User:Eawilson

Emily Wilson

Emily Wilson

Overview

We arrived in London on May 6th and were given 7 weeks to explore the possibilities of three projects in London. The first project I worked on was London Architecture, in which we did research on and took pictures of 20 buildings you can find in London. The next project I worked on was London Street Art which was a different topic that explored the importance of this art form, but by far my favorite. The last project I worked on was Typography In London, which talks about the history of typography and its importance in London. My previous experience in humanities and art was one philosophy and religion class at WPI. My major takeaway was the ability to really immerse myself in the London culture, and find out information beyond what a typical tourist knows.The 7 weeks flew by, and it truly was an experience.

Milestone 1

London Architecture
Objective: A descriptive timeline of the change in architecture throughout the city through photographs including comparing different churches, buildings, a bridge, and even unsung architectures accomplishments such as parking garages (or car parks).

This is a collaboration with Natalie Bloniarz and Olivia Gibbs.

Over the course of 2 weeks, we have travelled around London taking pictures and researching some of London's most stand out buildings. We have found the best source for finding architecture information which is the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Library, and some interesting facts about all of the buildings. Many buildings have been built multiple times due to the great fire of London, and more recent buildings were built in controversy. The buildings that we researched all have a rich history and interesting architectural design elements that add to the city. This has been a great experience and we have learned a lot about the buildings that make up the city of London.

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Milestone 2

Street Art in London
Objective: London is known for it's street art, so I will be taking a look at the street art and the history and artists behind it. London has very street laws against graffiti and artist chose to continue anyways. I will be looking into the iconic artists of London, and how there art has made an impact on the streets"

This is a collaboration with Olivia Gibbs.

Over the course of this project we have discovered the fascinating world of street art. We are more aware of the artist and their backgrounds, and what effects their art. Street art is a popular culture in London, and it is an interesting form of art, as there is no guarantee it will still be there tomorrow. This project had us traveling through London to new areas, and gave us a more in depth look at the changes coming to London. We learned that many artists are being pushed out due to gentrification and that common areas known for street art, may not be there much longer. This project shows that street art is more than someone illegally painting on a wall, but it is a story, a statement, a culture, that makes an impression on the people of London.
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Milestone 3

Typography in London
Objective:To research, learn and explore different types of typography in London with a focus on calligraphy. London is filled with examples of typography, you see and notice it, but your just do not realize what it is. We will be examining what typography is, where you can see, with the end goal being a one of a kind piece of artwork." This is a collaboration with Olivia Gibbs.

Over the course of this project we really opened up our eyes and learned to appreciate some of the smaller less noticeable details around London. We have learned about the art of typography focusing on calligraphy, and the details behind what goes into every character. We learned that typography is not a strict form of art, and that there is lots of room for personalization. We have seen the importance of the font of the Underground, and the people who created it.

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Activity Journal

The activity journal represents an ongoing log of reflections gained through each and every project activity on the calendar.

8 May 2017: Westminster Abbey, Tower of London

Bright and early on the morning of May 8th, 2017 we headed to the tube to get to Westminster Abbey. From this tube ride we figured out just because you take the tube eastbound one way, heading back does not mean you take it westbound. After many delays and just making it on time for the tour to start, we ran out of the tube station. When you exit the tube and look up you can see the gorgeous structure ahead, and with one of my milestones being architecture, I immediately took notice of the architectural details. We met up with a tour guide who took us into Westminster Abbey. He told us about the gothic feature of using stone to disperse the weight of the ceilings which allowed for larger windows. Because the weight is dispersed to the walls flying buttresses are needed to keep the building together. Continuing through the church, there were many beautiful memorials, all very detailed, but unfortunately we could not take any pictures inside because it is a sacred place. The Westminster Abbey was a great place to start our activities! After visiting Westminster Abbey we hopped back on the tube (this time with no troubles) and headed towards Tower Hill. When you first see the Tower of London you are taken aback. When you enter you are surrounded by towering walls. You have the freedom to walk around the Tower and visit exhibits that interest you. My group went to see the torture exhibit which was fascinating yet grim all at the same time. We also saw the crown jewels, the precise detail of all the stones, and the overwhelming presence of gold in the room, it really was jaw dropping. We did the wall walk, where we got to walk through some of the towers, and see a wonderful view of the London bridge. As we were heading down the wall we saw actors throwing projectiles over the wall as a demonstration! This was my second time at the Tower of London and I still enjoyed it. After the Tower of London we headed over to the British Library, which to our surprise had no seats on any of the floors. Olivia, Justine, Ben, Andrew, Emily Mceachern, Trinity, and I all sat down out side of the library in the cold, to work on the Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London articles.

