Back from London....

London was such a wonderful time. I can't believe how much there is to see and do there. The great part is that most of the museums are all free. So here is a run down of everything I did. I'll try to post pictures on here as well. The rest of the pictures on on my website Jasonglisson.com under "Pictures". There is a new file called "England".

The night that I arrived, I got to my hostel very late and had planned on going to a classical concert that night. So I threw my stuff down and and ran back to the Underground station (Subway). I finally arrived at the church St Martin-in-the-fields. Late....but I made it. I missed the first 2 songs which were Canon in D and a Mozart piece. The other pieces were Vivaldi and Bach.

After the concert I went back to my room and slept because I knew I had a long day the next day.

Friday, I spent nearly the entire day at the British Museum. It is mind boggling how much information and how many artifacts from all over the world they have there. I got to see the Rosetta Stone (the key to solving the Egyptian Hieroglyphics mystery), some very neat Mayan and Aztec artifacts which I took way to many pictures of, and some incredible artifacts from Japan, China, Iran, India, The Roman Empire, Greece, and most importantly Egypt.

There was so much to see at this museum that I will have to go back and finish the floors and side that I didn't even get to. I think I was most impressed by the Rosetta Stone, the Mayan Artifacts, and the Egyptian Mummies. But really......its tough to decide what was the most impressive. The entire museum is just incredibly large.

Later that night, Halloween night, I attended a concert of a British music group I like called Shpongle. They have a strange style of music and have been together for nearly 10 years but only played 2 concerts ever. This one was the 2nd concert they played.....so I was fortunate to hear them. They had a classical guitarist with them, a small orchestra, and two opera singers. The other instruments were 2 drums sets, key board, an electric guitar, bass, and two DJs that were mixing music and producing strange sounds from their laptops. It was a really good show. I learned about Shpongle from a song I hear on Youtube that was paired with some Mayan pictures. Then I found out that the man that records some of the music for Shpongle recorded music at some of the Mayan ruins and was using that on their CDs. So I was hooked after that. Here is a link if you'd like to give a listen. Just press the play button on the right side of the screen. Dorset Perception is one of my favorite songs. Dorset is a street and suburb in London.

Saturday I had planned on spending the day walking around London. Unfortunately, a bad storm blew through that day so I wasn't able to do so, and as a result, missed my chance to go inside Westminster Abbey. That was the only day I was able to fit it in. Instead of walking around London, I decided to do just a few things. One of them was go to the Tower of London. That ended up taking nearly all day.

While I was in line, I met some Germans who were standing in front of me. They were speaking German and I laughed at something they said. The woman turned to me and said "Verstehen Sie das?" That means "You understood that?". I said in German "Yes I understand German, but don't speak it very well. I'm a foreign exchange student living in German right now." They thought that was so cool and said my German is better than their English. That made me feel a little better. They also wanted to take pictures with me for some reason. It was strange but I laughed and then smiled for the pictures.

The Tower of London was interesting. Inside various towers in the castle (its not just 1 tower, its several towers) there is graffiti of the different people that were held captive there. Some of the carvings in the stone were impressive. They obviously had a lot of time on their hands. I also was able to see some of the torture devices they used. Yikes! That would certainly not feel well for 8 hours.

After the Tower of London, it was raining so hard and very windy, that I decided to go back to my hostel and rest a bit.

Sunday morning I left very early, around 6:30, to walk around London a bit and take pictures. I first walked to Buckingham Palace. Then to Big Ben and Parliament. Then I walked to the London Eye (which is a giant Ferris Wheel), but didn't have time to ride on it unfortunately. It was really amazing to see Big Ben though. It was beautifully carved all the way up to the clock at the top. And you recognize the tune every time it chimes (Westminster Chimes).
The Parliament building is just as beautiful.

Later in the day, I took a Beatles walk tour. If it weren't for my parents introducing me to the Beatles, I may not be playing guitar. My first song book ever was a Beatles Easy Guitar songbook. So I owe them a little. It was a very interesting tour. The tour guide (Richard) is known as the Beatle Brain of Britain. He knows A LOT about them and has met them several times. He took us around to so many sites. The theater where Beatle-Mania started. Paul Mccartney's London office. Apple Studios and the site of their famous unannounced rooftop concert. Abbey Road, one of the most famous album covers of all time and the most famous road crossing ever. Several people a year get hit in the road trying to take photos like the Beatles took. Ha! One girl in our group had a horn blown at her several times. So the whole tour was exciting and worth every dollar (or Pound rather, thats what they use there anyway).

For the rest of the day I walked around London and took more pictures. One thing that I wanted to see was the Peter Pan statue in Kennsington Gardens. There are 5 or 6 of them in the world just like this one, but this is the original statue. I love the story of Peter Pan. Always have and always will. Pirates, Indians, flying through the air, sword fighting, fairies, far away places. Its just a very neat story. So I finally found the statue with some help from a girl that was on my Beatles tour named Teneil. We asked so many people that LIVED in London and they never even knew there was a statue of Peter Pan there. You should have seen the looks on peoples faces when we asked....."Excuse me, but....where is Peter Pan?" :-P The author of Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie placed this statue here near a children's park. The statue was erected in secret during the night and 'magically' appeared on 1st May 1912. :-) Fitting isn't it? And its really quite beautiful too. There are animals and fairies all around it listening to Peter. Wendy is at the top closest to him.

Later that night I was suppose to go on a tour of London to hear ghost stories and visit the scenes of the Jack the Ripper murders, because it was just after Halloween. However, I also wrote a rather long paper on Jack the Ripper and Modern Forensics for an Anthropology class, so I was a little interested in the crimes. The tour never showed up and I waited 2 hours nearly. I read on the ticket that if there aren't enough people they will cancel to tour and refund my money. So that's what they did.

Monday was my last full day there but it was an exciting one. I got up early and met my tour group and headed out to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and the Roman Baths. What a day! The Queen was actually at Windsor Castle when I was there and I got to see her dog and I think her cat. It was a beautiful castle with armor from all of the kings that have lived there. Henry the 8th was buried there as well.

After that we headed to Stonehenge. I was so excited to see these pile of rocks. And thats what some people in our group thought of them. They just said "Rocks....ok....great." and got back on the bus. But I guess because I've always seen them in the National Geographic, on TV, and in every Archaeology book I have.....I was excited. They were incredibly large stones. Just the size and the surrounding hillside makes you stop and think "Why in the world???? And why here?"
It was really cold and windy out there too.

Lastly we visited the Roman Baths. These were built during the Roman occupation of Britain. They were very beautiful but we were warned NOT to touch the water because it has all kinds of terrible bacteria in it. It was beautiful with the flames lit around it and the steam rolling off the water. These are hot springs but they also had cold springs inside one of the buildings. The Romans really were ingenious to build such an amazing complex with running water, pipes, spas, saunas. The city it is near is appropriately called "Bath". We were told that Nicholas Cage has a house there among other international stars. Its a very beautiful city.

So that's about it. I could go on and on and on, but this is really long already. I have a TON of pictures on my website so go and check them out. If you have any questions about pictures, just send me an email with the number of the pictures. The number should be listed right under the pictures name. I would take the time to write what each one is, but there are just so many pictures, it would take me forever. Since I am in class and working on graduate school applications now my time is limited.