A Pinay in Europe

When H said ‘yes’ to my idea of a day trip to London while he attends to his business in the Southeast, the first thing that came to mind was a visit to the Victoria & Albert Museum. 

We have been going backwards and forwards to England (as normal for someone with an English husband) but never have I set foot in this museum that I have heard so much about.  It has been, for ages, in my “list-of-London-places-to-visit” and it’s about time I see it!

The publicity poster at the South Kensington station

So off to the museum we went on that grey Thursday morning.  H (yes, he insisted that he must go, too!), SIL (sister in law) and myself arrived at the tunnel gate at about 11am.  A bit peckish after a train ride and 3 tube connections, we proceeded to the V&A café for some coffee and biscuit fix before starting the museum tour. 

I must say that sitting in the elegant V&A café was the most pleasant moment of the entire visit!  Imagine sitting there like the nobility, enjoying your coffee and mouthwatering tea biscuits ….

…while getting mesmerized at the stunning rooms, ornate decors, museum-like artworks from ceiling to floor!  And it doesn’t need digging deep into your pocket!  For the three of us, the 3 GBP per person is a give-away. 

While ambling between sculptures, I can’t help but notice through the windows the impressive Renaissance style facade of the building that surrounds a vast square courtyard.

It is called the Terrcota facade because it was constructed in modern, industrially produced materials: red brick and terracotta.

When I saw this spot (center of the photo) with the steel tables and chairs, I immediately recognized it as the location of a scene in “Last Chance Harvey” (2008), a light romantic film featuring Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson.  That was where the “still-getting-to-know-each-other-romantically” pair talked until dawn, exchanged a gentle kiss then agreed to meet at the same place that noon  but Harvey (Dustin) failed to show up because he was suddenly rushed to the hospital after a bout of heart palpitations and Kate (Emma) exasperatedly thought he jilted her.

One of the lavishly tiled staircases.

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Let’s start a quick museum tour from the Medieval Galleries.  The descriptive captions for each artwork shown here were taken from the museum’s online records.

The Virgin and Child with Angels, About 1510 - 15
Lower Austria, painted and glided limewood

This group was probably part of an altarpiece.  The flowing drapery and the dynamic flying poses of the two small angels and the infant Jesus all contribute to its vitality.  Christ holds a pomegranate, a symbol of the resurrection.

The Adoration of the Magi, About 1510 - 20
Austria, Tyrol, painted and gilded pine

The three wise men offer gifts of gold, frankincense and myrhh to the infant Christ, who sits on the lap of the Virgin while St Joseph watches intently from behind her.

The Entombment, About 1500, Northern France
Painted and gilded oak

The relief consists of nine pieces of wood joined together with several small wooden dowels and it shows Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea placing the body of Our Lord in the tomb, around which are gathered the Virgin, St. John the Evangelist and the three Maries.

The Virgin with the Dead Christ, About 1370 - 1400, Probably England
Walnut wood

“…. The wound of Christ show traces of colour, the lower part of the figure is slightly worm-eaten.”

The Lamentation over the Dead Christ, About 1510 - 15
Glazed and painted terracotta, Florence, Italy

Sunna by John Michael Rysbrack, About 1728-1730
Portland stone

Sunna is from a unique series of Saxon gods that Lord Cobham commissioned for his gardens at Stowe. Each Saxon god is traditionally associated with a day of the week, and Sunna represents Sunday.

Neptune and Triton by Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini, About 1622-1623

Carved pine
This work by the great Italian sculptor Bernini was one of the most celebrated sights in Rome.  It shows Neptune, god of the seas, with his son Triton who was a merman.  It was sold in 1786 and taken to England.

Turban Ornament, enamelled gold, Jaipur, 1st half of the 19th century
This turban ornament from the Royal Treasury depicting a peacock shows how Jaipur was considered to be the supreme center of enamelling in India.  In Jaipur, the court remained the largest and most important purchaser of enamels in traditional form.

