An afternoon at the Victoria & Albert Museum

One last day in London, and we have no plans. I had originally wanted to visit the Tower of London, but the cost of admission kinda scared me away. Plus, you need to reserve timed tickets, because they are controlling the number of visitors inside, which I didn't buy ahead of time...But there are plenty of free things to see and do, and as we learned on our English Bus Tour, there are several in the same upscale Belgravia neighborhood. Mario and I take the Underground all the way to the Victoria & Albert Museum, which is focused on art and design, perhaps a more tangible art to grasp in comparison to yesterday's visit to the Tate!

Again, the museum is so much bigger than we can ever visit in the space of one afternoon, so we browse through the galleries rather quickly, stopping at interesting pieces once in a while, but not focusing on reading every single piece of information. I think we might be slightly tapped out when it comes to museums - 3 in one week is a lot. We make point to devote time to the Raphael Cartoons, mock-ups for tapestries commissioned by the Pope to hand in the Sistine Chapel. These paper sketches were then obtained by the British Crown, and are now part of the Queen's private collection. But I love the idea of seeing a work-in-progress, with roughly sketched outlines, half-filled in colours - the idea that the great Raphael was just as human as anyone else, and needed to practice his drawing before committing to the final product. It makes the artwork that much more tangible, and Raphael more relatable, taking him down off of that pedestal we so often put great artists up on. 

Galleries of Asian art draw us in, particularly the ones containing Thai and Cambodian art, as it reminds us of similar images and iconography we saw while travelling. The Japan galleries are wonderful, with their kimonos and samurai armour, but also pop-culture items such as a walkman and a Hello Kitty toaster! 

We make our way through galleries to the far end of the museum, where the gorgeous cafe waits with cups of tea and humongous scones to snack on. The eating halls are housed in old rooms, walls decorated with woodwork and painted ceramics tiles depicting the seasons and months of the year, and a massive cast-iron stove filling up one wall. Speaking of iron, we then walk through hall after hall filled with wrought-iron railing, hangers, signs, candelabras, gateways - well, you name it, I probably saw the equivalent of it! 

We search for the way to the glasswares, passing through a hall of modern design and how it has influence our day-to-day lives. Items like 3-D printers, IKEA furniture, nubbly sidewalk tiles, Tupperware, an Apple Computer, stand out, as I may not immediately see these items as design, but they are. It certainly shows you how the things you use all the time had to be dreamed it up, creating its functionality as well as beauty even though it might only go on to be stored in the back of your kitchen cupboard. 

 And just like that, 6 pm rolled around, the museum announced its imminent closing, and the attendants began to herd us all towards the exits. We never did find the glassware! Instead, we headed down the road to the post office to get some stamps, since there are always postcards to mail. We took a walk through the middle of Kensington Gardens, to the tube station on the other side, because Mario started this project of photographing as many of them at possible. We also made a quick stop at the Tesco, one last time, to pick up a couple of pre-made meals for dinner. There are still a lot of things to eat up from our shopping at the beginning of the week, and we hate to waste food. Plus, those pints of cider from Bath are certainly not going to drink themselves! A glass our two would be the perfect accompaniment as we cut up tomatoes and cheese for dinner, organize all the papers from the trip, and pack away our clothes into our suitcases. In fact, I can't think of a better reason to have a glass!