Photos for this post: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2266438&l=d98d4&id=11832732
Sun: Attended services in Westminster Abbey. It is again an Anglican/Church of England church; but it is an older building (700 years old). It is an example of the Gothic style, and has a lot (I mean a lot) of people buried/memorialized in it. In fact, it was very hard to see anything of the service, due to how things were positioned. I have to say that I like St. Paul's a lot more due to its openness; I didn't feel confined while worshiping, and there wasn't as many 'monuments' inside the church itself (there are a few, but not as many).
Mon: Went to the imperial war museum. It was a little disturbing - the museum, as my class instructor said, seemed to glorify war while at the same time pointing out the horrors of it. I also found the museum a little hap-haphazardly put together; stuff was not really chronological, but by topic in a general area; the topic itself might be chronological or it might be arranged in some way that only the creator understood. The only really 'cool' thing I saw here was an enigma machine - the code-machine that was almost unbreakable used by the Germans in WWII.
(Photos 1-3)
In the afternoon, I went to the London transportation museum via Trafalgar square (and incidentally finding where the muffin man is from when I made a wrong turn).
(Photos 4-6)
I enjoyed it a great deal, especially since I knew next to nothing about the early subway systems (they are a lot older than you would think; around the American civil war era). This means they were originally steam powered, which is why the older lines don't go as far underground - there needed to be vents to release the steam/smoke from the tube. The original tubes were also excavated from above ground - you dig a hole, put in supports, and cover it up again. It took 20 years to finish the first line.
Later lines were built after electricity was discovered, so it was possible to build deeper lines because the smoke/steam wouldn't require ventilation. Also, additional techniques had been developed so that the next lines didn't take as long to construct - still took time, but they were in use within a few years.
(Photos 5-16)
After the museum, I walked to Buckingham Palace, just to see it. I would have liked to tour it, but as far as I could tell, tours were not offered at any point while I was in London. Then I walked back to where I was staying, making a wrong turn trying to get to a tube/subway station, and consequentially walking several miles out of my way before I could locate where I was on the map (my feet were not happy the next day)
(Photos 21-27)
Tues: Went to the National Portrait Gallery - not a big fan of this just because I don't love portraits in general. I did enjoy the 'competition' exhibit, sponsored by an international company, where people sent in photos and the most original portraits were winners. I think I would like to enter this next year, so when April comes around (the submission/application time), I'll be ready for it.
This afternoon, I went to St. Paul's again, this time for a tour. Along the way, I stopped and took pictures of Fleet St. signs (my sister is a fan of the musical "Sweeny Todd", the story of "the demon barber of fleet street"). I did manage to take a pic of the one barbershop on Fleet St. that I saw.
(Photos 28-32)
Once at St. Paul's, I was shown all around the building, and got to go up to the whispering gallery (due to the shape supposedly you are able to hear someone on the other side if they whisper. I wasn't really able to hear this myself (I sort of could, but it was indistinct; maybe it was just me. I then went outside on the top of St. Paul's. It was a beautiful view, and I took a complete panoramic view of London from the top, to remember the experience. It was a glorious experience, and I could feel God's presence there (not meant to sound cliched, but true).
(Photos 33-49)
I then got to go down in the crypt, which was a little strange. Christopher Wren, the designer of St. Paul's was buried there, as well as the ashes of Alexander Fleming (the discoverer of penicillin), and Lord Nelson's tomb (which incidentally, is directly underneath the dome, at the 'center' of the church).
Weds: Class in the morning. In the afternoon I went back to the Natural History Museum, this time to the 'earth's treasury' section. I was very impressed by the collection of precious stones/gems. I sort of decided I would like to be a collector of stones at some point in the future - not the most valuable ones, but the ones that look the 'prettiest'/most colorful. I tried to take pictures, but my camera was unable to do justice to the stones.
