Winchester

Today Courtney, Sabrina, Rachel and I went to Winchester. I was kind of nervous about it because it was my idea and no one had ever even heard of the town. I found out about it in a book I found laying around our flat. Winchester was the capital of England for along time, the Cathedral is really huge, which is kind of odd for such a small town. It wasn't always so small. Anyway, there are 12 Kings buried at Winchester Cathedral as well as Jane Austen (which if I am honest is really why I wanted to go in the first place). The oldest private school in GB is also in Winchester as well as the ruins of an old castle and a very fun shopping district. We had a blast today...I'm so glad my idea to go to Winchester was a success! (King Arthur's round table is also in Winchester but we didn't get a chance to see it...bummer!)

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.

Canterbury

Sabrina, Courtney and I went to Canterbury today. It was pretty fun. Sabrina got her nose pierced, a life long dream, and I bought some presents for some people back home. We went to the Cathedral which was very nice and not creepy at all. There was a service going on at the time with the choir singing through most of our visit. It was rather pretty. I recorded a portion so that you could hear what we did today.