The Land of Ice and Fire

No, it's not Westeros. Unfortunately. Or fortunately? Westeros is not the nicest place in the world to be honest. Do you know what IS the nicest place (or at least way nicer than Westeros)? ICELAND. Icy-icy-land. Deciding that I needed MORE stress in my life, I scheduled a weekend getaway to Iceland with two friends. (Isn't it lovely that living in England makes it so easy to take WEEKEND GETAWAYS to freakin' Iceland?! What kind of world am I living in?!) We left on a Thursday and I returned on Sunday, a nice long weekend trip. Let me give you the lowdown on my four fun-filled days.

Getting to Iceland was no party, let me tell you that. It involved rising at 3:30am, taking a cab to Heathrow, flying to Copenhagen, getting on another plane, and flying in Reykjavic (the capital), and then getting on two buses to our guesthouse. Oy vey. That was Day #1. We didn't do much. We wandered the Iceland freeways for a bit trying to find a grocery store and then had a grand time (NOT) grocery shopping. Do you know how difficult it is to buy stuff that's not only not in English but uses the outrageous Icelandic kronor (only outrageous because it has increments in the thousands which makes everything seem way overpriced)? Anyway, we crashed at home with sandwiches for dinner, experimented with some horrible green olive tea (never again!), and, since our Norther Lights Tour was cancelled (this was to be the theme of our trip), we spent the evening drinking wine and laughing until we got stomach cramps. Good way to start, I suppose.

Our first full day was much better for actual touristy activities. We booked our Blue Lagoon tour and rebooked our Nothern Lights tour before heading out into the city. Reyjkavik is adorable. Everything looks old-fashioned and quaint, but as if it had been built two years ago. Fresh-painted houses, clean streets, small shops. Adorable.

Our first stop was the Culture House where we got to see some extraordinarily old Viking manuscripts. These sags are seriously ancient. Not surprising that they kept them behind a foot of glass. We learned about bookmaking and got to pretend we went to a Viking preschool.

The upstairs of the Culture House was home to modern Icelandic art. It ranged from classical—busts and marble statues—to bizarre—a room full of piles of rubber ears. We got to see a cool old library and learn a bit about Icelandic history.

After the Culture House we went to Hallgrímskirkja, a very intimidating Luthern church. You're first greeted by a statue of Leif Eriksson gifted to Reyjkavik by America. The church is the largest in Iceland and was designed to resemble the basalt lava flows of Icelandic landscape. The inside of the church was nice, but unimpressive. What was really lovely was the view from the top. After an elevator ride and a few sets of stairs we reached the top and have a fantastic photographic vantage point.

Post-church we found Cafe Loki where Tom Hiddleston himself visited. We wandered inside for lunch and an escape from the dreary Iceland rain. There we warmed up and had a lovely view of the church. I indulged in a glorious vegetarian platter complete with famous Icelandic rye bread while another friend sample traditional Icelandic fish and their to-die-for rye bread ice cream.

The afternoon was spent shopping and wandering the streets of Reykjavik. We rushed home for dinner (pasta and beer...not quite Iceland), with our fingers crossed that we would be able to see the Northern Lights that night. No such luck. Instead we found our way to an Icelandic sports bar and sampled some more traditional Icelandic beer.

The next morning was equally dreary, but we made up for it with a trip to the Kolaportið Flea Market where I bought a (fake) Icelandic sweater (fake because I, sadly, can't wear wool). We then went on a hilarious trip to the harbor where I saw my first mountains! We took some ridiculous photos and then sought out the “Sun Voyager”, a really beautiful statue that resembles Viking longboats. After that we headed home again, ate pasta out of the pan like the classy ladies we are, and prepared ourselves for our trip to the Blue Lagoon.

The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa that's located in a lava field on the Reykjanes Penninsula. The water is rich in minerals such as sulphur (hence its interesting smell) and it said to help with skin diseases. The temperatures can get quite hot in some places, but in others it's a lovely room temp. The place is so big that despite a large number of tourists there, you often had large parts of the lagoon to yourself. They had an area where you could use the mud (infused with volcanic rock) to give yourselves facials. They even had a bar in the lagoon! Talk about a vacation. We floated around for a few hours, taking some breaks to refresh ourselves in the cold Icelandic air. Finally, exhausted, we headed back to Reykjavik.

Dinner was at Cafe Paris. We people watched and drank cold Icelandic beer and lamented not being about to see the Northern Lights once more. But the day had been fabulous regardless. A good end to the trip.

The next day was Sunday and woke up and hopped on my bus back to the airport. A long layover in Oslo, a crazy chase to catch the last train out of King's X, and I finally collapsed on my bed at almost three in the morning. A lecture at 9? Ha! Okay, so maybe I was cutting my schedule a bit close, but the trip was well worth it. What an experience! Certainly the trip of a lifetime. Who knows if I'll even get back to Iceland again. Though, I must say, I'm hoping to make a trip to Canada soon to do the few things I didn't get to do in Iceland: go dog sledding, ride Icelandic ponies, and, of course, see the Northern Lights.

The Night I Got to See James McAvoy IRL

Some things are serendipitous. Such as: me going up the frighteningly steep escalator from the underground to King's Cross and just happening to look up in time to see this:

Macbeth! I thought. Yay! They're putting on Macbeth. And it looks all edgy and post-apocalyptic. Cool! I'm studying stuff like that right now. And then I looked a bit closer.  

CLOSER.

