What I Did on My First Day in London

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So now I am staying in London with my friend Mark in the neighborhood of Willesden Green. This is on the North end of the gray Jubilee line.

The house is not very close to any of the major tourist sights on my list. We have used several different methods of transportation to get around-

1. Underground (tube, American subway)
2. Train (overland train, silverlink)
3. Bus (double decker extreme)
4. Walking, a whole lot

Today we went to Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park. It definitely lived up to my expectations. We saw about a half-dozen men standing on a box or a step ladder. They argue a message in the corner of the park on Sunday mornings. The best speaker had a trio of hecklers who were quite comical. Mark and I enjoyed the conversation for about twenty minutes.

Next, we walked a good distance to Buckingham Palace. Then some more walking to the Parliament Building and the famous Clock Tower. This is a sincerely nice building. I believe they call it neo-gothic. I liked all of the straight lines. It was very inspiring. And we heard Big Ben.

More walking (with a sandwich stop and a Starbucks visit - tall coffee was L1.60) until we reached the Tate Modern museum. Here are some of my favorite pieces of art that I saw today:

1. Richard Hamilton's Interior II
2. Theo Van Doesburg's Counter Composition VI
3. Sol Levitt's Six Geometric Figures chalked-line-room installation
4. Especially... Dan Flavin's fluorescent light pieces

And some more paintings. I was more interested in the art at this museum than I was in a majority of the art at the Reijksmuseum (sp?).

Now Mark is cooking dinner, and I am planning out a quick business trip for tomorrow morning.