"tall in stature and exceptionally read, in dummy glasses and a cardigan" (death cab)

today i flew my indie flag.

this is on the south bank of the thames, by the national theatre (which we toured this morning!).  the national theatre is cool for several reasons: 1) laurence olivier began it.  and anything he does is cool.  2) they took us backstage and explained the way the theatre works--so ingenious!  i'm seriously considering getting into theatre work after my grad program.  there was a guy on a lift painting wallpaper for the set of "one man, two guvnors".  that could be a worthwhile function for me.  3) they were playing "the national" in their gift shop (the band).  i told the cashier i thought that was a fitting choice.  he said they actually don't like the band at all, it was just what came up when they google searched "music for the national".  we chuckled together.  4) they have a life-sized HORSE PUPPET!  you can go here to see the baby horse puppet in action...  it's run by three puppeteers.  they took it to hyde park and introduced it to the royal horses...all but one of which believed it was a real horse, THAT'S how amazing it is.  

we'll be seeing two plays there: "one man, two guvnors" and "the cherry orchard", which had really lovely sound effects...birds + chirping + wind through trees.

after the tour, we walked along the thames and snapped some photees. 

 

there's a skate park next to the bank, between the used book sellers and the art exhibit.  snapped this one for alex, who encouraged me to take up tagging on my path to becoming a more edgy member of society.

and then there were the flags...

the entire walk was canopied with them.  i think whenst i return to the america i know and love, i will decorate my apartment entirely with colorful fabric flags.  (is "whenst" even a word, because next to my trailmix, it's the thing i want to use most.)

after the southbank stroll, we made our way over to buckingham palace's royal mews (stables) to see the horses and the carriage will & kate rode in (we're all a bit OBSESSED with anything to do with the royal couple.  and with the royalty entirely.)

here's will&kate's carriage, and a royal horse named coachman
(this one's for you rosie.  i touched his nose.  it was royally soft.)

 

here's me in a royal carriage (he-he-he):

here's me pretending to be a princess in front of the entirely gold-gilded carriage (queen elizabeth ii rode it when she was coronated).  it's as if i'm saying, "thank you for being here today.":

and here's me pretending to be normal in front of the entirely gold-gilded carriage:

so back to "the cherry orchard"'s lovely sound effects: i spent the afternoon in hyde park (again)--my own little birds + chirping + wind through the trees.  this time with andrea.  started out reading, ended up sleeping 

:it is the best place in all the world for a nap:

beneath a huge green tree and read "school for scandal" and "will in the world" and otherwise felt that there could not be a happier moment in all my life.  

post-script: mother dear, i have eaten that entire bag of trail mix and am nearly through the first box of clif bars.  thank you times a million for always taking such good care of me.