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I attended a talk at the British Museum about African artists. This was one of my favorite pieces. It's called the tree of life, and is made entirely of recycled guns!
Part of the tree of life.
Another one of my favorite pieces. It looks like something terminator vs preditor-esce.
This is the first room that you walk into at the British Museum.
Notice the amazing roof. This is the reading room, where Karl Marx frequented.
This is a pic inside of the Museum Tavern, a place where Karl Marx used to drink. It's right across the street from the British Museum.
My roommate Erin. Museum Tavern.
Colleen and Drew, two of the more awesome students in my program @ Museum Tavern.
Portobello Market on a very rainy and overcast morning. It's a famous street market much like Pike Place Market. I took this picture just as we arrived early in the morning, but by the time we left it was really busy, you could barely walk, and the dangerous umbrellas made it even more difficult to maneuver through the people.
George Orwell's house on Portobello road. The blue one in the middle.
Yum.
My roommate Erin! We stopped for coffee at a quaint litte cafe on Portobello Road.
Tower Bridge.
Side view of the Tower of London. Original stark fortress built by William the Conqueror. Fuctioned as a fortress, a prison, a royal palace. Served as a place for torture and imprisionment. Currently the home of the crown jewels of the United Kingdom.
Walking into the one square mile known as London City. The museum of London is here.
In the late 2nd century the Romans built the London Wall to keep intruders out. Only a few pieces of the old wall remain. This is one found by the London Museum.
This blue building was constructed recently in London City. In London once a building is torn down, archaeologists have 1 year to dig. I guess archaeologists were so close to uncovering early pre-Roman occupation but day 365 came around and the evidence was covered up by this ugly blue building. Good job London.
Monument built in London city to commemorate the great London fire of 1666, where nearly four fifths of the city was destroyed. I wasn't able to get a close up but there is a gold flame on top. You can walk up to the top, but it's 311 steps - f that.
One of the sides of the monument. Three sides of the monument contain inscriptions in Latin. This side illustrated the actions taken by Charles II after the fire.
Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great.
Gorgeous baptismal with a hat.
This little plaque shows that the painting of Madonna and Child by distinguished Spanish artist Alfredo Roldan once hung here in the Sanctuary.
Another picture of the Sanctuary and the Lady Chapel. From 1539 until the late 1880's the chapel was secularised, being used as a house, a printing works, where Benjamin Franklin worked. There is a medieval crypt beneath the Chapel, but it wasn't open to the public.
Leading into the Lady Chapel and Sanctuary
Ancient organ
The floors are lined with tombs. The tomb belonging to the founder, Prior Rahere, lies North of the High Altar. I don't have a picture of that one specifically. The tomb of Sir Walter & Lady Mary Mildmay also lie here.
Another Sanctuary
Beautiful piece of Victorian architecture, one of the few that bitch Thatcher didn't tear down.
London is full of parks like this where you can go on your lunch break and unwind.
This is the end of week 1. It's been a long one. My day usually starts at 7 and doesn't stop until like 8pm. I could have gotten more pictures, because we saw a lot more than I am sharing here. But I wasn't able to carry my camera at all times. More to come!!
I've been busy nonstop since I arrived in London six days ago. I have a lot of pictures to share and I'll try my best to remember all the facts for each because there was a lot of information being thrown at us during our eight hour excursions of London. For the most part now I'm on my own, no more guided tours. Although one of my teachers Peter, who is also one of the people who have coordinated the Spring in London study abroad program at UofW is extremely knowledgable about everything London.
So before I introduce a few of the pictures I've taken, I have to share a few things that have surprised me since I've been here.
The first of course is that mace is illegal, which I said in my last blog. The 2nd day of class, those of us who had mace were advised not to take it to the police, but to tie it to a rock and throw it into the river. Hardcore huh.
London is one of the most camera monitored cities in the world. This is what I've been told. And I'm not surprised because I see cameras EVERYWHERE.
TV shows in America, like American Idol for instance, are sponsored, and we see those sponsors all over the commercials and in the shows. But here, sponsorship is different. A lot of the American shows I've watched here have labels blurred out, like the judges coke cups on American Idol. Kinda interesting I guess.
Londoners honk (beep) more than any city I've ever been to. And they don't like to slow down if you're in a crosswalk. In fact I swear I hear car engines getting louder as they speed up toward me.
In the pub, Londoners like to buy rounds. It goes around until everybody has bought a round. Most of the beer I've had has not been served warm or room temperature as the guidebooks like to say. Also they like their lemonade. Vodka lemonade seems to be a popular drink here. As well as a beer that is mixed or made with lemonade, it's called a Shandy. Last night I had a beer called BitBurger, so good.
Jet lagged, jet lagged, jet lagged. I never really knew what that meant until now. When I traveled to Germany when I was 17 I didn't really experience it, probably because I was young and full of energy. The last two days I've been tired and just wanting to sleep. Today is the 4th day and I am finally feeling normal, with the help of a ton of espresso.
Yesterday was our first orientation for class. We took a four hour tour of Central London, which was incredible! More about that down below. One of the many things I didn't know about London:
Mace is illegal! Did you know that?
Today a girl in my program got arrested when an officer asked to search her bag (I guess they are allowed to ask at anytime) and she had mace on her. They confiscated in and told her to move along. In the meantime they called backup and she was arrested by another officer a few minutes later. Intense! Innntense!
Needless to say, it didn't take me more than a minute to dig mine out of my bag and secretly toss it into the trash.
So I haven't taken any pictures yet. The weather has been extremely unpredictable, even more so than Seattle. One minute it's sunny and warm, the next minute cold rain is pelting you in the face.
We went on our first tour of central London yesterday. We saw everything--Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Big Ben, Palace of Westminster, the British Museum where Karl Marx spent a lot of time in the reading room, and the pub across the street. We walked through the covenant gardens outside of the Actors' Church where Audrey Hepburn was filmed in My Fair Lady. We walked a few of the same paths as Virginia Woolf. We saw so much more but I'll have to write about it on another day.
It's been amazing! Today we're meeting with the class and then taking another walk around the city. I'm going to brave bringing my camera even though the weather is starting out like it did yesterday. But we'll see. Oh yeah, and so far the bus and tube are super easy to use. I thought it would be more complicated.
It's been a great trip so far. I'll have more to write and hopefully some pictures later today.
