London - Last Few Days

So the countdown begins. I am trying to make the most of my last few days here in LDN. My day was made up by meeting friends, trying my favorite food places for the last time, endulge in art galleries and just capture every moment I can of this city which is beloved to me.

Numero Uno

The Apple Mac Store - on Regent Street. This is one of the many shops I am going to miss in London. Ooh-ing and ahh-ing the newest apple gadgets in store. Watching and learning from the free workshops, has been the best way to pass time on certain days. Lots of purchases made as well as memories. This is my temple, I will miss the visits I made religiously.

Numero Dos

Sacred Cafe - I have gone on endlessly about this cafe. This has got to be my favorite cafe in London. I love the coffee and the music they play, the friendly vibe of the place. Today, I went to have perhaps my last cup of Cortado and my Nata (Portuguese Egg Tart). I was THISCLOSE to buying their t-shirt, but unfortunately they didn't have my size. Haha! This is how much I love this place.

Numero Tres

The Sights - Walking along Westminster, I just can't get eough of the London Eye. It was an amazing experience being up there. The view you get of London is just fantastic. It's just as beautiful appreciating it from a far.

Numero Quatro

Museums - I went to see the Dali Museum today, as one of my last few art fix. I was rather impressed by his work. I only have seen a few of his paintings, which I found very interesting. Usually, I don't think sculptures are anything great. However, seeing Dali's surrealistic works makes me appreciate sculptures. They're very interesting, because they have so much meaning and metaphors involved. The first image is the Space Venus, where Dali pays homage to the female figure. He says the beauty of the flesh is temporary and will vanish, but the beauty of art is timeless and eternal. This sculpture is devided into two parts to reveal the egg, symbolizing life, renewal, continuation and the future. I adore this concept. The second image is the Novelty of Time. You will notice, a lot of Dali's art has the melted watch draped over something. In one of his works called the Persistence of Memory, it is said that the Dalinian time is not rigid, it is one with space... fluid. This watch no longer "keeps" time. The speed of our time depends only on us.. Beautifully said. The more I know about him, the more I love his philosophy. And the last image which is the Space Elephant. It is said that it is moving through space towards the heavens, legs stretched out and more delicate in the weightless atmosphere, the space elephant carries an obelisk, symbol of the progress of technology. There is one more sculpture which I thought was fantastic, it was the Homage to Newton, Dalí honours Sir Isaac Newton for his discovery of the Law of Gravity, symbolised by the celebrated falling apple, which is represented here by a sphere of metal attached to a line. In this form, the apple loses both its impermanence and its capacity for regeneration. Dalí implies that the living being, Sir Isaac Newton, has become a mere name in science, completely stripped of his personality and individuality. To represent this transformation, Dalí has pierced the figure with two large holes: one that portrays the absence of Newton's vital organs, while the other clearly displays the lack of mind. What remains is only symbolic representation. Wow! Seeing other aspects of his exhibit like his illustrations, I had wished that I had read Don Quixote before seeing this exhibit. He had done illustrations of the story. It would have been quite nice to put two and two together.

At the start of the exhibit, Dali's quotes are found on the walls. At first when I read them, I thought that very clever but didn't mean as much. That is, until I got to "know" him better. I couldn't resist to write some of them down. I know Dali wouldn't have mind me "stealing" some of his words, you will see why by the end of this post. For now, I leave you with some of my favorite Dalianian quotes:

"There is less madness to my methods than there is methods to my madness."

"An artist is not one who is inspired, but one who can inspire others."

"Ideas are made to be copied. I have enough ideas to sell them on. I prefer that they are stolen so that I dont have to actually use them myself."

"For me love must be ugly, looks must be divine, and death must be beautiful."

"The envy of other artists has always been the barometer of my success."