Our first full day in London Town.
Let me start by saying, our London schedule was madness. We knew it going in. But we planned this trip to be a “trip of a lifetime” trip. We wanted to squeeze in as much as we could in our time here. Would I recommend it? I am not sure. Do I regret it? No. I am grateful for all that we were able to see and do. But we were MOVING. Our feet were so sore by the end of every day in London. But it was a great time and surprisingly, didn’t feel all that rushed despite all that we did.
First stop. Food.
We were so hungry when we got up (since we skipped dinner and our lunch the day before was “afternoon tea”), so food was needed. We lucked out and found this great little shack right across the street from our hotel that was amazing. We ended up eating there every single morning. The man that owned it was great and made the most amazing breakfasts and the price was affordable. So, we grabbed some breakfast and then walked over to St. James Park to eat on a bench.
Parks in England put our parks to shame. Each and every one of them is so picturesque. We found a bench to stop and eat our breakfast and became well acquainted with the local pigeon population. They immediately zeroed in on me (Mark apparently looks more intimidating than I do) and they were sneak attacking and all sorts of things to get my breakfast. It was funny but they didn’t woo me over to be a pigeon lover either.
Buckingham Palace
We then walked over to Buckingham Palace. I think it would be so fun to see the changing of the guard sometime, but that wasn’t on the plan this trip. We knew the King was not in because of the Union Jack flag. But it was fun to see such an iconic place.
Happy Accident
We then walked to the underground to go to the V&A Museum. But we arrived with a lot of time to spare. Again, nothing opens until 10. So, we walked around a bit and stumbled upon the Hyde Park Chapel for the Church. It was happy to see.
The Albert Memorial
We kept walking up to Kensington Gardens. This is another beautiful park that we would have loved to spend more time at. We walked over to the Albert Memorial. This is stunning. When Prince Albert unexpectedly died in 1861, it shocked the nation. He was a great patron of the arts, science, and innovation. His wife, Queen Victoria, commissioned this incredible memorial to her husband. I love their love story. Queen Victoria wrote in her journal in 1839, “Oh! To feel I was, and am, loved by such an Angel as Albert was too great [a] delight to describe! He is perfection; perfection in every way – in beauty – in everything!”
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum, also known as the V&A is incredible but it is also a labyrinth! It is hard to navigate. It is massive and there are so many different wings, and split-level floors and you have no idea where you are most of the time. It took us a little bit, but we finally got a hang of navigating the museum. You could easily spend DAYS here.
Because we didn’t have days to spend in this museum, we found a list of the “highlights” and focused on those. Mark’s favorites were the Leonardo da Vinci notebooks. And my favorite were the cast courts.
Dale Chihuly Chandelier
This is in the grand entrance lobby and felt pretty modern to my liking. But it is meant to blend the old and the new.
Hereford Screen
This is a 35-by-35-foot screen built for the Hereford Cathedral altar. The details are amazing.
Samson Slaying a Philistine
It is said that the V&A has the best collection of Italian Renaissance sculpture outside of Italy and their collection is very impressive. This sculpture is by Giambologna and is carved from a single block of marble. Amazing. Ben’s response when we showed them these pictures: “oh….boy.”
The Medieval and Renaissance Galleries
These were really fun to just walk around in. So much history!
Becket Casket
This is part of the Medieval and Renaissance gallery and contains the relics of St. Thomas Becket.
Boar and Bear Hunt Tapestry
This wool tapestry is HUGE and the detail is incredible. It is in the medieval gallery and shows a glimpse of that time period.
Notebook by Leonardo da Vinci
This is tiny! He truly was THE Renaissance man.
The Cast Courts
My mind cannot even understand these and how they are done. But these are plaster-cast versions of the real things. I have no idea how they were able to get the level of detail or how they allowed them to even be made. They truly are incredible. They were originally done to allow students in the 1800s who couldn’t afford to travel the opportunity to view them here in England.
