I, Lunn Dunningland, don't have much to report. I woke up and had my "full English Breakfast" which is a pompous way of saying "4 or 5 breakfast items." This seems like a more patriotic way of saying "Continental Breakfast," but the 4 or 5 items are usually much better than orange drink, a donut, and very bad coffee. My "Full English Breakfast" this morning consisted of:
1. Hashbrowns, shaped like triangles
2. Tomatoes, as in the peeled, canned kind
3. Toast
4. Veggie Sausage
Needless to say, it was fantastic.
The Madison folks and I decided to keep our streak of not mingling with any non-Americans alive by heading off to the British Museum, which if you don't know, is basically the conglomeration of hundreds of years of British Conquest. As would be expected, it is pretty amazing- tons of stuff, way too big to see in a week, Eurocentric as all get-up.
At the height of the controversy of the museum lay the marble statues from Greece. So I guess while the Ottomans had Greece on lockdown, they made an arrangement with the Brits to give them tons of statues from the crumbling Parthenon. Don't worry folks, according to a pamphlet the British Museum distributes concerning the controversy, this transaction was declared legal by a "Parlimentary Select Committee!"
Anyhow, Greece has since been freed of the Ottomans (Ottomen?), is creating an indoor museum to preserve the Parthenon, and wants its sculptures back, which no doubt the Greek Parlimentary Committee has ruled were taken illegally. The Brits won't budge, and that is where we are today. Kind of interesting, right?
In any case, I saw a bunch of sculptures of Greek folks with broken penises today.
However, the highlight of my day was when we went to Hyde Park to a place called "Speakers Corner" is which, so long as you bring a soapbox, stepstool, or other height-increasing object, you can shout out all that stuff you've been realizing for the past 40 years of your life. It was awesome. There were about 4 soapboxers going at once- one African guy talking about "Moral Authority," two guys debating about whether the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one person or three folks or just a funny translational slip-up, and another guy shouting in Arabic, mainly at another guy shouting in Arabic just below him. Beside all the soapboxers, there were tons of other conversations and debates going on around. And believe it or not, it wasn't like a tourist-y thing, either. I definitely felt a little out of place not arguing with somebody.
And this wasn't just a bunch of 9-11 Conspiracy kooks; there were some real interesting
topics, and the folks gathered around would play a moderator role.
Muslim: [Something about the Bible]
Christian: [Something about the Qur'an]
Muslim: Let me ask you, how old are you?
Bystander #1: That question is irrelevant!
Bystander #2: Wait! You don't know if it is yet! Answer him!
Christian: I'm 28.
And not one shot was fired, not one bomb went off, and it was good.
- Lunn
THING I FORGOT TO BRING TO ENGLAND: Cash (probs with the credit card...)
NUMBER OF TIMES ALMOST DEAD DUE TO "WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD" THING: 1 (3 Total)
FUNNY THING BRITS SAY WRONGLY: A "bathroom" is a room with a bath. Ha!
1. Hashbrowns, shaped like triangles
2. Tomatoes, as in the peeled, canned kind
3. Toast
4. Veggie Sausage
Needless to say, it was fantastic.
The Madison folks and I decided to keep our streak of not mingling with any non-Americans alive by heading off to the British Museum, which if you don't know, is basically the conglomeration of hundreds of years of British Conquest. As would be expected, it is pretty amazing- tons of stuff, way too big to see in a week, Eurocentric as all get-up.
At the height of the controversy of the museum lay the marble statues from Greece. So I guess while the Ottomans had Greece on lockdown, they made an arrangement with the Brits to give them tons of statues from the crumbling Parthenon. Don't worry folks, according to a pamphlet the British Museum distributes concerning the controversy, this transaction was declared legal by a "Parlimentary Select Committee!"Anyhow, Greece has since been freed of the Ottomans (Ottomen?), is creating an indoor museum to preserve the Parthenon, and wants its sculptures back, which no doubt the Greek Parlimentary Committee has ruled were taken illegally. The Brits won't budge, and that is where we are today. Kind of interesting, right?
In any case, I saw a bunch of sculptures of Greek folks with broken penises today.
However, the highlight of my day was when we went to Hyde Park to a place called "Speakers Corner" is which, so long as you bring a soapbox, stepstool, or other height-increasing object, you can shout out all that stuff you've been realizing for the past 40 years of your life. It was awesome. There were about 4 soapboxers going at once- one African guy talking about "Moral Authority," two guys debating about whether the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one person or three folks or just a funny translational slip-up, and another guy shouting in Arabic, mainly at another guy shouting in Arabic just below him. Beside all the soapboxers, there were tons of other conversations and debates going on around. And believe it or not, it wasn't like a tourist-y thing, either. I definitely felt a little out of place not arguing with somebody.
And this wasn't just a bunch of 9-11 Conspiracy kooks; there were some real interesting
topics, and the folks gathered around would play a moderator role.Muslim: [Something about the Bible]
Christian: [Something about the Qur'an]
Muslim: Let me ask you, how old are you?
Bystander #1: That question is irrelevant!
Bystander #2: Wait! You don't know if it is yet! Answer him!
Christian: I'm 28.
And not one shot was fired, not one bomb went off, and it was good.
- Lunn
THING I FORGOT TO BRING TO ENGLAND: Cash (probs with the credit card...)
NUMBER OF TIMES ALMOST DEAD DUE TO "WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD" THING: 1 (3 Total)
FUNNY THING BRITS SAY WRONGLY: A "bathroom" is a room with a bath. Ha!
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