Today, I went to the V&A museum for the third time on this trip. I still haven't seen everything, but I think I've hit all of the exhibits that were of particular interest to me. The reason it took me such an extraordinary amount of time to see everything is that, unlike many museums, they do allow photography -- and I captured any item that truly fascinated me, as well as taking a picture of the accompanying caption card so that I would remember later what the object was and why I was so interested in it. Consequently, between my three visits to the V&A and the many other wonderful things I've seen on this trip, I'm up to 927 photos in this particular folder in Picasa -- and my trip is only half over!
Today I spent my time in the silver-smithing and metal-working galleries, as well as seeing a bit of sculpture, the collection of old musical instruments, and a brief foray into Islamic and Japanese art. I saw another fabulous epergne, which I photographed from three or four directions. I also saw a seemingly-endless amount of silver plate -- you would think I would be done with silver at this point, but the beauty of the V&A is that many of these galleries are related to technique and craft, so they're excellent for learning a lot about how things were made, what they were used for, how much they originally cost, and the types of people who bought them. So while the silver-working gallery seemed to just be a quick view-in-transit for most of the people at the museum today, I spent over an hour just in that small series of rooms.
They have a small but gorgeous collection of Japanese stuff, and I was particularly enamored with the Japanese lacquered boxes and furniture. They also have some gorgeous Islamic art, especially some large and beautiful carpets. I spent a v. brief amount of time in the Indian exhibits, but at that point the museum was closing, and I had seen better stuff at other museums in the past. I will have to come back to the V&A someday -- some of the exhibits that I would have enjoyed are undergoing renovation, including their jewelry collection, which is reopening on Tuesday :( But seriously, if you ever come to London and are interested in how things are made, you should go to the V&A -- it's amazing.
I spent the early evening packing, and I'm basically done -- luckily I didn't do much shopping while I was here (although I've acquired a small pile of guidebooks, receipts, and other paper products, as I usually do when traveling, and I'm keeping them despite the weight for my 'files' back home), so packing wasn't a problem. I then had dinner at Wagamama -- for those of you counting, yes, that was the fourth time that I ate at Wagamama while in London, but I like noodle dishes, and they make some v. tasty stuff. Now I'm blogging, finding directions for my time in Edinburgh tomorrow (since I sacrificed my Scotland guidebook when packing back home, thinking I didn't need it on a guided tour -- but I should have photocopied the maps), and generally getting psyched up for the next half of my adventure!
I'm super excited for Scotland -- my bus tour leaves early Monday morning. The first day is mostly in the highlands, including the areas that were home to the Campbell clan and the Dukes of Argyll. Tuesday is the islands of Mull and Iona, which I'm really looking forward to -- I had wanted to go to Iona when I was in Ireland two years ago, but never got to it. Wednesday we visit Glencoe, where the Macdonalds were massacred in the 1600s, before spending both Wednesday and Thursday nights on the Isle of Skye (and the hotel apparently looks out over the harbor, yay). Then Friday it's back through the Highlands (with a stop at Loch Ness!), before ending up in Edinburgh Friday evening. It should be gorgeous, and if I don't come away with a million ideas for romance novels, I'll be v. surprised.
Hopefully I'll have regular internet while I'm in Scotland, but I don't think it's v. likely, so my posts may be short, poorly-formatted affairs from my BlackBerry. However, I know that I have an addiction to the internet that rivals heroin and meth in terms of the consequences it's having on my life (since it's a gateway to all sorts of mindless procrastination) and the withdrawal pains I suffer when I lose it (as evidenced by how twitchy I get when I'm not within range of a working BlackBerry or laptop). So maybe having to go without internet for a few days is a good thing. Granted, the BlackBerry will help to tide me over -- but I may have to get rid of the thing when I'm back in the US. We'll see if I can actually part ways with it, though -- unlike drugs, you pay a flat rate for phones and internet connections, so the monetary costs of my habit are unlikely to ever outweigh my ability to pay them, which makes it harder to seek help. Unless I get arrested for selling drugs to fund my Comcast and AT&T bills, which would just be sad.
Anyway, that was a v. long paragraph when the real point was that you may or may not get regular posts for the rest of the trip. But please don't leap to the automatic conclusion that I'm dead -- I'll try to post every day even if it's just a hello from the BlackBerry. Now I'm going to bed so that I can schlep my stuff to the train station tomorrow. Goodnight!
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