Londontown

I enjoyed my day here in London at 2 museums that are literally in the next block down from my hostel: the Natural History Museum (underwhelming) and the Victoria & Albert (overwhelming).

The Natural History Museum was not as good as it's counterpart at the Smithsonian in DC. The dinosaur exhibit was pretty extensive and pretty well packed with kids. (I'm glad they had a good time!) The architecture of the place was clever and fascinating though. There were carvings of animals in all the walls and columns. In the main hall, which looks like a Victorian train station, there were monkeys carved into the stone pillars so that they looked like they were climbing all over. It made me think of Kathy.


The minerals & meteors exhibit was closed for renovation. There was a cross-section of a giant sequoia on display with a few plaques of information - that was right up my alley. Too bad everything else was just a big display of taxodermy - mammals, fish, snakes, horses, bats, reptiles... I'll borrow the nickname Dubliners use for their natural history museum: the dead zoo. I pushed my way through the crowds of youngsters and headed for the Victoria & Albert.

The V & A was amazing! I'd heard about it for years (and maybe even went in on one of those whirlwind tours in high school) but I really saw it today. I literally explored the exhibits until my feet were aching and forced me to end the day as the museum was closing at 5:30. They had a fantastic collection of modernism and 20th century stuff. They seemed to have nearly every modernist icon right there (except some notable American ommisions - no Eames lounge chair, no Frank Lloyd Wright). They had included as a modern icon worthy of note a Nike running shoe; way to go Oregonians!

The musical instrument collection was fascinating, the textile collection was surprisingly captivating, all the exhibits were engaging and stunning in their completeness (again, except for the lack of American 20th cent. icons).

Finally, here is a picture of me on my bed in the hostel. Well, just my foot really. It's a bit of a challenge to get pictures of yourself when you're traveling alone so I've settled for pictures of my extremities (laws of common decency notwithstanding) :)