Day 3 - Victoria & Albert Museum, 'Old Kensington' Walk,
and The British Museum

The previous day was very long, so we decided to sleep-in. We didn't even make to the Victoria & Albert (V&A) Museum until noon. Our original plan didn't include going to the V&A, but we were very glad we did.

A description from their website:

V&A South Kensington is the world's greatest museum of art and design, with collections unrivalled in their scope and diversity. Discover 3000 years' worth of amazing artifacts from many of the world's richest cultures including ceramics, furniture, fashion, glass, jewelry, metalwork, photographs, sculpture, textiles and paintings.

Our favorite section was the casting courts. Here is a description of was casting is:

The first stage in the production of a cast is the taking of plaster moulds from the original, using a separating agent to prevent the plaster sticking to the surface. Since all sculpture, other than that executed in very low relief, has projections and undercutting these moulds were invariably made in many pieces. The piece moulds would then be enclosed in an outer casing, the interior coated with a separating agent and the wet plaster poured in. The divisions between the piece moulds produces a network of casting lines on the completed plaster cast. As the number of these lines shows, the casting process demanded specialist skills and the production of a cast such as the Portico de la Gloria executed by the London firm of Brucciani, represents a formidable technical achievement.

 

Victoria and Albert Museum

A short tube ride after and we were at South Kensington High Street. The walking tour we are taking today is named 'Old Kensington - London's Royal Village'. Our guide was Emily, a trained actor. If you like a little bit of the dramatic, she's the one for you. We started our tour in a lovely old church, which was Lady Diana's church will she was in Kensington Palace.

Our tour then took us by some wonderful old shops and homes, then onto Kensington Palace. Kensington Palace was the home of Lady Di. We walked through the grounds of the Palace and saw some of the lovely gardens.

Kensington Palace

We finished off our tour by see the homes of some famous people, including Winston Churchill and TS Eliot.

Kensington

With the hour being so late, we though we would head to the British Museum and enjoy their late opening hours. Because some of the rooms were closed, we got 2-for-1 audio guides. There is some much to see at the museum, and even our 2 hour visit isn't enough time to see it all, but we did the best we could. The have an incredible amount of ancient artifacts. Of course, they have the famous Rosetta Stone.

British Museum

Another busy day for Mark and Lisa.

Pictures from Day Three

Day Four