Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Let me take you to London! - Day 5

From June 15 to 23 I was on a nine day trip to London! These posts are my slideshows of that vacation so you can all travel along with me and enjoy the sights. 

I also kept a journal while I stayed there which I will show completely when I'm done with the photographs. Enjoy!

LONDON DAY 5

My original plan when coming to London was to go on walks in the morning and visit galleries and museums in the afternoon. I soon discovered this was not going to work, as you can tell from the previous two days. After all the walking, the museums/galleries were just left with too little time to really get a good look. And that's just not good enough for art loving me.

So on day five of my trip I decided to put the art and culture first and if there was any time left for walking that would be great, but if not that would be okay too. I started by catching up on what was missed the day before: the Tate Britain! 

I arrived a bit too early so I sat at Millbank and watched the Thames through the tree leaves and played in my journal.

Opposite the Tate is the Royal Academy of the Arts (I hope I'm saying that right). Beautiful building.

The main staircase of the Tate is filled with this huge abstract art piece by David Tremlett, would you believe it's rubbed-in crayons?

A see through in a section of the endless galleries.

By photographer Keith Arnatt.  That last sentence haunts me.

A well deserved break at the Manton Café. The restaurant was being refurbished unfortunately.

Just to show you what an amazing building this is. In the distance a fantastic installation by Simon Starling.

After walking the Tate I went into their lovely shop and after that all I wanted to do was relax and unwind ...

... so I went to Green Park. In the distance the side walls of Buckingham Palace.

These two very small books were my loot of the day. Both wonderful.

I wish I could have shown you pictures of the Tate from the outside, but it would have been disappointing since the building was being worked on and mostly covered in plastic. You couldn't really see anything. In fact that was the case with a lot of London this time around, lots reconstruction and upkeep going on just about everywhere. Not very considerate for your average photographer I must say! ;-)

What I'm not showing you either is the amazing work of painter William Turner, who must be one of my favorites in this gallery. Especially his later paintings are breathtaking, but what I like most are his watercolours. If you ever get a chance to look at those, please do, he will blow you away! ;-)

Other favorites are the pre-raphaelites (hence the little book on the right). In the past I have visited wonderful special exhibitions by Waterhouse and Millais, but any time you go there they will at least have a selection of most of the artists of that group. Lots of beautiful and often dangerous women! ;-)

Well, after all that art it's time to grab a bite to eat, work in our journal and get ready for another day. See you soon!