Breaks are awesome

I have been up to nothing real important over winter break, and I can't complain. Took a walk up into the woods behind my house yesterday. London was cool, but I definitely prefer not living in a city. Not too fond of Syracuse, either.

Near the edge of the forest on a hill overlooking Chittenango, NY.

One more from my travels

When we arrived at Newark from London, those of us trying to get to Syracuse found both each other and that our plane was canceled that evening. We spent the night in a nearby hotel after booking flights for the next morning (that flight was further delayed). We somehow spent $160 on room service.

Rachel and Alex enjoying some of our expensive wine.

From the last week or so

Some pictures from the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland. I did a photo story on a German couple from Bavaria that run a German wooden toy stand at the festival. They live up in Edinburgh and come down to London for the month-and-a-half-long event every year.

Hooray Food Class

My ANT 400 Food and Identity class had a field trip to the Fuller's Griffin Brewery, and we took a tour of the complex. Fuller’s is perhaps best known as the brewer of London Pride, the United Kingdom's leading premium cask ale. At the end of the tour, all their products were featured in a taste-testing session, and the size of the test samples were quite generous.

Just walking around

Visitors watch an ice skater at the ice rink outside the Tower of London.

I kind of like Canary Wharf

And I thought Americans tended to be overly patriotic

Sarah, Will and I went to Royal Albert Hall after photo class today to see the Classical Spectacular. To quote Linda Harkness, our amazing SULP student services faculty member who promoted the event to us,

"It’s a total musical extravaganza, a candy box selection of the world’s best loved classics (even the non music lovers among you will probably know most of them). But what makes it a ‘spectacular’ is that the show is accompanied by lasers, lights, can-can dancers and even canon fire in the finale of Tchaikovsky’s wonderful 1812 Overture, with uniformed Napoleonic soldiers standing guard around the area. There will be flag waving and cheering, so it would be fair to say it’s not an evening for classical music purists."

That describes the event remarkably well. The 1812 Overture was pretty sweet, and it's the first time I've seen a live performance of it. And they played Gustav Holst's Mars! Gahhh!

But then they played some uniquely British songs that I wasn't familiar with, and the entire audience waved their little British flags around.

The event was indeed a bit tacky.
Will stands in my way for the duration of the concert.

More Business Story

I found a sweet company for my business story, Howarth, which specializes in woodwind instruments. I usually struggle at communicating with complete strangers, but as I have a bit of woodwind history of my own, I could at least talk to them about something. The people working there were so nice and allowed me to walk around and take pictures of their daily operations.

Night Shooting

30-second exposure of the Eye, which had closed down and was no longer spinning.

Ughhh business story

In search of a business story, I went to James Smith & Sons, a 170ish-year-old umbrella and walking stick company. They make and sell their products right in the building. What I didn't realize is that they would be extremely rude people. I asked if I could take pictures of the store and if I could get down to the basement where they manufactured the umbrellas. They said it was fine, but that I could take pictures of the customers or employees. But, I kind of needed those pictures for the business story. I asked if there was any way, but then whatever guy I was talking to kind of flipped out and said he was busy and couldn't talk. Even though there was only one other customer in the store. If anyone feels like dishing out about £400 for an umbrella though, this is the shop for you. How are these people still in business?

Hand-made decorations on the 'crook handle' (technical term) on a few umbrellas. Tacky decorations definitely worth the extra £380 or so.

More slacking

Sarah and I went to the British Museum today. I don't know why the photo below is the one I chose to post. But they have the Rosetta Stone at the museum, so it was pretty cool to see that after so many years in social studies in high school hearing about it. I thoroughly enjoyed the museum's collections from ancient civilizations. Yes.

An ancient Japanese stone tablet at display at the British Museum.

15 years later...

I realized a while ago that my childhood friend Beth was studying in London this semester. We used to live down the road from each other in our neighborhood in Chittenango, until she moved. So finally, after about 15 years of not seeing or hearing from each other, we finally reunite!

Beth and me.

Zone 9

Sarah and I took the tube to the farthest location possible today, Chesham. Quite unlike the city, it had a quaint little village feel with small, old-looking houses and was surrounded by fields and forests.

A streetcorner in Chesham.

Walking by the Thames

Tower Bridge.

Just walking around

A street performer plays the bagpipe in the evening on Westminster Bridge; the London Eye in the background.

Tate Modern

I'm generally not interested in art, but after searching Time Out London to find possible photo ideas, I came across the Cildo Meireles exhibition at the Tate Modern. The description of the exhibit caught my attention:

"Among the spaces to walk around here – which includes a room filled with red objects and a passage knee-deep in talcum powder – is a maze of different fence-like barriers, including wire mesh, net and wood, which must be navigated to reach the giant ball of scrunched cellophane at its centre. Simple enough, except that beneath your feet is a floor of clear glass, on top of layers of broken shards, which cracks and breaks under your weight. Rather than reconstructing the real, Meireles stages the surreal and makes interaction a journey of provocation and potential."

