London: Day 4

This morning I slept late. This caused my whole plan for the day top require adjustment...
I started off by going and finding th Bevedere house another hostel that I had planned to check out. This hostel is clean and has a great staff but lacks a kitchen and the BH is £6 a night cheaper, but it turns out they are full for at least a week since most of their guests are long term.
Next I went to a place called The Dana Center, which I had noticed last night. They looked like a science musuem, but it turns out they are a functional lab/ office that hold science forums and demonstrations for the public most week nights. They also advertise a free internet cafe, so I went online to get devons attachment (my pda can't do attachments or download) and look up some directions, and take care of a few other things.
Then I went back to the library for a bit. The library has an awesome old tower that should offer a great view of kensington, hyde park, and maybe even buckingham palace, but alas this is another tower closed to the public. I ate chinese food for lunch in the cafeteria, and other than the poor excuse for chopsticks they offered, it was good.
Onto Hyde park, where they do not have canoes or kayaks only row boats and paddle boats, how lame! Also there was no action at speakers corner, but both of these dissapointments were just time killers while I waited to meet the walking tour of royal London.
On the tour we started at the Duke of Wellington momument and went down constitution lane, to Buckingham palace. Where our guilde told us about different break ins and how to tell if the queen is home. We then went to some of the adjacent royal residences and got pictures with the royal guard (though the famous Welsh guard weren't on duty today). Next we then went to Trafalger Square by way of Pall Mall, this is where the royal art gallery is, to which I must squeeze in a visit. Then we went to the royal parade ground and 10 downey street. I was amazed at how close people and cars can still get to all these sites, especially considering the bombing od No. 10 back in the 80s. Then we went past Churchill Museum and onto parliament and Westminster Abbey. It was a good walking tour, even if I already new a lot of the history the guild was able to cover in the brief time we had. Our guide was an Aussie named Craig who seemed completely un able to hold still but is a very good story teller.
I then took the tube to piccadilli and wandered around there for two more hours. I saw a number of custom shirt maker and habidashers, that I wanted to go into, but all were closed at that time of day. I checked out london china town and was disapointed to discover, it is realy just a street with chinese restaurants on both sides and a few little markets, the chinese markets at florin and 65th back home are better. Though, you can get good nunchucs there.
Since I was not going to catch a show or visit a bar picadilly/ soho doesn't have much to offer me in the evening. I left there and came back to the hostel, to get to bed at a decent hour. It still seems that London shuts down early if you're not a drinker.

Thoughts from the Tate modern

About a year ago I took an Art History class and learn a lot about how to appreciate art, especially modern art, and learned about the different movements in modern art. Today I had the chance to spend a few hours in one of the world's finest galleries of modern art, and as I walked around I jotted down my random thoughts and now I will share them with you. ( if you want to see what I'm talking about visit www.tate.org.uk/modern)

The architecture of this building is not functional or atractive. (inside the open area while trying to find the excibition space.)

I want to touch jean dubuffet's texturology.

There is a lot of malarky in modern art and its interpretation

Alberto Giacometti's four figures on a base made me look up at the bottom of it to see what the artist had done with the parts that most people would not see. In the image I see what the artist was trying to express, But I also see a pedistal on which tall, super thin, women have been raised, a reflection on fashion, purhaps.

Even when odd I admire sculpture, but I only admire painting if I find it visually appealing.

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff's Two Women reminds me of paul gaugan's work in the pacif islands of nude natives. I think the color saturation is part of this.

A Kandinski! I like it!
-lake starnberg.

I don't particularly like big canvases for modern "non representative" art
-joan miro "massage from a friend"
barnett newman & many others.

I like lucio fontana's spacial concept "waiting" there is something sugestive about it but I must admit that this is imposed on the razor slashed canvas by my mind. Then I see a barely formed smile.

I like that the Tate isolates explicit and blatantly suggestive works from the rest of their collecton.

In joan mitchell's #12 I see a womans face framed by marilyn monroe type hair with eyes closed and chin up.

That is kind of pretty, I like the way the colors come together. It looks like the artist was copying monet. Oh wait, that IS "water lillies". I had no idea this was painted so recently.

Even after Magri's class, I still have no appreciation for Jackson Pollack.

Cage (1) by Gerhard Richter makes me think of looking out the window of a fast moving car. None of the other works in the set does anything for me.

How did a london gallery get "water lillies"?

A staff member jUst said "No Touching" in an ominous voice and then smiled at the offending little boy. I strikes me that if modern artists want to transend the traditional restrictions of art and redefine it, if they are going to work with new textures, the patron should be able to perceive the art with more senses than have traditionally been allowed. The gallery is trying to perserve its investment but sculpture in the past has always been exposed to the elements and in the open where it can be touched art straight from studio to gallery does not sit well with me.

Ooh, look at that!
-fred williams "burnt landscape II"

That is actually very pretty not to mention, cool.
-judit reigl "mass writing"
it makes me think of black satin painting but it is done on white canvas

I don't understand the no taking pictures rule at a public gallery.

I expected his canvas to be bigger
-piet mondrian "composition c (no. III) with red, yellow and blue"

What an ego he had
-after reading Mondrian placard

Sol LeWitt' "six geometric figures" is very cool I like the ceiling to floor wall drawing, but the pinstripping is making me dizzy.

haha. That is funny.
-terry atkinson & michael baldwin "map not to indicate"

O k I'm done here"

I don't particularly like escaltors. They are designed to allows people to standstill and get somewhere anyway.