(Photos 50-59)
Thurs: Last full day in London. I took my test (5 short essay questions which I think I aced) and packed up (not easy to do when there are 3 people crammed into a small room trying to pack at the same time). I wanted to go to Chinatown for supper, but no one else in the group wanted to go; in my previous experience, to get the most out of Chinatown, it is best to go with a group and order food family style, then you get to sample more different food than if you went by yourself. Since the group kind of ditched me this evening, I went out for fish and chips as a 'traditional' last supper in London.
Fri: I left at 10 AM for Swansea. I'll write another post tomorrow about the trip and how crazy the last few days have been (my internet wouldn't work here, so no way to upload photos/blog, then my computer crashed, etc...). I'd write the post tonight, but I am tired from getting up early this morning for class, and I have another early start tomorrow.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
A very Busy Couple of Days
Photos for this entry: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2261661&l=c5509&id=11832732
Sun: Attended church at St Pauls. It was a very good service; I am not Anglican but I didn't see anything 'wrong'/disagreeing with my own beliefs during the service. I think I will try Westminster next Sunday for service.
For supper today, a group of 3 people went to try out Turkish food (part of a class assignment). I had a variety of different things (lamb, chicken, etc...) in 'kebab' style cooking, as well as donor style (a big hunk of meet is spun next to a heat source and the outer layer is sliced off when it is done, letting the inside layers begin to be cooked - it was delicious). There was more food than I could eat, and delicious baklava for desert (I bought some extra for snacks in my room, it was so good)
(Photo 1)
Mon: In the morning, we toured Parliament. It was fascinating because we were allowed to walk in both the House of Lords and House of Commons - I stood where some of the important British MP's (Members of Parliament) and PM's (Prime Ministers) stood. I still don't understand everything about the British government, but I am getting there. For instance, parliament is the 'executive' branch ion the sense that the government (which is composed of the party that won the most seats in the previous election) proposes bills and parliament 'approves' or 'disapproves' them; the monarch has to sign them into law, so technically the monarch is the executive, but the monarch can't really refuse to sign a bill that has been passed, so they don't truely have executive power.
This afternoon; I did laundry for the first time. Hopefully I can avoid doing it more that one more time while in London
Tues: I was feeling very tired today. All I really did was get up, eat breakfast, go back to bed, get up, eat lunch, go to class, eat supper, and went to bed early. I guess all my excursions caught up with me.
Weds: Toured the "Tate Modern Art" museum in the morning. Let me just say again; for those of you who don't know me that well: I hate modern art. Thankfully, it wasn't as modern as the Gugenheim in NYC (no canvases full of dead flies); but I didn't love any of the paintings/drawings/sculptures there except for "Waterlillies" by Monet.
After the museam, walked over and took a few pictures of the exterior of the reconstructed Globe theater - 'Shakespeare's theater'. It figures, Shakespeare and Modern art are obviously located right next to each other because I dislike them both.
Then I had lunch at a pub in the area; had my first fish and chips (I have been in England for almost 2 weeks and I still hadn't had fish and chips yet). They were delicious, and very filling. I was glad I got the child's portion.
This afternoon, a small group of us travelled out to the Stratford area of London, which will be the site of the 2012 Olympic games. This was just so that in 2012, we can say we were there; construction is proceeding on the hotels/stadiums.
In the evening, we went to "The Comedy Store", an improv comedy club which performs shows similar to whose line is it anyways? Some notable quotes that will make no sense to you unless you were there/I explain them to you: "Show me a llama that doesn't like cold, and I'll show you a horse"; "Number 1." "Yes Captain?" "No, you made number 1; you've had a bit too much to drink"; "Cave spelunking - well that's a little redundant since spelunkling, by its very nature occurs in a cave..." All in all, it was a grest show, and if you come to London, it is not something to miss (Weds. and Sun. evenings)
(Photos 2-13)
Thurs: Had a tour of "Brick Lane", which is traditionally the poorer end of town. The name derives from the fact that a long time ago they made the bricks for the various buildings there. Since there is a great fire hazard from making bricks, it was placed far from the 'rich' part of town so that if a fire arose, the only loss would be the poor people's houses and not the rich.
