Too tired to come up with anything clever

So the only way to get this blog done is on the train rides back to Ealing although my thumbs don't quite work this late in the evening. This was another remarkably fulfilling day. We started with a much-appreciated, relatively later wake-up time and headed out by tube to DanceWorks off of Oxford Street (more on the street later.) The students had a ninety-minute dancing/acting/singing workshop learning the song "Masquerade" from Phantom of the Opera; the number is arguably the biggest production of the show, and the workshop instructors did a fantastic job getting all of the students involved and providing context for the show we will see tomorrow night. After the workshop, students had some free time on Oxford Street (think 5th Avenue or Boylston St. but much longer), and many of them visited the until-recently lesser known signature department store in Greater London. 

If you've ever walked into a department store and been assaulted by salespeople with the latest celebrity perfume (Eau de Gaga, for example... one of the students purchased this today ... I'm not naming names), you have Harry Gordon Selfridge to thank/blame. In many ways, he revolutionized "brick and mortar" retail sales with upfront presentation of goods and a focus on customer service; in fact there is some debate that he invented the practice of personal shoppers. He was an American-born self-made businessman who moved to London in order to start his own department store in direct competition with the evil empire of the British retail world: Harrod's. His franchise is the eponymous Selfridges, and the flagship Selfridges is right across from the dance studio. Masterpiece Theater has recently put out a series on "Mr. Selfridge" that just started its second season. 

After lunch, we navigated our way to the borough of Kensington and the impressive array of free museums originally established by Queen Victoria; she wasn't always perfect (look up the Gross Indecenies Act), but she did create some neat public exhibitions of art, science, and nature. Students had a couple of hours to explore one (or more) of three museums: The Victoria and Albert Museum of Decorative Arts, The National Museum of Natural History, and/or The National Science Museum. Some students even took the ten-minute walk to check out Selfridge's main competitor, Harrod's (or Horrid's as Pepe called it.). 

After our time in Kensington, we traveled over to Southwark (starting place of the Canterbury Tales, all you 9th grade parents) and spent some time in Borough Market, a lovely collection of locally sourced artisanal food stalls. As the stalls were closing for the day, a fruit and vegetable vendor offered the students free samples of various exotic produce. Students were especially impressed by a small orange fruit called a physalis; the only way to describe the taste and texture is that a cherry tomato invited a mandarin orange out for a lovely dinner before making little tomato orange babies (it's late and we have to wake up early again.) Not far from Borough Market was Fuller's Ale and Pie House and our traditional fish and chips dinner. We rounded out another day with a polished West End performance; this time it was Wicked, and Gavin came through with tremendous seats at the half-price rate.

Tomorrow we board a bus at 8:00am to make the two-and-a-half hour journey to Stratford-upon-Avon and spend the day learning about William Shakespeare.

Have a great Thursday!!