When All that Glitters is Not Only Gold, but also Diamonds, Rubies, and Emeralds

Last Saturday, I found myself in a car driving through East Anglia, the "Iowa of England," on my way to Norfolk. The family I was staying with invited me along and since I hadn't seen much of England outside of London, I accepted. The British countryside is quite green and quite flat with the occasional cow. On the way back, we stopped in the town of Cambridge and I did get to poke around the campus. With its Gothic architecture, Cambridge is everything that my school aspires to be. The campus is divided into colleges, but these colleges have names like "King's College" and "St. John." They are essentially gated communities with residences, a dining hall, a chapel, and large greens and courtyards. I was able to walk into some of the colleges even though it was after 5. This is the outside of St. John's, which apparently is the most despised of all the colleges by both Cambridge students and their peers at Oxford.

Both Oxford and Cambridge are known for punting. For a large sum, you can get a student to take you around in one of these boats. The building on the right is Queen's College.

On my way back through town, I saw a number of women dressed in short black dresses and sporting brightly colored wigs or devil horns. Apparently, the town of Cambridge is also a prime spot for hen parties (also known as bachelorette parties in American English). It is amusing to watch the groups of women tottering around in ridiculously high heels and very short revealing dresses.

The following day, I visited the British Library, which is where they display all the old documents and books from British history. You can see the orginal text of Persuasion written in Jane Austen's own hand or Shakespeare's First Folio. I didn't spend much time in the permanent collection, because they had an amazing special exhibit on Henry VIII. I won't go into too much detail for fear of boring anyone with my enthusiasm over history. Just to give you an idea, they had portraits of Henry, both of his parents, his first three wives, and his grandparents. Some of these people are not even on display in the National Portrait Gallery. They had books that he had written notes in and a letter that he had written to Ferdinand of Aragon. There was also an original love letter to Anne Boleyn. I could go on much longer, as the collection was so large that it took me almost three hours to go through.

On my way back, I went through Kensington Gardens, which houses the palace Princess Diana lived in. This is the Royal Albert Memorial, which was built in honor of Queen Victoria's husband.

I apologize if this entry is too full of museums, but I will have to add one more. On my last day in London, I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum, which was one of the highlights of my trip. The picture below is a part of its inner courtyard. This museum is principally devoted to exhibiting, for lack of a better word, stuff. They have a British collection, which takes you from 1500-1900. They explore each period in history and show you furniture, clothes, jewelery, and even tableware that was typical of the period. Occasionally, they will even have a complete room, such as the grand Baroque ball room or a Tudor sitting room. I feel like I really learned about each period. There would be an explanation of what distinguished the Rococo Period and then there would be a mirror and a chair with the characteristic decorations. Further on, there would be a woman's dress across from a table with the table setting from this period.

Although the long march through British history may seem dull, I can assure you that there is truly something for everyone at this museum. I was also fascinated by the costume and jewelery collections. The costume collection consists of fashions from the last 300 years and compares certain styles, such as the suit, evening gowns, or active ware over time. The jewelery collection was even more incredible. I entered a dark hall and lined up on the walls were sparkling rings, necklaces, and tiaras dating from Ancient Greece to the present. I saw an emerald necklace that Napoleon had presented to his adopted daughter and a diamond tiara that a courtier had worn in the 19th century. All the rare stones that I had only read about or imagined were actually on display, indeed, there was a spiral of rings of every kind of precious gem imaginable next to the entrance.

This the statue outside of Buckingham Palce. The hoardes of people are waiting for the changing of the guard.