Sunday, November 04, 2007

guitar window


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Originally uploaded by burke_wicker
Here's Preston, through a display of just a very few of the massive display of musical instruments in the massively massive Victoria and Albert Museum, quite easily one of the coolest we've ever been to. Lucky for us, it was the only thing open before noon on Sunday in this town--otherwise we would've missed all the fun.

So far (after a sample of 1), it appears that British museums have it all over French museums. At Pompidou they tortured you with endless displays of chairs without any benches or seats from which to view them. The Orsay was hardly better. Granted, both were filled with spectacular art, but sometimes you just want to rest a second.

So, at the V&A not only was admission free (!), but there were cushy nice chairs and benches all over the place. In the 19th century section, the benches were plush and upholstered in brown velvet, and many included audio-guides or informative books built in to the seating itself. Spectacular! And if that weren't enough, the museum also provides "gallery stools" that can be carried around from room to room for your sitting pleasure, just so long as you return them to their little hooks when you're done.

After the V&A (and a nice, very British lunch of beef&ale pie and mashers), we walked up Brompton road to Harrod's, which is in full-on Christmas mode. The entire 2nd floor is given over to all things Christmas! We also paid a nice visit to the 4th floor toy department before heading back to the hotel. A busy, fun day.

Tomorrow we meet up with Theresa for a ride on the *gulp* London Eye!

~Tarehna

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