It’s hard to believe that I have already been here for 2 weeks now. Time certainly does fly!
Thursday I got to have a nice one-on-one teatime with my David during work. When Elliot said that “David wants to have a chat with you”, I didn’t believe it since we had just been joking around with one another in the staff office. His office is connected to the staff’s so it’s easy for him to stop in and such. We had a great conversation! He stressed again that once I get my Member's Pass he has plans for having people take me around Parliament, have me sit in on committee hearings, etc. We're also working out my trip to his constituency too which I am really eager to do. He represents Southend-West, which is an area of constituency for Essex.
If there is anything you can certainly count in London, its rain. The rain here on Thursday was bad! A total down pour. I had to go to the Security Verification Office in the Abbey Gardens. Fortunately I was focused on how beautiful the little pathways were down there that I wasn’t wallowing in how wet I was. To work in Parliament there are so many checks you need to have done, its understandable but so annoying. It was a little bit of a challenge to completely understand what the man I had my SV appointment with was saying. I had to ask for clarification a few times. But the bonus: really cute guy. The walk there was about 7 minutes from 1 Parliament Street. I was there for maybe 15 minutes and then walked back. My poor little Harrods umbrella and me had a rough walk back. I was drenched from my calves down. Luckily I had black pants on. I also wore my sneakers for my traveling during the day since my black heels would be killer to be in all day, especially for the commute. The puddles around the streets of Parliament Square were little puddle tsunamis.
Before work was over, my two office managers invited me to join them for drinks at the Sports and Social Bar in Parliament. Their other younger friends, who were working as interns or permanent staff, joined us and we met up with a few others when we were there. I bought my first drink, which was a cider: my favorite type of drink here. They had this specialty "Lilley's Apple and Pears Cider" on tap, delicious! A good thing about eating and drinking in Parliament is that the food and drinks are cheaper! Once I began to reach the end of my drink, one of the guys that we had all gone with insisted upon buying me all of my other drinks. It was really generous of him and made me feel really special.
When I got to the office Friday morning it felt really cool knowing that I am in as "one of the team" now. It was such a nice simple thing they did and they told me they are all excited to do it again. I loved meeting the people we went with and those we met there. I came into the building reading my London Metro newspaper and was greeted by Hamed (one of the guys originally went there with) with a big smile and a "Hey Sarah!" Hamed is such a cool guy; he plays for the House of Commons-House of Lords cricket team in Parliament. I told him I want to go to games! He stopped by our office later in the day and we all recollected about the night. It was really nice all chatting and laughing with one another.
Today was Saturday and that means, time for some touristy stuff. Justine, Beriah and myself went to Tate Britain, the national gallery of British art. The gallery shows work from the last five centuries, including contemporary British art, in a series of free changing displays. Tate’s collection includes masterpieces by British artists such as Hogarth, Gainsborough, Constable, Millais, Burne-Jones, Whistler, Sargent, Sickert, Hepworth and Bacon. The Clore Gallery is where we admired the extraordinary work of JMW Turner. Tate Britain has an entire wing dedicated to the Turner Collection, which includes countless pencil drawings and watercolors.
One of my favorite paintings in the JMW Turner collection is Regulus. It’s a landscape painting, dealing with a subject from history. Regulus, a Roman general, was reportedly tortured by being forced to stare at the sun after having his eyelids cut off. The painting invests nature (the sun in this case) with awe-inspiring mystic qualities. Turner’s intense portrayal of the sunlight is really dazzling and the colors of the sun are really bright. A critic from “The Spectator” wrote in 1837 “instead of the repose of beauty – the soft serenity and mellow light of an Italian scene – here all is glare, turbulence and uneasiness”.