Wish-Fulfilling cow (Kamadhenu), About 1900-50
Painted wood, Tamil Nadu
In Hindu mythology, a Kamadhenu is a miraculous cow who can give her owner whatever he desires.  This example is a hybrid creature, with the body of a cow and the head of a woman, the wings of an eagle and the tail of a peacock.  It is used in the great street processions performed during south Indian temple festivals

The Hindu God Shiva Nataraja, Lord of the Dance, 1100-1200, Chola Period
Copper alloy, South India (Tamil Nadu)

Holes in the base show that this image was carried in procession.  It depicts the great Hindu god Shiva performing a wild dance of creation and destruction.  In his hands are a drum as symbol of creation and a flame as the element by which the universe will be destroyed.  An aureole of flames represent the life of the universe.  Underfoot lies the dwarf of ignorance.

Part of a relief of the Buddha’s death (Parinirvana), 100-200, Kushan Period
Schist, Gandhara, Northwest Pakistan
By the Buddha”s bedside four disciples are grieving.  One disciple comforts the Buddha’s companion and protector, Vajrapani, whose thunderbolt has fallen to the ground.  A fifth disciple, possibly the last convert, Subhadra, meditates.  A water bottle hangs on a tripod next to the bed.  Such overt expressions of emotions derive from the late Hellenistic tradition, which strongly influence Gandharan art

Mantua or court dress, 1740 - 1745
Silk embroidered with coloured silk and silver thread

This mantua and petticoat represent the grandest style of court dress.  The skirt made it necessary for the wearer to go sideways through the door but had the advantage of displaying a large area of lavish decoration.  Botanically accurate flowers were a feature of Rococo embroidery patterned silks and printed textiles of the 1740s and 1750s in England

George III, Prince of Wales in a Rococo frame, about 1751
This is one of the most elaborate English carved Rococo frames to survive.  The exceptionally bold carving features animals, scrolls and foliage typical of the Rococo style as well as military trophies. 

The 11-metre high, blown glass chandelier by Dale Chihuly at the V&A’s grand entrance.

….each separate glass element of the V&A Rotunda Chandelier was either free-blown, or was mould-blown into ribbed moulds. Each element is coated inside with polyurethane adhesive and was tied on individually with stainless steel wire to an armature welded from steel rod. A team of six started wiring on from bottom to top and took over five days to complete the work.

Netsuke, Octopus,  between 1700 - 1870
(about 1 inch in height) 

Traditional Japanese costume had no pockets so everyday objects such as seals, tobacco and medicine were carried in pouches or boxes.  These were hung from a cord which passed behind the wide belt (obi).  The netsuke was tied to the other end to prevent it from slipping down and allowing the pouch or box to fall.  Netsuke were often worn with the miniature medicine containers called inro.

Eve listening to the voice, 1842

Marble, by Baily, Edward Hodges, born 1788 - died 1867 (sculptor)
This figure depicts Eve listening to the voice of Satan in the Garden of Eden, a subject probably inspired by John Milton’s religious epic poem Paradise Lost (1667 )

Peasant woman nursing a baby, Aimé Jules-Dalou, 1873

The Prodigal Son, Auguste Rodin, About 1885 - 1887

Two plaques located on a wall in the garden commemorating Henry Cole’s* dog Jim and another ‘faithful dog’ Tycho.
* Sir Henry Cole (1808–­82) was the first Director of the South Kensington Museum, renamed the Victoria & Albert Museum in 1899.

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Above are just few of the tens of thousand pieces displayed over four floors, in 11 kilometres of galleries, which include paintings, photography, furniture, fashion, jewellery, ceramics, glass, silverware and architecture.  A day tour is simply not enough and I shall return and spend an entire day to see more of it…and another entire day for some more…

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Some facts about the V&A:

- entrance is free except for the special exhibits
- photography is allowed except in the Jewellery Galleries and those rooms that specifically prohibits it
-cloakroom facility is free
- there’s a canteen especially reserved for eating your home-prepared food, free access

Next in “A Pinay in Europe”:  The Natural History Museum

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Still on London, the theme for today is  what every tourist to the city would like to try if not forced to riding.  It’s the London Underground or more popularly called The Tube.

