London museum day, 30 August 2017

London museum day

Although I wake up at 4am and never really get back to sleep, Barney sleeps well, and is up making breakfast. I pack lunches, and we're off to a day of museums, which is good because today is the day is supposed to mostly rain. We head to Buckingham Palace on the bus, which is nice as we get to see more of London than underground. It is crowded but everything moves smoothly. This year's exhibition is of gifts that come from various heads of state from all over the globe. These are presented in the various salons, the throne moom, the state dining room, etc. The rooms are, of course, gorgeous and stately, a symphony of white and gold, and the house was mostly redecorated by George IV, and was significantly expanded by Queen Victoria for her large family. I think there are 50-some family bedrooms, 150+ staff bedrooms, 70+ bathrooms, and over 700 rooms total. Perhaps most memorable is the picture gallery, reflecting acquisitions by George IV, which include. Rembrandt, a few Rubens, a couple Titians, several Lorraines, and much more of that era. The palace is also filled with family portraits (Winterthaler was Vicoria's favorite portraitist), whom I can mostly identify, although interestingly many are not labeled. It makes me think about a family actually living here, and whether the children run around inside these rooms (probably not) and grow up seeing portraits of the ancestors (probably). We have some tea (hot chocolate for Barney) on the covered cafe terrace outside and eat our sandwiches, then stop by the gift shop which was huge and crowded, en route out the garden. It is raining heavily, and we take another bus to our afternoon destination, the Victoria & Alber Museum.

What an incredible place! It has a bit of everything, rather like the Louvre, from ancient statues to early 20th century works. They are currently hosting a Balenciaga fashion exhibit, an exhibit on Pink Floyd, and one on plywood, so naturally we go to see the plywood exhibit. It is actually quite interesting to see how they cut the thin veneers, how it can be molded into almost any shape, he he Hanna gliders and Mosquito fighters of WWII we're made mostly of plywood, and how entire houses are now pre-fabricated of plywood. We then continue on to see the oldest museum restaurant in the world, comprised of the three original rooms, one stunning one by William Morris, and of course a modern addition. We then head down to the Medieval section, something I always enjoy, and they have an amazing collection. Of course massive amounts of gold and silver sacred materials, including a small house-shaped tabernacle of gold, silver, ivory, and cloisonné, all the high decorative arts, simply stunning. We go through several galleries devoted to stained glass, the earliest items from around 1100, amazing that they survive, and quite a few examples from churches in Germany and France, I wonder how they got to London? We end by going through a galley devoted to secular materials, gold and silver  dishes for the nobility, jewelry, and a stunning huge tapestry of a giant Medieval house party. Recordings of period music set the tone, and I am really enjoying this section, I could spend days in here.

Finally it is time to go - closing it down again - and we take a slow, rush hour bush that takes 30 minutes to go about 15 blocks. Dishoom is again an hour wait, so we go off to a pub we saw the night before, the Salisbury. Already packed (or maybe it is the rain), Ed find a table, Barney has a steak and ale pie with peas, carrots, and mashed potatoes, which was good, and I have the hunter chicken, which has bacon and cheese plus fries (chips) and salad, plus two pints of Guinness. Happy and full, we head out into the rain for the apartment. Time to pack and get ready for the tip to Norfolk on Thursday.