I can’t believe I haven’t written about the Victoria & Albert museum before because it’s my favorite museum in London. Second to the Science Museum, which is where I work, it’s the museum I’ve visited the most. I love the V&A. Initially I thought about it as an art museum but it’s so much more than that. It’s a museum full of beautiful objects that celebrate the creativity and abilities of humans across the world. The objects include art, fashion, culture, architecture, and design. It’s glorious and beautiful, and I love it. 

The museum is located in South Kensington, right next to the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum. It’s been there since 1857 and was once called the South Kensington Museum. Then in 1899 Queen Victoria laid a foundation stone for a new facade and entry way, and the museum was renamed. It’s an expansive place and every time I go I discover new rooms and objects.

There are a few different ways to enter the V&A. You can use the side entrance on Exhibition Road and you can use the underground walkway connected to the Tube. You can also enter through the main entrance on Cromwell Road. If you enter through a side door, make sure you find your way to the main hall. Once you’re there look up and take in the Dale Chihuly glass chandelier (photo above). Who knew glass could have such dynamic movement?! I also love it because it’s modern and colorful in a pretty classical looking entryway. It’s a juxtaposition I love.

The first time I went to the V&A was shortly after I moved to London. I went to meet up with two classmates from graduate school, one of whom worked at the museum. I walked through the sculpture area first and was immediately blown away. The sculptures are SO CLOSE to you! Basically I could look the busts in the eye! I thought it would be unusual to find art displayed like that in the US and I loved it. Anyway, my friends and I met in the cafe (photos below) and had tea, scones, jam, and clotted cream. The cafe itself is gorgeous with high ceilings, natural lighting, beautiful chandeliers, and lots of ornate details on the wall. It was the first time in London that I thought, yeah this is nice, I can do this. I totally recommend a little break in the cafe is you get tired from walking around the galleries. Now in planning a visit to the V&A I think there are two plans of attack. Number one: research what you want to see before you go and then find those objects once you arrive. Or number two: wander aimless and enjoy what you uncover. At the V&A I tend to go with plan number two. Every time I go I discover something I haven’t seen before, even if I copy my previous routes. For example, this last time I discovered this staircase to nowhere. I can’t figure out what it was though because the staircase to get to it was blocked off! The V&A is a mystery. This last time I went to the V&A I stayed on the ground floor and I want to share with you some things I saw. However, I do highly recommend the upper floors too. Some of my favorite things I’ve seen is a gallery full of amazing jewelry and an incredible detailed and fantastic costume from the Lion King.

What I enjoy about visiting the V&A is the huge range of objects and all of them make me impressed with what humans can achieve. Sure, as you walk from room to room seeing things from all over the world, you might ask yourself why does the museum have this and are there any ethical concerns attached to these objects? I don’t have the answers, and I do wish I knew more, but for the time being while you’re in the museum try to just feel lucky you get to see so much of humanity’s awesomeness all at once. Also, while I was there the V&A had a temporary exhibit called “All of This Belongs to You.” As part of it they had a case that talked about a few of the sculptures, it said where the object had come from, and showed images of what was going on in that place now. If I remember correctly, one sculpture used to be on a church, but now the church is no longer in use and the building is used for things like CPR training! It was so cool.

Anyway while I was there I saw sculpture, I saw religious alter pieces, ornately carved chess pieces from Indian, and gorgeous Turkish tiles. Although it’s an art museum, it doesn’t feel like a traditional art museum. There are rooms where it’s quiet and fairly empty and visitors can stand back, stare at an object and ponder it. But there are also rooms where students sketch sculptures and people sit on the floor. I think because people are allowed to use the space in different ways it makes the museum feel vibrant, engaging, and accessible when many similar museums can sometimes feel cold and too adult.

Let me also tell you about a few specific pieces. I saw this art piece called Spring Poppy Fields No. 31 (photo below). In general, I love abstract, brightly colored, bumpy paintings. They are my favorite, so this immediately caught my eye. It’s painted by Zhang Huan, a contemporary Chinese artist. The bright swirlingness is meant to evoke a feeling of hallucination – like what you would get from opium that comes from poppies. But when you look up close there are lots of tiny smiling faces (look in the bottom left of the picture, there’s a pinky face that I think you can see pretty clearly). Those faces are evocative of Tibetan skull-masks, which symbolize rebirth (also the title of the painting has the word spring in it).

