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And All The Rest
Aug. 18th, 2016 10:28 amSo, just to fill in the gaps:
I went to my favourite London museum, the Victoria & Albert (V&A). I only had a couple of hours, so it was important I forced myself to focus on seeing the areas I particularly wanted to see and not get distracted. Which isn't to say I don't enjoy pottering from one exhibit to the next, but there were items on my list. Firstly, I went to Curtain Up, a celebration of Theatre in the West End and on Broadway. It's a fascinating exhibition, highly recommended if you are in London before the end of this month. It had a combination of productions I'd seen and those I'd not, so was particularly interesting. (SM saw it on a different day and recommended it to me - I told him I'd already seen it.)
I also saw the illustrations from Beatrix Potter's London, and the Musical Wonders of India display - sadly the latter was only one case of instruments, the museum sometimes has some larger scale exhibitions from India. And then I went to the recently revamped Europe 1600-1815 exhibition. It improved slightly when I realised I'd come in from the wrong end. They have lots of beautiful items, but I think I prefer seeing them more in situ, although it was interesting seeing the sweep of the changes in style in the two hundred years.
In my travels during my trip I frequently passed Edith Cavell:
( Edith Cavell )
We spent an hour and a half in the National Portrait Gallery. I took in the whole of the top floor, which is from Tudor to pre-Victorian times. By the end I was rather tired at looking at paintings of the great and the good (as they saw themselves). SM told me about an exhibition of nudes, which I misheard as newts. The nudes were good, but I was a tad disappointed at the absence of amphibians. I took a quick glance round the middle floor, but had seen enough tedious men, although there was a portrait of Dame Maud McCarthy who was a nursing sister in WWI and rose to be the British Army Matron-in-Chief. So I went to the shop and bought a tea towel from their Save the Bees range.
( Maud McCarthy )
And I went on a theatre tour of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. One of the two oldest theatres in London - longest running that is - the building itself has burnt down several times. The tour is done by a couple of actors who appear in character to share the history, which is effective rather than awkward. I already knew quite a lot of what we were told, but seeing everything made it far more interesting. I would certainly recommend going; it's more expensive than some theatre tours, but I think you get value for money. And for a visitor to London it also gives a strong sense of the history.
I went to my favourite London museum, the Victoria & Albert (V&A). I only had a couple of hours, so it was important I forced myself to focus on seeing the areas I particularly wanted to see and not get distracted. Which isn't to say I don't enjoy pottering from one exhibit to the next, but there were items on my list. Firstly, I went to Curtain Up, a celebration of Theatre in the West End and on Broadway. It's a fascinating exhibition, highly recommended if you are in London before the end of this month. It had a combination of productions I'd seen and those I'd not, so was particularly interesting. (SM saw it on a different day and recommended it to me - I told him I'd already seen it.)
I also saw the illustrations from Beatrix Potter's London, and the Musical Wonders of India display - sadly the latter was only one case of instruments, the museum sometimes has some larger scale exhibitions from India. And then I went to the recently revamped Europe 1600-1815 exhibition. It improved slightly when I realised I'd come in from the wrong end. They have lots of beautiful items, but I think I prefer seeing them more in situ, although it was interesting seeing the sweep of the changes in style in the two hundred years.
In my travels during my trip I frequently passed Edith Cavell:
( Edith Cavell )
We spent an hour and a half in the National Portrait Gallery. I took in the whole of the top floor, which is from Tudor to pre-Victorian times. By the end I was rather tired at looking at paintings of the great and the good (as they saw themselves). SM told me about an exhibition of nudes, which I misheard as newts. The nudes were good, but I was a tad disappointed at the absence of amphibians. I took a quick glance round the middle floor, but had seen enough tedious men, although there was a portrait of Dame Maud McCarthy who was a nursing sister in WWI and rose to be the British Army Matron-in-Chief. So I went to the shop and bought a tea towel from their Save the Bees range.
And I went on a theatre tour of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. One of the two oldest theatres in London - longest running that is - the building itself has burnt down several times. The tour is done by a couple of actors who appear in character to share the history, which is effective rather than awkward. I already knew quite a lot of what we were told, but seeing everything made it far more interesting. I would certainly recommend going; it's more expensive than some theatre tours, but I think you get value for money. And for a visitor to London it also gives a strong sense of the history.
