Another Favorite

Today we had our Fine Arts class in the morning in which we discussed the Golden Section for quite some time. For those of you not familiar with this concept, this video explains it quite well. And takes about as long as it took to talk about it this morning. I did learn some cool things, though. For example, our bellybuttons are right at the golden section point. So that's a fun thing to know.

Becky Durham, Dr. Durham's wife, spoke to us about the concert we're going to be attending tomorrow and I could not be more excited for it. The concert consists of Dvorak's Cello Concerto in D Minor, Ravel's Mother Goose Suite, and Stravinsky's The Firebird. In other words, I think this is going to be one of the best concerts I go to in my life. I'll let you know tomorrow how it goes.

After class we went to the V&A Museum. To be honest, I was a little worried about going there because we've seen some pretty freaky ads for the museum and I was pretty sure it was not the place for me. For example:

However, that is an advertisement for just one exhibit that we didn't even go to. As it turns out, the V&A Museum is sort of the most wonderful museum (though I think the Churchill Museum is still my favorite). It is full of all manner of things ranging from clothing, to ironwork, to replicas of sculptures, to pottery, to china. There were so many things to look at and I could have easily spent an entire day there. However, I was specifically asked to go through this museum faster than I've been through the others by the members of my group so. . . I sped up. I was still amazed and had a fantastic experience.

My favorite room was probably the cast room. Before the internet, the people in charge of the museum decided that it was important that people know Michaelangelo's David and other famous pieces. So they made true-to-everything replicas. They probably aren't quite as good as seeing the originals, but I'd never seen the originals of any of them so I was perfectly in awe of them. There was an enormous sculpture of Moses sitting on a throne right as I walked through the door, and I felt my mouth drop open as I inhaled sharply. It was breathtaking to me and I found it difficult to tear myself away from his powerful gaze. Art is cool.

Adjacent to that room was another room full of cast replicas of great art. These, though, were architectural pieces from doors and temples and pillars. Again, I found my breath stolen from me as I stood in absolute awe of the incredible size and intricacy of what lay before me. I wish I had more time here because I would definitely spend a lot of it in that room.

After the museum we headed back to the Centre to do homework. It just hit us that finals are next week, so a lot of us in the room are suddenly feeling stressed about the amount of work left to do. True to form, upon getting this stressed out about all my schoolwork, all I wanted to do was take a nap. But then Google Calendar re-entered my life and I figured it all out without going unconscious for who-knows-how-long-it-would've-been. So that's a welcome relief. It will be busy, but I'll be able to manage it all. Thank goodness for color-coded calendars!

Separated by a window

This was so pretty. It reminded me of Indian art. It may very well have been from India. . . This was found in the Asia exhibit so. . .

An enormous Persian rug

Some pretty tiling

Kenna and Caitlin are never able to pass up a good photo opportunity.

This sculpture was entitle "Four Seasons" and I really liked it. I thought it was pretty. Caitlin didn't agree.

Now which one is the sculpture?

After I took this picture a British man walked by and asked if they were going to get up. I don't exactly see what he saw that was out of the ordinary.

Leonardo da Vinci's notebook. That man was incredible.

I loved these doors for whatever reason. They were enormous!

I saw this sculpture and I thought to myself, Hey that looks like the story about Judith cutting off the bad guy's head. I looked at the plaque and that's exactly what it was! I actually learned (and remembered) something in school!

There are no words.

David. I hadn't realized how enormous this statue is because I've only ever seen pictures. But it commands your attention more than anything else in the room does.

Everything looks so much smaller in these pictures, but you can see the woman taking a picture to use as perspective. That piece made me feel like an ant.

I think this is a replica of something found in Italy. . . And Caitlin.

There was no way I could have gotten the entire piece in the frame of my camera. Here's a part of it. I loved this one so much. It was one of my favorites.

This pillar was one of the most breathtaking things I saw today. You can't see it, but the other half of the pillar is behind this one. It's so tall they had to break it up into two parts to display it. Depicted on the pillar are various stories from Roman times (I think).

This one reminded me of a story I loved as a child where a knight saved a woman from a water dragon. That's probably not what this is depicting, but I still liked it. Again, you can't see how bit it was in the picture. I wish you could.

On the second or third floor they had an entire hallways filled with beautiful ironwork. I was surprisingly enthralled.

This was a chandelier of sorts made out of a bunch of blown glass. This hangs above the main desk.

I just thought this was so pretty. There is so much movement created even though it's inanimate.

I found a swan.

I hope these weren't real instruments, but this is a piece where a bunch of smashed brass instruments were suspended mid-air.

I just love her face in this one. It was so beautiful.

Some china

This shelf reminded me of something my Aunt Katie would have in her home.

Those vases were so beautiful individually, but together they were amazing.

I don't actually know what this was because there was no plaque to be found, but it looked like an old book that was falling apart. It was in the sculpture room, though, so I think it was something more than paper.

If you ever find yourself in London, this should be the first museum you visit. You won't be disappointed with it.