If there was ever a time to start a blog it would be during my trip to London! My good friend Troy and I were talking over the Holidays (and a few glasses of Prosecco) about how fun it would be to go London for a few days to visit the Victoria & Albert Museum. We both have a love of the decorative arts, craft, and design, so the next thing I knew we had booked a twelve day trip! Despite my love of un-fashionable wool clothes, rainy days, posh accents, British humor, and politeness, I had never been to England.
You could spend days exploring the collections in this museum. We spend hours looking at the jewelry and metalwork (of course), the textiles, ceramics, and architectural details. It's humbling to be a craftsperson and see all the masterfully made objects made by artists that have come before me. The whole building is a work of art unto itself, from the courtyard to the cafeteria.
V & A Museum Cafeteria. The honeycomb tile made me feel right at home.
The V & A Museum is located near Hyde Park and Kensington Palace, so while we were spending our afternoons in this lovely and quite posh part of town we treated ourselves to High Tea at the Kensington Palace Orangery (the Museum was free, after all, so it would have been crazy not to). I can't imagine anyone having a meal here and not having a huge smile on their face, as the waiters bring out trays of adorable finger sandwiches and wee fancy cakes. Maybe cute mini foods on fancy china are the antidote to living somewhere where it rains half the time.
Finger sandwiches and scones. So scrummy!
One thing about being in such a beautiful, historic, charming, and eccentric city is you just want to see everything. Which means lots and lots of walking. It was hard not to turn down every interesting side street. I may have loved the old muses the best, like this one in Chelsea.
There is history everywhere - I don't think there is enough bronze in the world to make plaques for every notable building or event. I was really struck by these un-repaired walls damaged by World War II bombs.
