Hello family! I am in the beautiful city of London! I absolutely love this city!!! I think more than Rome. Which I huge. I loved Rome. Anyway, I will share some of the highlights. For starters, we are staying at the Mowbray Court Hotel. It's right by the Earl's Court underground station. Really great location. We get a really great breakfast of toast cheese tomatoes and fruit every morning. It's delightful. So, London. The first day we got here, we checked in at our hotel, then Martha took us into the city and we walked from the Houses of Parliament, up Whitehall to Trafalgar square, and then caught a bus to St. Pauls cathedral. All the while she was discussing architectural elements or things we might want to go or places we might want to see. It's so great being in all these cities with amazing professors like mine. They amaze me with their vast amounts of knowledge. Then after that some of us went and had a sushi dinner and went to Robin Hood. First movie I had sat down and watched in three and a half weeks. I was goin crazy. Loved that movie! The next morning we went to the British museum. That was pretty sweet. I saw the Rosetta stone and the Sutton Hoo ship burial artifacta among other things from ancient to medieval times. After being there for quite some time, we were set free for the day. We ate dinner at this tavern and I had some really great fish and chips. They were delightful. Then some if us got discount tickets to Les Mis. Incredible show and it never gets old. Then Thursday we went to the National Gallery. That is a massive collection with some great stuff. My favs you ask? Arnilfini portrait by van Eyck, some Dutch landscapes, Bacchus and Ariadne by Titian, and some JMW Turners. When we go to these museums, Martha lectures for like three to four hours. Then we get set loose to do a free write, where we just write about something from one of the time periods discussed that day. Mine are usually 2-4 pages long. Then, best thing ever, I went to Sotheby's. Martha was going to take us over in Wednesday to poke our heads in but when she called they said Thursday was an open day. So she registered us and on Thursday we went. It was amazing! They had refreshments, we could mingle with other interested kids, and then they sat us down in a room and talked about the school. The director started out and gave talked about the main goals of Sotheby's. Then they had directors of each of the programs talk for about five minutes and give a schpiel. They have programs for art business, contemporary art, art design, fine and decorative arts, photography, and one more I can't remember at the moment. I fell I. Love. I would love love to do the art business program someday. Maybe after I graduate I'll work for a few years so I can afford it and then go. Ha! When they were talking about the art market and auction houses and recent sales they've had and everything else I got so incredibly excited. It just seems like such an exciting thing to be involved in such an international trade that not a lot of people I know ever talk about. I learned so much! After that, they had four alumni members come and talk about their experience and where they are now. All of them now work for galleries or museums in London. I was just blown away by the while experience. How lucky was it that we were there on the exact day of an open day? Really lucky I'd say. Then some girls stayed after to converse with the directors but I had to get to the theater for Wicked! That show never gets old. Just better and better every time. This was the best overall cast I've ever seen. Everything about that show rocks my world. If you haven't seen it, get there. Now. K thanks. Yesterday we hit the national gallery again, saw some more great stuff. Including some Van Goghs I LOVED among other post impressionists. Macbeth in the Globe! Very gruesome, but i felt i was getting the true real shakespeare experience. And some. Plus there were scottish and british men in it, so all the stage blood and guts and darkness was worth it. :) Dinner at the Texas embassy where we had FREE REFILLS on drinks. A miracle here in Europe. I really loved Texas yesterday. Then after, Claire and I walked from trafalgar to parliament and Westminster ster across the river to the south bank by the London eye and just hung out there by the river for a bit. It was a fun night. Sorry this is getting short and quick but it's late and we have early church... Ha! Today: Tate Britain where I saw a heckalotta JMW Turners. I just love him. Then Wallace collection with a lot of Dutch genre scenes, rococo fun-ness, and Canaletto grand touring. Pretty great collection complete with a Rembrandt portrait of his son, some van Dyck portraits, and even a delaroche Juste milieux painting I included in my paper for my 19th century class - Joan of arc in prison. Good stuff! We played today and hit up platform 9 3/4. It was a great day. I must hit the hay now, but love you all dearly! Muah!
Kell
p.s. I know I need to post pictures. Those will come as soon as I get to a decent Internet cafe. :)
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