DAY 3: Millenium Bridge & Tate Modern

DAY 3: Millenium Bridge & Tate Modern

After our first experience with the hostel breakfast, we decided Starbuck's was a better alternative to bread, nutella, and cereal. While the London Starbuck's cashier was quite friendly, he could not understand Courtney's name to write on her cup, hence she is now Collin for the day. 

While in Starbuck's Ashley ordered tea with honey, and in London, which is quite different from America, they give you this tiny little glass jar of honey. We both think this packaging is simple and cute and the typography treatment is also nice. Needless to say, we'll be stock piling honey jars from London Starbuck's to bring home.

This is how we've been traveling through London. This was us on the Tube on our way to the Tate Modern. After the Tate, we traversed London and learned to navigate the Tube quite well. It is way easier to understand than the Subway in NYC.

This is us leading the group, Cassie who also had to help lead is missing from the photo, to the Tate Modern after we got off the Tube. This is from the Millenium bridge, which was a foot bridge that went across the water. It gave us a great view of London while we walked to the Tate.

Tate Modern logo inside the museum. The museum housed a lot of great work including Lichtenstein, Kandinsky, Picasso, and work by John Heartfield who did photomontage work during the time of WWII and Nazi Germany. Jessica Loy was kind enough to fill us in a bit more about his work and it also gave more insight to an Art History project Ashley is working on.

These were some of the goodies we purchased from the Tate Modern. Of course we needed design and art books, no trip to the Tate would be complete without those.

After the Tate, we went to the Founders Arm pub which was not very far from the Tate. We noticed that in London, you have to pay for your food upfront, take a seat number and wait for your food to be brought to you. Also, you don't tip, which is quite different from the way restaurants are in America. Of course we had to try the famous Fish n' Chips which also came with a side of mashed peas. Courtney only liked the fries...aka "chips".

On our way to the London Bridge, we ran across this little sign. Apparently drinking on the streets in London is allowed, except in certain areas that ask you to please not drink if asked during certain times. This is very different from America, because if a cop saw you on the street with an open container, you'd be straight up arrested.

We found this little gem after a brief warm up at a nearby Starbuck's. It was called the Southwark Cathedral. There was a woman volunteer who was very knowledgeable about the cathedral and gave us all the secrets about connections to certain Americans who are linked to the cathedral as well as a relative of Shakespeare's who is buried there. It is also the oldest Gothic cathedral in London.

While reading the tombs on the floor, we came across this, what seemed to be dead cat. Luckily he was quite alive and probably just looking for a place to sleep and warm up. We were quite startled upon seeing this. It was funnier once we knew he was actually alive.

Another difference we noticed while making our way to the London Bridge, was that there are street maps posted everywhere in London to help you navigate around the city and find your way. This is different from anything either of us have seen in America, especially when we are in NYC for all of our Art History trips. London is also MUCH cleaner than NYC. It's kind of nice. 

Now for some interesting design in London that we spotted! The first was for a local grocery store, and we thought it was a clever name and we thought the type in the bubble gave the logo a nice gestalt. The following piece was actually a 3-D map of the area. We thought it was different and had a simple layout. Typically vertical type doesn't work so well, but we thought in this case it worked nicely. The last example was on a long wall and stretched seven panels. We thought the colors worked nice and were simple. The bold type and graphics made these panels simple, easy to read, and interesting compositions. All three of these examples even including the architecture we saw were more modern and we thought it was a nice contrast to a very old and historical city.

WE MADE IT! Finally we got to walk across the London Bridge ( and it didn't fall down!). We tried to make it to the Tower of London to check out those shiny Crown Jewels, but because it was a Sunday they had closed for the day. We will definitely be going back to check that out. The view from the bridge was also amazing and highly recommended. 

Even though we didn't get to tour the Tower of London, we did get to shop in its store. We found some interesting objects, including a quill and ink. 

After the Tower of London shop, we tried to make it to the Covent Garden market before all the shops closed, but unfortunately we were too late. So instead we just went back to the Hostel to warm up and meet for our nightly group meeting.

Cheers!

Courtney & Ashley