I've done some pretty cool things since last we talked. I'm sure you're intrigued by the title of this post. First of all, Matt and I went to Oxford this past weekend. We kept saying that we were going to take a day when we had nothing to do and just go, but the trip was put off time and time again. Finally, on Sunday, we boarded a train and an hour and a half later, found ourselves in the land of Lewis Carroll, J.R.R. Tolkein and Daniel Faraday. Daniel Faraday is a character from LOST who taught at Oxford. (I've recently noticed that I make a lot of references to both LOST and Harry Potter in this blog. Is that a bad thing? I don't think so. But that's only because I really, passionately, with all of my heart love both of them. Really, when I finished the last Harry Potter book, I thought I was going to cry. It was like watching my childhood end. When LOST ended, I went into mild depression. Not really. But it was devastating. And I HAD to mention LOST in this post, because my very favorite episode in the whole series has a scene at Oxford! It's called "The Constant" and it is completely centered on Desmond, who is such an awesome character. He might be my favorite, but maybe not, because I love Sawyer too. And Charlie. And Hurley. Such a hard decision...Wow. This paragraph quickly gave way to my ridiculous rantings. Let's get back on track, Laura.) So anyway....
Like I was saying, Matt and I went to Oxford. We had no agenda for this trip, except for the desire to see as much of Oxford as we could. Once we arrived, we walked from the train station straight into town and after a quick lunch, we ventured down to Christ Church College, the most well known building on campus. We were able to wander all around and inside the building, taking in the sheer grandeur that is Oxford. It is an incredible place. The buildings are huge and magnificent and the length of time that they have been there makes them all the more beautiful. One of the first things we saw was a staircase. But this wasn't just any old staircase. Not only was it large and intricate, but it was also used in the filming of one particular scene in the movie (can you guess?) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone! Look, I fit both LOST and Harry Potter into this post! Being the huge Potter-maniacs that we are, Matt and I were ecstatic. We posed for pictures on the staircase and then immediately headed into the Great Hall. The Great Hall is the dining hall in Christ Church and also served as the model for the Great Hall in the HP series. More excitement! More posing for pictures! More marveling at the splendid architecture! It really was beautiful.
After we were done exploring Christ Church, Matt and I walked all over the rest of the city, stumbling onto some very interesting shops. One called Alice's Shop which sold exclusively products that had to do with Alice in Wonderland and the other a bookstore in which every single book was on sale for two pounds. I bought two books. Soon we realized that outside of the actual Oxford campus, there wasn't a lot more to do in Oxford, and we had seen what we wanted to see, so we decided to leave. A day well spent.
Now on to the other part of this post's title, "Prince Hamlet." Last night I went to the National to see a production of Hamlet. Normally, this would go under my London Theatre posts, but I don't know if I'll be seeing anymore plays in the five days I have left in London, so that would be quite a short post, which is why I'm about to write about the show here. As I've mentioned many times, the National produces amazing plays. This production of Hamlet had been getting stellar reviews, so I was very much looking forward to this play. As usual, I was not disappointed. Hamlet is known as the greatest of Shakespeare's plays, which pretty much makes it the greatest play ever written. I don't know if I would say that this production was the greatest play I have ever seen, but it was certainly amazing. I don't need to explain the plot, do I? If you don't know the plot of Hamlet, shame on you. And if you don't know the plot of Hamlet, watch The Lion King. (Betcha some of you didn't realize they were the same story, huh?) What made this production different was that the director chose to stage it in present day, something that isn't usually done when putting on one of Shakespeare's shows. It worked beautifully. Instead of grand palaces, the action took place in a stately home, probably what the prime minister's home or the White House looks like. Instead of regal gowns, the characters wore business suits. Instead of swords, the guards carried guns. Rory Kinnear, who played Hamlet, was fantastic. Actually, everyone was fantastic. I don't think there was a weak actor in the cast. I could talk about this show all day. It was that wonderful.
Five days left.
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