Here's a quick summary of some of the coolest things I did in my last week and a half in London.
1. Hyde Park Jubilee Concert
It was really cool to be in England during the queen’s
diamond jubilee (celebrating 60 years as queen). The British are not generally
an overtly patriotic people, but during the jubilee, we got to see them
celebrating what it means to be British. For the concert, we went to Hyde part
to watch it with thousands of Londoners on big screens, so it felt like we were
there. The hosts were full of British humor and the other viewers actually sang and danced. At the end, the Prince of Wales lead us in three cheers for the
queen (hip hip hooray!), and we American students joined right in without a second thought. Like any concert, it was an incredibly unifying
experience – I felt like for a couple hours, all those people and I were on the same brainwave. I shared their national pride and understood their perspective on life. Plus , the last three performers were Elton John, Stevie Wonder, and
Paul McCartney – simply amazing.
2. Prince of Pagodas by the Royal Ballet
I’ve never
seen such beautiful dancing – every tiny movement was a work of art. And the
theater was magnificent! I grew up hearing about the royal ballet from my
ballet teacher and watching videos of them in class, but I never thought I would see it! It was the most beautiful, enchanting experience. This may have been my favorite show I saw in London.
3. Holst's Planets Exhibit at the Science Museum
The exhibit is a series of rooms in which they have the video and sound of one instrument in the symphony (played by the world-class London philharmonic). They also have the music for that part on a stand in the room so people can come play along with the philharmonic. There was even someone playing along in the violin room. At the end, they have conducting booths with a video of the orchestra all around you and a little diagram you follow to conduct (it senses where your hands are and tells you if you’re in time). The last room combined all the instruments projected onto the ceiling so you laid in the center and watched the orchestra, almost like you were star-gazing. The whole thing was magical and it brought back so many good memories of first hearing "Jupiter" played by the BYU philharmonic at the Instrumental showcase, then singing in the women’s chorus for Neptune. Such a cool experience.
And now, it’s time for the story of my final glorious day in
London. After a rather exhausting over-three-hour final, some of us headed off
to the Warner Brothers Harry Potter set tour. That’s right, I saw the cupboard
under the staircase, the Weasleys' car, Hagrid’s motorcycle, Dumbledoore’s office, the
potions classroom, Hagrid’s hut, the great hall, Diagon Alley, the huge model
they used as the castle, Private Drive, the bridge to Hogwarts, the Gryffindor common room,
and hundreds of costumes and props including a mechanical Buckbeak. Oh yeah,
and all their wands. Gah, it was the most magical experience of my life. I had
butterbeer! I felt like Harry on his first time at Diagon Alley. I’m pretty
sure I’m a wizard… well witch. J Seriously though, everything
had so much detail – it really made me appreciate the art of movie making so
much more. As their motto goes, it helped make the magic real and the real
world more magical. Oh, and I bought a very overpriced chocolate frog.
After Harry Potter, we headed to the Globe to see Henry V in
true Shakespearean style – standing on the stone floor. It was a little tiring,
but the atmosphere was awesome - the actors ran through the crowd and talked directly to the audience. Perhaps we weren't as rowdy or as smelly as Shakespeare's audience would have been, but we experienced Shakespeare how he intended it to be experienced (except the fact that the female roles were actually played by females).