Above is a photo of the Ardabil Carpet. It drew my eye in part because of its size, and in part because it was on the floor. When was the last time you saw a carpet on a museum floor? As you might imagine, it’s on the floor because of it’s weight and importance – but it’s safely protected behind glass. This carpet is from Iran and is part of a pair commissioned by the ruler Shah Tahmasp for the shrine of one of his ancestors. It was made in about 1539, and it has aged and been preserved well because it looks nearly flawless. It’s a lovely white pattern over a dark blue background and there are lots of nice flowers and ornamentation. The details are quite fine and the precision is made by the density of the knots – 304 knots per square inch.

The rooms I enjoyed the most though were the Cast Courts. Looking at casts was popular in the mid to late 1800’s because it allowed people to see things from places where they might not be able to travel. For example, the V&A has a cast of Michelangelo’s David. Before everything was accessible on the internet and everyone ever had seen David a billion times, how cool would it have been to see it up close in real life in your home town? Answer: pretty flippin cool.

Today, we are likely to discredit casts because we want to see the real thing. And I admit, I love to see the thing that witness history or that was touched and created by a genius. But I found that I loved the casts. First, casts allow objects to stay in their home country and can keep museums away from issues of theft and repatriation. 

Second, it allowed me to see things more closely than I probably would have in context. Now that might sound crazy, but let me explain. As a museum professional I have conflicted feelings about where things should be. I think some things should stay in their home countries on the buildings where they came from. And I think some things should be in museums and shared so people the world over can see them. Yet, when I looked at the casts, I feel like I looked at them more closely and appreciated the detail more fully than if they had been in their original building. In addition to the pulpit shown above, there was a gigantic decorative arched doorway. Both are amazing pieces, and I think in their original buildings I would have known they were beautiful – but everything else would have been amazing too. I wouldn’t have known where to look and I would have seen a decoration or a sculpture here and there – but I wouldn’t have seen every bit. Out of context I saw the spiral of the stairs, the expression on a lion’s face, and the curls of decorative leaves. I liked that I could be closer and see it for its own art piece.

I also was blown away by the casts of Trajan’s column (above). I’ve seen the real column in Rome, but this was almost better. Possibly, just as good. In Rome the column is on a high foundation in the middle of a public square. It’s impressive and wonderful but it’s impossible to see any of the details. Here it was up close and easy to see the artwork’s detail and narrative. It was like being in art history class again, where I got to see blown up detailed images, only this was 3D. See this column doesn’t replace the experience of seeing the real thing, but I think it builds on and enhances the original.

So clearly, there’s a lot to see at the museum. Everywhere you’ll go there’s sure to be something beautiful, astounding, surprising, and sure to make you curious and want to investigate a little bit more. I think it’s impossible to visit and not be impressed with the things people can create. The museum is free, so if you have the time I recommend going often and only for an hour to an hour and a half. That way you can wander around exploring with no agenda, have fun, and leave when you’re tired.

If the weather’s nice, I recommend ending your visit outside in the museum’s courtyard. It’s my favorite place in the whole museum. When it’s hot it’s a great place to take off your shoes and stick you feet into the water to cool off. You can watch children splash and frolic. Adults walk around and have lunch in the grass. In fact, it’s where I like to have lunch sometime during work. And everyone kicks back, relaxes a little, and enjoys the sun.

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Hope you all have had a lovely Christmas! Ryan and I spent it in Colorado at Aaron and Katy’s house (Ryan’s brother and his wife). It was nice to see them and Ryan’s mom and sister since we hadn’t seen them since right before we moved to London. But, the best part I think for most of us, was getting to meet and play with Boden. He is so cute! He is smiley, good-natured, and wiggly. It was fun to see him do everything – roll over, squirm around, and even grab my hair. I did take a picture of other people besides Boden, but we’re all in our pajamas and I think there was general consensus that we didn’t want that photo public. 

We were lucky enough to have a white Christmas! It started snowing about halfway through the day and we got maybe 3-4 inches. It was really beautiful and at night Ryan, Tia (his sister) and I went for a walk to look at the Christmas lights in the neighborhood. Colorado was also cool because we got to see a very different landscape compared to what we’re used to. Colorado has wide open plains and then beautiful views of the Rocky Mountains. It was a real treat.

