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June 03, 2007
We love those monuments and diskas throwers
Stranger than visiting new and interesting places is going back to places you haven't been to in years and discovering how your memory holds up to the reality. That place for me right now is England. Six years ago I was here with my sisters and parents in the dead of winter for three months. Now it is summer, and the aura is quite different. The sun is brighter and out longer. The fashion is billowy and light. The flowers are in bloom and Hyde Park displays lush, thick green grass and uneven rows of sturdy trees like columns in a cathedral.
I've found that certain memories of mine are correct, like the Thornton's Toffee store in Covent Garden, and the placement of the monument that leads to the Eagle and Child in Oxford. But my memory has tricked me in other ways, like when I confused the reading room at the British Museum with the Bodleian Library. Nonetheless, it's been delightful to see places and things again that I remember from six years ago, and to see them in the longer daylight hours. We spent the weekend with Keri, touring around to all the major London sights. We laughed at various signs, such as this one:
We goggled at the beauty of Christchurch meadow:
We ate some excellent pub grub at The Longacre:
All in all, a weekend not to be forgotten. Unless my memory tricks me again.
Of course, I've been doing other activities as well, such as taking classes with two good British professors (one cynical about UK politics, the other overly positive about the British media), and visiting Anna and Lauri in Brussels, where we got to see both of their flats, visit Brugge, walk a lot, eat, drink, and converse. As Emily or Drew Belz might say, too much richness.
| By heiders | 03:07 PM
Comments
Oh, so much fun. I love Christchurch Meadow. Walked many a happy mile through there on my way to the Music Faculty Library. I am utterly convinced that heaven will be one giant bodleian library...
Posted by: funke at June 3, 2007 08:40 PM
