We've done so much this week, and it's only Friday! On Tuesday, we went to Blenheim
Palace. I walked around inside, looking at all the cool old stuff, but I had pretty much seen everything after less tan an hour. One thing that I noticed, and has since bothered me, is that in the library of the palace, there is a statue of Queen Anne. Except, the problem is that on the base of the statue, her name is spelled "Ann", but in the guide, and on the internet, her name has an E a the end of it. As someone named Anne who hates it when the e at the end of my name is forgotten, I noticed this right away. My question is, how did the artist not know this? The audio guide had it spelled the correct way, but did not mention the incorrect spelling on the statue itself. Why??? A true mystery...
Anyway, after the palace itself, a few friends and I explored the wonderfully cultivated grounds. There were beautiful fountains, a rose garden that we accidentally happened upon, and a little pond that I nearly fell into. The best part were the hedges trimmed into the shape of rubber ducks!
My whole group went to Stratford-upon-Avon to see The Taming of the Shrew at the Royal Shakespeare Company (Shakespeare lived here). We had a few hours before the show, so we wandered around Straford-upon-Avon for a bit. We saw Shakespeare's grave, which was so cool! It was just a stone in a church, but still. His wife was buried with him. I had not known her name was Anne until I saw in on the plaque; honestly, I'm disappointed in myself. I've been such a fan of Shakespeare for a while, but I never took it upon myself to learn his
wife's name!
There was lots of Shakespeare-related stuff in Stratford-upon-Avon, as one might expect. I found this little garden with a bunch of statues of Shakespeare's characters, so that was
cool. The show was absolutely incredible!!! It was a gender-bender, so all the male parts were female, and vice-versa, which made it so much funnier than if it had been the normal way around. For those of you who know the story of The Taming of the Shrew (and if you don't, you really should - it's my second favorite of his plays), you know it can be very difficult to read or watch, with Katherine (one of the main characters) being female. With Katherine as a man, the show was more light-hearted. The costumes were also quite fabulous. The men were wearing large pantaloons, and the women all had giant 16th century dresses, those white ruffled collars, and swords. I enjoyed watching the evolution of the costumes as the play progressed. As the relationship dynamics changed amongst the individuals, the costumes changed to reflect that. The most common way was a difference in color, signifying relationships and allegiances, but the costumes also changed in quality and cleanliness when a character's status changed. It was really well thought out. My favorite costume was the wedding scene, in which Katherine came out in an absolutely ridiculous white get-up, complete with earrings and rouge. I absolutely lost it (it's ok, the rest of the audience was laughing uproariously as well). Obviously I couldn't take pictures, but I did find a couple from the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Yesterday, a friend and I were planning a weekend trip to London. Four of us had decided to go for our "free weekend" (the weekend in which nothing is planned, so we are able to travel or really do whatever we like). I had not fully appreciated how difficult it is to plan a trip before this moment. Because only two of us were planning all of it for the four of us, we had to try our best to book things with everyone's best interests in mind, and to make sure that we manage to book things before they fill up, but after making sure everyone is good with it (and has some way to pay back the booker). Because of the logistical difficulties, the hostel we had planned to stay at was booked up, so we had to find a new place and book it quickly. Honestly, this experience really made me appreciate Sarah Beth (the coordinator for this program) so much - her job is hard and she makes it look so easy!