Home again, home again, jiggidy jig.

After taking three planes(of course my seat was directly over the wing flying out of London, so what else is new?) and spending twelve hours in transit, I am finally home and recovering. It was raining cats and dogs here when I arrived, and there were huge bright rainbows arcing ove the entire city, which was beautiful. I pretended they were in celebration of my return.
So, so tired. I'm glad to be back in my own bed and to be seeing everyone I've missed(not at the same time, mind you), but I always feel a bit blue leaving places I've visited, especially when I liked them as much as I liked England. Hopefully I'll be back sooner rather than later. Still so much to see and do.

Changing Rooms

We bade farewell to Betty and Chris, Alice signed the guestbook for us, and we departed for Castle Banks Cottage, which happens to be just off one of Lewes' three High Streets. To get to the main thoroughfare, we walk past the castle through a 14th century castle gate, which for a couple Yankees is pretty damn cool. We arrived just before lunch time, and I took the opportunity to catch up on some sleep, leaving Alice to do as she pleased.

We wandered around town, looking at some shops, and stopping to eat at a nice little restaurant where I had some excellent pierogies. At the moment we're relaxing in our room, which is quite nice. Since we're no longer within walking distance of the site, we'll have to get up earlier than we have been(which was still early, for me at least) to get there on time. We're also wondering how the week of field training will compare to the Principles of Archaeology course we took at Eastern, and whether it will be more informative.

Goya, Holbien, and Monet walk into a pub...

Our unexpectedly late night surprised our hosts, who had apparently waited up to lock up after us. I thought that was a bit weird since we have our own key and we're adults who may be out late, if we choose. They also must not have heard us when we explained how long we're staying, because they were upset we did so little yesterday, and when we reminded them we're here for a month, we were showered with brochures for various attractions. Alice is getting pretty upset with the way they fuss over us, but it doesn't bother me. I will eat until I'm full and be out until I come home and not worry what anyone thinks about it.

Our taxi arrived early, so we were kind of rushed getting out the door this morning, which irked Alice even more.

Today we went to the National Gallery. I love art galleries, and this one was gorgeous. Alice and I split up since I like to start at one end and work my way through and she likes to look at everything as it comes. I knew my mother would love this gallery as soon as I got to the earliest works on display. When we were at the National Gallery in D.C., she touched an icon painting that was over a thousand years old and was chased out of the room by a security guard. I'd love to show her everything I'm seeing in England, but I can't take her anywhere! I loved the Holbein works on display, and the portrait of Mme. de Pompadour, the portraits of Richelieu, the Execution of Lady Jane Grey, I had seen a Goya exhibition in D.C. and enjoyed seeing more of his work. Van Eyck has his own room, and like everyone else, I gloried in standing in front of his "The Arnolfini Wedding" and imagining that I'm the third person reflected back in the mirror. I bought quite a few postcards, since photography is not allowed, and I also bought a guide book for my mother and a leather document holder for an artist friend of mine.

I took some sneaky shots before chickening out.



We finished off the day at the aquarium, which I enjoyed. I love aquariums. This one had a mirror maze in it that made it look like you were in a tropical rainforest. We attempted to surprise the puffer fish into expanding, but had no such luck.

























After the aquarium came dinner, or what we've come to call the Great Restaurant Hunt of '09. Alice wanted to check out a restaurant she heard praised by Anthony Bourdain, but when we found it, it was already closed. Instead we went to a really good vegetarian restaurant that I liked a lot, but left Alice nonplussed. I had the field roast with potatoes, steamed vegetables, bread pudding and gravy. It's called Eat and Two Veg, and I recommend it for stick-to-your-ribs kind of food, which I like. All delicious, I was stuffed!
On the way to the Tube station, Alice got bodychecked by some jackass who was probably trying to pick her pocket, but neither of us keep anything in our pockets anyway. He didn't get anything, but the encounter left us in a funk for the rest of the evening.
We're switching to our next bed and breakfast tomorrow, so we've decided to miss our first day of field training, which David has assured us won't be a problem. We have no idea where this next place is, and it would be a bit much to have to do both.

