1 Yellow Romper in a Black & Grey World
Yesterday (Thursday the 11th) was an adventurous day. For starters, we went to The National Gallery, which I was looking forward to. We met Jeff at the entrance and then him and Jennifer took a lovely picture of us in Trafalgar Square.
After our quick photo opp, we all headed into the Gallery. We realized that some of the rooms were closed off (we’ll get to that later) so we went into the 15th-16th century collection where we caught Jennifer taking a selfie with this piece:
This piece, The Ambassador’s, is very interesting in the fact that if you look at it from the front, you can’t really tell what the object at the bottom of the painting is, but if you look at it from the side…
…it becomes a skull! As William Shakespeare once wrote, “To be or not to be, that is the question."
I wondered why Hans Holbein created such a painting, so I researched it. On The National Gallery’s website they said that the "anamorphic” skull was a “reference to the mortality of the sitters and all those who see the painting.” It is also stated that the distortion of the skill is also meant to remind all of death. Because it is not clear as to what the object is from the front, it is possible that the painting was hung by a doorway so that whoever walked past it was seeing it from the side and would “suddenly be confronted by death’s grinning head.”
What an interesting painting and meaning! It’s no wonder that it was the center of attention at the gallery, that also may be because all the paintings from the 17th-19th century were blocked off. And that’s where we come back to the closed rooms. There were signs on the doors that said something about industrial action by some of the staff members was taken and thats why the rooms are closed. Guards were on edge and security was all over the place. We were all very confused as to what was going on, but one of the security guards told Claire that a strike was taking place by some of the employees. We had already seen all of the paintings from the open rooms, so we decided to leave since we couldn’t get into anything else, which was a real bummer.
As we were walking out, we noticed protestors in the front and figured they probably knew what was going on with the museum because they had a banner hangning that read “No privatisation at the National Gallery.”
One of the protestors, which was also a member of the staff was happy to inform us that the directors and managers of the gallery are very corrupt and are trying to privatise their employees, when they’re not even making enough money to live off of. Another protestor explained to us that the situation was similar to employees in the States fighting for $15 an hour. They then continued to explain to us that The Gallery is firing people for no good reason at all and they’re treating their employees horribly. We never did figure out why the rooms were closed or what the strikers did but it was the first time I had ever talked to a protestor and it was interesting to hear about what goes on behind closed doors.
After our chat, we decided to go to lunch at this American-Italian place and then figured we should go to Buckingham Palace since we were so close. We walked down The Mall (the street leading up to the palace) lined with flags and it really was a site to see.
We arrived at the gardens and the Victoria Memorial in front of the palace and it was all very beautiful and exciting to see.
But something peculiar was going on at the palace, the gates were open and there were helicoptars flying over head. A bystander told us that this only happens when something important is going on and there are dignitaries in the palace. We then saw people lining the pathway into the gates and walked over there to see what was going on. No one knew what everyone was standing around for and there were police holding traffic until a car came. No one could see who was in the car and we all dispersed and gave up on potentially seeing The Queen.
After our eventful day of being typical tourists, we headed back to Regents to get ready for the night. We all headed out to the photography exhibition around 715. Claire, our fearless leader, had left her oyster card back at Regents and had realized this once we got to the station and said that she would just meet us at the exhibition. Once she was long gone, we all realized we forgot what Tube line she said to take and we were all uncertain. We finally decided to take the Metro to the Liverpool stop, which upon arrival we were even more confused. We headed out onto the streets and were unsure of where we were. We were convinced we were lost and had almost decided to give up until we came across the Brewery, hallelujah!
We walked around the exhibition for a bit and mingled with other students and then left after awhile to get some drinks and food.
We were heading down the street when an Indian man stopped us and offered us free wine and 20% off if we came in his restaurant and everyone took the bait. We walked in and I knew I wouldn’t like anything there because I don’t like Indian food and once we sat down we were informed we would not be getting free wine only 20% off and that was the only reason some of us had agreed to go in (I was basically dragged in) so when none of the con-men were looking we most literally ran out of the Indian restaurant and headed for better pastures (which ended up being pizza from a food truck because… Americans). With dinner we all enjoyed a drink before heading over to another bar. We ended up at a place that was advertising a lip sync battle because what better way to bond with people you just met than making a total arse of yourself (British lingo, ya know). By the way, I have quickly learned that my wardrobe is not cut out for night life here. What once was a great frock to where to FIJI and The Shark on a Thursday night is now too embarrassing to even put on again here. Most of the girls where dark lipstick and a mostly black outfit with chunky shoes that tell the tale of their somber and trendy life in London. My outfit told the tale of a Naive American girl that has no fashion sense what-so-ever. So, note to self, get more black clothes and less yellow rompers. I may be a whole new Austin once I come back to Michigan (not really, I actually really like my rompers).
Anyway, there ended up being no lip sync battle so we just enjoyed a few drinks. Erin, Hayley and I all got cosmopolitans and then a margarita because they were advertised as 6 pound cocktails and we couldn’t pass it up. The margarita was to die for, most literally, and it made me rethink my love for the frozen margaritas at The Bull N Barrell in Canada (but let’s face it, I’ll still be going to Canada even when I’m 21 to get one).
After our fun outing at the bar we caught the last Tube train (thank gosh) and headed back to the dorms for a nice nights rest because none of us had to wake up early in the morning, AMEN!
Our first night out in London was a blast and we are all very optimistic for what the next 6 weeks holds for all of us. I’ve already learned so much in the short time that I’ve been here (like that no one dresses like Michigan State Sorority girls when they go out and that I looked like a 12 year old running around the town in my yellow romper while everyone else looked like they ransacked Kylie Jenner and Lorde’s wardrobe and were going to a funeral… thank gosh I brought black clothes) and I know that I’ll learn so much more (maybe that my shoe collection also sucks).
