A Barb Day (well...)

Day 2 on our European adventure was quite an adventure: we went to Hampton Court Palace (maybe inaccurately best known as the summer residence of Henry VIII) and then to Shakespeare's Globe to see their production of As You Like It (we pretty much did).

But...

Things didn't always go so well. 

You know you're having a bad day when...

K and I went to breakfast.  It was a chain called "Pure" (you can figure out what they're up to from that label) and we both had their "SuperEggs."  They bleeped up their scrambled eggs by putting peas AND spinach in them?!?!!?  What's THAT about??!?!  Seriously...

I was chilly, as it was a damp 50 degrees out.  (Sometimes known as 10).  So, rather than climb the flights of stairs (everyone who gets to our top floor flat is winded) I had K send my fleece down with Barb, who was going with the students and I to Hampton. 

So, Barb hands me the fleece on the sidewalk with the students and I pulled it on...well, one student said my face was like "what what what?"  It was too short, too tight, including across the belly.  Sigh.  The tapas Tuesday night were not sitting well. 

We were on the train to Hampton Ct -- a bit of an adventure coming up -- when I looked across at the one guy on the trip's supposedly similar fleece (it was one of the things for the trip) -- his zipped up all the way and the one I had on didn't!  Oh, bleep, I said, maybe even out loud: I was wearing K's version!!!!!  Ha ha.  Funny.  At least the starvation diet I was contemplating can wait. :)

And then...Barb has been the London many times.  She took up the rear as we went to Tube station; I made sure everyone made it through the turnstile and went down the escalator...

A train awaited us (though filled to bulging) but I hesitated to make sure everyone was there.

Not everyone was!

"Who missing?"  "Barb" someone immediately said.  Pause pause pause.  We realized she was with one student.  They didn't show up. 

We waited (not very patiently) for them to show up.  No, no...I tried to figure out where they had gone...I thought we were in a line together (yes, 9 deep is an issue)...

After another train came and went, I asked for two volunteers to stay, and I would take the rest onto Waterloo train station, thinking she might have either gotten on another line (the Bakerloo goes there, too, we were standing on the Jubilee line platform) or gotten on the train I didn't via another doorway. 

Just as we are getting on the next train, one of the students yells "Barb!" and there they are...and we rushed onto a train.

The explanation: the student was going slowly with a blister and they got crowded out at the top of the first escalator and didn't see where we went.  And Barb hadn't been told (I don't know by whom) where we were going. 

Hint: this may happen again later. :)

The journey to Hampton Court, a 36 minute ride out of Waterloo, was generally uneventful.  Let me just put it out there -- I have 7 women and 1 guy on the trip.  Some of the women talk A LOT.  It's like white noise.  I may have resorted (I am NOT proud of this) of resorting to paying two of them to play the quiet game for the latter part of the journey THERE!  Yes, not back, THERE!  :)

[the paragraph on Hampton Court, if you are a Philistine, skip this]  The appeal of Hampton Court is that not only is it a palace, it is pretty damned old.  They have a bunch of rooms with wood on the walls from Henry VIII"s time. And his kitchen.  The audio tour was decent, though was far more hokey narrative than a really sane person needs.  But there's not just Tudor stuff -- there's a huge entryway into the William III wing -- the mural is spectacular (I didn't take a picture) -- and the other wing is Georgian -- both George I and II (who didn't get along) resided there.  So, let me say what I often say about European palaces: those effers had more money than sense. ):  I mean, my favorite anecdote of the day is William had them dig out the riverbank at the end of his privy garden so he could actually see the window from his chambers!!!  Uh huh.  William and Mary (she died after reigning less than 6 years) had 13 fountains built in the gardens.  THIRTEEN!!!!  I get the fact that they were trying to show that theirs was bigger...but c'mon people!

This is the backside entrance.  Yeah, not the one most people saw.   Right?

The view this direction from the first floor window.  Four of my students are walking away from us toward the fountain here.

The mock setup of a Georgian not quite formal dinner. 

At some point, this will be too long.  But food porn.

While we were doing this, K and EH went to lunch at what Timeout calls the best restaurant in London.  It has North African cuisine (I don't know either).  They gave it five stars.

  Hummus with fried cauliflower and tomatoes.

Lamb chops -- and yes they burned the sage in the dish at the table!  EH said she wasn't sure what it did for cooking "but it was way cool." :)

Dessert: Hashcake. Pistachios in the middle.  I was told it was delicious.

Meanwhile, back in Hampton, it was 1 o'clock and we were hungry so we adjourned to the pub across the street from the palace (the other nearby alternative was the palace cafe...usually not a good choice).

I will not tell ALL the pub stories, but will go with this list: before the food came, 2 of the 8 had turned to me and said "I think I'm drunk" (rule in life, when someone says this, they are); the bottle of wine three of them ordered was gone early and one ordered another LARGE glass (in case you care, it was a California zin); the food was decent; we, of course, split the bill 9 ways, and one of them ended up behind the register, plugging in the various bills!  Yes, really.  No, it wasn't ugly.  NO.  Not at all.

We got on a train at 324 -- yes, we spent around 2 hours at lunch -- and we'll zoom back to flats.

[act like time passes]
Michael and Barb went with us to the Globe to the play.  I won't bore you with yet another photo of the Globe.  But...wait for it, getting to the Globe was an adventure.  Michael said he and Barb would take up the rear.  As he told it "we weren't a block before Barb was up front with you."  Yes...

We got through the turnstile at Baker Street and Barb went down the wrong escalator -- north, not south!!!!  Someone yelled at her to stop and she -- get this! -- tried to walk back UP the escalator from about 10 steps down!!!!  NO, no, no...away she went.  One of the students was actually ahead of her.  Sigh.

After a long wait, Michael and I decided she knew where she was going, so we went ahead.

At St. Paul's tube stop, we came out -- Michael said "out this door" -- and there they stood.  Waiting on us.

We went this way because it is a great photo op, crossing (if you don't know) on the newest bridge across the Thames, a footbridge built for the milennium celebration (I was there in 2000 when it opened...briefly...if you don't remember, it was breezy day and the bridge swayed during the openign ceremony and the pics were of all these "dignitaries" sprawled on the ground, acting like they were hanging on).  They fixed it.  The 8 took this shot -- the guy is missing.  They look like they are dressed for the THEE-8-Tor. :)

Tower Bridge is over the second one from left's shoulder; the Globe appears partially far right center (the white thing).

The play was good -- they had man play the lead, Rosalind, who, as you might remember (cough cough) is a woman who wears a disguise as man for most of the play.  And the male lead, Orlando, was a woman.  A very small woman.  Which added a comic element to the fact in Act 1 he wrestled the Duke's champion wrestler, who was like 6'3 -- and wins!!! :)

Silliness ensued.  It was very long (2 hours, 45 minutes), but everyone said they enjoyed it.  Rah.

Another day.  I survived.  Whew. 

Tomorrow, the students go to Cambridge, K and EH go to Stonehenge, and we all see Kinky Boots (I can explain!) at night.  Look forward to it.

And, yes, remember I really am working!!!!