To begin our journey through London, we had to stop at the nearest Starbucks to give us energy. Chris St. Cyr was the one who really wanted to get a coffee.
After fueling up with caffeine, we boarded the Tube at Kings Cross Station down to Leicester Square, and then walked to Trafalgar Square. There were many street performers and tourists enjoying a beautiful day in central London.
We, of course, had to climb up to the lion statues in the middle of the square and take a group photo. Although afterwards a few of us had trouble getting down.
It was a group effort to help everyone down.
Then it was time for our scavenger hunt! We broke up into two teams and were given a map and a set of specific sites we had to find around London. Chris St Cyr joined Regina, Matt, and Alyssa as he hasn't been to London for a long time. It took us a minute to get oriented and then we were off. Ultimately we found Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, St James Church, Covent Garden for a cookie! and St Martin's in the Fields.
This is the other team looking ready to go!
Corinne, Emma, Marygrace and Robynn all planning their strategy.
One group got to the House Guard Parade just in time to see the performance. The horses were beautiful, though a little antsy just sitting there.
Corinne, Mary-grace, Emma, and Robynn all met up with Jessica in front of Big Ben,
all dressed for nice weather. Looking good!
Emma in front of Westminister Abbey and she's hoping to come back
during the week and go inside to see the tombs.
To make her aunt jealous for the day, Emma took a selfie in front of Buckingham Palace.
I hope the Queen is watching.
One of the requirements for our daily blogging is to find examples of good design. This is a logo from a lunch place called PAUL. Jessica selected this as an example of lovely typography.
Jessica also selected this interesting window display discovered walking along Piccadilly Road.
What a wonderful use of colors and shapes to create a dynamic environment.
Down in Picadilly Circus, we encountered a lovely street performer, covered in gold and taking pictures with passerbys.
Back at Trafalgar Square there was more activity. One woman was drawing flags on the walkway and people were dropping money on their countries flag. This was a fun interactive piece of street art.
Who is this??
The last stop for one of the groups before coming back to Trafalgar Square, was the St. Martin's in the Field. There was a health care protest in progress as we returned. It was a big protest of about 100,000 people.
But we got distracted by a man giving out homemade rings for free. We did donate money to him because the rings were very beautiful.
Then we went into the National Gallery. This is a wonderful museum and an amazing collection of paintings, drawing and sculptures.
A close up of Da Vinci's The Virgin Of The Rocks. So lovely.
After a long day, we stopped inside The Crypt of St Martins In The Fields Church to have afternoon tea and scones. What a delicious way to take a break.
Cornish Cream Tea. That is a scone, heavy clotted cream and jam. Yummmm.
Jessica saw an example of a cultural difference at dinner. Nibbles anyone?
Back at the Clink Matt serenades his fellow travelers after a long day of walking.
Emma's design pick for today was the designs for the London Underground. She chose it because her earlier project was based around the typeface Gill Sans, one that is used through the branding of train system. She was very excited to finally see this in person.
The designs were simple and readable for quick travel, and people who are in a rush. Having on each wall where each train goes so we couldn't choose the wrong one.
Emma also chose the currency of Great Britain as her cultural difference. She believed them to have a unique design compared to the US dollar, and for different amounts the bill size changes.
Our last activity for the day is Corinne's presentation for our visit to the Tate Modern tomorrow. Looking forward to another fun day.
GOOD NIGHT!!
Posted by Emma Gudrian and Jessica Loy
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