Today we awoke to a lovely London day, and had a breakfast that did not contain a baguette. After two more great lectures by Forrest we headed out to Leicester Square to see the musical entertainment of Stomp (if you don’t know what it is, I suggest a youtube excursion). It was pretty amazing watching the talent these guys had. Stomp finished around five, and the rest of the day was free to explore. Most of us (if not all), decided to see another play. A large group went and saw Mousetrap, which was a murder mystery that had now been running in London for 58 years. Nick, Andrew, and I however decided to traverse across town and see he musical Wicked. This show was absolutely brilliant, and probably the best show I’ve ever seen. For those of you who don’t know the plot, it retells the story of the Wizard of OZ from the perspective of Alfaba (The wicked witch of the west). If you have the opportunity to see it, I highly recommend that you do.
Today after two more lectures, we headed out in the drizzle and rain to see the Tower of London. This fortress was full of history, wealth, weapons, and even a little fun. We split of and went with our London guides to explore. Kara led Cody and I around and we hit the main attraction right away. The Crown Jewels were absolutely stunning. There was a diamond that was the size of my fist, it was over 6,000 carats and the largest in the world. There were crowns that almost blinded you to look at because the light would sparkle so brightly on all of the jewels. There were solid gold staffs, and dinner sets. The wealth inside that room was just astounding. After we left the Jewel House we went into the main stronghold in the center of the fortress. This building was full of the armor through the ages, swords used by knights, guns by the Red Coats, and everything in between. I’m a medieval fanatic, so this was amazing to see. There was also an area full of quizzes, and games, and facts, and this was a lot of fun. Cody dominated me in a shield bashing show of swordsmanship, although I was able to get the better of him in the archery test.
After spending a couple of hours there we headed back to the hotel to work on our papers until the show that night. We went and saw “a who donit?” mystery called An Inspector Calls. This was a good play with a very surprising plot twist. It’s one of those plays that you’re never quite sure exactly what happened, and leaves you looking back trying to figure out what the symbolism meant.
Anyways it was a good couple of days full of theater, Jewels, friends, and fun.
--Shane Shettler
