WANDERINGS - LONDON 2

After lunch at The Drayton Arms we went to the Victoria & Albert Museum, one of the largest design museums in the world. I have never been to the V&A before and it is certainly impressive! From the Chihuly in the entrance hall to the vast collection of Asian art, couture collections and design memorabilia, it is a truly inspiring place.

We didn't get to see the current Couture Exhibit as the queue was too long but enjoyed wandering the vast corridors. We did see the Out of the Ordinary Spectacular Craft exhibit which consisted of works by 8 artists who use a range of traditional and new technologies to create their craft. My favourite was Anne Wilson, who uses traditional techniques such as knitting, crochet and lace making to create landscapes of fibres. In this case black lace and threads pinned, piece by piece across a white table.

The Asian section contained new and old pieces from China and Japan and had a temporary exhibit of Ikat's . A style of weaving that uses a resist dyeing process similar to tie dye to create a pattern or design, used in clothing as markers of status or in wall-hangings. They were spectacularly colourful!



After the V&A we walked past the Natural History Museum and it's outdoor ice rink before heading to Notting Hill for dinner. Can you see Julia and Garry striding through the underpass!!



Then it was time to go and see The Arcade Fire concert! Wow I was blown away (not only because I was standing right next to a speaker) by the energetic performance that more than matched the glorious sound of their album, from the accordians, organs to bass and drums.