life but they aren't necessarily the same. On top of that, Oxford is a huge draw for tourists. A ridiculous draw for tourists. So far the only place I've seen match lines for Christ Church is Disneyworld and the Tower of London.


There is something impressive and awesome about touring a university that has been around since 1215. We were walking on ground that millions of scholars have walked through before and that makes it seem a bit sacred, even though that isn't the appropriate term for it. I liked walking through the gardens of Christ Church that has a view Magdaline College (which is actually older than Christ Church) and it makes me feel like a scholar. I would love to study in their libraries because there is so much history of study there. That's not saying that they have always been progressive or amazing; scholars often live up to the rumor of being stuffy. Nonetheless, it does feel different, almost encouraging to be able to study in a place thats been devouted to studying for at least 800 years.

That feeling, for me, is somewhat temporary. Its awesome but not permanent. Oxford will always been connected with an idea that is rather contrary to what I've just described. Dorothy Sayers observes, via her characters Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane while punting on the Thames, that you can't hide within hallowed University halls forever. College or University, particularly when you're young, is a short and blissful time span that is rarely regained. Even if you return for post-graduate education, its never quite the same. Those halls that seemed so impenetrable when you were 20 are actually very permeable and I came to find, like Sayers' characters, that the real world seeps in regardless. For me, in Wisconsin, it comes in the form of healthcare insurance and part-time work. For Sayers' characters, it displays itself in hatred and ignorance of a system that the criminal has. THere was something about going to Oxford and seeing it truly as a tourist attraction, very few students, that stuck this point home. THere are tours for future students at my University, but there are never thousands of people trying to get in to see a College. Oxford is a beautiful and special place but I'm not sure if its as hallowed and protected as maybe once thought.
But I did enjoy myself. The history was enthralling, the town was relaxing and everyone was very nice. Even the tour guide who teased me about my umbrella and my questions... but it wouldn't be a true trip to England without dry British humor.

Clocking it: Video Assignment

I have a definite obsession with clocks, one I wasn't really aware of until I arrived at the clock exhibition at the British Museum and they continued to pop up in all their glory throughout my trip.
I learned about the relationship between time, navigation and astronomy in the Time Galleries at Greenwhich (much cooler than the arbitrary prime meridian). In Salisbury, the church still has an ancient clock that used to chime every hour to let the town know the time.

So my video become about my interest in clocks because of all the awesome footage I got at the British Museum.

The British Library Is Not A Lending Library

As a patron, you cannot take a book out of the British Library, you can only read the books in their collection in one of their 11 reading rooms. The British Library is huge; it has eight floors and thousands, maybe millions, of books on site. It has a basement storage area of four floors, each that two floor height. It's an absolutely amazing facility and anything in the library is available for view if you have a reader's card, even the items in the Treasures Collection.

But to get access to anything, you have to have a reader's card. Unlike a public library card, a reader's card is more than just access to the stacks -- its access with a purpose. When you register, you are asked to explain why you want to use the collection and which areas specifically you want to use. This creates a very specific patron pool that divides up into three groups, according to our tour guide: academic, personal and business. Academic is the largest, which is not surprising. Once you have a reader's card you find the book you need, ask the librarian and the librarian brings it to you. This is not a browse-able collection due to the unusual and variety of collection materials. So you get your book, sit there with your pen and paper or computer, read your book and then leave without the book. For most librarians, I think, this must seem like a good way to cut down on circulation -- isn't the point to get the information to the patrons? Well yes, but, the British Library isn't just a public library for people to find information but it also keeps and stores information. It only has one copy of every new book published. It is not a lending library, but it still gets the necessary information. But back to the circulation question, wouldn't the confines of the library decrease the usage. Surprisingly not; according to our tour guide, most rooms are filled between 96%-98% every single day the library is open. I can't imagine many libraries that have circulation statistics like that.

