British Museum | London '16 Culture & City

London Days Two and Three

March 15 2016April 6, 2016

I can’t believe we are almost half at through our trip to London! We have had three fantastic days since day one! The walking tour of London was so awesome! I loved being able to really get up close and personal with some of Londons site old and young. I really enjoyed taking note of where the big sky scrapers were as a point of reference to see how far we had walked on our second day walking tour.

Walkie Talkie in the background of older buildings

While this day was a lot of walking out last stops were really something that I looked forward to. I was extremely pleased with the Princess Diana Memorial and was even more happy to see the joy it also brought to David. It showed that this memorial really lets the people of Great Britian appreciate her legacy. I was so happy to get to our final stop of the day at our group dinner. The totally stats of the day were quite the surprise.

Day two stats

Day Three was aslo a treat! Starting off at the British Museme I walked around with Rachel, Trace and Logan and visited the “Top 10” things go see there and did some sketching. I think the best sketch I’ve done on this trip so far was done of the Nereid Monument in the Greek section of the Museum.

Nereid monument at The British Museum

To finish off the day, we took our boat ride to Greenwich. I think this was my favorite part of the day. I love water and I love being on the water so experiencing London from the water was a exhilarating experience. I stayed up too the whole time until Logan dragged me down to the lower level at the end! I got lots of great pictures. Our ending stats were not as impressive as day two but they still surprised me when I went to take my end of the day screenshot!

Stats day three

Boat ride to Greenwich

Day 3: When Beauty Is Common

March 14 2016September 30, 2016

“I start really missing London when I go away. I have a little flat, but very central. I live above a pub and you’d think it’d be a nightmare, but I like hearing the music and it’s quite comforting.”-Ellie Goulding

It’s Day 3, and I am finally starting to feel at home in this city. In particular today, I got a taste of what life in London is like from our visit to Greenwich.

I was blown away by the Royal Banqueting Hall, Royal Chapel, and Queen’s House, today. I was really hit by this idea that has been flickering in the back of my mind thus far: All of this is normal for Londoners! That awe we felt when we saw St. Paul’s peeking between two high rises for the first time? That excitement we felt walking along the Thames? These treasures are simply a part of the fabric of Londoners’s lives-they might even be used to them! What would that be like, to live in a place where you could expect to see so much beauty on a day to day basis?

Afterwards, some of us stayed in Greenwich and shopped and ate at Jamie Oliver’s Italian restaurant. The shops were so cute, and the restaurant was so quaint and the food was amazing. Since it was all in this cute suburb, it felt like I was getting to see a real slice of London life, which was awesome. It was so relaxing just to get to shop and eat and ride public transportation.

Jamie Oliver’s Italy was the perfect way to end our day!

I started thinking about what effect it must have on Londoners to live around such beauty, and I started wondering if their love and acceptance of the arts didn’t come from the beauty and history that surrounds them. Art and history are important to them, because they are surrounded by it. Perhaps American culture could come to have the same kind of appreciation for art if we were to put more value on what we already have around us and provide for new art to be made for the public to enjoy in their regular lives.

Even this sketch I did of an Anglo-Saxon cross fragment in the British Museum Great Court, situated between two incredible marble pillars, demonstrates the beauty which is commonplace to Londoners.

Day Three

March 14 2016March 24, 2016

We started day three at The British Museum. When we arrived the exhibits hadn’t opened yet, but the great courtyard was open and we took some time to sketch this site. It was really difficult to capture the glass ceiling in my drawings, but they turned out alright in the end. Not many other groups had arrived yet so the space was uncrowded and we were able to enjoy it. The center of the courtyard was occupied by several different gift shops (one for kids, one with books, etc.). There were also a few different spots to eat that lined the outside of the space. The first exhibit the group visited was the Rosetta Stone. After seeing that we saw the Parthenon display. Major elements of the pediments and the frieze were here. Seeing these in person really made me appreciate the scale and the amount of detail in the Parthenon. After these specific stops we decided to wander around and catch some of the museums highlights. We saw the worlds most famous chess set, a head from Easter Island, and a set of samurai armor. There was also a lot of beautiful jewlery on display. We spent a lot of time in the Asian galleries. There were amazing collections of statues, ceramics, and prints on display here.

Day 2-3, Big Ben to Greenwich

March 14 2016

The past two days have been so fun! Yesterday we did our big walking tour, and although I was very exhausted, it was great to see so much of the city! I really enjoyed the tour guide because he was so knowledgable about every aspect of the city.

Today we visited the British museum, took the walking tour of the skyscrapers, and took a boat out to Greenwich. The British Museum was so cool, and my favorite part was definitely the Great Court. It was so large and had so many exhibits that it was hard to see even a fraction of it all. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the skyscrapers a lot more than I thought I would. I loved the green aspects to them, and also really enjoyed learning about the shapes and layouts of them. My favorite skyscraper that we saw would have to be the cheesegrater (122 Leadenhall). I really like this building because of its shape, the entrance piazza, and the untilies core with the bright colors. We then took the tube to Westminster to get on the boat to Greenwich. When we came out of the tube station Big Ben was right there! It was super cool to finally see the famous icon before getting on the boat. The trip to Greenwich was really fun and a great way to see the city from a different perspective. After arriving in Greenwich we explored the Royal Dining Hall and chapel for a bit before being released. Afterwards we decided to go up to see the Prime Meridian line where there were great views of just about everything from the O2 stadium, to Canary Wharf, to the City of London. To end the night, we walked around Greenwich for a little while, eating dinner in a little French restaurant and exploring record stores. I had a great time today and I’m finally starting to feel comfortable navigating the transportation system here in London.

