Today I actually got to sleep in a little bit which was really nice. Becca and I went to Pizza Hut for lunch, a real non-American experience, I know. Then I went to the National Gallery by Trafalgar Square . There were millions of people at Trafalgar Square to celebrate the Chinese New Year. I swear it seemed like there were almost more people there than in Time Square on our New Years. There was a big Chinese stage that had a variety of Chinese entertainment on it, and there were lots of booths where different noise makers and little Chinese souvenirs, etc. were being sold. I think it would have been nice to have seen the parade that was there at sometime during the day and some of the other entertainment. I didn't know what time the parade was at and I didn't know about all the other festivities, so I didn't leave any time in my day to partake in the celebration.

I didn't realize how huge the National Gallery was and didn't allow myself enough time to spend there either. I wanted to find the Photography section of the National Portrait Gallery, but after I looked around for a little bit and couldn't find it, I decided just to browse through some other sections. I looked mainly at paintings from around the 15 and 1600s. I was very impressed by a lot of the work that I saw. There were a few artists in particular that really stood out to me. Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) was the first artist whose work I really admired. He had several different styles of paintings, but he one style that I really liked. He created several paintings with soft, curvy lines that made the images flow together. This gave the paintings a fantastical, majestic feel that really caught my attention. The first one I saw in this style was "Triumph of the Eucharist over Ignorance and Blindness" . One of the other paintings Rubens created in this style that I saw was called "The Coupde Lance" I really like how he used different shades of browns to really give this painting a camouflaged effect. Another artist whose work I really enjoyed was Jan van der Heyden (1637-1712). I saw a couple scenic paintings by him that I thought were very beautiful. He really has a good eye for seeing and creating light and shadows and reflections created by light. His painting, "View of the Westerkerk, Amsterdam" , has a great depiction of the way that things reflect off the water. In his painting "A View in Cologne" really shows his talent of creating sunlight in his paintings. You don't actually see the sun, but you can see the light rays and shadows created by the sun. These paintings were in the Richard Greeen room, which had many other scenic paintings too. This was my favorite room in the gallery, out of the small section of the gallery that I actually saw that is. My favorite painting in this room was called "A River near a Town, by Moonlight" . It was painted around 1645 by Aert van der Neer (1603/4-1677). This painting is very dark and you have to look closely at it to see all of the detail. I couldn't believe the amount of detail, considering how dark the painting is. From far away all you can see is the light made by the moon and the rest of the picture just looks dark. When you look at it closely though, you can see tiny buildings in the distance and their reflections in the water. The painting glows by the light of the moon, which really grabs your attention and draws you in. There was one more painting I saw at the gallery that really stood out to me. "Corgnos Centi in a Room Hung with Pictures" was painted in around 1620 by an unknown Flemish artist. I love the amount of detail in this painting. It has many other small beautiful paintings with in this one, which is why I think I am so impressed by it. Not only could this artist paint one good painting, he/she painted about 20 wonderful paintings with in this one. The small paintings are a broad range too, still life paintings, portraits, scenic paintings, etc. This variety of paintings all in one really shows off the artist's talent.

After touring the National Gallery I went to the Queen Elizabeth Hall where our class was atending The 2004 Mozart Birthday Concert. It was a classical concert of pieces written by Mozart, obviously. The first piece was a trio with a pianist, violinist, and cello player. The second was a quartet with 2 violinists, a viola, and a cello player. After intermission there was a piano duet, which was followed by a quintet of 2 violins, a viola, a cello, and a clarinet. All the music was very beautiful, but I thought 3 hours was way too long to sit and listen to classical music. Classical music puts me to a sleep anyways, and just sitting in an auditorium like that for so long with out much sleep the night before made it very difficult to stay awake. I did like all the music though. I particularily enjoyed the piano duet. I really like hearing the piano, it is such a lovely instrument. I decided that I don't like violins very much though, I started to find them a little annoying. I liked watching all the musicians play their instruments. They all get so into it and really move their heads with the intensity of the music. I was very impressed watching the pianists; the way their hands just glided across the keys was just amazing!

After the concert we went out to eat as a class to a Turkish resturant. I think that was the first time I've ever had Turkish food, or at least the first time I ate in a Turkish resturant. It was delicious! After dinner I went back to the hotel to pack and get all ready to go home!