After the tour, had my first Indian/Bangledeshi food - a 'sample' platter of everything. There were several dishes with curry in them, so it was very spicy. There was a great beverage though, it was like a Mango smoothie and helped relieve the spicyness of the meal (it was exceptionally delicious; I can't help but think that it owuld be very popular at home).
In the afternoon, I returned to Parliament, this time to see it in action. When I arrived, I went to the House of Commons. They were discussing a 'bailout' for an insurance company that had gone bankrupt in 2000, and had lost some peoples' entire savings. I was about to leave when the topic was changed due to the agenda/schedule - it went onto a debate about the Gaza/Israel situation. I was interested, because the process was so different from our own. A minister read a speech, but he 'gave way' in the middle of it several times to allow different MP's a chance to interupt and ask questions (but they were all polite in the interuptions). It was obvious after hearing a few questions that public opinion is split a great deal on this issue - some MP's were against Israel for a 'disproportionate amount of force in response to the rocket attacks' while some were vehomently against hamas for attacking with rockets. I left after an hour or so, when the various members began to make speeches, although there is one speech that stuck out in my mind (and apparently everyone elses' minds as well, since it was in the paper the next day). It was a Jewish MP who was against what Israel had done (the disproportionality of it). He compared how Israel is acting towards the Palestinians as the Nazi party acted towards the Jews in the holocaust/WWII.
I also visited the House of Lords, but it was fairly boring; there were only maybe 8-10 'lords' in residence, and I arrived just as one was making a statement about the same insurance company mentioned in the Commons; his statement went on and on, I left after about 20 minutes when he showed no signs of getting near an end of the statement. The Commons is definitely more interesting to watch, at least on a day to day basis.
(Photos 14-16)
Fri: I went to Greenwich today, saw the prime merridian, and stood in both the east and west hemispheres at the same time. I also synchronized my watch with GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), and was a great museam on keeping track of time.
I went to the Naval Maritime Museam, where I had lunch (a fishcake, rice, and a lemon tart; the lunch special - it was pretty good) and then toured the museam a little. I got to see Nelson's uniform that he was wearing at the battle of Trafalgar, and saw the bullet hole from the shot that killed him. For those of you who don't know, Nelson was a british admiral of the navy who defeated Napolean's fleet at Trafalgar. He also was blind in one eye, and in a previous campaign had his right hand blown off; so he was like me. I was very inspired by this, and am going to try and learn more about him. He seems like a good guy, despite the fact that he was having an affair with a married woman.
(Photos 17-end of album)
Then I rushed over to the London Eye - we rode it at 4PM. I took a lot of photos at different heights. It was nice to do this after having explored London a little - I was able to recognize places I have been. One conclusion that I reached was that St. Paul's is visible from almost everywhere in London - I saw it from Greenwich this morning (which is way outside of London), and from the top of the Eye.
Photo Album for Eye: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2261666&l=c0045&id=11832732
Sun: Attended church at St Pauls. It was a very good service; I am not Anglican but I didn't see anything 'wrong'/disagreeing with my own beliefs during the service. I think I will try Westminster next Sunday for service.
For supper today, a group of 3 people went to try out Turkish food (part of a class assignment). I had a variety of different things (lamb, chicken, etc...) in 'kebab' style cooking, as well as donor style (a big hunk of meet is spun next to a heat source and the outer layer is sliced off when it is done, letting the inside layers begin to be cooked - it was delicious). There was more food than I could eat, and delicious baklava for desert (I bought some extra for snacks in my room, it was so good)
(Photo 1)
Mon: In the morning, we toured Parliament. It was fascinating because we were allowed to walk in both the House of Lords and House of Commons - I stood where some of the important British MP's (Members of Parliament) and PM's (Prime Ministers) stood. I still don't understand everything about the British government, but I am getting there. For instance, parliament is the 'executive' branch ion the sense that the government (which is composed of the party that won the most seats in the previous election) proposes bills and parliament 'approves' or 'disapproves' them; the monarch has to sign them into law, so technically the monarch is the executive, but the monarch can't really refuse to sign a bill that has been passed, so they don't truely have executive power.