I tried on many attempts to see most of the famous sights of London by foot, in a day, but I just could not do it.  It is so huge that it might take at least three days of non-stop walking if I am mad enough to take it even as a challenge.  London, at 1,572 sq.km. is one of the largest cities in the world that The Tube is an indispensable way to travel faster, that is, if you avoid the rush hour.  Last week we did just the opposite!  A few minutes before the “grand rush”, we decided to call our walking tour a day and descended  underground to catch our tube.  The overhead screen reads, ”the next tube will arrive in 4 minutes”, so we thought we could rest a bit, stepped back against the wall, leaving about two meter distance between us and the ramp.  Suddenly, a wave of humanity came rushing down the steps, short of a stampede, scaring the hell out of H, my sister-in-law (SIL) and me. 

“Let’s get out of here, quick!”, announced SIL as she grappled her way through the crowd.

Five minutes later, we were drinking coffee at the basement level of a Lebanese Eatery nearby with the main purpose of killing time while the underground mob abated.  We returned after one hour and rightly so, the crowd is gone, everything was quiet again and we caught our tube in peace.

If I get the chance to go back to London on my own, I would like to explore The Tube further.  I shall spend an entire day hopping on and off - outside the peak hours of course -not only to check on all the 287 tube stations but also to do my favorite activity - people watching.  While I was doing my research on this subject, I came across vast numbers of passenger photos revolving around this mode of transport, very interesting, if not funny!

In the meantime, let’s just make do with what I have in my archives :) 

King’s Cross St. Pancras is the biggest interchange station on the London Underground.

The best known symbol of the Underground is the bar and circle, also known as the roundel.

The roundel where the word “UNDERGROUND” written across the bar has become a symbol for London itself.

Entrance to the Victoria tube station

Victoria is the busiest station in the London underground.

Harry Beck, designer of the tube map in 1933, waspaid only five guineas for his original job. His design is still the basis of today’s tube map.

The tube map gets re-drawn constantly as new stations or extensions are added.

It is the oldest underground railway in the world with the first section opened in 1863, the reason why the rail tracks and platforms are narrow, creating the most-dreaded rush hour human traffic.

And the carriages are smaller because people were smaller when they were built in the 1860’s.

As to the tube widely used for advertising, some ad companies complain that they don’t get the expected response after spending as much as 3,000£ on the London underground.  Well, personally, I love scanning on the posters, same as this lady is staring at one. 

But the majority are just too in a hurry in catching their tube connections that they don’t even notice the art-sy adverts.

It’s only while waiting for the train itself that one is forced to look at the ads. 

One-or several-man concerts are usually found playing on the underground.  This is called busking, as they play music in public for money.  Busking is strictly controlled so only the good musicians are granted license to perform.  If you will notice a coloured half-moon on the station floor, such as the one where this violinist on the photo is standing, it is the pitch reserved for the performers.   

All 409 escalators of the total 287 stations do the equivalent of two round the world trips every week.

And this is The Tube,  inside up close. 

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The skies were grey over London that day - which is typical and an inseparable part of the city’s landscape - and indeed we should count ourselves lucky that it did not rain, great to keep my camera out of the bag. 

Photographing under low light situations is quite tricky though, most of my shots came out very dark but then I realize, that’s what London is all about, the sober images of old brick-red buildings towering over silhouettes of trees, people and all.  It is exactly that which gives the city a very unique atmosphere.

Let’s start the photowalk, starting at the Liverpool Street station.

Sculptures relating to the sufferings of the Jews during the Nazi era are scattered in various cities of Europe and they all create very poignant emotions to the viewer.  This one installed in Liverpool Street Station is the work of Venezuelan-born Flor Kent in 2003.  It commemorates the Kindertransport - the name given to the rescue mission by which Jewish children from Nazi Germany, Austria; Chzechoslovakia, Poland and the Free City of Danzig were saved from the Nazis and moved to England.    

Catching a connecting tube at the Victoria Station, this image of Queen Victoria is a familiar sight on coins, stamps, jewelry, etc.