After admiring the work at Tate Britain, we went over to Tate Modern. Beriah left to go to a baseball gathering. Justine and I took the Tate-to-Tate boat. It costed $4 and was nice ride along the River Thames. Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre is right next to Tate Modern so we caught a glimpse of it when we were walking there. Dying to go on a tour of the Globe Theatre! Tate Modern is the national gallery of international modern art and also houses a collection of British art from the 1500s. The Gallery was created in 2000 from a disused power station in the heart of London. The vast size of the building becomes so real once you see the dramatic turbine hall. The collection of modern and contemporary represents all the major movement from Fauvism. Included are some important masterpieces by both Picasso and Matisse. Tate has significant collections of Pop Art, Minimal Art, and Conceptual Art as well.
My three favorite works from Tate Modern were Do Hu Suh’s Staircase-III, Arshille Gorky’s Waterfall, and Robet Delauney Study for ‘The City’.
Staircase III, located on Tate’s 5th floor’s Energy and Process, was absolutely incredible to look at. As I took each step upon entering the room, my gaze was focused on stairs. I recognized little aspects that I wouldn’t have if I had just walked by. It is reasonable that the entire room of the display is white with a tall ceiling and there are no other works in the room. Doing some research on the artist, Suh commented, “The space I’m interested in is not only a physical one, but an intangible, metaphorical and psychological one.”
Arshille Gorky’s Waterfall I simply just found interesting. Gorky was one of the most powerful American painters of the twentieth century. The Tate Modern highlights him as a figure in the formation of Abstract Expressionism. Waterfall is a work that is evocative, layered, and translucent with a liquid glowing quality.
Study for “The City” by Robert Delauney was a part of an early series of works by Delaunay on the subject of the city. The inspiration was a postcard photograph of the rooftops of Paris taken from the top of the Arc de Triomphe and looking towards the Eiffel Tower. I bet the reason why I liked this was because it involves a city and that city is Paris. I love cities that captivate you and make you never want to leave. Those that immerse you in its own individual culture as well as present you to its combination of all its others are invigorating. Paris is incredibly inspiring to me and I fell in love with it the moment I arrived on our family trip nine years ago.
The bellies were grumbling, so we needed a good nosh up. We have been wanting to go to Gourmet Burger Kitchen for a while after reading it in multiple “London Eats” related articles. Justine knew there was one near St. Paul’s so we ventured over there. We walked across the Millienium Bridge that links the Bankside to the City, crossing the River Thames. Fun fact: in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Lord (dare I say his name) Voldemort’s Death Eaters destroy the bridge, causing its collapse.
Approaching St. Paul’s Cathedral is an amazing site and the many little squares of shops and alleys around it are alluring. (One con: there are literally four Starbucks within a few blocks, #gobacktotheUSA).
Gourmet Burger Kitchen is an all about the burger chain restaurant here in London. Fresh ingredients, classic and innovative taste combinations are what make their burgers delectable. You can choose from the already ‘designed’ burger, dally with rarefied delights (chorizo, pineapple, blue cheese, beetroot), or if you’re really mental you can order a custom burger made from any of their ingredients. The burgers themselves are spectacular, towering magnificently over the plates and held together with like 7 inch toothpicks. Dining at GBK is definitely not exercise that you can carry out with a high degree of dignity. Eating such a contrivance is rapidly reduced to lifting the thing up and trying to topple it into your mouth before something falls out.
I ordered the Falafel Burger: handmade falafels with hummus (houmous here), cucumber raita, sweet chili sauce, salad and relish. Justine ordered the Cheese Burger: aged Cheddar, salad, mayo and relish. For £7-£8, you definitely get your money’s worth in terms of fullness: I am still full and its midnight. GBK is an admirable attempt to restore a little pomp to the humble burger. It’s leagues apart from the usual burger suspects and definitely worth your custom.
It’s a stay-in night for Justine and I. The combination of the long (but great!) first week of interning, the museums today and the food coma that resulted after GBK resulted in tiredness. As I am finishing the blog, she is doing a wonderful montage for Caleb. Had a wonderful phone conversation with Mom, Dad and the rest of the family that’s at the shore this weekend. It was so good hearing all of their voices and telling them about my stay here in London. Also, it is really heart-warming to know that they are all thinking about me and miss me lots.
Till later mates! Cheers!
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