Since it doesn’t get that cold in London and Ryan and I are non-nature-loving city slickers were weren’t totally prepared for the snow. Ryan had cloth sneakers and dress shoes. I had sneakers and leather boots without tread on the bottom. So, needless to say, we had to borrow boots from Aaron and Katy. I’m glad we did because the day after Christmas we took their dog Tarka on a 3 mile walk to the dog park. It was lovely to see all the snow and to be outside, but it was cold and our regular shoes could not have handled it. The dog park itself was pretty nice, and the picture at the top of this post is the view from the dog park.

In addition to getting to enjoy the outdoors, Aaron and Katy also took  us to enjoy some local restaurants and sites. On Saturday we had brunch with Katy’s parents at the Mercantile in Union Station. The food itself was really good but the service was so weird. You order at a counter in the front of the restaurant, then you sit down and wait for a text. When they text you, you walk 5 feet over to the kitchen window and pick up your food. They come around a little to check on you and see how you’re doing, but they don’t bring refills of drinks or anything. It was odd, but nice. I wish I had taken pictures of Union Station. It’s a train station and it’s been gorgeously redone on the inside. It has a hotel, restaurants, and it has a modern and old look that works for it.

After brunch we went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. It was packed with families taking their kids of after Christmas. It’s a really good museum for kids because there are so many animals and skeletons and I thought most of the label texts were written with young audiences in mind. My favorite part of the exhibit was the section on wales. I learned that whales sound out their sound, then it bounces back, and vibrates into a fat deposit in their forehead. How cool is that? Throughout the museum there were a lot of diorama’s of animals in their “natural habitats.” It’s an old style of exhibitions, but I think it works. What was sort of funny was that every diorama had lots of animal poop – as if that will make me think it’s really authentic. Also, they had a snake on the floor (that was scary looking) and weighed 100 pounds. The sign next to it said it was modeled after a real snake and that with your friends you should see if you can pick it up. Ryan did all by himself, but it looked difficult.

Aaron and Katy also made sure to feed us lots of the American foods we’ve been missing. They took us to Highland Tap and Burger because Ryan had been craving a burger. Prior to this experience I had felt like burgers in London were perfectly good and that I wasn’t missing an American burger. And then I had one bite and everything changed. It was cooked medium-well, it was topped with a fried egg, and it was so juicy.I took a bite and sauce and juices oozed all down my hands. I fell in love. That bite was like snuggling with your favorite blanket. It was like the perfect first kiss. It was like putting on your favorite sweater. That one bite was so satisfying. I downed the rest so fast there wasn’t time to take a picture. I sort of wish I hadn’t had the burger because now I know what I’m missing.

They also took us to the Post to have fried chicken, waffles, and biscuits. My British colleagues keep telling me a biscuit is just like a scone, but it really isn’t. I don’t know how to explain it, but biscuits are more buttery and savory than scones. Even though Post is sort of a nice restaurant, the chicken came out in a bucket – which gave us that real American feel. We went home stuffed. My pictures of all this might not look so amazing, but it was. It was amazing I think for anyone, but all this food was even better after months of being away from it. You know, absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that.

Sunday we had a low-key day. Katy and I spent most of the morning having some girl time. We went to the grocery store to buy ingredients for nachos (something else on our American food bucket list, and I’ll tell you more about it tomorrow). We took Tarka to the dog park, and then we went and got a pedicure. It was meant a lot to me to spend some quality time together and just hang out and chat. In the afternoon we all finished a puzzle then went to Ryan’s uncle’s house to watch the Broncos game.

Before we left, we got one more taste of American foods. For breakfast before our flight to Connecticut we had bagels with pumpkin spice cream cheese and coffee with pumpkin spice creamer. Oh America, you are wonderful.

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My family and I went to Crete because my mom’s colleague Elias was getting married. We stayed at Bella Vista, a hotel in Stalida (Stalis) Crete owned by Elias’ parents. They were the most generous and hospitable hosts I’ve ever met. The hotel is up on a hill, about a ten minute walk from the beach. There is a pool, a family of semi-stray cats, and a gorgeous view. About thirty wedding guests stayed at the hotel and every night up to the wedding Elias’ parents cooked a giant feast. There was salad, bread, lamb, meatballs and much more. Sorry I didn’t take any pictures of the food.

