London Day 4/5 - Victoria and Albert, Tower, Globe, St Pauls

[aimeekitty]

ho ho ho... Where are you, Doctor?


on to my favorite museum... the Victoria and Albert. I love the romance of Victoria and Albert (the people themselves), too.
Here's some of my favorites from inside. I don't feel like editing the costume photos I took, but they had a gorgeous costume exhibit, including costumes of the Tsars and some Vivienne Westwood stuff as well as 18th century gowns and frock coats.

hello Cthulhu !




now that's a fireplace.








the medieval cast room. I like to stare at objects. Mitch likes to read ALL the plaques. I kinda think that's adorable.


I really liked the round shape of this lion.




A statue by Bernini... I really loved how the musculature was done. So solid and appealing! Not like so many other statues.


Proof of how good the weather was for most of our trip. (but it was SO COLD!)






one of the photos I took before I realized they didn't want you to take photos in the jewelry section. geez, I love Art Nouveau jewelry. Is this not gorgeous?


a really neat "orientalism" bed. (ie european folks trying to make oriental stuff)


then... subway time!


and off to Hogwarts!


which apparently has lots of carosels...


Trafalgar Sq.


OMG SO COLD.
Judy, there's something cute for you in this bag.


We got some random candies that we don't really see in the states on the way home.

YORKIE.
IT'S NOT FOR GIRLS!


we had dinner at a pub a couple blocks from our hotel. Had fish n chips and a couple beers next to some gossiping old men locals. awesome. XD


London Day 5- Tower, Globe, St Pauls

Today, Mitch really wanted to knock out some major items, so we headed to the Tower of London first thing. Mitch really enjoyed the weapons and armor, and I really loved the Crown Jewels and the crows.

On the way to the station, I just liked this girl's general look, especially her hair in loose braids on each side.


The Tower












For my girls:


I love that everyone's all funny about the crows. They're HUGE and MAGICAL.


I was worried about my knees so we didn't go up in the London Bridge since the brochure said 300+ steps. Which was really a shame, I wanted to see. Turns out I ended up doing 300+ steps by accident later at St. Pauls. Well...


Then we went to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese (a really old pub).


We got piles of meat and chips. YUM.




Then we walked to St. Paul's... which was my favorite part of the trip, perhaps.


the approach


oh... wait... there's a postbox...






Then we went inside, where sadly they don't allow even non-flash photography. (It's understandable though.) It honestly took my breath away. The ceiling was so high, and it was so appealing and beautiful and light inside. And the mosaics were so colorful and would sparkle so far away in the ceiling! Really amazing. I just stood there for a long time at the center of the church quietly staring. I'd really like to go back. You can get a poor idea of it from this photo... but you really have to just go.
Then we went up to the Whispering Gallery, which is the huge dome at the top. Well. I didn't really think about how many steps that was. I just thought, I want to see it. IT WAS REALLY FAR. I probably kinda shouldn't have done that with my knees. *_*
It was worth it though.

because from the top, you could see inside the whole interior below, see the mosaics closer... and then you could step outside and see all of London from the dome of St. Paul's. (BTW. Paul was always my favorite disciple, it struck me as somehow fitting that I adored this church.) As we stepped outside the sun was hitting the city at such a lovely way!






Then I begrudgingly agreed to leave St. Pauls (waaah! I really didn't want to leave...) because we wanted to see if we could hit the last tour at Shakespeare's Globe on the water edge.


They had a great museum explaining how things were along the bank in Shakespeare's time, diagrams of a lot of the old theatres, reproduction costumes.... really interesting!

The costumer's work table.


Well, I wanted to see it just because, HELLO, it's Shakespeare, and I've always wanted to actually go in one of the theatres... but the guide started telling us this was actually the Globe that Doctor Who filmed at. (I knew they filmed at one, but I assumed it was the Stratford one... apparently not!) Interestingly enough, Doctor Who's the only tv or movie she knew of which had filmed at the Globe itself. I wish we could have seen a play here, but they only play in summer. Maybe another year!




did I mention it was FREEZING? They gave us some "traditional" mulled wine.


Check out that rad ceiling.


Then off to a chippie! We had to go through a kindof questionable route to get there, though. For a bit, there, I thought we were going to go the way of Bruce Wayne's parents... but then we saw the sign.
Ho ho. Master's SUPER FISH.


YUM.