This afternoon; I did laundry for the first time. Hopefully I can avoid doing it more that one more time while in London
Tues: I was feeling very tired today. All I really did was get up, eat breakfast, go back to bed, get up, eat lunch, go to class, eat supper, and went to bed early. I guess all my excursions caught up with me.
Weds: Toured the "Tate Modern Art" museum in the morning. Let me just say again; for those of you who don't know me that well: I hate modern art. Thankfully, it wasn't as modern as the Gugenheim in NYC (no canvases full of dead flies); but I didn't love any of the paintings/drawings/sculptures there except for "Waterlillies" by Monet.
After the museam, walked over and took a few pictures of the exterior of the reconstructed Globe theater - 'Shakespeare's theater'. It figures, Shakespeare and Modern art are obviously located right next to each other because I dislike them both.
Then I had lunch at a pub in the area; had my first fish and chips (I have been in England for almost 2 weeks and I still hadn't had fish and chips yet). They were delicious, and very filling. I was glad I got the child's portion.
This afternoon, a small group of us travelled out to the Stratford area of London, which will be the site of the 2012 Olympic games. This was just so that in 2012, we can say we were there; construction is proceeding on the hotels/stadiums.
In the evening, we went to "The Comedy Store", an improv comedy club which performs shows similar to whose line is it anyways? Some notable quotes that will make no sense to you unless you were there/I explain them to you: "Show me a llama that doesn't like cold, and I'll show you a horse"; "Number 1." "Yes Captain?" "No, you made number 1; you've had a bit too much to drink"; "Cave spelunking - well that's a little redundant since spelunkling, by its very nature occurs in a cave..." All in all, it was a grest show, and if you come to London, it is not something to miss (Weds. and Sun. evenings)
(Photos 2-13)
Thurs: Had a tour of "Brick Lane", which is traditionally the poorer end of town. The name derives from the fact that a long time ago they made the bricks for the various buildings there. Since there is a great fire hazard from making bricks, it was placed far from the 'rich' part of town so that if a fire arose, the only loss would be the poor people's houses and not the rich.
After the tour, had my first Indian/Bangledeshi food - a 'sample' platter of everything. There were several dishes with curry in them, so it was very spicy. There was a great beverage though, it was like a Mango smoothie and helped relieve the spicyness of the meal (it was exceptionally delicious; I can't help but think that it owuld be very popular at home).
In the afternoon, I returned to Parliament, this time to see it in action. When I arrived, I went to the House of Commons. They were discussing a 'bailout' for an insurance company that had gone bankrupt in 2000, and had lost some peoples' entire savings. I was about to leave when the topic was changed due to the agenda/schedule - it went onto a debate about the Gaza/Israel situation. I was interested, because the process was so different from our own. A minister read a speech, but he 'gave way' in the middle of it several times to allow different MP's a chance to interupt and ask questions (but they were all polite in the interuptions). It was obvious after hearing a few questions that public opinion is split a great deal on this issue - some MP's were against Israel for a 'disproportionate amount of force in response to the rocket attacks' while some were vehomently against hamas for attacking with rockets. I left after an hour or so, when the various members began to make speeches, although there is one speech that stuck out in my mind (and apparently everyone elses' minds as well, since it was in the paper the next day). It was a Jewish MP who was against what Israel had done (the disproportionality of it). He compared how Israel is acting towards the Palestinians as the Nazi party acted towards the Jews in the holocaust/WWII.
I also visited the House of Lords, but it was fairly boring; there were only maybe 8-10 'lords' in residence, and I arrived just as one was making a statement about the same insurance company mentioned in the Commons; his statement went on and on, I left after about 20 minutes when he showed no signs of getting near an end of the statement. The Commons is definitely more interesting to watch, at least on a day to day basis.
(Photos 14-16)
Fri: I went to Greenwich today, saw the prime merridian, and stood in both the east and west hemispheres at the same time. I also synchronized my watch with GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), and was a great museam on keeping track of time.
