Much overdue update number 1...

First off, I apologize to my faithful readers who check my blog and have yet to see an update in the past few weeks. If I was to post everything that I have seen or done in the past weeks in as depth as I have in the past, I am sure to omit something important or bore you all to death. So, in an effort to get caught up I will try and make some general comments about the past few weeks, places I have been, realizations I have had, etc. before making another post commenting on my most recent adventure to Italy and Scotland.

Chelsea in London!

Two weeks ago Chelsea flew in from Milan, Italy (where she is studying for a year) to spend the weekend in London. The weekend was spent mostly on foot exploring London, its charm, and its sights. I am glad that everyone I have traveled with or visits enjoys walking as much as I do - I imagine Chelsea and I walked about 20 - 25 miles in a little over two days. We managed to only take the tube twice! When she arrived on Friday we went towards the Borough market via Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the London Eye, and the River Thames. From the market we made our way to the Tate Modern art museum. This was my first visit to the Tate Modern since I arrived in London. During our visit a portion of the museum was sectioned off for the installation of a new piece of art - a large crack in the museum floor. The Tate Modern is well known for their odd choices of Modern interactive art and the crack proves no different. I hope to make it back in the coming weeks to see the crack that visitors are falling into, perceiving the installation is painted on the ground.

The next day we continued our foot tour of London exploring Regent Street, Oxford Street, and the other major shopping areas. We intended to see a production but both were reluctant to pay even the half priced ticket fee of nearly 30 pounds for a weekend showing. We ended our day of exploration with Indian food in Covent Garden - an area renowned for its street performers. Sunday brought cooler weather to London. After sleeping in, recovering from the walking of the first two days, we wandered to Hyde Park to spend a few hours people watching and relaxing before meeting a London Walks tour guide near St. Paul's for a guided tour of Shakespeare and Dickens London. The highlight of the walk was the charisma of our tour guide - ironically from the Midwest region of the United States - as we wandered through central London and gazed upon the last remaining buildings of London from Shakespeare's times and the inspiration for many of Charles Dickens locations and characters.

Sotheby's Auction House

Later that week I visited the Sotheby's auction house with my Art and Society class. London and specifically Sotheby's had been preparing for weeks for one of its large art auctions of the year. Our professor tried to best explain the functions and commodity type trading of art throughout the world. As I understand, the art market is a very volatile market and is expecting a downturn in prices and values of many of the world's top works. Many within the trading and collecting industry are fearful of the decrease in certain works arts and the auction that week in London would be indicative of the season's largest shows. On display were works from Monet, Picasso, Worhel, and many others. Unlike an art museum where works are carefully placed and properly lighted, Sotheby's felt more like a store for the world's most expensive art that would grace the walls for a few weeks before being sold to a collector or collection. I was most intrigued by the prices of some pieces (all of which were listed on the respective identification placard), most pieces ranged from 800 thousand - 1 million US dollars with some of the Monet and Picasso pieces listed in the 30 - 40 million dollar range.

Globe and Rose Tour

Having been the Globe to see a performance in the past weeks I was most excited to see the Rose theater on this tour, a portion of my London Theater class. The Rose theater is believed to have been built in the late 1500's and was one of the original four theaters in London during the birth of the cities interest in theater. During the late 1980's during the redevelopment of a building complex remains of the Rose theater were unearthed about a half mile from the current location of the reconstructed globe. While excavation took place for nearly a year - the historical foundation ran low of funds to recover the theater in 1989. To preserve the remains until further excavation could be performed the Rose was covered in concrete, dirt, and sand and now sits in the basement of the office complex. Interestingly enough, the Shakespeare company still preforms in the basement area near the original stage during special performances a few times each year.

Dublin, Ireland - Wicklow Mountains - Howth Fishing Village

The weekend following Chelsea's visit I made my way to Dublin, Ireland to visit Jess. Jess is studying abroad in Dublin and attending the University College Dublin about twenty minutes from the city center. Upon my arrival we spent Friday afternoon exploring the city center including Dublin Castle, Trinity College (home to the Book of Kells), and Grafton Street. We continued our wandering around Trinity College, home to the Book of Kells, and ended at Kevin’s house (another DU student studying in Dublin) via the northern and canal areas of the city.

After lounging at Kevin’s for awhile, the three of us made our way back to the University via Kiely’s of Donnybrook, a quaint little town about fifteen minutes walking from the University. For a Friday evening the pub was surprisingly quiet. Throughout the evening we met many more of Jess’s friends, went to a lacrosse game, and attended an American style house party (felt like being around DU) at Kevin’s before heading to bed with a big say ahead.

Saturday I joined Jess and her exchange program on a trip to the Wicklow mountains for a hike and tour of the monasteries remains. Walking the hills around Wicklow (these are not mountains, even though they may call them so) was refreshing with a cool mist in the air. After making a wrong turn on the looped path, we ended up walking back to the carpark the way we started missing the sweeping views of the upper lake from the ridge. Following our hike we watched a short film on Glendalough, and explored the churches, tower, and graveyard dating to the sixth century. We stopped at a pub on our way back to Dublin, compliments of the University. Jess and I spent the evening exploring the city center at night, grabbing dinner, and watching the Ireland vs. Germany football match and the England vs. France rugby match. Having been to pubs in London and Dublin during sporting events I have to say the Irish have far more pride for their teams than the English.

After sleeping in on Sunday, we rounded out a perfect visit to Dublin with a visit to Howth, a fishing port and village about an hour north of Dublin. We walked leisurely around the pier, stopped for lunch at a delicious seafood restaurant, explored the market and picked up some fresh fish for dinner that evening. Following our exploration of Howth we made our way back to UCD for dinner and an early night to sleep as my flight was scheduled to leave early the next morning.