I am an official literary geek

...and it served me well today, because it got a me a free mini-tour at Westminster Abbey. The Abbey entombs more than 3,000 individuals, some of whom have very illustrious histories. Almost all of the past monarchs of England are buried there, my favorite being the double tomb of Elizabeth I and Mary I. It's also crazy though, that some of the most important historical figures could easily be passed over if you're not keeping your eyes peeled. William and Mary, for example - tiny littly plaques on the ground... no pomp, no ceremony. I had to do a double take before I realized what I was walking on. The real excitement was at the poet's corner though. We found ourselves overcome with the need to touch the graves of Chaucer (while reciting the "General Prologue" of The Canterbury Tales in Middle English), Dickens, Johnson, and Tennyson. The Abbey is tricksy though, as it also has many many memorials to illustrious historical figures who are actually buried elsewhere. Spying a bust of John Milton but unsure of the whereabouts of his remains, we asked a woman who worked at the Abbey if she could tell us if John Milton was actually buried there. She whipped out her handy-dandy index and informed us that, no, John Milton was not buried in Westminster Abbey. We did however have a nice discussion about the merits of Paradise Lost and various other literary works. Rosemary (that was the nice old lady's name) told us that she was "so glad that young people still read these things - and that you are so excited about it!"..... and we were in. Rosemary was so glad to have a group of people who were interested in the Abbey and the people buried there (as well as, I suspect, to have some people who were a little informed) that she gave us a little personal tour. The tour is made even better when one considers that most people who take a tour at Westminster Abbey pay a nice little fee to do so. It was great to have her there to answer questions and to point out places of interest that others might pass over. She even showed us the tombs of some of her own ancestors. By the end of the tour we had made our way around to the tomb of Sir Issac Newton, where we bade farewell to Rosemary and thanked her profusely.

In the afternoon we went to another modern art exhibit with Sarah Kent. Although it kept me more interested than some of the others, I feel that I've already expressed my feelings about modern art. This collections was pornographic (literally), so it succeeded in making me not only unappreciative of any talent in it, but also inclined to call the artist a pervert. I really don't think it's fair that all of our class-planned outings to art galleries have been centered around modern art. One visit to a modern art gallery would have been ok, but because of the way the program is set up, I've been obliged to go to at least 5 different modern art galleries, and I have not enjoyed any of them.

Once I was free to escape from the walls plastered with 1970's porn, I high-tailed it over to the National Portrait Gallery for a much more agreeable art viewing. I absolutely love portraiture. I feel like it's a window into history, or in the case of more modern portraits, a window into the subject's life. It fascinates me to look at the clothing, the hair, even the dogs that people kept as pets in the past. My favorite portrait was one that was set alone, because it is a newly aquired piece for the gallery. It is a portrait of (what is supposed to be) Jane Grey, one of Henry VIII's six wives. It is significant because there are no other known portraits of her. Experts have guessed that this is a portrait of the queen by comparing it to physical descriptions of her in historical documents, an inscription labelling her as "Lady Jayne," and based on the context of what she is wearing and how she is presented in the painting.

At night, we went to see a fringe play on the outskirts of central London. It was an extremely intimate theater - our group took up the entire thing. We were close enough to touch the actors. Musicals aside (you can't compare apples to oranges, right?), it was by far the best play we've seen. The acting was superb and the story-line real and moving. It was focused on the issue of racism in the UK among blacks from Africa and those from the West Indies. I think it's really interesting to get a non-American perspective on racism, since in the US it is impossible to escape the black/white divide. I thought the play brought up some really nuanced and powerful issues for thought and discussion.