Tea And Scones

Jack.  How can you sit there, calmly eating muffins when we are in this horrible trouble, I can’t make out.  You seem to me to be perfectly heartless.
Algernon.  Well, I can’t eat muffins in an agitated manner.  The butter would probably get on my cuffs.  One should always eat muffins quite calmly.  It is the only way to eat them.
Jack.  I say it’s perfectly heartless your eating muffins at all, under the circumstances.
Algernon.  When I am in trouble, eating is the only thing that consoles me.  Indeed, when I am in really great trouble, as any one who knows me intimately will tell you, I refuse everything except food and drink.  At the present moment I am eating muffins because I am unhappy.  Besides, I am particularly fond of muffins.**
--The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde

I think that Algernon has it right, which is why our final assignment was so appropriate—to take tea somewhere in London. Because it is so heartbreaking to leave, eating scones was the best remedy for me as well.
We went to Harrod’s, which I have heard is the world’s largest department store (I’m not sure about that fact, however). Undoubtedly, Harrod’s is the swankiest place I have ever been. Everywhere you turned, you found items worth more than your car just sitting on a glass shelf. This was our splurge day, so we went up to the Tea Room to have our elegant afternoon in honor of Earnest.
I have always been a huge tea drinker; Earl Grey got me through finals week last semester. Thus, although this was our official tea trip, I took several throughout our time in London. The experience at Harrod’s was one of my favorites. We joked that we had to speak of only very proper things while there. It became a running joke that certain topics were “KFC conversations,” which were banned from the tea table, and we could only have refined chatting while sipping our tea. “Darling” and “Cheers” were heard across the table quite often. The time at Harrod’s was also my first time having scones, which were delicious. I had worked hard to learn the rules before coming and knew that you must cut the scone in half, put the jam on first, and then apply clotted cream (this is a sweet and buttery, cream cheese type of spread). The scones are simply sweet biscuits, but the jams and cream complete the dish in a beautiful way. I am sold.
By taking high tea together, we were able to reflect better on our final play, The Importance of Being Earnest. We will be watching it tonight, but posting the blog while trying to pack would be so hectic that I’m only going to be covering the written version we studied in class for this post. I understand much better the quote I included above when Algernon explains that one cannot eat muffins with an upset attitude. This can more broadly be applied to tea time—the formal ritual of straining the tea, cutting the scone in the right way, trying not to spill or drop any crumbs definitely makes one more deliberate and steady. It is interesting that at home, I can lounge on my couch with a cup of tea cradled in my lap without thinking twice, but in this environment, I would not even dream of setting my cup anywhere but its saucer. Thus, is tea time itself a refined tradition, or is it where we take it? Harrod’s was certainly the most fancy place I went, while at other tea shops the feeling was more relaxed and book-wormish (I fit right in there).
Likewise, I think that the characters in The Importance of Being Earnest all wanted tea—and their lives--to be at a certain level of grandeur. Throughout the play, the characters are focused on appearances—the girls are shallow enough to believe they could not possibly love anyone other than a man named Earnest. Lady Bracknell looks down on Cecily until she learns of Cecily’s fortune, and then makes an about-face with how she views the young girl. It’s also a humorous part of the play that the characters, especially Algernon, are always eating—I think they do it because they think that is what they are supposed to do. Having spare food is a sign of success and surplus, so being able to munch delicately on whatever snacks they can makes it seem as though they have plenty to spare. Keeping up appearances is a vital part of this play—Jack cannot even dream of marrying Gwendolen without having the proper family background. Furthermore, as lovable as all of these characters are, they are all extremely superficial, as is their romances. Perhaps they really are fond of each other, but the instantaneous, delusional relationships that they create (Cecily quite honestly makes up a story where Algernon proposes to her before they have even officially met) is not the true substance that one wants from love. In the same way, taking high tea was amazing and enjoyable, but not very filling. I loved my scones and hot tea, but I certainly could have eaten another meal afterwards. Tea is not meant to be your sustenance for the day, and neither are these characters. If your life is only a series of high society interactions and calm muffin-eating, then you are certainly missing out. Sometimes you need KFC conversations to shake the world up a bit.
To be fair to the play, though, considering it is one of my favorite that we have studied, the structure and the formality of tea time was nice. It forced us to all sit down and simply relax in the midst of our fast-paced lives, and for that, I think the Brits have found the true value of tea time. Despite the rather critical eye I have turned on the formal side of this event, I would not have it any other way. Just as in our play, the characters find their happy endings, and the people I shared this with made the experience perfect...so now I have mine as well.

