If I had to choose, which London museum would be my ultimate favourite? The British Museum or the V+A? That’s a toughie. I enjoy them both but for different reasons. Not sure if I would be able to answer. It might just depend on the mood I was in when asked.
On the one hand, the V+A is the world’s largest museum on arts and design. But on the other hand, the British Museum is dedicated to human history, art and culture. But any time I’m in London, I make it my mission to visit both of them. Bonus point: V+A has a cafeteria that serves cream tea!
Some pics:
When I first went to London in 2007 and visited the V+A’s cast courts, I was beyond wowed by the collection of Europe’s famous and celebrated post-classical sculptures set in plaster cast. Situated in two galleries, one could feast your eyes on Michaelangelo’s David, Trajan’s Column, the Gates of Paradise at Florence Cathedral, the Pisa Cathedral Pulpit, the 12C Portico de la Gloria from the Cathedral at Santiago de Compostela in Spain and the cast of Jacopo della Quercia’s Great Arch from the Basilica of San Petronio.
But then over the years, whenever I’ve re-visited the cast courts, all I could think about was that they’re just replicas. A fake Fendi. And although I still think it’s impressive, it sort of lost its lustre on me. I guess I want to see the real thing.
Twelve days into my trip had me feeling a little homesick for Charlie. It didn’t help that Sean would email me photos or tell me that Charlie wanders from room to room, meowing and looking for me everyday.
Which led me to the Shoreditch area to get my feline fix at London Cat Village. The cat cafe on Rivington had just recently opened and had a dozen or so kitties to enjoy. The cool thing? They have movie night Wednesday where you can camp out on bean bags, enjoy some drinks and popcorn while watching movies with the cats.
This week’s movie is Avatar, which means I’ll be back for that. It’s the last night before I fly back to Vancouver, which makes it the purr-fect thing way to close out my trip.
View more photos of my trip on my Flickr album.
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