[0227]
LONDON!
Writing these posts has practically become routine at this point! I booked another trip to London as a post-deadline treat to myself, and because my mum really wanted to go again. There were a few exhibitions that I wanted to see that weren't on in January, and I managed to get quite a lot done!
FRIDAY.
We booked the usual hotel, because the location is so convinient and we've always had a great time there! We got another room with a great view, which I think was partly because my mum had mentioned we'd stayed there several times, because they left us a little box of chocolates!
the view from the hotel room
After checking in and grabbing something to eat, we headed over to the British Museum. I was really, really interested in seeing their new exhibition, Defining Beauty: the body in Ancient Greek art, practically since they announced it on twitter. My mum was initially hesitant because she was concerned that, and I quote, there would be "a lot of penis". And, I mean, there was. But first we went to their Indigenous Australia exhibition, which was also new, and my mum was really interested in it, having been to Australia and all that. The Australia exhibition was really interesting, it showcased a lot of aboriginal art, like masks and so on, but also spent a lot of time on the colonisation of Australia, which I thought was important, and I actually learned a few things from it. After that we headed to the Defining Beauty exhibition, which I really enjoyed! It addressed the age-old question of why the statues were largely naked, and it was about showcasing the ideal male form. It was actually moral for men to appear naked, apparently, because male athletes would practice naked. Also! KEEPING IT LOWBROW as I think we ALL know, these statues aren't particularly well-endowed and apparently this was DELIBERATE so people wouldn't get "excited" when they saw them, because as a few vases displayed, a lot of the men were shagging each other. Ah, Ancient Greece. Jokes aside, it was a really cool exhibition, I've always had a passing interest in Ancient Greece that was kind of jumpstarted when I read The Song of Achilles last year, so it fuelled my interest quite a bit!
Once we were done at the British Museum we quickly got changed and headed to Bill's in Covent Garden to grab something to eat before we went to see The Lion King! I was really excited to finally see The Lion King, and it did not disappoint! I was crying during The Circle of Life, it was so overwhelming. People started applauding the woman playing Rafiki while she was singing the song, it was incredible. The staging was beautiful, and the cast was so, so talented. It's one of the few shows I've been to where I've heard people in the audience audibly react to what was happening on stage, like when they made Mufasa's face (another moment when I cried) people sitting near me whispered "oh my god", it was so lovely. I really, really enjoyed it.
SATURDAY.
Obviously I started the day by queuing for my tru luv, pancakes from The Breakfast Club. We also got hot chocolates there, which were equally lovely.
Queuing for The Breakfast Club actually made us late for the boat trip we'd planned, but as it turned out the boat used for that trip was broken, so they said we could just use their other service. We started out at the Tower of London, headed down to Westminster and then we just stayed on the boat to go back to the Tower of London. It was a lovely day, so being on the boat was really nice. One of the members of the crew actually did the "tour" aspect, and he was really funny, so it was a nice touch!
Even better, when we were on the way back, they lifted the bridge on Tower Bridge! The guy actually said that you were lucky to see this happen 3 or 4 times a week these days, so we were super fortunate to have such a perfect view!
We got off the boat, crossed over London Bridge, and headed down to Shakespeare's Globe. As we were wandering through the exhibition, waiting for the tour to start, a member of staff approached a group of us and said that they were going to do a dressing demonstration downstairs if we wanted to watch. So of course, we headed down there, and of COURSE the next thing out of the guy's mouth was "we need a volunteer", so OF COURSE that volunteer ended up being ME. He pointed at me and said "you! You want to do it! You're looking around, come on up", so here I am:
NOT MY MOST FLATTERING LOOK, I KNOW. Mortification aside, it was a lot of fun. They dressed me as Ophelia from Hamlet, so aristocracy, which the guy doing the dressing insisted I lord over everyone. So they put me (over my clothes, of course) in a linen shift, silk stockings, which were tied up, a CORSET, a BUM ROLL (probably not its proper name, but it's why my bum looks huge in the photo, IT'S SUPPOSED TO I PROMISE), TWO skirts, a frilly little overshirt which showed the corset, and then the jacket thing you can actually see in the photo. and then they gave me the little hat to make me more godly. So fancy, I know, so very fancy. There was a guy watching who was very encouraging and kept smiling and giving me a thumbs up and he TOOK PHOTOS. So shout out to that guy, who has PHOTOS OF ME IN THIS DRESS WHICH WILL PROBABLY SHOW UP ON HIS FACEBOOK/BE PART OF HIS FAMILY MEMORIES, THANKS FOR BEING A FAN.