From left to right: Candace, me, Brianna, and Ashley (these were my roommates at Stratford and Pickwick!)

**text pulled from http://www.gutenberg.org/files/844/844-h/844-h.htm

London Scavenger Hunt (AKA Chasing Cole Through the Tube)

There is possibly no better way to close this chapter of our study abroad experience than to give this group of ours a challenge. We have some of the most competitive and fun-loving people on this trip that I have ever met, so giving us an activity like this that made us run around frantically and use our deductive reasoning was perfect. We were given fourteen missions scattered throughout London that we either had to find and pose with or perform an action, plus the "golden snitch" item that automatically gave whoever completed it the win. I would just like everyone comfortably reading this blog post to recognize the struggle that I went through and the dedication it took to triumph. I fell twice--once running up the escalator and once when I face-planted in the National Art Gallery. I also got smacked in the head by a street performer, but that's just a normal risk of running through Trafalgar Square during midday. The casualty that took the cake, however, was my skirt--the escalator in the Tube ate it, much to the alarm of everyone around me. Some nice gentleman ripped it out, but for about five seconds I was pretty sure I was about to walk home sans bottoms. Cole Plunkett, our resident GPS, definitely was the MVP of our team; I have never seen someone power walk to such an extreme. I think he might possibly be the Terminator. As hard as it was to keep up, however, he definitely got us to our destinations efficiently. Here was our adventure. Cliche as it sounds, even though we didn't win the prize, we had an awesome time together.

Clue One:

This cocktail was created by a bartender at a famous London gentleman’s club to commemorate the death of Prince Albert in 1861. Order one in the historic pub near Paddington Station named after the late Albert’s wife.

I took a selfie with the sign also, but then I liked this one better (I'm pointing in the right direction in my picture).

Albert and Victoria are the classic lovebirds of British royalty, so we went to the Victoria pub to find this mission. When we asked the bartender for the special cocktail, he was quite puzzled--I think he thought we were rather "mad." We explained the situation (and that we were American) and before long, the whole bar was helping and laughing to try to figure out what we were supposed to be drinking. We found something called a "Black Velvet," which he mixed up for us. I think it was two types of beer together; whatever it was tasted like licking the inside of an aluminum trashcan (no offense to the establishment). PSA: I am of legal drinking age in the UK, and definitely did not drink the whole thing, so please no worries for those back home.

Clue 2:

This ancient bust is said to have inspired Percy Bysshe Shelley to write his famous sonnet about the “King of Kings.” The sculpture weighs 7.25 tons and dates from 1250 BC.

And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away". --Ozymandias by Percy Shelley (statue found at the British Museum)

 Clue 3:

Find one of the hats made famous by Sherlock Holmes and snap a picture of yourself wearing it. While Sir Arthur Conan Doyle never refers to the hat by name, illustrators made the style synonymous with the fictional detective.

Hats from the Sherlock Museum's very own gift shop! I think we would all make excellent detectives after this scavenger hunt.

 Clue 4:

This masterpiece of nineteenth-century art was painted by a Dutchman for the artist Paul Gaugin’s bedroom; the dominant color of the painting is said to symbolize happiness.

Gaugin had a notoriously tumultuous relationship with a famous painter--Vincent van Gogh. Sadly, the exhibit with Sunflowers in it was closed due to riots, so we took pictures in the gift shop of the National Art Gallery to show we went there, and this is a stand dedicated entirely to this particular piece of art.

I think I found the inspiration for this clue hanging in the stairway of our hostel.

Clue 5:

Ask a citizen of the United Kingdom to explain the game of cricket to you. (Credit only if they comply.) Document with a photograph; double points for video. List the rules of the game in your blog post.

