Art, history and more

This should probably be 3 different posts, but what can I say--we had a really busy week, and we did lots of fun (but unrelated) things. Here goes...

In Ipswich this week we came upon a few exhibits of the Ipswich Arts Festival, or Ip-art as they call it. For example, this chainsaw artist (below) makes his sculptures from trunks of actual trees. This sculpture was incredible; the links in the chain all move just like a real chain. And it was made from one piece of wood (a tree trunk) with a chainsaw! The same artist also did the sculpture Nick is admiring above.

In York we enjoyed the York Castle Museum. We're probably not related to this Joseph Terry (if we are, it's not a direct link), but he did something extremely important in York in the 1700s: he operated the candy shop! You might recognize the Terry name from Terry's chocolate oranges, which we still eat (and enjoy) today.

We also enjoyed the Sixties room in the Museum. Here's a photo of me in the 'mod pod' chair.

We went to London and visited the Tower of London. We enjoyed the over-the-top, amazing Crown Jewels. (Unfortunately, photography wasn't permitted, but you can click on the link.) We got to take a tour led by one of the famous Yeoman Warders (Beefeaters). And did you know that Beefeaters and their families, as well as a few others, live within the Tower of London walls? (I'd like to know where they park.) They even have a guard in front of their houses (I also captured one of the famous Tower of London ravens in this photo).

Also at the Tower of London was this set of armor. Apparently the wearer felt he needed extra protection...

We went to the Tate Modern museum in London where we saw works by Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Claude Monet, Max Ernst and many more. Here's a colorful Matisse to whet your modern art appetite.