I went to the Naval Maritime Museam, where I had lunch (a fishcake, rice, and a lemon tart; the lunch special - it was pretty good) and then toured the museam a little. I got to see Nelson's uniform that he was wearing at the battle of Trafalgar, and saw the bullet hole from the shot that killed him. For those of you who don't know, Nelson was a british admiral of the navy who defeated Napolean's fleet at Trafalgar. He also was blind in one eye, and in a previous campaign had his right hand blown off; so he was like me. I was very inspired by this, and am going to try and learn more about him. He seems like a good guy, despite the fact that he was having an affair with a married woman.
(Photos 17-end of album)
Then I rushed over to the London Eye - we rode it at 4PM. I took a lot of photos at different heights. It was nice to do this after having explored London a little - I was able to recognize places I have been. One conclusion that I reached was that St. Paul's is visible from almost everywhere in London - I saw it from Greenwich this morning (which is way outside of London), and from the top of the Eye.
Photo Album for Eye: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2261666&l=c0045&id=11832732
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Almost End of Week 1
Been a very busy week, so I'll try and summarize the last few days. Photos for all days so far are here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2260131&l=8caf2&id=11832732 You should be able to view them even if you don't have a facebook.
Tues: Had an 'orientation' to the London pre-sessional; just an idea of what our schedule will look like, when we would have class, what we would see as a class, etc...
In the afternoon, we went on a walking tour of Kensington (photos are on facebook - this link should work for everyone, even those who don't have an account). We saw Kensington Palace, where Diana lived, as well as a statue of prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria. That was something interesting I learned today; if you are a king and you get married, your wife becomes a queen. If you are a queen and you marry, however, your husband does not become king. Seems kind of strange to me; but it appears to work for them, so whatever floats your boat (or crowns your monarchy).
(Photos 17-19)
After the tour was officially over, I yielded to weakness and visited the dinosaurs at the British Natural History museam. It was very impressive. I also got to see a Dodo bird; the famous flightless bird driven to extinction. I do feel that this museam should take several days to explore properly; meaning I will need to go back if I get the time to do so.
(Photos 20-24)
Weds: In the morning, we took a tour of London via tube (the subway for those not up with British slang). It was interesting; I learned how to get around London on my own. When we got off the first stop, we walked to St. Paul's Cathedral; I paused to take a pic of the London Eye (first time I saw it). The we proceeded to St. Paul. I took a pic or 2, and noticed a hoard of pigions, which I couldn't resist taking a pic of ("Feed the birds, tuppence a bag..."). I didn't have a chance to go inside the main building; but I did go in the crypt and see an amazing monument. It was dedicated to a captain who died serving under Nelson. The man previously was commanding a ship, when an iceberg hit it; severly damaging it. He encouraged any of his crew who did not feel safe to abandon ship. He considered it a dereliction of duty to do so himself; so he stayed aboard and kept the ship afloat for 10 weeks, bringing it into port while still severly damaged and barely afloat. I was impressed by his dedication to his duty.
After St. Paul's we traveled to the Tower of London, and the Tower Bridge. We didn't go inside due to time constraints, but I now know how to get there. Ditto parliament/Westminster Abby; know how to get there (we are going on a tour on Monday). We then walked by Buckingham palace on the way back to a different tube station.
In the afternoon, we had our first class - just a general introduction of England/UK/London in general.
(Photos 25-33)
Thurs: In the morning we had class; in the afternoon I took a nap (I was exhausted).
In the evening, we went to a show, "We Will Rock You", written by Queen. I don't love Rock music, but the show was enjoyable because it was a comedy, and sort of poked fun at Rock and Roll as well.
Fri: Toured the British museam in the morning; it was facinating to see all the artifacts 'collected' from British occupied territories. It was a little disturbing, because the museam claims that the objects are best viewed in the British museam (even though the native museams want them back). The treaures of Egypt and Greece; the Rosetta stone and the statues off of the parthenon.
