GREAT BRITAIN AESTHETIC FAVORITES

Some photos are intended simply as documentation: I was there. This is what happened. Others I took because of their compositional or aesthetic promise.  Here are some of my favorite photos from my Great Britain tour that fit into the latter category.

Iris and Dracaena, Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Church Window, Hawkshead, England.

Pedestrian Walkway, Chester, England.

Railroad Tracks, Snowdonia National Park, Wales.

Flower Pots, Cotswolds, England.

Doorway, Bath, England.

Ceilings, Bath Abbey, Bath, England.

Hut Doorway, Stonehenge, England.

Nave, Ceiling, Sculpture, and Courtyard, Westminster Abbey, London, England.

Dome Interior, St. Paul's Cathedral, London, England.

Window, Tate Modern Museum, London, England.

John.

LONDON SCENES

As a final post on my tour of Great Britain, following are some photos of London that didn't fit into any of the other posts.

Sculpture outside the National Gallery. 

Building informally named the Kim Kardashian supposedly because of its shape.

The Shard, the tallest building in Europe.

Big Ben (no longer under wraps).

Street demonstration.

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (modern reconstruction).

Tower Bridge.

John.

TOWER OF LONDON

The Tower of London is located on the north banks of the Thames and was built by William the Conquerer following his conquest of England in 1066.  The complex has served as symbol of conquest, a prison, a place of execution, an arsenal, and a repository for the British crown jewels. Now it is a major tourist attraction that I, along with my daughter-in-law, Bei, visited on my last day in London. Here are some photos that I took.

The White Tower, built by William the Conquerer.

Suit of armor.  There were plenty of these.

Canon, including one cast in the shape of a lion.

A performer and a guard.

A couple of passageways.  (I have a thing for these.)

Lavender with the Tower of London as a backdrop.

John.

ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL

I have to admit that I was just a bit disappointed with St. Paul's Cathedral.  Perhaps it was just because I had visited Westminster Abbey a couple of days before.  But, while St. Paul's was opulent, ornate, and huge, it somehow didn't appeal to my sensibilities to the same extent as Westminster Abbey.

St. Paul's, designed and built under the guidance of Christopher Wren, is beautiful.  Here are a few photos of the exterior of the dome taken from a shopping center to the east.

I liked how the glass structure of the shopping center provided a double reflection of the dome.  I'm confident that the shopping structure was built specifically with this effect in mind.

As stated, I thought the interior was a bit dark. Here are a couple of wide-angled shots.

A huge amount of artistic work went into the ceiling above the cathedral's main space.

Here are some detail photos of the art work.

And of course there was an abundance of stained glass.

I can't recall now where I took the following photo, but I liked it for its relatively simplicity and light.

My daughter-in-law Bei accompanied me on our visit to St. Paul's, and we both agreed that our favorite sculpture was the following abstract by Henry Moore, entitled "Mother & Child." Note the "halo" above the child.

John.

BRITISH MUSEUM

The British Museum has an astounding collection of antiquities. I spent 2 to 3 hours there but could have spent 2 to 3 days. Large portions of its collections, particularly of Egyptian and Mesopotamian artifacts, are controversial, not as to their authenticity but as to how the museum acquired them.  I was just interested in seeing some of them.

The venue's design is interesting in that it includes a large central open space that includes a circular structure surrounded by gallery after gallery of exhibits.  The open space has a glass ceiling that made for an interesting abstract.

Of course, by far the most popular exhibit, and the one that I most wanted to see, was the Rosetta Stone, which is in the gallery just off the central open space.  It is always surrounded by visitors and one must wait his turn to get in front of it.

Following are pics of other artifacts that I saw.

Head of statue of Amenhotep III.

Bust of Perikles.

I found some of the bas relief sculptures particularly interesting in terms of the action they portrayed.

As I have seen at many museums, there were some individual artists practicing their skills by copying works of art.  The following artist, copying the marble sculpture of young woman, was particularly talented. 

Mummies and sarcophagi of same were plentiful.

Mesopotamian vessel from c. 650 BCE. I was impressed by the artistry and sophistication that this represents.

Glazed dragon tiles, China 19th century.

As stated, one could go on and on.

John.