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  Westminster Abbey
  The Exit

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  Westminster Abbey
  Ceilings

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  Westminster Abbey
  Gate Detail

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  Tower of London
  Jewel House

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  Tower of London
  White Tower

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  Tower of London
  Stone Walls

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  Tower of London
  Actor from Demonstration'

9 May 2017: British Museum and Dessert Alert

Today we went to the British Museum. When you first walk in the building your attention is drawn to the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court. The Great Court is one of the most amazing architectural features in the museum, and it is how this activity related to my milestones. The Great Court used to be an open aired court until it was covered and it is now the largest covered public square in Europe. It was opened in 2000 by Her Majesty the Queen. After marveling at the open aired court I ventured through the different galleries. I was especially interested in the Europe and England galleries. We saw many tiles, pieces of jewelry, sculptures, and figurines. We also got to see the Rosetta Stone, which is something you read about in history books but you never expect to see, it was a lovely surprise. After we finished looking through the galleries, Olivia, Natalie, Cole, Peter and I sat down and worked on the British Museum article. After working the rest of the afternoon I went back to Westminster Abbey for Evensong. It was the mens choir signing and it was absolutely amazing. We couldn't see much because of where we were seated, but just sitting back and listening was still an experience. After Evensong finished Justine, Olivia, and I walked down the River so we could take photos for our milestones. Along the way we discovered some street art, and the strangest thing we have seen in a subway, bubble waffles! We ended our walk by walking over the Tower Bridge and taking pictures of our buildings as the sun set. It was another great day in London!

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  The British Museum

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  The Great Court

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  The Rosetta Stone

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  Reconstructed head of a Sumerian women

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  Ram in a Thicket
  more accurately described as a Goat

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  Gold necklace with flying eagles and pendant discs

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  London Street Art
  by Billy (2017)

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  London Street Art
  by Jimmy C.

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  The Shard

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  Hay's Galleria

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  The Queens Walk
  at Sunset

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  London Sky Line

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  View of
  City Hall

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  View from Tower Bridge

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  Tower of London

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  View from
  Tower of London

10 May 2017: St. Paul's Cathedral

Today we went to St. Paul's Cathedral in London. It was built in the Baroque style which was knew from the gothic style that England has typically seen. Unfortunately again we could not take pictures inside. There were many architectural features to the Cathedral and it is actually one of the buildings I am focusing on in the first milestone. The main feature of the Cathedral is the dome, the first of its kind on a church in England. Form the audio guide, there was a lot of politics that went into the design of the church. The dome was painted with the scenes of the life of St. Paul without colors because a big concern was looking to much like a Catholic Church. I found this very interesting since they are both Christian faiths. The organ was also very interesting. It dates back to 1697 and can still date back to that year because there are a few original pipes remaining. We also went up to the whispering galleries and Olivia and I tried to whisper to each other across the dome but it did not work. Some people around us had said it worked for them so I tried it again with Sofia and it worked! After finishing up at St. Paul's we went across the street to the Soho Coffee Co. to contribute to the St. Paul's Cathedral article. Once we finished up there Olivia, Natalie, and I went on a walk to find more of our buildings for our first milestone. The most impressive building was the Barbican center, we found information about concerts and a nice seating area so we will probably go back there again.

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  Front of St. Paul's

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  The Dome

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  Side of St. Paul's

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  Group 2
  Hard at Work

11 May 2017: The National Gallery

Today we went to the The National Gallery. While there was not anything inside that relates to my current milestone while we were walking in we saw a ton of street artists in Trafalgar Square. They were using chalk as their medium and you can read more about their work on my milestone page for milestone two. This was my second time visiting the National Gallery so I have seen a lot of the paintings before. When walking through it was interesting to see how the subjects and styles of paintings have changed over the years. The Gallery is set up so that the paintings are group by century so it really easily allows you to see this change. The most interesting style of painting to me was Impressionism. I really enjoyed looking at Claude Monets work. His Lily's on the Water and The Thames below Westminster caught my attention. Some other works of art that caught my attention were The Virgin on the Rocks by Leonardo de Vinci and The Introduction of the Cult of Cybele to Rome by Andrea Mantegna. The Virgin on the Rocks caught my attention because of how uniquely it was framed. Most are framed with very straight lines however this painting has a half circle top. This really draws your attention to the people and not on the background. The second painting caught my attention because of its neutral colors in the forefront but dark reds and oranges in the background. This is unlike any other painting we had seen in the section of the 1500's.

