Sherlock Holmes, Part One

TODAY WAS SHERLOCK HOLMES: DAY ONE! (Yes, there will be more than one day, who do you take me for?) So, if you don't care about my #1 passion, don't read this post, because it will probably bore you. There will be a following one (or I guess in this case, above this one) focusing on the bus tour we took this morning.

Still here? Okay, good. Here we go!

So, after the bus tour ended and we were dropped back at Connaught (again, post on that coming later,) I went on my own back to ISH to get some lunch, then I walked down Marylebone Road towards Baker Street. I'm not surprised they couldn't film any "Sherlock" scenes on Baker Street, because damn, there's a lot of stuff going on on that street. I saw more American fast food places there than I've seen anywhere else so far (a KFC and McDonald's were right next to each other,) and there were a ton of little shops. I made my way down to the end of the street, and THERE IT WAS, OMG.

I walked into the souvenir store right next to the flat entrance, where the copper (hehe) was standing, and paid six pounds for a ticket. I took one look around the shop and knew that at least 1/5 of the total amount of money I'm going to spend in London is probably coming from here. However, I'm jumping ahead, which Holmes doesn't like Watson to do, so I won't either. I left the shop and showed my ticket to the copper, who let me in.

AND WHAT DID I IMMEDIATELY SEE INSIDE?

God Sarah, I wish you could have been there with me. The whole thing is every Sherlockian's dream. And yes, that is the famous Reichenbach Falls drawing underneath the hats. I'm sorry that the picture's a little dark, I was trying to be respectful and not use flash.

I climbed up the stairs (yes, it is seventeen steps exactly) up to the sitting room and Holmes's bedroom, which was right next to the sitting room, as it should have been.

What I loved about the whole layout was how accurate it was. The Granada series (the one with Jeremy Brett) really followed this layout well. Here are some more pictures of the sitting room:

Yup yup^_^ That's the jackknife holding down the mail, and that's the Persian slipper which Holmes keeps his tobacco in. There was a bit too much stereotypical/Sydney Paget representation in the museum (like with the deerstalker hat,) but there were so many little things they included from the book canon that I thought it was an even trade.

Watson was there too!! Not my Watson, but still, we had a very pleasant conversation about how exasperating Holmes can be with not eating and sleeping most of the time. I double checked with him over what year it was for him (1895,) so I knew that Devil's Foot hadn't happened yet, when Holmes does end up having a physical fall-out. I reassured him that I was sure he would be fine, as long as he kept on him and made sure he took care of himself.

A few more pictures that I think the general readers of my blog would like to see include written documents of both Holmes and Watson's handwriting (the first two are Watson's, the second is Holmes's,) the Hound of Baskerville's head mounted on the wall (it was HUGE, geez,) and a wax bust of Moriarty as he's depicted in the Sydney Paget drawings:

I have TONS more pictures of things that were in the museum but which I'm pretty sure the majority of people reading this blog won't care about. However, other than Sarah Stone and Becca, anyone who wants me to e-mail the other pictures, please comment below or e-mail me^_^ Also, I took several pictures of the letter above Holmes wrote to Watson, which is during the Hound of the Baskerville's case, so I'd also be happy to send those to people who want to read the whole letter. Needless to say, I absolutely loved it from top to bottom.

Then I went back to the gift shop. I wanted to buy out the whole store, and there are definitely a number of items I'm going to go back for later, including a 15 pound pen and a framed oil painting of Holmes and Watson in their sitting room (30 pounds.) I ended up buying two items for my first trip- a t-shirt (which ended up being a lot bigger than I thought it would be, for a medium,) and an awesome booklet called "The Sherlock Holmes Walk," which gives directions on how to get to all of these different locations mentioned throughout the Sherlock Holmes canon. Guess who's doing that this weekend?

After leaving the museum, I walked over to the Baker Street tube station and went to Euston Square, technically a 20 minute walk, but I didn't feel like walking and knew that I would be walking back anyway. At Euston, I walked across to North Gower Street, the location of where the exterior Baker Street scenes were shot in the recent BBC mini-series "Sherlock." For some reason, I was even more excited about this than the Sherlock Holmes museum. More pictures!

Yes, I am a happy fangirl^_^ For anyone wondering why the sign for a restaurant is included here, it's a restaurant that's right next to the flat door that was used as 221b in "Sherlock." I read online a few months ago that their business has skyrocketed thanks to the show, so that's great for them.

After that, I walked back to ISH on Great Portland, and now I'm in my room typing up this post. My next one will be on the two hour bus tour of London, with more pictures attached!

Katie

The British Experience

Day two of orientation! Today, I was out literally all day, from 9:45 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. Again, I slept all the way through the night, but I decided when I went to bed last night that, instead of feeling springs dig into my legs and hip all night, I would sleep on top of the duvet, while sleeping under my Hollins blanket. I also folded my pillow in half to give it more elevation. Both tactics worked, and I think that's what I'm going to do for now on unless/until I come up with a different solution.