After getting out of those VERY HEAVY clothes, we headed down to have a tour of the Globe. Unfortunately I couldn't get any pictures of the interior because they were actually rehearsing for the evening performance of As You Like It, so we got to see a little snippet of that!
Because it was a nice day, we decided to walk along the south bank of the Thames, which turned out to be a very good decision, as we came across a secondhand book stall! While I was looking around I spotted a Folio Society publication of Shakespeare's sonnets, which was too much of a coincidence to pass up, and was also selling for £10, and Folio Society books can go for between £25-£50 from new so I was very pleased! We got an ice cream each, and a bag of mini donuts between us, and then I spotted a Foyles, which is a London-only bookshop that I've been dying to visit, so obviously I popped in and bought another book. I really liked Foyles, and was wittering on about it to my mum for a while afterwards, and only then did I realise quite how much time I spend in bookshops.
on the walk back
Then we headed back to get ready to get something to eat before seeing The Phantom of the Opera! The theatre for POTO was actually rather small, so it turned out that what I thought were good seats happened to be really good seats. I really enjoyed Phantom, especially the music, I thought that was fab, and I haven't been able to get it out of my head since. Also, the actors had some of the best voices I'd ever heard, they were honestly incredible. Mostly it was really good to see a show so often talked about!
SUNDAY.
We went to the Bill's in Soho for breakfast, which we didn't have to queue for, and which served equally delicious pancakes.
After that we wandered to Oxford Street because I was keen to check out the new flagship Lush that had just opened, but I forgot that it was Sunday, so the shops didn't open until 12! Since we had a few hours to kill, I suggested that we head to the V&A to see if we could get tickets for the exhibition that I was most excited to see, the Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty exhibition. I'd heard that getting tickets for this was nigh on impossible, but we actually managed to get some! The woman at the desk told us that they release 250 tickets for it every day, and they sell out very quickly. This was probably my favourite exhibition out of all the ones I've ever seen, the attention to detail was incredible. I've always loved Alexander McQueen's work, and I know that it can be quite polarising, but it was amazing to see his creations in the flesh. They themed every room and spared absolutely no expense, it was honestly stunning. Here's a little look into the Gothic/dark Romanticism room, of course I couldn't take pictures, but here are the pieces that I was so happy to see, if you're interested: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05. My favourite room was probably the Cabinet of Curiosities, which held a lot of the accessories he used in runway shows, here's a picture, but it doesn't really do it justice, the room was huge and lined floor to ceiling, we spent a while in there and still I don't think we managed to see everything. I loved the exhibition, and I'm so glad I got to see it!
After spending a few hours there, we headed back to Oxford Street so I could do a bit of damage in the Lush store. I'm a huge fan of Lush, I probably go there at least once a month to treat myself to a few bath bombs, and when I saw some of the Oxford Street exclusives I couldn't help but go. Once I'd had my fill, we took the tube back to Covent Garden to wander around, grab a coffee and sit in the sun. I also paid an obligatory visit to Ben's Cookies, and we got a huge box of fifteen, of which there are now about 2 cookies remaining!
So that's that! I had a wonderful time in London, and I'm very pleased I managed to see all the exhibitions I wanted, as well as discover new things along the south bank of the Thames! If all goes to plan, there probably will be another London post in the foreseeable future, because an actress I really like just got cast in Les Miserables...
