Days 5-8: Super busy time

AHH! I am so sorry to anyone who is trying to follow along and waiting for a post for these past couple of days! These past few days have been crazy fun and crazy busy! So this post will be quite long, buckle up, grab a snack, and get prepared for days 5-8.

Saturday: Made me exhausted on Sunday

Our first free day! Don’t get me wrong, we have tons of free time, but this was the first day that we got to choose what time we got to wake up that wasn’t up to Shawn. The majority of us decided to go to the London Eye. Now we were very confused how this all worked, we thought you bought tickets, and that reserved you a car for a certain amount of time. In reality you buy the tickets, show up, and they shove you on a car with as many other people it takes to reach twenty five people. The view were phenomenal though. We took so many pictures and giggled the whole time. The eye moves very slowly and so it takes you about an hour to get all  the way around. Then after we got done with that we went and got some overpriced but very tasty pizza and cheap ice cream. We stopped and watched this street performer who I thought was really funny and all he did was three tricks, but honestly he made me want to watch more street performers. I then saw a carousel that went pretty fast and kinda looked at it then at the group and said “can we ride the carousel?” some agreed and we got on. Fastest carousel I have ever road, completely worth it! Then Jamie and I went and explored this festival hidden area, and hung out for a little while before we went to this outside, antique book, poetry, and map sale. We looked around there for the longest time before meeting backup with two of our friends. We sat on this bench and then just chatted for hours about one of the guys that came along and his life, then we watch this really (cute) amazing street artist from Australia. We decided to head back because we had a show that night! Jamie, Aahron, and I went to go see Woman in Black. Now we thought Shawn was being a big chicken when he decided to warn us about this show telling us it was scary, but boy should we have listened to him! This show was so amazing and that why it was terrifying! The sound design, set, story, everything added up to create something that in all honesty made me scream a couple of different times. 10/10 not seeing again but highly suggest. Then we went and got some Tesco sandwiches and went to bed.

Sunday: The day that Saturday made me not want to do

So if you have ever met Shawn Irish then you must know, and this has been stated before, he walks really fast. It takes me eight steps to keep us with his one. I have counted, for every step he takes, I have to take like three. It’s all in the stride! This is important because we walked a lot on Sunday because we made a wrong turn and got lost. When we, finally, figured out where we were headed we went to the Brick lane market. I ate so much good food! I got some kebabs, and some pancakes (weird combo I know), and some sugar cane and lemon juice. Now let me tell you, that was the best juice I have ever have! We all just shared and everyone ate off of each others plate so we could try many different things, not over eat, and keep it at a lower price. We then explored underneath the market where there was a vintage clothing shop full of clothes from the 70’s-90’s. I did not buy anything but I was very tempted. Klara, they had so many clothes that reminded me of you, you would of loved it. Then we went to The London Museum which I went through pretty quickly because I was exhausted from the day before and jogging eight miles with Shawn, that I just went back to the hotel and slept till dinner, ate another Tesco sandwich (thank you Megan) and went back to sleep.

Monday: More walking, but this time there are stairs

As some know, I am a sucker for a museum. There are quite a few here luckily, this days whole purpose was The Tate Modern Museum. This museum is full of modern art, which was beautiful. For class we had to write about two pieces from that caught our eye. I chose these two art pieces because one they were eye catching and two they weren't like pieces I have ever seen before. The first piece I looked at was “Colour Cycle” by Peter Sedgley. It is an optical illusions that involves different color circles on a canvas and when in a dark room, whatever color light is shown, shows a different painting. This was done in the 1970’s and I really believe that is why it stood out to me, because even though this is still considered modern art, it's still in a later time where this art would be difficult to accomplish and I believed it was done later in time. Next I looked at is “The British Library” by Yinka Shonibare CBE, this exhibit showed many, many books that had names of people who migrated to Britain for various reasons, and included tablets that allowed you to read the peoples stories that were in each book. It also showed the researched that went in to creating this exhibit. We then went to the top and looked out on Britain after climbing ten flights (I complained the whole time) of stairs (thanks Landan) and took a deep breath (we should of just waited for the slow elevator) of the cold London air. Once we were finished with the museum we went for a walk on south bank again and enjoyed lunch at this little place that I see everywhere that serves pretty cheap salads and lemonade call EAT. We then decided that since we were back on Southbank (we really like it on Southbank) to go back to the little hidden festival Jamie and I found and chill out for a bit. I also remembered this little shopping center down the way a bit and asked if maybe they wanted to go look at what they had there. We went, I bought myself some space socks. We then headed back. We had another show that evening called “The Three Sisters” and I loved it! There were some issues I had acting wise and scenic wise but I would see it again for sure. There was was also a dance number in the middle of it and we all know, I love a good dance number. 8/10 forcing my mom to take me so I can see it again! Then of course after a long day, I came back to the hotel, wrote my blog post for Shawnold (his new name) and past out.

Tuesday: Museum #3, tired of museums

Oh Shawnold, you must of heard about my love for museums and pack three days worth of them. Bad plan. Today we went to the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. I went so I could fulfill my blog post and see Van Gogh and Monet, and get Wingstop. Over all the art would be amazing and I really do enjoy it, but looking at them for three days is a bit tiring. In our blog we had to write about two different pieces from the two museums and compare and contrast them. The two paintings that I chose to discuss about are, from the National Gallery, Ophelia among the Flowers by Odilon Redon and, from the National Portrait Gallery, William Shakespeare associated with John Taylor. The main and most obvious reason I chose these was because of their association with our favorite boy Willy Shake. Ophelia among the Flowers is pastel on paper and only happens due to Redon’s interest in Hamlet during the early 20th century. He devoted numerous works that depicted Ophelia. This piece in particular shows Ophelia drowned surrounded by flowers. I found the color scheme that he chose very interesting, when most people paint this scene they choose duller colors and white a blue flowers, but Redon chose a bright sky and and bright red flowers as almost the focus of the painting, and Ophelia blends in on the bottom right hand corner. This could possibly try and show how Ophelia easily blends in with the beauty around her and that her death shouldn’t be seen as dark, but as a gorgeous experience. The second painting of William Shakespere has a completely different vibe. By now one can only hope that the world knows of this man, but this portrait is the only one that has a good claim of being painted from life so even though he is well known, this is all we have to guess what he looks like. This is oil on canvas, and even though I know very little about art I am pretty positive that is very different from pastel on paper. This portrait is very dark and Shakespears expression is very serious, but what stands out the most is his ear ring. Now in the gallery I may have said “how e-boy of him” but it being a gold earring has some significants showing his wealth at the time. I then bolted because Wingstop was calling my name! I ate a wonderful lunch, went back to the hotel to sit and write my blog post, made a grocery list, and I am about to have a relaxing night in with few other girls on this trip, watch Britain's Got Talent, and you may of guessed it, sleep the night away.