Politics, Art & Architecture

One thing I tried to pay close attention to on this trip was any correlation between politics and art or architecture. Whether it was used to advance a political agenda, document a political act, or to spin actual events that occurred due to political actions. I ended up gaining a lot of insight by doing this.

The first painting I thought of, which I actually got to see in the Louvre, was "Liberty Leading the People" by Eugene Delacroix. This was painted during the French Revolution. In this painting Liberty is represented by a woman holding the French flag and a bayoneted musket. She leading the people over the bodies of those already killed. I thought it was interesting that the people she was leading were made up of different social classes. In the painting in a man with a top hat representing the upper class. The boy holding the pistols represent the middle class. I read that some speculate that this little boy may have been the inspiration for the character Gavroche in "Les Miserables".
This painting shows the determination the people had to make changes for themselves and overthrow their unjust and overburdening government. Just as a side note, I hadn't noticed before but you can see Notre Dame in the right corner of this painting.

To go along with this, while I was in London I saw the musical "Les Miserables" which was set during the French Revolution and demonstrates the enthusiasm and determination the "rebels" had. Plus it has amazing music. The whole time I was at the Palace of Versailles I thought about Les Mis and I could help but think, no wonder the people rebelled. They were starving and their rulers were redecorating with gold embroidered fabrics. That would be infuriating; not being able to feed your family but your leaders are indulging in unnecessary, materialistic things.

April 27th, 2010- London

Westminster Abbey

Big Ben

We took the Tube for a while to get to this stop! It was high on our list :)

I'm goin to Hogwarts!

I saw Les Mis tonight, it was amazing. I love the London cast. 3rd time seeing it

Neon Cops here- not black and whites

This picture is dedicated to Joe and my future brothers in law :)

Hyde Park

Hyde Park

Buckingham Palace

Cool mossy building, mom you like moss so this pic is for you. :)

Street our hostel is on

London airport

Yeah.... 9 hours, HORRIBLE

Day 1: SLC-Houston

Almost on the road

I am going to Europe with BYU-I's Humanities Department from April 26th to May 18th. I am super excited. I was really worried when the volcano erupted in Iceland causing the ash cloud to ground planes throughout Europe, but now it looks like we can get through and our trip can begin.

We have a 7 hour layover in Dallas tomorrow, I'm not looking forward to that, but hopefully I can sleep on the plane from Dallas to London. Once we get to London we will go to our hostel, and then have a 10-mile walking tour of Parliament. I wish I would have worked out more in preparation for this trip.

On this trip we will be going to 7 countries; England, France, Italy, Austria, Germany and Spain. I wish I had more room in my suitcase to bring home souvenirs. More to come later.