Virginia Woolf, Celine Dion, and The Clash

On Wednesday night I went on a walking tour of Bloomsbury.  It was fascinating.  Our tour guide, Sue, was obviously very knowledgeable and passionate about the area and its famous denizens such as Dante and Christina Rosetti, and the Bloomsbury Group.  The Bloomsbury Group included Virginia Woolf and her sister Vanessa.  It was a group of intellectuals, artists and authors who took up residents in the Bloomsbury area and associated mostly with each other.  The number of love triangles was pretty ridiculous.  All of them, pretty much were bisexual and married to the wrong person.  It was nice to learn more about the area where I am going to school.  In addition, I learned a fun piece of information.  Camilla Parker Bowles is actually a direct descendant of Virginia Woolf's sister Vanessa! 

 That night, a bunch of my NYU friends and I headed to a small bar called Miller's for a karaoke night!  We planned ahead of time all of the songs that we wanted to sing, then arrived to find that most of them were not actually available choices.  The English do listen to slightly different music.  There were artists I had never heard of before on the karaoke list, probably mostly English pop artists.  My friends Morgan, Kelly, and I all sang Livin' on a Prayer by Bon Jovi, just because it was fun.  The highlight of the night for me, though, was an older English man who sang "I'm Alive" by Celine Dion.  It was charming.  The second picture is of me with my friends Alex and Kelly.

Last night I went on a walking tour of Camden, the area north of me.  It's known for its amazing street markets, dodgy past, and conformance to every major music trend of the past 75 years, from jazz to hippie rock, to the punk/ goth movement, and now the alternative hipster movement.  Bands and artists like Amy Winehouse and The Clash got their start here.  I intend to come back during the day at some point to hit the markets.  Vintage clothing and lots and lots of different kinds of ethnic food.  Sounds like a win.  This area also has lots of very trendy clubs.  The second photo is from the outside of the Our Lady of Hal church.  There were a lot of Belgian immigrants to Camden after WWII.  One town in Belgium, Hal, was bombed by the Germans, and was saved when the largest bombs got stuck in their statue of the Virgin Mary and did not fully explode.  Most of the town's citizens left after the war because their city was in such ruins.  They moved to Camden and built this church.