1st Week in London!

MONDAY

First day of class!! Wahoo!! Even in London, I have the first day jitters! Today we are visiting the Barbican Estate! The Barbican Estate is a residential estate that was built during the 1960 and 1980s. It took twenty years to build and it was built by the famous architects, Chamberlin, Powell, and Bon. The architects were inspired by the Romans when designing the Barbican. This estate includes the Barbican Arts Centre, Museum of London, Barbican Public Library, City of London School for Girls, and many more! We were given a personal tour by a good friend of the British Study Program, Geoffrey Rivett. Geoffrey is a current resident in the Barbican and has lived there on and off for almost 40 years. He has owned three apartments in the estate. He gave us a tour of the WHOLE estate! and WOW! It doesn't look like much from the photos but it surly is beautiful. Fun fact: The Barbican was voted the ugliest building in 2003 (which idk why) My favorite part of the tour was seeing the ancient roman walls. After the tour of the estate, we walked back to Geoffrey's apartment and ate lunch! It was like a dinner and a movie when talking to Mr. Geoffrey during lunch. He is so detailed with his experiences in London and also the changes with the Barbican throughout the years. I loved listening to him!

After lunch with Mr. Geoffrey, we all went by the Museum of London! The museum was filled with tons of history about each time period. My favorite (of course) was the 20s! They had a room decorated to make you feel like you were standing in a park during the 1920s! Also, they had a section decorated like it would be in the 20s with the living room decor and a pottery making room.

After a long day of walking, the British Study Program organized a reception event for the students on a riverboat cruise down the River Thames. We enjoyed some hors d'oeuvres and got to know other students in the BS Program. And the view was great too!

TUESDAY

WOW, yesterday was a long day but you're only in London for a month once right?? Today on the itinerary is a trip to The Queen's House and the famous Painted Hall! Up bright and early to hop on the tube(subway) and head to Greenwich and tour The Queen's House. The house was deigned by the famous architect, Inigo Jones. He designed the house in 1616 for King James I wife, Anne of Denmark. The story is, that James gave the manor to Anne as an apology for losing his temper after she accidentally shot his favorite dog while hunting. Sadly, Anne never lived to see the finished home. She passed away March 1619 at age 44, but the work had stopped on the house April 1618 with its two floors left as brick walls. In 1629, Jones then completed the home for Charles I French wife, Queen Henrietta Maria. The final work was completed in 1638. The home was filled with original paintings by multiple famous artist around London from the 1600s. One of the most famous parts of the houses is the Tulip Stairs. These stairs were the first self supporting stairs in the world. Fun fact: there is a rumor that the stairs are haunted by a rich man who fell from the second floor, and maid, and a little boy. There is a picture on their website of a photo of the "ghost" taken by a tourist. I will link it here.

After our tour of The Queen's House, we walked over to the famous Painted Hall. Pictures do not do this great building justice! Seeing this historic building has been one of my favorite parts so far! The story behind each character painted is just amazing! The Painted Hall is at the Old Royal Navel College in Greenwich. Its ceiling and wall decorations were hand painted by the British artist Sir James Thornhill between 1707 and 1726. Yes, it took 19 YEARS to paint it. James painted over 200 mythological and historical characters around Queen Mary and King William. We all had our own audio head sets to listen to the story behind the hall. The audio tour explained each piece into great depth. All I did was sit down and look up at the ceiling while listening to the story. It felt like I was in a movie!

After the Painted Hall, we walked up to the Royal Observatory and saw the most breath taking view of the city! I could have stayed up on the hill all afternoon, but sadly it was raining :( The pictures do not do that view justice!

WEDNESDAY

Today is another day out and about in the great city of Greenwich. This time we are touring a palace! Eltham Palace that is. Eltham Palace is a large house in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It was built in the 1290s by Anthony Bee, Bishop of Durham. He gave the manor to the Prince of Wales, the future Kind Edward II. For the next 200 years, kings and queens added and improved the palace to their own taste. They created a venue to hold their great parties and gatherings. Thus the Great Hall was born. It was built by Kind Edward IV in the 1470s. Eltham Palace was once lived in by Stephen and Virginia Courtauld. This palace was known for its state of the art technology for that time period. It included heated floors, central vacuum, and electric fireplaces. It is now owned by the Crown Estate. This house has been managed by the English Heritage since 1995 and they started the restoration process in 1999. The interior of the palace is an Art Deco design. Beautiful gardens and ponds surround the exterior.

After touring the Eltham Palace, we had a nice break for the afternoon until our next tour. 6 o'clock pm came around and we were on our way to tour the home and office of architect Amin Taha at 15 Clerkenwell Close. This building has won multiple awards for its design. The whole building structure is made of stone and some fossils are buried into the stone for a nice signature piece. The interior had no walls, it was all custom cabinetry with storage and sliding wood doors. It was clean yet complex.

THURSDAY

Today was a beautiful day to tour some beautiful homes of famous architects in London. To start the morning off, we traveled to Hampstead, London to tour Erno Goldfinger's home. This home was completed in 1939 and it was one of the first modernist building in London. The whole house is supported by a concrete frame. A lot of the furniture in the home are the original pieces designed by the architect himself, Erno Goldfinger. We were not allowed to take pictures of the interior so enjoy a picture of the exterior instead!

Hampstead is a beautiful town! After the tour we had time to walk around and find a cafe for lunch. We stopped at one of the most beautiful cafes I've ever seen. It was filled with fresh greenery on the interior walls, hardwood flooring, floral paintings, and all the booth seating were a emerald green velvet that lit up the room! But what caught my eye to begin with was a sign outside the cafe that said " pizza and beer for 10 pounds" LOL! We popped right in and had ourselves a big pepperoni pizza! And boy was it yummy!! After lunch we took a bus (many buses) to Ealing, London. There we toured the beautiful home of the architect Sir. John Soane called Pitzhanger Estate! Soane lived in this home from 1800- 1810 with his family. Hoping to leave it to his elder son, whom didn't want anything to do with the family business or the home. This house was magnificent! The color in each room had its own unique style! Each room was different. My favorite room was The Eating Room. The ceiling had a light blue and washout green color with white beams and unique wood carvings. Along with its original wallpaper from the 1800s. Below are some pictures of the manor and the cafe we ate at for lunch!

FRIDAY

Wow, Friday already? This week has flown by! I've seen some of the most prestigious buildings, and art, and I learned a lot of history about London. And, I am just getting started! Today we took a trip to Hampton Court Palace. The great palace where King Henry VIII lived with his six wives. The story is that the palace was built in 1515 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, a favorite of the King. In 1529, Wolsey gave the palace to the king unwillingly. The palace was just breath taking. The interior was very extravagant. It was diffidently fit for a King! My favorite part of the tour was the grand staircase. The hand painted art on the walls were amazing!

I hope you've enjoyed getting to see all the wonderful things I've got to experience and learn my first week in London! Stay tuned for next weeks blog post!