Trajan’s Column
This must have its own moment because it is MASSIVE! It is actually sliced in two because it is so tall (140 feet altogether). It is covered with 2,500 figures!
Michaelangelo’s David
This also must have its own moment in the cast courts. This statue has been in my parent’s home my entire life (which I will tell you, made us girls pretty embarrassed when we were younger). But it really is incredible. Maybe one day I can see the real thing.
Islamic Art
We ventured into the Islamic section, and it is beautiful. The real winner is the Ardabil Carpet, which is 630 square feet and so impressive. I loved all the intricate weaving in this area.
Raphael’s Tapestry Cartoons
The V&A has seven of these designs (each about 13 by 17 feet big). Raphael was commissioned by Pope Leo X to create designs for tapestries for the Sistine Chapel. These cartoons show events from the lives of St. Peter and St. Paul.
British Galleries
We also really enjoyed wandering through the British Galleries which cover the time of Queen Elizabeth I. We saw lots of miniature portraits, including Young Man Among Roses.
Theater Artifacts and Silver
Then there was the showy area. Mark really liked the theater artifacts section and the silver was crazy. The level of workmanship is amazing.
British Museum
We then made our way up to the British Museum. We grabbed some lunch at their café and then dove in. This place is also HUGE, and you could easily spend days there as well. Just like the V&A, we had to hit the highlights. We did feel like it was less confusing than the V&A, but it felt way more crowded (there were times in the V&A when we would be the only people in the room). We also felt like they had the heater on because it was HOT. Like really uncomfortably hot. And so being hot combined with a whole lot of people (some of whom I thought were really rude – the only time I felt that way on the trip) kind of tainted my view of the museum. We were both ready to leave by the end.
Egypt
Egypt was our favorite gallery. There is so much to see. The shining star is the Rosetta Stone. This is probably where people got the nastiest though. But it is an amazing thing. A replica came to the Denver Nature and Science Museum a couple years ago and we saw it then, but there is something amazing about the real thing. Such an amazing find.
There are also lots of amazing statues, including Ramesses himself. And then there were all the Egyptian gods as well.
There were also mummies everywhere! Benjamin would not have liked it – he hates our small Egyptian exhibit in Denver. There were even the animal mummies – lots of cats!
Assyria
The Assyrian gallery was also impressive. We especially liked the giant human-headed stone lions who guarded the palace and now guard the entrance to the exhibit. We also got to see lots of their cuneiform, which is the world’s first written language, invented 5,000 years ago.
In the Nimrud Gallery we saw a mini throne room of King Ashurnasirpal II’s palace at Nimrud, as well as giant panels showing lion hunting – the sport of kings.
Greece
The Greece gallery was the other showstopper. The huge draw here is the Parthenon. They have pediment, frieze, and decorations all from the Parthenon on display. While the Parthenon building is in Greece, most of the best sculptures were taken here to the British Museum (pretty controversial).
We wandered around other parts of the museum as well, but these were the big parts!
Harry Potter Studios
We then got back on the tube and then had to switch to a train to get to the Harry Potter Studios which is north of London.
This was wild. There is SO MUCH to see. But they pick you from the train station in a three-story bus (that looks just like the knight bus from the movies) and take you to the studio. Then there is a tour that you walk through at your own pace. The number of props, sets, costumes, and a million other things is crazy. We took just about a million pictures because we knew the kids would love it. They also had a lot of short shows where they showed how they did the movie magic (like Harry’s invisibility cloak). The set that was most impressive to us was Gringotts. We spent a lot more time than either of us thought we would (about 4 hours!) but we really enjoyed it. We also tried butterbeer for the first time. I think I liked it a lot more than Mark did. Overall, it was a unique experience, and it was fun to do. It is crazy how much of a fan base there still is after all these years.
*** Believe it or not, this is probably not even half the pictures I took at the studio! ***
Long Day
By the time we were leaving the studios, it was already after 9 and we were pooped! We got back on the train, then switched to the tube and made it back to our hotel after 10. A crazy but very good day!
