Museum Fatigue

St. Paul's Cathedral was my first stop this morning. I went on the tour inside. I knew from attending last evening's service there were many carvings and statues around the sanctuary. However it was really on the tour that I found out what/whom these statues were commemorating. Most of the sculptures were memorials to Britain's fallen soldiers from various battle campaigns. They were done in the classical Greco-Roman manner, so semi-clothed Greek mythology characters held dead or dying soilders in their arms. I thought it was slightly intriguing that a Christian church would have classical Greek and Roman mythological characters inside the church.

I also got to climb up 300+ steps to get to the dome of the cathedral. It was an ideal spot for looking at London and its skyline. It was such as reward to enjoy the breeze after huffing and puffing to get up there. Down in the crypt, there were more caskets and tombs commemorating dead soldiers. I guess London really like to remember the war.

I was ready for some art, so I headed off to Tate Britain. The galleries mainly showed British art from 1400's to 1900's. Many pieces by JMW Turner were on featured. The modern and contemporary art was limited, mainly because the modern stuff was housed at Tate Modern. So I went to the nearby pier to catch a ferry to Tate Modern, which was on the other side of the Thames. The weather was glorious today, so it was a great day to be on the water. Tate Modern was housed inside a former steam power plant. The entrance to the museum used to be a hall with turbines. In fact, the overhead crane and rails were not removed, but kept as part of the structure of the building. Some of the pieces in Tate Modern challenged my definition of art. As I went through the exhibits, I chuckled at some of the pieces Graeme had mentioned. I'd like to think I'm fairly art savvy, but many times I had to question the artistic merit of some of the pieces.

I left Tate Modern with really sore feet and an even sorer mind. Seeing there was still some time in the afternoon, I zipped over to the National Gallery to see some "real" art by masters like Rembrandt, Monet, Picasso, Gauguin and others. Sure my feet were still sore, but my mind cleared up a bit.

Here's a warning to you all: steel-toed hiking boots are not designed for walking on concrete or pavement for nine hours. After all the trekking around museums, I went to an Indian restaurant for some much-needed curry. So good....