As a reader, you can get just about any book. You can even get the books on display in the Treasures Collection, selected fromTreasures in Full, which includes hand-written letters and stories of Jane Austen, Lewis Carroll, first print editions of Shakespeare's works, original scores by the likes of Mozart, Beethoven and Handel. It is a truly amazing collection. While these items require very special clearance, a reader can check them out and study them if necessary. This is a working library.

All these books come from the stacks below the British Library or their storage facility out in Yorkshire. I was actually lucky enough to see the basement collections. Back at UW I work for the Iberoamerican Studies Bibliographer, Paloma, who was kind enough to put me in touch with a colleague at the British Library. I was given a tour of the storage collection, concentrating on Latin American Colonial and Spanish materials, by Aquiles Alencar Braynar. I was really surprised to see the stacks but it was amazing and completely overwhelming. Even when you see the model, its hard to imagine just how big and expansive the storage area really is. Also, you can definitely hear the tube. Dr. Alencar Braynar showed me the manuscripts area, the large collection of Don Quixote editions gifted to the library and part of the library of Maximillion. Maximillion was once put in power as the "Emperor of Mexico" but was executed in the late 19th century when the Mexican people revolted. One of his aids gave most of his library to the British Library around the start of the 20th century and most of the books are focused on the colonization and revolution in Mexico. A few of these books are being used in the Viva la Libertad! exhibit celebrating the independence of most of Latin America. Mexico's Bicentennial is coming up this fall, which is super exciting.

I'm not doing a very good job at explaining the stacks but it was amazing to see their stacking system which does not follow any specific standard system. They stack them according to size, collection owner, language and maybe, if you're lucky, subject. There are huge horizontal book sections where there are huge books, some of them maps, piled in there own cubbie hole type sections. While it doesn't make sense to the patron, it does make sense for the library and librarians. Since the librarians are the only ones retrieving books, the system doesn't have to be organized LCC or Dewey. This is a very flexible system to allow for all the new books that the British Library receives every year, like the Library of Congress does in the U.S.

Basically, this was the best afternoon ever. :D

Tourist of London

The pun is intended. The Tower of London is a favorite of the tourists and today was no exception. This definitely makes sense because some of London's most famous items and people have lived in the Tower of London.
This is the place that holds the kingdom's Crown Jewels and they are amazing, definitely worth the trip if you can get in. Not to mention Sir Walter Raleigh was imprisoned in the "Bloody Tower" (that has the smallest staircase ever!)that his wife eventually turned it into their living apartments. Finally the two princes who are reported to be murdered in Shakespeare's play Richard III were myth no longer as they were found in an evacuation in the mid 17th century. The Tower of London definitely lives up to its reputation as gruesome.

It's a tourist attraction and I know the point is to have tourists but the lines made it really hard to see the exhibits. The Tower of London had thousands of people that created lines trying to see the Crown Jewels and congested stairs. While I'm grateful for the chance to see so many places that are so famous and so important, the Tower of London is no exception, its exhausting and overwhelming to move at such pace. All the information, all the sites, all the time, all the possibilities starting rolling into one big ball that seems like it could crush you. On my part, even though I was tired, cranky and feeling generally overwhelmed, the attractions today became an odd of lesson of "powering through" as Tara says (mostly when we're climbing our stairs). I'm exhausted and overwhelmed but not enough to give up the places and experiences I'm getting. I guess I'm going to just have to embrace my tourist side.

Tower of London Guard

The life of a guard at Tower of London in five pictures.