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  The Virgin on the Rocks

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  Cult of Cybele to Rome

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  The Thames below Westminster

12 May 2017: Natural History Museum

Today we went to the Natural History Museum near Hyde Park in London. We had a nice surprise on the tube on our way there when a group of street performers came on and played a song. The Natural History Museum was not what I was expecting at all, it actually reminded me of a science museum with the subject matter and how interactive it was. To my surprise there was a small exhibit on building materials used, which relates to my current milestone I am working on. It even had information on The British Library which is one of our buildings we are researching. The exhibit talked about the use of red bricks, the origin, and the materials used before that. They also had information on the building material glass, which is very common to 21st century London Architecture. Some other interesting exhibits include the one on minerals and stones, fossils, and the entrance to the red zone was a very cool escalator ride up into the exhibit. The red zone had lots of information on natural disasters, as well as some information about space. After the Natural History Museum Olivia, Natalie, and I headed across the Street to the Victoria and Albert Museum. This museum had a large exhibit on architecture, and had some specific information about London buildings, they also hold some of RIBA's ( Royal Institute of British Architects) library in their study room, and we are going to try and make an appointment so we can use this resource.

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  Entrance to the Red Zone

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  Building Materials Exhibit

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  Fossil Exhibit

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  The Cocoon

16 May 2017: Victoria and Albert Museum

Today our group went to the Victoria and Albert Museum. A few of us had already been there to look at the architectural and materials section which is very interesting. There was an exhibit that gave us a lot of information that we could use for our first milestone. There was a lot of information on the materials used and building styles. They not only had information on architecture in London but the rest of the world. Today we took more time to wonder around the rest of the museum as well. The museum is huge and around every corner is something new and unexpected. You can be in an Iron Exhibit and then walk into a fashion exhibit. They had so many pieces from different time periods that it was very interesting to see how everything from ceramics to sculptures have changed over time. I sat in the museum for a little while and worked on the Victoria and Albert Museum page and then Olivia, Natalie and I worked on our milestone. We then went over to take pictures of Kensington Palace and Royal Albert Hall to get some of the last pictures we need for our first milestone.

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  Sculpture

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  Porcelain Sculpture

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  Choir Screen From 'S-Hertogenbosch

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  Cast of Giovanni Pisano

17 May 2017: Tate Modern

On this rainy day in London we took the bus over the Thames river to the Tate Modern Museum. While there was not anything that related to my milestones there were a few artists that caught my eye. The First one was Louise Bourgeois, who had an artist room on the fourth floor. She is described by Tate Modern as," an artist of intense psychological insight". Her work can be seen as an autobiography, showing experiences such as birth, death, and love. She was born in Paris in 1911, and had an interest in tapestries which she got from her parents work in restoring antique tapestries. Another Artist that interested me was Mark Bradford, who is actually from the USA. In the museum he had a collage called Los Moscos which includes materials that were found on the streets around his studio in LA. His goal for using this was to show the paper as memory of things passed. The closest thing to my architectural milestone was a sculpture of the Burj El Murr building in Beirut, Lebanon which was made by Marwan Rechmaoui. Construction on the building began in 1974 but it was never finished because of a civil war. What was meant to be an office was only used a sniper post, it is too tall to knock down and too dense to implode. It will continue to be a part of the skyline and acts as a memorial to what Tate Moderns says "the internal conflict that was never resolved". After we finished at the museum Olivia and I went to Royal Institutes of British Architects Library at Portland Place and got some more solid sources for our milestone. Afterwords we went back to our flat and contributed to the Tate Modern article.

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  Louise Bourgeois Exhibit

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  Los Moscos

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  Monument for the Living

18 May 2017: Museum of London and Tate Britain

Today I went the the Museum of London and Tate Britain, and the two were very different from each other. The Museum of London has a lot of historical information on the history of London. It was a very interesting Museum with exhibits that walked you through London from ancient times until the 1940's and gave you a quick look at the 2012 olympic torch. One exhibit that I found interesting was the time period of the 1550's to the 1660's, which was the time of war, plague, and fire. In this exhibit they have they limestone that is known as the stone that marks the center of London. It is currently on display in the Museum of London while its home at 11 Cannon Street gets worked on. After you walked through that exhibit you walked into the exhibit called Expanding London which was the time period of the 1670s-1850s. There was a very big focus on "London Made" and all of the shops owned by Londoners that were making and selling goods. One final exhibit that I found interesting was the People's City exhibit which was the time period of 1850s-1940s. In this exhibit that had a Unic Taxi, which was the first licensed petrol taxi in London. After I finished looking around at the Museum of London I went to the Tate Britain.

