About museums. / Tate Modern. A first quick visit.

About museums here & there 

Did not expect, that free entrance changes the whole attitude of going to museums. 

It does. You don't have to see everything at one visit. You will come again. 

You can come as often as you want. You can come to see only one particular picture. 

Going to a museum feels more like taking a walk in the park. There are many 

people, but it is still relaxed. It seems like it is nothing special, it's just something you do in your free time, like everybody does. It is allowed to talk. 

You can meet people. It's wonderful. (By the way, also parks are different here 

because many of them close at night. But that's a another story.)

Always happy to meet Bruce Naumans work in exhibitions. 

(Strange: Somehow this woman really looks like me. )

Bruce Nauman: Violent Incident (1986), Video

                                    

   The Unilever Series: Tino Sehgal 2012

This cat is a dog.

He is guarding the door.

He wants to play.  

He is begging for food. 

He sits on the pillow, 

how I told him to do. 

Ten key places to visit.

10x MUST-SEE by University of the Arts, London (UAL) 

1. British Museum
2. British Library
3. Courtauld Institute Galleries (
free mondays until 14.00)

4. Design Museum
5. National Gallery (
Friday 10am – 9pm)
6. Institute of Contemporary Arts
7. Royal Observatory Greenwich 
(While you are in Greenwich also make time to visit: The Old Royal
Naval College
, National Maritime Museum, The Greenwich Foot Tunnel
)
8. Tate Modern
9. Tate Britain
10. Victoria and Albert Museum

10 days, 10 foxes

It was dark. We kept looking at each other for a while. 

Thank you cash machine.

For sharing intimate moments. And speaking german with me. 

I like the way, typography is set. 

Something is wrong with the letter spacing. 

It's lovely.

Magic.

When we were little, the idea of calling somebody via video telephone was
something we imagined for the far-away-future. Today, seeing my
boyfriend at Skype, is normal. There is a defect of the camera which reminds
me of the magic, which with we were thinking about that in the earlier days.

NO TIME WASTERS WANTED (searching a room)

Whereas time wasting time seems to be a serious business
in Berlin, you can't success with it here.
Beginning to search a room, I was shocked how many adds
tell you that. But: You need a lot of money here.
And time wasting in general is not a very profitable job.
Everything is under pressure: Its horribly expensive.
Many people are searching rooms. Everything goes very fast.
If you have any expectations for your new home,
forget about them. You will see a lot of shitty places.
But maybe, in the end, you will find something, that
comes a bit closer to what you expected.

I was really suffering in the beginning, but in the end
I found out, that searching rooms could maybe
become my new hobby. It is a good way to get to know
a place. You see different areas. You meet many
people. They show you their homes and you get an
imagination about the wide range of how people interpret
living together.

Practical advice
1. The most popular tool is gumtree, followed by spare room
and flatshare. You will spend hours with them.
2. If there is something interesting, call them immediately.
If there is an add in the morning, be sure the room is
gone in the evening. Understanding english at the phone is
an advanced exercise, but you will get better.
3. Ask them to message you the address, because that's the
most important information you have to get.
4. Most people want at least 6 month contracts. It is ok,
as long as you can get out of it, maybe with a 1-month
period of cancelation. 5. GO FOR GOLD

Rainbow Pack (or: for Simone)

CONTENT

2 Rainbow Mechanical Pencil 

plus spare leds

3 Rainbow Gel Pen 

4 HB Pencils

shirleys 1-5

My friendly and really cool host Shirley made a spontaneous to-do list.

1. Brixton Market (!)
2. Lido Café (on early saturday mornings)
3. Brockwell Park
4. Rizty Cinema 
5. Mango Landin (where she is dj-ing every 1st friday a month)

It's tropical.

There are much more palm trees in London than in Berlin.

It's rainy.

It's wet. It's cosy. It has something nice.

fish&chips

Really good, too expensive, 

quite touristy but stylish: 

fish kitchen at Borough Market. 

New shoes.

medium fast.

On the sidewalk: A young girl passes by with her scooter analyzing her speed very seriously: Medium fast.

postcards and patina

The most interesting postcards are those, that stand in shops for years, ignored by every good tourist. They get a certain patina which deals kind of honest with the medium itself. Sorry, I am not more than just a postcard.

autumn/time/less

In german, this little flower has a beautiful name: Herbstzeitlose (engl. meadow saffron). Translated it  means something like autumn-time-less. Summer is over. You will get used to it. Autumn has its beauties, too.

who-is-who / St. James Park

Dear squirrels, you can't impress me anymore. I know, that you would eat just right out of my hand, but you would do that with everybody. To be honest: On my first visit in St. James Park I couldn't resist taking at least 20 pictures of them.

For beginners.

basic

• tube map
• adopter plug (no adopter, no power)
• london a-z (roadmap A5)

advanced

• sim card (lyca) + top up (sim card is only 1£; top up from 5 £)
• oyster travel card (for cheaper transport tickets)

Reading

Brought 2 books with me. 

One is 100% English, 

the other is 100% German.

(the english one is from ebertundweber, 

one of my favourite book shops in Berlin.)

four corners books

four corners books. more than beautiful.

stationeries / papeterie / Papierwaren

I love stationeries. Here is what I got in London, so far. 

Nikes 1-18 to do in London

Nike made a to do list for me. It is on the opposite of this postcard
(which fits really good to my new, french shoes).

1. Boat trip on river Thamse
2. Fish and chips
3. Greenwich foot tunnel (370 m)
4. Falafel
5. Royal College
5. Live drawing in Fashion College
6. Be close to the queen (once)
7. Hampstead Heath
8. Swimming in the ponds
9. Brunswhick House Café
10. A blind date
11. Collecting chestnuts in Greenwhich Park
12. Feeding squirrels
13. Visiting Highgate Cemetery
14. Theatre
15. Opera
16. Borough Market
17. Portobello Road Market
18. Leave London and come back.

something between crazy and flower pattern

I like Tamaras description of what London (England) is like. She said: It's something between crazy and flower pattern.

Thank you, Edward Johnston (and Eric Gill) for designing this beautiful fond for London Underground system in 1916. 

48

My first address in London has the number 48. 

My former home address, where I lived for 5 years was 48. 

Where I lived as a child for the longest time was 48, too.