Tues. June 12th

On Tues. we took a train to Salisbury and a bus to the Wilton House, this is one of my favorite places. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos inside. The largest collection of Van Dyck’s paintings! I took some awesome pictures of the outside though, and walked through some secret gardens. After that we went to Salisbury Cathedral. We went on a special tour up the tower. That was scary and fun! We ate at a great Italian restaurant before heading back to London. We actually got on the wrong train and ended up in Bath before we got back to the hotel.

Monday, June 11th

On Monday we went to the design Museum and saw an exhibit by Luigi Colani, very aerodynamic. On our way to the Tate Modern we went into a church that beautiful organ music was coming out of, apparently we weren’t supposed to be in there and got into a little trouble. A couple of girls and I decided to go to the Dali exhibit at the Tate. The man had talent but was crazy, he had a video of himself explaining the benefits of a hallucinatory mushroom. That explains a lot of his work. I don’t like modern art much. We walked by St. Peter’s but didn’t have time to go in. I’m hoping to do that on the weekend.

weekend

On Saturday I went shopping with the group. On Sunday I went to church and revisited the V & A Museum. I found an exhibit on James Steuart, he was an architect, painter and designer from the 1760s.

3rd day in London

Another busy day! Starting with Hampton Court, the Palace of Henry VIII. From there we went to Sir John Soane's home/museum and then the British Museum. The British Museum started closing soon after we got there so I plan to go back soon!

2nd day in London

We started off the day at Westminster Abbey and the walked down to the National Portrait Gallery. I was able to see works by Rembrandt, Rubens, Raphael Van Dyck, Turner and Leonardo Da Vinci as well as many others. I hope to be able to go back there before I leave. After lunch in the cafeteria we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum (the V & A). There are amazing copies of some of the most famous sculptures there, as well as some originals, see if you can tell the difference.

1st day in London

I can't believe I was able to keep going after no sleep for over 24 hours. We did a tour of down-town London past Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and Trafalga Square. We practically ran into the Queen, actually they stoped me to let her car come out of the palace. Sorry, no photo, I was out of memory. The Hostel we are staying in is really nice, but they don't have wireless as they promised. So we have to go to an Internet cafe, the hours aren't very good though. The time here is seven hours ahead of Utah. It's incredible how big London is, it's like a giant New York.

Apsley House

The Apsley House was built by Robert Adam between 1771 and 1778 for Lord Apsley. In 1817 he sold it to his brother Sir Arthur Wellesley, who became the Duke of Wellington. The current Duke of Wellington still has apartments there, even though the 7th Duke of Wellington gave the house to the nation in 1947. It is known as "Number One, London" because of it's address. It houses many pieces of art, including the 1st Duke's collection of paintings by Goya, Velasquez, Rubens and Brueghel.