That sounded interesting, so I went. And then I found out no photography was allowed. Photos wouldn't have done it justice anyway, as the exhibit was all about walking around and using all your senses, as opposed to just vision. It's a cool concept, to make art interactive rather than not.

I did feel kind of out of place. All other visitors were studying single pieces for such a long time and had notepads and were apparently writing down endless notes about the pieces at the exhibit. Crazy art enthusiasts.

I have no idea. A room at the Cildo Meireles exhibit at the Tate Modern. A labyrinth of clocks and meter sticks hanging from the ceiling.

Remembrance Sunday

A police officer stands in front of a barricade where a parade was supposed to pass through near Parliament on Remembrance Sunday, an anniversary of the end of hostilities of World War I. It turned out that the section of the road we were standing at was barricaded for no reason; the parade went in another direction, and upon asking, even the police didn't know why this particular road was closed off.

Speaker's Corner

Crazy racist lady arguing with crowd at Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park.

Onlookers with typical expressions on their faces at Speaker's Corner. If you're speaking on a soapbox, you're likely insane.

... But even if not, you may still be insane.

More photo searching

We had to turn in 10 photos today, focusing around diversity and economy in London. I didn't really have any economy photos, so I went down to Canary Wharf, which is apparently the financial area of London. But only one stock ticker in the entire financial district?

Businessmen and women walk through Nash Court in Canary Wharf, London. This public art display, called Six Public Clocks, was installed following a design competition for Nash Court in 1999 won by German designer Konstantin Grcic.

I guess I just need some ducks walking by or a unicycler to make it more interesting?
Diversity and economy in one shot? Oh my!

Wait what, soundslides are due tomorrow?

I had quite a late start, to say the least, on my soundslides. Some plans fell through, so I went to the Chelsea Antiques Market, Chapel Market, Petticoat Lane, and finally Portobello Road again because the former three didn't have a ton going on. Not that I expected otherwise for a Wednesday.

A fruit and vegetable stand on Portobello Road.

I've been trying to make a flash player for my soundslide. The content, of course, is also mine but I was trying to make the player itself. I've been fiddling around with Adobe Flash CS3 lately, because Newhouse won't teach me. Though in all fairness, I'm not there this semester.

Finding photos

I went with Will and Madison today to Chinatown after graphics class to find some diversity pictures that we need to turn in on Thursday.
I would have went just down the street to Edgware Road for diversity pictures, but most of us have had bad experiences photographing those of Middle-Eastern descent. Actually we didn't feel that welcomed at Chinatown either. No one agreed to have their photos taken, but thank goodness for telephoto lenses.

Grrr

Finding economy-related photos in London is more difficult than I thought, despite it being a major world economic center. It didn't help that every financial building is closed to the public. Canary Wharf is supposed to be a huge financial center, so I took the Jubilee line down there from Edgware after running into some delays (there apparently was a person "under a train" at the Oxford Circus Station, causing the station's closure and massive delays on several tube lines).

I was denied entry into two financial buildings and had a feeling the others would be the same. So I checked online, and yes, not just anyone can enter these financial buildings. It took some effort to get up as early as I did, so I wasn't too pleased. And then I went to Bank and the St. Paul's area in London, to the Bank of England (no photography allowed, and not to be confused with the Bank of England Museum, with which I didn't bother). Then I tried the London Stock Exchange. It too was closed to the public. Hooray.

This was an unproductive weekend.Cabs drive by the Bank Tube Station. Old-time style.

Scantron

Aggravating assignments

I was searching London for half the day for good London economy photos, which we need for class, but didn't come across anything good. So I decided to visit the Natural History Museum instead.

Natural History Museum. Surprisingly, it's only 3:30 in the afternoon despite the sun going down.

The outside was clearly quite amazing, but the exhibits were a bit tacky and too often geared towards children, I think. It wasn't too impressive. And for some reason I was upset that the taxidermied animals on display weren't alive - why couldn't the museum have live animals? Then I realized this wasn't the zoo. In any case, the Museum of Natural History in New York City definitely wins in my book.

This is where I live, by the way

On the first floor, or second if you're from America.

Why I need new shoes

Mmmm

My favorite alcoholic beverage came with a free glass.

Living Room Reassignment

Our new living room after the girls moved elsewhere.

Surprise couch surfing

Will and Levin met some American students studying in Italy for the fall who were traveling to London for the weekend. Looking for a place to stay, they invited them to stay at our flat. I'm glad it happened because they were awesome.

Danny, Will and Kiki assess some professional photographs at Piccadilly Circus.

AJ, Will and Danny enjoying the tube ride. Except Will, who is thoroughly displeased with me taking a picture.

More of being a tourist

Tourists looking off from the Eiffel Tower's second level.

Iron lattice of the Eiffel Tower.

Aww, it's a baby Louvre!

The Louvre at night, as opposed to the day when it didn't lend itself to a photograph.

A European Union and a French flag hang beneath l'Arc de Triomphe.

And for funzies, an animated gif of the tower at night. It would have helped if I held my camera still.