A street in Greenwich near the Royal Observatory.

Big Ben from Westminster Bridge!

Here is a panoramic of the Great Court at the British Museum, and a few of my sketches I completed here.

The more you see the more you know.

March 14 2016

The last two days have allowed me to see every inch of London I believe. My feet are sore but my mind is completely full.

Yesterday’s journey began at the point of London that marks the starting of the great fire. This is where we met our wonderful guide who loved London more than anyone could. The massive column that marks the site was incredible with beautiful carved stone stories on the base which he explained to us in detail.

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The rest of the day was a wonderful but very long (12 miles) walking tour around all of London. Some of the incredible sites we saw were the tower bridge, London tower, the “egg”, Buckingham palace, all the way to a wonderful Zaha Hadid building in Hyde park.

This morning we began at the British museum which left me in awe. The expansive interior spaces housing the most beautiful collections of history really reminded me of the magnitude of the space I was standing inside. The juxtaposition of these artifacts from around the world here in Britian did make me feel sad though, realizing so many cultures had their history taken from them and displayed here for the British public. I wonder if it would have changed if they were just exhibitions soon returning to their respective homes. Alas this is not the case and I was still impressed.

The day ended in greenwrich which was by far my favorite part of the entire trip thus far having seen the queens house and sailors dining hall which both were what I believe was the spirit of London to me. Lastly we had an incredible group supper at Jamie Oliver’s and rode the dlr home. I’m exhausted fulfilled and thrilled to see where London will take me next. Now time for bed. Goodnight all!

Days 2 and 3: Extravagant journey

March 14 2016

Days 2 was magnificent! The day seemed super elongated because we walked 12 miles.. yes 12 miles. However, every mile and every second of that day was worth it. The places we saw with David were rather spectacular; I truly didn’t think we would be able to see the Buckingham Palace but we got too. I loved that David was so knowledgable and so excited to be with us. He made us feel like we were at home when we are nearly 4000 miles away from Columbus. The landscape and architectural relationship between the Kensington Garden and the Princess Diana memorial was wonderfully shocking. The architecture plays a rather witty part of the overall environment because it acts like it was part of the landscape from the beginning. The Princess Diana memorial was seriously just breathtaking. It does not compare to any of the pictures at all. The Princess Diana memorial was completely different than say the Peter Pan sculpture or the Buckingham Palace and the Queens Park. They both were very abrupt when handling the relationship between architecture and landscape. I enjoyed both ways of developing the London area but the subtle ways that Princess Diana Memorial played the part of landscape and architecture.

Day 3 was seriously one of the best days yet! This day spoke to me most in the morning; once it got to the afternoon I wasn’t so amazed because I was still so hung up about the British Museum. As I mentioned earlier, pictures do not show the proportions in scale well at all. When I walked into the Court room it was seriously one of the best experiences EVER. I loved it! I was speechless and thought that I was never going to leave to go look at the items in the museum spaces. The architecture in there is spectacular because it plays on the idea of modern architecture but classic architecture as well. I seriously was amazed that someone could play with the different styles like that and yet make it so elegant and modern. I loved sketching here. I was totally moved by the different architecture and the different rooms that held the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman information. Everything was fabulous about the morning. I actually didn’t want to leave. I loved walking around the buildings in downtown. The Gherkin has a beautiful and rather fascinating structural system which I never thought about before. I loved the contrast from white to the glass as well. I enjoyed the different types of architecture in the city because it played a wonderful relationship between the new and old forms of architecture.

Loved love loved those two days!!

This photo was at dinner when we were waiting for our food to come out. Everyone looks wind-burnt and tired but it was worth it!

These two photos were at Buckingham Palace which I was so totally excited about! Words can not express how happy I am that we got to see Buckingham Palace!

The British Museum was definitely my favorite sketch so far on this trip. Truly so blessed to be in London!

London: Take 2 & 3

March 14 2016April 6, 2016

Days two and three in London were just as beautiful as the first. Our walking tour, thought extremely long and somewhat exhausting, really provided a great overview of the city and showed the multitude of characters of buildings. And I absolutely loved our tour guide. He was adorable and told the best stories that further explain the history behind the architecture. The Tower of London was one of my favorite sites to see. I didn’t realize just how extensive the walls were outside of the keep.

I also loved Tate and the Millennium Bridge. I know from class(es) that Tate was large but I never expected it to be that massive. Especially with the current exhibition, the space seems overly large. I’m also a huge fan of Tate’s book store and will definitely be going back there for our museum of choice. Millennium Bridge was something I was really excited to see. I’m a (huge) Harry Potter fan so it was nice to be able to see the bridge in context.

This picture seems like a very accurate description of the trip so far (ft. Millennium Bridge).

The British Museum was another site I was really excited to visit. I’ve always loved history, I grew up watching the History Channel with my mom, so visiting the museum was extremely enjoyable for me.

An attempted sketch at the statue of King Ramsesses II. It was so funny to watch all of the little kids come running up to see what I was drawing then look amazed when they saw what it was. It made me feel a bit like a renowned artist.