As the academic things come to a close

The week after Kew was the last week of my internship and the next-to-last week of classes. Before class on that Monday I took a walk through Hyde Park Corner and along the edge of Green Park (shown left) and down to Buckingham Palace (below) and St. James Park. I hadn't seen some of the obligatory tourist attactions in this area, so I though a quick pass-through would be nice. It was very pretty with the flowers, but I picked a rather chilly and cloudy morning to take my walk, so it could have been nicer.

Then I spent some time over at Covent Garden doing a little bit of shopping, and Amanda and I went to a very large Tesco (cheap grocrey store) for lunch at their cafe. We just wanted to see what a big Tesco looked like, and we felt rather silly, but it was still fun. After class I went to see The Rose Tattoo at the National Theatre. It was a really good play, and the theatre itself was really neat. Unfortunately the sailor character had a rather pitiful Southern accent that ranged from Texas to nothing I have ever heard (it was supposed to be New Orleans). Other than that, it was quite an enjoyable evening.

On Wednesday night Amanda and I went out to dinner and then to a music club near Tottenham Court Road. We stayed for two sets in this tiny venue which was a forge back in the 1630s. The original fireplace was still there behind the stage. The two groups we saw were Bunny, and Mark Wright (with accompaniment). The first group had a semi-Coldplay/Snow Patrol-ish sound, but in a good way. Mark Wright sounded like something straight out of Memphis, complete with Elvis sideburns and a Johnny Cash closer. By the time he started speaking with his Brighton accent between songs, both of us had completely forgotten that he was British. It was kinda an odd experience, but we had a lot of fun. My last day of ork was just fun. I didn't do a whole lot, but everyone said that I shouldn't have to on my last day. Laura, one of the other interns, and I went out to dinner after work, which was nice, and then I went home to work on the paper I had due on Monday.

Saturday morning Amanda and I started at Muswell Hill where we were in search of Turkish coffee, but I failed to do my research and we didn't end up finding any. We took a bus down to Camden and did the shopping thing for a couple of hours. It was a beautiful day, which made it so much more fun. Then we hopped on another bus and went up to Hampstead, where we got Thai takeaway at a local pub and wandered into Hampstead Heath. We ate lunch on Parliament Hill, where there is a superb view of the London skyline. There were lots of families out and people flying enormous kites, and it was very pleasant just to sit and enjoy the sunshine. We walked around the park for a while longer and up to Kenwood House, which is an old house and estate within the heath. It was also where the Henry James scene was filmed for Notting Hill. On the way home we got off the bus at Marble Arch and walked home through Hyde Park.

The next morning we found a cute French cafe on the backroads behind Kensington High Street, and we had bread and coffee (served in bowls) and an amazing yogurt/granola parfait with fresh fruit. We spent some time at the library but had to leave because there weren't enough power outlets. After an hour or so at the juice bar, we had to go to class. It was a short class, which worked well because I had to get over to the MacLehoses's houses (the publisher I met earlier in the semester) to return the book he lent me. He and I and his wife and niece all sat around and chatted for a bit, and then I caught the Tube over to the Thai restaurant where we were having intern's night out. Three of the interns, plus Gretchen, Robert and his fiancee Claire, had a very nice Thai dinner and then went to Century, a private club in Soho afterwards.

On Tuesday I met Amanda at Oxford Circus for lunch and some shopping, which led us over to Chelsea before we went back home to work on some assignments. The rest of the evening got a little bit crazy trying to take my luggage over to my friend Emily's and then taking the wrong Tube train and getting home about and hour and a half later than we should have. But the adventures always manage to find us, so we're quite used to it.

Wednesday morning I had my presentation for theatre class (quite easy) and spent most of the day packing and cleaning up. I said goodbye to Pai En just before going over to Gretchen's house for dinner. We had a very nice evening, and it was a good official end to the semester. All that was left now was a nice holiday to the north. Details to follow. Cheers!