Welsand's in London

Tate Modern Museum

On Sunday 15 January 2006 we started the day at the Tate Modern museum. The Tate Modern is the national gallery of international modern and contemporary art. It showcases art from 1900 to present day masterpieces.

The building itself was massive, but not impressive. It looks industrial and a bit gloomy--the art inside is incredible of course. There is plenty to see, but not so many pieces that it is overwhelming. There were pieces by Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Claude Monet, Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Piet Mondrian, and Henri Matisse. There are some great views of the city from the Tate as well, including St. Pauls Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge. We enjoyed our visit, time well spent.

As we continued to explore the Southwark and Bankside area of London we stopped into the Bankside Gallery for a quick visit. This gallery is the headquarters of the Royal Watercolour Society and the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers. They have temporary displays of contemporary watercolours on display for purchase (most of which are quite spendy!) but enjoyable to see. The gift shop has some nice and interesting items.

The Southwark Cathedral is also in this neighborhood and we stopped in to see it. This church became a cathedral in 1905, but some parts of it date back to the 12th century, when the building was attached to a priory and many of its medieval features remain. Shakespeare was the cathedral's art director in the early 1900's. The memorials, architecture, and tombs are fascinating. You can just feel the history in this building. It is gorgeous and worth a stop. I would love to see this again!

The Borough Market, though only opens on Friday and Saturday is located right by the Cathedral. We were at this market in October. It is a fun market to visit. It is primarily a food market selling gourmet foods from Britian and Europe, lots of things to sample before you buy! A great place to catch a casual lunch.

We also walked by Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, which is a reconstruction of the Elizabethan theatre where many of his first plays were performed. The wooden circular structure is open in the middle leaving some of the audience exposed to the outdoors. They offer shows in the summer, which we plan to take advantage of this experience--hopefully we can afford a seat with a roof over our heads...this is London...

Other points of interest in the area we saw by walk-by only including the Vinopolis (a city of wine on the banks of the river--I plan to visit with my sister Jill if she visits), Clink Prison Museum (an old prison), London Dungeon (chamber of horrors), the Design Museum (devoted soley to modern and contemporary design), the HMS Belfast naval gunship, and finally, we walked by the Cardinal's Wharf, which is a small group (very small--only 3 houses!) of 17-century houses, almost not worth mentioning...

Overall, it was an interesting day out, the highlight of course the Tate Modern. Thanks to our friend Renee from the US, also currently in London on a 2-year position, for joining us for this day out. Renee also gets credit for the photos, we didn't take any that day. Cheers!

posted by Chris @ 1:00 PM