Thursday, July 26, 2012

Quiet City, Quiet Celebrations


London is a busy, but very quiet city. The spectacles this city provides, and there are many, are always visually beautiful but not exciting. The artistic renditions of London’s iconic red phone booths are stunning, but they are not “exhilarating”. The Shard was beautiful as it lit up the skyline, but it wasn’t astounding. Last night’s fire garden was alluring but it wasn't titillating. While all of these spectacles produced exquisite photographs, they didn't yield exciting stories. One of the positives of the fire garden however was the fact the public was apart of the spectacle rather than just watching it from afar. The crowd was able to walk through the fire in honor of the olympic torch being brought into the city. It was a an original artistic approach to welcome in opening weekend but its not a story I’m dying to tell my friends back home. London is artsy, and art is quiet because it speaks for itself. This is most likely why London likes to sizzle rather than bang. All that said, I am glad I got to see the Southbank one more time, that area is the most beautiful in all of London. I could sit down there for hours and just watch the city pass by. Southbank was more of a spectacle to me than anything else. It has a story, from the beautiful views off the Hungerford bridge, to the London eye, graffiti and street performers. Thats the definition of a true spectacle, something you will never forget and the images and stories of Southbank will never escape my memory. 

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