(Wednesday 7/4)
Ah yes the 4th of July. This is literally the most ironic place to spend our Independence Day and it was so weird not seeing red, white, and blue and American flags and merchandise everywhere. You mean there aren't huge firework displays set up in every single store since January here??? Bizarre.
We started the day off in the Victoria and Albert Museum, where I got abandoned in the bathroom (it's okay I forgive you all I was honestly kinda hype because I was just going to "look for everyone" in the gift shop - my favorite place at any museum/attraction - kinda kidding kinda not). We then went in Frida Kahlo's head outside (if anyone who wasn't there reads this, it's not as weird as it sounds I promise) and it was so cute to see some of the kids playing in the fountain. One little girl was having the time of her life and honestly me as a child. I would have been in that pool within two seconds - especially if I saw other people already in it and I was about five seconds away from getting in there yesterday. Honestly you will probably hear me complain about heat a lot and I don't think its even that deathly hot, my body just stays about ten degrees hotter than anyone else at all times.
Anyway, we continued on inside the museum and started at the William Morris exhibit and I loved how luxurious everything in there felt. Just imagining someone using his art to decorate a room in their house - it must have been beautiful. There was also a statue of a dog stepping on a snake in there - the true picture of "we do not deserve dogs." I saw dogs shown in several exhibits at the museum, including some very large paintings and I just appreciate the way people in history also appreciated dogs. I was also very pleasantly surprised by how good the food was in the cafe. I had salmon with broccoli and potatoes, and I just kept thinking how you could never get something like that in our museums - maybe a nice sandwich, but not a sit down meal with salmon.
Unsurprisingly, the Fashioned From Nature exhibit was my favorite, besides the gift shops of course (kidding, but again I do love gift shops). The detail in some of the pieces was just amazing - like the gown with the beading made to look like leopard. The time it must have taken to make that is just absolutely amazing. It was also interesting to see some of the ways people used to use animals in their clothing. It was sad, but the earrings from bird heads were very interesting and the dress with beetle wings sewn into it was exquisite.
After the Victoria and Albert Museum, we headed to Harrod's, which was pretty much a museum in and of itself. Not only the brands and merchandise, but the design of the building itself. The halls by the escalators and stairs were amazing - the Egyptian heads carved into the walls were just one of the many details that made the whole experience incredible and the smell when walking through the food halls was something else. The sheer amount of designer clothing and accessories and the value of everything in there is just wow. It would be crazy to be able to come there and just go shopping like one of us might at Crabtree, but in brands like Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chanel, Gucci... the list goes on and on.
With all the walking and my poor choice to wear converse, which gave no cushion or support, my feet were killing me by the time we were done. Dinner plans were quickly decided on... we would be getting take out back to the room lol. Delivery was heavily considered, but we decided to just deal with it since we were so close to town, and just walk to get food to take back. Emily and I returned to Wagamama's and both got the same thing we got the first time, since it was so good. I also got edamame with salt and chilis, which was very tasty but I got way too full from my main meal, so they are currently sitting in our fridge, but now I have a snack for later so it's a win win.
Initially, we were planning to do something for the 4th of July, but everyone was so tired after the day and we all seem to have made poor shoe choices, so it became a night in. We sat down in the kitchen and said a quiet happy birthday to America as we heard those with more energy and less achey feet getting rowdy outside (although obviously not for our Independence Day).
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