So is the tower not accessible? Bummer!

and then I went out into the damp and grey.

London: Day 3

I slept 8 hours and came down for breakfast around 8:30. Their continental breakfast seems a lot like a build your own sandwich bar plus cereals. They offer some odd juices as well, as I eat I watch oddly shaped taxis and loris drive on the wrong side of the road.

Btw: I regret not bringing my "just in case there's ice cream" spoon. Not that there has been ice cream but bad spoons abound.

it is 1:00 and I am on the tub headed for St. Paul's and the Tate. After breakfast I tried getting some more sleep but my body was not feeling up to it, so I went for a walk. I was going to look for/ walk through Hyde Park but first I came across the Imperial College of London and saw an arrow pointing towards the Library.I was able to get a visitors pass and spent 90 minute curled up with a stack of topo's and trail guilds. The library is open 24/7 (that is so cool!) so I will go back later.
as I resumed my walk I found Kensington palace and walked around it. I did not find it all that attractive, it has a rather industrial look to it with all its brick and chimneys. however, I did like all the victorian home around it that are now embassy residences.
then I found a vintage clothing shop that was very cool and found something worth going back for after my hike, it's a charcoal jacket with purple pinstripes by harod's for £5. I kept wondering and found a tube station so here I am... More to follow.

It is 5:00 and I am on the tube headed towards the tate brittan. I briefly visited St. Paul again but was not ready to pay the £10 for full admission so I haven't seen the crypt yet. Then I crossed the bridge and spent the afternoon in the Tate modern. As I went I wrote down my most prominent thoughts some things I really liked but it is the Tate Brittish gallery that has the Sargent collection that I want to see. I left the musuem and walked over a mile in the wrong direction, found a train headed the right way and got on board.

It is 7:30 pm I am in my bunk (at least for a little while) and I did not see the Tate Brittan. The exit took was not the exit I wanted after a bit of walking I got better directions and got back on the train. I got off at westminster and walked past the abbey and parliament (where I noticed and got pictures of Rodan's "burgess of calia") when I got to the gallery it was quarter past 6 and the gallery was closed. This was annoying but the worst part was I needed a rest room and had been planing to use one at the gallery. I wondered extensively looking for one, I checked a library and mini-market, some other places as well, it is like the british don't need to pee. Eventually, I found one and the took the subway back here, for a nap or food and to go on line. Later I will go back to the college library. Now that I have been here a while I need to do some better planning.

So I ended up sleeping until about 10:30 (maybe even I experience jet lag) when four new room mates from Germany arrived and I awoke. We chatted for a while then I headed out. It seems that the only thing open in London once the sun goes down are the pubs, and of course the library. I am in the library pouring over trail guildes that had been unavailable back in the state and, considering that it is 1:00am, it is rather lively here.

Quarter past 2:00 and just about time for bed it was neat to go walking on the wet streets in the middle of the night.

London: Day 2

I just slept 4 hours and was then woken and served breakfast. I looked out the window just now and saw England for the first time, from up here it looks like the central valley. I get off the plane in 50 minutes and am now switching to london time, so it is just after 10:00 that means 2:00am pst and 8 hours have just vanished...

It is 12:00 in london I have just come through customs gotten my oyster ticket and discovered that I don't smell very nice... More to follow.

It is 2:00. I have gotten checked into the Badon Powell House, a hostel grandpa has used and recommended and I have done something about not smelling so good, so I am headed out...

It is 5:15 and I just bought tickets for tonight's performance of King Lear at the Globe Theater the weather is grey and damp. I hope I can stay awake through the show, it just occurred to me that this should not be a problem since I will be standing. I am getting sprinkled on at th moment and hope it stops soon because my rain gear is at the hostel. I came here by way of the museum of natural history which is in a beautiful building but has exhibits that are mainly oriented towards kids, and by way of St Pauls it is not open for sight seeing this evening but i will go back tomorrow.

Day 1:the plane trip

It is 5:15 california time
We just took off from SFO. I was not willing to spend the money on food in the terminal restrants so I bought some SF sourdough at the gift shop. Right now Pt. Reyes is outside my window. The air is clear and the view is beautiful, I just wish I was not about to spend 10 hours feeling cramped...

I am now above the rockey mountains many of them have snow on them. They are starting to serve dinner. Patterns of ice have formed on the windows, they are quite pretty. Dinner was a chicken microwave thing that was just ok but it came with cheese cake...

It is 9:00 california time so I have been on the plane 4 hours. We are flying over what Mrs Dillon calls the Canadian national core, the Ontario/ Montreal region. Cities seen from above at night are very pretty. I just watched Enchanted and did not like it. It seemed to portray the princesses as week and silly and Gisselle should have been more modest.

It is 9:30 pst and I just realized that Ryann and I will not pray together tonight, and I wish there was a way we could.

Romeo and Juliet

Everyone thinks Romeo and Juliet is so romantic, but if you strip it down looking for morals it is saying that if you don't listen to your parents and respect tradition then tragic things will happen. The bottom line of the story is "If you follow your heart and go against your parents will you and your true love will end up dead"