Sketches

One of my goals for this trip was to get a better grasp of the different architectural styles. Here is one sketch of what I learned from the architecture gallery at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The other sketch is of Stourhead, one of my favorite locations from the trip.

 

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Natural History Museum

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On my free day, I spent a good portion of my day at the natural history museum. I’d visited it for my museum visit Tuesday but didn’t get to visit all of the exhibits, so I decided to come back to do that. It was absolutely amazing. While the dinosaur exhibit was far too busy Saturday, I’d already done that Tuesday. There was also a wing called the Darwin center in which you can look at many of the specimens the scientists at the museum have collected all over the world and some information on how they are collected, categorized, and studied. There is also an earth science wing with a history of earth and information on rocks and weathering. Even if you aren’t interested in that, their exhibit on gems and other pretty rocks is definitely worth seeing. Best of all, it’s free (unless you are like me and spend too much in the gift shop). If you go back, make sure to visit!

trim.E125E59E-811F-4D4B-AD4C-B2A890959395 imageOn March 11th, we went to see the shard, the city hall and some other modern architecture in London. I feel the totally different beauty compared to the architecture we experienced the other two days. After that, Andrew, Ellen, John, Tian and I went to the design museum. I feel sorry that the third floor was closed for some reason, but we still had a good time there. From design of camera to the design of clothes, there are a lot of different things about design. On the way to the museum we passed some interesting buildings which have some great moment. In the night, because I went to the art shop at Leicester Square for a new sketchbook, Tian and I found a really good restaurant in China Town by accident. And the dessert there is amazing!

The Tourists Become the Exhibit

The other day we had a brief amount of time at the British Museum and in that time two sketches needed to be completed. For my first one I sat off by myself in the front of the courtyard next to the gate. I couldn’t help but people watch the groups of tourists around me with all of their camera pose and selfies and thought how odd it looked. But then I had a reality check of what I probably look like at each new location I go to with the group. And at least those tourists were quite I’m the complete opposite. For the second sketch inside the museum Shelby and I became the exhibit for a group of tourists While they completely dis regarded their tour guide and watched every pencil stroke as they crowded around us.

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Afternoon in the Museum.

Yesterday, we were to travel to a museum of our choice during our free time in the afternoon. Rachael and I decided to go to the Natural History Museum.  We took the circle line in the tube to South Kensington stop and walked a couple blocks to the museum. While walking we caught a glimpse of what looked like giant cathedral. The ornate museum was built in a Victorian style architecture and was built in 1881 By the architect Hans Sloane.

 

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Along with the architecture that I found interesting, I enjoyed the dinosaur portion to the museum. The museum is portioned off into different wings because the museum is very linear and high ceilings for large exhibits. It was a nice surprise on both parts, the architecture and the museum content.

Impressed!

Yesterday we mainly went to and sketched the St. Paul’s and the British Museum. For me, this is a really amazing day, although it was really cold and when I came back I was too tired to post anything. St. Paul’s is the second most important cathedral in the world and we I climb to the top I was so impressed. You will not want to climb this staircase for twice, but you will definitely want to see the scenery for thousands of times. The whole London is just in front of your eyes. Inside the St. Paul’s, I felt strong inner peace and I light a candle there with a wish in my mind. Hope I could come here one day with my families.

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British Museum

 

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Today we went to the British Museum. I was interested in the juxtaposition of my viewpoint of the artifacts to the viewpoint of others in our group. As architecture majors, you are all trained to look at the design and form and such (I’m getting better at my architecture terms, but I have a long way to go, forgive me). I tend to look at them more in the historical perspective. I think about the classics courses I’ve taken when looking at the Elgin marbles, about the stories of Athens and of the Parthenon. I imagine many others studying the textures and materials and methods, etc. Correct me if I’m wrong, but many of you guys are more drawn to the”interesting” objects than to the historically significant objects (though, in the context of the British Museum, this is all relative as everything is historically significant). It was an amazing trip, but I imagine I got very different things out of it.

What a 2 days it has been!

Today has been our second day in London and so far in these past two days I have seen a lot.  The best by far had to be the visit to Saint Paul’s Cathedral.  The cathedral was just beautiful.  It really stinks that pictures were not allowed because words could not describe it.  Also, the view of the city from the very top made for some excellent pictures of the city.  The second best thing has to be going to the British Museum.  The museum was full of architecture and artifacts from pretty much everywhere.  I had a blast going around and having the chance to see all of it.  So far these past two days have been great.  I cannot wait to see what the other days have to offer us.Pano of the city(50%)