Sero sed serio.

The Hatfield House, a 223 room mansion, seems to not be on the top of anyone's list to go-see when you think of London. Just a twenty-minute train from King's Cross and you're there: a HUGE piece of architecture, surrounded by tons a land. It's not the most important building in the world, but it did have a lot of power, and some interesting things in it. I'll tell you my favorites, anyway. Our tour guide was such a nice lady and she really liked us for some reason, and we just had a great time. 

Today, was probably the chilliest day here so far, and always a day that I chose to wear shorts. Bad idea. By the time we were leaving the tips of my fingers were completely white and i had purple fingernails. I looked weird. When we got back to bed I immediately got in my bed because I was still so cold. brr

The Earl of Salisbury actually still lives in one of the wings of the house with his wife today. We saw a picture of the heir to the house, born in 1970. I can't decide how much of a burden it would be to inherit such a house, because you'd instantly become in charge with its upkeeping and restoration, as well as tours and staff and whatnot. Anyway, it's such a great honor, that I don't think he should complain. His family traces all the way back 14 generations to Robert Cecil and beyond. So interesting how things get passed down. 

Anyway, here's some cool quirky stuff I learned. People made fun of me because I took notes during the tour, but I didn't want to forget anything!:

-The actualy original Hatfield House is off to the side of the main one and is only 1/4 of the original building.  After Henry VIII having it for awhile, Queen Elizabeth chilling there while her sister Mary killed Protestants[and actually found out at the hatfield house that she would be queen because her sister had died], and then James VI got it, eventually a guy named Robert Cecil got it. in 1607 (i think). ANyway, HE knocked down 3/4 of the hosue to build the NEW and improved Hatfield House (the one you see in the above picture.) Here's a pic of the remaining 1/4 of the original.

The new house (pictured at top) only took four years to build! (1608-1612). As our tour guide said "It took four years to build and has been falling down ever since" haha

-It's elizabethan architecture (E shaped without the center branch)

-60 servants were there at a time. 

-Every time some one new came to own the house, things changed. Things were painted over, things were gilded, things were taken and thrown out and brought back and etc. Funny thing, the first earl to get it changed a ton of stuff , but then was never able to live in it. 

-"sero sed serio" - title of this blog is the family motto in latin "late but in earnest" something about being perhaps a bit to late to be acceptable but always honest and nice. or something

-When Queen Elizabeth got painted, things were done to add to her likeness (no duh). One painting in the front room, has her in a dress covered in eyeballs and ears at age 67. She looks like she's 20 (hahah), she's holding rainbow without color. Rainbows mean peace, and it said "no rainbow without the sun" (ie Elizabeth is the sun). eyes and ears meant that she was all seeing and all knowing. There was a serpent holding a a heart and something else that represented wisdom and prudence. and there was stuff about her chastity, chivalry, etc etc etc.

Funny thing about her, she actually wouldn't name an heir until her deathbed, she wanted to always be queen. 

-The grand staircase was beautiful.  It was of english oak based on Italian great staircases. The railing posts originally were painted and the cherubs were gilded but now they just look like wood. they were really cool and covered in symbology. 

-There were quite a few hidden doors. :)

-THe Drawing Room today has 60 paintings, including another one of Elizabeth covered in symbols of her awesomeness: ie purity, peace (olive brance), sword (justice). We also talked at this point about how they would keep their mouths closed for paintings because their teeth were so bad they were almost black. Again her skin was lovely, and she had a wig on. heh.

-the drawing room was considered the heart of the house, even though it was on the side and overlooked the east gardens, and the earl of salisbury still chills in there with his wife. there were reading magazines on the coffee table next to the fireplace. 

-there used to be a door in the drawing room to the bedroom because it used to be like a gathering parlor or something. 

-The two big chambers on either side of the house were actually designed for like one to be the lady's side (queen) and the other side for the male (king). 