Went by the London Eye, but it was closed for maintenance; I'll have to try again in a week or so.
In the afternoon, I toured the science museam. There were a few interesting things, such as Apollo 10's Command Module; but for the most part I received the impression that the museam was mostly for little children.
(Photos 34-45
Sat: Today was kind of a slow day; all I really did was tour the Sherlock Holmes Museam at 221B Baber street. They turned it into a museam to Holmes after the popularity of the novels. For those of you who don't know, 221B Baker Street is where Sherlock and Watson lived while in London. It was an interesting museam; I want to reread the stories I read, and read for the first time the ones I have not.
I ended up buying a hat as a soveineer; a 'detective hat'. I think for next year's Halloween I will be Holmes.
Tomorrow, I am planning to attend Church at St. Paul's; who knows what else I will do tomorrow? I guess I will have to wait and find out.
Tues: Had an 'orientation' to the London pre-sessional; just an idea of what our schedule will look like, when we would have class, what we would see as a class, etc...
In the afternoon, we went on a walking tour of Kensington (photos are on facebook - this link should work for everyone, even those who don't have an account). We saw Kensington Palace, where Diana lived, as well as a statue of prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria. That was something interesting I learned today; if you are a king and you get married, your wife becomes a queen. If you are a queen and you marry, however, your husband does not become king. Seems kind of strange to me; but it appears to work for them, so whatever floats your boat (or crowns your monarchy).
(Photos 17-19)
After the tour was officially over, I yielded to weakness and visited the dinosaurs at the British Natural History museam. It was very impressive. I also got to see a Dodo bird; the famous flightless bird driven to extinction. I do feel that this museam should take several days to explore properly; meaning I will need to go back if I get the time to do so.
(Photos 20-24)
Weds: In the morning, we took a tour of London via tube (the subway for those not up with British slang). It was interesting; I learned how to get around London on my own. When we got off the first stop, we walked to St. Paul's Cathedral; I paused to take a pic of the London Eye (first time I saw it). The we proceeded to St. Paul. I took a pic or 2, and noticed a hoard of pigions, which I couldn't resist taking a pic of ("Feed the birds, tuppence a bag..."). I didn't have a chance to go inside the main building; but I did go in the crypt and see an amazing monument. It was dedicated to a captain who died serving under Nelson. The man previously was commanding a ship, when an iceberg hit it; severly damaging it. He encouraged any of his crew who did not feel safe to abandon ship. He considered it a dereliction of duty to do so himself; so he stayed aboard and kept the ship afloat for 10 weeks, bringing it into port while still severly damaged and barely afloat. I was impressed by his dedication to his duty.
After St. Paul's we traveled to the Tower of London, and the Tower Bridge. We didn't go inside due to time constraints, but I now know how to get there. Ditto parliament/Westminster Abby; know how to get there (we are going on a tour on Monday). We then walked by Buckingham palace on the way back to a different tube station.
In the afternoon, we had our first class - just a general introduction of England/UK/London in general.
(Photos 25-33)
Thurs: In the morning we had class; in the afternoon I took a nap (I was exhausted).
In the evening, we went to a show, "We Will Rock You", written by Queen. I don't love Rock music, but the show was enjoyable because it was a comedy, and sort of poked fun at Rock and Roll as well.
Fri: Toured the British museam in the morning; it was facinating to see all the artifacts 'collected' from British occupied territories. It was a little disturbing, because the museam claims that the objects are best viewed in the British museam (even though the native museams want them back). The treaures of Egypt and Greece; the Rosetta stone and the statues off of the parthenon.
Went by the London Eye, but it was closed for maintenance; I'll have to try again in a week or so.
In the afternoon, I toured the science museam. There were a few interesting things, such as Apollo 10's Command Module; but for the most part I received the impression that the museam was mostly for little children.
(Photos 34-45
Sat: Today was kind of a slow day; all I really did was tour the Sherlock Holmes Museam at 221B Baber street. They turned it into a museam to Holmes after the popularity of the novels. For those of you who don't know, 221B Baker Street is where Sherlock and Watson lived while in London. It was an interesting museam; I want to reread the stories I read, and read for the first time the ones I have not.
