Windsor Castle

Today we took a field trip to Windsor Castle - its about 20 minutes away by train and the Queen's favorite weekend spot - the interiors are literally used by the royal family quite often for banquets and just to relax and escape London.

Here is our class in front of the main entrance! (I'm sixth from the left)

Unfortunately I cannot share many pictures from inside the walls (not allowed!) but you will have to believe me when I say it was one of the most incredible opportunities to be able to go "behind the scenes" through doors locked with 8-inch keys and handle the royal family's private silver collection (soup tureens/dinner plates/salts/chalices all in pure silver and gilded in gold), the royal collection of drawings by Leonardo, Bernini, and Holbein to name a few, and get a private behind-the-red-rope tour of the most incredible pieces of furniture. We were able to open the bureaus, cabinets, and chests that are meant to be seen but not touched and listen to the most educated, intelligent experts talk about their favorite objects belonging to the royal family. 

Here are a few pictures of the outside though: 

One of my favorite moments from the day was undoubtedly when the furniture/decorative arts curator was showing us a 18th-century commode - he was opening up the drawers and talking about how the construction actually wasn't very useable. The corrugated facade makes for awkward angles at the hinges - the piece was much more of a show-piece than something meant to hold things like clothing. While he was opening one of these awkwardly shaped drawers, a piece of the ormolu mountings FELL OFF IN HIS HANDS. Not joking...everyone went completely silent and I think my chin dropped to the floor. He kept his cool though and talked about how the brass mounts were only held on with glue and just continued, saying "well this is a good opportunity to show you what these look like from the back." He then left the piece sitting on top of the chest and said they should probably call the restorer later today...

The realities of working with antique furniture! The other highlight was handling the silver gilt dinner plates and elaborate candlesticks used at royal banquets like coronations/etc. They are incredible pieces of silver but are literally used all the time - they have knife marks from continuous use but are literally museum quality pieces. Oh, to be a member of the royal family...

Last stop of the day was in the prints and drawings room where we looked at preparatory sketches Holbein drew of the royal family for the portraits he made - seeing the sketches makes you feel so much closer to the artist. We got up close and personal with Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael, and others in this room. I'll never forget it - I love my school. 

Right before the castle closed for visitors, a few friends and I nipped inside the chapel and saw the tomb of Henry VIII. Surprisingly, this is it - no effigy or anything, just a plaque stating that his remains are in the vault below. 

Lastly, this was just really funny - Kate is painted on the side of the telephone booth!

...and now onto finishing a presentation for Friday. It was a long day and comprehending philosophy after an information overload is going to take a glass of wine for sure :) onto the rest of the week! 

The Mansion House (home of the Lord Mayor)

I got the opportunity to tour the Lord Mayor's house this morning with Goodenough! A group of members and I were lucky enough to be the first to respond to the opportunity via email and so lucky we were! The house has the largest collection of Dutch 17th century painting outside of Holland itself and the mansion's interiors remain intact since 1753 (obviously having been restored) but it was absolutely gorgeous!

First, we went into the vault - in here there was a cup that was saved from the Great Fire of 1666, a sword owned by Queen Elizabeth I from the 16th century, and the chain worn by Lord Mayors since the institution began in the 1300s.

(cup from 1662)

(Queen Elizabeth I sword)

^this is the chain that the Lord Mayor from 1845 is wearing in his portrait below

 

This was the reception room where guests mingle before going into the grand "Egyptian Room" for formal banquets

and here was the formal dining room

In classic mid-18th century style, the carpet echoes the design of the ceiling

here was one of the drawing rooms

and a peek into the incredible art collection - worth ~10 million pounds all in all (this is just a fraction)

We spoke with the Lord Mayor's executive assistant about everything that goes on here - he was really wonderful and I'm so thankful I went - such an incredible opportunity! 

fashion week event

It was fashion week in London last week and although I didn't make it to any runway shows (invitation must have gotten lost...) I did get to go to an event put on by the London College of Fashion (london's equivalent to FIT in NYC). One of the members of Goodenough was showing his most recent shoe collection so a group of us went to the event - definitely a mix of art and fashion. Apparently everything they were showing were prototypes. There was fashion/bags/photography but the highlight for me was definitely the SHOES! Here is a sample of what I saw...

...I'll take a 7 1/2 in all of the above please?? 

There was also clothing, some wearable, some straight up conceptual...

and a few accessories sprinkled in

and here was our friend explaining his shoe line - made of suede with wood soles and steel heels. These were definitely my favorite! Absolutely beautiful - I have a good feeling about scallops this season

Amsterdam

Seeing as it is "reading week" and I am very behind on the reading, I thought I would just post my favorite pictures from Amsterdam. I went with another American friend from college last weekend and suffice it to say I could have stayed for ages - SUCH an amazing city and I loved absolutely everything about it. Amazing art, amazing food (stroopwaffles, cheese, mustard practically falling out of shops in the form of generously portioned free samples - yes please), and amazing scenery - the canals were simply beautiful.

Rijksmuseum was the first stop - 

lots of Rembrandt! 

...did I mention we stopped by his house too? 

Compare the following...a Protestant Church...

vs. a Catholic church. Pretty typical.

some really cool street art...(love my van gogh)

and real van gogh - 75 works on exhibition at the Hermitage Amsterdam. SO PUMPED to see this gem among them!

and then there was more art...it doesn't get old.

and then it snowed!! 

so beautiful.

We hit up the maritime museum - ships/water/etc = a very important subject here in the Netherlands considering most of the city is below sea level and really, had they not interfered, the whole place should really be ocean...(thanks to those wonderful windmills, entrepreneurs in the 17th century could pump water out and tadaa! it became new land they could sell). The Netherlands was also extremely important in terms of trading with the 'Far East' in the 17th century (their 'golden age' of sorts). This ship is a reconstruction of a Dutch East India Company ship that actually crashed. Oh don't worry, we went inside the hull and checked out the captain's quarters - not bad! (could never stay on that thing for 8 months though, the average time it took to get to China on one of these bad boys)

and then there were more canals...

and the royal palace in the middle of the city

pretty sunsets

and SO MANY BIKES!

and that was about it - I would totally go back in a second!