Amsterdam/Van Gogh Museum (GRC Post 10)

This past weekend, I went to Amsterdam. Amsterdam is probably one of the most interesting place I have ever been in my life. The architecture of the building, and the way the city is designed is very unusual. Most cities do not have canal system around the city, which makes Amsterdam different from any other place.

 While in Amsterdam, I was also able to visit the Vincent Van Gogh Museum. I didn't know much about him before, but now I would probably list him as one of my favorite artists. The way the museum was designed was great. There were about 4 floors total, with the floors were set up in different parts of his life, and his different painting styles.  You went with his as his life progressed, and his mental health began deteriorating. I didn't realize that he never even started painting until he was 29 years old. So crazy. Definitely one of the best weekends of my life.

Stratford-upon-Avon (Signage) (GRC Post 9)

A few days ago, we went to the birthplace of Shakespeare. It was so incredible seeing all of the history surrounding someone as famous as Shakespeare. All kinds of things around the little town were designed to look like stuff from the era when Shakespeare was alive.

The buildings were designed like little cottages and even made you feel like you were traveling back in time.

Blackletter typeface was obviously very popular back in Shakespeare's day! Most of the signs around town looked very similar.

I loved the design of this town, and the feel it gave off. We even got to see one of Shakespeare's own plays (Othello) in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Seeing one of his plays in the town he lived in was quite an experience.

Flower Market (GRC Post 8)

Recently, me and some of my new friends visited an adorable flower market. I was surprised by all of the different designs I saw within the flower arrangements. Flower markets are not something you would normally thinking of having cool designs, but I definitely saw them in this one.

 I really enjoyed how all of the different colors of the flowers were arranged. My favorite arrangement was the picture of the pink and purple flowers in the top right corner.  It was so beautiful!

Design Museum (GRC Post 7)

A few days ago, we visited the Design Museum. It was a very, very interesting place. One exhibit that was particularly interesting was the show exhibit. I never realized how much thought goes into a shoe.

I really enjoyed this thing that showed all of the parts of a shoe--many which you wouldn't even have thought of.

There were so many different shapes, sizes, designs, colors, patters and so much more that goes into shoes. I really liked the way they designed this particular exhibit. It was the whole second floor, so there was plenty of room for everything to be played out.

I also really enjoyed all of the innovative designs. One of the most memorable to me was a streetlamp that plays with your shadow. It isn't something that will be super useful, just a little entertainment! 

There was also an exhibit stating the reasons for design. I enjoyed the vacuum with a sign that read "Sheer frustration inspires new design," which is so true. Vacuums would never have been created if people weren't fed up with the tedious action of using dust pans.

Street Art/Graffiti (GRC Post 6)

One thing that I have been noticing all throughout London is the incredible street art (or graffiti). It is not something I am really too fond of, but I have seen a lot of really cool, creative designs!

This one in particular is one of the funniest ones I have seen. Some may think it is disrespectful to the Queen, but I think it is just really creative. It is definitely showing the Queen in a different light. I noticed that when people were walking past it, that most were laughing. I personally don't see people really laughing or smiling in London, so it was nice to see. I liked how something like graffiti could make someone's day a little better.

Here is another one that particularly drew my attention. The size of this one was incredible. You can't really tell by this picture, but it was around the size of a garage door. Something like this would be hard to do on a small canvas, but I can't even imagine how hard it would be to do on something this large. I think that street art/graffiti usually makes a place look bad, but this one actually made the area look better. It is not just some scribbles of someone's nickname, it is catalo real art that took someone a lot of time. If other street artists did designs like this, then streets and the world would be a much prettier place!

Wayfinding in Hyde Park (GRC 377 Post 5)

One of my favorite places to relax is Hyde Park, and Kensington Gardens. I am lucky enough to be living right across the street. I often go on runs here, and it is such an enormous place (about 600 acres!). Thankfully, they have signs all over the place to tell you which directions to go. 

You can tell from this picture that there are so many different paths you can take, so it is absolutely necessary to have these signs. They are designed in a way that they don't take away from the naturey environment of the park, but still stand out to where you can see them and figure out which direction to go. I can tell that these signs are something that the designers of the park thought a lot about, and not just something they just placed there.

I thought these sign-like things were really cool. I didn't really get a very good picture, but it was a giant sun-shape thing on a walking path that was in the center of a lot of other paths. I though this was a really creative and cool design. It is also really helpful!!

