Thursday - Art of the Brick - Sue and Eve
I (Sue) headed off to London bright and early to meet Eve at a curry house in Brick Lane. I got across the tube much more quickly than expected, but luckily there was a lovely vintage market opposite the curry house so I browsed there whilst waiting for Eve. We had a delicious lunch of lamb shank and chicken mango curry and a good catch-up on all the news.
We then wandered along to the Art of the Brick Lego exhibition, which despite sounding like it might be for children, had been recommended to me by a friend. It was a really good exhibition with some very creative Lego sculptures. There was also a section in which various famous works were rendered in Lego. These included Michelangelo’s David and Rodin’s the thinker rendered in 3-D along with several famous works of art rendered in 2-D, such as van Gogh starry night and the girl with the pearl earring.
Eve and I went our separate ways and I headed to the Travelodge near Waterloo station to meet up with Dave for our London mini break. It was pretty basic and the Aircon wasn’t working, but it was in a fantastic location near lots of nice bars and restaurants. We headed out for a drink in a local pub and had a burger for dinner in the same street that we had met up with the whole family in last year when we went to see Chris play with the NYO at the Royal festival hall.
Friday - Natural History Museum
On Friday, we had pre-booked a trip to the Natural History Museum taking in the temporary exhibition about birds. This really paid off, as having pre-booked our tickets, we were able to walk past an enormous queue and go straight in to the exhibition. The exhibition itself was excellent and we learnt two significant facts, namely that the link between birds and dinosaurs was more significant than we had realised, and secondly that birds do not have expanding lungs but a chamber through which the air passes as they move around. We were all so very impressed with the newly landscaped gardens in front of the museum which had loads of space where families could sit to have their picnics.
We discovered a very nice Spanish business by the South Kensington tube station which was an established ham business called Viandas. The family who had set it up had been farming since the 14th century. They had proper hams hanging, little cones of mini chorizo and we enjoyed a delicious baguette with tasty Spanish jamón Serrano whilst standing in the sunshine.
We decided that it was quite exhausting going to exhibitions, so that evening had a fairly early night and just went to a local restaurant near the hotel. This time it was a Thai restaurant and Dave’s main course had such a hot chilli in it. it nearly blew his mind. (Sue had to tell me 3 times to blow my nose! so romantic )
Saturday - V&A and The Albert Hall
We had a very lazymorning on Saturday to preserve energy for all the excitement ahead! We went to a fab cafe around the corner for a bit of a late breakfast and then we met Suzi at the Victoria and Albert Museum and went to the photo exhibition which was the collection belonging to Elton John and David Furnish. We wondered around the V and A a bit waiting for Suzie.
It was a fantastic exhibition with an incredibly wide range of often iconic photos.
Memorable photos included the shocking man falling from the Twin Towers, a range of candid photos of stars such as Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor, many images of documentary relevance, Miles Davis’ hands, a Tokyo train carriage amongst many others. It was a really impressive collection so we were glad to have seen it.
Huw had booked a table at the restaurant in the Royal Albert Hall, which was an Italian restaurant called Verdi. We were going there to see Chris play in the prom with the National Youth Orchestra so it was a really handy place to meet.
Janet kindly treated us all to dinner. There were eight of us. Huw, Ruth, Susie, Dave and I along with Ruth’s Mum Janet, her cousin Greg and her brother Doug.
We were lucky to have upgraded to a box the night before as Huw was already at a prom and managed to sort it out in the ticket office. It was a real treat to have a box and to have drinks delivered there. We had a brilliant view directly across to the orchestra. The performance was fantastic and got very good reviews in all the press, one of which is attached below.
The performance was fantastic and got very good reviews in all the press. We met up with Chris briefly outside and then walked to Covent Garden for a quick after event beer. Huw had to then leave to book Chris into his hotel and didnt get back to his hotel until 3am! Sue and I had a relaxing 30 minute stroll back to the hotel, apart from when some drunken youth knocked an electric bike over into Sue!!! Yob. We had a night cap in the bar to reflect on the evening !
