Inspiration: London!

This summer my family and I traveled to London, where we spent two incredible weeks touring the city. We went to most of the major tourist destinations, as well as to some minor ones. We tasted food from around the world, had tea at Harrods, saw two amazing shows, visited LOTS of museums, and learned some history. We took double-decker buses as well as the Tube, but mostly we walked anywhere we could, between seven to ten miles on an average day!

London was vibrant, lively and exciting. The days were very long (it was already bright at 4:00 am, and there was still some light at 10:00 pm). The weather, as expected, was mostly chilly and gray, spiced by some drizzle or rain every now and then. Yet the streets were always packed, even late at night. Food, music and ART pulsed throughout the city.

As a historian, I loved the layers of the past peeking from every corner. As an artists, I enjoyed seeing the great variety of art that is woven into this great metropolis: old and new architecture, Gothic and modern sculpture, official public art next to street art, and, of course, the vast riches of art collected from all over the world and from different eras, displayed at the many museums that dot the city, free of charge for all to see.

Here is an example of how old and new merge flawlessly to make the urban landscape:

And these are modern sculptures, segments from a series, looking very much in place at the Tower of London:

This three-dimensional drawing stood at the financial district:

And in a side alley somewhere I spotted a waitress painting on a window:

The art displayed in the museums was a humbling testament to the great things humanity can achieve. It was quite exciting to stand in front of world-class creations, both ancient and modern, which I knew well from art history lessons. Here are but a couple of examples from the British Museum:

I found being immersed in this art-infused environment very invigorating. Creativity, it turns out, is catching.