The one about Art, Cake and Mass Extinction
Oh, hello!
Oh, hello!
Long time no see... I know, my breaks between blog posts are becoming awfully long but I promise I'll try my best to be more consistent.
So, the last time I wrote on this blog I was unaware that in a few days I would be flying to London. I was just enjoying the warm spring by the beach and then, all of a sudden, I found myself "sitting in an English garden". No need to look for the sun though, because luckily spring followed me to the U.K. and, except for one very cold, rainy and windy day, London has blessed me with plenty of sunshine.
It's been eight long years since the last time I was there and it took me some time to get reacquainted with the city, which I did through endless walks, with big black shades on my nose and a bag of pastries in my hand.
"Moon River" starts playing in the background.
But of course, to celebrate the glorious English springtime, the first couple of days I decided to lock myself inside museums all day long.
Jokes aside, one of the things I really love about this city is the access to all the astonishing museums, that most of the times have also free entry. It would be a shame not taking advantage of this incredible opportunity.
The first leg of my “crawl” has been the British Museum. For Classical art lovers, such as myself, this institution is like the Mecca, hosting the most important pieces of art history, from ancient Egypt to Greece, via China and Korea.
Some of you might already be familiar with my recurrent Stendhal syndrome, but I don't think anyone who walks through the halls of this museum, being so close to thousands years old statues or inscriptions, could pretend it's not that huge of a deal.
Coincidentally, the museum is currently hosting an exhibition of Rodin's most famous statues, shown alongside the ancient Greek masterpieces from which he drew inspiration and that influenced most of his work.
My day was already made.
My day was already made.
But my cultural tour had only just begun.
After a well-deserved lunch in a great Lebanese restaurant in South Kensington (see my next post) with a friend, we decided to head to the Victoria and Albert Museum.
This was my first time visiting, but my friend Emily, who I met last summer in Vienna but lives just around the corner, was very familiar with the place and said I couldn't miss it.
Boy, oh boy, she was absolutely right.
Quoting from their website, “From ancient Chinese ceramics to Alexander McQueen evening dresses”, it's “an incredible journey through 5000 years of human creativity.”
And the description couldn't be more fitting. The building is an infinite labyrinth of halls and rooms filled with paintings, jewels, gowns, sculptures, coins, furniture and objects coming from all over the world.
And not only that. There is cake.
Yes, inside the museum there is an incredible coffee house where we sat down for tea and cake.
Please, don't skip this part, it's so important: you need the energy to keep walking and explore all of the exhibits!!
Next to the V&A, literally across the street, there is one of the most important museums of science in London, the Natural History Museum. So, you might as well just kill two birds with one stone and take a look.
This purpose-built Romanesque cathedral of science deserves a whole afternoon of roaming, looking at animatronic dinosaurs (extinct), the ‘Creepy Crawlies’ exhibition on the species of dangerous insects that live in your house, and the super creepy showcase of stuffed animals(mostly extinct), that made me want to run away.
Or... you could take an escalator ride through the centre of the Earth to start your journey into the realization that life is ephemeral and everything ends with fire and thunders.
For example, you can try the famous earthquake simulator, in case you have never had the pleasure to be woken up by one and worry about your safety.
Or you can dive into ‘From the Beginning’, a brave attempt to give the expanse of geological time a human perspective. Spoiler alert: Mass Extinction.
But hey!!! Until the Sun will devour our planet, putting an end to our civilization, we can still enjoy the time remaining visiting all the free museums...
Here's a List of Free Entry Museums in London:
- British Museum (http://www.britishmuseum.org/)
- National History Museum (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/)
- Victoria & Albert Museum (https://www.vam.ac.uk/)
- National Gallery (https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/)
- National Portrait Gallery (https://www.npg.org.uk/)
- Science Museum (https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/)
- Tate Modern (http://www.tate.org.uk/)
- Wallace Collection (http://www.wallacecollection.org/)
- British Library (https://www.bl.uk/)
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