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Published: February 28th 2007
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So this is the first entry of my travels.... back-dated tremendously....
LONDON!
I arrived happily and grumpily jetlagged. i managed to sleep some on the plane until we hit some scary turbulence, the intercom shouting 'ladies and gentleman please fasten your safety belts!fasten your safety belts!fasten your safety belts!' while the flight attendants raced down the aisles clinging onto anything they could to stay upright. the tv said it was -68 deg. F and 100 miiiile / hour winds... as i started to feel sick, i readied that handy paper bag in the seatpocket in front of me bag just incase....... but soon enough everything died down including my stomach...
Stepping out of the Tube station at Highstreet Kensington, i did actually stand agape for a bit. i didnt really expect it to look so 'quaint?' the actually attractive cast iron streetlights and stoplights, the taxi cabs all shiny and old school black.... amidst the expected storefronts looking just like those in the US and the shuffle of people with somewhere to be. I walked towards Isabels work and gaped somemore at the beautiful white houses (rowhouses?). After finding Isabel and walking with her to her school where i
left my things, i decided to take one of those terrifically touristy sightseeing buses. By the time i found where one stopped it began to, you guessed it, rain. good timing. I happily, dreamily, jetlaggedly, rode it around for a while and was quite pleased that i did... i felt too drunkish to photograph but let ideas for photos or videos pass sleepily through my brain. I was really surprised at how beautiful London is... I guess i didnt really think much about it as all my energy and worry was going into my real trip to come, to Greece.
So now i will attempt to describe my whole week in London in a few paragraphs so as not to exhaust my brain for the Greece entries.
I spent some time doing toursity things, the tour bus, the boat ride, walking down the Thames and up Whitehall past Westminster abbey and Parlaiment to Traflagar square, But i also spent sometime just hanging out with Isabel and all her wonderful classmates at LISPA. I saw two 'showings of work' (not technically finished performances) the First and Second years projects. as well as went to a party in a random
warehouse/rehersal space where some of the student were (slightly illegally) living. It was huge, fabulous, complete with woodstove and made me dream of all the performance pieces and art i could make in a space like that..... unfortunately it is due to be demolsihed in the next few years as it is in the area where the new stadium is to be built....
we saw 2 shows: Sam Becketts "Happy Days" with Fiona Shaw, and by a funny stroke of fate "Rock & Roll" the new Tom Stoppard on closing night on the West End with the Original cast...... Both were fantastic. If you want to hear more, we'll have to have coffee..
Also, i did plenty of museum going. to sum up:
The National Gallery- nice but i wasnt that impressed
The Portrait Gallery- didnt have enough time to get to the more contemporary sections, but it was fun and helpful to put some faces to British history. Didnt want to pay the 9 pounds (ie. 18 US dollars) to see the fashion portrait show ... ah well....
The Tate Britain- some incredible Francis Bacons, as well as of course, Turner. I found funnily enough that the
Turners I enjoyed most of all were the ones that were not finished. Also where there were boats or scenes, i usually found corny. But generally just getting lost in the waves or clouds of Turners paintings are a trip. I also discovered a new painter i want to see more of- Peter Lanyon- he paints urban lanscapes with the same mood i wish to photograph them... (hmmm maybe i should be painting?)
The Imperial War Museum - i actually only went to see the Henry Moore exhibit, but wished i had time to see the whole musem b/c it looked fantastic. tons of replicas (and originals).... The Moore exhibit was fantastic.
The Royal Obervatory- has a great view, a great museum if you are into clocks, but a crappy and i mean crappy Camera Obscura. it has loads of lightleaks so that you seriously cant see a thing on the table.... So certainly dont go there just for that. (if you dont know what a camera obsura is, i suggest Googling it as its pretty fascinatig.) didnt do the classic "here's me straddling the prime meridian line" photo - sorry folks.
- Also i ran
into the
Queens House to see the huge Turner that supposedly required wall removal to install... it was quite a dissapointment actually. it must have been a very early work.......
Finally
the British Museum - knowing i would never see it all i just saw the Greek section. and what a section it was. they sure did get some good stuff. Not even counting the Parthenon Marbles (or depending on who you side with the Elgin Marbles) I saw this the day before i left for Greece as a nice little warmer. The Marbles are incredible, dont miss them.
and with just a bit of time to spare i booked it to
the Tate Modern- where i headed straight for the Bacons, Rothkos and Bourgeois... Francis was, yet again, amazing, Mark demanded more time and Louise wasn't in the form i like her best.... wish i had allowed more time for the rest.....
Some other things i would highly suggest for anyone traveling to London-
Portabello Road- the Saturday Market- good smells, good buys, and ocasionally street performances. I found some lovely items from the woman shouting "everythings 5 pounds. hurry up now. before the Police come. Everythings 5 pounds"
Brick Road (or is it Lane?) - gloroius Indain food everywhere
Well if you've stayed with me this far, its now time for dessert.... a funny little happening on the tube.... not really happening so much as a character......
The ride from the War museum to where i needed to meet Isabel was a fairly long one. a few stops into the ride, a man boarded who talked loudly to obvoiusly noone in particular. At first i couldnt makeout what he was saying. the tune of it sounded something like "hu-hu-hahaha" he would repeat it at fairly regular intervals, and soon enough i began to understand it "i'm available" "i'm available" he was saying, and soon he began interspersing that with "ladies" and "ladies only, no lads" "i'm available" "i'm not playing hard to get here" "im available" "jsut want to let you know ladies, i'm available" "nope, not playing hard to get" and at one stop as the woman sitting across from him stood to leave he said "woop, missed your chance" "ladies only, i'm available"....... and so on. he seemed humourous and harmless from my standing place by the door behind several men....
amazing trees
these amazingly strange sculptural trees are all over. this one is tame in comparison to others. i forget the name of these trees but aparently they are perfectly suited to city life b/c they shed their bark very often, thereby they are not really affected by pollution.. i believe the poor chap carried a beer can.....
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eric sharp
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hey avye!
So nice to hear about your trip thus far. Can't wait for your next entry from Greece. Everyone here at 2112 misses you. Have fun, and we'll talk at length when you return bronzed by the Grecian sun.