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  Stone that marks the center of London

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  London Jewelry

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  Unico Taxi

After being at Tate Modern yesterday I was unsure of what to expect and it turned out to be an interesting museum. There was a combination of paintings and modern art both recent and older as well. One painting I found interesting was one that was painted directly onto the wall. A hand-painting done by Jeremy Deller called "History of the World". The painting is a flow diagram showing social, political, and musical connections between acid house and brass band. Another painting I found interesting was called "The Identi-Kit Man" by Derek Boshier. Boshier was interested in the fact that there was an increase of Americanization of British culture. The man in the picture represents the image of a man as a jig-saw piece. He is turned into toothpaste because it was to represent both cultures. Boshier wrote: " The figure features in my painting as a symbol of "self-Identification"., represents me (us), the spectator, participant, player, or cog in the wheel--- the amorphous "us"." After Tate Britain I went back to my flat to work on the article pages linked in the journal entry above, and finished up my first milestone.

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  History of our World

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  The Identity-Kit Man

20 May 2017: Street Art Tour & Graffiti Workshop

Today Olivia Gibbs and I went on a street art tour with a company called Alternative Tours London. We looked at some major pieces by big name artists in the Shoreditch area, which is only about a mile away from our flat. The street art was very interesting. Some of my favorite pieces included one by Van Wilson, who not only shares my last name but also makes work of art out of gum! He takes pre-chewed gum and paints it and puts it on the side walk, so if you ever look down at your feet and find and interesting tiny mural that is him! The next artist that I enjoyed was Jimmy C. and this was not the first time we have seen him. Olivia and I stumbled upon him when we were walking the Queen's walk. If you look back in my journal you will see his mural that is of Shakespeare, that was partially covered by someones tag which is known as throw-up. This mural however was just as stunning and not defaced. This one was of Bob Marley and was done in the style of pointillism with a spray can. Our guide told us that if you measure, each drip is exactly the same length which is very hard to do. We went on this walk for our milestone so I won't spoil any more of the artwork you are going to see there!

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  Work by Van Wilson

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  Work by Jimmy C.

21 May 2017: Street Art Tour and Concert

This afternoon we took a street art tour, this time of East London. Our tour guide today, took a more historic route of street art rather than focusing details of the piece of art. He explained why certain areas have more street art, and helped us look at the definition of what street art is. It was a very interesting tour and you will be able to read more about what I learned in my milestone, I do not want to give to much away here. In the evening I went to the open-aired concert in Trafalgar Square. I was surprised how many people were there, and by the fact that they had the square sectioned off, it was not just one large area. We got there 20 minutes early, and the inner square was already full so we had to listen form the other side of the fence. It was okay though because the London Symphony Orchestra still sounded amazing even on the other side. Overall it was a very busy day for a Sunday, and this has been a busy weekend of work to prepare for our second milestone.

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  Street art
  by Jimmy C

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  Street art
  by ROA

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  Street art
  on Brick Lane

22 May 2017: Museum of London Docklands

Today we went to the Museum of London Docklands, and in order to get there we had to use the DLR for the first time, which they ended up talking about in the museum. The museum was interesting, especially because we were the only group there for a while, besides a group of singing toddlers. The museum was set up very similarly to the Museum of London, and I later found out they are owned by the same people. You start by walking up to the third floor and working your way down. We started in the Warehouse, it had lots of interesting information because the museum itself is one of the oldest dock warehouses. Some things that were on exhibition were found at the site of the museum. Another part of the museum I found interesting was the information on the Ratcliffe fire. There is lots of information about the fire of London and it was interesting to see how fire affected the dockland areas as well, even though it is further out of the city. They had information on the merchant company that used the docklands as a port, and even pirates and how they handled them. After we finished at the museum Olivia and I took a ferry down the river to head to the Tate Britain library to work on our second milestone. We found a ton of resources and have a lot of information for our background. After finishing up research I created and contributed to the Museum of London Docklands page.

