Discovering New Worlds

Today I went for a trip to London. ("Hang on a second, doesn't he work in London") Yes, I do but I decided that I wanted to see one or two exhibitions as well as do something I've been meaning to do for a while.

Starting in Camden
I've wanted to visit a Morrocan Tea shop which is situated in the Stables, a sort of shopping area just to the north of the Lock. I had mint tea and sat and read something appropriate:



The tea was really nice, a bit like spearmint chewing gum, although it becomes an aquired taste if it's allowed to stew. I then walked along Regents Canal and through the park:



As you can see, there are some rather nice houses down by the canal.

I had some more tea at the Royal Institute of British Architects in Portland Place. It has a rather nice cafe and an exceptional bookshop. Even the tea pots look art deco:



I also managed to take a picture of that icon the Post Office Tower, which I remember visiting as a boy when you could go inside:



Out of this World
On the advise of Matt, I went to the Out of this World exhibition at the British Library, and what a fantastic exhibit it is:



I saw a lot of rare and first editions, as you would expect, talked to an AI who explained to me how it worked and listened to both H.G. Wells and J.G. Ballard being interviewed. It's really good and I highly recommend it. Not only that, but the book that accompanies it is fantastic as well.

The Vorticists
Tate Britain currently has an exhibition about the Vorticists movement of early 20th century (doesn't it still feel weird saying that). They were a British modern art movement, roughly analogous to the Futurists in Italy at about the same time, but without the Facist leanings. They also didn't last long and fragmented pretty quickly. The artwork was very abstract, but it did produce artists that went on to do great things, such as Jacob Epstein and T.S. Eliot. The exhibition even commisioned a repoduction of Epstein's famous Rock Drill sculpture.