Harry Potter and the British Museum

We slept in a bit this morning, which was lovely, and got ready for our day, taking much more care with our appearances that we have all week. The train up from Lewes was nice, and we only got turned around once on the Underground before finally making it to the British Museum.

The museum was wonderful! It makes me sad not to always be this close to world-class museums. One of the things I talk about with the other people on site is the size of the U.S. and how it makes travel difficult. Comparatively, getting around England is a breeze.

The first thing we saw at the museum was the Rosetta Stone. It was surrounded by people, much like the Hope Diamond display at the Museum of Natural History in D.C., but we were patient and got to see it up close.

We wandered through the Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Greek, and Roman wing, and saw a lot of amazing things, like bits of the Tomb of Mausolus at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. We also saw the Elgin marbles.

Fist bump!

Not that I'm complaining about getting to marbles from the Parthenon, but shouldn't they be returned to Greece?

We went to the King's Library, which was amazing! I want to live, be married, and die in the library. They had some interesting items there, like the crystal ball and scrying mirror of Elizabeth I's occultist, John Dee.

Antler ornament carved with a galloping horse, thought to be inspired by Przewalksi horses, which you may remember from my other travel blog.






















Free-standing replica of the Rosetta Stone. Not nearly as many people crowding this one.















































Crystal ball and scrying mirror of Elizabeth I's astrologer, John Dee.

We were starving after all this, so we decided to come back to the museum some other weekend and finish it up. We got really lost trying to find a)somewhere to eat, and b) a movie theater showing Harry Potter. Eventually we found our way to Leicester Square, where we found both! We had dinner at a nice Italian place, and saw Harry Potter at a very nice theater, who's lobby was completely covered in promotional photos. I was in geek heaven. The screening room was gorgeous inside, with a ceiling covered in twinkling lights and the colors shifting from blue to pink like Sleeping Beauty's gown.

We filled 100-gram bags full of several kinds of candy in the lobby before the show and got some popcorn. The commercials before the show were entertaining in the way that foreign commercials are always a bit funny. The movie itself was...well, if you've read the book and seen the film, then you know.

We took the Tube back to Victoria station where we caught the train back to Lewes. Or at least we thought we did. Apparently the attendant at Victoria Station from whom we asked directions put us on the wrong train, and we ended up sitting for an hour in the middle of the night at Gatwick Airport waiting for the correct train. By the time we got back to the B&B, we were exhausted and freezing and collapsed into bed.

Clive vs. the Clouds, you'll pay for your whole seat, BUT YOU'LL ONLY USE THE EDGE!!!

So, the sky today started out looking pretty ominous, even though Jack claims that rain in England is never as bad as in Scotland. I put on my big yellow raincoat which Clive says makes me look like a human-sized canary and prepare for the worst. It wasn't very bad at first, just kind of drizzling, until Clive shakes his fist at the sky and yells "C'mon! Is that the best you've got?" Sure enough, a few minutes later it starts pouring buckets. We keep digging, though, through the mud, until the rain lets up and it actually gets pretty sunny out. I gratefully peel off my raincoat and enjoy the sun. Eventually my kneeler is no longer sopping and the ground is dry enough to see what I'm doing. I must have looked too happy to the clouds, because it's starts pouring again from seemingly nowhere.

The abandoned site.

Jan and Fran coping with the rain.

We pretty much kept our raincoats on for the rest of the day as the weather went through it's episodes. Fran was nice enough to drive us back to the B&B. We must've looked a sorry sight.

We had a surprise waiting for us when we got back. Betty needed our double bed for a real couple that was coming to stay, and had moved us downstairs into Keith's old room, which has two beds, a sitting area, it's own bathroom, and a kitchenette. This suits us just fine, and we clean up and head out for dinner. I had the goat cheese and onion tart again(there are only three vegetarian options on the menu, and I've been cycling through them) and we split a cheese board, which was very good. Alice is really taking a shine to goat cheese.

Tomorrow we're going to London to visit the British Museum and see the latest Harry Potter movie. 'Cause we're supernerds.