-in 1835 the west wing burnt down with the wife of James Cecil (1st marquess of salisbury). she had locked the bedroom door, she was 85 years old and was wellknown for being full of silly tricks, and for being mischievous etc. funny. After the fire they actually found some of the remains of her jewelry, only to find out they were fakes because she had been selling her real jewelry to pay off gambling debts (teehee). No one knows how the fire started, but lighting was with candles soooo.......    ANyway, apparently Charles Dickens was a reporter at the time and actually wrote about the fire and it's even mentioned in Oliver twist. :)

-The long gallery (long hallway in the middle), was for recreation and exercise and connecte dthe 2 aparments. in 1629 a billiard table was brought in. It doesnt really look like an exercise room.

-the winter dining room was originally a withdrawing room into the bedchamber but was converted in the 18th century (sometime). there are huge tapestries on the walls representing the four seasons, which were put in in sometime in the 19th century

-the library, from here you can see the old house, where elizabeth was brough when she was 3 months old, as well as the west gardens. In the middle is a Venetian mosaic of Robert Cecil. there are 10,000 books dating back to Cecil in there, but the important documents are kept somewhere else under moisture junk control

-apparently the 14 year old Elizabeth was accused of having an affair with Thomas Seymour (who was married to Katherine Parr!). Supposedly he tickled her and other inappropriate behavior (oooo). In the library in a glass case was a letter from Elizabeth that refutes the behavior, affair, and being pregnant in beautiful handwriting. there was also a second document from 15 years later in her hurried scribble, which looked a lot more like my handwriting today (hah)

-There was a gentleman's reading chair in there. Like sitting in a chair backwards, straddling it and then theres a tilted tray attached to the back for a book. Ladies, of course, were not permitted to use this chair.

-Other cool documents in glass cases in there: elizabeth writing an instruction in code to Scotland so the rebels wouldnt understand (they have decoded it today of course). A document written in latin by the 9 year old Edward (which looked like an adult's handwriting SO WEIRD). AND MY PERSONAL FAVORITE (pay attention momma): the tiny portrait that was given to Henry VIII of Anne of Cleves, which showed a likeness to her (she looked like all the other flat faced, no shadowed pictures from the time haha, pretty). it was tiny and circular and I was so excited to see it, that's the picture he got! before he married her! Then she was brought there, he thought she was ugly, they remained married for 6 months unconsummated and next to the tiny picture was Henry VIII's letter divorcing her, putting the marriage aside, and making sure she would lose everything, in addition to losing her title as Queen. hehehe. 

-Queen Elizabeth wore gloves that had super long skinny fingers that were stuffed in teh tips. They were creepy looking

-there was a painting of two men, but one hated the other and had it painted over in 1840, and people cleaned it and found him, haha, I have the names all mixed up but it was funny to look at.

-There was a gift of a temple from teh Chinese Emperer to George III (those bloody americans). It was huge and carved out of ivory and they made t men carry it 21 miles to the Hatfield House. luckily they received a coach for the journey home

-They had their own private chapel which had pretty stained glass windows (which I learnd how to make at the Victoria and Albert Museum yesterday!) of bible stories. The chapel was almost lost in the fire that i mentioned earlier but remained. something about water tanks above acutally melted in teh fire and helped the situation a bit. The stained glass was actually taken down out of the windows during the civil war and put up in post restoration. 

-Underneath the long gallery (downstairs) was originally open air, but they enclosed it in the 1830s; you can still see the front door along the wall of the downstairs gallery. 

-The only earl they don't talk about and there's nothing about in the house is the 6th earl who was called "the wicked earl" because he abandoned his good wife, daughters and one son for his mistress, had lots of illegitimate children and eventually became a coachman. wicked bad earl.

Anyway, we learned tons, but those were my favorite parts. So quirky. I love how every single room in these buildings was built with a meaning. The walls are carved full of symbols and meanings, and family emblems, and latin, and history, and hints at what the people were like. it's SO COOL!

We got back, I got a nasty burrito on the corner. Took a short nap, worked a little more on what neal and I are gonna do the week he's here (5 days!), and then we were off again.

