Day 8 - Fancy stuff

Last day in London.  Another rainy day and it was off to the Victoria and Albert museum which has misc stuff from the ages. Everything from tiny Leonardo da Vinci Codex to my my favorite ever grave marker with Eleanor of Aquitaine (wife of Henry II died 1204)  going to the other side with book in hand. Reading happily ever after.

I enjoyed this window glass showing Jesus tempted by the devil. Doesn’t the devil look pleased as punch to be carrying off his quarry?

Don’t worry, Jesus rebuffs him on the next panel. (Or maybe just waves a fond farewell for a pleasant evening?)

There is a lot of controversy about all of these British museums housing items that rightfully belong to other countries - this famed Mechanical Tiger of Tipu Sultan for instance. 

But the V&A also houses a vast collection of castings of famous statues and monuments - which leaves the original intact and in situ.  So you can get close to Romes Trajan column or Michelangelo’s David and leave those original artifacts at home in their originating country. 

We also saw the “original” Victorian fig leaf which was made in Britain to protect prudish Victorian visitors from David's nudity.

 

But it’s not just old things in this museum. You can catch original Star Wars Storm troupers, Tina Turner’s platform shoes, the wedding dress made for Claire Foy in Netflix “The Crown” and lots of props and costumes from the tv show “His Dark Materials” among many contemporary costumes and objects housed in this museum.  There is usually a costume collection on display here too - sadly closed during our visit.  

I'll just have to make due with an ugly Harry Styles sweater:

Laurence Olivier’s very not ugly Hamlet costume:

Or West End Costume from “A Chorus Line” and “Kinky Boots” - it’s all here.

But we departed the riches of the V&A for some more contemporary riches at Harrods.  We entered through a side door and directly to an area where Tiffany’s, Cartier and many other fine jewelers and watchmakers had guard-protected store fronts within the vast black long shopping mecca that is Harrods. 

From fancy food court selling $200 cantaloupes?

To the in house butcher and smoked salmon layer cake, this store has your exotic food needs covered. 

Really any fancy needs from high fashion to fancy furnishings.  Porsche branded espresso machine? Check. (Actually a whole Porsche branded appliance line) Incredibly unusual piano? Sure thing. 

And lots of exotic decor in the store. 

One thing we didn’t do in London is visit the Royal Albert Hall.  I had looked up what was playing and saw it was a Sumo wrestling championship week and opted out (though we did watch some of it live in our hotel on telly one evening!).  But we found some sumo celebrities here at Harrods. 

They were buying tea. We had earlier tried a different hot beverage at a local store called Knoops.  They sell hot chocolate - but you choose the percent and origin of the chocolate. We got two different varieties and they were indeed unique. I’d love to do a tasting of them all. 

We booked a special dinner at ROVI, one of Yotam Ottolenghi’s restaurants in London for our final evening.  We are big fans of his cookbooks and had a great meal. 

Finally some basque cheesecake on the way home and we say goodbye to London. I’m sure we’ll be back some day but until then Cheerio!