Whilst the significance of the art was a little lost on me (as most art usually is…) there were some parts of Tate that I found particularly interesting. The building that is home to Tate Modern was once an old power station. As can be seen in the photos, they have maintained significant parts of the old station to give the building a really interesting feel. The entrance opens into the former turbine room, a huge open space that still maintains some equipment from its former life. One of the large combustion chimneys has also been kept to mark the entrance.

Whilst most of the exhibitions were a little too abstract for me to maintain interest, there was one that I was really fascinated with titles No Ghost Just a Shell. A group of artists purchases the rights to a manga character called Ann Lee from a character catalogue from Japan. They then proceeded to develop the character, giving it a life of its own, dedicating a collection to a character initially intended to be used as a filling, background character. They then ceased work, and transferred the characters copyright to the character itself, preventing anyone else from continuing the project or using Ann Lee again. I just found the concept interesting and specially the use of the anime/manga style in art.

A poster for Ann Lee, not one of my own images, but I’m fairly sure I’m not going to get sued by a character for copyright infringement…

Tate Modern from the Millennium footbridge across the Thames.

The Tate turbine room

Moving on and visiting the Globe theatre was a really cool experience! An almost exact replica of the original theatre partly funded by Shakespeare himself to become home to performances of his plays, it makes for a perfect place to present theatre. The play Troilus and Cressida was a pretty intense tragedy set in during the Trojan War, with Archilles, Hector, Paris from Homer’s Iliad all make an appearance. I felt really surreal sitting within the theatre watching Shakespeare, it allows you to appreciate how the performances would have been originally presented.

The actors really deserve to be commended as it started to rain during the performance, and due to the open roof, the stage and actors really were starting to get wet, yet the performance went on! I saw a matinee show yesterday and would really like to go back and watch a night show when I get a chance.

The modern Globe Theatre, again, disappointingly, they do not allow photography within the theatre.

I think I’ve finally gotten a handle on the London transportation system. The Tube is a little rougher than the Tokyo Metro system, the Tokyo trains run very smoothly and don’t have a 1 foot drop between the train and platform as some Tube trains due, but the Tube does seem to run more efficiency, particularly when having to make transfers between trains. The Tube only requires walking between platforms, where as the Tokyo Metro often involves switching between above and below ground trains, which you have to pay for separately. The Oyster card works just like the Tokyo Suica card, making travel easy, with trips getting cheaper the more you travel throughout the day (at some points yesterday, I was effectively catching buses for free!).

Speaking of the buses, the London bus system is fantastic! Also compatible with the Oyster card, the buses make shorter trips around the city so easy. They are clean and comfortable, much nicer than the Canberra bus system.

Related posts:

1. London Theatre
2. The end of a journey
3. Harajuku