Return to London!

I’ve been enjoying Oxford and London a lot more this week. My friend Melanie and I made a day trip into London and took advantage of a few of the arts opportunities. We arrived into London around 11:00am and headed to the TATE Museum. This museum is well known for its modern art.

We checked out exhibits that ranged from sugar paper and powder to cut-outs of Korean manga.

 A huge sugar paper & powder exhibit!

The museum also had a great gallery full of JMW Turner paintings. These paintings elevated the importance of landscape artwork and his works prefaced impressionism.

After the TATE, we played London Tube roulette. Mel chose a random station and we boarded the London Underground (the ‘Tube’ or subway) and headed to Piccadilly Circus. Once we arrived we found a nice little pub called The St. James. I wasn’t sure what to order, so I went with the safety choice of fish and chips, it was definitely the right choice. After lunch we wandered around Piccadilly Circus and looked at shops. After a little walking, we ended up in the more scandalous part of town. We passed a few sex shops, gay stores, lingerie boutiques and even strip joints.  After taking in this ‘unique’ part of town we wandered back towards the heart of London.

At a pub in London

Mel with a typical window display in the Soho District in London.

After that we wandered to the Institute of Contemporary Arts, where the ‘Bjarne Melgaard: A House to Die In’ exhibit was on display. This exhibit was very abstract and included paintings and sculptures that were created in partnership with a group of artists who have no formal art education. Most had little or no connection to the art world (several of whom are in drug recovery, face mental or emotional challenges, or suffer from schizophrenia). Drug paraphernalia and genitalia were central themes throughout the exhibit.

We finished off the trip by going and seeing the West End production of Wicked at the London Apollo Victoria Theater. The production was absolutely fantastic, and the British accents made the show even more entertaining! The theater was really beautiful, and even though Wicked has been playing since 2006, the house was packed! After this excellent day we hopped aboard the bus and returned to Oxford. Needless to say, I love London!

West End production of Wicked!