Allyen Speaks » london

Dale Chihuly Glass Art

allyenw — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:44:27 +0000

I was watching a tutorial this morning on search engine optimization and the trainer used the Dale Chihuly website as an example. After seeing some of Dale’s glass art pieces I realized that I photographed a huge piece of his when I visited London last year. Stacy and I went to the Victoria and Albert museum and loved it. They have a wonderful collection. Dale’s glass sculpture hangs over the information desk at the entrance to the museum. I photographed it using two frames and stitching them together using Photoshop.

Chihuly Art Installation - Victoria & Albert Museum

London Calling

admin — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:24:03 +0000

As a follow up to my previous post regarding video footage from Dubai, here is all 2 minutes 30 seconds of video from London. It will just give you a sense for the area of the city we were staying. You will also see the “Traditional English Breakfast” that we had several mornings. The breakfast was good and not very different from what I do at home save for the baked beans.

At the end you will see a reference to “mind the gap”. When riding the Tube, this is a seemingly never ending reminder played over the loudspeakers at every stop. I assume there have been some costly lawsuits over people getting feet, clothing, bags etc. caught in the gap between the train and the platform. I found the word choice interesting compared to the American “watch your step”. In another example the Brits used the sign “way out” for uses where we would use “exit”.

Travel is Grueling

admin — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:22:17 +0000

I have not blogged in several days. Tuesday was a travel day, hot, crowded, uncomfortable flight at the back of the plane. The only positive out of the flight was watching “I am Legend” for a couple of hours. It turns out I was starting to get ill on this flight and have been fighting it ever since. I never should have eaten that piece of “jet” fruit (no idea what it was) the vendor offered me with his bare hand! My desire to be courteous won over my common sense. No more mister nice guy!

The London Underground was a great way to get from the airport to the hotel. The “tube” system is very easy to navigate and very convenient. We are near the Earl’s Court tube station in Kensington. The neighborhood is loaded with hotels remodeled from old row residences.

The blisters started to form today as the miles continue to mount. The feet, more than anything else, will enjoy the return to the USA. I don’t mean to complain too much, we are actually having a great time. We will soon be leaving to meet Silvia for a drink before we see Mark Knopfler at the Royal Albert Hall in concert. Silvia is an IABC colleague of Stacy’s from London who gave the “opening remarks” for Stacy’s workshop in Dubai.