Sunday, October 26th
Today’s plan was to go to the Kew Gardens, but then it decided to rain all day, so an alternate plan was formed. London- it’s all about versatility here.
I left a little before 11:00 to go get lunch from ISH, but upon getting there, I realized that they didn’t start serving till noon on Sundays, so I went to TESCO and bought some cookies and a croissant. I got on the tube, and left for the National Portrait Gallery, since I didn’t get to fully examine the museum on my last visit.
When I got to the top of the tube station, I walked out to the entrance of Trafalgar Square, where there was another Trafalgar Day celebration taking place with the Sea Cadets. A man handed me a program with the schedule of events, and there was supposed to be a marching band playing in the next 10 minutes, so I decided to hang around for a little bit. It was raining out, and they had technical difficulties, and I wasn’t sure that the band would play in such weather, so after waiting for a little bit, I decided to head inside to examine the gallery.
Last time I came, we had to head out right away to go to the Organ Recital at Westminster Abbey, so it was nice to relax and take my time this time around. Whenever I go into these museums, I spend so much time trying to take in as much as I possibly can about the historical aspects, reading almost every sign and taking notes, and get to distracted with that rather than just sitting back and enjoying the art that is in front of me. This time around, I decided to make it a more relaxing venture, examining the works for their artistic and figural qualities. I made my visit into a figural study for my figure drawings class, examining the painting techniques, and the forms the portraits take to contribute that to my own works. It was much more relaxing, and beneficial for that matter. The blending and softness to the Renaissance and Victorian portraits particularly caught my eye.
The National Portrait Gallery is an attachment to the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, dedicated strictly to portraiture. It is filled with paintings, and busts, massive and tiny. It has a range of portraits from a single person, to hundreds in one frame. Everything from Tudors to contemporary, in only three floors. It was very exciting. On my first visit, I wasn’t sure that I would be too enthralled with hundreds of portraits, as I was more excited to see the famous paintings I have studied that are in the National Gallery (which I still have to get to…), but wow, this was awesome. I should have been more excited before, especially with my love for painting portraits myself. What was I thinking?
In 2 ½ hours, I covered the entire museum, with the exception of the Annie Leibovitz exhibition, which had an entrance fee. I would have liked to go inside of here, but the fee was rather pricy. However, I got to see some of her work hanging outside of the studio: her series ‘Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II.’
Today’s plan was to go to the Kew Gardens, but then it decided to rain all day, so an alternate plan was formed. London- it’s all about versatility here.
I left a little before 11:00 to go get lunch from ISH, but upon getting there, I realized that they didn’t start serving till noon on Sundays, so I went to TESCO and bought some cookies and a croissant. I got on the tube, and left for the National Portrait Gallery, since I didn’t get to fully examine the museum on my last visit.
When I got to the top of the tube station, I walked out to the entrance of Trafalgar Square, where there was another Trafalgar Day celebration taking place with the Sea Cadets. A man handed me a program with the schedule of events, and there was supposed to be a marching band playing in the next 10 minutes, so I decided to hang around for a little bit. It was raining out, and they had technical difficulties, and I wasn’t sure that the band would play in such weather, so after waiting for a little bit, I decided to head inside to examine the gallery.
Last time I came, we had to head out right away to go to the Organ Recital at Westminster Abbey, so it was nice to relax and take my time this time around. Whenever I go into these museums, I spend so much time trying to take in as much as I possibly can about the historical aspects, reading almost every sign and taking notes, and get to distracted with that rather than just sitting back and enjoying the art that is in front of me. This time around, I decided to make it a more relaxing venture, examining the works for their artistic and figural qualities. I made my visit into a figural study for my figure drawings class, examining the painting techniques, and the forms the portraits take to contribute that to my own works. It was much more relaxing, and beneficial for that matter. The blending and softness to the Renaissance and Victorian portraits particularly caught my eye.
The National Portrait Gallery is an attachment to the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, dedicated strictly to portraiture. It is filled with paintings, and busts, massive and tiny. It has a range of portraits from a single person, to hundreds in one frame. Everything from Tudors to contemporary, in only three floors. It was very exciting. On my first visit, I wasn’t sure that I would be too enthralled with hundreds of portraits, as I was more excited to see the famous paintings I have studied that are in the National Gallery (which I still have to get to…), but wow, this was awesome. I should have been more excited before, especially with my love for painting portraits myself. What was I thinking?