James. Freakin'. McAvoy. I first saw Mr. McAvoy in a little-known movie called Inside I'm Dancing in which he plays a man who is paraplegic. At the age of 15, I fell in love with his too-cool bleached blond spiky hair, his accent, and the charm he radiated onscreen. 

I felt like I was a fan from the beginning, though most people probably do when it comes to actors who suddenly boom into stardom. Well, I thought. This is the trifecta isn't it? Shakespeare. Post-apocalypse. James. And to top it all off, the play was showing while my friend Anna was visiting, and Anna has to be about twice a big of fan of James as I am. So that's saying something.

I won't go into details about purchasing tickets. Let's just say it involved Anna getting up at 4am, me frantically calling my mother, lots of screaming, some jitters, and a joyful dance around my room at eleven o'clock in the morning. 

We planned the day out well. We went into London in the afternoon to have a truly English experience. Anna secured a Groupon for us for high tea at the Reuben Hotel on Buckingham Road. Close to the Palace, extra fancy. The hotel was actually so fancy I thought they might throw me out when I walked in. Thankfully they didn't. And we were treated to a high tea so posh that I was expecting gold flakes in my tea. I mean, the lady who served us shook out my napkin and put it on my lap for me. I've gone to my fair share of hoity-toity dinners (John's practically ONLY does hoity-toity), but I have never had that happen before. I had to restrain myself from laughing.

Tea started with champagne, moved to the biggest pot of tea I've ever had in my life, and concluded with a massive three-tiered platter of goodies. Bottom layer: sandwiches (chicken salad, egg and watercress, salmon and cream cheese, ham and mustard). Middle layer: plain and fruit scones with clotted cream and jam. Top layer: desserts (macaroon, peanut brittle layer cake, peanut butter and blackberry jam flan, oat and apple cake, etc.). By the time I hit the middle layer, I was stuffed, but I was certainly not going to waste this extravaganza. I took one for the team and finished it all. Yes, I, too, am impressed with myself.

We rushed out of the Rueben post-tea and booked it to the Trafalgar Studios. We had miraculously secured SECOND ROW seats. SECOND ROW, I repeat. We were practically on the stage. And we were center. Could it get any better than that?

And now: a quick (I'll try!) review of the play. First and foremost, I really loved the production aspects. The post-apocalyptic setting was conveyed really well aesthetically in everything from the grungy not-quite-but-almost military-esque costumes to the awesome use of floodlights, trapdoors, floor grates, and metal rolling tables. The three witches were androgynous gas-mask wearing fiends that crawled out of trapdoors like something out of The Ring. The fight sequences were well correographed and most of the actors displayed impressive Scottish accents (thank God someone finally kept the Scottish accents!). The acting was superb. I loved Claire Foy as Lady Macbeth and personally Mark Quarterly as Malcolm really shone in my eyes. And, of course, James.

There's this strange feeling that comes with seeing a famous actor IRL for the first time. You're so used to seeing them in movies, even huge blockbusters, that in some ways they don't seem like real people. So when James was suddenly less than ten feet in front of me, kneeling on the ground, trying to wash blood off his hands, my brain didn't quite know what to make of him. I thought, yes, that's James McAvoy. It clearly was. He looks exactly like he does in movies and photos, albeit covered in dirt and blood and looking a bit more beardy than normal. But on the other hand, it also didn't quite feel like it was him. I think that comes with the realization that this is just a normal person. I have more experience working in theatre, and seeing him onstage made me realize that he was just an actor, like all of the other actors I've worked with or have come into contact with. Just an actor, a guy who auditioned and got the role of Macbeth and was now performing it. It's a bit difficult to pin down, but it was a rather strange, though nice realization.

Anyway, James. He really filled his role to the brim. One of my favorite scenes was when Macbeth goes to see the witches one last time and they present him with three prophesies. In the playscript Macbeth sees three sets of ghosts that pass across stage and talk to him. In this version of the play, Macbeth drinks an eerily blue liquid and takes on a Jekyll and Hyde (or, actually, a Smeagol/Gollum) quality. He collapses on all fours, coughs like a hoarse corvid, and begins to prophesy as the spirit talks through him. It was a brilliant scene on the director Jamie Lloyd's part and rather impressive on James' part as well.

I won't go too much more into the play. I loved it. I really want to write about it for either my Shakespeare paper or my Contemporary paper, so hopefully I'll get that opportunity during the exam. Watching this play also made me realize how desperately I want to go into theatre as a career. I would have LOVED to work on this production, and only 20% because James was involved. This is my “thing”, I realized. Where I'm supposed to be. So thank you Jamie Lloyd and James McAvoy and Trafalgar Studios and London and theatre in general for reminding me that I have this beautiful goal ahead of myself. 

PS: With very few exceptions, the regular pictures were taken by Anna. The studio pictures belong to their respective photographers.

Revisiting London

Despite my proximity and despite my frequent trips to London, I haven't done much sightseeing or experienced many of the typical tourists stops. Most of this stems from my "I'll do it next time" mentality, but as term wanes, I've realized that I'm running out of next times (cue: sobbing). So when my friend came to visit from the States, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for some catch-up. Stops included the Tate Modern, Shakespeare's Globe (how, how, HOW have I not been here before? I nearly had a fangirl moment outside!), the Museum of London, Sir John Soane's House (sadly, no pics allowed), Kipferl, YumChaa, Borough Market, and general London goodness. Enjoy a little photo diary of my two day trips!

In the comments below, share your favorite London moments or, if you've never visited, what you'd most like to see in London!