The famous dome, the third largest in the world, was amazing. I didn't know this until I saw it but, within the cathedral, there is the American Memorial Chapel to commemorate the Americans based in Britain who gave their lives in WWII. Each day the page is turned in a huge book listing all their names. There are four levels of the cathedral that you can explore. The Whispering Gallery, on the second level, was neat. It was pretty impressive how far you could hear a whisper across the dome. On the third level was the Stone Gallery, which was on the outside of the dome, had a great view of the city.
What I failed to mention so far is that we had to climb narrow spiral staircases all the way up. A total of 434 steps to the Golden Gallery on the fourth level. But the trek to the fourth level from the third was by far worse than anything that preceded it. I admit that my legs were getting a bit tired at this point but that's not the main reason I started shaking. The fact that these steps were iron and I could see through them absolutely terrified me. I've never experienced anything quite like it before--I was shaking and it was actually somewhat paralyzing. I clutched the handrail on one side and the interior of the staircase on the other and moved forward, slowly. I didn't want to go on, though. If I had any choice, I wouldn't have. Here's a picture of me trying to make light of the situation.
In the end, I made it to the top. The marginal benefit of going to the fourth level was pretty small but I'm a completionist (which is something I hope to work on in the future) so I probably would have done it even if I'd have known. By the end of it, our feet were sore. Note: St. Paul's Cathedral is not a smart way to begin a day in which you plan to do lots more walking.
Next, we headed to The British Museum.
The main galleries we focused on here involved Egypt, Greece, and Mesopotamia. The Rosetta Stone, the key to unlocking the secrets of hieroglyphics, was a highlight along with mummies and lots of Greek sculptures. I fit right in with the latter....
Note 1: Yes, my right arm is strategically placed in the first picture. Gotta keep this PG-13.Note 2: Jenise did the second picture.
Note 3: Plan to spend an entire day at the British Museum. Rushing through these galleries is about as exciting as spending time at an antique store or garage sale. You really have to do a lot of reading to have any appreciation for what you see. We were thorough with a number of the galleries but I'm sure there's a lot we missed out on that we would have enjoyed because....
We had to make our way to Tate Modern. Before moving on, I should say that I expected to hate much of what I saw at Tate Modern. Indeed, I did. In any case, there were lots of famous artists on display including Monet, Mattisse, Picasso, and Pollack.
We also saw a room full of Rothko's that looked like very much like this (which I made using Paint):
Impressive, ain't it! I thought it was amusing that there were a *ton* of paintings that looked very similar to these. I wonder why? Maybe, ummmm, because it's not that hard? All you have to do is convince a critical mass of well-to-do people to buy into your pretentiousness?
There were also heaps of metal laying around all over the place. I think the janitors didn't pick them up because they happened to fall on the "art" side of the ropes. In all seriousness, is it not commonly agreed that the best literature works on multiple levels? Why should paintings or sculpture be any different? If it's not beautiful, or at least intriguing, I'm done.
All wasn't lost, though, because (besides the fact that I got a kick out of laughing at the terrible stuff) there was a lot of neat stuff as well. The impressionist and realist works were great on the whole. And, I admit it, even some of the "weird stuff" was great. This one was probably my favorite.
To conclude our last night in London, we went to the pub for dinner. Jenise finally got to have a Shandy as was recommended by both Sarah and my mom. It was quite yummy. I knew I'd like it better than my beer!
4 comments:
I suppose you know that a shandy is just beer mixed with lemonade?
Yep. I wouldn't have thought it would make a combination but it sure did.
Unfortunately modern/post-modern paintings are, in my opinion, thoughtless pieces of trash, but there are a few gems to be found. Picasso lives up to the hype for the most part, but Pollock, on the other hand, is intolerable. For me, the impressionists deliver the most goods when seen in person, as you commented earlier, the texture of Van Gogh's work is sometimes astounding.
I'm glad you got to the British Museum. When you come to Chicago we'll have to visit the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago as it has picked up the British Museum's scraps. It's really remarkable when considering the difference between the best and second best (as the Oriental Institute is commonly considered) near-east museums. You'll laugh at how puny it is.
I tend to think it's more stupid/incoherent than thoughtless but it's hard to tell the difference when the result is the same.
It's hard to imagine that there are actually scraps from the British Museum. The place was HUGE and filled to the brim. I definitely want to visit Chicago. Hopefully sometime relatively soon.
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