The fun part about this part of the hunt was that we got a two-in-one. At the Victoria pub, we decided to go ahead and ask the bartender to tell us the rules since he had been such a big help already. At this, he laughed extra hard. Confused, we waited for an explanation until he pointed a little way down the bar and introduced the man sitting there as a former cricket player from Cambridge! Here's part of our video (we had a pretty lengthy conversation with the lovely gentleman).

The rules of cricket are: 

Clue 6:

Find the only portrait (oil on canvas) of Shakespeare that was likely painted from life.

My best Shakespeare smoulder with the man himself at the National Portrait Gallery

 Clue 7:

Visit London’s oldest bookshop. Ask the clerk for a voting form for the shop’s “Favourite Novels of the Past 200 Years” poll. Make your selections and submit your vote.

 

 Hatchard's bookstore was one of the coolest I have ever been in. Naturally, I voted for Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities because there is no question that it is the best book in history. Other votes from our group included Lord of the Rings and Gone With the Wind.

Clue 8:

These twentieth-century paintings were originally intended as murals for the Four Seasons restaurant in New York City, but they are now displayed in a dimly-lit room of a London art museum. Find them.

Mark Rothko and I are on the same rebellious level--he paints pictures for fancy restaurants but instead donates the pictures to the Tate. I take non-traditional photos in front of these said paintings.

 Clue 9:

Visit the resting place of the man who erected the first purpose-built theatre in all of England. Photograph the exterior of the location.

 The man's name was James Burbage, and he is buried inside St. Leonard's Church.

Clue 10:

This corner of one of London’s largest parks is known as a site of free speech, political rabble-rousing, and chaps on soap boxes. Famous frequenters include Karl Marx, George Orwell, and many a suffragette. Snap a photo of yourself here; double points if you manage to get a rabble-rouser in the shot.

Big shoutout to my grandmother, Betty Ellis, for telling me about this spot before I came to London or I might never have known where to look for this. Unfortunately, no rabble rousers were to be found today, so I raised my own rabble (I quoted "No taxation without representation" in a very quiet voice so I didn't actually get rabble thrown at me).

Clue 11:

London’s blue plaques commemorate people and places of historical significance throughout the city. Track down the plaque for the man sometimes referred to as Richard Saunders.

 

The plaque for Benjamin Franklin (AKA Poor Richard's Almanac)

Clue 12:

This sixteenth-century painting by an Italian artist depicts a woman chained to a rock, threatened by a sea monster. Fortunately for her, a hero is on hand to save the day. The mythological scene is taken from Ovid.

Over achievers that we are, we found two versions of the same myth! The second painting is the one that counts, as it is done by Titian. However, Dr. Davis, two is better than one and I smell bonus points. These were found at the Wallace Collection.

Clue 13:

Find the street where the Fab Four shot the cover photo for their 1969 album. Recreate the shot, to the best of your ability. Obey all traffic laws. 

Taken at the iconic Abbey Road

Clue 14:
Have a glass of this classic Indian beverage made with yogurt, spices, and fruit (often mangoes). Double points if you drink yours while in Brick Lane.

 This was exactly like a smoothie, and it tasted so good! It was very thick and yogurty, with a strong infusion of mango. We all drank ours to the last drop in under five minutes. They're called Lassis; this was at Bangle Village on Brick Lane.

 

Clue 15...bonus "golden snitch"

Order a bowl of this gelatinous cockney delicacy, made popular by workers looking for cheap, nutritious eats. Douse with chili vinegar and plenty of pepper. (It’ll help with the fishy taste.) In true Harry Potter fashion, you will automatically win the scavenger hunt if you eat the entire bowl.

 

Sadly, despite our intense preparation to brave the worst taste imaginable (jellied eel), we struck out at every restaurant we went to. Not for lack of trying, we were unable to complete this part of the hunt. Two restaurants that advertised having eel turned us away at the door because they ran out (so McDonald's can run out of french fries, right?). Then, Google let us down because we couldn't find any restaurants with eel on Brick Lane or at Exmouth Market (as a matter of fact, an entire restaurant was not actually where it was supposed to be). The fates were against us today, or at least they didn't want us to be sick on the plane home. Either way, we did not catch the snitch, but we are still, as Cole would say: "golden."

Action shots of the Team:

My "blood is thicker than water" stance--Big Brother Plunk and Little Sister Plink coming at you from Leicester Square.