Exploring Outside of London: Salisbury, Stonehenge, Bath

As much as I love being in London, it was nice having a chance to leave and see the other beautiful sites that England has to offer.

My programme booked us a field trip to see Salisbury, Stonehenge and the city of Bath.

Our first stop was Salisbury where my breath was taken away at the beautiful landscapes. It was amazing to see the lush landscapes and the famous Salisbury Cathedral rising up in the distance. We were given the chance to walk around a bit then we went on a tour of the gothic-style Cathedral. I loved looking at the beautiful stained glass windows and hearing the history of the Cathedral from the tour guide. We even had the chance to look at a copy of the Magna Carta, which unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures of. It was a great experience and I learned a lot.

 

Next, we stopped at the famous Stonehenge. Before starting this trip, I knew what Stonehenge was, but I did not know what made it so special. Stonehenge is believed to be built over 5000 years ago and it still remains intact for people all over the world to see. The most interesting part is that no one knows the actual history of it, there are many speculations backed up by science. The most recent speculation was that it was used as an ancient burial ground. Seeing one of the World Heritage Sites was something that I will never forget.

We then finally made it to Bath. Bath is somewhere I have wanted to go since first arriving in London. The baths there date back to the Roman times where they named the city, a spa with hot springs and beautiful architecture. We were privileged enough to go on a tour of the Roman Baths where I had a personal listening device. I learned that they have the only hot springs in England, originally formed with rainwater. The baths were said to have healing powers that the Celtics used. At the end of the tour, we were able to have a drink out of one of the springs; the water did not taste great, in my opinion, because it was filled with many minerals that gave it a metallic taste. We then walked around and explored the great city. Bath has cute shops and great food that anyone would like. I really enjoyed the night life with many pubs playing live music and happy people all over.  

Overall, this was a great field trip and I am so glad I got to experience it. I learned so much about the history of these cities and was able to see some amazing sites. These are places I definitely need to try to get back to. 

Written by Jennifer Roth. Jennifer is working as an intern at FOCUS this summer.

Goodbye America, Hello London!

My first week in London has been such a great experience. I’ve learned so much already and am getting the hang of how to be a real ‘Londoner’ (at least I hope). Unlike most of the students in the programme I am with, I am not well-travelled and haven’t left my home of sunny, hot   Florida, USA in many years. In Florida, I use my car to go everywhere, never using public transportation. There is not an underground tube system because the sea level is too high and trains are not able to float on water just yet.

I was forced to learn the tube really fast in order to get from Heathrow Airport to my residence hall near King’s Cross Station.  It was a pleasantly easy process with the thousands of posters on the wall telling you were to go. I quickly learned that you must stand on the right side of the escalator and to walk rapidly with a purpose in order to not stand out as a tourist. I still count on the street to tell me which way to look when I cross, but hopefully I’ll be able to survive without it soon. 

For the first couple of days, I was exhausted
from the jet lag and weather, but I pushed on through to go exploring around the most beautiful city in the world. The programme I am on organised tours to show us imperative information such as what an oyster card is, where the grocery store is and of course, Primark. We were then shown the touristy side of things.

We went on a bus tour around the city and I was able to cross something off my bucket list, going on the London Eye. It was such a great experience to be able to see London from that point of view. After, we saw Buckingham Palace where I got my first real London experience when I was rained on without notice. Now, my umbrella has a permanent place in my handbag.

One of my favourite activities was going to the Camden Market Place. It was so interesting to see the different types of people there. They have every food you could possibly imagine and discounted beautiful items. The market was endless; I was there for hours and was not able to go into even half the stores. It is definitely a place I need to go back to before I leave.

Overall, my first week in London was better than I could ever have imagined. I've learned so much already and can't wait to discover more. After all, Samuel Jackson said 'When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life'. I now understand how true this actually is.

Written by Jennifer Roth. Jennifer is working as an intern at FOCUS this summer.

The Nine Lives of Cats

At the end of April, my husband and I went to see the musical Cats at the London Palladium. Although I had spotted the ads in the tube for months, it was only when I saw the 'season ends soon' signs that I realised I was just about to miss it.

I bought tickets for the day before the last show just two or three days in advance. Like Broadway in New York, London’s West End is famous around the world for its numerous great musicals.There are many options available (including specialised websites and discounted same-day ticket booths, in Leicester square for example) to choose from the wide variety of shows, even when you book last minute.That is why now, after 2.5 years in London, I am almost ashamed to admit we had not yet been to a musical here. 

I had seen Cats before when I was a student in Edinburgh, but could hardly remember any of it, except some of the costumes and the back of an old abandoned car as décor. But I remembered very well the breath-taking performance of the woman who then played Grizabella, a one-time glamour cat who sadly looks back on her glorious past and sings the well-known climax song Memory. This was originally sung by Elaine Paige when the musical was created in 1981; and has since been covered by numerous artists including Barbra Streisand, Shirley Bassey, Mireille Mathieu (for the French people among you) and even Susan Boyle in Britain’s Got Talent).  As for my husband, he did not know anything about Cats except for the name.

Despite the London Palladium being one of the most famous theatres in London’s West End, I discovered it for the first time. I was pleasantly surprised as this theatre, located in Argyll Street (just off Oxford street and near Liberty’s) opened in 1910, is a beautiful Grade II listed building which has retained many of its original features. In some of the rooms upstairs, there were beautiful displays of old costumes from the past versions of the show and a wide collection of characters and drawings of cat costumes.

Cats is the fourth longest-running West End musical and is extremely popular (it has been translated into more than 20 languages). And yet, if you do not know anything about it, it can prove a bit confusing at first: it is quite long, the musical styles from one song to another are very eclectic, it resembles more of a ballet with added songs, there is no real story as it is mainly a presentation of the different cat characters, and you might even think it is just a mishmash of everything the composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber, wanted to include.

But, despite all of this, the magic still operates and you are soon caught up by the music and dancing: the singers are great, the dancers are amazing, there many good songs that immediately get stuck in your head, the costumes and décor are beautiful and the mimicking of cats and their behaviours is pretty impressive. And to wrap it all up, the lyrics and texts are surprisingly well written and interesting as they were largely inspired by the Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats and other literary works by the Literature Nobel Prize laureate T.S. Eliot.

I was a tiny bit disappointed by the interpretation of Memory but my expectations may have been a bit high and I was still humming and almost dancing at the end of the show.

The good news (for you) is that the show is already set to return from 23rd October. To book, you can use the official Cats website or one of the numerous websites dedicated to London musicals. Until then, there are loads of other musicals to see!



Written by Aude Eyraud. Aude is FOCUS Director of Marketing.

For more information about FOCUS visit: www.focus-info.