War Memorials and Statues (GRC 377 Post 4)

One fascinating thing we did this week was visit the various war memorials and statues all around London. There were different ones for the different ward, and the different countries and people (also animals) that fought in them. Some of the designs were pretty incredible!

There were so many different shapes, sizes, and designs. This one was a war memorial for the Canadian soldiers (I forgot which war it was, oops). I could tell it was Canadian right away because of the little maple leaves, which is a major symbol of Canada, all throughout the memorial. What also made it cool was the little bit of water that trickled down and made the leaves look like they were floating almost.

This was probably my favorite design of the memorial we saw. From far away, you can see all  kinds of words across it, but when you get close, you realize that all o f ht big words are made out of so many smaller words. Our tour guide told us that these words were all of the cities the soldiers from the UK, Australia, and a few other countries were born in.

 As you can tell, these monument come in all form, whether just some-pole looking forms (left picture) or full on statues (right picture). They also don't have to be for just humans, like the picture in the middle with was honoring the animals that forcefully helped in the wars. It was great to see all of those people/animas honored for all they had done and given for their countries. I was truly amazed by all of these incredible memorials.

Public Transportation Advertising (GRC 377 Post 3)

Something I have found incredibly interesting about London is the amazing advertisements on all the transportation. Maybe I am noticing it because I have never really lived in a big city, but it is something that has really drawn my attention. The designs of these advisements are always something really colorful and eye-catching. I have seen these on buses, all over the Tube stations, and most prominently on taxi cabs.

One of my favorites is the design on the bus that you seen in the top middle picture. I think it is very effective mostly because of its bright pink color, but also because the design of the little pieces of popcorn all over. Its stands out among the other buses that are usually remand makes you look at it. I had never heard of this brand before being in London, and it almost makes me want to go out and buy it. What better way to market in a city then on multiple sources of public transportation, where at least 95% of the London population would see it.

Winchester (GRC Post 2)

Today, we decided to go to a small town about and hour and a half outside London named Winchester. Winchester was probably one of the coolest places I have been, and one of my most favorite things I have done so far. The history of this town was just incredible. We took a tour of the town and our tour guide told us all about how the town actually used to be the capital city before London, and that the Romans inhabited this town for some years. Alfred the Great lived here, and also many other of the Kings and Queens of England.The coolest thing on this tour was the ruins of the palace. The was the palace of the Bishop, which was such a marvelous place that all the royalty chose to come here over staying in their numerous castles because of its incredible luxury. By looking at these ruins, this place must have been marvelous. "Bloody" Mary and King Philip of Spain were also married in the palace.

These two photos show what the great hall of this building was like in its glory days and the one on the right shows it presently. The design of this building looked like it was beautiful and would have absolutely been a site to see. The design of this palace also was like nothing I have ever seen in any buildings we have today. Being able to build something this incredible would be a tough task in this day and age, but it being built so long ago shows how skilled and great these people were at designing. The Bishops who had this palace built were so incredibly rich that they had the best of everything; the best builders, the best supplies, and the best decorations. This building was built pretty well that it lasted through centuries. I highly recommend visiting this adorable town with such incredible history!

Harrod's (GRC Post 1)

One of the more interesting places I went recently was a place called Harrods. One of the locals explained it as a store where you can buy anything form a pen to an elephant, and it truly fit that description. When we first walked in, there were designer handbags like Chanel and Gucci. We then walked through an area with jewelry and watches with some of the costs being thousands upon thousands of pounds. My mom asked me what type of store it was and I told her it was a gigantic rich-people store.
One thing about that store that I liked was the beautiful packaging of some of the food products. My theory is that since the more wealthy people are the ones shopping at Harrods, that all of the products need to have eye-catching pretty things that those types of people would like. Also, everything if ridiculously expensive, so the companies probably have more money to put into the marketing of the products. This store is known for being extravagant and luxurious, so it needs to live up to its expectations.

Even the small chocolates were amazingly wrapped!

I have officially been in London for a week. It was a little overwhelming at first, getting off the plane tired and jet-lagged and not knowing where to go. It was also my birthday, but did not feel like it in any way, and I was not able to celebrate either. But after settling in and doing/seeing in credible things, I can say that it has been an incredible, eye-opening experience so far and I can't wait for the rest of the five weeks!