London has fantastic museums. I went to the British Museum on Sunday.
The building itself is beautiful, with a great main hall that has sweeping architecture and a beautiful skylight window. The works are impressive, although many of them are stolen from other countries (or former British colonies). A lot of the work is from the Pantheon. The statues from there are beautiful.
My favorite part of the museum was definitely the various statues of Venus/Aphrodite. I love the classical portrayal of women. I was also excited to see the Rosetta Stone - arguably one of the most important discoveries in recent history.
The museum also had King George III's library, medieval statues from east and southern Asia and artifacts from every stage of European history. The experience was tiring - there were just so many different exhibits.
Then today, Jane and I went to the Victoria & Albert Museum. In the guidebooks, I thought this sounded kind of lame, because the title is not descriptive of what's inside. It turned out to be an awesome museum. There were hundreds of sculptures, a good portion of which were by French sculptor Auguste Rodin (who has an impressive beard).
The museum had a beautiful courtyard with a wading pool, outside cafes, purple and magenta hydrangea flowers, and many different kinds of people who were wading in the water with their children, sunbathing and chatting. It was gorgeous and relaxed.
The museum also had cultural artifacts like furniture, armor and clothing from King Henry VIII's court. It had a good amount of modern displays as well, including a look at fashion from the 1800s to the present and a design exhibit. I loved the Islamic art and Indian art exhibits, which featured beautiful, huge Persian rugs and many Hindu sculptures.
The building itself was amazing. It was probably one of the oldest-looking buildings I have ever seen. It was immense and gorgeous. I'll include pictures when I have the chance to upload them.
Some personal updates - I've started all of my classes and my internship. My internship at Crimestoppers is going well. Everyone is very nice, and I feel very welcome and capable of the tasks. My politics class will be very interesting. We're going to Parliament on Thursday, the Winston Churchill Museum (the War Cabinet Rooms - where the government governed from underground during the bombings - my dad would love this) next Thursday, and Wales at the end of the month. So excited.
I've also decided to make a trip to Ireland to visit where my great-grandparents were born.
The museum had a beautiful courtyard with a wading pool, outside cafes, purple and magenta hydrangea flowers, and many different kinds of people who were wading in the water with their children, sunbathing and chatting. It was gorgeous and relaxed.
The museum also had cultural artifacts like furniture, armor and clothing from King Henry VIII's court. It had a good amount of modern displays as well, including a look at fashion from the 1800s to the present and a design exhibit. I loved the Islamic art and Indian art exhibits, which featured beautiful, huge Persian rugs and many Hindu sculptures.
The building itself was amazing. It was probably one of the oldest-looking buildings I have ever seen. It was immense and gorgeous. I'll include pictures when I have the chance to upload them.
Some personal updates - I've started all of my classes and my internship. My internship at Crimestoppers is going well. Everyone is very nice, and I feel very welcome and capable of the tasks. My politics class will be very interesting. We're going to Parliament on Thursday, the Winston Churchill Museum (the War Cabinet Rooms - where the government governed from underground during the bombings - my dad would love this) next Thursday, and Wales at the end of the month. So excited.
I've also decided to make a trip to Ireland to visit where my great-grandparents were born.
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