I ended up buying a hat as a soveineer; a 'detective hat'. I think for next year's Halloween I will be Holmes.
Tomorrow, I am planning to attend Church at St. Paul's; who knows what else I will do tomorrow? I guess I will have to wait and find out.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Made it to London
So I made it safely to London. I left RDU at 2:30 PM, arrived at JFK, left JFK at 12:15 AM, arrived at Heathrow at 11:30 AM, didn't land until 12:00 PM due to circling the airport (don't you love how time zones mess up your calculations of how long you actually flew - it was a 6 hour flight going across 5 time zones).
After I got here, I went through customs (went very quickly, which surprised me), caught an express train to Paddington Station (yes, like the bear). Then I caught a taxi to where I am staying, in the Kensington district of London - I was told it is the richest part of town, and that people pay a lot to live here. It is a little cramped for space; rooms are small but hold 3 people, the hall is about 3-4 inches wider than a person, so 2 people can't easily pass; they have to contort themselves around each other, and the kitchen is small (but fully equiped, so I can cook for myself (no meal plan here).
I took a tour of the local area today, not an official tour (that is tomorrow) but a tour of places I need to know about - where my London classes will be held, where I need to go to get food, how it is a good idea to walk aways and get out of the rich district before trying to find food, since it will cost less there.
My final actions for today, after the 'tour' concluded, was to go to the V&A (Victoria and Albert) museam. It holds a collection of artifacts from different periods in history, including some beautiful art pieces. I am going to try and upload the pictures here; and if not here, to flickr ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/34125648@N08/sets/72157612158152367/ ) so you know what I am talking about. The only real conclusion I have made is that in the 1600's/1700's, furniture making (really any manufacturing) was an art. Since all pieces were made by hand, the degree of craftmansship is amazing - tables layered with silver, marble statues of the crussifiction,
an ornamental 'vase' decortated with beads (someone took the time to string beads for a 'vase' taller than me, and created artwork with the patterns)
Finally, a piece of advice for anyone else who may be studying abroad - if at all possible, pack less than your body weight - I packed somewhere between 150-180 lbs of stuff, because I have to stay for 5 1/2 months in different climates. It is awful to try and transport that much stuff around by hand!
After I got here, I went through customs (went very quickly, which surprised me), caught an express train to Paddington Station (yes, like the bear). Then I caught a taxi to where I am staying, in the Kensington district of London - I was told it is the richest part of town, and that people pay a lot to live here. It is a little cramped for space; rooms are small but hold 3 people, the hall is about 3-4 inches wider than a person, so 2 people can't easily pass; they have to contort themselves around each other, and the kitchen is small (but fully equiped, so I can cook for myself (no meal plan here).
I took a tour of the local area today, not an official tour (that is tomorrow) but a tour of places I need to know about - where my London classes will be held, where I need to go to get food, how it is a good idea to walk aways and get out of the rich district before trying to find food, since it will cost less there.
My final actions for today, after the 'tour' concluded, was to go to the V&A (Victoria and Albert) museam. It holds a collection of artifacts from different periods in history, including some beautiful art pieces. I am going to try and upload the pictures here; and if not here, to flickr ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/34125648@N08/sets/72157612158152367/ ) so you know what I am talking about. The only real conclusion I have made is that in the 1600's/1700's, furniture making (really any manufacturing) was an art. Since all pieces were made by hand, the degree of craftmansship is amazing - tables layered with silver, marble statues of the crussifiction,
an ornamental 'vase' decortated with beads (someone took the time to string beads for a 'vase' taller than me, and created artwork with the patterns)
Finally, a piece of advice for anyone else who may be studying abroad - if at all possible, pack less than your body weight - I packed somewhere between 150-180 lbs of stuff, because I have to stay for 5 1/2 months in different climates. It is awful to try and transport that much stuff around by hand!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)