A random pic of my classmates and I.
I wandered into Hyde Park and Kensington Palace, it was SO beautiful! Unlike in the states, London built the city AROUND the parks. So they have this huge patches of green, so beautiful.
Gardens at Kensington Palace.
The Orangery, where we had high tea.
I am going back here to get more pics, because I can't remember exactly what this place is. It's a memorial of some kind to King Albert. I will have to go back so I can expand on this.
On each side of the memorial they had these really beautiful statues, each representing a country.
- ABBEY ROAD, ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS -
The wall outside Abbey Road Studios.
Neat! His handwriting sucks.
Tag that shit. Harrison was here, check it or wreck it, .04.09.09.
Ju
m
o
Is says HARRISON, but I wrote it in highlighter, so you can only see it if you use a blacklight. That's my way of being sly.
In front of Abbey Road Studios.
f
- HAMPTON COURT -
Home of Henry VIII and many others. During the trip we looked at the architecture of Hampton Court and how it's changed over the centuries. Most notably it changed with the arrival of Henry VIII, who wanted to expand. After Henry VIII his heirs didn't really do much to the palace. It wasn't until William and Mary's arrival that the court would be revamped again, with the help and hiring of notable architect Sir Christopher Wren. I'll explain more as pictures come up.
The palace as you're walking up to it.
The opening of the palace. Built in 1514.
i
Here you can see the Henry VIII expansions on the side. I didn't get a good picture of the windows, but you can tell the new parts from the old by the windows. The original windows are very small, as they couldn't manufacture and cut huge pieces of glass at this point.
First court you walk into. The openings were huge so you could pull your horse and buggy right up to the rooms on the sides.
One part of the kitchen. At this time fruit and vegetables were very hard to grow, due to the seasons, and in this part of the country probably weren't grown at all. People lived on meat pies. My teacher told me that at one time in the country most people were dying due to constipation more than anything else. That sucks.
More kitchen.
This is the outside of one of the courtyards. This is some of the Henry VIII expansion. This is the outside of the Great Hall.
Ceiling of the Great Hall. I took lots of pictures of ceilings because they are really beautiful, well crafted.
Huge stained glass ornaments filled the walls. On the far sides Henry VIII is engraved into 1 small glass piece in the middle window, to watch over his hall.
Another ceiling.
I tried to get a good picture of the detailed chimneys. The original chimneys were all different, so if you see two next to each other that are the same, you know it's a newer one that is replicating the original.
Ceiling.
Henry VIII's boot.
Another ceiling.
This was one of my favorite rooms. This is during the reign of William III and Queen Mary II. William and Mary hired Sir Christopher Wren to rebuild parts of Hampton Court. This changed Hampton Court from the gothic tudor style to more of a Boroque style. Sir Christopher Wren hired men to redesign the insides of the building, and under Mary's request, the gardens were built. This is one of the rooms that was redesigned under William's request.
Weapons fill the walls.
One of the tapestries. These took a few people at least a months to sew. I thought it would have taken years, as it filled the entire wall, but I guess when you have nothing else to do but sew, it only takes you a month.
Ceiling.
William's bed chamber.
You know the song, Mary Mary Quite Contrary. These are the maidens all in a row. No kidding.
Ceiling.
Courtyard.
Mary's gardens! Mary Mary quite contrary, how do your gardens grow. With hershey's kisses trees.
The Orangery.
Ceiling.
Ceiling.
Ceiling.
Ceiling. This room was just recetly rediscovered.
Mary's bed chamber.
Gardens!
Grapevine!
The roots of the grapevine! Enormous.
Housing of the grapevine.
Okay so this is the entrance to William's apartment. This is one of the changes that Wren made. You can see the white part is different from the brick. He built this, with the ionic pillars and built those white windows on the sides in order the help blend the new with the existing facade. I think it looks like crap.
I'm trying to be like American's Next Top Model of Hampton Court, but I just look weird.
Stuck in the maze, OH SO SCARED. Little goblins of the forest, don't eat me.
I told Erin to look scared and this is how she posed. LOL.
Now we are truly frightened. What if we can't find our way out and we miss supper.
- RANDOM PICS FROM THE WEEK -
A pic Erin took of me when we were on the canal walk. And no I didn't just get done with a game of Cricket, Phil. :)
On the way to Oxford.
I can't remember where I am here. But I'm cute none the less.
In Oxford. We sat in the grass awhile and pondered things like, education, books, and boats. (sure).
I love this picture of Krista and I. This is after the football game, when the Queens Park Rangers chant is still ringing in my ears:
Whatever the season,
We follow our team,
We're Queens Park Rangers,
We rule supreme,
We'll never be mastered,
By no, by no Chelsea bastards,
And we'll stick the blue flag,
Up your arse!
