Tales #26-30

Wednesday

Today, our only class consisted of going to Tate Modern! The museum was way more interesting than I thought it was going to be. The first exhibit we went into was basically just a giant dark, black box that you walk in to. It was absolutely surreal to walk into the darkness, not knowing what to expect, and just explore. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed a lot of the artwork in the museum as well. I was expecting it to be mostly ridiculously abstract (as in a completely red canvas), but much of the artwork was really insightful. I loved many of the early 20th century artists especially.
For dinner, we went to Hare and Tortoise (the amazing Japanese restaurant) again; I had Yaki Udon, which was 6 pounds of amazingness.
This evening, I went to see the New York Philharmonic (the first time of 2). They played Lindberg, Prokofiev, and Sibelius, which were all very polished, but not mind blowing. The pianist for the Prokofiev was very, very good though.

Thursday

Today, we had class all day. British culture was pretty good; we talked about the structure of British politics, which was very interesting.
After dinner, we went to the second New York Philharmonic concert. They played a Haydn symphony, which was pretty dull, Schubert's Unfinished Symphony, which was beautiful, Adams' "The Wound Dresser", which was beautiful (and sung by Thomas Hampson!), and a piece by Alban Berg. The concert was once again good, but not amazing. Certainly several of the concerts I've been to of London orchestras have been better, and many have had better song choice!

Friday

Today, I was going to work for my internship, but found out that I couldn't today, so I decided to go on an adventure instead. First, I went to the British library, where I totally dorked out in the rare music section of the museum. Among the pieces on display were the original manuscript of Handel's Messiah!!!! aaaannd Ravel's original scoring of Bolero for 2 pianos, which I got way too excited about. There were also pieces by Mozart, Beethoven, Elgar, and just about everybody.
After that, I went and got an onigiri (a Japanese rice ball with seaweed) and edamame from a Japanese fast food restaurant for really cheap, which was awesome. Then, I went over to Regent's park, which is another huge, open park in the middle of London. I walked around, looking at the birds and trees, and reflecting on the trip so far.
In the evening, I went down to the Southbank Centre to see the London Philharmonic Orchestra for the first time. They played Sibelius' 6th and 7th symphonies, which were very beautiful. The orchestra was very good. The conductor was a funny man, who kept grunting, which was a bit strange...

Saturday

Today, we woke up early and made way on an 8:30 train for York.
When we got there, we walked over to the hostel and checked in, and then went over to the park, where, since it is the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's ascension, a band was playing, and then they fired off a 21 gun salute with giant canons. It was very exciting and British, and extremely lucky that we got to see it!






After that, we had lunch at Pizza Express, where I got a pizza with artichoke and asparagus! It was really, really good.
Next, we went on a walking tour of the city. Some of the highlights:

The Shambles:

A cramped, medieval style street in downtown York, with authentic architecture still in many of the buildings. There were a lot of really neat shops, including one where we went back for hot chocolate later.

The Wall:

There is an old, medieval wall that spans York. We walked around on the top of the wall, and it felt like we were medieval soldiers!

The York Minster:

The York Minster is an enormous cathedral, which is on the site of where a church has been for about 2000 years. The current version dates from 1250-1400, and is enormous, gothic, and medieval. It is stunningly beautiful on inside and out, with giant arches, gorgeous stained glass, huge towers, and intricate carvings throughout.

Later in the evening, we went back to the York Minster for the choral evensong, which is a choral church service. It was sung by a Men's choir and a children's choir, and was wonderful. The singing was so pure, and it echoed throughout the halls of the cathedral. It was probably my favorite experience in England so far.

For dinner, we found a really cheap restaurant where I got steak and prawns for 6.99! They were absolutely delicious. We went back to the hostel, getting to bed early since we were really tired!

Sunday

This morning, we woke up early again and walked around York for a bit before catching the train to Birmingham. We walked over to the Tower, which was cool but we couldn't go in.

In Birmingham, we saw the Black Dyke Band (the current best brass band in the world (they won a contest)), which is a really old British tradition. The band was amazingly talented, playing way faster than I thought was possible on tubas, cornets, horns, and trombones. The music wasn't extremely inspiring for the most part, but it was entertaining, loud, and epic throughout. It was certainly an awesome concert.

And, now I'm back

Cheers