23 May 2017: Imperial War Museum

Today we went to the Imperial War Museum and I was not sure what to expect, when we got there though it was a very interesting architectural building, which is the only thing that related to my milestone. We started on the fourth floor with the exhibit on war heroes and worked our way down. It was very interesting to see all the different heroes and they classified them into 7 different categories which was how they are on display. You started with people who showed boldness, then aggression, then leadership, skill, sacrifice, initiative, and finally endurance, you could go around a collect a stamp from a hero of each category. Then we went down to the holocaust exhibit, which was very sad but I found it the most interesting. Last summer I went to the Terezin concentration camp which is in the Czech Republic. I saw first hand the concentration camp, the memorial, and a museum about the ghetto. Reading all this information though put it even more into prospective and it was interesting to see all the details form the very start. Another exhibit that I found interesting was the war on terror, which was about counter-terrism and the US facility Guantanamo Bay. After finishing up at the museum Olivia, Natalie, and I went to the Jewel Tour to take pictures for our project. Afterwords we came back to the flat and I contributed to the Imperial War Museum article.

24 May 2017: Hampton Court Palace

Today we took a trip out to Hampton Court Palace. When you first walk up to the palace it seems large, but not too big, however as soon as they opened the gates and we walked into the courtyard area, you could see how massive the palace was. When you walk into the courtyard area you can see all the different options, from Henry VIII apartments, to the kitchen area. While it did not relate to my current milestone, there were a lot of architectural details with wood carvings that framed paintings, and ornate ceilings, which related to my first milestone. I found the kitchen area to be quite interesting, as it was one of the largest parts of the palace. They were making meals for up to 600 people which is not an easy task, but they had it down to a system. The accounting office over looked the drop off area for food, so they could keep close tabs on what was being ordered. Right when you walk in there is a meat room, where they cut the fresh meat and sent it to the room next door to be cooked in a pot. They make meat pies, not for the part of enjoying the pastry around it, but because it acted as a cooking dish, and helped speed along the process. All the food had to be served on pewter plates, so as it left the kitchen they counted how many plates left, and as plates were coming back they counted again. After we finished touring all the open apartments we headed outside to the gardens. The gardens were lovely and so well kept, it was my favorite part of the palace. The gardens were not only large but there were also multiple gardens that connected. At the edge of one garden we found the largest grape vine in the world! After we took the long train ride back into London I contributed to the Hampton Court Palace article.

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  View from the center courtyard

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  Pots in the Kitchen

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  The detailed ceiling

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  Purple flower from the garden

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  Water Fountain in the garden

25 May 2017: Horniman Museum

Today we went to the Horniman Museum which was outside of London. The museum did not relate to my milestones, however on the way there since we had to take a train we saw a lot of graffiti. The museum it self was very small, there were only a couple exhibits that you did not have to pay to go into. The exhibit on natural history was the largest, and while there was a lot of interesting information, I did not appreciate the taxidermy dog heads that were on display. We also saw an exhibit on musical instruments which seemed interesting, but was filled with a school group so it was very hard to get to see everything. They were so loud, on top of the music, I could not even hear myself think. Afterwords we went outside and explored the gardens. We did the nature trail walk, and saw a wedding going on at the pavilion. The gardens were very nice and the beautiful weather today made it even better. Afterwords I went back to the flat and contributed to the Horniman Museum article.

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  Shells

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  Clock

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  Sundial

30 May 2017: The Wallace Collection, Calligraphy Lesson and Cafe Tour

Today we went to The Wallace Collection which was inside the Hertford House. When I looked up the Wallace collection online and saw it only had two exhibits right now I was expecting a very small museum, but it was a very nice surprise to see that there was much much more. I really liked the set up, how it was walking through a house, and you could see the grandeur life that was lived there. My favorite room had to be the study, I loved the popping colors, in a room that is usually used for important and serious business. Something that also stuck out to me in the house were the window treatments. After visiting Hampton Court Palace and seeing how each window has the same, red and plain, window treatments, it surprised me the amount of attention and detail was put into these. After seeing the rest of the collection and the exhibits Olivia and I headed over to [Tate Britain] to get sources for our Typography milestone. After getting sources we went to our check in meeting and then headed over to our Calligraphy lesson. Coincidently the place that our calligraphy lesson was held, had a piece of street art done by discrete right next door! I was not sure how it was going to turn out, as I have little patience and that is the one thing we were told to bring, but I surprisingly did quite well. Also not a planned stop on my cafe tour, but the cafe we went to was called Hatch, and it was very cute, though a little far away as you have to take the overground. We also got a lot of information and practice material so we can have a guide when it comes to our deliverable!!

