I simply love London, though I can't say London was perfect this time around as over half of the trip was spent in the throes of an infuriating cold. We made do and focused on the essentials within the limits of daily energy levels, which meant short trips to our favourite museums and places, very little pottering about and very little of feelin'-oh-so-amazing-now-that-I'm-finally-here-again. Regardless of feeling rather bummed out, we did go to some really lovely places I'd like to share with you. So, here's a list of my London favourites in no specific order:
Signs and Wonders, installation by Edmund de Waal, in a gorgeous grey room
V&A - Always amazing. Such a vast collection of so many different things you always find something you've never seen before and even the things you've seen are endlessly fascinating. I spent a lovely morning at the 6th floor ceramics collection with C (who sent a link to a video of the above installation by Edmund de Waal when I asked for London recommendations here in my blog earlier, and I had just happened to have read de Waal's book about his netsuke collection, and I happen to have a habit of greeting netsukes whenever I visit a museum that has them and V&A happens to have plenty) while my V explored the ground floor sculptures and Asian collections.
The Painted Hall, Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich
Greenwich - all of it: the park, the architecture, the museums, the market. The Painted Hall is quite breath-taking and it alone is worth the short trip from the city center (I recommend taking a river boat even if it makes your knees wobble once your back on dry land but the scenery from a DLR train isn't boring either).
Old Spitalfields Market - Thursday's Antique Market
Old Spitalfields Market - especially on Thursdays when there's an antique market. This is the one place I must get to visit when in London. Everything from furniture to clothes to dishes to taxidermy to old photos and bits and bobs. Some things have crazy prices (but then again worth vs. value, so who am I to say what's crazy), but there's always affordable treasures to be found. This time I was looking for materials for my assemblages and was rewarded with some amazing pieces. V found a beautiful African brass statue from 1930's that's now guarding our bookshelf while it still has room for items other than books. I also got a free elephant that's smaller than the tip of my pinkie.
Saatchi Gallery - It's free and it has a new high quality exhibition every time I get to visit. I really, really like free things, especially free museums and galleries since traveling in itself is far from being free. (Also worth noting: most exhibitions that aren't free seem to have a discounted price for students even if it's not on the ticket price list, and no one cared we didn't have official international student cards.) My Saatchi visit this time was a slightly feverish and weird one but I did love the giant ants with tree branches for legs.
Study of Mme Gautreau, by John Singer Sargent, c.1884
Tate Britain - I've maybe grown a bit tired with the permanent exhibitions at Tate Modern but Tate Britain was a pleasant surprise. They've spruced things up a bit since our last visit and I was having a not-so-ill-anymore day, which made the experience something to savour. I love the pre-Raphaelites they've got and the Turner collection is an absolute gem (had to skip it this time, though).
Palm house, Kew Gardens
Kew Gardens - This was my first time at Kew Gardens and it really deserves a blog post of its own as well as a permanent spot on the list of places to see every possible occasion. Next week, me thinks. Also, Botanical gardens = heaven. I'll be more wordy later.
I hope you've enjoyed this brief listing of my favourites. Before the trip I was worried I'd end up with a mile-long list but the cold took care of narrowing it down. Bare essentials it is, then. If you find yourself in London, do yourself a favour and go see these things!
