Daily Details: July 20

The morning began with a sponge bath. Yes, you heard right—a sponge bath. I guess there’s a first time for everything! Apparently, James forgot to mention one of the quirks of Manson Place being the fact that there is no water pressure sometimes and what little drizzle comes from the faucet is ice cold. Maybe that’s due to the fact that was have Nigel as a guest, or that’s what we’ve named our flat ghost. He likes to turn the shower on and off about every 5 minutes throughout the night and day, all on his own. Hopefully Nigel will take a vacation tomorrow morning so I can get a real shower in!

After an interesting morning, to say the least, we were off to the V&A Museum, or Victoria and Albert Museum. We were put into groups and instructed that out of the next 3 museums we visited, we need to derive a pattern from each museum. Going through the museum while searching for inspiration for new patterns gave the visit a whole new perspective. The V&A was rich with inspiration and has been one of my very favorite museums we’ve visited. Instead of doing their displays chronologically or by certain geographical areas like most other museums do, the V&A is divided up into categories. I much preferred seeing a museum designed this way because you get to see the same things all in one area and how they have evolved over time. Two of my favorite exhibits there were the jewelry and fashion exhibits. In the fashion exhibit, I got to see Princess Diana’s famous dress/jacket combo that is ivory with all of the pearls sewn onto it. It was absolutely breathtaking! I also saw a dress entirely made from black, lace bras. That was quite a sight! The jewelry exhibit was even more exquisite though. My favorite part of it was this giant spiral that had been created out of rings with the most massive gemstones I have ever seen in my entire life! To see all of the jewels, dazzling away in my favorite shape (a spiral) was incredible! Good, eye-catching design like that was present all throughout the museum and promoted exploration. There were even some interactive things that would have kept children interested without being too cheesy. I loved this museum!

After strolling through London and making a brief stop at the London Town Hall to see the modern architecture up close, we were off to the Tate Modern Museum. On the way there, we passed the Globe Theatre where Shakespearean plays are still held today. Upon arriving at the Tate, I felt a bit intimidated—it looks like a formidable prison made out of brown brick that looms ahead of you, several stories high. I think they were going for a very minimalist effect and boy, did they achieve it! Some of the art inside was too bizarre for this little chicky, but I did see some things that I really enjoyed. Among my favorites were many Georges Braques paintings, Picassos, and Warhols. As far as three dimensional art goes, I was fortunate enough to stumble upon something that many of the other people I was with missed. It was a little room tucked out of the way that was entirely red. The walls were red, the furnishings were red, and every single object in there was completely red. There was everything from a red stove to red crayons, shoe laces, tea kettles, etc…all in the most brilliant shades of red! The room was packed to the gills, and I enjoyed letting my eye wander through and see all that was tucked inside. There were also some very cool sculptures, like this long chrome pole that has used pieces of soap stacked about 15 feet high, one on top of the other and in all sorts of shades, creating a very neat effect.

After touring the Tate, we crossed over the famous Millennium Bridge, designed by Norman Foster to take the tube over to Leicester Square. At Leicester Square, we grabbed a quick bite to eat before we headed over to see Harry Potter at the Empire Casino—the theatre where all of London’s premiers take place. The theatre was absolutely MASSIVE—it seated over 1,000 people! And, it was the most comfortable theatre I have ever sat in. The seats were absolutely divine! Our seats were near the very front of the theatre, but not too close that our necks got kinked. I was so comfortable and exhausted that I was falling asleep in the previews and doubted my ability to stay awake in the film. As soon as the Harry Potter music came on though, I was wide awake and completely riveted to the screen. I haven’t seen any of the movies since the second film because I wasn’t a huge fan of the first two. This 6th movie exceeded my expectations in every way possible though and I walked away floating on air, dying to watch the movie all over again. Note to everyone reading this: if you have not yet seen the 6th Harry Potter film, you MUST go see it ASAP. It will be WELL worth your time! Today was one great day!