"Give my regards to Joseph Smith."

A brief sum of the time since Scotland.
On Saturday, I got up early and went with David and Sara (and few others, but in the end it was the three of us) to see Karl Marx's grave and to go on the "Seats of Power" walk - both assignments for Poli Sci.
For Karl we went to Highgate Cemetery (East) where we had to pay 3 pounds to get in. I guess that a lot of famous people are buried there, and I wished we would have had more time to explore (although I did accidentally find someone . . . but that's coming.)
When we got to Karl's grave we were met with a group of students - one Chinese and two Korean - and some people who seemed to be radicals of some kind (they were - they were taking pictures with some kind of secret hand gestures later). We actually got to talk to the students, who were curious about who a group of Americans would come to visit Karl Marx. David and I got into a longish conversation with the Chinese student, who wanted to know how Marx is viewed in America and who told us that most young people in China don't care about him as much as they care about making money. David asked if he thought China would remain communist and our friend said he didn't know, but things were definitely different than they used to be. We got the feeling he was a fan of the current system, but who knows? One of the students put flowers on Marx's grave while we were there, so apparently he was a fan.

Karl's grave with his giant head. We debated about whether there were cameras in his eyes.

One of our friends paying tribute to Karl.

While we were on our way out of the cemetery I caught a glimpse of this little headstone. I did a double take and then a happy dance.

That's right. Douglas Adams, author of such influential works as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Life, the Universe and Everything.

I love accidentally finding cool people in cemeteries.
But wait! Just kidding! We didn't actually leave the cemetery then, because we were locked in (yes, locked in a very creepy cemetery) and had to wait for the sexton to come back, so we went wandering (because I overheard someone talking about George Elliot being buried there and wanted to look - no luck) and found this:

Amazing, I'm sure you will agree. It didn't say anything about who was buried there or anything else - it just stated what I thought was the obvious.

From there we went on a walk from Whitehall to Buckingham (after, I'm sorry to say, lunch at McDonald's, but it was on MacDonald Road in Archway, so that's cooler, right?), which was uber-exciting, especially since we'd already been to most of the places on it, but Sara and David and I did have a rousing political discussion, which was fun.
Saturday night I was going to try to go to a play, but there was some miscommunication about timing, so instead I stayed home and called the parentals and attempted to read John Locke. That turned into looking at bad wedding pictures and talking in the lounge, and eventually David and I read the sparknotes and referred to the book a bit until we had a good working understanding . . . and then got everyone to play Mao again. It was fabulous. Many hugs, some singing, some running, some clucking . . . I love that game.
Sunday was typically lovely and included a munch and mingle, and our fireside for the night was one of those where everyone picks a favorite hymn and says a few words about it and then you sing it. It was pretty awesome, and I don't think anyone fell asleep.
Monday was lovely and productive. After class (in which Dr. Holland introduced John Locke with a picture of John Locke from Lost and drew comparisons), Mallory and I went to Gregg's to grab sandwiches, and then took them to the Victoria Embankment Gardens to listen to some jazz music and enjoy the beautiful weather. It was absolutlely idyllic, and we got to chat with a local who asked us about Utah. ("What's it like?" "Um . . . dry? With mountains and deserts and . . . salt?")
From there we went to Chockers, where I bought an absolutely absurd pair of shoes (but they were only 7 pounds!). More about those later.
We went to the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery for some assignments. My favorite was the BP Portrait Awards, especially a very cool one called Chest Hair and Birthmarks. It was gross and kind of awesome.
Last night Mallory, Katie, Cami, Jacki and I went to see Wicked at last. Today's quote comes from the guy we talked to on the tube, who asked where we were from and seemed to know BYU ("Oh, you're going to have a good football team this year.") and Mormons. He said he's seen lots of BYU students and was pretty friendly, and as he was leaving he told us to enjoy London . . . and give his regards to Joseph Smith. Hahaha.
Anyway, here were are in our West End glory.

Me, Cami, Jacki, Katie and Malloy waiting for the show to start

It was pretty great. Best moments of the night though: 1) Seeing Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) in line for tickets, looking a little granola with a grungy looking boy. I couldn't think of any non creepy reason to take a picture in the box office, but I swear to you it was her. 2) After the show I was listening to some Brits behind us talking about the show . . . and the standing ovation that several people gave. Let me recreate it:
"What did you think?"
"It was pretty good."
"Have you ever seen people stand up like that?"
"For a musical? No."
"Did they stand up for Patrick Stewart in Macbeth (or possible King Lear - they seemed sketchy on this point)?"
"I don't remember . . . I'm sure they did."
"For Patrick Stewart? Oh, I'm sure . . ."

It was awesome. I wanted to turn around and say, "Hey, I can tell you exactly why they stood up, and it wasn't because it was on par with Patrick Stewart. It was because 90% of the audience was American, and they think it's rude not to, or that everything deserves it. It's a translation thing." But I didn't.So funny though.
Anyway, the show was awesome. Fiyero was very attractive and tall, and both of the leads were pretty quality, not to mention how ridiculously elaborate the set was. Wow. We did have a couple of Political Science moments though (Truth is determined by how the most people perceive it, nothing brings people together like a common enemy, etc. Dr. Holland has ruined us.), and so the evening wasn't just fluff. :)
Remember the shoes I mentioned earlier though? Yeah. I decided to wear them, because they were new and all? Not smart. They're pretty high (and blue!) and between my feet getting sweating and lots of walking and having been on hiatus from heels for a month or so, I ended up with some spiffy blisters. Serves me right for not wearing a proper pair of shoes, right Dad?