Ciy of London LIbrary: Barbican

Barbican Library is an unique library to say the least. It's a public library located on the second floor of the Barbican Arts Center nestled in the finance district in the City of London. The libraries there do a lot with limited space and a limited budget but they're passionate about what they do and that's always encouraging. Geraldine(I think) and Jonathan gave us our tour and it was very obvious that they loved their job and their library, despite projects they can't complete because of budget cuts. Barbican has its own peculiarities as a library and British library. In Britain, the government controls what age children can be allowed to buy/rent videos unlike our suggested rating. For a librarian in the States this would cause a lot of consternation because the ALA would view that as censorship so we were all a bit intrigued. On top of that, said DVDs cost 2.50 to check out but only if they were entertainment dvds; dvds for teaching/learning are free. I may have to look into why this is; I find it very interesting. I can't say I completely oppose it because I understand the possible idea behind, the difference between information and entertainment, but I'd still like to know more.
I really enjoyed their music library; its very strange to have subject special libraries in public libraries; its usually found in an academic libraries because of the specialized student populations. It's a very impressive but small library; they have two digital pianos which people can reserve, plug in headphones and practice. It's awesome.
What I liked the most was the Barbican Song Index. The staff at the music library worked for a few years to create an index of all the songs/scores that library holds so the patron and librarian can easily find it. From what I've heard about other music libraries where scores/songs are very difficult to find and catalog, this system is time consuming but wonderful. I love seeing how these individual libraries are working on new ways to making information easier to access.
And then we went to St. Paul's Cathedral which was very grand.

From 2010-07-27

From 2010-07-27

From 2010-07-27

From 2010-07-27

From 2010-07-27

Hampton Court

Hampton Court is famous because of Henry VII, the tudor who killed half of his wives and father to Queen Elizabeth I. But Hampton Court was also home to William III and Mary II during the late 1600s. William III from the Netherlands married Mary II and was generally looked upon as an intruder and foreigner. They did rule together, as the security guard (warder?) was most insistent to explain to me. Unfortunately, Kaitlin and I did not make it to the gardens but I enjoyed walking around the house even though I'm not a fan of baroque architecture -- Sorry Sir Christopher Wren. It did help make the history much clearer, particularly the political concern about a woman succeeding Henry because he only had one son who was very sickly. Of course, we all know that Elizabeth I eventually came to power and was very much loved and important monarch, but she was the last of a line that had fought a bloody battle to gain power. The explanation of the history and culture of the respected time period. I have a fuzzy understanding of British royal history so their explanations were clarifying. I really wanted a bigger picture though, like where the Tudors fit into the whole scheme and why William and Mary chose Hampton Court.

Podcast

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My Podcast was created with Audacity.
Fair Use law covers the use of the opening song, Let's Go Fly a Kite.
Information about the history of Primrose Hill came from the Royal Parks website.

Sherman, Richard M. and Sherman, Robert B. (1964). Let's Go Fly a Kite.
[Recorded by David Tomlinson, Dick Van Dyke and Chorus]. On Mary Poppins [mp3]. Walt Disney.

The Royal Parks: London's Personal Space (2010).Primrose Hill - from forest to film location.
Retrieved from http://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/regents_park/primrose_hill.cfm

Cool Kew

This weekend is the one free weekend we have before we leave London. Tara and I took the opportunity to head out of town to Kew Gardens on Saturday. It was absolutely beautiful with more flowers and plants than we had seen anywhere previous. Kew itself is a tiny little town that was a nice change from superbusy London. The tube lets you off right at the center of town and its only a short walk to Kew. I've actually been really intrigued by Kew Gardens since I read Virginia Woolf's short story by the same name when I was an undergrad. She describes it so beautifully and while I'm sure the gardens have changed since she walked through them, they are still breathtaking and peaceful. There are a few different greenhouses including a Palm House and a Waterlily House. Both of which are filled to the brim with amazing plants that I've never seen before. Tara recognized many of the plants in the Palm House from her home in Hawai'i but for a midwestern like myself, they were very foreign. One of the highlights was definitely the butterfly exhibit in the Princess of Wales Conservatory. There were very beautiful and so much fun to look at. I kept thinking I was going to step on them though; ridiculous but true. London has been an ironically wonderful to explore plants since they have a huge abundance of gardens and around the city. Most of the royal parks were made public which has produced some really wonderful green areas. It definitely makes living in London attractive and bearable. To top off a wonderful Saturday, Tara and I stopped at a great bakery that had the most delicious looking cupcakes, which we brought home to all the roommates. We completely stocked up on carbs: olive filled ciabatta, rosemary and olive oil foccacia and muffins. It was a delicious day!

