Day 19: Sep. 22, 2018 - The Victoria & Albert Museum

[Update:] In the report on Day 14, I forgot to mention that we saw someone famous! We had just left Westminster Abbey and had just crossed Westminster Bridge. We were walking along the south bank of the river towards the Eye when we saw Bill Nighy. You may remember him as the aging rock star Billie Mack from the movie Love, Actually. He was standing there, apparently waiting to meet up with someone. He was tall and dapper, dressed all in Black. It made some sense that he was where we saw him, there just in front of the National Theatre. [:End Update]

Today, we are being led by Sarah. Her two desired destinations are the Victoria & Albert Museum of Art and Design and Harrod’s Department Store. Sarah is an excellent planner and through her use of phone apps, she has determined that the best way to get to the V&A is the 52 Bus from Notting Hill.

We meet at Ladbroke Grove and our bus is there promptly. The trip is pleasant. An added bonus of not taking the Underground is that we get to see the neighborhood from the second story of a bus instead of blindly speeding through tunnels. We see some of the neighborhood south of Notting Hill Gate and West of Kensington Palace, which we haven’t spent much time in so far.

The Victoria and Albert Museum is huge, around 60,000 objects on display. We are disoriented from its size and the hordes of people visiting along with us. We find a map stand and Sarah determines that the best approach is to get a taste: she has a list of the top 8 displays in the museum and we will visit each of these.

It is a whirlwind. We see the Ardabil Carpet from Persia (it is illuminated in its case for 5 minutes each hour), Tipu’s Tiger from the Indian subcontinent:

Tipu's Tiger

This sculpture represents a tiger eating a British soldier. Turning a hand-crank make the soldier's arms move and makes noises come from the device that sound like a man screaming.

We then proceed to a display of European fashion, fabrics and accessories by decades from the late 1750 up to the present. Next we see Raphael’s Paul Preaching at Athens. Next up, the Great Bed of Ware (made in 1690), then Henry VIII’s portable Writing Desk:

Henry VIII's Writing Desk

Next up is the huge Hereford Screen, an Altar Piece made in 1862. We end in the Bollinger Jewelry Gallery. Three rooms displaying 3,500 pieces of jewelry, one of the most comprehensive collections in the world. It is stunning.

A Very Small Part of the Collection

We bid goodbye to V&A and head to Harrod’s, where Amy and Sarah plan to take High Tea again, and the rest of us will search for a place to eat lunch and watch an EPL Match. Harrod’s is crazy busy. Coming here on a weekend day is sub-optimal. The food options are all packed with people. Just getting a pizza looks like it will take half an hour, so Kevin and I head out of the store and cross the street to Paul. We each get a sandwich and eat in the back room.

Hunter, Kevin and I head out to look for a pub to watch a Saturday afternoon match while Eliot, Amy & Sarah take Tea. Our quest takes us into Belgravia and beyond. It is a frustrating quest and we never find a pub with the game on. We end up back in Notting Hill at the Cork and Bottle. As game-time approaches, it appears that this is more of a singles pub than a sports/football pub, and we are among the very few that actually care about watching Brighton & Hove Albion hosting Tottenham Hotspur.

Half way through the match, we learn that Amy, Sarah and Eliot are nearby, at the Walmer Castle. Messaging on the phone is not instantaneous here in London. We sent them several texts, but they get all of the messages quite a bit later than when we sent them, which explains why they never showed up at the Cork & Bottle. We join them at half-time and watch the rest of the match, which Tottenham holds on to win 2 – 1.

This is the last day that we will see the kids, and we head home and part from them, sad that they are leaving, but happy that they could enjoy time with us here.

It has been a slightly challenging day, but another good one.