- ROYKSOPP & FEVER RAY -
This week I experienced my first show abroad. I went to see Norwegian electro duo Royksopp and Karin Dreijer Andersson, one of my favorite artists with her new band Fever Ray. If you don't already know this, Karin and her brother had another band, The Knife, which I think is on hiatus right now. By this time Sweden has already distinguished itself as a leader in the music industry during the last couple of decades, especially since Abba emerged from the scene. In my opinion, The Knife and Fever Ray are setting a whole new standard for electronic / goth / pop music. It's no surprise that she collaborated again with Royksopp on their latest album Junior.
-Fever Ray -
Fever Ray was amazing. They had some incredible lighting and lasers, lots of fog. Their whole shtick is covering their faces during live shows. The Knife is known for wearing masks that form birds' beaks, much like the Venetian Medico Della Peste masks worn during Carnival. I was on the top balcony, and the lasers came out in long streams below the balcony, and mixing with the fog, it covered the stage entirely so I couldn't see them at all. When the lasers subsided, they had 9 lamps set up around the stage that would flicker on cue with the loud beat of the electronic drum. Much to my dismay I didn't see their faces once during the set, but I respect their artistry. I'm just glad they are touring, The Knife refused to play live shows for the longest time.
- ROYKSOPP -
Royksopp really blew me away. Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge, the genius behind Royksopp, stood near the back of the stage, propped at their keys and electronic drums and cymbols. They danced around and never missed a beat. The beats kept rolling while Karin Dreijer Andersson, Anneli Drecker, Lykke Li, and Robyn took turns gracing us with their presence and vocals. Anneli, Lykke, and Robyn, all Swedish or Norweigan singer song writers, collaborate with Royksopp on their latest album, but Robyn was not expected to be singing at the London show, so it was a surprise when she ran out and the crowd went crazy. Karin of course was my favorite. During her three songs (1 from the former album, Melody AM, and 2 from Junior), she came out in a gold cape wearing an owl mask. During her last song, Tricky Tricky, which is my absolute favorite, she was wearing some sort of bird suit.
I was looking for some live footage of the show but I couldn't find any with good sound. So here is Fever Ray's video:
If I Had A Heart
Here is an article from NME that talks about Robyn's special performace at the Royal Festival Hall in London (the show I was at).
NME
And finally, if you are interested, here is the official video for What Else Is There? It's a song that Karin sings on.
What Else Is There?
- TEA PARTY -
The week ended with a tea party. On Easter Erin and I wandered around Rough Trade Records for a bit. I was looking for the new Band of Skulls album but had no luck. I was also searching for new Whitest boy Alive because they are touring the UK now, even though it seems as though I might be too late, all the shows are sold out.
So Erin and I went to Kensington Palace and had high tea. I had peppermint tea and a fruit scone, it was really good.
The tea made us feel philosophical. So we pondered.
Then I felt proper, so I posed.
It made my belly feel good, so I smiled a bit.
All the tables had these adorable little orange plants on them. Hmmm, is that why . . . is that why it's called, the ORANGERY? No it's called that because back in the day the rooms were used to grow fruit all year round - stupid. Seems as though all of the royal courts here have orangeries, at least the ones I've been to.
Here is the low-down on Orangeries: 17th century
Merchants began to import orange trees, perhaps as novelty to show off their wealth, from Southern Italy together with other citrus trees, banana plants and pomegranates. None of these would survive a Northern European winter so gardeners had to find ways of protecting the plants and in due course the first orangeries were constructed.
The orangeries were built with south facing glass windows to let in the maximum amount of afternoon sunlight. The windows would have been made with leaded glass and as glass was still blown by hand, the largest flat pieces that could be made would have been approximately 4 inches by 6 inches (10 cms x 15 cms). These windows were set into brick walls while those that faced north were thick and solid to protect against wind and cold. Learning is fun.
So before tea we stopped at a place called Gail, in Portobello Market. They had some amazing sandwiches. I am enjoying one here.
Erin had grains at Gain, some rabbit food of sorts.
It was a good week. As usual it really flew by. Everyday I am learning new things. So far it's been an extremely gratifying experience. Today Erin and I bought our tickets to Cork, Ireland. We're going for 4 days in May. We also purchased our tickets to Paris, for the end of May, we'll be there for 5 days I believe. I'll keep the blog updated each Sunday. It's time consuming but the best way to share my experiences with friends back home, and also to keep a journal of the trip. I have a feeling years from now I'll be looking back on this experience. Again, if there are grammar or spelling errors just ignore them. I am posting this without editing it, just so I can get the pics up.
No comments:
Post a Comment