Firstly, my bro’s flat is near Greenwich (yes..that’s where your GMT is!) and I can see the observatory from his balcony. Gor told me that at night, there will be a green beam from there…but I keep forgetting to take a pic at night! 😛
Anyway, on Friday, after we had finished our 2-hour lunch, Gor and I walked over to the Victoria & Albert Museum.
The entrance….
The stunning centrepiece above the information desk. Wonderful to see such a dramatic, modern piece against the backdrop of something rather classical.
There was one exhibition on fashion and I found this suit made/designed by Chanel! Over 40 years on and it is still so chic and fashionable. I’d wear that today, wouldn’t you?
I also learnt that Raphael not only painted paintings or frescos, he also painted and designed tapestry. Although they’re called cartoons, they’re not the cartoons that we know. These cartoons are actually paintings on several strips of paper (not canvas) as they are used as design templates for weavers to weave them into one large tapestry.
However, judging from how Raphael had painted these cartoons with bright, high quality paint, he probably viewed them as separate art pieces (as opposed to simply design templates). These cartoons are HUGE and the sheer size of it lends them a sense of grandeur and awe.
To the left is the design that Raphael had painted and on the right is the finished tapestry. Why are they mirror images of each other? That’s because of the way the weavers weave. As such, Raphael always painted/drew the pictures in the mirror image of the eventual product. X-rays have also shown that Raphael had also drawn quite a bit of these pictures freehand!
We spent about a good 2.5 hours inside this museum, just looking at lots of artwork from all over the world. They’ve got everything! South Asia, South East Asia, China, Japan, England spanning from the 1600s to the 1700s. Wonderful thing is…admission is FREE! There were special exhibitions on Baroque as well as hat design. But you had to pay for that. Needless to say, we didn’t go into those. =P
Met my friend at Harrods after the museum (V&A is only 10 mins away from Knightsbridge) as she was flying off the next evening. We were still very full from lunch and wanted to buy something light (like a salad) for dinner. Guess what? Harrods was having 50% off their salads and ready-cooked dishes!! What a deal! I had Chicken Avocado Salad while Gor had Venison Goulash with mashed potatoes. All for around GBP 7. Perhaps, you can try going to Harrods around 7pm to catch these good deals. Provided that you’re not too hungry, of course. 😉
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