Out and about

 

It must be a school holiday again as we now have our number one Granddaughter Curly (Abbie) up with us for a few days.

So it was a trip down to The Natural History Museum. With an opening time of 10.00 we got there on time only to find the biggest queue you have ever seen. We ended up going in a side door at the far side of the Museum, and it took us an hour to get in .

Once inside as you can imagine it was packed to the rafters with people which sometimes made it difficult to see everything and take it all in.

We decided that it’s another place we would have to come back to when it’s a bit quieter although Curly enjoyed what she saw.

After a couple of hours of fighting the crowds we made the decision to leave and have a look in The Victoria and Albert Museum. As you can see Curly was not that impressed with yet another Museum when Harrods with their massive toy section is just up the road.

I had to put this picture on as it’s Pizarro seizing the Inca.

I loved this picture and I’m sure I can find a place on the wall for it. It is an oil painting by Constable which portrays the construction of a barge at a dry-dock owned by his father. It is based on a tiny pencil drawing in a sketchbook at the V&A. Constable painted the landscape entirely in the open air.

Constable often made full-scale studies for large exhibition paintings. He used a broad painting style to establish the general balance of the composition and its colours. This study which Curly was most impressed with is for his most famous work, The Hay Wain, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1821. The painting is now in the National Gallery. The scene is near Flatford Mill.

The V&A has one of the finest and most comprehensive collections of jewellery in the world. Over 3,000 jewels tell the story of jewellery in Europe from ancient times to the present day. Needless to say both Carolyn and Curly were totally enthralled and we ended up spending over an hour in this section.

Unfortunately with Hamish back on the boat we didn’t have anywhere near enough time to fully explore the museum,so it’s another good excuse to come back here again the next time we are in London. In the end Curly enjoyed the V&A a lot more than the Natural History Museum ,so that was a good result.

I was a bit surprised to hear my name shouted out from the other side of the canal one afternoon . I soon realised that it was Marilyn (nb Waka Huia) who was trekking along the towpath with David and their two Grandsons.

They had booked Narrowboat Jessie for a couple on nights in Little Venice  https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/107051 It was good to see them again and have a chat and a catch up.

Tomorrow we are going to jump on the 23 bus and head down to St Paul’s then head across the Millenium bridge to The Tate Modern Gallery .

 

                                                                                                                  Happy Days