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31 May 2017: London Science Museum

Today we went to the London Science Museum and I loved it, even though it did not relate to my milestones. It was interesting, as I was walking around the science museum I was thinking about all my engineering major friends back at WPI, and how they would love to go to this museum. There was one exhibit on Engineer your Future which I found very interesting. There was a huge focus on introducing young kids to science, technology, engineering and math. When I was younger there was not that big of a focus on it, but you could tell walking through the museum not only did it teach you about science, but it was more concerned with showing kids what you can do with science. When walking through the atmosphere exhibit I noticed a section on the Keeling curve, which I learned about back at WPI in environmental biology, it was so cool to be able to see the connections. Another exhibit which I really enjoyed was the exhibit on big data. I have always been interested in it, and it is one of the reasons I love statistics. The interactive exhibits ,and all of the examples that were given about when data is collected and why, was really interesting to see. After going through the big data exhibit I kept thinking about all the data they are probably collecting off us in their interactive exhibits. There was so much to do and see in the London Science Museum and it was worth the visit. After the museum I contributed to the London Science Museum article.

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1 June 2017: Work Day and Cafe Tour

Today was the start of many work days, so I decided to officialy start my Cafe Tour of London. I went to Prufrock, which is a coffee shop not too far down Leather Lane. It was a great place to get work done, there was plenty of seating, it was brightly lit and cheery, and the music that was playing was not to loud. I got a lot of work done for our third milestone there, researching typography.

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2 June 2017: Work Day, Cafe Tour and Dessert Alert

For the next stop on my tour I decided to head to Catalyst cafe, which is near Chauncery Lane underground. While the tea was very good, I did not enjoy working there as much. They only had one large table which was filled when I got there, so I had to work at a bar on the window. It was also very small so when a lot of people started showing up around lunch time it got too loud to work. I went back to the flat to finish up working and then later that night I went on a Jack the Ripper Tour. Surprisingly it related to my third milestone. Our tour guide told us how the police had found a letter written by Jack the Ripper, and the reason we have the image of a wealthier man today, is because of his hand writing. This is a very good example of typography, and its every day appearances. The police soon realized the letter was a fake, written by a journalist, so them looking at the typography didn't end up helping the case. The day ended with ice cream, and Olivia and I now cannot stop pointing out typography wherever we go, including the logo of the ice cream place which was called Udderlicious!

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3 June 2017: Cafe Tour

When looking for something to do on a Saturday evening in London I stumbled upon a board game cafe in Shoreditch called, Draughts. After our street art tours, we learned Shoreditch is a very up and coming "hipster" area of London. That would describe the vibe of this cafe. While it is not a great place to do work, as you are too busy playing games it was a very fun cafe to hang out in! You pay 5 pounds and have the table to play board games for 4 hours, I think we were there for a little longer and they did not kick us out. They have over 600 games to choose from, as well as really good food. I hope I will get the chance to come back here again!

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5 June 2017: Work Day and Cafe Tour

Today I continued my research for my third milestone on typography. This stop on my Cafe tour was the Attendant in Clerkenwell, which is one of several locations, but not the original. It was very nice, it was on the smaller side being on leather lane, but they still had a lot of seating and there iced chai latte was very good. There was music playing, and it was also a great place to people watch while I sat and did work there for three hours. I want to go to the original location, as the concept was based off the buildings prior use. Since the attendant was on leather lane, I got some fresh fruit as I headed back to the flat to do some more work.

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6 June 2017: Work day, Cafe tour, Dessert Alert, and Romeo and Juliet

Today I crossed two cafes off my list both in the Shoreditch area. The first one was Look Mum no Hands! which is a bike themed cafe. This cafe was a nice place to get some work done, but they are not a big fan of people sitting there all day doing work. They kick you off the wifi between 12-2 and 4-6 and they only let you sit at the window bar, or on the couches if you have a laptop. It was still a very nice place to sit and work for the morning though. Afterwords I went to the grand opening of Naked Dough cafe, which is a cookie dough cafe! They have a few different flavors of edible cookie dough with different toppings. Its not a great place to do work as there are only benches and since it is in the underground it was designed to be a grab and go style cafe. Later on in the afternoon, when it started downpouring, it was time for Romeo and Juliet to start. We were standing front row right up against the stage which was very cool and we had a great view. The show itself however was quite interesting, it was a very modern take on the play and I still haven't decided if I liked it or not. There were some parts that were confusing though as they were using the script exactly as he wrote it at some points, which can be difficult to understand, and at other times they were interjecting modern terms and phrases. At one point in the show there were actors sitting on the stage right in front of me, which was very cool, but the closeness did make some scenes uncomfortable. Overall I got the experience of a show in the globe, pouring rain, and cold wind included! I later contributed to the Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet at the Globe Theater (2017) page.

