There is culture and then there's fashion...

We saw this poem on the London Underground - and being in our 50's we thought we should read it.  The sentiment of being blessed resonates with me.  (and I am sure Clay feels the same way).  The course is excellent, three months without cell phones and pagers is wonderful, and the city of London is  amazingly diverse and full of new experiences every day.  

We went on a walking tour at lunch of Bloomsbury (the neighborhood where we live).  We learned a lot about the University of London.  There is a building we walk by everyday on our way to our school that is called the Senate House.  We found out that it is an administration building (common naming for the British apparently), but was was interesting is that its architecture is so different than most other buildings.  See photo below.  It was built in the 1930's and considered Art Deco, but the world was a different place in the 30's so it is much more spare than many buildings of that style done in the 20's.

   

What is really interesting is that it has been in many movies and has been a city hall in Batman, and has also been in some movies as a Nazi era headquarters for Hitler.  The guide said that there is a theory that even in the heavy bombing raids during WWII, the building was not targeted by the Germans because Hitler wanted to use it for his London headquarters when he took over England. During the war, it was used by the British Government for its Ministry of Information - and George Orwell (who lived nearby and got TB treatment at the University hospital) modeled his Ministry's building in  "Nineteen Eighty-Four" after this one.

Now for a little diversion... I have a childhood friend who works for Burberry and invited me to the London Fashion Week Burberry show in Kensington Gardens.  This was the launch for the Fall line for women and it was a a great treat!  I have never been to anything like this and the people watching was so much fun.  Anna Wintour from Vogue was there, Tom Hooper, the director of Les Mis and the Kings Speech, singers Tom Odell and Rita Ora, Kate Beckinsdale, and the actress that plays Lady Mary on Downton Abbey, Michelle Dockery.  Here are a few pics from the glam event.  I will relieve your anxieties by assuring the readers that I dressed in gray and black and tried to blend in to the crowd.  Those models are as tall as they look - all at least 6 feet and without an ounce of body fat.  The show was absolutely beautiful with amazing music and timing.  That was one for the bucket list!

Note the celebs in the front row