We met back at Connaught Hall and took a tour of the University of London Union (ULU, very funny when saying aloud,) which has a lot of resources which we can use, including a cafe, gym, swimming pool, copier and printer, and a gift shop with different office items. There's also several cash points right outside the building (that's what they're called here in the U.K. instead of ATM's,) so it's really nice that ULU is right by our class building. There's also a big chain bookstore called Waterstone's across from ULU, but I'll get back to that in a minute.

After the ULU tour, we went on a two hour two of the British museum highlights, including the Rosetta Stone, the tomb of Ramses II, and a life sized re-creation of the Parthenon. It was fascinating, even for that quick trip. I definitely want to go back by myself sometime in the future, especially since they're having a temporary exhibit featuring the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Here are some of the pictures I took at the museum:

There was this old man who invited himself to join our group for almost the entire tour, which was weird, especially since he was walking at the back of a group of college girls. He never said anything, he just started following us and listening to our tour guide whenever we stopped somewhere. When we took a five minute break near the end, he left. It was odd.

After the British museum tour, we walked back to Connaught and had a meeting with Sara about our various options when traveling outside of London. There are already tentative plans being made for my group of friends going to Oxford this weekend, but I don't know if that's actually going to happen or not. After that meeting, I went with a nice sized group of my friends back towards the ULU building, where we went to that bookstore across the street I mentioned earlier. It is AMAZING. It's five floors, has a whole section of books on the Tudors, has a whole room of Philosophy books, and has an awesome children's section. Deirdra and Bethany were cooing over the Harry Potter books, while Emily was focused on the Diana Wynne Jones books. I myself wanted to buy the entire Artemis Fowl series- the U.K. covers are amazing. There was also a table in the middle of the children's section that seriously made my night:

I think we need a section like this in the young adult's sections back home, don't you?

I ended up spending 9 pounds on a book about the Cecil's, a father and son pair who were both secretary's to Queen Elizabeth I. The father, William Cecil, is a person I've always been fascinated with. I was thrilled to find the book in question, since I know I'll never be able to find something like that in the U.S. I kept thinking the whole time that my mom would love this bookstore (again, it's called Waterstone's,) and I'm definitely going to take her there when she comes up for spring break in April.

After leaving Waterstone's, we went back to Connaught and had a buffet dinner with the various teachers we're going to have for our classes. I got into a discussion with the theater teacher, Susie Thomas (I know, Hollins people, it threw me off too) about Benedict Cumberbatch, so that was nice. I'm looking forward to starting classes next week so we can find out exactly what we're doing and which places we're going to (this is in regards to my political science and history classes- I already know what plays I'm seeing in Shakespeare and theater.) Wendy and I left around 8:15, and got back around 8:45.

Tomorrow, we're taking a bus (coach, to the British,) tour around London, and then we're free for the rest of the day. I'm planning on going to Baker Street and North Gower Street in the afternoon, so expect tomorrow's post to be Sherlock Holmes heavy. What's hilarious is, I still haven't ridden the Tube yet, though my Oyster Card is all set up. I'm so close to everywhere we've been so far, I've just been walking everywhere. Even tomorrow, I have no reason to take the Tube. Frankly, I've been enjoying just walking around and taking in the city.

So, that was my day today^_^ I had a blast, and am already feeling like the next three months are going to fly by. Until tomorrow, chaps!

Katie

Day One

Well, there's only been one day of orientation so far, and classes don't start until next week, but I already have a lot to talk about. I'll do my best to go in order.

I've pretty much recovered from my very minor bout of jet-lag- I made myself have various cat naps in the second half of my London flight, and I stayed awake all through the following day, so I fell asleep last night around 12:30 and woke up at 8:15. Surprisingly, I had no problems sleeping, as I have unfortunately discovered that my mattress is as hard as a rock. I was sore all day today. The pillow was a bit flat, but soft, so that wasn't too bad. I'm really hoping my body will adjust soon.

Technically, today's orientation meeting didn't tell me anything too new, mainly since I'm living in ISH instead of a homestay, though we got our finalized schedules and Oyster cards, so that was good. Wendy and I went to the Great Portland tube station (which is right across from ISH) and put 40 pounds on our cards, so that should carry us for awhile. We also got to talk with a woman who moved to London from America in 1970, and shared with us some of her experiences and the changes/stereotypes that London has gone through since the 70's. Apparently, up until recently, hardly any British homes had showers, and that it was an "Americanized" custom that eventually bled through. Also, its apparently become really popular in London (and possibly all throughout England, I can't remember,) to just lay a duvet on a mattress, no other sheets. I'm glad I brought my Hollins blanket with me, hehe. Another note of interest: the building where our meetings and classes are (Connaught Hall,)  is on Tavistock Square, the location of the 2005 bombs which happened the day before my 15th birthday. Tavistock Square is also where there were a lot of protests in the past about the Iraq war which, according to Sara, "upset a lot of American students." My response: all power to them. I would have been happy to protest with them.