Until next time!
Writing these posts has practically become routine at this point! I booked another trip to London as a post-deadline treat to myself, and because my mum really wanted to go again. There were a few exhibitions that I wanted to see that weren't on in January, and I managed to get quite a lot done!
FRIDAY.
We booked the usual hotel, because the location is so convinient and we've always had a great time there! We got another room with a great view, which I think was partly because my mum had mentioned we'd stayed there several times, because they left us a little box of chocolates!
the view from the hotel room
After checking in and grabbing something to eat, we headed over to the British Museum. I was really, really interested in seeing their new exhibition, Defining Beauty: the body in Ancient Greek art, practically since they announced it on twitter. My mum was initially hesitant because she was concerned that, and I quote, there would be "a lot of penis". And, I mean, there was. But first we went to their Indigenous Australia exhibition, which was also new, and my mum was really interested in it, having been to Australia and all that. The Australia exhibition was really interesting, it showcased a lot of aboriginal art, like masks and so on, but also spent a lot of time on the colonisation of Australia, which I thought was important, and I actually learned a few things from it. After that we headed to the Defining Beauty exhibition, which I really enjoyed! It addressed the age-old question of why the statues were largely naked, and it was about showcasing the ideal male form. It was actually moral for men to appear naked, apparently, because male athletes would practice naked. Also! KEEPING IT LOWBROW as I think we ALL know, these statues aren't particularly well-endowed and apparently this was DELIBERATE so people wouldn't get "excited" when they saw them, because as a few vases displayed, a lot of the men were shagging each other. Ah, Ancient Greece. Jokes aside, it was a really cool exhibition, I've always had a passing interest in Ancient Greece that was kind of jumpstarted when I read The Song of Achilles last year, so it fuelled my interest quite a bit!
Once we were done at the British Museum we quickly got changed and headed to Bill's in Covent Garden to grab something to eat before we went to see The Lion King! I was really excited to finally see The Lion King, and it did not disappoint! I was crying during The Circle of Life, it was so overwhelming. People started applauding the woman playing Rafiki while she was singing the song, it was incredible. The staging was beautiful, and the cast was so, so talented. It's one of the few shows I've been to where I've heard people in the audience audibly react to what was happening on stage, like when they made Mufasa's face (another moment when I cried) people sitting near me whispered "oh my god", it was so lovely. I really, really enjoyed it.
SATURDAY.
Obviously I started the day by queuing for my tru luv, pancakes from The Breakfast Club. We also got hot chocolates there, which were equally lovely.
Queuing for The Breakfast Club actually made us late for the boat trip we'd planned, but as it turned out the boat used for that trip was broken, so they said we could just use their other service. We started out at the Tower of London, headed down to Westminster and then we just stayed on the boat to go back to the Tower of London. It was a lovely day, so being on the boat was really nice. One of the members of the crew actually did the "tour" aspect, and he was really funny, so it was a nice touch!
Even better, when we were on the way back, they lifted the bridge on Tower Bridge! The guy actually said that you were lucky to see this happen 3 or 4 times a week these days, so we were super fortunate to have such a perfect view!
We got off the boat, crossed over London Bridge, and headed down to Shakespeare's Globe. As we were wandering through the exhibition, waiting for the tour to start, a member of staff approached a group of us and said that they were going to do a dressing demonstration downstairs if we wanted to watch. So of course, we headed down there, and of COURSE the next thing out of the guy's mouth was "we need a volunteer", so OF COURSE that volunteer ended up being ME. He pointed at me and said "you! You want to do it! You're looking around, come on up", so here I am:
NOT MY MOST FLATTERING LOOK, I KNOW. Mortification aside, it was a lot of fun. They dressed me as Ophelia from Hamlet, so aristocracy, which the guy doing the dressing insisted I lord over everyone. So they put me (over my clothes, of course) in a linen shift, silk stockings, which were tied up, a CORSET, a BUM ROLL (probably not its proper name, but it's why my bum looks huge in the photo, IT'S SUPPOSED TO I PROMISE), TWO skirts, a frilly little overshirt which showed the corset, and then the jacket thing you can actually see in the photo. and then they gave me the little hat to make me more godly. So fancy, I know, so very fancy. There was a guy watching who was very encouraging and kept smiling and giving me a thumbs up and he TOOK PHOTOS. So shout out to that guy, who has PHOTOS OF ME IN THIS DRESS WHICH WILL PROBABLY SHOW UP ON HIS FACEBOOK/BE PART OF HIS FAMILY MEMORIES, THANKS FOR BEING A FAN.
