My largest impression in england is that we have gone downhill (as a culture) in the last 500 years. It is disturbing to look at the parliment building, St.Paul's cathedral or the lady's chapel of westminster and then turning the corner to see a hulking '60's building fall apart! It was extremely apparent when I went to the national gallery today. (This picture was taken from the steps of the national gallery.) There was a young artist begging for dimes with a reconstrution of the last supper on the sidewalk, because she could make more money with that than with anything new. And inside, there simply isn't anything better than Rubens, or Moroni, or Raphael! I haven't seen anthing that can equal it. At least it makes me feel a bit better about the current state of dance. Yeah sure the art form is in a bit of a creative slump, but at least we are still progressing and finding new ways of looking at the human body/condition. That is alot more than can be said for visual art and architecture!