In 2 ½ hours, I covered the entire museum, with the exception of the Annie Leibovitz exhibition, which had an entrance fee. I would have liked to go inside of here, but the fee was rather pricy. However, I got to see some of her work hanging outside of the studio: her series ‘Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II.’
After my visit to the gallery, I decided to head down to Westminster Abbey to catch the 3:00 Evensong. It was just a short walk from the gallery, and you can see Big Ben clearly from Trafalgar Square. It was a nice walk, with extravagant architecture, and I walked past the cavalry buildings too, filled with tourists taking photos of the guards on horses.
I was still a bit early, so I ate the croissant that I bought that morning, and went into the Westminster Abbey Shop before the performance. I have been hoping to find some music of the organ and choirs since I got here, and today was the day. I bought a Christmas CD of the Westminster choirs. They had two different ones, and I debated between the two for a while: one was traditional Christmas songs, popular in the states, and the other was the choirs and the organ with songs sung in Latin. I chose to go with this one, as it is not your typical Christmas CD, and Latin is beautiful. I don’t know why it was such a hard choice… it seems like an absolutely obvious decision now.
I walked out of the shop, and went into church, getting a front row seat for the Evensong mass. It was a bit different than the organ recital last time, as they have you sit in the back of the church of this event. Being on the other side gave, obviously, an entirely new visual perspective. Absolutely beautiful. The church is much like Notre Dame as far as the stone vaulting and interior, but also, has quite a feel of the Byzantine period with all of the glittering gold elegance everywhere, and a gothic rose window. It is absolutely gorgeous.
As the organ played the processional music, he played a piece that I performed last year in Concert Band. I can’t remember the name of it (which is driving me insane!) but it was the one where the entire ensemble performed without a conductor. If anyone remembers, leave me a message….
Almost the entire mass was sung in Latin, with the exception of the spoken sermon. The organ sounded and the beauty of the voices echoing through the church was once again, possibly one of the most beautiful sounds I have ever heard. It was a very relaxing, glorious atmosphere, and gave me exactly the opportunity to contemplate things that I needed, which is exactly what the vastness of the church is designed to do.
It was really cool leaving the church, because you get to walk out through the center aisle (the nave), under the organ as it is playing. I paused near the side aisle after passing through to listen to the music once more, and take one last look at the beauty inside.
I walked around by Parliament for a little bit, examining its incredible, intricate architecture. Hopefully I will be able to tour it before I leave. My friend Katie has her internship there, and I am waiting to hear from her as to when she can take us around. I will definitely give props to International Programs on the internships the get here. Some of the students have internships at the Royal Opera House, PARLIAMENT, Galleries, Radio Stations, and many other actual famous, high end places.
When I returned, Rachael had been looking up websites about palm-reading. She is really fascinated by these sorts of things, and it makes me laugh. She read my palm, and here are some of the things that we discovered:
-a long life full of vitality and health
-A deep long line stretching across the palm indicates a logical and direct way of thinking. The straighter the line, the more realistic the thinking, and the deeper the line, the better the memory.
-If the line is long and curved (especially upwards), then the person has a pleasant, romantic nature, great warmth in their actions. They may also tend to give all of themselves to love, no matter the costs.
-If the line is strong and undisturbed, then you tend to have a strong business sense as well as the strength to work hard to make money.
-If a break occurs in your Fate Line at the Head Line and goes on, this indicates that you will successfully change your job in your middle years.
We went to dinner, and then went to the guys room to exchange some pictures and such. We ended up looking at a bunch of youtube videos that were absolutely hilarious, so I will share some of them here for you:
Especially for Nickolas- http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=JvltzwkUEEA
Trigger Happy TV
these are a bunch of videos taken in London, with hidden cameras, just to mess with people. Absolutely, ridiculously, hilarious… Or at least I thought so anyway…
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=k1MHY_AFNAM
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ZztlIUZk-Eo
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KxFSGUbiK7o
I spent the remainder of the evening back in my room, talking online, and finishing some papers. I’m really excited. I only have two more papers to write. What a good feeling. :) I also booked tickets to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and to Ronnie Scott’s (world renowned jazz club!) for when Becca comes to visit. The exchange rate is REALLY good right now, so I was rather excited about that… even if it is due to our failing economies…
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