After getting out of those VERY HEAVY clothes, we headed down to have a tour of the Globe. Unfortunately I couldn't get any pictures of the interior because they were actually rehearsing for the evening performance of As You Like It, so we got to see a little snippet of that!
Because it was a nice day, we decided to walk along the south bank of the Thames, which turned out to be a very good decision, as we came across a secondhand book stall! While I was looking around I spotted a Folio Society publication of Shakespeare's sonnets, which was too much of a coincidence to pass up, and was also selling for £10, and Folio Society books can go for between £25-£50 from new so I was very pleased! We got an ice cream each, and a bag of mini donuts between us, and then I spotted a Foyles, which is a London-only bookshop that I've been dying to visit, so obviously I popped in and bought another book. I really liked Foyles, and was wittering on about it to my mum for a while afterwards, and only then did I realise quite how much time I spend in bookshops.
on the walk back
Then we headed back to get ready to get something to eat before seeing The Phantom of the Opera! The theatre for POTO was actually rather small, so it turned out that what I thought were good seats happened to be really good seats. I really enjoyed Phantom, especially the music, I thought that was fab, and I haven't been able to get it out of my head since. Also, the actors had some of the best voices I'd ever heard, they were honestly incredible. Mostly it was really good to see a show so often talked about!
SUNDAY.
We went to the Bill's in Soho for breakfast, which we didn't have to queue for, and which served equally delicious pancakes.
After that we wandered to Oxford Street because I was keen to check out the new flagship Lush that had just opened, but I forgot that it was Sunday, so the shops didn't open until 12! Since we had a few hours to kill, I suggested that we head to the V&A to see if we could get tickets for the exhibition that I was most excited to see, the Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty exhibition. I'd heard that getting tickets for this was nigh on impossible, but we actually managed to get some! The woman at the desk told us that they release 250 tickets for it every day, and they sell out very quickly. This was probably my favourite exhibition out of all the ones I've ever seen, the attention to detail was incredible. I've always loved Alexander McQueen's work, and I know that it can be quite polarising, but it was amazing to see his creations in the flesh. They themed every room and spared absolutely no expense, it was honestly stunning. Here's a little look into the Gothic/dark Romanticism room, of course I couldn't take pictures, but here are the pieces that I was so happy to see, if you're interested: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05. My favourite room was probably the Cabinet of Curiosities, which held a lot of the accessories he used in runway shows, here's a picture, but it doesn't really do it justice, the room was huge and lined floor to ceiling, we spent a while in there and still I don't think we managed to see everything. I loved the exhibition, and I'm so glad I got to see it!
After spending a few hours there, we headed back to Oxford Street so I could do a bit of damage in the Lush store. I'm a huge fan of Lush, I probably go there at least once a month to treat myself to a few bath bombs, and when I saw some of the Oxford Street exclusives I couldn't help but go. Once I'd had my fill, we took the tube back to Covent Garden to wander around, grab a coffee and sit in the sun. I also paid an obligatory visit to Ben's Cookies, and we got a huge box of fifteen, of which there are now about 2 cookies remaining!
So that's that! I had a wonderful time in London, and I'm very pleased I managed to see all the exhibitions I wanted, as well as discover new things along the south bank of the Thames! If all goes to plan, there probably will be another London post in the foreseeable future, because an actress I really like just got cast in Les Miserables...
Until next time!