From 2010-07-24

From 2010-07-24

From 2010-07-24

From 2010-07-24

From 2010-07-24

From 2010-07-24

Regent's Roses

After a full week of major tourist attractions, we took a break and headed for Regent's Park. While this is a tourist attraction as well, its a 410 acre tourist attraction so no one is packed together. It's also a great spot for locals and their families, so it was much more relaxing than the British Museum or Stonehenge. Regent's Park is famous for their gardens and I wasn't disappointed. They were beautiful and obviously well taken-care of, which is nice thing to see in any garden. I was playing with the panorama setting on camera and got some fantastic pictures (see below). The flowers were enticing to photograph but I was really looking forward to flying kites on Primrose Hill. I love flying kites so I was itching for a chance to use my “Tiny Dancer.” Alas, the wind was less the adequate and we all spent most of time running up and down the summit, trying to get lift. I plan on taking my kite to Hyde Park and hopefully it will be windy then. I may try for Primrose Hill again but I'm running out of time for all the things I wanted to do. The day ended with a trip to Abbey Road. I like the Beatles and their music was a huge part of my childhood, but I can't say that I was blown away by Abbey Road. It might be because I really enjoy the music but knowledge stops there. I don't know much about the group or their history. Not to mention that Abbey Road is a tride-and-true cross walk on a very busy road. I just didn't think it was vale la peňa to stop traffic and I can commiserate with drivers who have to deal with lots and lots of pedestrians. Madison is overrun with students who will not look both ways when they cross the street. However, I really enjoyed the graffiti wall. Thousands and thousands people come and leave their messages and names on the wall outside of the Abbey Road Studio. I think this is much better expression of the Beatles' spirit since they are mostly messages about love. It was a great end to the week.

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Dr. Who would be so proud

We visited the Prime Meridian today at Greenwich, which is basically a metal line on the ground that is supposed to be 0 0 0. More importantly, its the home of hundreds of years of time-related research. In the "Time Galleries." It's easy to forget that our concept of time is a relatively new invention. For decades, time was kept differently in different places and no one place necessarily matched to another. However, it also wasn't necessary; most towns/villages were concerned with the events going on in their own areas. Once groups started to expand via sea and land, time and direction became very important. The Time Galleries explained how the British set about solving the "longitude problem" in the 18th century after a disastrous shipwreck. It took them years to solve because the direction and clock engineering at the time could not compensate for the natural movement of the ship. Read all about that the Royal Observatory. I think Dr. Who would enjoy this exhibit very much.

Somes

Going out to Stonehenge and Salisbury today was such a relief. I love London, I really do, but I find all the people and traffic all the time overwhelming. I always thought I wanted to live in a big city and I'm already starting to rethink things. I've never lived “downtown” before... except in Madison but Madison is only about 100,000 people so its not anywhere near as big as London or Chicago. It was really nice to leave the insane traffic and hundreds of thousands of people for a town set upon chalk. Salisbury would be a great place to spend lots of time. It doesn't have lots of shows or thousands of restaurants but its a good size town with great food, decent shopping and lovely green that isn't overcrowded. I'm probably romanticizing it, but I had one of the best meals so far in a great pub in the center of town. Stonehenge was, of course, really interesting.. I find it impressive that a group of people thought something was important enough to bring stones that weighed scores of tons to the middle of open field. The meaning of Stonehenge was oddly not bothering me. Its really fun to have your own opportunity to wonder at the meaning of these stones who meant so much to someone sometimes (oh, lots of somes there). It was definitely something.

From 2010-07-21

From 2010-07-21

From 2010-07-21

From 2010-07-21

Had to talk about tea

I love tea. I really do. This is a recent obsession, not one that I grew up with as a child. It partly has to do with that I can't drink coffee anymore and my roommate in undergrad drank tea like it was water. I was very excited to go to English tea at the the British Museum. I love the idea of tea because like the Spanish siesta, its a planned break (and a snack!) which does not exist at all in the States. I mean, it can definitely get very fancy, like ours did, but it can also be a simply cup and a couple of cookies and chance to rest. Sounds great to me.