Belated Britain

For the past couple of weeks, I haven't been able to walk down the street without people stopping me left and right, wondering where the pictures are from the spring break trip. They grab my coat lapels and slam me against brick walls, demanding to know if I had fun and if so "Where's the proof?!" To buy time I ask them this riddle: "What kind of dope goes on a trip without a camera?" and then I answer "Me," and fake like I've passed out so they let go of me.

Fortunately, Marcilyn graciously documented our trip and has sent me some pictures. The jaunt through Ireland has already been archived by her, so this will be a few highlights of the UK.

London's a lovely city, so who would want to bomb it? You're right: Germans. Marcilyn is actually boarding with some Germans while doing her grad work in Reading, and I was shocked to discover this while snooping around the house:

I immediately notified Churchill and the Allied Forces in the radio room at the Britain at War Experience museum.

Winston assured me that there were adequate soldiers stationed near London to address these threats, so I stuck around with one of them for the rest of the day.

London has no lack of museums, so luckily after you've hit most of the major ones, you can pass some time in the smaller, intimate ones. May I suggest the beautifully quaint Sir John Soane's Museum?

You have to admire the British zeal for collecting, and Sir John Soane takes the cake with his vast personal collection of everything ranging from Roman friezes to Egyptian sarcophagi. Cram it all together in a house that Soane designed, and the results are simply spectacular.

After strolling around Covent Garden and eating something delicious at a popular American pizza franchise in Leicester Square that I will not mention the name of so as to not appear like a silly American tourist who craves a slice of home or even thinks of earlier having lunch in a Mexican themed tourist trap restaurant right next to the aforementioned pizza franchise, we laughed off the calories at the ingenious production of "The 39 Steps" in the charming Criterion Theatre in Picadilly Circus.
4 characters hamming it up in dozens of roles from the Hitchcock film with tongue-in-cheek set designs makes for a delightful night at the theatre, even if your fizzy lemonade spills over in someone's handbag (sorry).

After spending some time at Reading University's campus to sit in on a class, enjoying some delicious food at Mr. Cod and Wagamama, and relaxing at Marcilyn's, spring break was sadly over and it was time to head back to the Heathrow airport. Before that, however, we crammed in a day to meander about in the English countryside near the small villages of Pangbourne and Whitchurch, a short train ride away from Reading.

After a scrumptious lunch at a family restaurant called The Ditty--which was decorated in honor of Pangbourne's resident Kenneth Graemme who wrote The Wind in the Willows--we strolled along the Thames River walkway through some beautiful village and country scenery.




We kept our eyes open for frolicking foxes in the fields,
with Marcilyn even jumping a fence and running over a hill to chase a possible sighting, but no dice. We just had to imagine it would look like this:

After many hours of slipping through mud and getting soaked by rain, we were ready to head back to Reading after one last shot in Whitchurch to document what troopers we were:You didn't actually think you'd get to see our soggy, shiny selves did you? Silly you.

It's been hard coming back to busy school and work life, but I'm still very grateful to Marcilyn for an amazing and unforgettable trip!