The Tate Modern

We woke up to a noisy alarm and had to rush to get some washing done, it being the final day in London, which was quite a rush. We later enjoyed a continental and hot food breakfast, which like every morning, is absolutely delicious with fresh/hot bacon, eggs and sausages.

We departed at around nine o’clock to arrive at the London underground station closest to us, Canada Water. We hopped off the train at Southwark and walked in the light rain on our way to the entrance of the Tate Modern Gallery, one of the biggest art galleries in the world.We started at ‘The Tate’ with paintings and pictures from Marlene Dumas. There were other exhibits at the art museum too, but we had booked in for this exhibition. The exhibition was located on level 3 in the gallery, with a near by café with the best hot chocolate.

The exhibit housed around a hundred art pieces, several of which were near pornographic, as quoted by the artist. There were fourteen rooms in the exhibit, each housing between five and twenty pieces of art. Although her art was very unique, it was enjoyable and understandable. Strangely enough, some paintings / pictures were obscure, one being quite a lot of scribbles on a canvas. Others were beautifully expressed, for example an oil on canvas painting of a flower pot.


Later the group parted and one half went across the Millennium Bridge and the other half stayed and continued in the gallery. The view from the bridge was outstanding! From the middle of the bridge you could see a whole host of London landmarks - The Shard, Tower Bridge, the ‘Walkie-Talkie’, the ‘Cheese-Grater’ and St. Paul’s Cathedral. Below you could see the River Thames rough and quite shallow because of a low tide.

Before we got home, we went to the nearest “supermarket square” (like Galleria, Innaloo, Karrinyup, etc.). Most people went to the ‘99p store’ (the $2 shop) and bought many nibbles for the night and the train ride for the following day. Some people bought little,  others bought as big. When we got home to the YHA hostel, we had to immediately get packed, finish washing and be sure that nothing was missing. Tomorrow we leave our home of 9 days YHA Thameside and head to Paris.

Matthew & Komninos