The theater tonight, the Young Vic theater, was in a different area than normal and the show had unreserved seating so we decided to try and get there early. we did and turns out the theater is like attached to a pub so we hung out for awhile, and I had a croissant. mmm. We got in the theater, and it was extremely cool. The front floor was actually tables and chairs, and then there were seats were behind that. We sat in the front row of the seats because it was a little higher up. Probably best seats we've had so far. So HA, being early was a good idea. The venue was definitely cool.

The play. 

Been So Long.

Clum couldn't come tonight, which was sad because he hadn't seen the show yet. He had only seen it in previews and he said it needed "tightening up." I wasn't sure what he was going to mean. Truthfully, I think I thought dancing.. in a hip-hop musical...no dancing. So, that was a let down (for me anyway). but after watching the show, maybe they have tightened it up a lot more, but truthfully it's really hard to tighten a show...that isn't good.

Don't get me wrong, it was hilarious. After listening to everyone talk about the show the entire way home as well as say it was their new favorite, yeah I get it, it was really funny. and the music, oh the music, was FABulous. the band was right onstage and very cool, and the backup singers were soulful, powerful, and fun. but the show...oh the show..

I'm trying to make sure it's not just because I have seen a TON of fabulous shows in teh past week and a half. i don't want to become a harsh theater critic (cough cough, thinking of a few), and say that everything I see just sucks. You are supposed to focus on the good things in a show, not the small details that maybe aren't the best thing ever, but really aren't that big of a deal. BUT, it's SO hard, especially when we're not talking about small details and you suddenly realized you've missed the bus that lead you straight to: "That show was better than 'A Little Night Music!!'" What the heck??????????????

-The story was shallow. mmno, sea level. ground 0. nothing happen, there was no change in teh character's personalities, ways of life, no revelations, no breaking point, nothing. No one bettered themselves or made a change even though lines like "people change, sometimes for the better" (how original) showed up in a song.

-exs: girl decides to return to jerk who just sleeps around. other girl doesnt get what she wants. guy suddenly doesnt want to kill the guy he intended to kill. other guy slightly develops a love for original girl but does nothing, says nothing, and continues to do nothing.

-some of the actors struggled big time with showing any sort of serious emotion.

-one of the actors ...didnt act.

-the lyrics. killed me. I really really really really tried to get past them the entire show, but every time another song started, I just had to roll my eyes when i heard lyrics like "It's been too long. since I said goodbye. when I think of her,...I start to cry." "It's so hard to be alone. no no no no no simone." "truth hurts more than you will ever know" (wait, hasn't someone already said that?) "i want a fella. i want a fella. make a girl scream and yell-a"   

................okay...good rhymes.

...I could go on. but I don't really need to. 

here's a couple quotes, I could stand. that, although unoriginal, were nice:

"It's been too long since I last saw her face."

"You and I are gonna set the sky alight."

"It's funny you could feel so lonely and never know."

"He kissed my entire history."

"She smiles this smile, and I melted to the floor."

"You know I'm lost here, but I'm here for you to find."

(okay, I'm sorry, I felt lame just typing those...)

Yes, it was ridiculously funny. really. Gil was my favorite. he was crazy and had great comedic facial expressions and was a lot of fun. simone's cousin was funny sometimes too. 

It just wasn't my style. "not to my taste" as a i said at first to neal. but truthfully, i dont think it has to do with taste. It's hard for me to say that Theater is simply for entertainment. I truly believe that all theater tells a story, develops really strong, believable people, raises questions, presents ideas, does something, at least....but this did nothing for me. True, here I may be used to really well-developed characters with a long history/life (ie, real human beings), and watching what they're going through presents new ideas, etc. and they sing songs that have witty lyrics that carry the story or plot further and the comedy is more ironic rather than blatant and stupid/perverted humor. (oo, becca, too harsh). Anyway, that's what I look for in theater. that has nothing to do with taste really. maybe all that is just what I value in theater. the art of the theater. the wonder of theater. the true meaning of theater. and i think i just missed all of that a lot tonight. because simply...

...All that's what I love. All that is why I do this. 

I'm sorry. I have to write about it somewhere.

All's Well That Ends Well tomorrow night at the National. Backstage tour of the entire theatre tomorrow morning!

With love,

Rebecca