I've spent the plast few days getting ready to leave London, turning in my last assignments and packing everything up. This morning I met up with a few friends and walked down the Thames to the Tate Modern. I'm not a giant modern art fan, but I knew that one of Monet's Water Lilies is there so I was looking forward to seeing that. I ended up enjoying the museum much more than I had expected - though some of the pieces gave me that I-clearly-don't-understand-modern-art-this-looks-like-something-I-could-do-myself feeling, I thought other pieces were absolutely amazing. We only looked at one of the several floors of artwork, and even on just one floor I saw a Cornell box, several Picasso pieces, a portrait by Matisse, a whole roomful of Rothkos, and a Jackson Pollock. My favorite piece on that floor was actually by an artist I've never heard of before (Gerhard Richter - photo below from Tate Modern website). I don't normally like abstract paintings but there was just something in the color combinations and texture of these giant canvases that I absolutely loved.
A few other pictures from the Tate (I love being able to take pictures inside a museum!):
Afterwards, we walked down from the Tate to Borough Market, a fantastic food market in Southwark. I visited there for the first time a few weeks ago and loved it so much I knew I had to come back for lunch before I left; not only can you buy all sorts of produce, fish, and meat (including ostrich meat!), but it's a great place to pick up an incredible street-food lunch. After picking up a delicious "summer spritzer" (the perfect lunchtime cocktail for nice weather - almost rivals Pimm's), we waited in the long queue for Roast To Go. An offshoot of the rather expensive restaurant "Roast" above the market, Roast To Go offers all sorts of quick meaty meals, from a "devil on horseback" (something involving bacon, I'm not entirely sure what) to "bacon butties" (some type of bacon sandwich) and the giant, delectable pork belly sandwich with applesauce. Yum. We ate in the gardens of a nearby church and wandered around the market a bit more before heading back.
Tomorrow I'm dropping my second suitcase off at the storage facility - as I brought everything I'd need for the year with me when I came in July, I had to figure out someplace to leave the vast majority of my stuff while I return to the US for my visa and travel around Europe. I found quite a cheap place in South Bermondsey that's easily accessible by train, so I'll drop off the last of my things tomorrow and fully clear out my room. It was so sad to say goodbye to everyone tonight, knowing we're all heading off to such far-away places, but I'm hoping in the next month I can visit some of the friends I've made here and I am immensely cheered up by knowing that I'll be back in London in just over a month.
