At the top of St. Paul's

Did a few sketches at the National Art Gallery today. I don't know why on earth I decided that the first sketch I'd ever done in my life would be a person. I have very, very little artistic abilities in the sense of drawing, painting, etc and so sketching a person proved to be very difficult. My next sketch was of another person. I should probably stop doing that as those sketches take too long and make me late for dinner. :P It was quite an experience. And very humbling. I don't know how people manage to make a portrait so life like and correctly proportioned and whatnot. It's just incredible. If you don't believe me, just try to look at a portrait and sketch it. Guaranteed, you'll have a better appreciation for the art you used to take for granted.

Today I saw the inside of a cathedral for the first time. St. Paul's is a rather interesting cathedral. Christopher Wren built it after the old one burned down in the Great Fire of 1666. Then in the Victoria era, they decided to decorate part of it with gold and pictures and...gah, way too much ornamentation. I like the way Wren designed it better - majestic, elegant, and yet, simple and plain. Victorian stuff tends to have way too much gold and way too much paint. But I suppose they were just trying to make it beautiful. It ended up being half Victorian-ish and half preVictorian-ish. It's great for seeing the contrasting styles. It was interesting to hear the stories of how the cathedral fared in WWII and how the people managed to save most of it from destruction. And of course, the view from the top was incredible. There is no elevator, so you have to take the stairs all the way up. 500 and then some steps later, you have a wonderful view of the Thames and London in general. I wish I could've spent more time at the top. It was so amazing.

And now I'm either going to do homework or just take the night off and relax. A lot of people went out to the ballet, the opera, or the theatre, but since I don't have a ticket to any of those things, it looks like I'll have the place to myself tonight. Well, maybe not completely. There might be one or two people about. It's alright though. I think I just need some time to rest and not be dashing off tonight. When there's so much going on, it seems necessary to take some breaks. Yay Tuesday.