We are still reeling over how awesome our location is, because we had the chance to visit two absolutely spectacular museums this weekend that are literally on the other side of the park from us. So. grateful.
Here is Boricua on a Boris Bike, which we like to rent to cross the park. A rental lasts you 24 hours, and you have to pay no extra as long as you turn the bike in before half an hour is up. Then you can take it out again!
This is a monument Queen Victoria had made of her beloved Albert, that Boricua mentioned in another post.
Here is my Albert! (Cheesy, I know, but true...) This is actually outside of the Natural History Museum, which is across the street from the Victoria & Albert Museum.
The V&A is absolutely so full of so much. We spent hours and spent almost all of our time just in the section about England. This is an example of the living room of a well-to-do family, done in the VERY ORNATE Rococo style!
We were both very well entertained, because not only were there many paintings, but a lot of inventions, which would make any engineer giddy! This is a mirror complete with a clock, barometer, and thermometer! We also learned about the painstaking process of gold foiling. I can't help but think of the specialization required just to create something like that, so long ago!
There was an entire section highlighting how the explosion of trade with the "East" (India, China, and others) influenced English fashion and art. This is an idealized painting of how many Brits might have imagined the "Orient," and apparently most of the art made no distinction between countries, but mixed Indian and Chinese elements extensively.
What an instrument!
Another type of instrument, the kind that tells you when an intruder has entered your room! The wealthy in England often had an entire room just for their precious belongings. This lock is so ingenious - it counts how many times it has been opened. The button on his coat resets the count, and by sliding his shoe upward, you find a secret place to put the key. After a certain number of openings, it would lock automatically, for good!
A 400-year-old sweater.
They reminded me of each other. :) Boricua would probably be a knight in a past life. #Ilovemynerd
Thank goodness times have changed. This was a section of the museum where you get to try on some medieval wear.
In awe of the gauntlet (new vocab for me).
So much care must have gone into making this! How amazing would it be to listen to someone play it, hundreds of years ago in an elegant parlour...
I had no idea how famous this bed is, enough to have its own Wikipedia article, and to have been mentioned even by Shakespeare! Known as "The Great Bed of Ware." It is huge and ornate, and from the year 1590.
This is an actual replication of a king (I can't remember which one). They took a plaster of his face after he died and used it to create this statue.
The museum itself is an incredible work of art.
Victoria and Albert themselves. I see those profiles of them all over!
Curators suppose that this could have held the bread of the eucharist. It is VERY old.
The one holding the keys, must be Peter? We think Christ must be the one in the center (also, it looks like he is giving the peace sign?), and John, the one to his left.
