Oh, and going down a side street off the Strand to get to the Embankment station I saw a couple of plaques on the houses there; I took a closer look and realised they were quite interesting.
I decided to go to the Natural History Museum first, mostly because I thought I'd spend less time there than at the V&A. So, in I went - they do allow you to take photos there, so I took a few of especially interesting things.
The chap with the net, by the way, is Alfred Russel Wallace.
Hang on, I forgot I renamed a couple. Some more - the statue is of Darwin's Bulldog (not an actual bulldog), TH Huxley; the narwhal is a narwhal, and the fossil skeleton is that of a Pliosaur.
I enjoyed the NHM, though it is - and rightly so - very much aimed at getting/keeping kids interested in science. But I found everything I looked at fascinating, particularly all the fossilised dinosaurs (like the Pliosaur above); there was also a gemstone/mineral section that was brilliant - a must-see for anyone with even the slightest interest in geology. They've even got some meteorites.
Righto, now for a quick trip across the road to the V&A.
The first thing I realised was that I had once again bitten off more than I could chew, timewise - I was not going to get to see everything there. So, I just went for it and started at the first display section I could find, which was Japan - lots of swords and amour, and amazing lacquered boxes. Oh, and tiny carved figurines called netsuke - there's a picture below of one in the shape of a dragon.
The Chinese section had (unsurprisingly) lots of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The Eurpoeans had even put them up to making their own art feature Saint bloody Sebastian (who I've seen far too often during the last week or so). There was also some furniture, including this imperial throne (complete with some yellow-shirted twerp in the reflection) and these chairs which were made sometime between 1550 and 1620.
One of the stranger sections was the one devoted to plaster replicas - they have dozens of these made from relics around the world, and some of them are massive. I shudder to think of the time and effort put in to make them.
They've got an impressive medieval section, including fabulous metalwork and stained glass from all over Europe. Again, some of these pieces are full size sections of old churches. It's staggering. Of course there's a lot more religious art and so forth, and they've also got some very old books. And linen - I was wondering how the heck it was preserved. Ditto the tapestry.
Seeing one of Leonardo da Vinci's actual notebooks was an experience, as was the Michelangelo carving and Donatello's1 Chellini Madonna. At this point, though, I was running out of time and needed to get to the theatre and performance section, which I did - though it was a ways from where I was. But definitely worth the haste and the distance; they've got a lot of great stuff there, including costumes from a whole bunch of shows going back years, and a great section on Shakespeare.
They're also celebrating the 100th anniversary of Vivien Leigh's birth - I did know she was English, but it's something I tend to forget because of her roles in iconic American films like Gone With the Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire. But she did a lot of theatre here in the UK, and this exhibit was fascinating.
Oh, and some random things: an illuminated book, a picture of the Madonna and Jesus where the latter has a very strange expression, and a really old harpischord.
Afterwards I realised I wanted to see Albert Hall, and since I only wanted to see that from the outside it didn't matter that it was now 6.00pm or so and it doesn't get dark here at this time of year until well after 9.00pm. So, I walked that way and spotted the very distinct building, as well as a monument along the way. "Ah," I said to myself, "this is the Albert Memorial I've heard about."
Nope. That was yet to come. Once I went around the building to the other side, I saw the *real* memorial - and my response was more like "Holy freaking crap, what is THAT?" I mean, just look at the damn thing.
And this is the Albert Hall from the same side as the actual memorial.
And that was my day in Albertopolis. I went back to the South Kensington tube station and got myself back to Covent Garden and did very little other than go out and have dinner by myself at a burger place called 'Byron's' that wasn't very far from my hotel. I had planned to eat in the hotel restaurant - they have a carvery, I was in England, it was a Sunday; tradition was calling. But it called in vain, since there'd been a power outage that day and they didn't have any roast beast/fowl at all. So, I decided I'd be very non-traditional and have a burger. I did have an English beer with it though.
1That's three out of four Ninja Turtles! I complete the set at the National Gallery (part 2) where they've got some Raphael.
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