dangermousie | We are in LOOOOOOOONDON!!!!

We are in London and having a blast!!!

Today's day was wonderful, even on two hours of sleep cramped into a tiny airplane seat (it was like doing a default yoga position).

After checking into our hotel, which possessed such awesome items as a reproduction of a paintings with fat cherubs and a trouser press (but also blessedly, a bed and an electric tea kettle, two things I love beyond reason), we wandered around town.

It's warm enough and a bit drizzly and so we ended up wandering into V&A. (Prior to that I created an impromtu and inadvertent pidgeon battle as I wasn't hungry so most of my salmon sandwich ended up feeding scary, loud birds which conducted themselves in a manner more suited to large carnivores with stripes than nice domestic birds).

I LOVE V&A!!!!

It's not a museum so much as it's like wandering into an attic of your really rich, really eccentric aunt, wondering what you'll find there. Only this time the aunt had a LOT of time and resources and was grabby about stuff from all over the world. We saw Japanese swords (eeeee!!! And ended up striking a conversation with a sword nut), Chinese furniture, some traditional Korean clothes (straight out of Damo, but no funny high hats), a wine cup of Shah Jahan (Mr. Mousie pointed out that the question of why a Muslim Emperor would need a wine cup is better left undisturbed), 18th century gowns, gigantic plaster reproductions of everything you could imagine. It was as if a magpie was in charge. I loved every minute. My favorite part was a couple of rooms of sculpture which seemed to show case an unhealthy obsession of Victorians of seeing people offing each other in marble. There was Apollo skinning Marsyas (the latter lost the best and I suppose was literally a sore loser. Hah. I am so funny. Not), there were two separate sculptures of Samson smiting an unlucky Philistine with a jawbone of an ass (Samson was in complete state of undress, which seems unlikely as a battle outfit, but what do I know), some small sculpture about a woman sticking herself with a spear, and a whole bunch of other equally goulish subjects. I cannot imagine ordering one of those to stand in my dining room, for me to edify myself every time I sat down to desert, but what do I know? I am clearly not cut out to be a Victorian.

We also ended up having afternoon tea in Harrods, which was so posh I found watching myself as a suspicious person who might steal the silverware. The waiters ran around as if trained by Jeeves, and the scones and clotted creams were so rich they probably took months off my life, but added about a million dollars worth of bliss. The whole store was so unabashedly over-the-top that it left tacky in some other galaxy and departed for territories of glorious bad taste yet uncategorized by the human tongue. They also carved a line from Shelley's poem about Ozymandias into the wall, but I think they missed the meaning. I saw a pair of cute red shoes, £195 a pair. I think they would have to be made of solid gold to be worth that much, but I am probably not the target audience, as the bathromms were luxer than my house.

After that, we ended up wandering around some more and got half-price tickets to see Treats at the Garrick Theatre. I confess my inner geek is extra happy as it stars Billie Piper (Rose from Doctor Who).

So all in all, an awesome day.

Oh, before I forget. On the flight, I ended up watching Delightful Girl Chun-Hyang on my portable (I would have preferred to take Snow Queen but I don't have the DVDs). I watched up to ep 7 sometime around late fall-early winter and then stopped, and I have no idea why, as I inhaled the three next episodes last night, despite being completely tired, and only stopped midway through ep 11 because the battery finally died. I am going to do a proper longish write-up on it once I get home, but DGCH is just too, too wonderful and funny and romantic and pitch-perfect for words. Also, Jae Hee!!!!! *thud* So gorgeous. I confess to crying at the scene where they finally straighten things out and he pulls her into a hug at the bus stop and they are both teary eyed and OMG OMG OMG. But I can just tell angst is coming, as we still ahve eps to go and I have almost never hated the 'other' character as much as I do Uhm Tae Woong's slimy, selfish, ice-cold producer who is after Chae-Hyung. (Gong Chan's ex in My Girl beats him but barely). Anyway, this is a London post not a drama post so better stop...

Current Mood: amused

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From:

winterspel.livejournal.com

I love the Victoria and Albert museum! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. And also TEA AT HARROD'S!!! This is a tradition for me and N now, to go there for at least tea once per London visit. My favorite thing about Harrod's is the food halls, which is pretty much the main reason I go there.

I'm so glad you're having fun - now get some rest so you can enjoy the rest of your trip! *hugs*

From:

She's a mite whimsical in the brainpan.

We are in LOOOOOOOONDON!!!!

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