It is slightly sad for me that my time in London was so rushed; there are always so many more places I would like to visit than I had time for, but I applaud myself that I got to the three major art museums: The Victoria and Albert, the Tate Modern, and The National Gallery (oh yeah, and the County Hall Gallery for the Dalí exhibit, but I already mentioned that).
The Victoria and Albert Museum was my first serious expedition as it was terribly close to my hotel. It was exciting to see renovation and expansion, but damnably annoying that its jewelry collection was put away while a stunning new display is being prepared (and will be open in May, just a few weeks away!). It was not hard then to suffice through the stunning hall of silversmithing; rows and rows of tankards and teapots, samovars and spoons, or plates to pomanders. It made me wistful for my days of calloused hands and the methodical percussion of the hammers striking that softened, matte lunar metal.
I hadn’t been in London in almost a decade and it has long been one of my favorite places in the world (okay, I haven’t traveled that much, but I read an awful lot!) Regardless, I am a died-in-the-Shetland-wool Anglophile and coming to the United Kingdom always feels like I am coming home. This was going to be a short trip, only a few days in London before heading off to Barcelona and Geneva. My first visit to London was as a young adolescent, on a musical excursion with my French Horn instructor and his wife, the late Rudy Tate. That trip has since been categorized in my memory as having visited Elizabethan England with jaunts to Stratford-Upon-Avon, Hanford Court, and similar Renaissance points. My second visit, ten years ago, was a promise I made to myself; that if I ever got a Master’s degree, I would reward myself with a return to my beloved England. That trip was my journey through Roman England; a week in York, a week in Bath and neighboring Wells, and a week in London where much time was spent in the British Museum. Now I get to return to my artistic roots and explore the multiple fabulous museums and eat through the many noted restaurants…