Fun and Tiring Weekend

I was getting bored with color so I decided to post a few black and white photos as you can see. Some of these places you may have seen already, but I hope not. This weekend my good friend Brett came and visited Paul and I in London. Brett is studying abroad this semester in Rome and I am trying to plan a trip to see him the weekend after Easter Weekend. This weekend we went to see the Tower of London, went to the Tate Modern Art Museum, and basically conducted a crash-course walk around tour of London for Brett. I would say we probably walked a total of 10 miles in 3 days. Last night we went to see the movie Be Kind Rewind starring Jack Black and Mos Def. If anyone was thinking of seeing it I would strongly recommend you not to on the account that it might have been the worst movie I ever saw.

The Tower of London was very fascinating. It was the home of many royal kings and queens for 10 centuries. We saw the home of Sir Isaac Newton and Ann Boleyn and saw the place where 75 beheading took place in front of thousands. People were also hung, drawn, and quartered which was is a little too emetic to describe, but you can look it up if you are feeling brave or interested. Inside the main castle we saw the armory of the the soldiers throughout London's history and were also able to see the coronation crowns, scepters, swords, rings, and orbs of past kings and queens. Let's just say I have never seen so much gold, diamonds, silver, and rubies in one place.

At Tate Modern we saw the exhibit of three modernism artists. Duchamp, Man Ray, and Picabia were some strange dudes, but very interesting. From having female aliases (Man Ray) to putting a toilet seat on a wall and calling it art (Duchamp) to being completely entranced by machines ( Picabia) all three men were way ahead of their time and possibly still ahead of ours in terms of expressing ideas in unconventional medias.

Good news though I have everything booked for my trip to Paris, which will be the weekend of March 14. I am also trying to plan a trip to Zurich, Switzerland where one of my foreign exchange buddies is from.



Westminster Abbey


Big Bend with the London Eye in the background


Paul, Brett and I in front of Tower Bridge


Tower Bridge over the river Thames


Tower of London: Home to 10 centuries of royal intrigue, imprisonment, execution, torture, and murder.