Frolicking

Parks and playgrounds are wonderful things. Perhaps not quite as wonderful as Tiggers...actually I may be in the wrong country for that. Anyway, green spaces and imaginative possibilities are wonderful for children and really people of all ages.

Today our group visited Hyde Park/Kensington  Gardens, and Memorials to Princess Diana of Wales. Hyde Park has quite a bit more to offer compared to the many squares and gardens around London. Though there are still wide open spaces for many of the same activities as the other green spaces of London, water is much more prevalent in Hyde Park. Along with a pond near Kensington Palace, there is Lake Serpentine, where park goers can rent pedal-boats and row boats to enjoy the lake and get up close to swans, ducks, and other foul swimming along.

Another piece of water that is significant in this area the Round Pond where, according to J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan sails across and lands each night to play once the Gardens are closed to the public. In that area now stands a statue that was put up over night. Barrie wanted it to appear as if by magic. It's a beautiful statue with Peter at the top and fairies scrambling up to him.

We also visited two memorials to Princess Diana of Wales. The first is also related to Peter Pan in that a pirate ship can be found there. I am, of course, talking about the Princess Diana of Wales Memorial Playground. This playground has typical playground things, like swings, slides, and things to climb on, but it also has a Pirate Ship, teepees, a storytime area, and interactive music stations. I've noticed quite a few moments of interactivity for children in the places I've visited here in London. The Museum of London offered touch screens to play with and hats to try on; at the Architecture museum in Paris, children were invited to try to recreate building structures, put together stained glass windows and create their own characters. At the Victoria and Albert, there were a few interactive sections, one in particular encouraged visitors to try their hand at perspective drawings. Interactivity is important for learning. For instance, if someone just showed me various forms of multi-media I wouldn't learn as much about them as I am by creating multi-media of my own.

What's also phenomenal about the playground is that it is only open to people with children. There is a special hour--from 9 to 10am--where adults without children may visit, but once the playground opens at 10, you will be asked to leave. I was making my way toward the exit when a worker stopped me to be sure that that was exactly what I was doing. This ensures that the kids and parents feel comfortable in the playground and also prevents vandalism. Frolicing

There is a second memorial for Princess Diana which is a memorial fountain, except it's not like any usual fountain. Instead it's more like a really shallow lazy river and is a place for children of all ages to frolic and cool off on a hot summer's day. The fountain is quite beautiful and has a couple of different drop offs to keep it interesting. Children in various forms of dress and undress were enjoying the cool water. While sitting back in the shade, I watched three girls circle four or five times in the twenty or so minutes I was there. I also noticed that some little ones had swimwear that resembles swimwear from the twenties. It was definitely made for water, but it had longer legs, more like shorts, and sleeves. My only guess is that this is because the water was quite cool even though the day was very warm.

The day was topped off with high tea at the Orangery near Kensington Palace. When we arrived our tables were set up with our tea trays, lemon water, and cups awaiting very hot tea. It was a relaxing and enjoyable experience. Brittany was our table's guide to proper tea etiquette--we were sure to start at the bottom with the sanwhiches and work our way to the top for sweets. I'm very glad that I had the opportunity to enjoy high tea in London.

Finally, Mexico is not speaking to me today because I forgot to take him with me. He really wanted to see the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens. Pikachu, on the other hand, was thrilled to not be left home alone again.

Library!

Today our group visited Platform 9 3/4 quarters and the British Library!

King's Cross Station is currently undergoing a renovation, so Platform 9 3/4 has (temporarily?) been moved up and out of the station. This assists with construction and the daily commute of many not having to deal with Harry Potter fans flocking to the placard. Hopefully, once King's Cross has been renovated, the platform will be returned to its rightful place.

The British Library, like many other sites of London, has more to offer than one can see in a time-limited capacity. Today our focus was on the Treasures Gallery and the Reading Rooms.  The Treasures Gallery gets its name because it holds many unique books and documents. I had a look at Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, A Gutenberg Bible, Shakespeare quartos, and a copy of the Magna Carta.

Although the library has these priceless pieces as part of its collection, it also has many modern titles in a broad range of categories. For example, when Cassie and I visited the Reading Rooms, one of her selections was The Art of Finding Nemo, and I pulled a book titled Cats in Books. My selection was actually a lot more interesting than I what I thought it would be; it covered the history of cats and where they are found in familiar titles through the ages.

The most interesting aspect of this library is that everything is library-use-only. You request your materials and read them in one of the many reading rooms available. You also have the option of asking them to hold the materials again for your next visit. The procedures for the Reading Rooms was a lot like using The Smather's Library at UF. You can only have the materials you need, like a notebook, laptop, and only a pencil. The difference at the British Library: you show your ID to enter, keep all your materials in a clear plastic bag (which is checked when you exit), and give your seat number to the desk so they know where to find you if the materials don't make it back.

I recognize that the British Library's purpose as a place of research rather than a place for recreation. As much as I enjoyed using my new British Library Card to access the reading rooms and taking a look at some materials from their collection, open libraries are definitely more my speed. I like the idea of individuals entering and browsing to find what happens to suit them at that particular moment in time.

I'll be incommunicado for a few days while I explore PARIS! See you on Monday.

Literature

Christ Church guide in
front of the tree that is
the Jabberwocky.

Oxford has a rich literary history. Many authors we all know and some we love found Oxford to be an excellent location for inspiration and rumination. A few such authors include Oscar Wilde, J.R.R Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll. Dodgson actually spent much of his life at Christ Church teaching mathematics. It was Dean Liddle's daughters (Alice in particular) who inspired the tale Alice in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking Glass. 

Oxford is also home to the Bodleian Library housed at the University of Oxford. Listening to our guide, I was reminded of a class in my undergrad, Technology of the Book. For this class, I read The Book on the Bookshelf by Henry Petroski.  It includes information I saw examples of today, like books originally being chained to the shelves. In the early days, they were irreplaceable so extreme measures were taken to ensure that they remained in the library. (I wonder if this would work with our DVDs). Petroski's work is fascinating if you're at all interested in the evolution of libraries and, more specifically, books and how they relate to the shelves. I particularly love this passage:

The bookcase without a full complement of books is like a daydreaming student's notebook, its lines half filled with substances and half with space. The half-filled bookshelf is also half empty, of course, with leaning left and right to form M's, N's, V's, and W's to fill the voids between clusters of vertical and not-so-vertical I's. (Petroski).

Another great book on this subject is Library: An Unquiet History by Matthew Battles.

Radcliffe Camera at
Oxford University

Radcliffe Camera is another interesting part of Oxford University Libraries because it was the first round library. Visiting the reading room takes you back in time while remaining in the present. The architecture and the desks are all quite old, yet around the room were all the details of a modern library. Scrap paper for scribbling call numbers, information on databases Oxford has to offer, and fliers posted with need-to-know information. Libraries serve similar functions no matter where they are. While visiting this academic reading room, I was reminded of the first floor of my library at home.

To cap the day, many of us found ourselves at The Eagle and the Child pub, where we relaxed with a pint and hoped to soak up some literary genius. The Eagle and Child was a hangout of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien. I don't know if my writing has gotten any better, but it had an enjoyable atmosphere and delicious cider.

One of the many small doors in the
Christ Church gardens.

____________________________
Petroski, H. (2004). The book on the bookshelf. New York, NY: Random House.