Last week was full of touristy adventures. My friend who studied abroad with me last semester in Milan came to visit for the first half of the week so we ran around trying to do as many touristy things in as few days as possible. Alba arrived around noon on Monday and after checking her into my dorm we went to go see Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. Many picture opportunities. Then we walked along the Thames and went to Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. Alba had been in my Leonardo da Vinci art history class last semester so at the National Gallery we visited the Madonna and the Rocks that is controversially attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. Alba and I are both convinced that he did not, however, paint it and that his only original is the version in the Louvre. We visted El Greco, Van Gough, Renoir, Degas, Klimt, della Francesca, Van Eyck, Cezanne, Monet, Morisot, Manet, and other wonders of wonders. Then we went to My Old Dutch for 5 pound pancake (crepe style) Monday special. We stayed in that night and Alba battled jet lag.
Tuesday we got up and first went to Tate Modern around 11 am. This place is huge and I really liked the factory style design. I thought it fit the content quite nicely. I was also excited to see pieces of Arte Povera that I had studied last semester in my modern art history class that I didn't know was in London! Like Venus and the Rags. Also the super famous Futurist sculpture The Continuity of Movement through Space or whatever its called was there. Lots of Cubism and Surrealism as well. And plenty of pretentious installations. Some Pollock and a piece by his wife. Alba and I had mixed reactions to museum but its necessary place to visit when living in or visiting London. Afterwards we grabbed lunch and went to Oxford Circus, one of the major shopping areas in London. She insisted we visit the Disney store. Then we walked through Green Park and to Buckingham Palace. The sun was setting and our feet were killing us so we came back to the dorm, made dinner, and hung around with some other IES students.
Wednesday was Alba's last full day. I went to class from 10-12:30 and Alba went to the Courtauld Gallery, full of impressionist and post-impressionist art. We met back up after class, grabbed some lunch, and stopped in for a short visit with the Rosetta-Stone which is in the British Museum just two blocks from the IES center. Then we raced over to King's Cross to find Platform 9 and 3/4. This is surprisingly hard to find since it is between platforms 8 and 9, not 9 and 10. LAME. But we did find it and pose for pictures. Most excellent. Then we went over to Abbey Road to cross the historical crosswalk and exploit another picture opp. This is surprisingly hard to do due to all the cars trying to run over tourists and all the other tourists jumping into take the same picture you're just desperately trying to snap. It began spitting which is the British term for super duper light rain. We came back to the dorm, Alba took a nap, and I went to the boat club for service. I came back, we made dinner, and then we went out to the pub where blues dancing usually is in Shoreditch. Everyone liked it. And then we strolled down Brick Lane, showed Alba a little of the East End, and got a dozen "beigels" for 3 pounds. We got back around 2 in the morning and went straight to sleep.
Alba flew back home Thursday morning after an awesome few days in London and the best excuse for me to play hookey ever.
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