London - home stays, people and the masterpieces
Anna's entry:
We were fortunate enough to stay with local English families for the entire time in London, and therefore we were completely submerged to the British culture. We stayed with Janet in the North Eastern part London, who was a Cambridge graduate - we had a lot of intellectual conversations, and Janet also introduced us to all the suttleties of the British pronunciation and explained to us all the class consiousness of the language, and how British politicians are using it. Apparently, even pronunciation can be used in politics. We also stayed with a large happy family in the South West London - Alli and Willie, who made us feel at home right away, and who invited us to stay with them again after our cycling adventure. Then we stayed with James, who is actually also an American and who moved to London, and it was very interesting to compare all our cultural experiences and observations.
From the cultural point of view, our week in London was amazing! Besides all the imersion into the British culture with local families, I was so inspired by the historical and cultural masterpieces. Most museums are free in London, so it is an artisitic paradise. Rob (my husband) spent three months in London some time ago, so he decided to skip a lot of touristy stuff, but for me visiting world famous museums was a must. How could I miss famous National Gallery, and a pleasure of seeing Leonardo da Vinci, Rafael, Micaelangelo, Rubens, Velaseques and other great artists. Being a former tour guide of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia, it was a treat to be back to the great world of art. I also spent some time in the National Portrait Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum, Natural History museum, and Tate Britain. The latter museum was different. There were several avantguard exhibitions, and in one of the halls there was a pile of oranges - visitors were encouraged to take one - that was the artist's way to remind us of the continuity of all exisiting forms, and that the end is sometimes the beginning. I thought that was brilliant.
There was one aspect of London, however, that I did not particularly like. People were a little too rude, and they were EVERYWHERE. I myself grew up in a big city (St. Petetsburg, Russia) and have been to one of the largest cities in the world (Mexico City), and yet London was more annoying with all the crowds everywhere and all the time. I was told later on by an English gentleman that real Londerners live outside the city, and for the most part immigrants have overtaken London, which could explain pretty poor manners. I was also told that a possible explanation of aggressive attitude on a street could be a constant state of alert (when we were there, a local terrorist was stopped from planting a bomb under a bridge over the Thames). Be it as it may, I was disappointed by Londerners and if not for my stay with local English families, one could think that the world famous English manners are ceasing their existance (at least in the city of London). To summarize the above, I LOVED the city, its culture, diversity, history, art, architecture, and wondeful English families we stayed with. I did not care too much for the average people on the streets, too rude and aggressive for me, but it is all part of the experience!
National Gallery of London
Trafalgar Square
Resting in London
In Hyde Park
We were fortunate enough to stay with local English families for the entire time in London, and therefore we were completely submerged to the British culture. We stayed with Janet in the North Eastern part London, who was a Cambridge graduate - we had a lot of intellectual conversations, and Janet also introduced us to all the suttleties of the British pronunciation and explained to us all the class consiousness of the language, and how British politicians are using it. Apparently, even pronunciation can be used in politics. We also stayed with a large happy family in the South West London - Alli and Willie, who made us feel at home right away, and who invited us to stay with them again after our cycling adventure. Then we stayed with James, who is actually also an American and who moved to London, and it was very interesting to compare all our cultural experiences and observations.
From the cultural point of view, our week in London was amazing! Besides all the imersion into the British culture with local families, I was so inspired by the historical and cultural masterpieces. Most museums are free in London, so it is an artisitic paradise. Rob (my husband) spent three months in London some time ago, so he decided to skip a lot of touristy stuff, but for me visiting world famous museums was a must. How could I miss famous National Gallery, and a pleasure of seeing Leonardo da Vinci, Rafael, Micaelangelo, Rubens, Velaseques and other great artists. Being a former tour guide of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia, it was a treat to be back to the great world of art. I also spent some time in the National Portrait Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum, Natural History museum, and Tate Britain. The latter museum was different. There were several avantguard exhibitions, and in one of the halls there was a pile of oranges - visitors were encouraged to take one - that was the artist's way to remind us of the continuity of all exisiting forms, and that the end is sometimes the beginning. I thought that was brilliant.
There was one aspect of London, however, that I did not particularly like. People were a little too rude, and they were EVERYWHERE. I myself grew up in a big city (St. Petetsburg, Russia) and have been to one of the largest cities in the world (Mexico City), and yet London was more annoying with all the crowds everywhere and all the time. I was told later on by an English gentleman that real Londerners live outside the city, and for the most part immigrants have overtaken London, which could explain pretty poor manners. I was also told that a possible explanation of aggressive attitude on a street could be a constant state of alert (when we were there, a local terrorist was stopped from planting a bomb under a bridge over the Thames). Be it as it may, I was disappointed by Londerners and if not for my stay with local English families, one could think that the world famous English manners are ceasing their existance (at least in the city of London). To summarize the above, I LOVED the city, its culture, diversity, history, art, architecture, and wondeful English families we stayed with. I did not care too much for the average people on the streets, too rude and aggressive for me, but it is all part of the experience!
National Gallery of London
Trafalgar Square
Resting in London
In Hyde Park
posted by Rob and Anna @ 2:44 AM
1 Comments:
Great work.
Post a Comment
<< Home