Paris- First Course

Our first day in Paris began so early that I'm surprised any of us actually remember it. :) It was good to get such an early start on the day though because we had so much to do! As soon as we arrived, we immediately went over to the Louvre. Being the largest museum in the world, it's difficult to see everything in just a few hours but if you plan out a little bit of what you want to see, you'll take in a lot of it and have a great time. I recommend starting off by the Greek statues and the Mesopotamia area. It's not very crowded and the pieces are exquisite. I was blown away by the absolute capturing of the human form in so many contexts and themes. It was mesmerizing.

After the Louvre, we grabbed some delicious sandwiches and joined a "hop-on-hop-off" bus tour to get a feel for the city. If you have the time to do one of these tours, check it out! You'll hit all the major sites around the city and you'll also get a chance to get the lay of the land. If it's a nice day, head to the top of the bus and you'll still be able to enjoy the fresh air.

We concluded our day with a beautiful, scenic boat ride down the Seine and an amazing meal at a little cafe nearby. It was a perfect first day at the start of an unforgettable weekend.

A moveable feast-

"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."

Ernest Hemingway created a beautiful metaphor with that quote- a movable feast. Paris is the kind of place that stays with you and becomes a part of you. As the hours count down to our departure- 4:30 in the AM esshh!- my thoughts are on that beautiful city. I can't wait to just be there- experiencing it and taking it all in. So stayed tuned readers! The adventure will continue south tomorrow!

Today we visited the famous Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross station. When traveling with a bunch of future librarians- this becomes a mandatory stop on the tour. We definitely held up the line a bit while each of us got our photo in but it was worth it! It's wonderful to see the inspirations and sights of great literature.

After pleasing the book nerd in all of us- we went on the enormous British Library. We are now all proud owners of our library cards and we had a chance to see some of the most valued treasures in their collection. The library has some 180 million copies of books so there wasn't really time to see everything but I did like the Treasure Room with all the featured pieces.

"All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players"

‘The Tudor pack at their most snarling, scheming, ribald, pleasure-seeking and gaily entertaining.’ Daily Telegraph

Tonight we saw a brilliant production of Anne Boleyn at the famous Globe Theatre. It was a beautifully constructed tale of courtly love, dreadful plotting, and the royal throne. The plot of the play weaved in a story of King James and his interest in Anne Boleyn's ideas. It provided a unique and often hilarious sub-plot to the dynamic main story line. It was wonderful to see a show at the Globe and we couldn't of asked for a more beautiful night.

Afterwards, we went strolling along the Thames in search of night-time shots most of which turned out beautifully. Take a look at some of the ones I captured...

From London, with love: A digital photo story

After having spent some time in this wonderful city, I've begun to notice the things this town really loves. This is a story about what London has fallen in love with. Enjoy!

Pictures taken by: Aubrey Clark

Music from: Alex on ccMixter "Improvisation on Friday..."

Alex. (October 19, 2008). Improvisation on Friday...(Recorded by: The 3am Association). On: Mixter (digital recording).

Mysteries and Wonders of the World

Today we traveled as far back as you can go in England- Stonehenge. Such a wonder and mystery- why was it built? What was it used for? How were the people able to construct in the first place? Was it even built by man? These are the questions we pondered while walking around this famous wonder of the ancient world.

After pondering this beautiful monument, we went over to Salisbury- home of the beautiful Salisbury Cathedral, a church that's been going for almost 800 years! It's so amazing what people accomplished with such limited resources. I wonder what will be left of our civilization after a few thousand years. How we will be remembered? Will it be something amazing and mysterious, beautiful and magnificent? Or maybe something terrible? The choice is ours.

After our astonishing tours, we had some free time to walk around and take in the beautiful town. We went to the market and one of the local pubs. While we were out, we found one of the peaceful rivers going through the town with these swans swimming around.

So my photo story is dedicated to that moment and what I saw while watching them swim- check it out!

Tchaikovsky, Pyotr. (2011) Swan Lake, Ballet Suite op 20 (Belgrad Philharmonic Orchestra & Igor Markevich) On Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake- Ballet Suite (Compact disc). Minuetto Classics.

RAA!!ool Rocks London

RAA!!ool has been living it up here in London. Check out his new music video on his travels about town and all that he has seen and done.

Gotta get back in time!

Today we traveled back to where it all began for London. While we walked through the Museum of London, we were immersed into each stage of its life, sharing the joys and sorrows, successes and hard times. The museum was full of so many different kinds of artifacts and packed with multi-media displays so you could really get the full effect. Some of the most interesting spots in the museum included places where they had videos playing- often with real footage and even interviews with people. One of the most moving pieces was a video of the blitz. It's astonishing what the people of London, just ordinary regular people, had to go through.

After the museum, we headed over St. Paul's again but this time we got to check out the magnificent inside! It's just an absolutely amazing structure that words really can't do justice. We toured most of the church and some of us made the long trek up to the Whispering Gallery and on up some more to the Golden Gallery- some 500-odd steps all together! It was absolutely terrifying but the view was worth it!