HRH Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to take advantage of one of the many museums that are free to the public in London. My friend AS and I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum (just 2 of the annual 25 million visitors) and got to look at statues, stain glass windows, and other artifacts ranging from 100 years BC to present day. The Victoria and Albert Museum was funded and built in 1852 by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert (hence the name of the museum). And currently the museum is home to over 2 million objects, which come from all over the world.

We had a fun time exploring the ancient relics from Europe and Asia (we didn't get around to see much else, with 2.1 million objects there was no way we could see everything). I'm always amazed at the stain glass windows (having taken a class myself, I'm always so interested on how the heck these people were able to do such fine work) and how I wish that it wasn't becoming such a lost art. 

In exploring the Europe wing of the museum we found some fun costumes to try on!

I'm not exactly sure what AS robe was used for, but I know that I'm dressed up as some sort of peasant. (I think she was a priest or religious leader of some sort)

They had a room full of statues that I really enjoyed examining. (It reminded me of the room full of statues at Pemberley in Pride and Prejudice) However, I was unable to find the bust of Mr. Darcy, but there were quite a few Roman Gods and Goddesses and an entire entryway from somewhere.

The Victoria and Albert Museum was also the very first museum that had a cafe attached to it.

This was the courtyard area that separated the main museum from the cafe building. I'm sure its very lovely during the summer months, but we rushed inside because it was quite chilly. Inside the building was this cute cafe that I think is the original from 1852. 

They sold various pastries and goodies to snack on (I got a raspberry and white chocolate muffin) and pots of tea (jasmine blossom tea). We even found a poster that mentioned that you could have an official afternoon tea at the cafe. (which we are determined to come back and do!) In the main room (see above) they also had a man playing the piano in the middle of the pillars. It was so very relaxing. I loved it!

After we had had our snack, we went to the exhibit that we visited the museum for! Currently, until May, the museum is housing a wedding dress exhibit that displays wedding dresses from the 1700's till today. Unfortunately, they did not have Kate Middleton's dress and I wasn't allowed to take any pictures in the exhibit. But I was able to find a couple online so you can see a glimpse of what we saw. 

It's so interesting to see how much women's fashion has changed throughout years whereas men's have only made a few adjustments here and there. I don't remember what year this dress was made or worn in, but it's one of the many that are displayed at the exhibit.

This is the second level of the exhibit, and most, if not all, the gowns on this floor have been made and worn sometime within the past 100 years. Some of the gowns were quite lovely, while others I just shook my head at. (I love the purple dress btw, but it's not something I would want to wear on my wedding day.) They had Gwen Stefani's wedding dress displayed. 

Today was a lazy day. MC is in Ireland with her mom so TP and I went browsing. First, we went to this lovely, overpriced store.

It's a very small store and they don't have much, but it was nice to know if I ever needed anything I could stop by here. They have items such as Goldfish, entire packages of Oreos, cake mixes, Pop tarts, Jiff peanut butter etc. I bought a Devil's Food Cake mix because I plan on making cookies with Rolos in them. (I just need to find some Rolos first) They didn't have any ranch dressing which we were very disappointed about, but TP found some Top Ramen for pretty cheap.

We then travelled on the tube towards the center of London and found nerd heaven at Forbidden Planet. They had a HUGE Doctor Who selection of items along with Harry Potter, Star Wars, Star Trek, video games, Marvel and DC and Lord of the Rings, etc. Thankfully, I didn't spend that much money, but I was able to purchase a lovely DW Oyster travel card holder and a HP passport holder.

We were hungry after all that shopping and went to a local pub to get dinner. TP got a HUGE burger (don't worry, she didn't eat it all) and I got a fish basket with a combination of different types of sea food. One thing that I have yet to try in England are the different types of Pie. They have a chicken and mushroom one that sounds good which I think I'll try next time we go to a pub!

Right as we were leaving the pub it started to snow/hail, but thankfully it didn't last long and we were able to head off to our next destination. We had decided it was dessert time and even though it was only about 38 degrees outside we went to get Gelato at a place we had passed in previous travels. 

I was pretty excited...and cold. 

This weekend should be pretty fun. I'm not sure what exactly we are doing tomorrow (probably a trip to Borough market) (sorry if you're tired of hearing about it), but TP's birthday is on Saturday so we'll be going out to dinner.