More interesting V and A

Whilst browsing and roaming I came upon the ironwork section , and as I love the shapes, forms and patterns of a wide variety of mediums from wrought iron work , to armoury and the most amazing key and lock collection. The intricacy and detail of true masters many in tiny scale. I also came across a young artist who had done a residency with the Vand a and used the ironwork and armoury as inspiration for a collection of knitted artworks / clothing.

The V and A - wow!!

Today Lauren and I headed to the Vand A( Victoria and Albert museum).it was a cold and rainy day but at least we went underground most of the way. While Lauren headed to the new costume exhibition, I whiled my way around the statuary, Asian, steelwork and medieval sections before heading to the fashion. We still only saw about half of it. It was nice having time to meander around on my own , which in all the trip I have had very little time I realised.
I especially loved the contrast between a 13th century staircase paifully reconstructed and placed in close proximity an ultra modern sculpture of stacked white chairs- go figure!!!

A visit around Bank - a place of weird contrasts!

Today we looked around Bank it's a wierd mix of old and ultramodern intermingled together, a wide mix of historical periods , some next to overtly over designed modern glass buildings towering into the skyline. We were told that up to 10 years ago approx. the London building codes wouldn't allow new buildings to be created on historical sites but since the changes it feels like a race to create the biggest and not always prettiest icons on the London skyline. As a personal opinion I don't really like it , but I'm sure others will disagree.

Tate modern, Marks and Spencer !

Today we tubed to the city and visited the Tate Modern, it was massive but if I m going to be honest - it was one of the few modern art galleries that didn't "wow" me. It is huge and we visited all the levels except the Munch exhibit but it was expensive and I wasn't thrilled with what I saw. The book shop was cool though!
We walked across the Millenium bridge and looked at St. Paul's cathedral .
After that we wandered around London and ended up around bond street and a huge Marks and Spencer, and a massive Selfridges with a bigger popup Louis Vuitton windows than even Paris. Took a pic of Lauren in front of the artist but she's scary real and looks like she could swipe you with a Louis Vuitton handbag lol!!
I bought a coat as I was freezing and then Lauren headed of to Somerset house for the Tim Walker exhibition. Jeff wasn't well and it was freezing so we headed home.

We move into our own dungeon!!!

After a lovely stay at marlin apartments in Limehouse, docklands, we moved to Hoxton which is trendier and more expensive to boot, but the basement apartment was a little like a dungeon in comparison to our previous digs,wifi was almost non existent and phone reception want much better, but it did have lots of local - hmmm colour perhaps not quite the word! It's a haunt for under 24 yr olds- need I say more. Lauren joined us for the 5 day stint from Paris and very homesick. Joy for us- 2 not so trendy parents and a 20 something trapped in a tiny bedsit. Luckily it forced us out daily no matter what the weather and lo 3 friends from oz lived around us- yay!!! Which cheered her up a little. Jeff still ill but slowly improving. My only joy the first day after lugging once again luggage from venue to venue was hand feeding a squirrel some croissant! Well thrilled me anyway!

Thames tide out, the shard and gherkin

Not only did we walk tower bridge, we went for a walk around the trendy warehouses on the Thames, the steam engines that raised the bridge, and as the Thames tide was out we ventured down for a look. We also looked at the Shard londons tallest building that opens soon and another that's lovingly called the Gherkin
Also photographed these amazing wire
Sculptures at the Tower of London, part of the Royal Beasts exhibition by Kendra Haste.

See where this picture was taken. [?]

Day 3 / 4 / 5 -not a lot done

We didn't do much as it was rainy and freezing cold, and jeff has developed a flu, not sure if its the weather or all the sickies on the easy jet flight from Rome. But we gave it a try and walked to London bridge and looked around the Tower of London. The following day was a full rest day and the day after ,we went on the DLR- light Rail system to canary wharf, which was the biggest maze of shopping malls , I've ever been to, all we wanted was a decent chemist and spent hours roaming around lost. Eventually we found one of 3 Boots stores , and the staff said that these shopping centres were the worst designed in Britain- so made us feel less silly about getting lost along with lots of other folk along the way. Lol!!!!