Juliet

Yesterday for breakfast, Betty brought be a gigantic block of cheese. Just cheese. In case I was bored by beans. I can't eat that much cheese! I managed to convince her that beans are fine, and I finished the whole plate just to pacify her. I've noticed that when I travel, no one is content to believe me when I say I'm getting enough to eat. Apparently if you don't eat meat, you must need to eat your body weight in food to make up the difference. It's that attitude that led to me putting on several pounds in China, much to everyone's shock since they were all convinced I was wasting away. I don't want to be rude, but I really don't need a mountain of food.

The dig is starting to catch up with is, and we took a bit longer to get to the site than usual today. We started chatting with this really blonde girl called Juliet who is doing the training course. She is amazingly excited about everything. She's entertaining everyone. A typical exchange with her goes something like this:

"Oh my God, I FOUND something!"

"What?"

"I found an arrowhead!"

"...that's a tile."

"But it's pointy!"

"...it's a broken tile."

"Oh my god, I found a TILE! It's MASSIVE!"

She also has all sorts of odd questions for us like "What do you DO in the U.S.?" and reacts to our answers as though it's another planet. Also "What do you eat in the U.S.?" to which I wanted to reply that we've actually developed a means of human photosythesis and no longer have to eat and that the sandwich was just for show. The odd thing is she's spent time in the States, but behaves like it's some fairyland that people are still debating the existence of.

Here's a view of the area we've been working on(that's my wall, just below the wheelbarrow).

Fran and Rachel are working in the area in which everyone is standing. And yes, Clive has a habit of disrobing when it gets overly warm outside.

We're all developing really strange tan lines. I have a stripe across my lower back and down either shoulder blade, and Jack has a large circular spot on his elbow that has tanned. Just a spot. Alice has been strapping her iPod to her arm everyday and now she has a band across her upper arm. In an unrelated note, I have discovered that I have the ability to crumble concrete simply with my 100-yard stare. I've decided that it's a superpower, and it's helping me clear my area of demolition material. Clive wants the large bits of mortar in one piece, but I can't help it if I have superpowers, right?

Tomorrow's Friday, and we're so ready for it.

English Breakfasts, 2.0

So Keith had a late night last night and looked really tired at breakfast. We asked him what he had been up to, and he said he had gone to a concert in London last night. Which concert, you ask? What concert would our clean-cut, sweater vest and button down young man go to? Why, Nine Inch Nails, of course! Seriously, who knew? We also discussed the increasingly large breakfasts we're all being served. Mine has now grown to include a bowl of oatmeal, with the result that I was so full I could barely walk. People can't possibly actually eat like this every day here, and Keith assures me they don't, but a "full English breakfast" seems to be a selling-point for Bed & Breakfasts.
Alice and I have decided that we are tired of digging through demolition material and finding only snail shells and animal bones, so we have decided that before we leave we will find a whole human skeleton clutching a chest of gold coins.

Clive, our supervisor, outside the site hut.

Jack, in the yellow shirt, David Rudling in the back.

Rachel, working on her area.

Here you can see the burnt area(under the bucket).

Fran, working on her area. She's very good.

Our finds tray. As you can see, we've found lots of animal bones including a nice humerus with a perforated olecranon fossa.

Looking into the animal humerus from the proximal end.

Distal end of the animal humerus.

Alice, looking for a skeleton clutching a pot of gold. Or building a sand castle, I can't tell which.

This is the flint wall I've been cleaning.

Mortar has to be sorted so it can be weighed and catalogued. I bet you didn't know that.

Look at all that demolition material!

This is a slow worm, a kind of legless lizard. I think it's very pretty, but Alice stepped right over it without realizing it was there.


Betty was nice enough to wash our trousers for us, since they've become very very muddy. Back to the Royal Oak for dinner, I had a goat cheese and red onion tart, which was delicious and had the flakiest crust! I'm worried I'm going to put on a massive amount of weight over here, everything has cheese in it. I'm also developing a taste for the local brew. We chatted with the owners a bit, who offered us an umbrella to walk home, as it was sprinkling outside, but we don't mind the rain. We're from the Pacific Northwest.