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7 June 2017: Work Day, Sky Garden, Dessert Alert

Today for our work day we started out by going to Quill London which is in Farringdon to get supplies for our deliverable for our final milestone. We then headed over to the financial district to get some more pictures for our first milestone on architecture. After hanging out in the area for a while we went up to the Sky Garden which is in the 20 Fenchurch building. While it did have a gorgeous view, I had heard so many wonderful things about it and it did not really meet my expectations. There are a few nice restaurants and bars, that would be a lovely place to go for sunset, but you do not need the full hour if you are just planning on hanging out up there. The Sky Garden opens up tickets for the week on Monday, the tickets are free but you have to book them three weeks out, as they do sell out. After words we went to the market at kings cross and I wish I went sooner. There were so many stalls with such a diverse range of traditional food. I planned on going for brownies that I had read about online from Bad Brownies, and I can tell you they were very very good. While walking to their booth however we had to stop and get cookies from Galeta, which are almost the size of our heads. Since we did buy all these sweets we walked back, and eating a brownie while walking makes it not as bad for you right?

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8 June 2017: Stonehenge Tour and Cafe Tour

Today we had an all day tour as a whole group which was a first! We started out the day by going to Stonehenge, which is one of those places you always see in pictures but I never imagined being able to actually see it. The mystery behind it is what makes a bunch of stones so interesting. How they got the stones there, what was there purpose, and how they constructed it is all questions we don't know the answer too. Even though it was rainy, the fog added to the mysterious aspect of it. After we saw Stonehenge we got back on the bus and headed towards Bath. When we got to Bath it did not seem like we were in the UK any more it seemed like we were in Rome, which makes sense because it was built by the Romans. It was a very cute little town with a lot of rich history, one day it would be nice to go back and enjoy the spa they have there! While we were there we went to the Cornish Bakery which was a small bakery by the Bath Abby. We had pasties which as a group we decided reminded us of a homemade hotpocket with beef, mashed potatoes, and vegatiables. They were so good, I wish they made them in the United States. After Bath we headed to the little town of Lacock which is where Godric's Hallow was filmed, and the birth place of Harry Potter. It was a quant little town with a lot of history, and it was nice because it was not a touristy area. I then contributed to the Stonehenge page.

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9 June 2017: Work Day, Cafe Tour, Brick Lane Walk

Today we headed back into the Shoreditch area to get more pictures for our street art project. We were still looking for photos that fit two of the styles and managed to find one of them and are still on the lookout for the other. Halfway down brick lane we stopped for breakfast at a place called Cereal Killer Cafe. This is a cereal themed cafe, they have cereal from all over the world, you can make your own bowl with specialty milk, or they have some favorite combinations up on the wall that you can chose from. It was a very fun cafe, and if you like cereal it would be a good place to get some work done, they have free wifi. After that we continued our walk down brick lane, and found some of the pieces we were looking for as well as some artists we recognized. Afterwords I took the tube back to my flat to get some work done refining our milestones.

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12 June 2017: Windsor Castle, Cafe Tour, Dessert Alert

Today we got up nice and early and headed out towards Windsor Castle, which was about a 45 min train ride. We got there first thing in the morning and it was a good thing we already had our tickets as the line to buy them went all the way down the street. Windsor Castle itself reminded me a lot of Hampton Court Palace just with castle walls surrounding it. The flag was flying which meant the Queen was in, but unfortunately we did not get to see her. My favorite part about these buildings is the ceilings. Looking up at the crown molding and the intricate designs that show attention to detail. Unfortunately we could not take any pictures inside of the state apartments which was a bummer but understandable. The cathedral related to my first milestone indirectly as it was built in the Gothic style of architecture which we did research on. We also got to see the changing of the guards and got there early so we were right up against the fence. It was very long, but also really interesting to see a tradition that has been going on all these years. On the way back to the flat we stopped at Dominique Ansel Bakery which is known for there cookie shots, which is a chocolate chip cookie in the shape of a glass coated with chocolate on the inside and you drink milk out of it. So of course I had to try it and it was so good, I also got a frozen s'more which is a toasted to order marshmallow with ice cream and a chocolate graham cracker filling. While we got our dessert for take away it did seem like a nice cafe to do work in, there was plenty of seating and it was very bright and cheery. Plus it would not hurt to have all the pretty cakes and tarts to look at all day.

