LONDON 29th April - The Royal Wedding

So, here's the day of the Royal Wedding.
A bright and early start to what the Nation had been waiting for for weeks.
I took advantage of the scaringly empty centre of London to head to both Tate Galleries.
It started at Tate Britain http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
This museum has been the home of British art from 1500 to today.
Entry is free here also, except for major exhibitions. Currently, there's a Romantics exhibition, admission free, with some exceptional work by Turner.
My favourite piece......Ophelia 1851-2 by John Everett Millais
Then a trip via the Thames http://www.tate.org.uk/tatetotate/
As soon as we (my friends and I) got off the boat, we caught the Military flypasts that had been planned as a salute to the Royal Wedding. We saw the Lancaster, Spitfire, Hurricane, Typhoon and Tornado.
And then we entered the Tate Modern http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
The Tate Modern bases its collection on more International modern and comtemporary art.
Things to do at Tate Modern; Apart from the art galleries, Tate Modern offers from multimedia and daily guided tours to sketching in the gallery.
There's also an interactive zone that offers a range of hands-on games, multimedia interatives, books to read and films to watch that are related to the art that's on display at the Tate Modern.
It's an area where ideas and activities can be shared to help people of all ages get to know about 20th century art and artists.
The sketch that impacted me the most

My favourite piece in the gallery.....A Married Couple 1930 by George Grosz
A trip to Regent Street, a poodle around Carnaby street, a drink in Soho and a curry topped our day off.

LONDON, 28th April

On our first day in London, we found the centre busy busy in preparation for the Royal Wedding of the following day. Everywhere was buzzing with preparations, shops full of memorabilia and plenty of people already heading towards Westminster to secure a spot as spectators.
We headed to the National Gallery http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/.
The National Gallery opens at 10.00am. It's situated at Trafalgar square and we got the Underground to Charing Cross.
Entrance is free, yet you're encouraged to leave a small donation.
Maps cost £1.00 and it's worth spending that £ as there's a hell of a lot of artwork to look at.
We practically spent the whole day there. There's a huge selection on display for all art tastes.
Photographs are forbidden so I wasn't able to document anything.
From the National Gallery we headed towards the Shakespeare's Globe to watch the play All's Well that Ends well http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/theatre/on-stage/alls-well-that-ends-well.
I booked the tickets beforehand online and was able to choose the seats and visualise the costs so I already knew where I was sitting and how much I was paying. What I found out about this interest in seeing a Shakespearean play was that these performances are open to everyone from an economical perspective. The prices range from £5.00 for a standing position in the yard to £37.50 for a gallery seat. I found this comforting, theatre trips don't have to cost the earth!

I hadn't read this play before and I found the performance fun, easy to follow and the quality of the acting was particularly good, and I came away knowing about the play I had just watched.
Wrap up warm however because it's in the open, and can get quite breezy in the evening.
We walked over the Millenium Bridge to head home and we left the centre of London with a group of youngsters heading towards Westminster with a mattress over their shoulders and what I think to have been a bag full of alcohol! Liked that a lot!

My trip to London

Tomorrow I'm off to London for a week HOOOORAYYY.
I've just booked my Stansted Express train tickets on Ryanair, who are currently offering some really convenient discounts on the tickets.
I recommend for anyone travelling to London on the Stansted Express to book via their site!https://www.stanstedexpress.com/ryanair/Tickets.asp?SID={BD2EF984-2754-43A4-9C07-CF6D7EC6EA08}

James Blake

On Thursday 21st April, I was a lucky one of a few hundred ( I think 600 to be exact) to have won a ticket in the Club to Club competition for tickets to the only James Blake concert in Italy.
Club to Club is an international festival of electronic music which takes place in Turin. They tend to hold a pre-festival event in Milan for one evening only.
This gentleman, James Blake, is an Electronic composer from London, and he's been hitting the press hard over the last year or so.
He began producing (somewhat club oriented) post dubstep/ bass songs, and at the beginning of this year, he released his first self titled LP.
It's the perfect combination of modern London 'underground' club music and soul music.
Hereafter, you'll find a review by FACT magazine: http://www.factmag.com/2011/02/04/james-blake-james-blake/

Listen to James Blake http://www.factmag.com/2011/05/13/listen-to-new-james-blake/

So, apart from being a talented artist, he's a dashing young man, with superb vocals, and talented with the piano. He definately won me over with his performance!

Well done James Blake!
It was held at Magazzini Generali

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEjULrqBWB0&amp

I bloody want to look like this!