June 7th

There is simply too much to take in hear. Every day I’m on overload. We started off the day at Westminster Abby. The architecture of the building, like so many here is ornate. So many beautiful details were put on these buildings, the quatrifoil motifs, gothic elements, everything is crafted within an inch of its life. Sometimes with so much going on I forget to look at the single details rather than the whole, but I did enjoy little elements like this grotesque of a bat like creature at Westminster, it wasn’t as harsh as some the gargoyles and other creatures are.

Next we went to the national gallery. I’ve never seen so many beautiful paintings in my life. From Da Vinci to Rembrandt everything seemed to be there, sadly we couldn’t take pictures of the interior, but I snapped this photo of one of the postcards I bought there, it a da Vinci that I’ve seen a portion of many times, but this was the first time I’d seen the painting in its entirety and its amazing.

Last on our excursion for the day was The V&A (Victorian Albert) Which is basically a museum that stemmed from the crystal palace at the first worlds fair in London. This was probably my favorite stop for the day, I could go on and on about the priceless artifacts, clothing, and furniture, so it would be hard to pick a favorite. I was awed at the Gilbert Bayes Sculpture Gallery, where actual sized replicas of all the famous sculptures have been created. The David looks just like the one in Florence and you wouldn’t believe the size of these Roman Columns unless you saw how small a person looks standing next to them.

I also thought the more modern chandelier above the information desk was brilliant in its blown glass orbs of turquoise and bright green.

Lastly I snapped this picture of a sculpture by the German born Conrad Dressler, the woman is his wife. I found it interesting because this lady who died in 1928 looks like my sister Wendi’s twin, strange isn’t it?