British Library and Tate Britain

Not much to post today. We went to the British Library which was pretty neat. They have tons of illuminated bibles. They had two very worn pages from the Gospel of St. John, written in Greek on papyrus, dating from the 3rd century! How cool is that. What's even cooler is they found these two pages in a trash dump in Egypt in the early 20th century. Amazing!

They also had the handwritten musical score of Handel's Messiah, one of Jane Austen's notebooks from when she was 16 to 19 years old and the prayer roll of Henry VIII. Very cool.

After the library a few of us went to Tate Britain where they currently have an exhibition of the 'Romantics'. There were absolutely gorgeous pieces by Turner and Constable. Love, love, love Turner and his way of painting light. There were also some pre-raphialite pieces such as Ophelia and the Lady of Shalot. Loved.

We're headed to Salisbury, Stonehenge and Bath tomorrow so I must go to bed. I'll post more when we get back on Friday.

Portobello Road

Well, there were a lot of people on Portobello Road, in fact I think all of London may have decided to go today.

Tower of London

Went to the Tower of London this morning. Very interesting. I just noticed that I took about 20 pictures of windows...it's a minor obsession I guess.
1. Our small group.
2. Church in the White Tower. 3. Stairway and a window in the White Tower. 4. Henry VIII's jousting armor. 5. Horse statues from the line of Kings.

Tate Modern

Some of you may know that I'm not a huge Modern Art fan. I just don't get it to be honest, which is why I'm taking the class I'm taking this semester. I figure if I take a class and someone (aka: Courtney) can explain the whole artistic meaning of a spoon laying on a table to me, then maybe I'll learn to appreciate it.

There are a few artists I like, but over all, it's a big huge, "Huh?". Yep. So here's some pics of stuff I liked at the Tate Modern today.

National Gallery and the West End

Went to the National Gallery yesterday, which was really exciting. We couldn't take pictures inside so I don't really have anything to show you. I finally got to see a few paintings in real life that I really wanted to see. I say Constables, The Hay Wain, a bunch of Turner's and Renoir's and Dega's plus Caravaggio's, The Supper at Emmas, which was beautiful and amazing.

I never really liked Caravaggio's work until I started taking art history classes, now I'm a total fan. His use of light and shadow is so beautiful.

After our time at the National Gallery I went to the West End to get a ticket to see Billy Elliot that evening. Wicked was on right across the street so I walked over there to see how much tickets were and ended up going to the matinee. So yesterday I went to two plays and they were both really good, although I liked Billy Elliot the best.

At Wicked I sat next to some people from Utah, how crazy is that? One of the girls in the group is friends with one of the girls on the same study abroad as myself! Small, small world. Then at Billy Elliot I spoke with the nice couple sitting next to me. They were locals and we had a lot of fun chatting and they explained the slang to me. So over all, I had a lot of fun yesterday.

Today it looks like laundry, grocery shopping and a visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum right down the road. Might have some pictures of that later today.

St. Paul's Cathedral

We went to St. Paul's Cathedral today. It's a truly beautiful place and very peaceful, even when it's full of people. We couldn't take pictures inside but I did get a couple before I saw the no photography sign.

The Imperial War Museum, Tower Bridge, etc. etc.

Guess what? As of today I've been in London 1 week. It sure feels like I've been here a lot longer. After all the things we've already seen and done it seems like a lot more time should have gone by.

Today I ate a Summer Berry Crepe for lunch, went to the Imperial War Museum and walked a very long way along the Thames, over Tower Bridge and past the Tower of London then went on a Ghost Walk through the West Bank. All in all it was a fun day, but I've got three new blisters to welcome the the party. Sigh... Oh well, at least they won't be lonely, the triplets will keep them company. I have dubbed the new ones, Larry, Mo and Curly.

I don't know if anyone is reading this...so please let me know if you are. Thanks.

So, here's some pics.

Parliament and Windsor Castle

Today was very long for me. I could collapse and sleep till noon tomorrow if given the chance.

First we went to Parliament Square and I wanted to go in but the ticket was 15 pounds which translates to $30...so I didn't do that. Then I wanted to tour Westminster Abbey but the tickets were even more money...so I didn't do that. St. Margaret's Church is right there next to Westminster and there's no fee to get in, so I went in there with my buddy Sabrina.

Afterwords we walked to Waterloo Train Station and took the train to Windsor where we toured the Castle. It was AMAZING. The town in adorable and the castle is WOW. I found another ancestors portrait on the wall in the castle...pretty cool. Unfortunately we couldn't take photographs inside, but I got some of the outside.

British Museum

Today was our first day of class, and it was at the British Museum (locally known as the BM, but we'll just got with the full name), how cool is that!!! We spent several hours there, and my camera battery died about half way through, but I still got some cool pics.







The outside of the British Museum.



















The Rosetta Stone (not such a great picture, I'll have to get another one.)




















Gigantic Human-Headed Winged Lion from an Assyrian Palace.



















Gigantic Statue of Ramses II.















Parthenon Metops (The picture really doesn't do them justice.)




















This wooden carving was only about 14 to 18 inches tall. I was amazed at the intricacy of the carving.













Nebamun's tomb paintings. Beautiful!

Ok, so I've probably bored you to tears so here's a picture I took at a Skate Park down by the National Theatre. Now to homework...all play and no work is not what I signed onto this trip for (although I can't imagine hating only play).

BTW, London is awesome and I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to live here!