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13 June 2017: Work Day, Cafe Tour, Dessert Alert, Kinky Boots

We started out this work day by going to The Wren Cafe, which is cafe that is inside an old church. It was really cool as the stained glass windows, and the high ceilings with crown molding are nicely preserved. The chai latte and tea cakes were also really good. We worked on our deliverable for milestone three which included practicing our calligraphy by writing down what we saw and what we heard. We picked up on a lot because we were really paying to attention to the small details of the room. We went to the river for lunch and sat at a bench at the bottom of Peters hill, gathering information for what to write for our next page, listening to a work out group. I also went to my second theater performance with the other Emily tonight. First however we went to get pre-show ice cream at Chin Chin Labs liquid nitrogen ice cream parlor at the Camden market, which was wicked cool and really good. Kinky boots was also amazing, I was most impressed with one scene that had four moving treadmills that were being used as runways and the dancers were up on them in 6 inch heels doing flips. The costumes, especially at the end, where also so detail oriented, and the fact that it took place in England really relates it to our project.

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14 June 2017: Work Day, Cafe, The Graffiti Tunnel, Dessert Alert

Today we headed over to the Waterloo area to find a park to get some work done. We had heard of a park that had wifi but unfortunately when we got there the wifi was very slow. We went to an EAT cafe down the street, and worked there for a couple of hours. Afterwords we headed to the Graffiti Tunnel, which is a Tunnel where is it legal to spray paint. There were so many tags, pieces, and murals in this tunnel started by Banksy. And since it is legal, in the broad daylight of 1 in the afternoon we saw someone spray painting a piece. On the way to our presentation meeting I stopped at Bea's of Bloomsbury for the ORIGINAL Duffin, which is a cross between a donut and a muffin. The reason why it is the original is because Starbucks tried to claim they had the idea first! I tried the Nutella stuffed one and it was delicious.

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15 June 2017: Work Day, Cafe Tour

Today we went to Half Cup cafe by kings cross because we read online that it had good wifi in order to get some work done. We worked on uploading pictures and editing all of our pages. The cafe was nice, however the staff was hovering over us the entire time, so we left after two hours. We then worked on our calligraphy deliverable of writing in our notebooks.

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16 June 2017: Work Day, God's Own Junkyard, Dessert Alert

Today we went to God's Own Junkyard which is about an hour bus ride out of the center of London. It was an old warehouse filled with a ton of old and new neon signs. This was a great connection to our typography project because you can see the different font on different signs that convey different meanings. There were so many signs to look at and we were allowed to take pictures which we will be able to use in our milestone page. On the way back we stopped at Soft Serve Society in Boxpark Shoreditch to get freakshakes which are over the top milkshakes that were very good. Throughout the day we were taking notes on our surroundings so we could continue to write them down in our notebook.

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17 June 2017: Trooping the Colour, Work Day

We woke up at 4:30 am to get to Buckingham palace before 6 am in order to get best spot to watch the Trooping the Color, which is the Queens birthday parade. It all payed off because when we arrived at 5:54 am we got a spot on the gate, with a perfect view of the balcony, and we were on the side that the queen goes by in her carriage. While we were there wicked early we got to talk to a lot of people form all over. The lady next to use was really nice, she has been going to the parade since 2012 and always gets the same spot, so she gave us insight on the parade and the route. The best part is when we saw THE QUEEN of England, she was no more than 15 feet away from us. We also got to see the rest of the royal family too which was pretty amazing. It was a long day, but a great one. We then went back to the flat and worked on our deliverable.

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19 June 2017: Dessert Alert, Work Day

To recover form yesterdays long day we went to get macaroon ice cream sandwiches. We got them from Yolkin, she does not have her own storefront, so she was selling them out of Siam Eatery. I had the lucky charms one and it was really good. It was corn flake ice cream topped with lucky charm marshmallows, and a bright rainbow macaroon. After the ice cream treat we went back to the flat to continue work on our deliverable.

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19 June 2017:Work Day, Cafe Tour

Today I went to the Department of Coffee and Social Affairs which has may locations including one on Leather Lane. It was very hot out and they only had one fan and no air conditioning, so I would not recommend going unless it is cool out. It was a very nice atmosphere however to do a lot of proofreading of my milestone pages.

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Map

Here is a map of everywhere I have been on this trip, including museums, cafes, restaurants, and weekend trips to other countries! Key: Red: Sites related to my milestone Green: Food! Blue: Weekend Trips All the the sites in my journal entries can be found on the map, all the of sites on the map also have a date so you can look in my journal entries for more details about that site. https://maphub.net/eawilson/London-HUA