Merry Christmas!
The holidays are here and Christmas is 2 days away. I finished work yesterday so no more KF, and it's now job-hunting time again. But first, I'm taking a little holiday break - basically everything shuts down for Christmas and Boxing Day (except for the stores, as usual) so it's a nice 4 day weekend at least. Anyway, here are some shots in and around Oxford Street and Regent Street - it's been an even more crazy madhouse in that area than it usually is with all the Christmas shoppers bustling around. The stores go all out with their decorations...
John Lewis - never been inside but I believe it's a department store. I always saw a man in Hanover Square every morning in the same outfit, sitting on a bench with 2 plastic bags, one of which was from John Lewis. He'd even be there when it was raining and I don't think he was a homeless guy.
It's a shaky shot of Debenhams' draped in red lights. A pretty dramatic site to see actually. Not a bad store either as they sell items from various lines - I quite like the Red Herring label myself.
Some Christmas entertainment on Oxford Street. When I took this they were playing Jingle Bells and had a large crowd watching and listening. Gave them some change, I think it was 20p or something because that's all I had in my pocket!
This is the only pic I have of Regent Street that came out okay - I'll have to take some more.
Shot of Oxford Street as I was waiting to cross the road.
Merry Christmas!!
Pics from Milan
The Cenacolo Vinciano. This is where we went to see The Last Supper. It's connected to the Santa Maria delle Grazie church.
This is the Santa Maria delle Grazie - construction is being done to it, hence that big grey square in the front.
Basilica de Sant Ambrogio
Le Duomo
Le Duomo again.
Flowers at the Market
Radio show
Last night HD and I went to see a taping of the BBC Radio 2 show -
So it was cool, it was a night of funny entertainment because this Mack guy was hilarious as were his guests. HD is right when she says the British humour is just so wrong and that's what makes it so funny!
Jamelia was the musical guest and
that was a great surprise, she's a pretty well known singer over here and has a great voice. The taping took place at the Drill Hall near the Goodge Street Stn, up Tottenham Court Rd, so we walked there because it's not that far from Oxford Circus. The taping was about 2 hours long and because it isn't live there were a few retakes and some other pick-ups they had to do for other shows. It was a great way to spend an evening so I'll be checking out the BBC for some more to go to.
Milano
The Milan trip is over now - we got back yesterday. Three days in Milan is more than enough as there isn't alot to see or do in terms of sightseeing. It's touted as a prime fashion capital and an international city with flair but I have to say I wasn't that impressed with the city itself. However, we did run into a few snags during our trip, mostly at night. If those hadn't happened it might have been somewhat more enjoyable. Don't get me wrong though, I had a good time overall and I'm glad I went - I mean it is Milan after all!
The best part of the trip for me happened right at the beginning. And this isn't just a "best" in relation to the rest of the trip, it's a "best" as in it really was amazing. This was viewing da Vinci's The Last Supper. On Thursday morning we got up bright and early and headed to the Cenacolo Vincianzo at the Santa Maria delle Grazie church for our 8:15am appointment to view. We got out tickets and walked through 2 sets of automatic doors that, what I guess were for security reasons, only once the set you passed was closed would the one you were to go through next would open. Anyway, I walked into a dimly lit large room where the walls were of stone and looked up to the right - and there it was. Painted across a huge wall, I have no idea how big, was the Last Supper and when I saw it it was like a punch in the gut - in a good way. That's the only way I can describe it - it's magnificent even if it is getting blurry with age and you can't see the feet of the apostles very well and alot of the detail is fading, but the faces, I found those very clear. One of the defining features of da Vinci's masterpiece is that he didn't just paint the scene, he painted the emotions of the people at the moment Jesus announced his upcoming betrayal. Seeing something that is so famous, so old, and yet such a part of popular culture, (hello, the Da Vinci code anyone? and you really can see the dagger, and the disciple to Jesus' right could definitely pass for female), is a memory I'm always going to be grateful for, just this one thing made the trip to Milan worth it.