The Victoria & Albert Museum building viewed from Exhibition Road

Black cabs no more, London taxis now come out in a variety of colours

….and popularly used for advertising brands.

Michelin jackets are a common sight in the winter but to have them all in orange is quite an attention-getter!  Seen from the window of the Natural History Museum just across the road. 

The cathedral-looking building of the Natural History Museum (1881), seen at the corner of Cromwell and Exhibition roads

Exhibition Road

They are often called Boris Bikes, referring to London’s Mayor Boris Johnson who, during his administration, that the public bicycle scheme was launched, although it was the idea of his predecessor, Ken Livingston.  Barclays, as the name written on the bikes, is one of UK’s biggest bank and is a sponsor to the scheme.

A milestone dated 1911 located on the southside of Knightsbridge and east of the Royal Albert Hall.

Kensington Gore, the curving street next to the Royal Albert Hall. 

Royal Albert Hall, 1871

The mosaic frieze outside the Royal Albert Hall depicting “The Triumph of Arts and Sciences”.

The Royal College of Music, 1882

Wrought iron gates at Kensington Gardens

qlblert

A walk along the plane trees at Kensington Gardens

 Inside the garden is a seated statue of Prince Albert under a gothic-style pavilion.  It is known as the Albert Memorial (1872).

Designed by Sir George Gilbert, it was commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her beloved husband, Prince Albert who died of typhoid in 1861.

From the memorial, you can see a good view of the Royal Albert Hall across the road.  The white sculpture forms the outer corner part of the Albert Memorial 

The four inner corners of the pavilion consist of sculptures depicting Victorian arts and sciences.  This is the Engineering sculpture, the other three are Manufacturing, Commerce and Agriculture.

The four sculptures on the outer corners represent the four continents of Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas.  The one on the picture is that of Europe.

From Kensington Gardens, we crossed the road and walked through Hyde Park searching for Princess Diana’s memorial but the gate to her fountain memorial was locked so we turned our attention to this interesting statue instead.

Isis, a sculpture beside the Serpentine lake in Hyde Park, by Simon Gudgeon

Isis is the Egyptian  goddess of nature and was made the symbol of an ambitious appeal to raise £2.2 million towards the new Isis Education Centre.

Here is a plaqued dedication of a satisfied group of tourists of the city.  Other dedications come from companies, private individuals and even in memory of a departed loved one. 

At her base there are 1,000 plaques available for personal dedication. Every plaque helps raise vital funds towards the new Isis Education Centre, an exciting facility where young people can learn about the natural world in the middle of the city.

There is a limited number of plaques remaining, so dedicate an Isis plaque today and help thousands of children discover the wonders of nature at the Isis Education Centre….http://www.supporttheroyalparks.org/explore/isis

Finished with our garden-hopping and night is falling anyway, it’s time to find the nearest underground station, where else but in Knighstbridge.  And oh, since we are already there, might as well take a night shot of Harrods and the London cabs.

It’s the Sale season, the best time to shop!

Next on “A Pinay in Europe”:  The Victoria & Albert Museum, London

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The original plan of a one-week’s stay in Southeast England unfortunately was cut to a mere three days when H suddenly received a call necessitating us to be in Paris immediately.  The good thing is, we still were able to do London in a day but limited only to a couple of museums, a garden and aimless walking.

But first, let us start with some people-watching snaps:

The double-decker bus uploading passengers near the Albert Memorial

Waiting for the bus near the Victoria and Albert Museum

Walking along the Natural History Museum building with the dome of the Royal Albert Hall in the background

Taking some souvenir shots before leaving the Natural History Museum

An Asian tourist videoing the rock display at the Natural History Museum

An art student doing good progress in her drawing..

My dream to step foot at the V&A museum has finally happened albeit it was just a quick tour.  Next time, I shall spend an entire day scrutinizing the works of art, like this gentleman.  Entrance is free anyway!  

A visit to the V&A seemingly is part of every London student’s curriculum.

The most pleasant moment we had was the coffee break at the V&A café.  The place is a museum masterpiece in itself!

Time to go home but first, I need to find out the tube connections that would take us to the train station

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