The Rabbit Room

Yesterday, I finished the second half of the galleries at the National Art Gallery, including a couple of Rembrandts and a young da Vinci. (I feel so cultured/spoiled/blessed). One of the most interesting (at least to me) things about the older paintings is that oftentimes the paint has faded due to exposure to sunlight, making underlayers, including changes and preliminary sketching visible. It also creates some ghostly effects (which is cool/creepy). A dog that may have been the early work of da Vinci was nearly transparent.The sunlight exposure, combined with age, also makes the color lose some its brillance. I can only imagine what these works must have looked like in their day. I actually watched part of a documentary on King Henry VIII last night (he's all the rage over here right now, what with it being the 500th anniversary of his cornation and all) and they showed how art experts have discovered how to use light to project color back on to the faded works, recreating their original brillance. S-T-U-N-N-I-N-G!

In fact, if you want to see the video yourself, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzxS8_fulQ4

Then my mom and I went to the Noel Coward Theatre to see Calender Girls. Such a wonderfully funny play! I've seen the movie and the play now and I would reccomend either to anyone (except maybe a teenage boy...it does involve middle-age women taking their clothes off, after all). I love the way that it incorporates nudity without being vulgar at all. Absolutely delightful! I hope that I become a woman with the sort of courage that those woment had.

Today, we went to Oxford. After getting horribly lost, we found our bearings (thanks in large part to a very helpful man in the cafe) and had a lovely day.

We saw Magdalen College (where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein taught) and Christ Church. Both beautiful buildings.

Magdalen College

Christ Church

After looking at the buildings, we took a walk on the river path by the Christ Church field. It was absolutely gorgeous. In fact, I think that that this may be the same place that Lewis and Tolkein walked on that stormy night when Lewis first began to consider becoming a Christian. Or maybe I'm just confused. Either way, it was a really nice walk.
Then we caught the bus back to London wo we could head back to the hotel and put our feet up (I have rather impressive blisters on both feet). That's all for now!

The River Thames
Another view of Christ Church

After the walk, we went to a little cafe to have tea and, in addition to my tea, I had a Wimbeldon Special (strawberries, ice cream, crush merainge, whipped cream, and almonds). Tennis never tasted so good!

After our tea, we did a little shopping before taking a gander at tone of the most famous pubs in the world...the Eagle and the Child. I felt the aurora of history just standing outside.