Friday, May 27, 2011

I've been here two days and already I feel like it has been weeks. England is great! This morning I woke up at 5:45 wide awake I guess I am not 100% over the Jet Lag yet. Today was an exciting day full of splendid information. We started off taking the tube to Leicester Square where I had the marvelous opportunity to see where the inspiration came from for Diagon Ally.

This is for all the Harry Potter lovers out there! Here is one end. Here is the other end.

These shops are really cool. They are cute little shops with a lot to offer if you decide to be a costumer I'm sure, but unfortunately I am a poor college student who can't afford to go crazy in the little shops. Although I can go crazy with taking pictures of them and gaining inspiration from them. This whole area of London is so eclectic I love it! Meaning that it has a combination of deriving ideas, styles or tastes from a large and diverse range of sources.

We then quickly made our way through the streets and alleyways to find Covent Garden. Covent Garden is a very exciting area, most definitely a place to find tourists so naturally we fit in perfectly.















This was a cute marketplace where you can buy items that were being traded or simply a place to find fresh produce, bread or olives. I'm personally not a huge fan of olives but they had many options, so if you are an olive person you would have been in heaven with the selection.













Another thing that I found to be really cool about this area is how different all the structures were, especially in the ceilings and archways. Most of the spaces embraced structural design, which added to the feel and design of the area. Structural design is the underlying framework, or the structural component of the architecture. It is cool to see how the structural component adds to the visual form.When walking through these spaces you can't help but to look up and notice the structure and where the light is coming from.
The first two images demonstrate structural design perfectly the other two show the structure like in the arches and pilasters but they cover up the underlying form, which demonstrates again how eclectic London really is.

Next stop on our journey was Hampton Court Palace which is currently owned by the queen, and all of her artwork is hanging up on the walls there. We learned that she switches out her artwork regularly so the art we may have seen on the walls today may not be there tomorrow. Hampton Court Palace was the residence of Henry VIII. To continue on the theme of how eclectic London is Hampton Court Palace has a tudor style and also baroque style.

Unfortunately my camera died before I was able to take any stunning pictures of the palace, but I do have an amazing flatmate and a great group of students who have offered to share pictures with me. It was miserable without my camera. I suppose I owe an apology to my mom for all those years I complained about taking pictures. This has definitely been a quick lesson for me and I will make sure my camera is fully charged every morning before I leave for the day.

Here are some of the amazing pictures from Hampton Court: Look how detailed and beautiful the chimneys are.



The Royal Gardens

The Queens Entrance

Oh and did I mention I got to meet the King??

Seeing places like this gives me a greater appreciation for the artisans and such, because to think that a building such as this was made, designed, crafted by hand is mind blowing. It kind of makes you wonder where the appreciation for that has gone today. There was an arts and crafts movement by William Morris but it still has me wondering why people don't appreciate this workmanship as much anymore, we're all too focused on technology and other daily activities. Which reminds me, tomorrow is the "football" match between FC Barcelona and Manchester United! I Can't wait it has been all over the news and papers here, too bad the tickets are 1200 pounds to even have a seat in the stadium. We'll I hope Barcelona wins! I will keep my fingers crossed tomorrow.
Since I can't call home, come read tomorrow to find out what's next to happen here in London.

1 comment:

  1. I'm so jealous. I've always--and I mean always--wanted to go to England. Great photos. It looks like you're having a great time.

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