After the meeting, I walked down Great Portland Street with Sarah S., Emily U., and Robyn to get a feel for what was near ISH that I could go to in the future. There are tons of restaurants even on that one street, along with two small grocery stores, so as far as food is concerned, I'm pretty much covered. I'm pleased that the British sell almost everything in smaller portions (the smallest size container of milk you can get in London is a pint,) but it looks like there is no such thing as "reduced sugar" items, in regards to both juice and yogurt, so that's unfortunate. On the other hand, both the stores I went to (Tesco's and Sainsbury's) had a good selection of small meals, individual desserts, and already-made sandwiches with fresh ingredients. I had a Tesco's Light Choices ham and cheese one tonight, and it was really good.

One other thing to note for any Hollins friends who are reading this: the restaurant (it's technically a cafeteria, but they call it a restaurant) at ISH? Five times better than Moody. I feel healthy eating there, and you can get eggs whichever way you want along with fresh fruit for breakfast. They also have things like bacon (not crispy enough for my taste,) danishes, and muffins. I haven't been there yet for lunch or dinner.

Here's a picture of my side of the room I'm sharing with Wendy:

You can't see it in this picture, but I really like the view from the window. Here it is, for anyone who's interested:

Tomorrow, we're meeting at Connaught Hall again to get a tour of both the University of London Union building (of which we're members) and highlights of the British Museum^_^ Wednesday, we have a two hour bus tour of London in the morning, and then we're free for the rest of the day, so I think that's the day I'M FINALLY GOING TO BAKER STREET, YES! I'm definitely prepared to spend a shitload of money in the gift shop. I'm also determined to scope out the street where they filmed all of the "Baker Street" scenes in Sherlock (North Gower Street,) which is actually in the way when I'm going to Connaught Hall. I promise lots of pictures, Sarah!

So, day one of London was basically a blast, and I haven't even really gone anywhere yet. I almost keep forgetting that I have to take actual classes while I'm here *snerk*

More pictures and news on the way tomorrow! Cheers, mates!

Katie

One Quick Note

I was going to just edit this into the previous post, but honestly, it deserves its own individual post.

I started to relax and accept that yes, I really was going to have a great time when I got onto the plane at O'Hare and realized that one of the movie/TV options on the plane was the second episode of Sherlock, "The Blind Banker."

I watched it twice.

Katie

First Post From London!

Hello, everyone! This is my first post, detailing my times and adventures in London. At the current moment I am all settled in my dorm room and the internet service is fantastic, which is all I could ask for.

To start off, the flight over was, amazingly, smooth-sailing all the way through. I was a little nervous about flying out of Louisville as when I left it was foggy and snowing, but there were no issues with getting out on time. I met my friend Emily in Chicago, and we shared a connecting flight to Heathrow. I got next to no sleep, but just enough so I wouldn't fall asleep in the middle of the day today. Emily and I found our taxi driver (Ashton, the other girl who was supposed to share our taxi, missed her connecting flight,) and I was dropped off first, getting there around 7:15 a.m. Unfortunately, all the ISH people (the ones staying in the international dorm) had to wait until 12:30 to check in, and my and Wendy's room took a bit longer than that, since apparently the two people staying in our room up to today took forever to leave. But we finally got in around 12:45 p.m.

The taxi ride over was very interesting. London drivers, on a first glance, scare the crap out of me. Hardly anyone used their turn signal, and the roads are so narrow, it's a wonder that more people don't get into accidents. There was one car who nearly hit ours at one point. In between driving from the airport to ISH, I spotted one McDonald's, two gas stations (I refuse to even mention the prices I saw,) two ads for Wicked, and one Star Wars shop, which made me hope that there was a Doctor Who shop somewhere (you know how much the Doctor loves those little shops!)

Pictures will be coming later, since I realized mid-flight to London that somehow my camera had been turned on in my purse and drained close to 75% of the battery.

My room, which I'm sharing with my friend Wendy, is small but has its own shower and toilet, with two high beds with desks underneath them. There's hardly and space for clothes, but we both made them all fit in one closet and a small chest drawer. I'm very impressed  with the restaurant in the basement of ISH, which has cheap prices and a good, healthy selection of food and drinks. I had a cheese and tomato sandwich with an orange and a bottle of mineral water, all for three pounds. The hours, however, are really short, but they're still do-able on my schedule.

Wendy gave me my copy of the orientation schedule for the next week, which all looks pretty exciting. We'll be meeting everyone tomorrow at the place where we'll be having our classes, Connaught Hall on Tavistock Square (a class building owned by the University of London,) to have a general informational meeting. We'll be going to the British museum, along with Windsor castle on Thursday. I am determined to actually see Henry VIII's grave in St. George's Chapel, as the last time I tried to, it was so packed I could barely walk through the chapel, much less find Henry and Jane Seymour's graves.

Amazingly, I have service on my iPhone without having to buy a separate SIM card, so while the costs will be a bit pricey, everyone feel free to call/text me if you want to. I should be up and running on my iPad by tomorrow too, so no worries at all about people not being able to get a hold of me.

There's not much else to mention at this point, since I haven't really had the time/energy to go explore around ISH, though I'll definitely be walking around tomorrow. Needless to say, I've arrived safely, and am anxious/excited to see and explore London for a whole three and a half months^_^

Katie