Then off to Mamma Mia! Which I actually really liked. I was a little dubious on some of the ideals hiding in it, but hey, I can't really say no to florescent rhinestone elvis suits, can I. We were sitting insanely close. I went kindof deaf... but you could see the acting so well...!


a guy with an awesome bouffant on the way home.

Comments

[sweetsyren.livejournal.com]

When you work there - you tend to forget how beautiful it can be because it's all train, tube, stations, work, stations, tube, train, home and that's all boring and rather crappy. It's nice to see London through a tourists eyes :)

You look like you're having a great time!

(Oh - I lurk on HCC cos you all make such gorgeous cosplay stuff, which I found through DW_Cosplay a while back. First post on your LJ so...Hi!)

[yume-ninja.livejournal.com]

omfg i'm so sad ididn't get to go to platform 9 3/4!!!!

[melnay13.livejournal.com]

See any ghosts at the tower? LOL

You really are convincing me to go as soon as possible:)

[poisonedwriter.livejournal.com]

Okay, now I have to listen to "Feed the Birds." I'm jealous you got to see the Globe!

[padawansguide.livejournal.com]

The Cthulhu glass must be by Chihuly. It tours, if you ever get the chance you have to see it. (ie, http://padawansguide.livejournal.com/561258.html)

Great pictures - I love that nouveau pin and Platform 9 3/4 was great! I really want to see London now! :-)

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

yup! it's Chihuly!

wow that's an awesome exhibit you saw! how clever to set it in a garden!

[padawansguide.livejournal.com]

It was at Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh - before that it was at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens (where my Mom saw it). It does tour, so keep an eye out for it! The glass is amazing in a garden setting!

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Those columns with the spiraling reliefs make me wonder... Did the artists start at the top and work down, or bottom up? };)

Great photos!

[quirkybird.livejournal.com]

V&A yeaaaaah!

[jinyo.livejournal.com]

lol Cthulhu!
Is that a Dale Chihuly? Looks like his work. That dude is crazy!

That fireplace looks like it's possessed...

That lion looks like the Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz movie.

Platform 9 3/4!
I just watched a documentary about Rowling where she said that when she was writing about King's Cross, she was actually picturing the Euston station (by mistake). But she was far away and couldn't go to King's Cross to check what it looked like. And she chose King's Cross deliberately because that was where her parents first met.

The Cheshire Cheese!
I ate there once, in the basement.

love the pics from the top of St. John!

[dlgr.livejournal.com]

you didn't blink @ any of the statues, did you?? ((oh hooo...sorry had to..>.>..))

yeah, like, when I was in Northampton...I LIVED offa chips. They're AMAZING. hahaha! I miss them. T_T!

[april-art.livejournal.com]

AFAIK, there's no Globe at Stratford. They may have changed it all since I was last there many years ago, but it's a regular (non-round, procenium type) theater. Even the Globe in London was built after my time! Heheheh. (I only FEEL like I was pre-Shakespearean! --but that current Globe is a pretty new thing, relatively...)

Looks like you packed a LOT into your trip!

MMMMmmm fish'n'chips!

[mognetcentral.livejournal.com]

Sunday roast OM NOM <3

The V&A is my favorite museum too :)

[etherealtb.livejournal.com]

Isn't the V&A amazing? I actually found it a bit overwhelming - it was literally the first museum I hit, in my first trip to Europe and it literally gave me a headache trying to soak everything in! I'm from LA and hadn't even been to NYC at that point, so I wasn't used to museums with that much STUFF!

They also had a clothing exhibit - I really love that stuff - so please post your pics for some of us somewhere!!

Do they actually have the Platform 9 3/4 in the train station now? That's funny!

[mattlazycat.livejournal.com]

The Chihuly photo right next to the ceiling painting photo instantly made me think of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. :P

Absolutely beautiful photos from St. Pauls! The londonfurs meet up less than a hundred yards from there every three weeks, so now I feel compelled to schlepp up and take some photos myself. Thanks for sharing, and I'm glad you all had a good time :)

[slai.livejournal.com]

Hi Aimee,

Ooo 8D! I had no idea they really have a Platform 9 3/4 setup just for tourists! I guess the station got tired of people asking where it was after the book came out XD!

I LOVE the jewelry photos! I love looking at jewelry if a museum has some!

Wow, the Globe looks amazing, and so do those fish and chips =9! THANK YOU AGAIN for posting these photos!