It was a thirty-four minute Tube ride from Hampstead to South Kensington this morning to make our way to the Victoria and Albert Museum thats got a history that dates back to 1857 and is in a neighborhood sometimes referred to as “Albertopolis” near Hyde Park, the site of the The Exhibition of 1851 in The Crystal Palace. The area is now known as the South Kensington Museums as an outgrowth of the exhibition and with a mission to give all Britons regardless of class to learn more about the world. We spent quite a bit of time perusing the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries then moved on to the Cast Courts all on Level 0. It was at that point that we realized where all the objects are copies or casts of great works from far and wide, collected for the purpose of art education since a full-sized actual copy is far superior to a picture in a textbook. Soon it was time for some refreshment from the Garden Cafe in the Courtyard. Realizing that we’d not be able to see it all, or even briefly visit every gallery, we decided to make it a point to view some of the John Constable paintings up on Level 2. Even at that it took quite some time to make our way there, there’s so very much to see, like the Hereford Screen, but once we reached the Paintings Rooms, we really did enjoy seeing Constable’s renditions of the Hampstead landscape in the early 19th Century including Buildings on rising ground near Hampstead. However by that time we’d reached our museum saturation point for the day and chose to make our way to nearby Harrod’s, the iconic London department store, thinking we’d get some picnic supplies for an outing to Hyde Park. Instead we ended up just walking around for a bit, riding the escalator and elevators, and marveling at the luxurious surroundings before making our way back to Hampstead, getting some takeaway at some familiar shops and partaking of our picnic back inn our room at La Gaffe. It goes without saying that it was and adventure, but this city has so many opportunities for adventure!
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