We spent a lot of time lounging at the pool. We also took the walk over to the beach. Although technically not far, it was hilly and  very hot – which resulted in some amount of whining on the walk. One day at the beach Papa and I rode a banana boat. We had done it years and year ago when I was in middle school and I remember it being so much fun. If you’re not familiar you can see a picture of it here. Basically it’s a floppy raft pulled behind a motor boat and as the boat hits the waves, the banana boat bounces. It was fun – but also super scary. We were riding with two other tourists and I ended up in the very front of the boat. I was bouncing around like crazy and holding on in a crazy white-knuckle grip. When I got off and back to solid ground, my hands hurt and could barely uncurl. My mom said she could see my flying off the seat during the ride. As I said it was fun and scary. I’m glad we did it – but it was like a haunted house tour because it’s almost more fun to remember it after than to actually do it.

One of the days Elias’ parents organized an outing for the guests. We went to Knossos and the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. Knossos is an archaeological site of a palace that is tied to the myths of King Minos and the minotaur. I was so very excited to go there but we had the worst tour guide ever. She was wearing an orange beach sarong as a dress and matching orange jewelry. She spent 40 minutes of our hour tour talking by the entrance, and wouldn’t budge when Elias and his friend asked her to show us the sites. She also spent most of her tour complaining about how European excavators did everything wrong. They may have done it all wrong, but I wanted to learn about the people who lived here and she spoke little about that. It was really annoying and we didn’t see everything I would have liked. She almost convinced us not to go to the throne room too, but what we did see was pretty cool. I enjoyed picturing what the palace would have looked like whole and how gorgeous it would have been covered in frescoes.

After Knossos we went to a nearby restaurant and had an epic feast. There was of course salad, lamb, bread, and olive oil. But there were also snails, tomatoes on crusty bread, squash blossoms stuffed with meat, and beer. The group of about twenty of us sat at a big long table and they kept bringing out course after course. We’d finish a drink and a new one would appear. Since we were celebrating a wedding they brought us a traditional rice dish that is supposed to bring fertility. It mostly tasted like hot rice with chicken broth. It was an amazing meal and afterward we were stuffed. I apologize for my messy pictures but I was half way through gorging myself before I thought to take pictures.

Lunch completed, we went to the Archaeological Museum. Since our first tour guide was awful, Elias’ best man (who is a doctor not a tour guide) led us through the museum. He was awesome! So knowledgeable and enthusiastic. He knew so much about Crete and the history of the island. I took pictures of the giant intact storage pots and the frescoes from Knossos. The originals are at the museum and copies at actual Knossos. Also I took a picture of the snake goddess, which I had learned about in undergrad art history. Apparently early cultures on Crete were a matriarchal society and the bare chested woman holding snakes was a powerful symbol. Cool, right?

The wedding itself was the last Saturday we were there. The ceremony was outside a tiny chapel next to the water. The guests waited outside the chapel and the bride and groom were driven up separately in a beautiful convertible with the horn blaring their arrival. It was fun an exciting. They processed with their families toward the altar in front of the chapel and the guests all gathered around them. It was more casual than any wedding I’d been to before. People in the back of the crowd talked to each other quietly and walked around a little. At one point in the ceremony, the bride and groom are wearing crowns connected together. They walked around the altar and the guests threw rice from small bags at them. The bride had told me earlier that in total they had bought 30 pounds of rice to throw! There was rice everywhere and all night we could see rice in peoples’ hair.

The reception afterward was gorgeous. It was at a resort that was so amazing because the rooms looked like little villas and were on winding streets. The reception was held in a huge hall right along the water. The buffet was enormous. There was one room of mains and one room of desserts. There was so many kinds of meat too – lamb, chicken, beef, rabbit, and fish. There was also more traditional fertility rice, like we had at lunch. In the dessert room there was baklava, six flavors of ice cream, cookies, cakes, and fruit. They had a dj, a band, and traditional Greek dancers. And there were shots. So many shots of raki and ouzo that just kept coming. There was lots of Greek dancing too. I was too shy, but my parents were brave enough to jump in and try it.

It was a great night and we spent the next day relaxing by the pool drinking lemon Fanta. The whole experience – wedding, pool, banana boat, and food – was absolutely incredible.  It was really tough leaving Crete – it’s just so flipping beautiful.

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