#32 Visit the Victoria and Albert Museum




I lived for the first 28 years of my life in Cornwall, which meant that travelling anywhere took hours and was a bit of a novelty. My first three trips to London were all on school trips: the traditional first year Science Museum visit, seeing Barnum in the West End after the P.E. trip to the Women's Hockey Final and a concert at the Royal Albert Hall with the Stage Band. All three trips felt like an adventure and so did my visit last week to the Victoria and Albert Museum.

I have wanted to visit the V&A for many years and somehow just haven't got around to it. I was surprised by the beauty of the building itself and initially quite bewildered by the vast number of exhibits. Afraid to miss something wonderful, I treated it like a maze and just kept following the left wall, thereby making sure that I saw everything.

My personal highlights were the Turner and Constable landscapes, the collection of jewelry with beautiful examples from throughout history, the sacred silver and stained glass and the ornate Japanese tea sets and kimonos.

Lunch in the café was delicious and my surroundings while I ate magnificent. The gift shop was almost an exhibit in its own right but mostly beyond my budget. 

Although this was a brief trip to London it has whet my appetite for more and I may well head to the National Gallery next time.


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